Ficlets: Socks and The London Underground
Posting the first responses to yesterday's meme. It may take me a few days to finish, but thanks to everyone who stopped by to leave prompts!
For liseuse: Socks
Characters: Albus Dumbeldore and a student
Gen, 450 words
Albus Dumbledore's passion for socks dates back to the 1930s, during his first stint teaching at Hogwarts. As head of his house, he decided to give out small gifts to the half-dozen students who were staying at school over the winter holidays. After much deliberation, Albus quashed all amusing and inappropriate ideas and marched down to Hogsmeade to buy each a pair of red-and-gold socks that had been charmed to keep the wearer's toes warm.
One of his favorite first-years, a very serious Muggle-born girl, had never heard of charmed socks before. When she unwrapped her gift she looked at him with an expression approaching wonder.
"My feet'll never be cold?" she asked, running her fingers over the fabric, feeling the thrum of the charm.
"Never," he said, and the little girl solemnly replaced her black wool socks with the ones she'd been given.
"Thank you, sir," she said simply, but Albus saw the flash of red-and-gold beneath her robes throughout the winter, and he knew the gift was appreciated more than she had said.
*
Later, when that little girl came back to teach at Hogwarts in the 1950s, he recounted the story, and she laughed in remembrance. "Dear god, I think I wore those all winter," Minerva McGonagall said. "My feet must have smelled awful."
"Didn't you use a cleaning charm?" Albus asked.
"Do any first-years use Scourgify voluntarily?" she asked, looking at him pointedly over the rims of her glasses.
Shortly afterward it was Christmas again, and Minerva had her own gift for Albus, a pair of grey, woolen socks. Albus turned the socks over in his hands, rubbing the scratchy fiber, unconsciously feeling for signs of a charm.
"Muggle wool, Albus, not magic," she said.
He looked at her, puzzled.
"More practical," she said, with a brisk nod. "Don't you get a bit of a tingle in your toes at the end of the day when you wear the charmed socks? Especially if you bought an inexpensive pair?"
Now that she mentioned it, Albus realized that the toes on his left foot were, indeed, almost asleep.
"Try them," Minerva said, and Albus pulled off his charmed socks and tried on the new ones.
"Better?" Minerva asked, and Albus wiggled his toes experimentally. "They'll take some getting used to," he said, slipping his shoes back on. "But thank you, my dear Minerva."
Albus Dumbledore owns several dozen socks, charmed and Muggle. The magical socks come in brighter colors and more outrageous patterns, but the grey woolen ones make him walk a bit more lightly. Sometimes when he is wearing them he thinks about the young Minerva and feels as if he is eleven again himself.
For such_heights: The London Underground
Characters: Remus, Sirius, Peter
Gen, background Remus/Sirius, 350 words
For all that Sirius complained about his mother, he rarely mentioned his father, and Remus knew almost nothing about him. "He trades house-elves for a living, Remus. What else do you need to know?" Sirius asked, turning away and pulling the blankets with him. Remus lay sleepless for quite a while after that, thinking.
Remus never learned much about Orion Black, but he memorized the few facts that Sirius let slip. Sirius' father had been in Slytherin, Head Boy his year, and he had an office in Diagon Alley, close to Gringotts. He was allergic to Floo power, and he arrived home punctually every evening at 7:05, sneezing.
One day shortly before Orion Black died, they were on an Order errand in Muggle London, and Sirius took Remus and Peter from Diagon Alley out to East London on the Underground, purchasing tickets for all three of them and guiding them through two changes of train.
"I didn't know you'd ever been on the Underground before, Sirius," Remus said. They were walking back to the station in a dull, chilly rain, and Remus wished they had thought to charm their Muggle raincoats before they left.
"My father took me on the Tube on a weekend sometimes, when I was young," Sirius said, and Remus stopped in his tracks.
"Really?" Remus asked. "Just for fun?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, shrugging.
"You don't think that's interesting?" Remus asked, curiosity piqued.
"No," Sirius said. "Why?" He rolled his eyes at Peter, and Peter took the hint.
"Why are we standing here?" Peter asked, pulling his hood over his eyes. "As long as he can get us back to Diagon Alley, I don't care."
Peter surreptitiously transfigured himself an umbrella, they walked on to the station. The moment was lost, and Remus and Sirius didn't speak of Orion Black again, even when an obituary appeared that autumn in the Daily Prophet. Remus' heart ached he saw the article in the newspaper, but Sirius didn't mention it, and that day passed like any other.
The only other thing that Remus ever learned about Sirius' father he discovered by chance a dozen years later, when he found a portrait of Orion Black hidden in a tiny study on the third floor at Grimmauld Place: he looked exactly like his son.
Remus has moved out of Grimmauld Place now, but he likes to imagine Sirius and his father riding the Underground together, side by side, both smirking at him, impatient with his sentimentality.
For liseuse: Socks
Characters: Albus Dumbeldore and a student
Gen, 450 words
Albus Dumbledore's passion for socks dates back to the 1930s, during his first stint teaching at Hogwarts. As head of his house, he decided to give out small gifts to the half-dozen students who were staying at school over the winter holidays. After much deliberation, Albus quashed all amusing and inappropriate ideas and marched down to Hogsmeade to buy each a pair of red-and-gold socks that had been charmed to keep the wearer's toes warm.
One of his favorite first-years, a very serious Muggle-born girl, had never heard of charmed socks before. When she unwrapped her gift she looked at him with an expression approaching wonder.
"My feet'll never be cold?" she asked, running her fingers over the fabric, feeling the thrum of the charm.
"Never," he said, and the little girl solemnly replaced her black wool socks with the ones she'd been given.
"Thank you, sir," she said simply, but Albus saw the flash of red-and-gold beneath her robes throughout the winter, and he knew the gift was appreciated more than she had said.
*
Later, when that little girl came back to teach at Hogwarts in the 1950s, he recounted the story, and she laughed in remembrance. "Dear god, I think I wore those all winter," Minerva McGonagall said. "My feet must have smelled awful."
"Didn't you use a cleaning charm?" Albus asked.
"Do any first-years use Scourgify voluntarily?" she asked, looking at him pointedly over the rims of her glasses.
Shortly afterward it was Christmas again, and Minerva had her own gift for Albus, a pair of grey, woolen socks. Albus turned the socks over in his hands, rubbing the scratchy fiber, unconsciously feeling for signs of a charm.
"Muggle wool, Albus, not magic," she said.
He looked at her, puzzled.
"More practical," she said, with a brisk nod. "Don't you get a bit of a tingle in your toes at the end of the day when you wear the charmed socks? Especially if you bought an inexpensive pair?"
Now that she mentioned it, Albus realized that the toes on his left foot were, indeed, almost asleep.
"Try them," Minerva said, and Albus pulled off his charmed socks and tried on the new ones.
"Better?" Minerva asked, and Albus wiggled his toes experimentally. "They'll take some getting used to," he said, slipping his shoes back on. "But thank you, my dear Minerva."
Albus Dumbledore owns several dozen socks, charmed and Muggle. The magical socks come in brighter colors and more outrageous patterns, but the grey woolen ones make him walk a bit more lightly. Sometimes when he is wearing them he thinks about the young Minerva and feels as if he is eleven again himself.
For such_heights: The London Underground
Characters: Remus, Sirius, Peter
Gen, background Remus/Sirius, 350 words
For all that Sirius complained about his mother, he rarely mentioned his father, and Remus knew almost nothing about him. "He trades house-elves for a living, Remus. What else do you need to know?" Sirius asked, turning away and pulling the blankets with him. Remus lay sleepless for quite a while after that, thinking.
Remus never learned much about Orion Black, but he memorized the few facts that Sirius let slip. Sirius' father had been in Slytherin, Head Boy his year, and he had an office in Diagon Alley, close to Gringotts. He was allergic to Floo power, and he arrived home punctually every evening at 7:05, sneezing.
One day shortly before Orion Black died, they were on an Order errand in Muggle London, and Sirius took Remus and Peter from Diagon Alley out to East London on the Underground, purchasing tickets for all three of them and guiding them through two changes of train.
"I didn't know you'd ever been on the Underground before, Sirius," Remus said. They were walking back to the station in a dull, chilly rain, and Remus wished they had thought to charm their Muggle raincoats before they left.
"My father took me on the Tube on a weekend sometimes, when I was young," Sirius said, and Remus stopped in his tracks.
"Really?" Remus asked. "Just for fun?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, shrugging.
"You don't think that's interesting?" Remus asked, curiosity piqued.
"No," Sirius said. "Why?" He rolled his eyes at Peter, and Peter took the hint.
"Why are we standing here?" Peter asked, pulling his hood over his eyes. "As long as he can get us back to Diagon Alley, I don't care."
Peter surreptitiously transfigured himself an umbrella, they walked on to the station. The moment was lost, and Remus and Sirius didn't speak of Orion Black again, even when an obituary appeared that autumn in the Daily Prophet. Remus' heart ached he saw the article in the newspaper, but Sirius didn't mention it, and that day passed like any other.
The only other thing that Remus ever learned about Sirius' father he discovered by chance a dozen years later, when he found a portrait of Orion Black hidden in a tiny study on the third floor at Grimmauld Place: he looked exactly like his son.
Remus has moved out of Grimmauld Place now, but he likes to imagine Sirius and his father riding the Underground together, side by side, both smirking at him, impatient with his sentimentality.