Ficlet Reprise
The Curse of Life
Author: Ziasudra
Rating: G
Word Count: 371
Challenge: Written for the spoil_me_hbp Community Challenge.
Challenge Theme: Waiting
Disclaimer: Nothing in the HP universe is mine.
Summary: Long life was a curse.
Guess what? I'm posting this one here ^_^ (x-posted to the comm also)
The Curse of Life
Long life was a curse.
Basilisks live thousands of years. Confined to the castle’s sewage system, the Basilisk of Hogwarts often lamented its longevity.
Maturing from a snakeling into a young Basilisk as Salazar Slytherin’s familiar was the best hundred years of its life. The Basilisk fondly remembered how its Master cared for it, spoke to it, and gave its existence purpose-to wait patiently for the heir of Slytherin, to one day join forces with its Master’s Chosen One, to help restore pureblood pride in the magical world.
And so waited it did, sparing but a moment’s grief over its Master’s death, leaving the past and the present behind in order to look to the future. It dared not feel overly exhilarated over its rapid growth during the first three centuries of its life; it refused to succumb to boredom over the next five hundred years. It waited patiently. The day would come.
The day did come, the promise fulfilled in one Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Then, before anything registered, the Basilisk was commanded to attack a schoolgirl. A mudblood victim of convenience, deserving of death.
Or did she? When the girl died as a result of its gaze, the Basilisk sensed not the purification of the wizarding bloodline, but the destruction of something magical. With death came the extinguishment of magic-a soul that could no longer wield a wand nor utter an incantation.
The Basilisk of Hogwarts had instantaneously become a monster. A monster. Not a champion ushering in a new era of pureblood wizardry, but a monster.
Its old Master had deceived it. Its new Master had ruthlessly used it.
Tom Riddle disappeared. But the Basilisk knew better: he would return. Slave to a thousand-year-old promise, it had no option but to wait for the reappearance of its new Master. It desperately wanted to stop waiting, to stop everything before it morphed into a bloodthirsty executioner, eager for its next kill. But the likelihood of a middle-aged Basilisk dying before a wizard would was close to zero.
The walls of Hogwarts spoke of a Half-Blood Prince. It wondered if that person would come before Riddle rises again.
Long life was a curse, the Basilisk found out too late.
===
A/N: Written for the spoil_me_hbp challenge, hence the obligatory Half-Blood Prince reference. Let me know if this works.
.
Author: Ziasudra
Rating: G
Word Count: 371
Challenge: Written for the spoil_me_hbp Community Challenge.
Challenge Theme: Waiting
Disclaimer: Nothing in the HP universe is mine.
Summary: Long life was a curse.
Guess what? I'm posting this one here ^_^ (x-posted to the comm also)
The Curse of Life
Long life was a curse.
Basilisks live thousands of years. Confined to the castle’s sewage system, the Basilisk of Hogwarts often lamented its longevity.
Maturing from a snakeling into a young Basilisk as Salazar Slytherin’s familiar was the best hundred years of its life. The Basilisk fondly remembered how its Master cared for it, spoke to it, and gave its existence purpose-to wait patiently for the heir of Slytherin, to one day join forces with its Master’s Chosen One, to help restore pureblood pride in the magical world.
And so waited it did, sparing but a moment’s grief over its Master’s death, leaving the past and the present behind in order to look to the future. It dared not feel overly exhilarated over its rapid growth during the first three centuries of its life; it refused to succumb to boredom over the next five hundred years. It waited patiently. The day would come.
The day did come, the promise fulfilled in one Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Then, before anything registered, the Basilisk was commanded to attack a schoolgirl. A mudblood victim of convenience, deserving of death.
Or did she? When the girl died as a result of its gaze, the Basilisk sensed not the purification of the wizarding bloodline, but the destruction of something magical. With death came the extinguishment of magic-a soul that could no longer wield a wand nor utter an incantation.
The Basilisk of Hogwarts had instantaneously become a monster. A monster. Not a champion ushering in a new era of pureblood wizardry, but a monster.
Its old Master had deceived it. Its new Master had ruthlessly used it.
Tom Riddle disappeared. But the Basilisk knew better: he would return. Slave to a thousand-year-old promise, it had no option but to wait for the reappearance of its new Master. It desperately wanted to stop waiting, to stop everything before it morphed into a bloodthirsty executioner, eager for its next kill. But the likelihood of a middle-aged Basilisk dying before a wizard would was close to zero.
The walls of Hogwarts spoke of a Half-Blood Prince. It wondered if that person would come before Riddle rises again.
Long life was a curse, the Basilisk found out too late.
===
A/N: Written for the spoil_me_hbp challenge, hence the obligatory Half-Blood Prince reference. Let me know if this works.
.