Ficlet Challenge #123: Great Expectations
Title: Great Expectations
Summary: Tom Riddle anticipates how his patronus will respond to him after his first horcrux.
Characters/Pairings: Tom Riddle, Nagini
Genre: Drama, General
Rating/Warnings: G
Medium: Ficlet
Word Count: 406
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
If yes, your Tumblr username: N/A
If I were a villain caricature, I would have been cackling with gleeful anticipation and tapping my fingers together. I simply couldn't wait to see how my patronus would look at me now.
Nagini.
She was a glorious Ukrainian Ironbelly with a wingspan that beggared the imagination. Powerful, beautiful, and she gave the unmistakable impression that she would as cheerfully eat your face off as look at you if you annoyed her.
I had, of course, adored her on sight.
The feeling had only intensified when she had first whispered her name to me in that gravelly voice that drew across my skin with the barest flicker of heat, a shadow of true dragon fire.
She was more wizard's familiar than patronus when it came to sentience, though I had heard that wasn't supposed to be possible with patronuses. Of course, many things weren't supposed to be possible. That’s why I did them. Nagini understood perfectly -- she always did. She would understand this latest venture with the horcrux, and she would be...oh, so very, very proud. She was always pushing me to do more, to be more. Whatever would she say when she found out what I'd accomplished...
I honed my will to just the right point, relying on the sensuously potent memory of Nagini now to summon her. "Expecto Patronum!"
Only silence and darkness answered me.
I blinked hard. That wasn’t right.
I formed the outline of her wingtips in my mind's eyes, the fierce pleasure of her smile. "Expecto Patronum!"
Not even a spark. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
In a fit of panic, I snapped through a battery of other complex spells, which all worked perfectly.
And then, again: "Expecto Patronum!"
Absolutely nothing.
The absence of her was a gnawing ache growing with every breath, tightening my chest and jaw past bearing.
I suspected the horcrux. Something about it was interfering with the patronus spell. Unless I determined what that interference was and remedied it, I knew with perfect certainty that I would never see Nagini again.
I closed my eyes and took a deep, slow breath, shucking off the emotional turmoil of her loss like a snakeskin. Nagini. I will find you again. One way or another, even if I have to incarnate you myself.
I opened my eyes, my jaw relaxed and my hands loose at my sides. It was good to have goals.
19 points
Summary: Tom Riddle anticipates how his patronus will respond to him after his first horcrux.
Characters/Pairings: Tom Riddle, Nagini
Genre: Drama, General
Rating/Warnings: G
Medium: Ficlet
Word Count: 406
Can the Order post to Tumblr?: Yes
If yes, your Tumblr username: N/A
If I were a villain caricature, I would have been cackling with gleeful anticipation and tapping my fingers together. I simply couldn't wait to see how my patronus would look at me now.
Nagini.
She was a glorious Ukrainian Ironbelly with a wingspan that beggared the imagination. Powerful, beautiful, and she gave the unmistakable impression that she would as cheerfully eat your face off as look at you if you annoyed her.
I had, of course, adored her on sight.
The feeling had only intensified when she had first whispered her name to me in that gravelly voice that drew across my skin with the barest flicker of heat, a shadow of true dragon fire.
She was more wizard's familiar than patronus when it came to sentience, though I had heard that wasn't supposed to be possible with patronuses. Of course, many things weren't supposed to be possible. That’s why I did them. Nagini understood perfectly -- she always did. She would understand this latest venture with the horcrux, and she would be...oh, so very, very proud. She was always pushing me to do more, to be more. Whatever would she say when she found out what I'd accomplished...
I honed my will to just the right point, relying on the sensuously potent memory of Nagini now to summon her. "Expecto Patronum!"
Only silence and darkness answered me.
I blinked hard. That wasn’t right.
I formed the outline of her wingtips in my mind's eyes, the fierce pleasure of her smile. "Expecto Patronum!"
Not even a spark. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
In a fit of panic, I snapped through a battery of other complex spells, which all worked perfectly.
And then, again: "Expecto Patronum!"
Absolutely nothing.
The absence of her was a gnawing ache growing with every breath, tightening my chest and jaw past bearing.
I suspected the horcrux. Something about it was interfering with the patronus spell. Unless I determined what that interference was and remedied it, I knew with perfect certainty that I would never see Nagini again.
I closed my eyes and took a deep, slow breath, shucking off the emotional turmoil of her loss like a snakeskin. Nagini. I will find you again. One way or another, even if I have to incarnate you myself.
I opened my eyes, my jaw relaxed and my hands loose at my sides. It was good to have goals.
19 points