The Weekly Drabble Challenge - Fantastic Beasts! - Results

[Magical Maeve]

Time to get out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

This drabble is about the wierd and wonderful creatures to be found in the Potterverse.

Choose a creature either from canon or from the aforementiond book, throw in any character from canon and away you go.

You may choose any era, and country, anything, basically. This is all about the beast or creature and how they can cause problems or solve dilemmas.

Usual rules apply...



Drabbles must be between 100 and 499 words.

All MNFF's normal standards apply, including grammar, spelling and formatting. Points may be deducted for badly presented drabbles.

You can earn 5 points for your house for entering no matter how many drabbles you post. The winner will be awarded an additional 20 house points, second place 15
and third 10.

Challenge closes Friday 23rd June.

Multiple drabbles must be posted in one post. Just edit your post to include later drabbles. Points will be deducted if authors make more than one post in the thread.


Use this form...

Author Name:
House: [you must enter this or you will not gain points]
Title:
Word count:
Warnings:


If you have any questions, please ask them in the "The
Question Corner" thread, NOT this one. This is for the
drabbles only.

[the nutty imp]

Author Name: the nutty imp
House: Gryffindor
Title: Little Owl
Word count: 296
Warnings: none

Deemed to be too little, often dismissed yet he always wanted to be a delivery owl - to have a wizard of his very own and be useful. Unfortunately wizards usually choose the bigger and stronger owls, he never stood a chance.

Night was a time for owls to hunt and no wizards would visit their forest at this time … at least no wizard of good repute. A man flew in; he was atop a hippogriff. His robes tattered, his scraggy black hair uncombed, and he was as pale as a vampire. However, what piqued his interest was the letter on the man’s hand. He intends to ask for an owl to make a delivery.

The other owls eyed this wizard warily, yet the little owl can clearly see that this man was not as dangerous as he seems, for surely if the hippogriff allowed him to ride on it’s back, he would not be evil… The other owls hooted their word of caution as the little owl eagerly approached the man on the hippogriff.

The wizard raised his eyebrow as the little owl eagerly twittered about and tugged upon the letter. “So you want the job?”

The little owl bit the wizard’s finger in what he thought to be in an affectionate manner, for he would finally get his chance.

The wizard winced slightly as the overly enthusiastic owl bit him. He studied the little owl and smiled. He opened his letter and added a line on it and gave it to the small owl. “Harry Potter, Hogwarts Express.”

==================

The little owl hooted happily and gave his new master an affectionate bite; he yelped and becan to muttle low curses. ‘Pigwidgeon, he was named. Pigwidgeon he is from here forth.’

[Periwinkle]

Author Name: Periwinkle
House: Hufflepuff
Title: A Kneazle's Sightings
Word count: 349
Warnings: None


His heavy presence could be felt minutes before he entered the shrouded room; head held high, eyes glittering sharply. His physical health had not decreased with age -- he briskly walked up to the pantry, opening it harshly. He stopped for a moment, discerning between the many assorted bottles lined up carefully, before taking his pick.

He sat down warily on the couch, eyes restless. Darting them about, they settled briefly on the door before continuing their survey of the damp surroundings. Taking a swig from the flask, his hand rubbed his pocket conspicuously. The window rattled, making him flinch. His face was tight, his actions edgy.

The creature watched him with narrowed eyes, taking note of his every movements. Lazily switching his lion-like tail, it ambled away from its perch atop the cabinet. As light as a cat, nimbly leaping from it's hiding spot, it sauntered over to the pale man, eyes focused wholly on his face.

The man took no notice of the animal and continued jerking at every possible sound. Circling his object of interest amusingly, biding it's time before attacking, the beast twitched his long ears out of habit. The man was staring at nothing in particular, his eyes shadowed by his fear. The creature intended to scare him, and scare him thoroughly. The unsavory man deserved it.

It pounced dangerously, claws out, hissing and landed on the man's lap. The man gave out a yell, his eyes widening to impossible limits. Jumping to his feet, the animal slid to the floor.

Breathing hard, the man only stared wide-eyed as the kneazle flicked it's large tail side to side angrily. It leapt at the man's foot, claws ripping the cloak there to shreds.

"Get off me," the man cried, trying to banish the fiery brute from where it was attached. The kneazle only hissed louder, it's claws digging deeper. The man hopped, thinking fast. His lord couldn't see him like this.

As if on cue, Voldemort walked in, a disgusted look on his features. After a few moments of silence, he asked, his voice deathly still, "Rodolphus, what are you doing?"

[Lily_writes]

Name: Lily_writes
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Through the Eyes of a Dragon
Word Count: 416
Warning(s): None

Set in the first task (GoF).

She heard the crowd make a great deal of noise and looked down, only to notice a boy with black hair standing alone. She appraised him carefully, flailing her tail around in a warning.

He's only raised his arm and shouted something, she thought. I won't breathe fire, yet.

Then, a long stick came from somewhere distant. Another man was shouting as the boy climbed on the stick. She watched the boy ascend and fly far above her head. She turned her head skyward, immediately suspicious of the boy's intentions, to watch his every move. He dove and her maternal instincts told her he was after her eggs.

I'll show him to steal my eggs, she thought determinedly. So she opened her mouth and shot fire at him, but she missed as he pulled up.

The crowd made more noise as did the shouting man, but she didn't care, and neither did the boy since he flew back above her head.

He was flying in circles now as she watched. She opened her mouth once more to release more flames. The boy, however, swooped down, but she was ready and swung her tail up.

She heard more yells and screams as she felt one of the spikes catch on something. With some satisfaction, she knew her eggs were safe for now.

He flew above her head a third time, now moving from one side to the other.

What is that boy up to now? she wondered in exasperation, allowing her neck to stretch up toward him.

He moved a little higher as she brought her neck out as far as possible before roaring.

What do you want with me? she thought, shooting some more fire at him.

She spread out her large, black wings and came up off the ground a little. Then, the next thing she knew, the boy was gone.

Where is he? she thought angrily. Where did he go?

She heard the crowd make more noise than before and saw the boy flying over the mass of people. The men that had brought her from her home ran over to her, and then the world around her went black. When she woke up, she was back home.

Maybe it was only a dream, she thought.

She brought her tail around her and noticed something on one of the spikes. She lifted her tail up to eye level and saw it was a piece of a strange dark material. Like the boy had worn.

Title: Fred and George's New Pet
Word Count: 238
Warning(s): None

"Hey mum, look what we found!" Fred called as he ran into the kitchen.

George followed at his heels, carrying what appeared to be a hedgehog. Mrs. Weasley turned from the stove to look down on the eight-year-old twins.

"Can we keep it mum?" George pleaded. "Please?"

"I don't know," she began. She looked at the creature George was holding up, regarding it with some suspicion. "Do you know what it even is?"

"Sure we do, it's a hedgehog," Fred told her. "We even asked Charlie, and he said it was a hedgehog."

Their mother looked at the little animal in George's hands. Then glanced between Fred and George, both boys looking very hopeful.

"Take it outside and feed it something," Mrs. Weasley relented finally. "I must be crazy..."

Grinning widely the boys took their new pet, whom they promptly named Percy, and set him on the ground. Fred got a dish from the kitchen and put some orange peels on the plate. The little animal immediately went berserk. It began to rip up their mother's flowers in the garden. The boys ran after it, hollering.

"Percy, come back here!" Fred yelled.

"What's gotten into you, Percy?" George shouted.

"I'm right here, you two," Percy announced from the back door. "Mum asked me to check on you..."

He stopped upon seeing his brothers chasing the little creature.

"MUM!" he hollered. "Fred and George gave food to a knarl!"

[lily_16_evans]

Name: lily_16_evans
House: Slytherin
Title: Ode to Uric the Odd Ball
Word Count: 459
Warning(s): some visuals ;)

Uric sat at his desk under bright lights humming along to the song coming for the lime green bird beside him. He reached over and plucked a feather out of the backside of the fwooper.

“Today is the day my darling!” He set up a parchment and quill to begin his letter. “They think you’re dangerous, and your voice has made me insane! Ha! You’ve only done my health good and I’m going to prove it to that ridiculous Ministry.”

He dipped the newly picked quill into the ink and scrawled a messy letter stating his experiment and the final product after three long months with his bird. He attached his hardly legible letter to the foot of a barn owl waiting on his widow.

“Come my pet, we’ll make some lunch for dinner.” Uric stumbled into the kitchen with his bird swaying on his shoulder.

***

After a few weeks of waiting for a reply, Uric awoke to find a handsome owl sitting on is bed side table waiting with its leg outstretched. He eagerly ripped open the letter and with a smile on his face he turned to the top of his headboard where his precious fwooper was resting, still singing her beautiful song.

“I have to go on an outing today! Unfortunately they refused to invite you along.” He sighed a heavy sigh. “Oh well, might as well leave now.” He jumped out of bed, not bothering to change what he was wearing, he grabbed his toupee, and before you could remind him of his shoes he had apparated out of his apartment and into the ministry.

As he walked through the Atrium he was greeted by the stares of people all around him, whispers, and pointing fingers.

They know of my success! Brilliant! He picked up his pace now reassured by those around him.

As he entered the meeting room, already filled with members of the Wizard Council, he was once again met with funny stares, though he now realized that they all had a shocked expression on their face. When he reached out to shake one of the member’s hands to say hello, she recoiled and ran for the door.

“I supposed you’d all like to see the results of my successful experiment?” Uric turned to face the audience, who had now changed their expressions to mild interest, some were even laughing.

“No, I believe we’ve seen quite enough thank you!” A stern man sat in the front row and was completely aghast to have such a man stand before him. The man stood as though to leave but nearly jumped after coming to eye level with Uric’s head.

“I say man! One thing to show up in the nude, all together another to wear a dead badger on one’s head!”

[moonymaniac]

Author Name: moonymaniac
House: Gryffindor
Title: Flying High
Word count: 498
Warnings: substance abuse? and shady dealings <.<



“How many you got there?” asked the young man with scraggly ginger hair, nodding towards a small jar.

“Ten, at least,” said the tanned stranger. “There’ll be a lot more in a couple weeks.”

“Couple weeks, eh?” asked Mundungus Fletcher. “How many d’ya figure I’ll get?”

“Hundreds,” said the stranger with a grin. “Then those have hundreds more. Sell ‘em for a couple of sickles each, and you’re set, mate.”

Mundungus eyed the jar greedily. “How much for the lot?”

“Ten galleons.”

“That’s a galleon each! You just said I could ask a couple sickles. What kind of gormless prat d’ya think I am?” asked Mundungus hotly.

“Well, this is your initial investment. You’re paying for shipping and handling, mate. But if you’d like to try your hand at smuggling them all the way from Australia, be my guest.” The stranger made like he was going to leave.

“Fine, ‘ere you go, that’s ten galleons,” Mundungus said, grudgingly parting with the coins. But he knew there would be a good market for the Billywigs when he got back to Hogwarts, especially among the fifth and seventh years who would be desperate for something to take their minds off of their upcoming O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. It was the same each year, but Dung had never had an opportunity to get hold of Billywigs before. He couldn’t pass this up.

Mundungus held the jar up to the street lamp to examine the contents. Sure enough, roughly ten, bright blue, spinning insects flitted around the jar so quickly that it was hard to count them. Only when one came to light on the bottom of the jar, could he see the wings on the top of its body and the long stinger tail.

Mundungus smiled. Yep, his fellow students would pay nicely for Billywig stings.

He slipped the jar into the inside pocket of his overcoat and went to meet the Knight Bus, whistling happily.

He climbed aboard and started to make his way to the back of the crowded bus. As it lurched forward with a bang, Mundungus, still focused on the profit he would make off of the Billywigs, lost his balance and fell heavily to the floor. He felt something pierce his backside.

"Ah, blimey!"

For a brief moment, he was aware that his profit was about to get away, but in the next instant, he couldn’t care less. He started to laugh giddily. His fellow riders gasped as he floated to the ceiling. What a wonderful feeling! It was even more fun when a couple of other passengers drifted out of their own seats and joined him in the air.

It would be two days before Mundungus came back down to earth, literally. But until then, he didn’t care that he’d lost his ten galleons, been placed on probation for unlicensed possession of Billywigs, and confined to his room for the remainder of the holiday. Of course, that would all change when the Billywig stings wore off.

[khrys]

Author Name:Khrys
House: Gryffindor
Title: Shiny Things
Word count: 312
Warnings: None


The house was in disarray. Chairs lay overturned, several pieces of broken crockery littered the carpet, and there was not a single cushion left on the sofa. There were several soft scratching noises before a loud ‘ping’.

Two harried looking witches came barreling into the sitting room. The taller, much younger witch was stammering apologies as she ran, tripping slightly on a pile of silver forks. The older witch stopped long enough to pull out her wand before scurrying after her daughter.

“I can’t believe you fell for that sob story,” she chastised as she chased the small furry creature through the sitting room and into the kitchen.

“I thought it needed a good home,” the daughter cried petulantly.

“We had a good home,” her mother replied sarcastically. “Look at it now.”

The kitchen was decimated. Every drawer hung open, each knob chewed to shreds. The cabinets hung on their hinges, a single pin away from crashing to the floor.

“Did you get the Muggle contraption?” the mother called out anxiously.

“I have it,” the daughter sniffed, “but it’s my best watch, Mum. Do I have to use it as bait?”

“Yes. You let the Niffler in, you need to get it out.”

The young witch held out her arm, tears shining brightly in her scared eyes. Within seconds, the Niffler appeared out of nowhere and hurled itself at her arm. Just as it began to bite down on the watch band, her mother stunned the Niffler.

“Now,” she began sternly, “you take that right back to where you got it, Hannah Abbott. Don’t be bringing home any more stray creatures. I let you keep the Kneazle, and the Pygmy Puff. I didn’t complain when you brought home the rat and that horrible toad, but no more. If you bring home one more stray, I’ll make you get rid of them all.”

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

__________________________________________________ ____________________________
Author Name: Schmerg_The_Impaler
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Injury
Word count: 286
The young woman lay on her hospital bed, her long blonde hair spilling out behind her, eyes closed. She looked like a porcelain doll, lying asleep like this, the starkly white sheets enveloping her. The Healer smiled as he walked past-- he was glad to hear the steady rhythms of her breathing, knowing that she would pull through, that she was almost completely cured.
It was her fifth day in the hospital, and she had been a mess when she had arrived. Her arms were both broken, the bone splintering through the skin, the lower part of her rib cage was shattered, her pancreas and spleen had ruptured, and both ankles were badly sprained. She had had a massive wound in her stomach, a wound that looked as though she had been impaled upon an enormous stick like a cocktail shrimp. But the girl was fine now, and would soon be discharged.
A young man, about the same age, burst into the ward and rushed over to her bed. “Is she all right?” he asked the healer, his eyes frantic. “I just returned from holiday and found a letter telling me that she was injured.”
The Healer nodded. “Yes, she should be going home soon, tomorrow at the latest.”
The young man sighed with relief and reached out for the sleeping girl’s hand. She gave it a squeeze, and her eyelids fluttered open.
“Hello!” she greeted him happily, her voice weak but jubilant. Her pale eyes danced with excitement, and she smiled at the young man.
“Why are you so happy?” he asked, almost amused. “You were almost mortally wounded!”
The girl laughed. “You don’t understand!” she exclaimed happily. “Neville, I was gored by a crumple-horned Snorkack!”

[Sour.Apple.]

Author Name: Sour.Apple.
House: Slytherin
Title: An Easter Hunt
Word count: 274
Warnings: None

Norman and Sonia wandered closely to their house, their parents lounging lazily in the kitchen. Each child had a woven basket, filled partially with plastic decorated eggs.

Sonia clutched her light pink basket in her tight grasp as she searching the ground and trees for the eggs their parents had hidden for Easter. When her blue ribbon fell from one of her pigtails, she bent over to pick it up, beckoning her twin to stay close. When Sonia had retrieved the ribbon, she caught sight of several brightly colored eggs only a few lengths up in the tree.

The young girl squealed in excitement, which attracted Norman’s attention who was currently investigating a suspicious looking bush.

“Sonia?”

“Come see! Come see!” she cried in utter excitement.

As Norman wandered over to her side, a large orange and pink feathered bird landing on one of the branches. This provoked several ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ from the duo.

To the children’s voices the bird began producing an attractive lament, which convinced the children to linger underneath the tree’s branches.

Soon after though, both Sonia and Norman began feeling paranoid and pushy with each other. Each mumbling their own words in gibberish to themselves.

As the sun slowly began to set, their parents finally found them both staring out into the sky. They scooped Norman and Sonia into their arms and made off for the main road, where they would silently planned to apparate to St. Mungos.

Of course they had heard of the migrations of the Fwooper birds, but like so many others had thought nothing of it. Who knew one might preside in their own backyards?

[Mistletoe]

Author Name: Mistletoe
House: Slytherin
Title: Framed
Word count: 369
Warnings: None


A large figure moved down the stairs with great caution. He was very worried that someone would soon find out, as the creature was growing at such a rapid rate, and was clearly to large for its cage. As he moved along, the light of the moon streamed through the windows, and danced merrily as it passed the trees.

“On’y a bit further, I ‘ope no one’s foun’ ‘im yet…” he muttered quietly, slapping his hand over his mouth when he realized that he had said it aloud. After he shook himself to calm his nerves, he moved on. When he reached a dark, dusty door, he pulled out his wand and muttered, “Alohomora” as clearly as he could. He heard the lock click, carefully placed his large hand on the door, and very slowly pushed it open.

He jumped back with surprise as the door creaked loudly, before hastily throwing himself against the wall in case someone heard. He looked around for a moment before lightly walking back to the door and pushing it open completely.

There was a dark cabinet on the far side of the room. The moonlight was cutting across it fiercely, giving it and eerie appearance. He quickly moved over to it with surprising swiftness and threw the door open and looked in. Eight eyes stared back at him.

“Oh, Aragog, I’m so sorry I’ve kept yeh in ‘ere fer this long. Come on, I’m taken yeh out of ‘ere, we’re goin’ teh --”

“Hagrid!” The Acromantula cried with concern as he scurried back into his cabinet.

“Wha--”

“I knew it was you!” Hagrid jumped with surprise and spun around so fast he almost toppled over. “So fascinated with deadly creatures all along! How could you do this to the school, Hagrid? It killed a girl,” a handsome boy said as he drew his wand and pointed it directly at Hagrid.

“I don’ bloody know wha’ yer talkin’ about! I ’aven’t done nothin’!” Hagrid glowered at the boy. “Aragog’s innocent! ‘e didn’ go ‘round killin’ nobody! Yeh’ve got the wrong person!”

“I’m sorry, Hagrid, I must report this to our Headmaster immediately.” The boy turned, and with a swish of his robes, was gone.

[TheEvilBroomstick]

Author Name: TheEvilBroomstick
House: Ravenclaw
Title: The Song of Death
Word count: 497
Warnings: Character death

Harry, Ron and Hermione trudged through the muddy undergrowth of the thicket. They had recently discovered an indication from Godric’s Hollow that a horcrux laid in that very forest.
“Just one question, mate,” Ron asked of Harry, “When we find, whatever it is we’re looking for, how will we know that it’s a horcrux?”
“We won’t,” answered Harry absentmindedly.
“Oh,” Ron replied.
“Obviously it will be something worthy to have been made into one,” Hermione stated.
“That really narrows it down,” Ron mumbled sarcastically.
That was the last conversation they had in an hour.
The three of them had all gotten use to the silence of their surroundings – only the sounds of breaking branches and small creatures hurriedly running could be heard – so when the sound of a soft singing came, it wasn’t unusual that they all had jumped.
“What is that?” Harry asked looking for where the source of the noise was coming from.
“Sounds like a bird,” Ron said.
“That’s not just any bird, it’s an Augurey,” Hermione told them excitingly, pointing up to a tree. The two boys looked up in the direction of Hermione’s finger and saw a greenish-black bird. Ron suddenly clasped his hands to his ears and told the others to do the same. Harry hesitated a bit and then slowly brought his hands to his ears. Hermione quickly pushed down his left arm.
“Ron, you’re being silly! Anything you’ve heard about the Augurey is a lie,”
“It is not!” Ron voiced, still not taking his hands away from his ears, “My great uncle Bilius’ best friend’s aunt died when she heard the Augurey’s cry!”
“Maybe it was just coincidence – a bird can’t foretell someone’s death!” Hermione said agitated. Harry just stood there, confused at what they were talking about. He looked back up at the bird and saw that it was staring at him. Harry stared back and found he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. It was really a magnificent bird. Crack!
Harry snapped back to reality and was once again found searching for the source of an unknown noise; although, this time it was much harder since Ron and Hermione were still bickering.
“Shh!” He yelled. Ron and Hermione stopped talking and turned to him questioningly. Harry gave them an annoyed look and took out his wand. The others did the same but didn’t know why. Everything was quiet…
“AVAD-”
“Expelliarmus!” Harry yelled out of instinct, and was glad of it when he noticed that the girl who had jumped out was Bellatrix Lestrange. Hermione started on an incantation.
“Avada Kedavra!” came another voice from behind. A bright green flash issued from the stranger’s wand. Ron and Hermione quickly turned around but he had Apparated before they could see whom it was.
“Ahh!” Hermione shrieked. Ron looked down to where she was looking. Harry was peacefully lying on the ground.
The Augurey overhead stared at the crying duo; then took flight as it gently started to rain.

[Dean Thomas]

Author Name: Dean Thomas
House: Gryffindor
Title: A Clabbering Letter
Word count: 428
Warnings: None


3 June 1999

Moriah Millbranch
31 Oldenburg Rd.
Turningham, Sussex

Dear Mallory,

What a week it’s been! I’ve been staying here in the States visiting my aunt and what a time I’ve had. Everything is so similar, yet different.

The Portkey here took much longer than I expected, you told me it would only be five seconds and it was much closer to eight. Anyway, you were right. New York’s Agnomon Square does have its charms, although Diagon Alley will always be my true home. I must say, however, Gladstone and Gibb’s Robe Shop did have the most flattering violet robe I’ve ever seen. And you’ll never guess who I had a shufti with…Maximus Brankovitch! Boy, were you right again; he is rather dishy. The Arrows should definitely do something to get him across the pond.

We took something called the Abraxan Transit back to her house (it’s like our Knight Bus, except it’s only one deck and is really long for some reason) and you’ll never believe these things I saw. They were like monkeys except they were an odd green colour. I was fine and even found them interesting at first, but then it got dark and they would start acting all wonky and these little things on their foreheads would glow. I’m telling you Mallory, it was frightening. The little buggers would hang around the outside of the house, flashing their red lights and screeching from time to time like we’re living in some sort of jungle. It’s been hard to sleep at night; I don’t want those things coming inside and ruining my new robes with their oily skin or fur or whatever they’ve got covering themselves.

My aunt, of course, said they’re “harmless, and they are actually here to help.” Rubbish. She was so confident that she offered to spot me the Galleons if anything were to happen to my things. I don’t know about her or her pickle monkeys, but she needs to get rid of them. I just wish they were illegal so I wouldn’t have to spend my last week here looking over my shoulder. Whatever happened to the common Crup? Anyway, I’m just giving you a heads up. If I don’t return home by next Friday, then I’ve either been captured by those cucumber flashlights or taken to gaol for trying to hex them. I don’t know how their Republic of Magic deals with these kinds of things, but our Ministry wouldn’t have any of it, that’s for sure. See you in a week…hopefully.

Warily,
Your friend,


Ethelbard Mordaunt

[wendelin the wierd]

Name- wendelin the wierd
House- Gryffindor!
Title- Flame of the fire
Word count- 225
Warnings- none






Charlie Weasley edged nervously towards the dragon. It was his very first time with a dragon and he was apprehensive. The dragon lifted open one large, scaly eye and surveyed him, ready to attack if he got any closer. It let out a low growl.

Charlie Weasley removed a small object from his pocket and whistled to it. This time the Dragon’s eyes flew open and it stood erect. He gradually walked closer to it till he could see how much damage had been done.

The sight left him shocked.

It’s whole hindlimb was riddled with arrows and blood had caked over it. The dragon was obviously in terrible, terrible pain.

But what could he do? Gently, he started removing the arrows one by one. The dragon calmly looked upon him flinching just a little bit when he had to yank the arrow especially hard to get it out.


And finally every last arrow was out. He wrapped the limb in a thick, white bandage.

‘Rest,’ he told it softly, stroking it’s scales. ‘You’ll need it.’

The dragon laid it’s snout on top of his head as if to bless him before falling asleep, letting out a small flame now and then, through it’s nostrils.

Charlie looked upon the dragon with a smile on his face. Just being with them made it worth it all.

[dreatonkslupin]

Author Name: Dreatonkslupin
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Tilly Saves the Day
Word count: 499
Warnings: None

Tilly sat on the beach, rubbing sunscreen on her husband’s back. It was their first vacation in years, and they wanted to relax as much as possible. They decided to come to Ilfracombe because one of her coworkers at the Ministry had a beach house here, and he had told her it was on one of the greatest beaches in all of the United Kingdom.

He was right. The beach had perfect white sand and perfect blue water. Tilly could hardly take her eyes off the water. The sun was starting to set and there were quite a few of late sunbathers out on the beach. She finished with the sunscreen and stowed it in her beach bag. She continued to stare at the gorgeous sunset, but then she noticed something.

A big, black spot in the middle of the sun. It was getting bigger and bigger like it was coming toward the beach. Walking closer to the water, she realized what it was.

A dragon.

“Todd! Todd! Come quick!” she cried out.

“What is it, darling?” her husband asked.

She pointed, speechless to the dragon getting closer.

“Merlin.”

Then they heard a scream of a small boy. The little Muggle child saw the dragon.

“Todd, get everyone to huddle in a circle. Now!”

Todd began to gather people in a circle. The dragon breathed fire, and at the same time, Tilly and Todd whipped their wands out and yelled, “Protego!” A massive shield covered them and the people. The fire bounced off, but Tilly still could feel the heat on her cheek. The dragon flew in a circle and started to come toward the crowd again.

“Todd, use the shield charm again. I’ll try to slow it down with the Conjunctivitis
Curse.” The dragon came closer, and Tilly yelled, “Conjunctiva!”

The dragon stopped flying and hit the ground, his tiny arms trying to reach his eyes. Tilly waved her wand and huge, thick chains shot out and tied the dragon down.

“Angus!” Tilly cried. A beautiful tawny owl appeared out of no where. Tilly walked to her bag and ripped out a piece of parchment from her journal. She quickly wrote a note to the Ministry to come to the beach, and bring in some dragon experts. “Angus,” she whispered, “this needs to get to the Ministry as quickly as possible. Apparate if you have to.” The owl hooted and disappeared.

Suddenly, about twenty people appeared out of no where.

“What’s going on, Tilly?” a short, squat man asked.

“The dragon over there tried to attack people on the beach. Did one of them escape from the dragon habitat in Wales?”

“We don’t know. We have some people coming to look. I know your off duty, but would mind staying and helping erase some of these people’s memories. I’ve also talked to Hilda, the Minister, and she said you might be up for an Order of Merlin, First Class.”

Tilly blushed as she started to erases people’s memories.

[whittyleah]

Author Name: Whittyleah
House: Gryffindor
Title: A woman scorned
Word count: 499 (phew!)
Warnings: one cuss word

Assistant Head Auror Harry Potter was about to go mad! His green eyes kept shooting death glares at the cage behind him.

'What did I ever do to deserve this?' he thought, running his hand through his already messy hair.

A package had arrived that morning for him, it was a cage with a big ferret inside…or it looked like a ferret. He sat it in his office and wondered why his wife would send him a ferret.

"What happened to you? You like you've just been through a hurricane." a hissing voice said.

A very confused Harry spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out where the voice had come from.

"Not very smart are you?" the voice spoke-up again.

Confusion laced his face when he realized that it was the ferret talking.

"You can talk?" he asked.

"Perceptive one, I see," it quipped.

He had spent the next hour trying to get someone to come and take it away. But, not even the saviour of the wizarding world could get the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to move faster then they wanted to.

So, he spent his office day with a fat, white ferret insulting him every two minutes.

"Were born that stupid or did you acquire it over time?"

"That's it! You're out of here!" Harry yelled, reaching for the cage.

"Un uh, I don't think so. I can only be removed by my sender, four eyes," it hissed at him.

"But…my wife sent you. Why would she… Damn!"

"Oh, did little spike head do or say something stupid and in retaliation got a Jarvey sent to him by his love?"

"I'll be right back…Jarvey."

He walked out of the office leaving the Jarvey alone, looking around at the small but cozy room.

"Gee! What did the man do, take off his glasses to decorate?" the Jarvey asked itself.

Harry reentered the room with a very pregnant woman in dark green robes behind him.

"Make it leave! It's driving me insane!" Harry demanded.

"So, the fat lady is the one who sent me?" the Jarvey hissed at the brown eyed woman.

"See? This is what I've to put up with all day!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes, and I have to deal with you being insensitive the rest of the time!" she yelled.

"She has you there, Hippogriff breath."

"Look, I'm sorry. I never meant to be insensitive to you, love." he tried to calm his wife.

"Yeah, he didn't mean to, it just happens naturally."

"I forgive you, just be a little more aware of my feelings," she sniffed, wiping away the tears that where pouring down her face.

Harry hugged his wife, and she lifted the charm on the cage.

"That's it? He says 'I'm sorry' while looking like a nincompoop and he's off the hook!" the Jarvey hissed.

Harry looked at the Jarvey, that was soon to leave, and whispered, "remind to me never again anger Hermione when she's pregnant."

[stareyed_in_LA]

Author Name: stareyed_in_LA
House: Gryffindor
Title: Where’s Patrick? A Tale of a Missing Puffskein
Word count: 315
Warnings: None

“Hey, Charlie, wanna see my new pet?” Ron Weasley loomed over his older brother. Charlie Weasley was lying on the couch, reading a battered copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He looked up from his book to see a round, custard colored fur ball resting in Ron’s cupped hands. It was emitting a low, humming noise while a long, pink tongue stuck out of the ball and began licking Ron’s hands for food.
“What the bloody hell is that?”
“It’s my new pet, Patrick the Puffskein! Mum got it for me in Diagon Alley today”
“Great. I wonder what my book has to say about it.”
Ron set Patrick gently down on a nearby table and sat next to Charlie. Charlie filed past the pages before stopping on one particular page with the bold lettering “Puffskein.”
“The Puffskein,” Charlie read out loud. “Harmless... docile... a scavenger. Well, would you look at that. The Puffskein will eat spiders. I think what you have here, Ron, is your solution to ending your arachnophobia. That bugger will eat all the spiders in this house in no time.”
“Wow,” Ron whispered. He darted his head towards the table. “Hey, where’s Patrick? Patrick? Patrick? Where are you boy?”
Ron began to search on the ground on his hands and knees. “Patrick, oh, where can he be?”
Tears were streaming down his face. “I am in huge trouble now.”
Charlie joined in on the search. At that moment, the twins, Fred and George, entered the room, clutching their beaters bats and their broomsticks.
“Did you guys see a Puffskein,” Charlie asked the twins. “Ron lost one. Goes by the name Patrick.”
“You mean that custard colored ball of fluff,” George asked. “Yeah, Fred had one and we used it for Bludger practice. We came back because he knocked it out of the grove we were practicing in.”
“WHAT?!”

[MorganRay]

Name: MorganRay
Title: A Wedding Gift
House: Hufflepuff
Warning: None
Words: 400

Mountains of brightly colored boxes teetered on the floor of Mrs. Weasley’s kitchen. Various boxes, all in shiny paper with huge bows, sat on the table. People had brought in heaps of presents to give to Bill and Fleur, and one of the oddest sat on a chair. The wooden bars of the cage, which were as thin as toothpicks, appeared ready to snap at any moment. A little bowl of seeds and water sat on a newspapers that were on the bottom of the cage and now covered in droppings.

The plumage of the bird, its head tucked under its wing, appeared to be the same color as orange, lime, and lemon sherbets mixed together. About the shape and size of a tennis ball, the little avian remained uninterested in its food and continued to doze.

However, the little animal perked up its head as Fleur came upon it. “What will we do with zis thing? Who gave zis to us?”

“Hagrid,” Bill replied as he went over to look at the little animal. “It’s a Fwooper. It’s got a silencing charm on it.”

“I’ve never ‘eard of it,” Fleur remarked as she opened the cage. The little animal hopped onto her dainty, white finger. Then, without warning, it fluttered to her shoulder. She jumped, but soon went to admiring the bird’s pretty colors. ‘It is beautiful,’ Fleur thought at the little animal took an instant liking to its new mistress. ‘I bet it sings beautifully.’
With a wave of her wand, Fleur opened up the mouth of her new pet. The next moment, a deafening sound echoed throughout the kitchen. Fleur fell to the ground, trying to bat the animal off her shoulder. The wail seemed a thousand times worse than a banshee’s wail.

“Tais-toi! Tais-toi!” Fleur shrieked as she clamped her hands over her hears.

“Silencio!” Bill hollered. The little animal’s beak continued moving, but no sound came out. Fleur instantaneously plucked the silent bird from her shoulder and stuffed it back into the cage.

“We sell that zing,” she announced as she ran her hand through her hair. “A Fwooper. My God! What a ‘orrible animal!”

“I told you it had a silencing charm on it,’ Bill said as the little animal pruned its feathers. After it finished its cleaning, the little animal tucked its head back under its wing and continued as if nothing happened.

Title: A Birthday Present
Words: 260
Warnings: None

He unwrapped the paper from the jar sitting on the table. The tag on the outside read, ‘Happy Birthday, brother-in-law. I thought this might be to your taste.’ The fine porcelain and ornate oriental designs on the jar attracted his attention. He studied it, deciding that this gift might be expensive.

He opened the lid and heard a noise from inside. Then, a single orange snake’s head snapped out. The reptile unhinged its jaw and opened its mouth to reveal two sharp fangs. It hissed, and the man withdrew his hand. However, the animal got restless inside, and the jar swiveled and tipped. The find porcelain cracked into several pieces as it crashed to the floor.

A three-headed snake with the colorings of a tiger began to move jerkily across the floor. “Oh . . .” the man muttered to himself as he drew his wand. The one head kept hissing while one of the heads struggled to move towards him.

“Petrificus Totalus! “Petrificus Totalus! “Petrificus Totalus!” The man steadied his hand as he cast the spell three times to stop each head. With a sigh of relief, he went over and stomped upon each frozen head.

A beautiful blond woman walked into the room. She looked at her husband, and in a bored voice asked, “What was that noise?”

“Tell your sister not to send deadly animals a presents,” the man hissed as he kicked away the remains of the runespoor.

“Really, Lucius, you shouldn’t be ungrateful,” Narcissa said with a sigh. “I told Bella you would like it.”

[Fly to Dawn]

Author Name: Fly to Dawn
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Loch Ness Blues
Word count: 359
Warnings: None

‘It’s the Loch Ness Monster!’

Several Muggles cramped around the Loch Ness cried out in surprise and excitement. However, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was not excited at all. This particular Muggle tour, Let’s search for the Loch Ness Monster, was an agony to Firth, the head of the department. Every year it had to be held – which meant every year he, with his junior partner Stroud, had to find a way to hide the humungous kelpie.

Mixed in with the excited tourists from all over the world, Firth and Stroud secretly performed memory charms on the lucky Muggles who saw the kelpie.

‘Bloody hell,’ said an exhausted Stroud loudly, ‘why can’t we hire people to keep performing these spells?’

Firth stepped on Stroud’s foot hurriedly. ‘Shut up, you idiot. We don’t want them to hear us!’

Suddenly, the so-called Loch Ness Monster jumped in the air, as if to show off it’s skills. The two silently cursed themselves for not stunning the kelpie – that was, of course, not effective since the kelpie would happen to float on the surface of the lake, but the two secretly thought it would be much, much easier than putting two hundred memory charms on twenty Muggles each year.

Stroud reached for his wand, but he tripped over his coat hem – he wasn’t used to Muggle clothing, and fell over. At the same time, his wand disappeared into the black, deep waters of the lake.

Letting out a loud sigh of annoyance, Firth attempted to reach for his colleague’s wand.

And the next movement happened all very slowly. Firth fell head first into the Loch Ness, grabbing a Muggle girl as he went down. The girl’s parents reached for their beloved daughter, at the same time falling into the lake as well. The guide attempted to save the people, but knocking down several people in his hurry, the number of people in the Lake increased.

So, suddenly but slowly, the entire tour began to fall – literally, into the Loch Ness.

And a few days later, both Firth and Stroud found themselves among the massed ranks of the unemployed…

[Lurid]

I swear, I wrote it before I saw Stareyed's entry. Ah, well. It's different.

Author Name: Lurid
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Bludger Practice.
Word count: 486.
Warnings: Animal Death :)


Fred searched through an old, rusty hinged trunk feverishly. He threw an old Keepers glove, a punctured Quaffle and a fluorescent green tennis ball aside before reaching the bottom of the trunk,

“George, George!” he called, raising his voice to be heard out of the rusty tin shed he was currently in. “George, have you seen my Bludger?”

“No,” came George’s voice, floating nearer as he crossed the large, weedy Weasley lawn. “Remember? It died when we hit it into Old Man Patterson’s paddocks. He’s probably mistaken it for a large, round cow pat by now.”

He appeared at the door and smiled down at his freckled, dusty twin who was scowling beneath the layer of grime that coated his sweaty face. Evidently, he’d been looking for this Bludger for a long time. He chuckled, and turned to go.

Fred picked up a moth bitten Keepers gloves and threw it at his head. “Oi, you help me find one!”

George chuckled again, raising his fiery eyebrows. “We-ell,” he debated, “I do know where we can find something lightly resembling a Bludger.” He wiggled his eyebrows convincingly and set off up to the house.

----

Fred delightedly rummaged through Ron’s draws, searching. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he took to the bookshelves. He groaned in frustration when he didn’t find it there and then flumped down on the violent orange bed.

George came into the door, tutting at the mess Fred had made. “Well, did you find it?”

Fred glowered. “No, Sherlock. Come help.”

George raised his eyebrows. “Well, it might be a little easier if you got off the poor creature,” he said, motioning to the bed.

Fred pulled a fluffy, custard looking creature from out underneath his buttocks. A long tongue was protruding, searching for any crumbs on his trousers. It slowly curled back into an invisible mouth, and a small ‘burp’ broke the disbelieving silence.

Fred grinned hellishly, and squeezed the fluffy ball between his fingers as he chuckled. “Puffskein, George?” All he got was a bemused shake of the head from his twin.

“Right, George, off to practice.”

----

Ron toddled out into the backyard to watch his brothers play Quidditch. He had his fingers caught in a sticky trap, and had his tongue out, his freckly face screwed up in concentration. He caught sight of Fred and George practicing Quidditch and delightedly ambled over to join them.

“Mummy… Mummy said you borrowed Wiggy,” he said, frowning up and Fred and George as they hovered above him on their broomsticks. They exchanged glances; then George threw something to Fred.

“Alright, into the paddock, Fred!” He watched it soar over the posts at the end of the garden. “Fred! Puffskein’s fly better than Bludgers! We should suggest that to McGonagall!”

Ron’s lip trembled. “Wiggy…,” he puffed out his bottom lip, “… MUMMY!” He ran screaming into the Weasley kitchen.

[kumydabookworm]

Name: Kumydabookworm
House: Gryffindor
Title: Bright Glimpses
Warnings: Allusion to Death
Word Count: 438

As Tom Riddle stormed out of the door, Dumbledore couldn’t help feeling like he would never see Tom Riddle like this ever again. That man had already crossed the line into the Dark Arts, and it didn’t seem as though he was planning to stop. Dumbledore sighed.

Turning to Fawkes, he asked the bird, “Did I do the right thing? Maybe if I had allowed him to take the Defense against the Dark Arts position, he would’ve stopped his path to evil. Maybe he would have been content.”

Fawkes looked at him and sang a clear, ringing note. Dumbledore sighed.

“He could have been a great – truly great – wizard. He would have been better than me; there’s no doubt of that. There was so much potential, but he drowns himself in the past, only wanting revenge for the wrongs done to him. Now, he’s dangerous.”

Dumbledore didn’t know whether he was talking to himself or Fawkes anymore. “I have to know where he is – that way, I can find out what he’s doing at all times. I need to watch him – or we won’t be ready when he gains power among people.”

Fawkes hooted again, and Dumbledore turned to him in surprise. “Fawkes?” Suddenly he could feel Fawkes inside his mind.

Dumbledore's eyes widened. He knew that phoenixes had powers as Legilimens and Occlumens – it was one of the reasons that they valued loyalty so much. They could truly see it in people, and true loyalty was rare.

But Fawkes, in his five years with the Headmaster, had never used it. Images flashed through his head. A phoenix tailfeather – Ollivander making a wand – the wand in a box – Fawkes himself – Tom Riddle getting a wand from Ollivander’s. The images stopped abruptly.

“Your tail feather is in Tom’s wand, isn’t it?” Dumbledore asked in surprise.

Fawkes sung three notes in reply. More images flew through his head. A gold thread connecting Tom’s wand and Fawkes, a picture of Fawkes flying.

“You’re connected to his wand. You can…tell me where he is?”

Fawkes sung a low note of approval. Then, Dumbledore felt Fawkes’ presence slip out of his mind.

Running a hand down the phoenix’s soft feathers, he smiled. “Thank you, Fawkes.”

The final image Fawkes put into Dumbledore’s head was a picture of Fawkes flying into blazing white fire at a funeral in front of a grieving audience, including a black-haired, green-eyed boy with a lightning shape scar, scarlet against his pale forehead.

Dumbledore didn’t know what that meant, but he could feel the love and loyalty that accompanied the picture.

The future looked bright.

[lily_evans34]

Username: lily_evans34
House: Ravenclaw!
Title: Not One Of Us
Word Count: 234
Warnings: Centaurs. Lots of them.

“I hear that you have agreed to serve the human, Dumbledore,” Firenze heard a rough voice behind him say. He turned to see Mangorian standing behind him, wearing a murderous look on his features.

Firenze opened his mouth to speak, trying to find the right words. “Dumbledore was in need of assistance, and I simply agreed-”

“To work for a human! We do not work for them! We are the superior ones!” Mangorian roared, and Firenze glanced nervously around. He could see other centaurs gathering around, drawn to them by Mangorian’s shouts.

“You have betrayed us. You have gone against our beliefs, and so we do not want you in our herd anymore!” he bellowed.

“You cannot do that! I have only agreed-”

“To betray our kind!”

Firenze looked around, desperately searching for a single face that would agree with him, but all of them wore the same distain and scorn as Mangorian’s.

“Listen to me! I-”

But Mangorian did not listen. Firenze could feel his chest shatter as Mangorian struck him once, hard, leaving a mark where his hoof had been. “Now leave! Do not disgrace our kind with your presence any longer!”

Firenze stared around hopefully, clutching the spot where he had been kicked. There was no regret or sorrow on any of their faces. They were all equally stern. Firenze took a last look at them before turning and galloping away.

[Gemma Hawk]

Author: Gemma Hawk
House: Gryffindor!
Title: What is the world coming to?
Word Count: 248
Warnings: none!

He could never understand Firenze. Always mingling with the humans that one was. It was most disturbing to an elderly centaur such as himself. In his day respectable centaurs didn’t just run off to teach young humans! It was just irresponsible.

Thank goodness he wasn’t immediately related to Firenze. Firenze’s poor mother had of course been heart broken when her son left the herd.

He would of course never do such a thing. Not only because of his age, but because it was just irresponsible and unreasonable to leave the herd! If he had done such a thing when he was younger he would have been stomped on by the herd.

But now, with these young ones, they let Firenze go! Without proper punishment! It was hardly enough just to throw Firenze out of the herd with only a kick in the chest. What was the world coming to?

And not to mention all those insolent students always wandering into the forest! There was no peace to be had anymore! No wonder the younger generations of centaurs were all so untraditional. Their minds had been poisoned by the humans. Yes indeed!

Hagrid had, of course, been good friend of theirs. He was kind and treated the centaurs with respect. But even he had crossed the line! Those humans were growing too arrogant, the lot of them!

Why in the world would Firenze want to mingle with them- and teach them! It was insane!

He could never understand Firenze.

[Undividable410]

Author: Undividable410
House: Slytherin
Title: An Anonymous Gift
Word count: 369
Warnings: Half Blood Prince disregarded

One more awful detention with Snape done, only three left, Neville thought glumly as he left the dungeon classroom, sore from scrubbing cauldrons three hours straight. He was halfway to the stairs leading up to the Great Hall when a magnificent song burst out behind him. He turned around cautiously, fearing it was Draco Malfoy attempting a cruel joke, but all he saw was an odd looking bird.

It had a round body, with no definite head; instead, its facial features shown upon the upper part of its body. The creature, which was balancing on its two tiny legs, was a bright yellow, with a few orange and pink feathers here and there. Its long tail feathers had a note attached to them

Neville,
I hope you enjoy this bird’s lovely song.

Slightly confused as to why the bird had found him there and who had sent it, he picked it up and headed back to the Gryffindor common room. The beautiful voice of the strange creature floated along with him as he ascended through the castle.

When he entered the common room, heads everywhere turned his way.

“Wicked bird, Longbottom!”

“Ooh! It’s so pretty!”

“Neville!” came one voice he knew very well.

“Hi, Hermione! Do you like my new pet? I think Gran just sent him, so I haven’t picked out a name yet!” He told the girl in an excited tone, dazed by the continuing song.

“Neville, do you even know what that is?” Without waiting for a reply, Hermione continued, “It’s a fwooper! If you don’t put a silencing charm on it, the song will eventually drive you crazy! SILENCIO!” She silenced he beautiful bird. “I’m sorry, but I had to. The song would have become addicting to you, otherwise.”

Neville looked disappointed, but nodded in acceptance, now remembering something he had read in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

“Maybe it wasn’t Gran that sent it. It was a trick from the Slytherins, mean to drive me crazy.”

“Don’t worry Neville, everything’s fine, and it’s still a really pretty bird,” Hermione pointed out.

“Thanks,” Neville smiled and headed up to his dorm, still wondering what to call his beautiful, and now silent, new pet.



Author: Undividable410
House: Slytherin
Title: Missing Again
Word count: 257
Warnings: PoA and later disregarded

“Has anybody seen Scabbers?” Ron was digging through his school trunk, once again searching for his rat. “He wouldn’t have run away again! Harry!” he glanced sideways at his friend. “I thought you said you were going to help look for him!”

“Sorry Ron, I got distracted. Maybe we should go check the common room again. You’ve gone through your clothes about a million times already. Besides, maybe Hermione, Ginny or one of your brothers have seen him.”

Ron looked as though he wanted to continue rummaging through his belongings, but obliged, “Okay.”

When they reached the bottom of the dormitory stair case, they could see Hermione frantically looking around the common room. “Do you guys hear that? It’s driving me insane!”

“Hear what?” questioned Harry.

“That chattering. Oh my, I can’t believe it just said that!” screamed Hermione as they heard a small non-human voice, curse horribly.

“It doesn’t sound very human, or loud. But I really don’t care right now ‘Mione. I have to find Scabbers.” Ron began somberly looking around the common room. “Woah! What is that?!” He pointed toward a large ferret slowing moving toward the open portrait hole.

“Hang on,” said Hermione slowly, realizing what had happened to Scabbers. “That’s a Jarvey. I bet if we follow it we’ll find Scabbers! C’mon we have to hurry… They eat rats.”

“Scabbers!” Ron opened the portrait hole and ran out, but stopped almost immediately, when he noticed his rat lying in the middle of the hallway taking a nap. “Ugh, what a stupid rat!”

[joanna]

Username: joanna
House: Ravenclaw!
Title: For the Love of the Family Business.
Word Count: 141
Warnings: none



For the Love of the Family Business.

Alexander Ollivander looked at his son rather proudly, as young Charles approached the impressive-looking yew tree. The child was only seven, but Alexander knew that love for the family business must be implanted at an early age. So when his wife finally allowed young Charles to go on a trip with his father, Alexander took him on one of his usual jaunts to the woods where his famous wands came from.

Charles was now holding some woodlice in his trembling hands, waiting for the Bowtruckle that inhabited that particular tree. The tree-guardian sniffed cautiously at Charles’ hand, and then picked up a woodlouse with its long sharp fingers. That was enough distraction for Alexander to hew a few branches with the help of his wand.

“Well done, my boy,” he praised his son, the pride in his eyes couldn’t be missed.

[cmwinters]

Author Name: CM Winters
House: Slytherin
Title: Dementors in Little Whinging
Word count: 213
Warnings: none

Mr Tibbles sat panting in the shade of an automobile on Privet Drive, yellow eyes unblinking. Although Mundungus Fletcher was covered by an invisibility cloak, he had a rather distinct aroma to him, which Mr Tibbles could smell even over the petroleum dripping carelessly from the car under which he sheltered. His mistress didn't trust the mangy thief, and Mr Tibbles himself wasn't particularly fond of him either.

The angle the cat-like creature had chosen on the scorched pavement gave him a vantage on Harry Potter as well, who for some ridiculous reason, was lying in the parched soil of the flowerbed at Number Four, concealed behind a large hydrangea bush.

Mr Tibbles had long since learned to not try to make sense of human motives.

Suddenly, a distinctive and resounding crack! rang through the air, and Mr Tibbles streaked off to inform his mistress that Fletcher had left his post. He spent the better part of the next half-hour chasing down his owner and then trying to communicate the problem to her. By the time he'd succeeded, a unseasonably and unnatural freezing cold, accompanied by a misty darkness had settled in over the area, and Mr Tibbles took off, having had quite enough of Wizards and their strange behaviours for the evening.

[LadyAlesha]

Author Name: LadyAlesha
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Nature's Beauty
Word count: 301
Warnings: none

Sirius flopped down on the white sandy beach, sighing. It had been five weeks since that fateful full moon. Five weeks since he had talked to Harry for the first time, five weeks since Harry and Hermione had saved him from the Dementor’s kiss. Sirius was tired, so very very tired. He didn’t want to run anymore, didn’t want to hide. He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. Not even the beautiful beaches of Fiji could cheer him up.

A beam of sunlight fell right into his eye suddenly, partially blinding him. Sitting up he saw a tortoise-like creature, whose shell was reflecting the light, crawling along the beach. On second glance he saw that the creature’s shell was covered with jewels, pretty multicoloured jewels.

Sirius hadn’t seen anything like these jewels for fifteen years. There were no colours in Azkaban. Nothing pretty in any shape or form ever made it past the huge iron gates. An irresistible urge to touch the creature’s shell, to touch a part of nature’s beauty after all those years in the dark, took hold of him. Before he knew what he was doing he was on his feet again, slowly approaching the creature.

Reaching out his hand, he bend down and reverently caressed the creature’s shell. He was so engrossed in the feel of the jewels under his fingers and the play of light in front of him that he didn’t see the creature freezing and preparing for attack. Red-hot pain shot up his left leg. Stumbling backwards he saw the flames coming out of the creature’s rear end.

A Fire Crab, damn! With a few quick strides Sirius reached the water and proceeded to cool his severely burned leg. He seemed to even be denied the pleasure of admiring nature’s beauty.

[songbook99]

Author Name: songbook99
House: Hufflepuff
Title: What Comes of Death
Word count: 483
Warnings: Character death

He didn’t know exactly why he felt drawn into the Forbidden Forest on this particular night, but he felt the need to be away from the castle that had dominated his life for the past few years. The fact that he had been allowed to remain in residence at the castle even over the summer holidays only made this need to get away from the castle tonight more urgent. It was strange, however, since there was no where else he would choose to live.

Of course, he mused, nothing like what happened today has ever happened during my residence at the castle.

Dumbledore had walked down to Hogsmeade that day to meet with his brother Aberforth for a quick dinner meeting. They hadn’t seen each other for a while, but Aberforth had recently moved to Hogsmeade to open up a pub. It was after dinner, when Albus was headed back to Hogwarts, that he saw a sight he hoped to never see again. He had seen the murder of a young witch.

Being who he was, Dumbledore had put up charms to keep the murderer from Apparating as he sent for someone from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to pick him up. The use of Avada Kedavra on anyone was worth a life sentence in Azkaban, especially when there was a witness.

But now, walking through the darkness of the Forbidden Forest, Dumbledore was able to put the incident in the back of his mind while he worked through the information his brother had passed him. It seemed that strange things were happening outside England’s borders. Things he should probably look into. Even though he was only a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he knew he was a powerful wizard and that many others looked to him for advice.

With his mind so busy with what he had learned, it was no surprise that he didn’t notice the strange creatures staring at him through the thickening trees. Nor did he hear them close in on him when he realized how far into the forest he had gone and that he should probably turn back and return to the castle.

Dumbledore was, therefore, slightly startled by the mysterious white eyes shining in the moonlight when he turned. Though he was looking at a creature he had never actually seen before, he knew exactly what it was. It was a thestral, and he noticed that there were five more still hiding behind trees.

Now he thought he understood why he had felt pulled to the Forbidden Forest. He knew how powerfully magical thestrals were and that their ability to move quickly might come in handy in the future. Looking into those white eyes and at the skeletal body, Dumbledore knew that, though he mourned the death of that young witch, being able to see these creatures might turn out well for him.

[dory_the_fishie]

Author Name: dory_the_fishie
House: Hufflepuff!
Title: Fancourt the Bundimun
Word count: 454
Warnings: none

She would’ve told you that she was eight and three-quarters-years-old, not just eight, and that she lived in a breeding ground for various forms of fungi, not just in the small town of Ottery St. Catchpole. She would have also told you that her name was Luna Lovegood, but only because her parents had instructed her to, since not everybody understood or quite appreciated the self-given title of Fungi Queen. But no matter, even if those other people didn’t like that name, Fungi Queen, she did, and it was on this semi-normal Thursday afternoon that she was living up to it.

Luna thought her favorite fungus was probably the Bundimun, with its greenish color and adorable little eyeballs that stared up at her in a way she liked to think was appreciation for a person of royalty, like a queen, perhaps. There were many Bundimuns living in the Lovegoods’ backyard, situated on top of different sorts of logs and attached to all kinds of trees. All the Bundimuns hung out in Luna’s Fungi Kingdom, and even though her mum had insisted on getting rid of them, Luna always protested. Why get rid of such cute little creatures? Maybe her mum hadn’t realized the eyeballs; the eyeballs were what had captured Luna in the first place. So on this Thursday afternoon, Luna decided to show her mum what was so special after these fungi, and why there really wasn’t any reason to evict them from the kingdom.

She scraped Fancourt (that was this fungus’s name, named after the witch who had invented the Lunascope) off the huge tree in the middle of the backyard, placed her carefully inside a small container that had holes poked in it (for air, of course), and carried the Bundimun inside the house to show her mum.

“Yes, dear?” her mother asked when Luna walked into her study, container in hand.

“Mum, I brought something to show you.” As her mother smiled, Luna held up the container with Fancourt inside and lifted the lid so that the Bundimun was looking up at the older witch.

“See her eyes? Aren’t they pretty?” Luna inquired, handing the container to her mum so she could get a better look.

Mrs. Lovegood smiled and sighed, knowing what her daughter was trying to do. “Yes, Luna, they’re very lovely. What is this one’s name?”

“Fancourt,” Luna answered promptly. “And wouldn’t it be horrible to make her go away?”

“Yes,” her mother laughed. “It would be horrible to make Fancourt leave her home in our backyard.” When Luna’s eyes widened in hopes that her mother was agreeing to let the Bundimuns stay, Mrs. Lovegood smiled and said, “I suppose we can let the Bundimuns live here.”

[Starmaiden]

Author: Starmaiden
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Chimaera Eggs
Word Count: 387
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I made it! I had a last-minute plot bunny. A quote from OotP for you, Chapter 21:
"[Hagrid] kept saying nobody in their right mind would rather study knarls than chimaeras -- oh I don't think he's got a chimaera, but that's not for lack of trying from what he said about how hard it is to get eggs..."

The chimaera purred over her stone-coloured eggs. Two were curled in the protective circle of her hoofed feet, and she had probably a dozen more still to lay. For a moment, she rested, admiring her work thus far.

A cracking branch made her head snap up. Silently, she watched as an over-large, man-shaped figure approached.

Men had approached her before. Several had fled back to their villages, with additions of teeth marks or the subtractions of limbs. Two had their bones scattered about her lair. Both of those had approached her while she nurtured past clutches of eggs.

The new human, about fifty feet away, slowed and began to creep towards her, stopping about twenty feet away. His beetle-black eyes stared into the large golden-brown eyes of one of the most feared magical beasts on earth.

She had been silent until now in the hopes that he would leave. Normally, she would have taken his head off in one lunge, but she was still heavily pregnant, and would not leave her eggs unless she had to. Instead, with their eyes still locked, she growled low in her lioness throat.

Hagrid stopped for a moment to admire the glossiness of her lion’s fur that rippled seamlessly into a goat’s coarser, white fur, and the shininess of her dragon’s tail-scales. She was altogether beautiful.

The beautiful creature saw only that the human stared. And he stared especially hard at her eggs.

He began to sneak forward, making growly sounds as he came. “Grrrrrr! It’s a’right, little lady, it’s a’right. Grrrrr! I jus’ wan’ a look at yer eggs –”

She lunged to her feet with a snarl. He froze.

Properly irked now, she advanced towards him. Her goat’s feet picked their nimble way, the heavy tail balanced her, and her lion’s teeth bared dangerously. The man was now backing up.

“Come on, it’s a’right, it’s –”

She lunged properly this time, not with a snarl but with open jaws. He leapt back just in time. This time he left in proper manner – quickly. Her glistening teeth helped him to make up his mind, though he did cast a regretful glance back.


“’Agrid? You have found what you needed for your classes?”

Hagrid sat down next to Olympe with a heavy sigh. “Naw, it was too – expensive. Maybe nex’ year.”

[mooncalf]

Author Name: mooncalf
House: Ravenclaw
Title: While You Sleep...
Word count: 499!
Warnings: none.
Faint starlight cast a soft glow on the pale face of Cho Chang, making the tears drying on her cheeks sparkle, so that it looked as if she was weeping diamonds. She cast off the blanket and slipped out of bed, padding softly on bare feet to the window. Sighing, she leaned her brow against the cool glass. Coming from Britain, the tropical heat was nearly unbearable. She wished the holiday would end. Staring at the stars, her eyelids began to drift shut.

With a start, she realised that she was falling asleep. She staggered to the bed and lay down. Maybe she wouldn’t dream of Cedric. The weight of weariness and sorrow began to drag her eyes closed, until she suddenly noticed a dark shadow in front of the window. For a second the room was plunged into darkness, but before she could open her eyes fully it was gone.

A quiver of fear ran through her. Who knew what strange things lurked in foreign countries? She listened for a few minutes, ears strained to the utmost, but there was silence. Deciding it was a bat, she settled down once more.

A soft slithering sound jolted her into wakefulness once more. Fear paralysed her as the thingcame closer to where she lay. Her frightened eyes rolled over to where her wand lay, just within reach if only she could gather her courage to do it…

Before she could move, something soft and smooth slid across her face. Its silky folds absorbed the sounds of her screams. Shock and terror struck her, for she now knew what had her in its deadly grasp. A Lethifold, one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth. She struggled wildly, trying to pull it off, to draw just one breath. She began to feel dizzy and light-headed as her lungs cried out for air. Yet the supple body of the creature offered no purchase for her desperately scrabbling fingers. Weak from oxygen deprivation, she staggered backwards, crashing into the bedside locker. Her hands, flung behind her to break her fall, felt something cool and hard roll into them.

She now had her wand, but what to do? She knew practically nothing about Lethifolds, and her supply of oxygen was running out. She realised, in one crystal clear moment, that she was going to die. I’ll see Cedric again, she thought drowsily, death no longer holding any fear for her. Cedric’s face swam to her mind, laughing as she always remembered him doing. He had given her the happiest memories of her life…

Memories. Harry. Patronus. Cedric. Happy memories.

“Expecto Patronum!” she thought, expending the last of her energy. As she collapsed backwards, completely spent, she felt a merciful lightness on her face. She gasped and gulped until her vision cleared and she could see the black, cloak-like shape of the Lethifold retreating before the silver otter. Still shaking from fright, she turned and looked out the window at the stars.

Thank you, Cedric.

[Magical Maeve]

And the winners are...

1st: Loch Ness Blues by Fly to Dawn.

2nd: Ode to Uric the Odd Ball by Lily_16_Evans

3rd: A Woman Scorned by Whittyleah.


Well done, everyone. There were some really fun and interesting drabbles in there.