HP: Scars [037 - Sound]
Title: Scars
Author: runespoor7
Prompt: 037 - Sound
Characters/Pairings: Andromeda, various.
Rating: R
Words: 1600
Summary: Andromeda has never liked scars.
Andromeda has never liked scars.
At first the idea simply doesn't enter her mind - do you know a lot of eleven-year-old girls who've given the fact a lot of thought, unless they're personally involved? Andromeda doesn't have any scar, so she's never stopped to consider the option. Then, as her horizon starts to expand, what with Hogwarts and Muggle-borns who sport the occasional mark, since Muggle medicine can't make marks go away as easily as magic, then she's witnessed the reality of scars, and she's still felt a overwhelming lack of concern for those.
Of course classes and Quidditch can occasionally be dangerous, so she sees classmates walking around with an arm in a cast, or with their eyebrows temporarily singed, and sometimes she finds herself reflecting that scars really would be ugly, if they never disappeared.
The very first time she sees a scar up close is on Kingsley Shacklebolt's shoulder. He's training to be an Auror and she's barely passed her OWLs, they run into each other twice in the same afternoon, things develop up to the point that she can examine the scar freely as Shacklebolt is sleeping or dozing under her. So examine it she does. It looks like some fine cloth has been torn and messily patched up again; it's thicker than two of her fingers and as long as her forearm, and sinews from his back, along to his shoulder, then down and around his biceps. It looks tender, yet when she fingers it, as lightly as a feather, there's no reaction, not even a shudder.
Taken objectively, it's very ugly, not only because it speaks of a curse nasty enough to tear through flesh and leave a permanent sign, but because, it's… She wrinkles her nose. Not harmonious. Somewhat obscene. Vaguely mocking her choice of a lover.
In context, there's no denying that her eyes are drawn to the scar, this physical landmark on the perfectly smooth surface of his body. When he moves, she can see the muscles rippling more clearly than ever. It makes her hot, and she comes to have a handful of fantasies involving this scar, but at the same time, when she detaches her hormones from interfering with her judgement, she can't help but regret that it is, aesthetically, not pleasing to the eye. Or to the touch.
So, besides making her aware that strategically-placed scars can be hot, the whole thing doesn't change her opinion of scars by a long way.
She doesn't care what that makes her, selfish or shallow or whatever. Literally. She just doesn't care, even when she hears the whispers of "It's okay to have scars" some of her classmates are getting because their spells to remove their pimples has more long-lasting effects, apparently, than getting your jaw fractured by a vicious Bludger. And falling from your broom.
This doesn't mean she doesn't notice, though, when Bellatrix's swift changing of clothing in the summer flashes glimpses of - something - as they're discussing something or another in Bella's room. Andromeda doesn't comment at once, because Bella's always been a prude, even around her own sister, but she knows she didn't just hallucinate this glimpse of - something - on her own, so Andromeda just bides her times until next time she has a view.
(Andromeda is part of the Duelling Club herself, and a damn good one too if you wanted her opinion, but she has a very distinct style of fighting - all of her Duels are over in four spells or less. They tend to be composed much more of dancing around her opponent, watching each other, waiting for an opportunity, and using all her best talking-skills to keep them from concentrating - then suddenly striking with - nine times out of ten - Stupefy, than Bella's. Bellatrix likes it all-out, with lots of torture spells that make her opponent scream in agony but that still leave the opportunity to retaliate, and thus win the fight.
As such, Bellatrix is much more likely than Andromeda to get hit by anything nasty.)
The marks on Bella's back look like small burns, and they're obviously a souvenir from some Duel or another. It's okay to have scars, Narcissa mutters when she sees them, and Bella pretends to shrug but looks reassured anyway, and Andromeda says nothing.
She, personally, doesn't see what's so okay or not-okay about scars on other people, but to have Bella's appearance disgraced so easily by so stupid a thing as a little Duel is just plain mind-numbing fucking stupid. Which is why it's probably nice of Narcissa to have said that, for Bella's sake, since Andromeda wouldn't have. She wouldn't have thought about it.
She doesn't care if that makes her cold or unfeeling or a bitch, because she's just not bent on questioning herself that way.
So there are the whispers that say that it's okay to have scars, but it doesn't look okay to her at all, when she stands in front of her mirror naked to try and imagine what her seventeen-years-old body would look with some scars on it, she really does shudder at the idea, grossed out that those sorts of things could be happening to it, without her having a say in it. It is unacceptable.
She doesn't like scars and she doesn't like the whispers either. The lies that people try to convince themselves of are always the worst, and these annoy her in a dark, skin-prickling way.
(Yeah, so of course there are other things in her life. Real things that matter much more than her dislike of scars, like getting discreetly laid and finally showing up the Tonks boy, and friends with suddenly dead parents.)
It doesn't make her oblivious, hard as she pretends otherwise.
She sees the scars, even when they're being hidden - scars from Duels, from classes, from Quidditch. They all look like scars from the things that are happening, no matter the excuse, and Andromeda was a self-centred brat at eleven, but she'd have noticed if that many seventh-years went around looking like they do now.
How stupid do they think everybody else is, that's a question she doesn't want to ask. It would break the fragile consensus of pseudo-peace at Hogwarts, and she's not entirely convinced open warfare in the corridors would be such a better option.
Yet she sees it all.
The bruises on Sirius' face.
The scarf Carrow keeps around her neck.
Prewett's flinch when you bump into him.
(She keeps Duelling, sending her opponent out cold right away, blocking or parrying the curses her best adversaries can send flying her way. It's swift, graceful, ruthless. Flawless.)
Rabastan's paling when he leans on his right arm.
(It's been a while since she last heard the whispers now.)
(Been a while since she's left Hogwarts.)
Evan with his pretty blue eyes exploded.
Croaker with half her face shredded off.
Ted's hands burnt all over with silvery cuts.
Regulus' body.
(And that is why Andromeda wants nothing to do with scars, curses scars or mundane ones.)
She doesn't care about what they say about her, her skin unblemished, unmarred, unmarked as if she's never wielded her wand in combat. There are more terrible things than choosing to let other people kill and maim each other without helping them, like not being able to pick a side because the people you love are mostly on the one you can't condone - the vials of Dreamless Sleep potion are just as numerous on her bedside table as they are in the room of any fighter, which is really just another way to say that sticking to neutrality is not much easier than going out to defeat an enemy, 'cause that's the words they've taken to use now, when it translates, for Andromeda, to kill a childhood friend.
Despite all the reasons she'd have to - maybe one of them will come after her one day, which concerns her more than all questions of opposing values - she doesn't try to persuade herself it would be in her best interest to join this organisation Sirius is a part of, no matter how persistently he brings up the subject. The more she fights, the more she risks being noticed. Instead, she trains to be able to disarm and Stupefy an adversary in less than three seconds, something she must be the only one in England to do, now Aurors are allowed to kill on a simple suspicion.
She's never liked scars, and the more this is going on, the more she knows she's right, and that time she doesn't care if she has destroyed all she's ever known by her attempts to stay neutral, if both Sirius and Bellatrix view her as an enemy, because both wear scars and she doesn't.
She decides that she likes what it says about her - even if people think it's 'coward'.
When she walks down Diagon Alley - and she's the only one on her own, the only one who's not obviously in a hurry to leave the street, the only one talking a walk just because she feels like it and not because she has urgent business requiring her presence there - she hears the whisper; of course the boy it's meant to relieve can't have even left Hogwarts.
It's okay not to have scars, and it's said in the exact same manner that means that it's really not, but because you'll have them soon enough, people will pretend it is.
Andromeda can't stop her laughter from bubbling out, bursting out, harsh and unstoppable, and it echoes through the silent street, rolling and rolling. People are shivering.
Author: runespoor7
Prompt: 037 - Sound
Characters/Pairings: Andromeda, various.
Rating: R
Words: 1600
Summary: Andromeda has never liked scars.
Andromeda has never liked scars.
At first the idea simply doesn't enter her mind - do you know a lot of eleven-year-old girls who've given the fact a lot of thought, unless they're personally involved? Andromeda doesn't have any scar, so she's never stopped to consider the option. Then, as her horizon starts to expand, what with Hogwarts and Muggle-borns who sport the occasional mark, since Muggle medicine can't make marks go away as easily as magic, then she's witnessed the reality of scars, and she's still felt a overwhelming lack of concern for those.
Of course classes and Quidditch can occasionally be dangerous, so she sees classmates walking around with an arm in a cast, or with their eyebrows temporarily singed, and sometimes she finds herself reflecting that scars really would be ugly, if they never disappeared.
The very first time she sees a scar up close is on Kingsley Shacklebolt's shoulder. He's training to be an Auror and she's barely passed her OWLs, they run into each other twice in the same afternoon, things develop up to the point that she can examine the scar freely as Shacklebolt is sleeping or dozing under her. So examine it she does. It looks like some fine cloth has been torn and messily patched up again; it's thicker than two of her fingers and as long as her forearm, and sinews from his back, along to his shoulder, then down and around his biceps. It looks tender, yet when she fingers it, as lightly as a feather, there's no reaction, not even a shudder.
Taken objectively, it's very ugly, not only because it speaks of a curse nasty enough to tear through flesh and leave a permanent sign, but because, it's… She wrinkles her nose. Not harmonious. Somewhat obscene. Vaguely mocking her choice of a lover.
In context, there's no denying that her eyes are drawn to the scar, this physical landmark on the perfectly smooth surface of his body. When he moves, she can see the muscles rippling more clearly than ever. It makes her hot, and she comes to have a handful of fantasies involving this scar, but at the same time, when she detaches her hormones from interfering with her judgement, she can't help but regret that it is, aesthetically, not pleasing to the eye. Or to the touch.
So, besides making her aware that strategically-placed scars can be hot, the whole thing doesn't change her opinion of scars by a long way.
She doesn't care what that makes her, selfish or shallow or whatever. Literally. She just doesn't care, even when she hears the whispers of "It's okay to have scars" some of her classmates are getting because their spells to remove their pimples has more long-lasting effects, apparently, than getting your jaw fractured by a vicious Bludger. And falling from your broom.
This doesn't mean she doesn't notice, though, when Bellatrix's swift changing of clothing in the summer flashes glimpses of - something - as they're discussing something or another in Bella's room. Andromeda doesn't comment at once, because Bella's always been a prude, even around her own sister, but she knows she didn't just hallucinate this glimpse of - something - on her own, so Andromeda just bides her times until next time she has a view.
(Andromeda is part of the Duelling Club herself, and a damn good one too if you wanted her opinion, but she has a very distinct style of fighting - all of her Duels are over in four spells or less. They tend to be composed much more of dancing around her opponent, watching each other, waiting for an opportunity, and using all her best talking-skills to keep them from concentrating - then suddenly striking with - nine times out of ten - Stupefy, than Bella's. Bellatrix likes it all-out, with lots of torture spells that make her opponent scream in agony but that still leave the opportunity to retaliate, and thus win the fight.
As such, Bellatrix is much more likely than Andromeda to get hit by anything nasty.)
The marks on Bella's back look like small burns, and they're obviously a souvenir from some Duel or another. It's okay to have scars, Narcissa mutters when she sees them, and Bella pretends to shrug but looks reassured anyway, and Andromeda says nothing.
She, personally, doesn't see what's so okay or not-okay about scars on other people, but to have Bella's appearance disgraced so easily by so stupid a thing as a little Duel is just plain mind-numbing fucking stupid. Which is why it's probably nice of Narcissa to have said that, for Bella's sake, since Andromeda wouldn't have. She wouldn't have thought about it.
She doesn't care if that makes her cold or unfeeling or a bitch, because she's just not bent on questioning herself that way.
So there are the whispers that say that it's okay to have scars, but it doesn't look okay to her at all, when she stands in front of her mirror naked to try and imagine what her seventeen-years-old body would look with some scars on it, she really does shudder at the idea, grossed out that those sorts of things could be happening to it, without her having a say in it. It is unacceptable.
She doesn't like scars and she doesn't like the whispers either. The lies that people try to convince themselves of are always the worst, and these annoy her in a dark, skin-prickling way.
(Yeah, so of course there are other things in her life. Real things that matter much more than her dislike of scars, like getting discreetly laid and finally showing up the Tonks boy, and friends with suddenly dead parents.)
It doesn't make her oblivious, hard as she pretends otherwise.
She sees the scars, even when they're being hidden - scars from Duels, from classes, from Quidditch. They all look like scars from the things that are happening, no matter the excuse, and Andromeda was a self-centred brat at eleven, but she'd have noticed if that many seventh-years went around looking like they do now.
How stupid do they think everybody else is, that's a question she doesn't want to ask. It would break the fragile consensus of pseudo-peace at Hogwarts, and she's not entirely convinced open warfare in the corridors would be such a better option.
Yet she sees it all.
The bruises on Sirius' face.
The scarf Carrow keeps around her neck.
Prewett's flinch when you bump into him.
(She keeps Duelling, sending her opponent out cold right away, blocking or parrying the curses her best adversaries can send flying her way. It's swift, graceful, ruthless. Flawless.)
Rabastan's paling when he leans on his right arm.
(It's been a while since she last heard the whispers now.)
(Been a while since she's left Hogwarts.)
Evan with his pretty blue eyes exploded.
Croaker with half her face shredded off.
Ted's hands burnt all over with silvery cuts.
Regulus' body.
(And that is why Andromeda wants nothing to do with scars, curses scars or mundane ones.)
She doesn't care about what they say about her, her skin unblemished, unmarred, unmarked as if she's never wielded her wand in combat. There are more terrible things than choosing to let other people kill and maim each other without helping them, like not being able to pick a side because the people you love are mostly on the one you can't condone - the vials of Dreamless Sleep potion are just as numerous on her bedside table as they are in the room of any fighter, which is really just another way to say that sticking to neutrality is not much easier than going out to defeat an enemy, 'cause that's the words they've taken to use now, when it translates, for Andromeda, to kill a childhood friend.
Despite all the reasons she'd have to - maybe one of them will come after her one day, which concerns her more than all questions of opposing values - she doesn't try to persuade herself it would be in her best interest to join this organisation Sirius is a part of, no matter how persistently he brings up the subject. The more she fights, the more she risks being noticed. Instead, she trains to be able to disarm and Stupefy an adversary in less than three seconds, something she must be the only one in England to do, now Aurors are allowed to kill on a simple suspicion.
She's never liked scars, and the more this is going on, the more she knows she's right, and that time she doesn't care if she has destroyed all she's ever known by her attempts to stay neutral, if both Sirius and Bellatrix view her as an enemy, because both wear scars and she doesn't.
She decides that she likes what it says about her - even if people think it's 'coward'.
When she walks down Diagon Alley - and she's the only one on her own, the only one who's not obviously in a hurry to leave the street, the only one talking a walk just because she feels like it and not because she has urgent business requiring her presence there - she hears the whisper; of course the boy it's meant to relieve can't have even left Hogwarts.
It's okay not to have scars, and it's said in the exact same manner that means that it's really not, but because you'll have them soon enough, people will pretend it is.
Andromeda can't stop her laughter from bubbling out, bursting out, harsh and unstoppable, and it echoes through the silent street, rolling and rolling. People are shivering.