Ooooooooh, Shiny
Well, I got a shiny from sortinghatdrabs for the Ron/Pansy ficlet below ("by a landslide" the mods said):
Sorting Things Out
When I saw Ron Weasley come through the door to my office, I could tell he was furious from the lovely puce colour from his cheeks to ears. I gave him the smile that made even my Slytherins go ice cold--or so they must given how they freeze. Hufflepuffs seem to go to water given how their knees buckle.
"Mr Weasley, I'll hand it to you for nerve. Even Lucius Malfoy didn't dispute detentions for his son. Yet here you are--"
"It's Christmas hols, and you're not keeping Rosie back to even the score, Parkinson."
"Miss Weasley is serving detention because she and a knot of her cronies snuck into Gryffindor Tower and hexed James Potter, giving him a baboon's arse and a donkey's ears."
"That's why you gave her detention?"
"No, I gave her detention because she was caught. Sloppy of her. Personally, I think she wanted to be caught. She doesn't want to go home for hols. Why might that be?"
The breath went out of him then, and he sank into the chair by my desk with a thunk.
"Her mother and I just filed for divorce and…."
"And," I said softly, "she got sorted into Slytherin and for some reason she thinks that's a disgrace." I stared unblinking at him. "Any reason she should think that?"
He glared back. "None. She's my blood, my family. I don't care what House she's in."
"Tell your cousin Malfada that. Of course, that's so long overdue the account is closed there. So you might want to tell your daughter instead, before it cankers." I wrote out a pass, then handed it over to him. "She can serve the balance of her detention time after the hols. But you shouldn't be here nevertheless. Parents don't interfere at Hogwarts. She's mine, and whatever you might think of Slytherins, we take care of our own."
At his grimace, I sneered at him and said, "if you want to convince your daughter she hasn't grown horns, you might want to work on your expression whenever the word 'Slytherin' is spoken."
I rose then and grabbed my cloak from the back of my chair; he surprised me by helping me put it on.
"You're not what I expected, Parkinson."
"I grew up. Sometimes that happens."
There are more Ron/Pansy ficlets here including one by silburygirl she's been contemplating expanding into a true short story (Scroll down to Number 6, "Greenhouse Five" They haven't noted the authors yet). We had 48 hours to write a ficlet less than 400 words, Ron/Pansy, and dealing with detention. I'd note that this is almost 400 words, and triple that and I have my Snuna commitment done. So that shouldn't be so hard. Right? Right???
I'd also note that this is my first time winning anything in the fandom. I've been nominated once before though, on Quill to Parchment for my story "Gambit." What do both stories have in common? Well, both are first person, and neither are Snape/Hermione. So maybe I just need to do a lot more of the first and a lot less of the second? *cough* *watches Renita choke* If I thought JPEGs should rule...
Does anyone else have Renita's aversion to first person btw? Just curious, cuz iz a puzzlement to me. I love first person, and the odder point of view techniques in general. I personally love first person for getting into a character's head--but it's demanding, because it depends on voice, and if you don't get it right, it jars, especially where in fanfic you *know* this character. (Complicated when you're not in the same culture as the character you're writing, too) I admit, just about every Hermione first person point of view I've read in the SSHG ship sounds like Bridget Jones Diary to me, not like Rowling's character. (But then there are magical first person Hermiones like Quillusion's Soul Searching and Bambu's Morning Has Broken). But there are so many times when writing or reading I feel it wouldn't be the same story (or nearly as good) if the story weren't first person, didn't have the voice right in front of you, intimately whispering in your ear. I'm not completely happy with my Pansy voice btw here. But no point of view comes easier to me actually than first person.
sortinghatdrabs btw is a new community for short short fiction based on inter-house pairings. Not sure if they'll do cross-gen pairings like Snape/Hermione, but they do both slash and het so you might want to check them out. (And if you like the idea of Ron/Pansy, I'd like to point you to the ronpansy_fest *cough*)
Sorting Things Out
When I saw Ron Weasley come through the door to my office, I could tell he was furious from the lovely puce colour from his cheeks to ears. I gave him the smile that made even my Slytherins go ice cold--or so they must given how they freeze. Hufflepuffs seem to go to water given how their knees buckle.
"Mr Weasley, I'll hand it to you for nerve. Even Lucius Malfoy didn't dispute detentions for his son. Yet here you are--"
"It's Christmas hols, and you're not keeping Rosie back to even the score, Parkinson."
"Miss Weasley is serving detention because she and a knot of her cronies snuck into Gryffindor Tower and hexed James Potter, giving him a baboon's arse and a donkey's ears."
"That's why you gave her detention?"
"No, I gave her detention because she was caught. Sloppy of her. Personally, I think she wanted to be caught. She doesn't want to go home for hols. Why might that be?"
The breath went out of him then, and he sank into the chair by my desk with a thunk.
"Her mother and I just filed for divorce and…."
"And," I said softly, "she got sorted into Slytherin and for some reason she thinks that's a disgrace." I stared unblinking at him. "Any reason she should think that?"
He glared back. "None. She's my blood, my family. I don't care what House she's in."
"Tell your cousin Malfada that. Of course, that's so long overdue the account is closed there. So you might want to tell your daughter instead, before it cankers." I wrote out a pass, then handed it over to him. "She can serve the balance of her detention time after the hols. But you shouldn't be here nevertheless. Parents don't interfere at Hogwarts. She's mine, and whatever you might think of Slytherins, we take care of our own."
At his grimace, I sneered at him and said, "if you want to convince your daughter she hasn't grown horns, you might want to work on your expression whenever the word 'Slytherin' is spoken."
I rose then and grabbed my cloak from the back of my chair; he surprised me by helping me put it on.
"You're not what I expected, Parkinson."
"I grew up. Sometimes that happens."
There are more Ron/Pansy ficlets here including one by silburygirl she's been contemplating expanding into a true short story (Scroll down to Number 6, "Greenhouse Five" They haven't noted the authors yet). We had 48 hours to write a ficlet less than 400 words, Ron/Pansy, and dealing with detention. I'd note that this is almost 400 words, and triple that and I have my Snuna commitment done. So that shouldn't be so hard. Right? Right???
I'd also note that this is my first time winning anything in the fandom. I've been nominated once before though, on Quill to Parchment for my story "Gambit." What do both stories have in common? Well, both are first person, and neither are Snape/Hermione. So maybe I just need to do a lot more of the first and a lot less of the second? *cough* *watches Renita choke* If I thought JPEGs should rule...
Does anyone else have Renita's aversion to first person btw? Just curious, cuz iz a puzzlement to me. I love first person, and the odder point of view techniques in general. I personally love first person for getting into a character's head--but it's demanding, because it depends on voice, and if you don't get it right, it jars, especially where in fanfic you *know* this character. (Complicated when you're not in the same culture as the character you're writing, too) I admit, just about every Hermione first person point of view I've read in the SSHG ship sounds like Bridget Jones Diary to me, not like Rowling's character. (But then there are magical first person Hermiones like Quillusion's Soul Searching and Bambu's Morning Has Broken). But there are so many times when writing or reading I feel it wouldn't be the same story (or nearly as good) if the story weren't first person, didn't have the voice right in front of you, intimately whispering in your ear. I'm not completely happy with my Pansy voice btw here. But no point of view comes easier to me actually than first person.
sortinghatdrabs btw is a new community for short short fiction based on inter-house pairings. Not sure if they'll do cross-gen pairings like Snape/Hermione, but they do both slash and het so you might want to check them out. (And if you like the idea of Ron/Pansy, I'd like to point you to the ronpansy_fest *cough*)