Writer's Block 40.4 - Voting!
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Challenge: Before I Met You
Points: 2pts for voting. 1st/2nd/3rd/Participation Only: 50/40/30/10 points & 20/15/10/5 knuts, respectively, for winners.
Deadline: Voting until Saturday, April 28 @ 7pm EST/11pm UTC.
Details: Vote for your top 3 favourite drabbles. Do not vote for yourself or have other people vote for you.
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A.
Title: Be Prepared
[Before I met you, I didn't truly know what being afraid of something truly meant.
Before I met you, I thought I was able to defend myself from the dark forces.
Before I met you, I couldn't care less of being constantly vigilant.
But you taught me otherwise.
It was foolish of me to think so naively, to think that everything is sunshine and rainbows and fairytale endings. Because the real world does not work like that. It's a dark, gritty place, and walking around without a care in the world is the most foolish thing one can do.
The Dark Lord has risen, and we all must be prepared to fight, to survive.
Thank you Moody for teaching me that.]
B.
Title: The Things You Learn
I’d been listening to the other Slytherin boys for awhile now, hunting for social levers, when Thoros Nott shoved into Abraxas Malfoy, and Malfoy sneered “Mudblood” at him. It was clearly an insult, and Nott looked offended.
“Hey now,” said Nott, “no need to get nasty.”
Malfoy smirked. “Then stop acting like one.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Mudblood?”
Malfoy arched an eyebrow right back. “You really were raised by wolves, weren’t you?”
I shrugged. “So were the founders of Rome, more or less. Worked out well enough for them.”
Malfoy flashed that smirk again. “Point. ‘Mudblood’ is someone whose bloodline is sullied by Muggles. Lesser than those with purer blood, who never interbred with filth.”
“Lesser?”
“Lesser,” said Nott. “The purer the blood, the better you are at magic, for one. Slytherin’s heir will definitely be a pureblood. He’ll be the strongest of us.”
I smiled. This was almost too easy. “So if someone of unknown ancestry showed strong magical ability…?”
“We’d know their blood was pure, yeah.” Malfoy’s eyes glinted with arrogant interest. “So, Tommy boy, what can you do?”
I really hated when they called me that. I channeled that hatred into a familiar rush that built behind my chest wall, bursting like an invisible daggered net onto Nott, each point infused with a simple command: KNEEL.
Nott fell to his knees in front of me, a calm, glazed look on his face.
Malfoy stared. “Nott, what are you doing?”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. “He’s kneeling because I’m making him.”
Malfoy snorted. “Sure you are. You didn’t say anything.”
“Why would I need to say anything?”
“Because that’s how it’s done, of course.”
“Is it? Why?”
“Why, he asks.” Malfoy’s mouth twisted in disdain as he poked at Nott. “Because that’s the way it is, once you get past accidental magic.”
The strain of the invisible daggered net was getting to me, and I let it go. The kneeling boy shook himself and stood up.
Malfoy crossed his arms. “Nott, what were you doing down there?”
Nott looked shaken. “I...I’m not sure.”
“Riddle here says he made you do that.”
Nott’s shoulders tightened. “Of course not.”
“Thought so. Riddle here was just grandstanding. Probably because he can’t do anything.” His eyes grew colder. “Probably because he’s a half-blood.”
I stared at the expensive silver serpentine clasp on Malfoy’s cloak and cursed softly in the snake language so no one would hear how frustrated I was. “Oh, for fuck’ss ssake.”
Malfoy and Nott froze.
Nott recovered first. “Hissing like a snake won’t make us believe you can speak Parseltongue, Riddle. So just give it a rest.”
“Parseltongue?”
Nott snorted. “The language of snakes.”
“What’s so special about that?”
Malfoy was looking at me with some consideration. “Slytherin could speak it. And so will his heir.”
I smiled. “Because of the bloodline.”
“Of course.” Malfoy was definitely reconsidering his assessment of me.
I leaned conspiratorially towards them. “I’ll just keep that in mind, shall I?”
C.
Title: And then there was you
Sometimes, Harry thought, they didn’t really understand what his life had been like before he met them. How lonely he had been, how miserable he had been.
He had never had what you would consider a friend. Dudley had always made sure of that. There had been kids in his classes through the years who had been nice to him, some who were even friendly, but he had never been invited to birthday parties or over for afterschool play dates. He barely even had someone else to talk with during lunch times.
And then he had met them and it was like his world had becoming brighter. Better. He had people who cared about him and who he cared about in return. He had people to spend time with and experience life with.
They told him they understood, that they felt that way too, but he knew they didn’t.
•••
Sometimes, Ron thought, they didn’t really understand what his life had been like before he met them. How sad he had been. How misunderstood he had felt.
His family loved him. He never doubted that. But he was always looked down on. Not intentionally, but he knew. He wasn’t as smart as his brothers. He wasn’t as funny as his brothers. He wasn’t going to aspire to greater things than his brothers.
And then he met them and it was like his world grew more full. He might not be better than them at many things, but he had a place beside them. He had a purpose. He fit in. He was wanted.
They told him they understood, that they felt that way too, but he knew they didn’t.
•••
Sometimes, Hermione thought, they didn’t really understand what her life had been like before she met them. How out of place she felt. How different she was.
She had always known that she hadn’t fit in with the other kids. And not because she was smarter than them. But part of her had always known she was meant for more. And when she discovered she was a witch, it was like everything shifted into place.
And then she met them and they saved her from a troll, and suddenly it was like everything in her world looked different. She had friends who actually liked how smart she was. Friends who depended on her and needed her and cared about her as much as she cared about them.
They told her they understood, they they felt that way too, but she knew they didn’t and it was okay. It only mattered that they had found each other in the end.
D.
Title: Love Makes Fools of Us All -- Or Fighters
Being wise to what men are thinking could give a girl the heebie-jeebies. You have to learn to deal with it though or you go screwy. When they think you’re a sweet doll, they don’t think the worst things about you. They think plenty of things, mind you, just not the worst things. It’s what they think about Tina that scares me. It’s when they want to take away a girl’s power, to punish her for being so “highfalutin,” that I want to apparate us both so far away that no one will ever find us.
You can think I’m a dumb Dora, a gold digger, a flour lover but if you think badly of Tina, you can go chase yourself.
When Jacob saw me in my negligee he was appreciative but he didn’t think to own me. It was sweet how distant his admiration was, like the kinda people who go stargazing. I warmed to him on the spot but it was how he thought about Tina that just bowled me over. He assumed she was a policewoman of some sort and his thoughts were filled with respect mixed with trepidation. He thought she was a woman who knew her onions and he rather hoped he hadn’t run afoul of her.
From that moment on, I just wanted to listen to Jacob nonstop. Newt’s just ducky but he was befuddled by everything but animals. (He was quite befuddled by Tina but that’s another matter entirely.) Jacob was the Real McCoy. An on the level swell fella. No matter what anyone says, I don’t think I‘ll meet another man like him and I’m not giving him up.