Challenge #80, "...Or Treat?"
Title: The Complete Set
Rating/Warnings: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ron/Hermione. Also features hints of Harry/Ginny, and Seamus makes an appearance.
Summary: Ron comes down to breakfast on Halloween morning and finds a chocolate frog by his plate.
Word Count: 869
Registered purchases?: Parchment!
When Ron Weasley descends from Gryffindor tower the morning of Halloween, stomach grumbling loudly and keen for some porridge and bacon, he finds a chocolate frog in front of his seat.
He blinks around him in surprise. Harry is busy talking to Ginny, something about Quaffles - smarmy git, Ron thinks only half-heartedly - and everyone else around them is busy with their meals. Not one person is looking at him. Puzzled, Ron picks up the chocolate frog and notices the scrap of parchment beneath the chocolate.
Open it, the note urges in flat, indescribable handwriting that tells him absolutely nothing about the sender, I had a good feeling about this one.
“Did you give me this?” Ron asks loudly, poking Harry on the shoulder. He waves the chocolate frog package eagerly in front of his face and completely ignores Harry’s irritated look.
“No, mate,” Harry tells him. “Was it here when you got here?”
“Yeah,” Ron says, confused. “Did you give this to me?” he asks Ginny. It’s a little more difficult to ignore her icy glare, but he manages. He’s had many years of practice.
“No,” Ginny says, her tone a little curt. “But what does it matter? You love those things. And you still collect those damn cards even though you’re no longer nine years old. Free frog. Be happy and shut up.” Ron raises his eyebrows at her curt tone.
“Well, aren’t you pleasant in the morning?” he mutters under his breath. And then he ignores her and tears into the packaging.
Out falls the chocolate frog card, and Ron looks down to find Hengist of Woodcroft staring up at him from his lap.
“Bloody hell,” Ron murmurs in shock.
Ron blinks as he picks up the card, momentarily stunned. He’d been trying to get a Hengist of Woodcroft card for as long as he could remember - it was all he needed for a complete set. He’d gathered about three hundred and fifty Albus Dumbledores in his quest to find one Hengist of Woodcroft. And now here it had miraculously fallen into his lap.
“Have you seen Hermione?” he asks the table at large, not taking his eyes away from the card. Ron honestly can’t think of anyone else who would have the desire to do anything like this for him. He has no clue how she would have found the right package - this one was sealed shut - and he has no clue how she even knew which card he was missing in the first place, but he had a hunch. This had to be her handiwork.
Seamus looks up from his toast curiously. “I think she went to the library,” he tells Ron. “Something about still needing five more inches for her Astronomy paper for Sinastra.”
So she’d been to breakfast before he had. Interesting. But how could she have known?
“Of course she did,” Ron said quietly. Hengist of Woodcroft. How on earth. “Of course she did.”
***
Ron corners Hermione after Charms. She’s preoccupied, rifling around in her bag for something or other, and he waves the card in her face to get her attention.
“Hengist of Woodcroft!” he cries when she blinks at him in surprise.
“What about him?” she asks mildly. Of course Hermione knows Hengist of Woodcroft. She actually listens in Binns’ class, after all. “We’ve never even studied him.” So she knows of him thanks to her own reading, Ron thinks to himself. Ridiculous, that girl.
Ron stares at her, narrowing his eyes. He looks for a little pull of her lips, for a twitch of her eyelashes, for anything that would give her away as the mystery gift giver. But her face is smooth and the only expression upon it is confusion. She had to be - no one else would have - he isn’t wrong, is he?
“I’ve spent half my life looking for a Hengist of Woodcroft card. A Hengist of Woodcroft card completes my set - it’s the last chocolate frog card I needed. And one turned up by my breakfast plate this morning.” He waves the card around again for emphasis. Surely she’d crack and confess.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” she says, grinning now, and she looks so genuinely surprised that he’s starting to doubt himself. Maybe she hadn’t given him the chocolate. Maybe she hadn’t arranged for the Hengist of Woodcroft card to be there. But… if not her, then who? Who else even knows that he needed that card? Who else even pays attention when he rambles about stuff like this? No, it had to be her. Because if it wasn’t… well, what did that even mean? “Who gave it to you?”
“I - I don’t know,” he stammers, his face falling just a smidge. He’s now completely unsure - maybe it really wasn’t her. Maybe the card didn’t mean anything at all.
“Well,” Hermione says, pulling a book of Ancient Runes out of her back, “someone must care about you very much to go to all that trouble.”
One pleased little smile and she’s gone, heading down the hall towards her next class and leaving a very stunned Ron Weasley in her wake. He runs a hand through his hair and blinks after her, gobsmacked.
Bloody hell.
869 words / 30 = 29
+ 5 points for parchment =
34 points for Hufflepuff!
Janna/Hufflepuff
Rating/Warnings: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ron/Hermione. Also features hints of Harry/Ginny, and Seamus makes an appearance.
Summary: Ron comes down to breakfast on Halloween morning and finds a chocolate frog by his plate.
Word Count: 869
Registered purchases?: Parchment!
When Ron Weasley descends from Gryffindor tower the morning of Halloween, stomach grumbling loudly and keen for some porridge and bacon, he finds a chocolate frog in front of his seat.
He blinks around him in surprise. Harry is busy talking to Ginny, something about Quaffles - smarmy git, Ron thinks only half-heartedly - and everyone else around them is busy with their meals. Not one person is looking at him. Puzzled, Ron picks up the chocolate frog and notices the scrap of parchment beneath the chocolate.
Open it, the note urges in flat, indescribable handwriting that tells him absolutely nothing about the sender, I had a good feeling about this one.
“Did you give me this?” Ron asks loudly, poking Harry on the shoulder. He waves the chocolate frog package eagerly in front of his face and completely ignores Harry’s irritated look.
“No, mate,” Harry tells him. “Was it here when you got here?”
“Yeah,” Ron says, confused. “Did you give this to me?” he asks Ginny. It’s a little more difficult to ignore her icy glare, but he manages. He’s had many years of practice.
“No,” Ginny says, her tone a little curt. “But what does it matter? You love those things. And you still collect those damn cards even though you’re no longer nine years old. Free frog. Be happy and shut up.” Ron raises his eyebrows at her curt tone.
“Well, aren’t you pleasant in the morning?” he mutters under his breath. And then he ignores her and tears into the packaging.
Out falls the chocolate frog card, and Ron looks down to find Hengist of Woodcroft staring up at him from his lap.
“Bloody hell,” Ron murmurs in shock.
Ron blinks as he picks up the card, momentarily stunned. He’d been trying to get a Hengist of Woodcroft card for as long as he could remember - it was all he needed for a complete set. He’d gathered about three hundred and fifty Albus Dumbledores in his quest to find one Hengist of Woodcroft. And now here it had miraculously fallen into his lap.
“Have you seen Hermione?” he asks the table at large, not taking his eyes away from the card. Ron honestly can’t think of anyone else who would have the desire to do anything like this for him. He has no clue how she would have found the right package - this one was sealed shut - and he has no clue how she even knew which card he was missing in the first place, but he had a hunch. This had to be her handiwork.
Seamus looks up from his toast curiously. “I think she went to the library,” he tells Ron. “Something about still needing five more inches for her Astronomy paper for Sinastra.”
So she’d been to breakfast before he had. Interesting. But how could she have known?
“Of course she did,” Ron said quietly. Hengist of Woodcroft. How on earth. “Of course she did.”
***
Ron corners Hermione after Charms. She’s preoccupied, rifling around in her bag for something or other, and he waves the card in her face to get her attention.
“Hengist of Woodcroft!” he cries when she blinks at him in surprise.
“What about him?” she asks mildly. Of course Hermione knows Hengist of Woodcroft. She actually listens in Binns’ class, after all. “We’ve never even studied him.” So she knows of him thanks to her own reading, Ron thinks to himself. Ridiculous, that girl.
Ron stares at her, narrowing his eyes. He looks for a little pull of her lips, for a twitch of her eyelashes, for anything that would give her away as the mystery gift giver. But her face is smooth and the only expression upon it is confusion. She had to be - no one else would have - he isn’t wrong, is he?
“I’ve spent half my life looking for a Hengist of Woodcroft card. A Hengist of Woodcroft card completes my set - it’s the last chocolate frog card I needed. And one turned up by my breakfast plate this morning.” He waves the card around again for emphasis. Surely she’d crack and confess.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” she says, grinning now, and she looks so genuinely surprised that he’s starting to doubt himself. Maybe she hadn’t given him the chocolate. Maybe she hadn’t arranged for the Hengist of Woodcroft card to be there. But… if not her, then who? Who else even knows that he needed that card? Who else even pays attention when he rambles about stuff like this? No, it had to be her. Because if it wasn’t… well, what did that even mean? “Who gave it to you?”
“I - I don’t know,” he stammers, his face falling just a smidge. He’s now completely unsure - maybe it really wasn’t her. Maybe the card didn’t mean anything at all.
“Well,” Hermione says, pulling a book of Ancient Runes out of her back, “someone must care about you very much to go to all that trouble.”
One pleased little smile and she’s gone, heading down the hall towards her next class and leaving a very stunned Ron Weasley in her wake. He runs a hand through his hair and blinks after her, gobsmacked.
Bloody hell.
869 words / 30 = 29
+ 5 points for parchment =
34 points for Hufflepuff!
Janna/Hufflepuff