Dicing With the Devil; The Ruler of Bulgaria; In Memoriam; Under the Sword
Four more, with more obscure characters this time.
Title: Dicing With the Devil
Characters/Pairings: Eldred Worple
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
Everyone thought that Eldred Worple was a fool for living among vampires. It was far too risky, they said. No sane man would do it. You might as well well dice with the devil.
Eldred simply smiled, tolerating both wizards' derision and vampiric patronage.
People might have understood if they had known the meaning of his surname. For “Worple” is from the German word “wurfel,” which means “dice”--an old name for a dice-maker or a gambler.
And what gambler would turn away from the sweet, intoxicating hazard of risk to live a life of dull and vapid safety?
[N.B. I apologize to any German speakers. There is an umlaut missing from above the u in "wurfel," and I don't know how to create a u with an umlaut over it.]
***
Title: The Ruler of Bulgaria
Characters/Pairings: Viktor Krum
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
People joked about Viktor's name all the time. Not his first name. Everyone knew that Viktor meant victory. But Krum--that stirred laughter, especially among English speakers, who routinely made horrid puns.
Viktor could have told them that Krum was the name of a Bulgarian khan who, around the time of the Founders, had created Bulgaria's first written laws. He also fought the Byzantine Empire...and won.
Many Durmstrang teachers were Dark wizards. So he said nothing.
Nevertheless, he secretly hoped that if he could not fight beside Hermione in her war, perhaps he could help her build the peace.
***
Title: In Memoriam
Characters/Pairings: Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
Fleur discovered something very peculiar after Cedric's death.
Diggory sounded like an English name. But it wasn't. As Fleur learned, it went back to the medieval poem The Romance of Sir Degaré, the tale of a brave and comely young knight who competes in the lists and wins the hand of a princess-only to have the prize snatched away, for she is his mother.
Still, the name Diggory was not so strange. Cedric could have been of Norman blood. Many English were. What chilled Fleur was the word that "Degaré" was derived from.
Egaré.
Strayed.
Lost.
[N.B. Again, my apologies, this time to French speakers. There's supposed to be an accent over the capital letter E in "égaré." Again, I don't know how to create an accented capital letter.]
***
Title: Under the Sword
Characters/Pairings: Damocles Belby
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
Everyone praised Damocles Belby for his wisdom in inventing Wolfsbane Potion. He won awards, grants and medals. Werewolves praised him as their savior.
No one ever asked why he'd invented it.
Damocles had never thought of the dangers of living with lycanthropy until he had been bitten. Then, with transformation hanging over his life like his namesake's sword, he did everything in his power to push that sword away.
He had done his best. The Wolfsbane Potion kept the wolf's ferocity at bay.
But he could not neutralize lycanthropy and become human again.
The Sword of Damocles was still there.
Title: Dicing With the Devil
Characters/Pairings: Eldred Worple
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
Everyone thought that Eldred Worple was a fool for living among vampires. It was far too risky, they said. No sane man would do it. You might as well well dice with the devil.
Eldred simply smiled, tolerating both wizards' derision and vampiric patronage.
People might have understood if they had known the meaning of his surname. For “Worple” is from the German word “wurfel,” which means “dice”--an old name for a dice-maker or a gambler.
And what gambler would turn away from the sweet, intoxicating hazard of risk to live a life of dull and vapid safety?
[N.B. I apologize to any German speakers. There is an umlaut missing from above the u in "wurfel," and I don't know how to create a u with an umlaut over it.]
***
Title: The Ruler of Bulgaria
Characters/Pairings: Viktor Krum
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
People joked about Viktor's name all the time. Not his first name. Everyone knew that Viktor meant victory. But Krum--that stirred laughter, especially among English speakers, who routinely made horrid puns.
Viktor could have told them that Krum was the name of a Bulgarian khan who, around the time of the Founders, had created Bulgaria's first written laws. He also fought the Byzantine Empire...and won.
Many Durmstrang teachers were Dark wizards. So he said nothing.
Nevertheless, he secretly hoped that if he could not fight beside Hermione in her war, perhaps he could help her build the peace.
***
Title: In Memoriam
Characters/Pairings: Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
Fleur discovered something very peculiar after Cedric's death.
Diggory sounded like an English name. But it wasn't. As Fleur learned, it went back to the medieval poem The Romance of Sir Degaré, the tale of a brave and comely young knight who competes in the lists and wins the hand of a princess-only to have the prize snatched away, for she is his mother.
Still, the name Diggory was not so strange. Cedric could have been of Norman blood. Many English were. What chilled Fleur was the word that "Degaré" was derived from.
Egaré.
Strayed.
Lost.
[N.B. Again, my apologies, this time to French speakers. There's supposed to be an accent over the capital letter E in "égaré." Again, I don't know how to create an accented capital letter.]
***
Title: Under the Sword
Characters/Pairings: Damocles Belby
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 100
Challenge: What's in a Name
Everyone praised Damocles Belby for his wisdom in inventing Wolfsbane Potion. He won awards, grants and medals. Werewolves praised him as their savior.
No one ever asked why he'd invented it.
Damocles had never thought of the dangers of living with lycanthropy until he had been bitten. Then, with transformation hanging over his life like his namesake's sword, he did everything in his power to push that sword away.
He had done his best. The Wolfsbane Potion kept the wolf's ferocity at bay.
But he could not neutralize lycanthropy and become human again.
The Sword of Damocles was still there.