The Final Drabbles and voting!
Behind the cut you will find the drabbles for the Final challenge.
All you have to do is type the word VOTE1 or VOTE2 into the text box, depending on which drabble you liked best.
All voters are asked to base the decisions for their vote upon the quality and the creativity of the writing. You should never vote against a drabble solely because it contains Het, Gen, or Slash elements, or because the chosen pairing isn't something you usually care for.
Voting will remain open until I wake up on Sunday morning, at which point I will tally the votes and announce the winner of this challenge.
Good luck to all our participants, and have fun voting!
#1.
Title: Peculiar Legacy
Author:
Rating: PG
Warnings: -
Featured Characters/Pairings: Harry and Ron and mention of canon deaths
Word Count: 468
Author's Notes: many thanks to my lovely beta, and our ProtoMod, and our NeoMod, and all the other competitors - especially my lovely cofinalist - maybe we should just call it a draw?
I can't believe that it was a year ago that we were last squashed together on this sofa.
I'd just lost Hedwig and had found myself watching Ron and thinking about how now he was my oldest friend and about everything we had been through, together, from being carried away in the pincers of giant spiders, to discovering our first chest hairs, and about how much he meant to me, and how I could never forgive myself if...
No, wait, that sounds like me and Ron were cuddling and weeping on the sofa.
I mean that the three of us were squashed together, on the sofa, when Scrimgeour came to the Burrow.
Before we lost so many other friends.
I can't cope with remembering all our losses, since, not today, so I concentrate on Ron and the baffled frown on his face as he gawps at the representative from the Ministry.
Of course, last year it was all very fraught and mysterious and the Minister, himself, was trying to find out why the great Professor Dumbledore had left three ridiculous bequests to three distasteful school drop outs.
This time it's just me and Ron, and this year's deputation is surreal, in absolutely every way, and I am trying very hard not to laugh.
"I don't want them," Ron says weakly.
"A bequest in a will is a very serious matter, Ron," the Ministry representative says, and Ron snorts loudly.
"Serious?" he demands. "Perce, you can't be serious."
"The will was drawn up correctly and lodged with the Ministry," Percy says helplessly. "He wanted you to have them."
Ron turns to me and looks baffled and I bite my lip and stifle a snigger and he glares at me.
"Shut up, Harry," he says, then turns on his brother. "But what about Harry? Surely Harry should have them."
"Harry is to get the... residue of the estate," Percy says, unrolling the scroll of parchment in his hands. "But the testator was most explicit that it is your devotion to Harry that is being marked by this bequest."
Ron splutters and the tips of his ears turn pink, and I can't remember having a better day.
"Hermione would be furious if you turn them down," I tell him and he makes a strangled noise I take to mean I cannot upset Hermione now, not when I finally know what her mouth tastes like.
He looks back at Percy, who nods encouragingly.
"For his generosity of spirit, his nobility and his selflessness," Percy reads out. "I leave my entire collection of socks to Harry Potter's Wheezy."
Ron blushes and swallows hard and shrugs helplessly.
"C'mon, Ron," I say. "All teasing aside, he's... you know... wearing your old socks for all eternity. This is kinda... nice."
Ron nods.
"Thanks, Dobby," he says.
#2.
Title:After Ron
Author:
Rating:PG-13
Warnings:None
Featured Characters/Pairings:Gen/Friendship Harry/Ginny mentioned
Word Count:491
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who gave input on this thing!
Ron Weasley taught me everything I know about what it means to be a friend. Before Ron, I was an untouchable. My family made sure to remind of what a burden I was on a daily basis. Deep down, I knew I hadn't done anything anything to deserve my loneliness, but I couldn't quite get the things my family said out of my head.
Freak. Abnormal. Unlovable. Useless.
I'd given up trying to earn their love years before.
With Ron, it only took about ten minutes. Not because I was the sodding Boy-Who-Lived and not because I could do anything for him. Just because he liked me.
And once he'd made up his mind that he liked me, that was it. Helping me with my trunk. Sharing sweets. Rolling our eyes over the absurdity of girls. He didn't have much, but what he gave me was worth twice as much as that pile of gold in my vault. He had my back when I stood up to a bully. He rescued me in a flying car. He stood between me and a mass murderer--on a broken leg, no less. He saved my sorry arse more times than I can count.
Best of all, he gave me a family. Brothers, whose affection for me was so firmly established that they felt free to tease me unmercifully. A mum who was as fiercely protective of me as her own kids. A kind, gentle dad who sat me down when I was thirteen and patiently explained the way that things worked between girls and boys with only the colour of his skin betraying his embarrassment.
And if that wasn't enough, he gave me a wife. Fiancee. Almost-wife. Not that he planned on giving me that, but when it happened, he took it far better than I'd feared he would. "If it had to be anyone, it might as well be someone I like," he'd said. "Still, I might have preferred if she'd joined one of those Muggle conbent things."
"Conbent?"
"You know, with all the birds running around dressed like penguins."
"Convent."
"Yeah, that. No blokes allowed."
How can you not love someone like that? I've never really told him, never needed to. But right now, with my heart so full of so many different feelings that I think I'm going to explode--shit, I hate to think of how my life might have turned out if not for him. I could have ended up with fucking Malfoy. Who doesn't even have a sister.
"I love you, mate," I said, looking at him seriously.
Ron grinned. "Now's not the time tell me you fancy a go at my arse, Harry. My sister's waiting downstairs and I don't fancy telling her you're a poof, after all. She's bloody well frightening when she's hacked off."
"Git."
"Scar-headed freak."
"Ginger Minger."
"Shut it. Let's go get you married. And Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you, too, you wanker."
Poll Round 1 Final Vote
All you have to do is type the word VOTE1 or VOTE2 into the text box, depending on which drabble you liked best.
All voters are asked to base the decisions for their vote upon the quality and the creativity of the writing. You should never vote against a drabble solely because it contains Het, Gen, or Slash elements, or because the chosen pairing isn't something you usually care for.
Voting will remain open until I wake up on Sunday morning, at which point I will tally the votes and announce the winner of this challenge.
Good luck to all our participants, and have fun voting!
#1.
Title: Peculiar Legacy
Author:
Rating: PG
Warnings: -
Featured Characters/Pairings: Harry and Ron and mention of canon deaths
Word Count: 468
Author's Notes: many thanks to my lovely beta, and our ProtoMod, and our NeoMod, and all the other competitors - especially my lovely cofinalist - maybe we should just call it a draw?
I can't believe that it was a year ago that we were last squashed together on this sofa.
I'd just lost Hedwig and had found myself watching Ron and thinking about how now he was my oldest friend and about everything we had been through, together, from being carried away in the pincers of giant spiders, to discovering our first chest hairs, and about how much he meant to me, and how I could never forgive myself if...
No, wait, that sounds like me and Ron were cuddling and weeping on the sofa.
I mean that the three of us were squashed together, on the sofa, when Scrimgeour came to the Burrow.
Before we lost so many other friends.
I can't cope with remembering all our losses, since, not today, so I concentrate on Ron and the baffled frown on his face as he gawps at the representative from the Ministry.
Of course, last year it was all very fraught and mysterious and the Minister, himself, was trying to find out why the great Professor Dumbledore had left three ridiculous bequests to three distasteful school drop outs.
This time it's just me and Ron, and this year's deputation is surreal, in absolutely every way, and I am trying very hard not to laugh.
"I don't want them," Ron says weakly.
"A bequest in a will is a very serious matter, Ron," the Ministry representative says, and Ron snorts loudly.
"Serious?" he demands. "Perce, you can't be serious."
"The will was drawn up correctly and lodged with the Ministry," Percy says helplessly. "He wanted you to have them."
Ron turns to me and looks baffled and I bite my lip and stifle a snigger and he glares at me.
"Shut up, Harry," he says, then turns on his brother. "But what about Harry? Surely Harry should have them."
"Harry is to get the... residue of the estate," Percy says, unrolling the scroll of parchment in his hands. "But the testator was most explicit that it is your devotion to Harry that is being marked by this bequest."
Ron splutters and the tips of his ears turn pink, and I can't remember having a better day.
"Hermione would be furious if you turn them down," I tell him and he makes a strangled noise I take to mean I cannot upset Hermione now, not when I finally know what her mouth tastes like.
He looks back at Percy, who nods encouragingly.
"For his generosity of spirit, his nobility and his selflessness," Percy reads out. "I leave my entire collection of socks to Harry Potter's Wheezy."
Ron blushes and swallows hard and shrugs helplessly.
"C'mon, Ron," I say. "All teasing aside, he's... you know... wearing your old socks for all eternity. This is kinda... nice."
Ron nods.
"Thanks, Dobby," he says.
#2.
Title:After Ron
Author:
Rating:PG-13
Warnings:None
Featured Characters/Pairings:Gen/Friendship Harry/Ginny mentioned
Word Count:491
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who gave input on this thing!
Ron Weasley taught me everything I know about what it means to be a friend. Before Ron, I was an untouchable. My family made sure to remind of what a burden I was on a daily basis. Deep down, I knew I hadn't done anything anything to deserve my loneliness, but I couldn't quite get the things my family said out of my head.
Freak. Abnormal. Unlovable. Useless.
I'd given up trying to earn their love years before.
With Ron, it only took about ten minutes. Not because I was the sodding Boy-Who-Lived and not because I could do anything for him. Just because he liked me.
And once he'd made up his mind that he liked me, that was it. Helping me with my trunk. Sharing sweets. Rolling our eyes over the absurdity of girls. He didn't have much, but what he gave me was worth twice as much as that pile of gold in my vault. He had my back when I stood up to a bully. He rescued me in a flying car. He stood between me and a mass murderer--on a broken leg, no less. He saved my sorry arse more times than I can count.
Best of all, he gave me a family. Brothers, whose affection for me was so firmly established that they felt free to tease me unmercifully. A mum who was as fiercely protective of me as her own kids. A kind, gentle dad who sat me down when I was thirteen and patiently explained the way that things worked between girls and boys with only the colour of his skin betraying his embarrassment.
And if that wasn't enough, he gave me a wife. Fiancee. Almost-wife. Not that he planned on giving me that, but when it happened, he took it far better than I'd feared he would. "If it had to be anyone, it might as well be someone I like," he'd said. "Still, I might have preferred if she'd joined one of those Muggle conbent things."
"Conbent?"
"You know, with all the birds running around dressed like penguins."
"Convent."
"Yeah, that. No blokes allowed."
How can you not love someone like that? I've never really told him, never needed to. But right now, with my heart so full of so many different feelings that I think I'm going to explode--shit, I hate to think of how my life might have turned out if not for him. I could have ended up with fucking Malfoy. Who doesn't even have a sister.
"I love you, mate," I said, looking at him seriously.
Ron grinned. "Now's not the time tell me you fancy a go at my arse, Harry. My sister's waiting downstairs and I don't fancy telling her you're a poof, after all. She's bloody well frightening when she's hacked off."
"Git."
"Scar-headed freak."
"Ginger Minger."
"Shut it. Let's go get you married. And Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you, too, you wanker."
Poll Round 1 Final Vote