Round 3 Challenge #3: The Screening
Grab a soda and some popcorn, movie fans … It’s time for the week three screening!
Welcome all to the World Premiere of "There's a Man who Could Have Been Anything."
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Please remember writers, that you may not vote for yourselves.
Here we go for week three!
Choose your favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote.
Voting ends at 11:59pm Friday, February 13th.
There's a man who could have been anything!
Scene (inspirational movie): The Departed
Action (must include): 100 words EXACTLY, set at a funeral
Theme (additional information): Grief and regrets
1
Title: Best Reasons to Haunt
Author:marmaladefever
Rating: PG
Warnings: character death!
Word Count: 100
Draco sat on top of the stone grave marker, one leg dangling down to swing back and forth. It was a good turn-out. The Minister of Magic had come. Harry Potter had come. Even Weasley had come, his entire brood of six red-haired girls along with him.
But Draco’s eyes were on the woman in the back row, a black veil covering her face. “Tell them what you did, Granger,” he said, floating to her.
Her wet eyes refused to meet his. “I killed you,” she whispered.
“And do you regret it?”
“Of course.” Gray met brown. “I loved you.”
2
Title: He Knew
Author:kate0404
Rating: G
Warnings: Nada
Word Count: 100… is not a lot of words
“I should have told him.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer into his body. It was the only comfort he could give. “He knew,” he said, his voice low and soothing.
Silent tears slid down her cheeks as she stared straight ahead, trying not to look at the ornate casket that held his empty body. “He didn’t,” she murmured before dropping her head into her hands and sobbing. “How could he?”
Draco wrapped his other arm around Hermione’s shaking body and stroked her disheveled hair. “Because he was your father, Love,” he answered. “He knew.”
3
Title: Buried Hearts
Author:kaline_blue
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: character death
Word Count: 100
She didn't join the other mourners at the grave, knowing that they wouldn't want her to be there. They had never accepted her.
But she watched the funeral from a nearby fleck of woods, paying her respects to her ex-boyfriend and grieving his untimely passing, silent tears streaming down her face.
Sometimes she wondered what it would have been like if they had stayed together-if they had dared to defy their friends and families.
Now she would never know.
Grief-stricken and alone, Hermione continued to watch from afar while her heart was being buried alongside Draco Malfoy's cold body.
4
Title: Memoirs
Author:floorcoaster
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 100
It was his turn to speak. All he could think was that more than anything, he wanted to make her laugh. He wanted to see her smile again. He didn’t even care that he was standing in his best dress robes, gathered with her friends around a small pile of dirt in the back garden.
“We can take comfort knowing that wherever he is, he’s terrorizing the spirits of mice, rats, and no few dogs.”
Ginny gasped, Ron scowled, Harry rolled his eyes, and Pansy swatted him-hard.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Hermione squeezed his hand and smiled.
5
Title: If only
Author:artsy_aura
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word Count: 100
She sat with the others at Dumbledore's funeral, but her mind was on another man who had been lost that night. 'Why,' she wondered helplessly, 'why didn't he come to me?' All year he had been pushing her away. It was only after he had gone that Moaning Myrtle told her what the pressures he had been under since summer were. If he had just come to her earlier, maybe they could have gone to The Order for help, but now the only man likely to believe in a Malfoy was dead. Their dreams were as good as. Hermione cried.
6
Title: Things Change
Author:lennanightrun
Rating: PG
Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 100
“Five years, Draco. How?”
Draco looked at the witch standing next to him. In the distance was gathered an assembly of friends and family that she refused to join.
“I don’t think this is the time or place-”
She glared at him.
“I’m a good liar. Good at Occlumency. Makes for a good double-agent.”
“Explain to me how a person betrays everything and everyone they care about and lies for years. He lied to us. To me.”
He hated seeing those tears, but he had no adequate answer for her. “Things change, Granger. People change.”
“Not Ron.”
“Even him.”
7
Title: Could Have Been Anything
Author:teenage_hustler
Rating: PG
Words: 100
Warnings: slightly naughty behaviour mentioned… oh my!
There’s a man who could have been anything.
Hermione’s mind reeled with memories. The hiding; the infinite games of cat-and-mouse; the false identities; the life-ending curse.
And of course, before the chase had begun, there was their kiss in the alleyway. So brief, but so fiery, so intense. It had left Hermione wondering what, if anything, he was trying to say.
Yes, Hermione thought, watching the coffin being lowered. Draco Malfoy could have been anything; a Death Eater… a double agent to the Ministry… the love of her life.
Hermione followed the procession away. I guess I’ll never know now.
8
Title: Hermione’s Regret
Author:wildflower4evr
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character Death
Word Count: 100
“I did everything I could.”
Hermione slowly turned her gaze away from the headstone once she felt Harry’s gentle touch on her shoulder.
“Yet it wasn’t enough.” Her voice was even and held no emotion.
“He went without notifying anyone in The Order.”
She knew Harry was right. Why had Draco been so careless? She should have told him her news; maybe that would have changed everything.
“I’m so sorry, Hermione.”
“Being sorry won’t bring him back.”
“You’ll get through this. You’re the strongest person I know.”
Touching her stomach lightly, she whispered, “Remind me of that in eight months.”
9
Title: With You Always
Author:luvscharlie
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 100
You wish you knew what to say to offer him some modicum of comfort. Sitting at the funeral of his mother there seemed little hope of saying the right thing.
What you know about Narcissa Malfoy is that she was devoted to her family. She would have laid down her life for them without question. You wonder what happened to her. Did she choose to stay behind to watch over Draco in death as she had in life? His constant protector now in spirit, rather than flesh.
You offer him the one comfort that you can. "She is with you."
10
Title: Good at Lying
Author:ianthe_waiting
Rating: G
Warnings: a bit angsty...
Word Count: 100 words exactly.
How was she to know?
Hermione could not keep from staring at his parents, their impassive faces, the tears standing in their eyes.
How was anyone to know when their world was tangled with lies?
It would take a funeral, his funeral, for everyone to know the truth-he was a hero.
She had suspected, felt this truth every time they met. She had felt it in his kiss, in his touch, but his words... Draco was good at lying.
Her eyes moved to the face inside the open casket.
How was she to know how much he loved her?
11
Title: Unforgivable.
Author:midnight_birth
Rating: G
Warnings: Heavy angst. Mention of character death.
Word Count: 100
Their eyes met over the grave. Harry’s were unwavering. Her heart was breaking with regret and betrayal. She had trusted Harry. He was supposed to be their savior. Now, the one who truly tried to save them lay in a coffin, and the one who had betrayed them all walked. No one knew.
She squeezed the wand inside her robes. When they told her once that it took incredible hate and heartlessness to perform an Unforgivable, she didn’t understand. She understood now. Her heart lay in a coffin alongside the one she loved. The void it left screamed for revenge.
12
Title: A Choice Made
Author:mister_otter
Rating: PG
Warnings: AU-ness
Word Count: 100
Clan Weasley stood gathered around the grave, their collective anger blazing with the brightness of a funeral pyre.
As Draco approached, a grieving Molly strode forward.
“How dare you come here!” she shrieked. “Hermione invited you, didn’t she? Sweet Merlin, how I regret that both of you didn’t die instead!”
Without warning, she struck, raking a vicious gash across Draco’s left cheek.
Hermione ran toward him, horrified. “Draco-you’re bleeding.…”
“They’ll never forgive you for asking me to come today,” he told her with icy calm.
“They won't need to.” Taking Draco’s arm, Hermione walked away without a backward glance.
13
Title: The End Before We'd Begun
Author:_vintagebomb
Rating: G
Warnings: Character Death
Word Count: 100
Grey clouds hung heavily in the sky, cautioning all who stood on the damp lawn. Everyone in the attendance, save one man, shed no tears. They were numbed after many loved ones perished in the war.
Draco stood away from the crowd, his stony expression replaced with remorse.
He regretted the last few words he spoke to her.
"I hate you, Granger."
The words reverberated through his mind.
The casket started to lower into the ground. The words lacked the same effect and he regretted that he never had the courage to say it to her face.
"I love you."
14
Title: Left Behind
Author:hathorx
Rating: PG
Warning: quite depressing stuff...
Word count: 100 exactly!
It was raining.
It always seemed to be raining these days.
They lowered his coffin in the ground and then left me alone, staring down at what I had caused. What I should have prevented.
For everyone else he was still Malfoy, the Death Eater, who got what he deserved.
But for me, he was my life. He was my whole.
He’d accepted the mission because he loved me. I should have known not to ask for his help.
The brave are always the first to die.
“I’m so sorry, Draco. I’m so sorry it was you instead of me.”
15
Title: Loss
Author:greenschist
Rating: G
Warnings: mention of pregnancy
Word Count: 100
Hermione smoothed her dress over her belly and eased herself down next to Draco. "It's time to leave for the gravesite, love."
His head dropped to her shoulder, and he cried hot, silent tears against her throat. In his hands, he held a rose from Narcissa's garden, startlingly dark and lush in a room full of white flowers.
Blinking back her own tears, she kissed his hair. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for holidays and birthdays and every day you'll miss her. Most of all, I'm sorry she won't be here to love our child the way she loved you."
16
Title: Ashes, Ashes
Author:dazzled_x
Rating: T
Warnings: character death, not Draco or Hermione, though.
Word Count: 100
“Thank you for coming, Miss Granger,” Lucius Malfoy said quietly, standing next to an ornate gravestone.
“Of course, Mr. Malfoy. Narcissa was a great woman; I wanted to express my deepest condolences to you and your family,” Hermione said solemnly.
“They are appreciated,” he replied.
A silence enveloped them as they watched mourners lay bouquets of flowers around Narcissa’s plot. As it got later, the crowd began to dissipate. Only a young man was left scowling at magical grave diggers, who were levitating soil onto the coffin.
“We thought you would have been our daughter-in-law by now.”
“I did too.”
17
Title: Regrets
Author:bookishwench
Rating: G, nothing objectionable
Warnings: angst
Word Count: 100
Years had passed since he cried. The last time was the day of Charity Babbage’s murder. When the Dark Lord dismissed them, Draco went to his room and sobbed, fist jammed in his mouth to muffle the sound, thinking what it might be like to see Hermione killed. Not until then had he admitted the truth to himself: that he loved her.
Now he was one more anonymous face in a crowd beside a fresh grave, reading her tombstone.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
1979-2021
He’d never told her, and he realized he was shedding tears over his foolish pride, his greatest regret.
18
Title: Reborn From Fire
Author:elegantsundance
Rating: G
Warnings: Not beta-d
Word Count: 100
The aftermath of war is about picking up the pieces. Grief and suffering will mute the joy of victory.
Draco saw her at Snape's funeral. He watched, heart full of sadness and regret, as the girl - woman - he had hated mourned the man he had thought of as a father.
It was in the moment his eyes traced the first tear down her face he knew he loved her. He would protect her as no one had protected him.
As the funerals end, lives are made from the ashes of the fights. He vowed to make her part of his.
ooo
REMEMBER: Vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT THE NAME. It just makes it easier on the mods!
Please leave both a MOST favorite and a LEAST favorite vote. We must have both in order for your votes to count.
Poll round 3 challenge 3
Welcome all to the World Premiere of "There's a Man who Could Have Been Anything."
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
- Which drabble best incorporates the prompt?
- Is the drabble clever, different, fresh? Does it evoke an emotional response (good or bad)?
- Does the drabble contain grammar, canon or spelling errors?
- The movies merely serve as inspiration for the prompts. The requirements and theme are most important.
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Please remember writers, that you may not vote for yourselves.
Here we go for week three!
Choose your favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote.
Voting ends at 11:59pm Friday, February 13th.
There's a man who could have been anything!
Scene (inspirational movie): The Departed
Action (must include): 100 words EXACTLY, set at a funeral
Theme (additional information): Grief and regrets
1
Title: Best Reasons to Haunt
Author:marmaladefever
Rating: PG
Warnings: character death!
Word Count: 100
Draco sat on top of the stone grave marker, one leg dangling down to swing back and forth. It was a good turn-out. The Minister of Magic had come. Harry Potter had come. Even Weasley had come, his entire brood of six red-haired girls along with him.
But Draco’s eyes were on the woman in the back row, a black veil covering her face. “Tell them what you did, Granger,” he said, floating to her.
Her wet eyes refused to meet his. “I killed you,” she whispered.
“And do you regret it?”
“Of course.” Gray met brown. “I loved you.”
2
Title: He Knew
Author:kate0404
Rating: G
Warnings: Nada
Word Count: 100… is not a lot of words
“I should have told him.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer into his body. It was the only comfort he could give. “He knew,” he said, his voice low and soothing.
Silent tears slid down her cheeks as she stared straight ahead, trying not to look at the ornate casket that held his empty body. “He didn’t,” she murmured before dropping her head into her hands and sobbing. “How could he?”
Draco wrapped his other arm around Hermione’s shaking body and stroked her disheveled hair. “Because he was your father, Love,” he answered. “He knew.”
3
Title: Buried Hearts
Author:kaline_blue
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: character death
Word Count: 100
She didn't join the other mourners at the grave, knowing that they wouldn't want her to be there. They had never accepted her.
But she watched the funeral from a nearby fleck of woods, paying her respects to her ex-boyfriend and grieving his untimely passing, silent tears streaming down her face.
Sometimes she wondered what it would have been like if they had stayed together-if they had dared to defy their friends and families.
Now she would never know.
Grief-stricken and alone, Hermione continued to watch from afar while her heart was being buried alongside Draco Malfoy's cold body.
4
Title: Memoirs
Author:floorcoaster
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 100
It was his turn to speak. All he could think was that more than anything, he wanted to make her laugh. He wanted to see her smile again. He didn’t even care that he was standing in his best dress robes, gathered with her friends around a small pile of dirt in the back garden.
“We can take comfort knowing that wherever he is, he’s terrorizing the spirits of mice, rats, and no few dogs.”
Ginny gasped, Ron scowled, Harry rolled his eyes, and Pansy swatted him-hard.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Hermione squeezed his hand and smiled.
5
Title: If only
Author:artsy_aura
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Word Count: 100
She sat with the others at Dumbledore's funeral, but her mind was on another man who had been lost that night. 'Why,' she wondered helplessly, 'why didn't he come to me?' All year he had been pushing her away. It was only after he had gone that Moaning Myrtle told her what the pressures he had been under since summer were. If he had just come to her earlier, maybe they could have gone to The Order for help, but now the only man likely to believe in a Malfoy was dead. Their dreams were as good as. Hermione cried.
6
Title: Things Change
Author:lennanightrun
Rating: PG
Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 100
“Five years, Draco. How?”
Draco looked at the witch standing next to him. In the distance was gathered an assembly of friends and family that she refused to join.
“I don’t think this is the time or place-”
She glared at him.
“I’m a good liar. Good at Occlumency. Makes for a good double-agent.”
“Explain to me how a person betrays everything and everyone they care about and lies for years. He lied to us. To me.”
He hated seeing those tears, but he had no adequate answer for her. “Things change, Granger. People change.”
“Not Ron.”
“Even him.”
7
Title: Could Have Been Anything
Author:teenage_hustler
Rating: PG
Words: 100
Warnings: slightly naughty behaviour mentioned… oh my!
There’s a man who could have been anything.
Hermione’s mind reeled with memories. The hiding; the infinite games of cat-and-mouse; the false identities; the life-ending curse.
And of course, before the chase had begun, there was their kiss in the alleyway. So brief, but so fiery, so intense. It had left Hermione wondering what, if anything, he was trying to say.
Yes, Hermione thought, watching the coffin being lowered. Draco Malfoy could have been anything; a Death Eater… a double agent to the Ministry… the love of her life.
Hermione followed the procession away. I guess I’ll never know now.
8
Title: Hermione’s Regret
Author:wildflower4evr
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character Death
Word Count: 100
“I did everything I could.”
Hermione slowly turned her gaze away from the headstone once she felt Harry’s gentle touch on her shoulder.
“Yet it wasn’t enough.” Her voice was even and held no emotion.
“He went without notifying anyone in The Order.”
She knew Harry was right. Why had Draco been so careless? She should have told him her news; maybe that would have changed everything.
“I’m so sorry, Hermione.”
“Being sorry won’t bring him back.”
“You’ll get through this. You’re the strongest person I know.”
Touching her stomach lightly, she whispered, “Remind me of that in eight months.”
9
Title: With You Always
Author:luvscharlie
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 100
You wish you knew what to say to offer him some modicum of comfort. Sitting at the funeral of his mother there seemed little hope of saying the right thing.
What you know about Narcissa Malfoy is that she was devoted to her family. She would have laid down her life for them without question. You wonder what happened to her. Did she choose to stay behind to watch over Draco in death as she had in life? His constant protector now in spirit, rather than flesh.
You offer him the one comfort that you can. "She is with you."
10
Title: Good at Lying
Author:ianthe_waiting
Rating: G
Warnings: a bit angsty...
Word Count: 100 words exactly.
How was she to know?
Hermione could not keep from staring at his parents, their impassive faces, the tears standing in their eyes.
How was anyone to know when their world was tangled with lies?
It would take a funeral, his funeral, for everyone to know the truth-he was a hero.
She had suspected, felt this truth every time they met. She had felt it in his kiss, in his touch, but his words... Draco was good at lying.
Her eyes moved to the face inside the open casket.
How was she to know how much he loved her?
11
Title: Unforgivable.
Author:midnight_birth
Rating: G
Warnings: Heavy angst. Mention of character death.
Word Count: 100
Their eyes met over the grave. Harry’s were unwavering. Her heart was breaking with regret and betrayal. She had trusted Harry. He was supposed to be their savior. Now, the one who truly tried to save them lay in a coffin, and the one who had betrayed them all walked. No one knew.
She squeezed the wand inside her robes. When they told her once that it took incredible hate and heartlessness to perform an Unforgivable, she didn’t understand. She understood now. Her heart lay in a coffin alongside the one she loved. The void it left screamed for revenge.
12
Title: A Choice Made
Author:mister_otter
Rating: PG
Warnings: AU-ness
Word Count: 100
Clan Weasley stood gathered around the grave, their collective anger blazing with the brightness of a funeral pyre.
As Draco approached, a grieving Molly strode forward.
“How dare you come here!” she shrieked. “Hermione invited you, didn’t she? Sweet Merlin, how I regret that both of you didn’t die instead!”
Without warning, she struck, raking a vicious gash across Draco’s left cheek.
Hermione ran toward him, horrified. “Draco-you’re bleeding.…”
“They’ll never forgive you for asking me to come today,” he told her with icy calm.
“They won't need to.” Taking Draco’s arm, Hermione walked away without a backward glance.
13
Title: The End Before We'd Begun
Author:_vintagebomb
Rating: G
Warnings: Character Death
Word Count: 100
Grey clouds hung heavily in the sky, cautioning all who stood on the damp lawn. Everyone in the attendance, save one man, shed no tears. They were numbed after many loved ones perished in the war.
Draco stood away from the crowd, his stony expression replaced with remorse.
He regretted the last few words he spoke to her.
"I hate you, Granger."
The words reverberated through his mind.
The casket started to lower into the ground. The words lacked the same effect and he regretted that he never had the courage to say it to her face.
"I love you."
14
Title: Left Behind
Author:hathorx
Rating: PG
Warning: quite depressing stuff...
Word count: 100 exactly!
It was raining.
It always seemed to be raining these days.
They lowered his coffin in the ground and then left me alone, staring down at what I had caused. What I should have prevented.
For everyone else he was still Malfoy, the Death Eater, who got what he deserved.
But for me, he was my life. He was my whole.
He’d accepted the mission because he loved me. I should have known not to ask for his help.
The brave are always the first to die.
“I’m so sorry, Draco. I’m so sorry it was you instead of me.”
15
Title: Loss
Author:greenschist
Rating: G
Warnings: mention of pregnancy
Word Count: 100
Hermione smoothed her dress over her belly and eased herself down next to Draco. "It's time to leave for the gravesite, love."
His head dropped to her shoulder, and he cried hot, silent tears against her throat. In his hands, he held a rose from Narcissa's garden, startlingly dark and lush in a room full of white flowers.
Blinking back her own tears, she kissed his hair. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for holidays and birthdays and every day you'll miss her. Most of all, I'm sorry she won't be here to love our child the way she loved you."
16
Title: Ashes, Ashes
Author:dazzled_x
Rating: T
Warnings: character death, not Draco or Hermione, though.
Word Count: 100
“Thank you for coming, Miss Granger,” Lucius Malfoy said quietly, standing next to an ornate gravestone.
“Of course, Mr. Malfoy. Narcissa was a great woman; I wanted to express my deepest condolences to you and your family,” Hermione said solemnly.
“They are appreciated,” he replied.
A silence enveloped them as they watched mourners lay bouquets of flowers around Narcissa’s plot. As it got later, the crowd began to dissipate. Only a young man was left scowling at magical grave diggers, who were levitating soil onto the coffin.
“We thought you would have been our daughter-in-law by now.”
“I did too.”
17
Title: Regrets
Author:bookishwench
Rating: G, nothing objectionable
Warnings: angst
Word Count: 100
Years had passed since he cried. The last time was the day of Charity Babbage’s murder. When the Dark Lord dismissed them, Draco went to his room and sobbed, fist jammed in his mouth to muffle the sound, thinking what it might be like to see Hermione killed. Not until then had he admitted the truth to himself: that he loved her.
Now he was one more anonymous face in a crowd beside a fresh grave, reading her tombstone.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
1979-2021
He’d never told her, and he realized he was shedding tears over his foolish pride, his greatest regret.
18
Title: Reborn From Fire
Author:elegantsundance
Rating: G
Warnings: Not beta-d
Word Count: 100
The aftermath of war is about picking up the pieces. Grief and suffering will mute the joy of victory.
Draco saw her at Snape's funeral. He watched, heart full of sadness and regret, as the girl - woman - he had hated mourned the man he had thought of as a father.
It was in the moment his eyes traced the first tear down her face he knew he loved her. He would protect her as no one had protected him.
As the funerals end, lives are made from the ashes of the fights. He vowed to make her part of his.
ooo
REMEMBER: Vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT THE NAME. It just makes it easier on the mods!
Please leave both a MOST favorite and a LEAST favorite vote. We must have both in order for your votes to count.
Poll round 3 challenge 3