|
Drabbles A random collection of Harry Potter related drabbles - all exactly 100 words, of course - written in response to various challenges (especially in two drabble communities: HPsquick100 and Snape100.) Scroll down for the most recent [of 29] drabbles.
OOC Challenge on hpsquick100 Ron proudly introduced Hermione to his parents. Molly forced herself to give the girl a muttered greeting, but Arthur Weasley took one look at the gawky little chit's Muggle clothes and Muggle bag and the Muggle sweets she'd brought as a housegift - and he sneered. This would be the last time a Mudblood would be allowed into the Burrow.
OOC Challenge on hpsquick100 "Bad day?" Arthur glanced at the smirking silver-haired man standing in the doorway. "You have no idea." "Oh, but I do," Lucius drawled. "Draco informed me about your . . . houseguest." "I swear they're all changelings," Arthur fumed. "None of my children has the slightest notion of what it means to be a Pureblood." "They shall one day - and that day's coming soon. Speaking of 'coming soon'. . . ." Arthur grinned as Lucius dropped his robes to the floor.
Snape100 Challenge #1: Bah, Humbug! "I'm warning you, Potter. If I see even the slightest hint of a smile on your face, I'll . . . ." "You've already threatened me five times this morning. Come out already." The chamber door flew open and Severus Snape appeared, glaring at his young colleague. Harry choked back a laugh. "Could've been worse. Anyway, you agreed to this forfeit when you made that wager with Albus, right?" Snape glared again. Then Santa's least-jolly helper, wearing an elfin-green suit and a belled cap, stalked off in the direction of the children's party in the Great Hall.
Snape100 Challenge #2: What if [Snape was the DADA instructor]? "You stupid boy!" roared Severus Snape. "Say something!" Clutching his wand, Neville choked out a single word. "Riddikulus!" Instantly the Boggart transformed. The clothing was the same, but it now wore the features of Harry Potter. The DADA instructor smirked "Hmm...one point to Gryffindor, I believe."
Snape100 Challenge #3: Snape's Best Memory The Hall, filled to capacity with students, alumni, and honored guests, erupted with near-deafening cheers at the Headmaster's words. He sat at the high table, clapping politely. Glanced down at the Order of Merlin, First Class, with which he'd been presented earlier that day. Felt Albus's hand, warm on his shoulder. Saw the smiling faces of his Slytherins - so many more than he ever believed would survive to see this day. Severus could not remember a happier time than this moment.
Snape100 Challenge #4: Veritaserum "Just answer the question." "It's not as if I have a choice, is it? I can't bear the little wretches, as you well know." "Even the ones from your own House?" "They're the worst of the lot! Troublemakers, each one." "And what do you think about our dear Headmaster?" "Manipulative. Mad." "Anything else you wish to add?" "He's . . . a magnificent bed partner, if you really must know." "Hah! I knew it! Sprout owes me twenty Galleons." "I should've known not to accept a cup of your 'special' tea, Severus." "[smirking] Yes, you really should have, Minerva."
HP Squick100 Mary Sue Challenge "Five years, I've endured this label," thought Harry. "Now it's *Voldemort's* turn!" He crept silently to the clearing where the Dark Lord would hold court this night. Throwing off his invisibility cloak, Harry slipped his wand out from under his robe, pointed it at Voldemort, and shouted "Marius Suis!" The transformation was immediate. No more the serpent's hiss, the red-tinged glare, the deathly pallor. Voldemort stood amid his followers, smiling perkily, copper tresses framing his perfect face, emerald eyes clear and shining. As expected, the horrified Death Eaters fell upon him and ended his pitiful existence.
Snape100 Valentine's Day Challenge Severus had long resigned himself to the horrors of Valentine's Day, but this year . . . was different. No leprechauns appeared outside Snape's rooms at daybreak singing love songs. The Great Hall was not decorated with pink streamers. Neither his colleagues, nor his Slytherins offered him chocolates. No owls swooped in at meals bearing floral bouquets. The only proof he had that it had, in fact, been Valentine's Day was when Albus's face appeared in Severus's fireplace at midnight to say "I hope you enjoyed today, my dear." Perhaps Albus had been serious when he said he intended to court Severus.
Snape100 Magical Creatures Challenge Severus's second trip to Hogwarts was no different from his first. He sat alone on the Express as he'd done in his first year, and when he ventured into the corridor to purchase a snack with the last of the spending money from his mum, Black cornered him and stole his Chocolate Frog, as he'd done the previous year. The only thing that surprised Severus was seeing leathery horse-like creatures hooked to the carriages at Hogsmeade. None of his schoolmates seemed to notice. He wished he could owl Mum and ask her about them. He wished she was still alive.
Snape100 "One Point to Gryffindor" Challenge Seconds after the shocked Gryffindors and Slytherins finished their Potions class, all the sixth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had heard the news. Five minutes after that, the rest of the students from all four houses had been told. By the time dinner began a half hour later, there was not a teacher, ghost, poltergeist, or enchanted portrait in the castle who didn't know. As Snape swept into the Great Hall to take his customary place at the staff table, Professor McGonagall stopped him. "A point to Gryffindor, Severus?" Snape looked away, his sallow cheeks flushed. "Yes, well . . . happy birthday, Minerva."
Snape100 Color Challenge The wizard seated at the bar was wearing a red hat. An orange ascot. Yellow robes with splashes of green and blue and indigo. Violet slippers. Severus glared at the stranger. He'd reluctantly agreed to meet just one after Dumbledore signed him up for that trial membership in Wand-to-Wand Introduction Services, but . . . no. This was a nightmare. Not even for Albus. Without a word, Severus turned and headed for the door, but was stopped by a familiar voice. "Severus, wait!" He whirled around. Gone was the rainbow-clad wizard, and in his place was Lupin. "The disguise . . . Albus made me!"
McTabby's Drabblethon (aka, Bestia the Sorting Cat's Birthday HP Drabblethon) Professor Flitwick perched on his high stool, reviewing Kingsley's recent scores. "Excellent, Mr. Shacklebolt," he squeaked. "Defense . . . ." "Y'see that Red Cap kick Pettigrew's fat arse, Lucius?" he heard Goyle snort. ". . . Transfiguration . . . ."
Five of them were waiting for him in the dark hallway. ". . . Potions . . . ." " . . . poisoned seventeen Mudbloods *and* got away with it. Brilliant!" ". . . and Charms, of course. Very impressive, indeed. Have you given any further thought to your career plans?" Kingsley nodded. "I'd like to be an Auror, sir."
Snape100 "September 1, 1981: Snape's First Day of Teaching" Challenge That morning, Severus used no magic, employed the services of no House Elves. He polished his boots by hand, calming with each stroke of the soft leather. Brushed imaginary specks of dust off his black wool robes. Buttoned each button - slowly, carefully - until finally he felt ready to face his students, every inch the professional wizarding educator. Ten minutes into his first class, a pair of cauldrons exploded. Spectacularly. Disastrously. Eleven minutes into his first class, he recognized the hysterical voice shrieking at the sobbing third year as his own. Twelve minutes into his first class, Severus no longer cared.
HPSquick100 "Inappropriate Gifts/Snape's Birthday" Challenge It was possible that Headmaster Dumbledore had only the best intentions when - on the first day back from Easter holidays - he announced that, henceforth, there would be a brief celebration of each student's birthday immediately following supper in the Great Hall. It was possible that it was just a coincidence that the first student to be singled out for this honour should be Severus. But it was surely impossible that there was anything well-intentioned - or coincidental - about the four gaudily gift-wrapped packages owled anonymously to Severus at the Slytherin table, each of which contained a single pair of greying underpants
Snape100 "Snape's Last Day of Teaching" Challenge The only freedom Severus was truly anticipating after Voldemort's defeat was freedom from teaching, so when the term finally ended, Severus packed away each Potions ingredient with the happy certainty that he'd never see them - or his students - ever again. That night, however, Albus asked him to remain just one more year. Severus begrudgingly agreed, but made a private vow that even if Albus begged next year, he would not give in. *** "Ronald Weasley! Although it's my last day, it remains unacceptable to run in my classroom! The redhead stared at his teacher. "Sir? Ron Weasley's my great-great-grandfather."
Fan The Vote!: written for Idlerat, who requested a politically-themed drabble. Standing before the happy survivors of Wizarding Britain, Cornelius Fudge paused mid-word, mouth agape and glassy-eyed. Few in the assembled crowd noticed anything wrong with their Minister of Magic. Fewer still had the experience to recognize his difficulty for what it was. "Merlin!" Arthur whispered. "Is that . . . ?" Moody nodded, a grim expression on his scarred face. "Imperio," he growled. They turned back to the podium. Fudge was smiling vacuously beside a suspiciously exultant Dolores Umbridge. " . . . and now that V-V-Vol . . . the evil-doers are gone," Fudge said. "We must turn our energies to . . . making the pie higher!" The always unquestioning crowd cheered.
Written for HP100's "What if?" Challenge. Harry could see the moment of his parents' death as if it had just happened. Other images replaced it: finding a friend on the Hogwarts Express, being named youngest Seeker to play on a house team in a hundred years, winning the House Cup, defeating Voldemort, being awarded the Order of Merlin, falling in love for the first time. Harry smiled. Until a man in black robes and a silver mask stepped between the toddler and the Mirror of Erised. The terrified boy had only a moment to look at his too-still parents one last time before the world disappeared.
Written for Snape100's "Make Snape a movie character" challenge.
Stranger Than Fiction "...no, I don't want any bloody creme brulee. What I want is to know why I seem to have suddenly aged twenty years." "I understand you're upset, Severus," said the headmaster, quickly slipping the special-order Hollywood time turner beneath his robes. "However, I'm sure you'll agree that without the infirmary scene, you're presented in a far more reasonable and sympathetic light, and..." "Headmaster, you know I've always held you in the utmost respect," Snape hissed, "so I'm going to say this in the most polite way I can manage: Get me the hell out of this idiotic Muggle film!" Written for Snape100's Challenge #36: "Wait"
Darkness visible Wait. That's what Severus tells himself as he huddles in a corner of his cold, dark bedroom. Just wait. He whispers the words over and over again, hands clamped tightly over his ears, waiting for that moment each night when silence replaces his father's screams and his mother's tears. Just wait. His face is set in a fierce scowl as he hunches over Dark Arts books stolen from the hidden cabinet in the library. The texts should be years beyond his understanding, but the darkness of his anger has seduced these books into revealing their secrets. Just you wait... ...father. Written for the Lupin100 challenge #8: The Fairy Tale Challenge
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? "...let me come in . . . " "Stop this idiocy immediately," Snape hissed. "...or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!" "Oh, for the love of . . . " Snape opened his door and glared at the man standing in the corridor. "Have you no sense of discretion? A student could . . . ." "Curfew was hours ago, Severus." "Regardless, you . . . " "This game was your idea, as I recall." "Yes, well . . . " Snape flushed. "I was drunk." "Shall I go? I mean, if you've changed your mind." "No! I mean . . . since you're . . .oh, get inside!" Remus licked his lips as he walked through the door. Written for Snape100's Challenge #38: The Fairy Tale Challenge With apologies to Sleeping Beauty
The Gift That Keeps on Giving Young Harry's Naming Day was a day of celebration for the Potters. All afternoon, friends and loved-ones stepped toward the boy's cradle and drew their wands, gifting Harry with blessings for his future - skill in Quidditch, a brave heart, loyal friends. When all but one had conferred their gifts, a greasy-haired, hook-nosed, black-robed figure appeared in the Great Hall. "Look what's slithered in," Sirius muttered. "It's the bad fairy. Who invited you, Snivellus?" "I need no invitation to Hogwarts," Snape sneered. "But I, too, have . . . a gift. When this child is sixteen, he shall receive . . . " "What?". Snape smirked. "A prick." Written for the Snape100 Challenge #39: Snape Plays Quidditch
Off Side They'd begged him to play, saying it would just be a "friendly game," as if that could tempt him to leave the fireside on this blustery afternoon. But it had been a long time since he'd mounted a Quidditch broom, and even now it still came as a surprise to be wanted, so Severus lay his book aside. He hovered over the pitch, waiting for the Snitch to be released, and glanced at his team-mates: Harry, grey-haired, but still a brilliant Seeker. George Weasley and his twin daughters. Desdemona Creevey. Bloody hell. He was playing for Gryffindor! Written for the Snape100 Challenge #40: Snape has a Craving
A Strange Combination It wasn't the first time Severus had disdained breakfast in the Great Hall, but it was the first time Harry felt entitled to comment. "Not hungry?" "No, I'm quite peckish, actually." "Dobby could . . . ." Severus raised an eyebrow. "I'm familiar with the House-Elves? capabilities. However, Dobby cannot procure what I'd like." "Which is?" "A pickle. From Roseman's Delicatessen in Muggle Glasgow." "A pickle?" "Yes . . . and some praline ice-cream." Harry's eyes widened. "You're . . . are we . . . a baby?!" Severus snorted. "Has it escaped your notice during our . . . encounters that we're both male?" "I thought . . . maybe . . . wizards." "No. I just like pickles." "Whew." "Indeed."
Written for the Lupin_100 Challenge #10: Remus and Chocolate.
This memory, bittersweet... He could remember how it felt to be that small boy with too large a secret, sitting alone on the Hogwarts Express and plucking at a thread on his hand-me-down robes, trying to ignore the sweets trolley as it clattered by in the corridor. He could remember, too, how the door had flown open then, and in burst three laughing boys, who made themselves at home in his carriage. The tallest looked him over and after a minute, nodded with approval. "Here!" he said, throwing Remus his first Chocolate Frog. "I'm Sirius." Chocolate would, forever after, taste like welcome.
Written for the Snape 100 Challenge: The letter P (in which each sentence has to begin with that letter)
Prophesy Pants, grey and threadbare, slipping down his too-narrow hips. Pale skin stretched taut across his thin frame - pallid skin flushed and mottled now by rage and shame and fear, laid bare to unsympathetic eyes. Pride (what little had still been his to claim), being swept inexorably away in a never-ending torrent of mocking laughter. Petrificus Totalis never left anyone so paralyzed. Powerless, his screams and curses have no effect as they fall weakly upon the ground beneath him . . . nor do his hot, angry tears. Pettigrew, Lupin, Black, and Potter: someday, he vows, he will see them maimed, cursed, tortured . . . dead.
Written for the Snape 100 Challenge: Headmaster Snape (and yes, before you ask, I am ashamed of myself) The atmosphere in the well-appointed room was heavy with testosterone, not uncommon in such highly-charged gatherings. Lucius sat, waiting for the last of his fellow Slytherins to take their turn, then beckoned Severus from where he knelt before the spent and sated Evan Rosier. When Lucius raised an eyebrow, the boy dropped to his knees for the thirty-eighth time that night, pushed his lank hair behind his ears, took a breath, then leaned in and took Lucius's already-hard prick in his oh-so-talented mouth. Lucius leaned back and closed his eyes. "Oh yessss, Severus," he hissed. "You are the head master!"
Written for the Snape 100 Challenge: Snape has an anonymous penpal. Notes bearing Gryffindor seal; Incendio'd without being read... ***
-Summer, 1976-
Snape, apologies for incident post-O.W.L.s. Reply to discuss terms of truce. ***
-1976-
Snivellus, what you "accidentally" heard today re: Whomping Willow was no accident. Unsafe. Keep away! ***
-1981-
I know you said never to contact you again, but...guess who's Secret Keeper for the Potters. Me! Now do you think Our Lord will let me attend the meetings? ***
-1994-
Black's an animagus.
Written for the Snape 100 Challenge: Snape goes Christmas shopping He waited impatiently as the annoyingly perky Saleswitch wrapped his purchase in red and gold paper. "Here you are, Sir! If there's anything else you . . . ." "No!" he snapped. "This is quite enough." He fumbled in his pocket for a Galleon and, without waiting for change, Apparated back to his Knockturn Alley flat. He'd always loathed Christmas. He still did. But the headmaster . . . hadn't, so, as he'd done each Christmas Eve for two decades, Severus placed festively-wrapped woollen socks on his otherwise-empty chimneypiece. Beside the package, Severus placed a card, now yellowed with age:
Never forget you're loved. ~Albus~
Written for the Snape 100 Challenge: Snape and the Christmas Decorations A welcome outcome, but for the children of his ill-fated House, the timing couldn't have been worse. Potter's defeat of Voldemort on December 23rd guaranteed the Hall's Christmas decorations would be a cacophony of Gryffindor colours, rubbing Red and Gold salt in Slytherin House's wounds. Severus paused in the staff entrance and saw Druscilla Zabini . . . .grinning? He walked inside. Green and silver streamers. Green and silver fairy lights. The tree, its green branches festooned with silver ribbons, silver stars, silver icicles . . . Bewildered, he took his seat. Filius gently squeezed his forearm. "Time for new beginnings, Severus."
Written for the Snape 100 Challenge: The Hero With a Thousand Faces "So you're saying according to this Joseph Cameroon . . . " "Joseph Campbell!" Hermione huffed. "Honestly, it's not that hard a name." "Fine, Campbell. So according to this Muggle, Snape's some kind of architectural hero?" "Archetypal. And yes, exactly! "Mentions Snape by name?" "Of course not, but he fits the profile perfectly! Forging alliances, making enemies, a wise old mentor, a return from darkness . . . there's even something about an elixir to benefit humanity. A potion, Ron." He skimmed through the book, then shook his head. "Completely mental. You just fancy the greasy git!" "That's ridiculous!" Hermione said indignantly . . . and then blushed. Ron groaned.
Written for McTabby's Cat Birthday HP Drabblethon II, with the prompt: "Snape - poisoning pigeons in the park." "Stupids!" Severus snivelled, his lunch money stolen again. "When I'm a Snake Boy, nobody will dare touch me!" That afternoon, he asked his neighbour Tom if he could join his gang. Tom agreed, with one condition. "To prove you're worthy, you must . . . kill a bird." Severus wasn't sure how that proved anything, but when the Snake Boys gathered in the park, Severus fed poisoned bread to a pigeon. As the bird collapsed, the others cheered. "Now you're one of us!" Epilogue: At Midnight "Here," he whispered, thrusting the too-cold bird into the hands of the old geezer next door. "Can you fix it?"
Written as a crossover between the Lupin 100 Challenge "Birthday" and the Snape 100 Challenge "Snape's New Personality Supper had just been served when Severus Snape, smiling happily and wearing crimson robes, entered the Great Hall. A hush fell as everyone turned to watch Snape approach the head table . . . and Remus Lupin. "Sweetheart," Snape murmured, as he leaned over to kiss Remus. "Severus?" Remus whispered. "Is . . . is everything all right?" "Of course. Happy birthday, love." *** (10 Minutes Earlier) *** The Slytherin Common Room was abuzz with the excited voices of First Years. "He really said we should all cast the Cheering Charm?" asked Felicia Zabini. "Uh-huh," Grazia Goyle said. "And when our Head of House says something, Slytherins obey!" Written for the Snape100 challenge: "Pride"
Sometimes a Great Notion Oh, yes . . . there were proud moments in his life, of course. There was that moment in which he could take real pride in the fact that he had single-handedly saved three of the young students in his charge (typical reckless Gryffindors, each one of them) from both a murderous Azkaban escapee and a dangerous werewolf (at no little risk to himself). That moment in which he could believe he would finally receive an Order of Merlin (First Class). That moment in which he could see himself as a hero. It was just that those moments always passed so damned quickly.
Chit chat, Critiques, Gratuitous Praise: beth-h @ mrks.org |