Four Ficlets (Ficlet Challenges #2, #8, #21, and #79)
Title: Waiting (Ficlet Challenge #2)
Summary: Neville keeps his DA coin close by...just in case.
Characters/Pairings: Neville Longbottom
Genre: Drama/General
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 492
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
Neville sat there silently, holding back his retorts as Alecto Carrow spoke to the class of how to distinguish muggles from magical persons.
“Their eyes are vacant from their obsession with those ridiculous ‘tellys,’ their foreheads protrude out, due to their misshapen brains, and their words come out as little more than barbaric grunts,” she said with a smirk. “Not that it matters much, as they have nothing of intelligence to say.”
More intelligent than anything you have to say, Neville thought heatedly, but he did not dare say that aloud. He wanted to let the other wounds heal before inflicting new ones. Besides, he had already rocked the boat quite a few times that year and the threats against his gran were enough to quiet him for the moment, at least until he received word that she was safe. But that did not mean he was not still rebelling in his own way.
As Alecto went on about the ignorance of muggles, Neville slipped a hand into his pocket, brushing his fingers against the grooves of the coin. His D.A. Galleon. He had not removed it from that pocket in quite some time. He wanted to keep it nearby…just in case.
Neville touched the coin. There had been no change. He was disappointed. He felt so frustrated, like he was not doing anything. He was just sitting in class, listening to this drivel. He wanted action, to feel like he was part of something. He wanted to feel like he had when he had been in Dumbledore’s Army.
They had not heard anything for months. Luna had been taken from the Hogwarts Express on her way home for Christmas and who knew where she was now? That had left Neville and Ginny as the leaders for those who remained true to Dumbledore’s Army, though they were few still at Hogwarts. Some, like Dean, had been forced to go on the run. Others, like Cho, were no longer students. They had been able to recruit some of the newer students, but anxiety was high, especially with the Carrows now in charge of discipline. It was easier to rebel when the worst you might face was detention.
Besides, it was not as though they really knew how the war was going on the outside. Ginny had little communication with her family due to their owls being monitored and they only knew that Ron had broken from Harry and Hermione for a short time and had been with Bill and Fleur until a little after Christmas. Other than that, no one knew where Harry was or what he was doing. For all they knew he was dead or captured. But Neville refused to believe that was the case.
He slipped his hand into his pocket again a few minutes later, hopeful for some change. Nothing. He held back a sigh.
He would keep checking until the signal was sent. He was ready to fight.
Title: Their Turn (Ficlet Challenge #8)
Summary: Ernie broods over the way his house is regarded by others.
Characters/Pairings: Ernie Macmillan
Genre: General
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 565
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
They knew what others thought of them. They were the House that Hogwarts forgot, the House for the leftover students, the unwanted students. Their house traits were not about bravery or intelligence or ambition. But the Hufflepuffs knew that did not matter; they knew what they were worth, even if some other students could not. But that did not mean it was not hard to handle the snide remarks.
“Hufflepuffs,” Ernie heard a first year say to his friend with a snigger, “watch out or they may get you with all of that patience.”
“Yeah, plus that hard work and fair play,” his friend added. “I’m really scared of them!”
Hannah frowned, ducking her head down in embarrassment. “Don’t listen to them,” Ernie mumbled, not even flinching at their words. Instead, he turned to them, making sure his Prefect badge was prominent.
“Fair play and hard work may not seem scary, but we still have the power to give you detention for being out after hours. Now get to your common rooms.”
The boys blanched slightly, but tried not to look too worried about the possibility of getting detention. They shrugged it off and shuffled off, muttering to each other under their breath.
Ernie frowned after them. He could usually take the sneers better than the others. He did not have anything to prove to them. But some of the others - like Hannah - were a little more sensitive to the snide comments.
Still, Ernie wished that for once the Hufflepuffs could come out on top. He was tired of the much-heated rivalry between the Gryffindors and Slytherins taking everyone’s attention, and even the Ravenclaws generally had their moments to shine. He felt as though the Hufflepuffs were left to simply be the cheerleaders for the other houses, never having the chance to feel the glory for themselves.
He was sick of it.
Cedric had seemed like their best shot. He was smart, athletic, and popular among the entire student body. People liked him, they supported him and cheered him on. For once people were beginning to look at the Hufflepuffs in a different light.
Then came the Triwizard Tournament. The Hufflepuffs had been ecstatic when Cedric’s name had been tossed out of the Goblet of Fire, but had gone quite when a fourth name had also shot out. Somehow Ernie knew whose name it would be. Any thought of regaining the Hufflepuff presence in the Tournament had been dashed once the famous Harry Potter had been chosen as well. The Hufflepuffs had felt cheated. Their moment had been stolen from them.
So they had focused their energy on cheering on Cedric. If he won, it would not matter who had received the most attention. Cedric will have catapulted himself - and with him, the Hufflepuff House - into glory. But that was not to be either. Instead, the Hufflepuff House had suffered a great loss.
Ernie knew it was silly to have cared about the Hufflepuff image amidst such a tragedy - and he did feel horrible for it - but here in his fifth year he saw that nothing had changed. The Hufflepuff House was still looked down upon, as though Cedric’s accomplishments meant nothing now that he had been murdered.
When was it Hufflepuff’s turn to shine?
One day, he thought resolutely, one day they’ll all see what Hufflepuffs are made of. I’ll see to that.
Title: Wisest of Them All (Ficlet Challenge #21)
Summary: What Helena wants more than anything is to better her mother for once.
Characters/Pairings: Helena Ravenclaw
Genre: General
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 407
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
Wisdom. Cleverness. Wit. The very traits her mother valued above all else, and the same ones in which Helena herself took pride. She was everything the Ravenclaw house represented. She knew this and had no concern with denying it for the sake of modesty. Why should she? What was wrong with knowing where the best of you lay?
Unfortunately for Helena it did not matter how wise nor clever nor witty she was for she would always be second best, to her own mother no less.
The people around her only made things worse. How often they told her she was the spitting image of her mother in every way, in appearance, intelligence, and demeanor. They thought they were giving her a compliment - after all, who could find fault in being compared to a woman as beautiful and wise as Rowena Ravenclaw? But the words made Helena’s skin crawl. She did not want to be like her mother; she wanted to be better than her mother, to prove for once that she was the better Ravenclaw, the best Ravenclaw.
She hated her mother. She hated sitting with her housemates in the Great Hall, looking up at the Head Table and seeing her mother seated there, like a queen upon a throne. She always sat straight, her eyes looking across the tables as the students ate. Whenever her eyes fell upon her daughter, Rowena would offer a small smile. Helena would simply avert her eyes, pretending she had not seen her mother.
It was that damned diadem. Her mother had told her of the charm she had placed upon it so that the wearer would continually become wiser. Helena had attempted a similar charm on her own hat, but with no luck. She was a long way off from being able to perform that sort of magic, and until then she would be forced to live in her mother’s shadow, never her own person, just part of a pair.
Helena wanted more than anything to make her way on her own merit, to be complimented without being compared, and, above all else, to surpass her own mother and prove that she was the truest of Ravenclaws. One day she would steal that diadem, would steal into the night with it and go far from here, somewhere she would not be found.
She would be the wisest of them all. She only need bide her time until then.
Title: Rainbow After the Storm (Ficlet Challenge #79)
Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall wonders if things will ever be normal again.
Characters/Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Pomona Sprout, Sybill Trelawney
Genre: Angst
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 592
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
The Battle of Hogwarts was over, thus ending the Second Wizarding War. Lord Voldemort was no more and his followers had either deflected, been killed, or been captured. It looked as though their world could once again return to peace.
McGonagall stepped outside, taking in the sight of ruin and death. Yes, the war had ended, but not without its casualties. So many lives lost and for what? Power? Life?
The castle could be repaired quickly enough, but the lives lost could never be recovered. She wondered if Hogwarts could ever be the same after the horrors that had taken place there. Would the halls ever feel the same? Would she ever be able to sit in the Great Hall without thinking of the intense battle that had just taken place there? Would she be able to look at the faces of her students without acknowledging the ones who had lost their lives in the very school that was supposed to have kept them safe?
The sky was growing brighter, the dark clouds clearing away as though they knew the evil had been destroyed there. But the dark clouds within remained. The war was over, but the healing had just begun.
“We’ll get there,” said a voice beside her. It was Professor Sprout. She was covered with dirt and she wore the scratches and bruises she had received as though they were a badge of courage recognition of the hard work that had been put into defending Hogwarts.
“Will, we Pomona?”
“Of course, Minerva. One must have faith.”
“Faith, I have,” McGonagall said. “But we both know Hogwarts will never be the same. The castle has been sullied this year, sullied with hatred and dark magic. Who will want their children to come here after this?”
“Those who know what Hogwarts was” Sprout said calmly, “those who know what happened here tonight. We used our talents to protect, Minerva, and in the end good won.”
“There are no winners in war,” McGonagall said sadly. “Some lost less, but no side escapes unscathed.” She sighed and pulled her cloak more tightly around her shoulders. “I wonder what Albus would have said if he were here. No doubt he would have had some wise and witty saying. Alas, that has never been my specialty.”
“Sometimes sentiments need not be expressed in words.” Sprout looked out onto the horizon. She ignored the rubble and dirt that surrounded them, her eyes focused instead on the sun that was beginning to peek up over the hill, spreading light across the land and castle. “Look, Minerva! Out there!”
McGonagall followed Sprout’s pointing finger and saw that a rainbow had begun to curve across the sky, encasing the destroyed castle in an arch of colored lights.
“Do you think it’s a sign?” Sprout asked as they watched the rainbow grow more prominent in the sky.
“Could be,” McGonagall said.
“A rainbow is a very good omen,” said another voice, one that usually put McGonagall on edge. Sybill Trelawney had joined them out there. Her eyes were wider than usual behind her glasses and she pulled her shawl around her shoulders as she looked to the rainbow. “A representation of the calm after the storm, those of us with the Inner Eye know it is a sign of good things to come,” she said with her soft, lilting voice.
McGonagall observed her colleague with a raised eyebrow. Then she managed the first smile she had in quite some time. “For once, Sybill,” she said, “I think you are quite right.”
Colleen/Ravenclaw/88 (2056 words total + 20 points (5 points x 4 challenges))
Summary: Neville keeps his DA coin close by...just in case.
Characters/Pairings: Neville Longbottom
Genre: Drama/General
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 492
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
Neville sat there silently, holding back his retorts as Alecto Carrow spoke to the class of how to distinguish muggles from magical persons.
“Their eyes are vacant from their obsession with those ridiculous ‘tellys,’ their foreheads protrude out, due to their misshapen brains, and their words come out as little more than barbaric grunts,” she said with a smirk. “Not that it matters much, as they have nothing of intelligence to say.”
More intelligent than anything you have to say, Neville thought heatedly, but he did not dare say that aloud. He wanted to let the other wounds heal before inflicting new ones. Besides, he had already rocked the boat quite a few times that year and the threats against his gran were enough to quiet him for the moment, at least until he received word that she was safe. But that did not mean he was not still rebelling in his own way.
As Alecto went on about the ignorance of muggles, Neville slipped a hand into his pocket, brushing his fingers against the grooves of the coin. His D.A. Galleon. He had not removed it from that pocket in quite some time. He wanted to keep it nearby…just in case.
Neville touched the coin. There had been no change. He was disappointed. He felt so frustrated, like he was not doing anything. He was just sitting in class, listening to this drivel. He wanted action, to feel like he was part of something. He wanted to feel like he had when he had been in Dumbledore’s Army.
They had not heard anything for months. Luna had been taken from the Hogwarts Express on her way home for Christmas and who knew where she was now? That had left Neville and Ginny as the leaders for those who remained true to Dumbledore’s Army, though they were few still at Hogwarts. Some, like Dean, had been forced to go on the run. Others, like Cho, were no longer students. They had been able to recruit some of the newer students, but anxiety was high, especially with the Carrows now in charge of discipline. It was easier to rebel when the worst you might face was detention.
Besides, it was not as though they really knew how the war was going on the outside. Ginny had little communication with her family due to their owls being monitored and they only knew that Ron had broken from Harry and Hermione for a short time and had been with Bill and Fleur until a little after Christmas. Other than that, no one knew where Harry was or what he was doing. For all they knew he was dead or captured. But Neville refused to believe that was the case.
He slipped his hand into his pocket again a few minutes later, hopeful for some change. Nothing. He held back a sigh.
He would keep checking until the signal was sent. He was ready to fight.
Title: Their Turn (Ficlet Challenge #8)
Summary: Ernie broods over the way his house is regarded by others.
Characters/Pairings: Ernie Macmillan
Genre: General
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 565
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
They knew what others thought of them. They were the House that Hogwarts forgot, the House for the leftover students, the unwanted students. Their house traits were not about bravery or intelligence or ambition. But the Hufflepuffs knew that did not matter; they knew what they were worth, even if some other students could not. But that did not mean it was not hard to handle the snide remarks.
“Hufflepuffs,” Ernie heard a first year say to his friend with a snigger, “watch out or they may get you with all of that patience.”
“Yeah, plus that hard work and fair play,” his friend added. “I’m really scared of them!”
Hannah frowned, ducking her head down in embarrassment. “Don’t listen to them,” Ernie mumbled, not even flinching at their words. Instead, he turned to them, making sure his Prefect badge was prominent.
“Fair play and hard work may not seem scary, but we still have the power to give you detention for being out after hours. Now get to your common rooms.”
The boys blanched slightly, but tried not to look too worried about the possibility of getting detention. They shrugged it off and shuffled off, muttering to each other under their breath.
Ernie frowned after them. He could usually take the sneers better than the others. He did not have anything to prove to them. But some of the others - like Hannah - were a little more sensitive to the snide comments.
Still, Ernie wished that for once the Hufflepuffs could come out on top. He was tired of the much-heated rivalry between the Gryffindors and Slytherins taking everyone’s attention, and even the Ravenclaws generally had their moments to shine. He felt as though the Hufflepuffs were left to simply be the cheerleaders for the other houses, never having the chance to feel the glory for themselves.
He was sick of it.
Cedric had seemed like their best shot. He was smart, athletic, and popular among the entire student body. People liked him, they supported him and cheered him on. For once people were beginning to look at the Hufflepuffs in a different light.
Then came the Triwizard Tournament. The Hufflepuffs had been ecstatic when Cedric’s name had been tossed out of the Goblet of Fire, but had gone quite when a fourth name had also shot out. Somehow Ernie knew whose name it would be. Any thought of regaining the Hufflepuff presence in the Tournament had been dashed once the famous Harry Potter had been chosen as well. The Hufflepuffs had felt cheated. Their moment had been stolen from them.
So they had focused their energy on cheering on Cedric. If he won, it would not matter who had received the most attention. Cedric will have catapulted himself - and with him, the Hufflepuff House - into glory. But that was not to be either. Instead, the Hufflepuff House had suffered a great loss.
Ernie knew it was silly to have cared about the Hufflepuff image amidst such a tragedy - and he did feel horrible for it - but here in his fifth year he saw that nothing had changed. The Hufflepuff House was still looked down upon, as though Cedric’s accomplishments meant nothing now that he had been murdered.
When was it Hufflepuff’s turn to shine?
One day, he thought resolutely, one day they’ll all see what Hufflepuffs are made of. I’ll see to that.
Title: Wisest of Them All (Ficlet Challenge #21)
Summary: What Helena wants more than anything is to better her mother for once.
Characters/Pairings: Helena Ravenclaw
Genre: General
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 407
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
Wisdom. Cleverness. Wit. The very traits her mother valued above all else, and the same ones in which Helena herself took pride. She was everything the Ravenclaw house represented. She knew this and had no concern with denying it for the sake of modesty. Why should she? What was wrong with knowing where the best of you lay?
Unfortunately for Helena it did not matter how wise nor clever nor witty she was for she would always be second best, to her own mother no less.
The people around her only made things worse. How often they told her she was the spitting image of her mother in every way, in appearance, intelligence, and demeanor. They thought they were giving her a compliment - after all, who could find fault in being compared to a woman as beautiful and wise as Rowena Ravenclaw? But the words made Helena’s skin crawl. She did not want to be like her mother; she wanted to be better than her mother, to prove for once that she was the better Ravenclaw, the best Ravenclaw.
She hated her mother. She hated sitting with her housemates in the Great Hall, looking up at the Head Table and seeing her mother seated there, like a queen upon a throne. She always sat straight, her eyes looking across the tables as the students ate. Whenever her eyes fell upon her daughter, Rowena would offer a small smile. Helena would simply avert her eyes, pretending she had not seen her mother.
It was that damned diadem. Her mother had told her of the charm she had placed upon it so that the wearer would continually become wiser. Helena had attempted a similar charm on her own hat, but with no luck. She was a long way off from being able to perform that sort of magic, and until then she would be forced to live in her mother’s shadow, never her own person, just part of a pair.
Helena wanted more than anything to make her way on her own merit, to be complimented without being compared, and, above all else, to surpass her own mother and prove that she was the truest of Ravenclaws. One day she would steal that diadem, would steal into the night with it and go far from here, somewhere she would not be found.
She would be the wisest of them all. She only need bide her time until then.
Title: Rainbow After the Storm (Ficlet Challenge #79)
Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall wonders if things will ever be normal again.
Characters/Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Pomona Sprout, Sybill Trelawney
Genre: Angst
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fic
Word Count: 592
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
The Battle of Hogwarts was over, thus ending the Second Wizarding War. Lord Voldemort was no more and his followers had either deflected, been killed, or been captured. It looked as though their world could once again return to peace.
McGonagall stepped outside, taking in the sight of ruin and death. Yes, the war had ended, but not without its casualties. So many lives lost and for what? Power? Life?
The castle could be repaired quickly enough, but the lives lost could never be recovered. She wondered if Hogwarts could ever be the same after the horrors that had taken place there. Would the halls ever feel the same? Would she ever be able to sit in the Great Hall without thinking of the intense battle that had just taken place there? Would she be able to look at the faces of her students without acknowledging the ones who had lost their lives in the very school that was supposed to have kept them safe?
The sky was growing brighter, the dark clouds clearing away as though they knew the evil had been destroyed there. But the dark clouds within remained. The war was over, but the healing had just begun.
“We’ll get there,” said a voice beside her. It was Professor Sprout. She was covered with dirt and she wore the scratches and bruises she had received as though they were a badge of courage recognition of the hard work that had been put into defending Hogwarts.
“Will, we Pomona?”
“Of course, Minerva. One must have faith.”
“Faith, I have,” McGonagall said. “But we both know Hogwarts will never be the same. The castle has been sullied this year, sullied with hatred and dark magic. Who will want their children to come here after this?”
“Those who know what Hogwarts was” Sprout said calmly, “those who know what happened here tonight. We used our talents to protect, Minerva, and in the end good won.”
“There are no winners in war,” McGonagall said sadly. “Some lost less, but no side escapes unscathed.” She sighed and pulled her cloak more tightly around her shoulders. “I wonder what Albus would have said if he were here. No doubt he would have had some wise and witty saying. Alas, that has never been my specialty.”
“Sometimes sentiments need not be expressed in words.” Sprout looked out onto the horizon. She ignored the rubble and dirt that surrounded them, her eyes focused instead on the sun that was beginning to peek up over the hill, spreading light across the land and castle. “Look, Minerva! Out there!”
McGonagall followed Sprout’s pointing finger and saw that a rainbow had begun to curve across the sky, encasing the destroyed castle in an arch of colored lights.
“Do you think it’s a sign?” Sprout asked as they watched the rainbow grow more prominent in the sky.
“Could be,” McGonagall said.
“A rainbow is a very good omen,” said another voice, one that usually put McGonagall on edge. Sybill Trelawney had joined them out there. Her eyes were wider than usual behind her glasses and she pulled her shawl around her shoulders as she looked to the rainbow. “A representation of the calm after the storm, those of us with the Inner Eye know it is a sign of good things to come,” she said with her soft, lilting voice.
McGonagall observed her colleague with a raised eyebrow. Then she managed the first smile she had in quite some time. “For once, Sybill,” she said, “I think you are quite right.”
Colleen/Ravenclaw/88 (2056 words total + 20 points (5 points x 4 challenges))