[Harry Potter] Drabble: Matter of Time
/flails. Did not expect to win this week because Kat's entry was great and the other entry was equally as great - and yeah. Look, I'mma distract you with shiny banner!
Title: Matter of Time
Word Count: 353
Challenge: crossgendrabble - Horace Slughorn/Tom Riddle, prompt: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Leo F. Buscaglia
Rating: G
Warnings: Written a bit fast and just introspection. Not too happy with it, but I still promised I’d enter and I don’t back out.
Horace sits one evening in the dungeons of Hogwarts, safe and surrounded by luxury in his awarded rooms as Potions Master. His thoughts stray to Tom Riddle, of the boy he had once presumed to know. The same boy that would have him choose between what is right and what is easy - or so old Albus Dumbledore insists over and over again, reminding him how protected he is here at Hogwarts.
He thinks of that one evening, so long ago, when he had made a grave miscalculation and allowed words to flow so easily from his mouth about Dark Magic. He realizes now he should never how spoken of such things, but back then he had been too caught up in the talent Riddle possessed. He wonders, too, whether or not it would have made a difference if he had seen through the boy’s careful rouse. If someone - anyone - had confronted and genuinely cared about the boy, would he have been a different Tom Riddle? Horace was many things, but he did not believe anyone was born with evil in their hearts. It grew there, like a seed in the dark with only the barest of lights to help it grow.
If there had been a single smile, a touch and kind word that could have spared the boy, he wishes he could have seen it, could have used it to help instead of hinder. But it is far too late for what could have been done. He accepts, is willing to move on. Dumbledore, though, keeps bringing up that one moment where it all went wrong, insistent on seeing the memory for himself.
Horace wonders, late at night with crystallized pineapple in one hand, if he will show his most shameful memory. He doesn’t think so, but every time he sees Harry Potter, sees the same darkness lurking behind his eyes, he forces himself to reconsider what he thinks he will never do. He may not have been able to help Tom Riddle, but Harry Potter he could. It’s only a matter of time, he thinks, and lets the matter rest.
Title: Matter of Time
Word Count: 353
Challenge: crossgendrabble - Horace Slughorn/Tom Riddle, prompt: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Leo F. Buscaglia
Rating: G
Warnings: Written a bit fast and just introspection. Not too happy with it, but I still promised I’d enter and I don’t back out.
Horace sits one evening in the dungeons of Hogwarts, safe and surrounded by luxury in his awarded rooms as Potions Master. His thoughts stray to Tom Riddle, of the boy he had once presumed to know. The same boy that would have him choose between what is right and what is easy - or so old Albus Dumbledore insists over and over again, reminding him how protected he is here at Hogwarts.
He thinks of that one evening, so long ago, when he had made a grave miscalculation and allowed words to flow so easily from his mouth about Dark Magic. He realizes now he should never how spoken of such things, but back then he had been too caught up in the talent Riddle possessed. He wonders, too, whether or not it would have made a difference if he had seen through the boy’s careful rouse. If someone - anyone - had confronted and genuinely cared about the boy, would he have been a different Tom Riddle? Horace was many things, but he did not believe anyone was born with evil in their hearts. It grew there, like a seed in the dark with only the barest of lights to help it grow.
If there had been a single smile, a touch and kind word that could have spared the boy, he wishes he could have seen it, could have used it to help instead of hinder. But it is far too late for what could have been done. He accepts, is willing to move on. Dumbledore, though, keeps bringing up that one moment where it all went wrong, insistent on seeing the memory for himself.
Horace wonders, late at night with crystallized pineapple in one hand, if he will show his most shameful memory. He doesn’t think so, but every time he sees Harry Potter, sees the same darkness lurking behind his eyes, he forces himself to reconsider what he thinks he will never do. He may not have been able to help Tom Riddle, but Harry Potter he could. It’s only a matter of time, he thinks, and lets the matter rest.