Voting - Week 37!
Voting: Week 37!
We have so many awesome drabbles this week! Thank you all for participating and getting them in on time. Big, modly hugs for all!
Please read the voting rules:
1. Do not vote for yourself and do not ask others to vote for you.
2. If you entered the challenge, you are REQUIRED to vote.
3. Vote for one MOST and one SECOND favorite drabble.
4. Please vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, not the name of it. Just makes it easier :)
5. Please remember the prompt when voting: That's what cousins are for.
6. Voting will close Wednesday at 11:59pm EST
Results will be posted Thursday. Have fun!
1. Author:
Title: Why Me?
Words: 244
Rating: T, PG-13.
Warnings: Implied sexual relations.
Rose’s fingers were moving slowly through Lily’s hair. Neither was breathing quite steady yet. Lily’s leg was in between Rose’s, her head tucked underneath Rose’s chin, her breaths hot again Rose’s neck. “I never thought it could feel like that,” Lily whispered, the sound echoing in the former silence of Lily’s bedroom.
“The girls in my year… We always did things like this,” Rose whispered, kissing the top of Lily’s head with a smile. “They taught me how amazing that it can be.”
Lily hesitated at that, suddenly wondering how she measured to all the girls that Rose had been with before. After a moment, Lily voiced her concerns. “Why would you want to with me, then?” she asked softly. “Is it because we’re home for the summer? Better me than anybody experienced?”
Chuckling quietly, Rose shook her head and kissed Lily’s hair again. “No. I thought that I could teach you some wonderful things and then maybe we could have some fun when we went back to Hogwarts. How would you like that?”
“I think that I could be okay with that,” Lily murmured, thankful that Rose couldn’t see the blush forming on her cheeks. “But why me? Why would you want to teach me of all people?”
Rose tilted Lily’s chin up so that she could look the younger girl in the face before putting on a smirk worthy of her best friend Scorpius. “Oh, Lily. This is what cousins are for.”
2. Author:
Title: there is more than history written in our palms
Words: 238
Rating: pg-13; for language
-
Rose is intelligent. Smart, brilliant even but she isn’t perfect. Sometimes she opens her mouth and the words that come out are words that she can’t explain. Or words that she can explain, but not why she’s said them. She opens her mouth and try as she might, the truth always slips out, like it’s been bubbling under the surface for days, just waiting for the chance to escape.
“I sometimes hate being a Weasley.”
In the mirror, Lily stares at her and exhales a stream of bluish smoke; Lily with the thick mascara, small, almost fragile wrists and long auburn hair drawn up in a messy bun. She tilts her head and looks at her cousin curiously, as if seeing her for the first time.
(and maybe she is)
“Try finding your name in every goddamn page of our history book,” replies Lily with another sweet exhale as she rests her arms on her crossed knees. “It aint much better, Rosie.”
Rose laughs, and it’s someone who understands, so the sound is real. It’s been a long time since she heard that, it’s been a long time since she’s spoken with no fear of the consequences.
“Fuck the Weasley’s,” Rose says with a smile.
“Fuck the Potter’s.”
They grin at each other, their usual haggard lines disappearing in the unused creases of their faces making them look decades younger. They are only seventeen and fifteen.
3. Author:
Title: A Dating Dilemma
Words: 430
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Lily was sitting in the common room as Rose stumbled in, hopping on one foot and whimpering pathetically. "Oh, Merlin, oh, Merlin." Rose's copper curls hung limply over her face, and her robes looked rather disheveled.
"Rosie, are you seriously all right?" Lily slid off the sofa and rushed to Rose's side, quirking an eyebrow up curiously. "You look really frightening right now."
Rose regarded her balefully. "Oh, thank you, Lily. You're such a help."
Lily snorted in frustration and swept Rose's hair behind her ears, pulling it up into a loose ponytail and holding it in place with one of her own hair ribbons. "I only wondered why you're hopping about like a madwoman."
"I've lost my shoe," Rose replied petulantly, and Lily looked down to see that Rose was indeed wearing only one shoe, a glittering silver heeled thing. "I can't exactly glide down the stairs in one heel."
"It's beautiful, though," said Lily, straightening Rose's robes idly. "What's the occasion?"
Rose moaned in misery. "I've got a date," she said, shaking her head, "and it's all gone wrong, Lily, I can't find anything! My best robes are missing, as well as my favorite shoe, and my hair is just terrifying, and I'm a mess, I'm an absolute mess."
Lily laughed lightly and placed her hands on Rose's shoulders, squeezing affectionately. "Rose Weasley, a mess? Never. Not my smart, beautiful, collected cousin."
Rose's face flushed deep red, and she raised her eyebrows doubtfully at Lily. "Beautiful, collected cousin? Hardly. I'm always falling down the stairs and dropping my books. I don't know why Scorpius even looked at me, never mind asked me out on a real date."
Lily grinned and hugged Rose to her chest tightly. "Scorpius Malfoy is going to lose his very ability to do magic after I'm through with you, he'll be so smitten."
Rose made an odd noise that was somewhere between a sob and a guffaw. "You're going to give me a makeover, Lily?"
"Not really a makeover," Lily replied, running her hands through Rose's wild curls, "just more of a proper showing off of your natural beauty."
Rose laughed completely this time, bestowing Lily with a gentle kiss on the cheek. "That's very sweet of you," she said happily, beaming; the sight of it made Lily's heart swell. "I'm lucky to have you around to clean me up."
"Of course," said Lily cheerfully. She knelt down and slipped off Rose's one shoe, cradling it in her hands as she led Rose up the stairs, "After all, this is what cousins are for."
4. Author:
Title: Tea
Words: 447
Rating: PG
Warnings: None whatsoever. Enjoy!
Rose sat at the bottom of the garden, toes buried in the grass and head buried in her hands. She knew they’d react like this, she’d had a list as long as her arm, chock-full of incredibly good reasons why neither of her parents should ever be told about her new boyfriend; Scorpius.
Obviously Albus Snitching-Severus Potter hadn’t had the same idea. Or the same list, for that matter.
She got why they were angry- all the usual parental concerns topped off with the fact that she’d kept Scorpius a secret for so very long. Oh yes, and her dad loathed Mr Malfoy for a tonne of reasons she’d never fully understand, no doubt some of them exaggerated by time and the usual Weasley flair for embellishment.
Her dad was fuming, stalking round the house muttering something about family loyalty and Gryffindor pride. Her mum though, was worse. She had on that silent disappointment face that Rose hadn’t seen since she was about twelve, the time she’d pushed Hugo off his broom and into the back garden pond.
It would have been an understatement to say Rose was feeling pretty crappy about herself right about now.
Suddenly the back door was opening, the gravel path crunching underfoot and before Rose had a chance to hide herself amongst the shrubbery, she was no longer alone.
Lily sat down on the lawn, setting down a warm mug of tea by Rose’s knee as she cast her a worried glance.
“How long have you been out here?”
“Couple of hours. Are they still mad?”
“Yep.”
Rose sighed glumly. “Your brother’s a moron.”
“Which one?” They shared a wry smile. “They’ve both got verbal diarrhoea. Al says sorry by the way.”
“Yeah, well, tell him he can stuff it.”
“You don’t mean that,” Lily grinned.
Rose rolled her eyes. “I will one day.”
The girls sat in silence for a moment. Lily fiddled with a strand of auburn hair.
“If it means anything, I think Scorpius is alright,” she muttered.
Rose cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Sure,” Lily nodded. “Not to mention he’s ruddy gorgeous.”
Rose blinked slowly for a second and then suddenly she was laughing, bending double at the waist as Lily sniggered beside her. Oh what did it matter if her parents were having a tantrum? Rose wasn’t about to change her mind about Scorpius just because her dad threw a hissy fit. And Lily was right; the boy was too good-looking for words.
Still laughing, Lily clambered to her feet. “I’d best get home before I’m accused of siding with the black sheep.”
Rose grinned. “Thanks for the tea.”
“S’alright,” Lily smiled. “Afterall, that’s what cousins are for.”
5. Author:
Title: You’ve Got a Friend in Me
Words: 456
Rating: PG
Warnings: nothing.
Two nearly identical brown eyes locked gazes late one night, one pair much older and slightly tired and the younger pair surprisingly bloodshot. The tired brown eyes closed then with contemplation before her head moved forward, giving the okay for the obviously tipsy, younger girl into her room.
“What happened Lily?” the older redhead asked, closing the door, making sure no one saw her cousin.
“Neal Zabini’s birthday party,” Lily whispered, a smile lighting up her freckled face.
Rose rolled her eyes; she and the rest of her family desperately wanted Lily to leave the troublemaker, but the youngest Potter, stubborn as always, wouldn’t listen. Rose should have just let Aunt Ginny find Lily in this drunken state, but when the eighteen-year-old noticed how happy yet … sad and vulnerable the sixteen-year-old looked, Rose realized that her cousin wanted to enjoy a good memory of hers, if only for a while. Sighing, Rose went over to her drawer and tossed extra pajamas to Lily, who put it on smoothly despite her current condition.
Rose sat behind Lily - who hid her slightly stained clothes under Rose’s bed - and brushed out the girl’s flaming red hair. When they were younger, Rose had had a talent for braiding all of her cousin’s hair and they often would ask her for help right before bed. Rose’s hands were gentle and she never pulled too tight, allowing Lily to relax for a few minutes.
“I know that nobody approves of Neal,” Lily whispered softly. “But you can’t baby me forever.”
“We don’t mean to,” Rose said, finishing the long braid. “We just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Lily looked at her bare feet sullenly. “You won’t rat me out?”
Rose shook her head no and rubbed Lily’s arm. “No. I’ll give you Scorpius and Albus’s favorite hangover potion in the morning.”
Lily looked at her seriously. “Scorpius misses you. I could tell by the way he asked me about you all night. Why can’t you forgive him?”
It was Rose’s turn to look at her feet with sadness. “It’s too much to deal with; he was always more invested than I ever was.”
Lily nodded, not wanting to push her favorite cousin into a relationship, but she wished that Rose would realize how much Scorpius cared for her. “I’ll keep him off your back as much as I can.”
“Thank you,” Rose said with a slight smile.
Lily hugged Rose tightly, hiding her face in the older girl’s shoulder. “This is what cousins are for: having each other’s back.”
“Forever,” Rose whispered, hugging Lily back and closing her eyes, enjoying the sounds of the wind outside the Burrow and the smell of firewhiskey, muggle laundry detergent, and Lily’s gardenia-scented shampoo.
For some reason it's not letting me put in a poll, so please vote in the comments. All comments are screened!