Writer's Block 35.2 Voting
Banner by renrenren3
Challenge: "City on a hill."
Points: 1st/2nd/3rd/Participation Only: 50/40/30/10 points & 20/15/10/5 knuts, respectively. 2pts for voting.
Deadline: Voting until Monday May 30 @ 21:00 UTC.
Details: Your inspiration for this Writers Block is: "City on a hill."
We have seven drabbles to vote on for this challenge!
The usual voting rules apply: Don't vote for yourself, ask others to vote for you, or let anyone know which entry belongs to you. 2 points for voting.
A.
Title: All She Knows
Hermione felt weird stepping off the train without Harry and Ron beside her. Yes, she had Ginny to past the time on the long trip from the King's Cross Station to Hogwarts. However, it still is not the same. She has spent seven years with them be her side, not only as friends but as soldiers getting ready for war against the evil against the world.
She wouldn't know what to do anymore with her time, now that she doesn't have to spend it in the library researching on how to keep Voldemort at bay that year. Could it be? She can actually come to finish her last year at Hogwarts and ONLY worry about her studies?
As the week past, she started to look at Hogwarts differently. She noticed how everyone moved around the castle. It was like it's own little city. Yes, it was a school but there were many things that reminded her of a city. First, it had qudditich like a city flocked to high school football games on Friday nights. Second, it had clubs and club parties like a city would have. Third, people traveled in groups like you would see out in a city on a Friday night, have some fun on a weekend night.
She probably never noticed how busy Hogwarts was because her free time was spent helping the world get rid of its evil. However, as her new found epiphany ran through her head, she suddenly become heavy hearted. This is her last year. And though, she barely realized what Hogwarts really looked like, she will not be returning next year and she will miss it.
This city was her haven. She felt free here. She felt at home here because this is where she thrived. This city is where she grew to be the person she now is. She didn't know, to be honest, what to do with herself outside these walls beside pursue a relationship with Ron. She never realized she would leave this place. This was a city that was a part of her life for the past 8 years. But this city, this city on it's own little hill will always be in heart, even though she'll never step foot inside the doors after this year.
B.
Title: Edinburgh
[Rowena sees the flicker of torch lights and a haze of smoke from the Leith Docks to the East and comes to a halt on the road. Her horse splutters impatiently and tries to wander towards the shrubbery.
She has never been to a city before. She is not even sure she knows what a city really is but people say she will get answers there. Answers as to why she is different. Rowena has timed her visit carefully to coincide with the Royal Family's visit to the West and the resulting lowered guard around Edinburgh. She has no desire to join the traitors to the Crown on spikes across the city's walls.
There is a name she keeps chanting in her head so she cannot forget it. Godric Gryffindor. It is too dangerous to write it down even if many in the city would not be able to read it. She worries about how they will even communicate. She speaks Gaelic. Edinburgh is more Scots. Godric will speak the language of the Valleys in the South. Then there is the fact that she has very vague instructions from an old wise pagan priest on how to even find him. Yet there is no other option.
She has to find someone who understands and someone who can help her control this power. This magic. She needs someone to help her feel like she might be able to belong again not be always looked at in suspicion and fear. The new religion is taking hold and fear spreads across the trade routes.
Edinburgh is her gamble and a name is the only hand she has left to play.
]
C.
Title: In the Light of Day
“Malfoy? Why the hell would you want that wanker to be part of anything, let alone this?” Ron’s eyes practically glowed with righteous fury.
I closed my eyes briefly. “Ron, I know--”
“He’s rotten, Hermione. Always has been, always will be.” His mouth thinned with telltale disgust. “You should know that from what happened at Hogwarts.”
I felt a migraine beginning behind my left eye. This was an old argument. What was new was that we were having it in front of anyone besides Harry. The rest of the Committee for Public Relations looked on with keen interest.
I fought down the flush that was creeping over my cheeks. You want stubbornness, sweetheart? I’ve got it in spades. “Two words, Ronald: Child soldier.”
Ron crossed his arms. “A lot of us were that. Doesn’t excuse anything.”
“Oh, doesn’t it? So none of us ever did things we were ashamed of because we had to? Or because it was too hard just then to do otherwise? In, oh, forests, perhaps?”
Ron’s face turned white. The committee members glanced inquisitively from one to another. Not all the details of our little Golden Trio’s time on the run were public knowledge.
I inhaled slowly before speaking. “The things that happened then are in the past. What matters is what happens after. What happens now. And now, I say we need to have a united front to the public. We are, by default, the eponymous ‘city upon the hill’ that everyone will look to. That’s why we have this committee in the first place.”
Ron swallowed, unwilling to admit he didn’t catch my quote reference. “But Malfoy? Why him?”
I steepled my fingers. “As you’ve noted, he’s a representative from the other side, so that’s got unity covered. And he’s marvelously adept at living under intense scrutiny. If this whole Ministry is going to be in the public eye, he can help us navigate.”
Several committee members were nodding thoughtfully.
Ron’s jaw was clenched, but he wasn’t protesting at least. “How do you know he won’t just turn up his ferret-y little nose at our offer?”
How professional, love. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and instead took another slow breath. “We don’t. But if he’s as adept as I think he is, he’d be a fool to turn down our offer to rehabilitate the Malfoy name.” I caught Ron’s troubled gaze. “Or are we too afraid to even ask?”
Ron tapped his fingers against the table, then shook his head. “Fine.”
“Good then. I move we present Mr. Draco Malfoy with our offer of being an Under-Secretary for Public Relations. Any opposed?”
Ron said nothing, and the rest of the committee were quiet as mice.
“Excellent. I’ll speak to him this afternoon.”
D.
Title: Luna the Explorer
About two months ago, Luna had owled Charlie Weasley and asked for permission to come holiday where he was currently stationed. Charlie had admittedly been a little confused as to why Luna wanted to visit and mess around with dragons, but in the end, he had acquiesced. Upon retrospect, Charlie had also probably been puzzled as to why a friend of his younger siblings was requesting to come see their older brother in the first place. Luna hadn’t really interacted with Charlie before this trip and she had previously never spoken to him without Ron or Ginny present.
Thinking back on it, Luna realized it had perhaps been a bit of a societal “faux pas,” not to contact Charlie through someone who knew him better. Oh well, it was too late now. Luna never had cared much for “social protocol” anyway. Maybe she seemed barmy for being so eager but Luna didn’t care, she was positively giddy! If she hadn’t written to Charlie directly, she probably wouldn’t be where she was right now, which was blissfully traipsing through the woods of Hungary in search of a heliopath community. She had reached out to Charlie because her research suggested that heliopaths lived in small family groups, burrowing into hills like moles, and often cohabiting forested areas with dragons.
Luna was actually reexamining a hummock that she had flagged earlier as likely housing the creatures. You could tell heliopaths had been there because of the knee-high stacks of dirt piled on top of the hill. She wasn’t sure, but Luna hypothesized that the heliopaths actually kicked out the dirt from their dens as they burrowed, but instead of leaving a pile of earth at the entrance of their little homes, they somehow stacked the displaced soil out of the way on top of the massive knoll.
From where she stood, observing from afar, it almost looked like there was a miniature city on top of the hill. Surely this was how ancient explorers had felt when studying new civilizations. It was like Luna was privy to something special and marvelous and unknown - something only she could grasp the significance of. People could say whatever they liked about Luna’s psychological state but she would NEVER tire of this feeling. Luna couldn’t wait to get back to camp and tell Charlie all about her findings. Maybe this would finally convince him that she wasn’t just here trying to steal dragon eggs…
E.
Title: From the Three Broomsticks
Every morning after she wakes up, the first thing Madam Rosmerta does is open the rose colored curtains covering the only window in her fourth floor attic bedroom above the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. Her room, which is cramped yet cozy, is a haven for her, a place where Rosmerta can retreat to get away from her customers, whom she does honestly adore serving, in the pub and inn below.
But more importantly, her tiny attic window features a direct view of Hogwarts castle, which at once always feels both out of reach and comfortingly close-by. She remembers her time at Hogwarts fondly, how living and studying at the castle was like being at home with all of her friends. How the castle worked as its own little town, how it functioned altogether.
Each morning after she wakes, just before the sun rises, Rosmerta has a cup of tea while she stands, her forearms settled on the windowsill, and watches the castle up on the hill wake up too.
F.
Title: A Childhood Dream
Cork is a beautiful city, but it's not the one Quirinus wishes to be in, even if the cage he's sitting at is quite pleasant. Ever since he was a child he has always dreamed of a city on a hill, with big forests surrounding it, mushrooms growing as far as his eye could see. His friend Felix had told him to forget the city of his dreams, but Quirinus couldn't. It was as if he was destined to find that city on a hill, one way or other. Maybe he would find it in Albania, where he was going to head next to study the origins of Transmogrifian Torture. With last glance to Cork, Quirinus finished his lemon meringue pie and Apparated away.
G.
Title: Building for the future
Hogwarts was being built to last, a haven for students from across the land. A place for them to learn without persecution from members of the mundane society, such as the clergy, with their fear of the unknown. Salazar Slytherin knew that there was something that needed to be done - they needed to protect their legacy. They needed to expand beyond the walls of Hogwarts, beyond the sprawling grounds. They needed to build an empire that would last for generations to come. Hogwarts was a good foundation, but there needed to be a haven for the adults, so that they could have their own community. Slytherin quickly pulled out a piece of parchment and started to design a town close to the school, Godric would probably want to call it something similar to Hogwarts, but likely something ridiculous like 'Hogsmeade', after all, he did name the castle. They would build their community, their city on a hill. They would be safe for years to come, this was his vision and will after all that was driving this.
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