Weekly Drabble Challenge - A Thousand Words: Holiday Spirit - Results

[mugglemathdork]

A picture is worth a thousand words ~ Proverb

You've probably heard the proverb above a million times.

Your prompt this week is to choose one of the two pictures below [yes, two pictures! 'cause El Gato Loco is feeling generous] and write a drabble about it. I know the challenge is called a thousand words, but remember drabbles are no more than 500 words. So keep it within the limit.

Option 1: Festive Candle

Option 2: Slythindor Cookies

The following form must be used when submitting your drabble responses to this post -

Name:
House:
Title:
Warnings:
Words:

Winners will be awarded 15, 10, and 5 points respectively.

All drabbles must be less than 500 words; All standard grammar rules, and MNFF submissions guidelines apply.

The challenge will be up for a week, and be closed exactly a week later (December 19th).

MithrilQuill and I will be judging them and posting results a couple of days later.

All questions should be referred to the Question Corner - Do not post questions here. Only drabbles!

Other than that...have fun!

~Gato Loco & Mith~

[mrsmcclnt]

Name: mrsmcclnt
House: Slytherin
Title: Sweet Goodness!
Warnings: none
Words: 500 *phew*

Option 2

“Dirty little ferret!”

“Filthy Mudblood!”

Both wands raised and pointed to the other.

“ENOUGH! This is why the two of you are here – IN DETENTION,” Professor McGonagall reminded them.

“In the kitchen, cooking like common help! Wait till my father-“

“THE BOTH OF YOU, Mr. Malfoy, are in this kitchen so that you can learn how to get along. And I cannot think of a better way of spreading holiday cheer and goodwill then by baking cookies-”

“I can think of other ways,” Hermione whispered.

“TOGETHER, Ms. Granger. I expect these cookies to be ready by morning before the students leave. You will have the rest of the evening to prepare. So step to it!” Professor McGonagall left. But before she exited, she instructed the house elf to keep watch in case she needed to take away more points .

“Well, I know those Weasleys will appreciate these,” he said with a smile. “Their family is so poor, they couldn’t afford the flour to make them.”

Hermione threw her spatula. “What gives you the right to act like a pompous-“

“THE SAME RIGHT that makes you acts like an insufferable know-it-all!” Just then, the house elf (the one McGonagall spoke to) cleared his throat and tapped his foot. It was his way of reminding them of the Professor’s warning.

They grabbled their bowls and got back to work. “I’ll make my own batch. You make yours. Considering how scandalous you are, I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of some foul play with your cooking,” she retorted.

“MY COOKING? YOU-”

tap tap tap

They finished the evening in silence. The house elf had them place their cookie doughs on the sheets. He said he would bake them in the morning so that they can be fresh for the students. So Draco and Hermione retired for bed. But they had to be back by sunrise so that Professor McGonagall could inspect them.

When morning came, both were astonished with their results.

“WHAT THE BLOODY-“

“IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO TURN OUT LIKE THIS! THEY’RE RUINED!” she moaned.

Draco started gathering up bowls and other utensils, “We can make up some more before she comes!”

“There’s not enough time!” Hermione shouted.

“Time for what?” Professor McGonagall entered the kitchen. Her eyebrows were raised, questioning their frazzled appearance.

“ To make icing,” Hermione stuttered, “to give it a finishing touch.”

Professor McGonagall bit into one, “Well I say, it taste fine without it. This is a fine compliment to the house of Slytherin and Gryffindor to blend the colors together. You’ve done well. 20 points to each of you for your creativity.”

Before they left, Draco and Hermione took some cookies as payment for their hard work. As the walked away from each other, they took a bite out of their sweet confections.

It does taste good together, Hermione thought as she chewed.

She looked the other way and saw Draco looking back to her.

In that moment, he was thinking the same thing.

[Weasleyboyfreak]

Name: Weasleyboyfreak
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Christmas Cookies
Warnings: DH Spoilers
Words: 419

I Chose the Slythindor cookies...lots of fun I had. (Im turning into Yoda! AHHHH!)

Chaos was the only word that could describe the scene in front of him. Flour seemed to be flying everywhere and eggs shells lined the counters and floor. The sugar basin had been spilled, each grain in an uneven pile. The red and green dyes slowly dripped out of their vials, making a brown puddle on the table.

He watched as a fifteen-year old with a mess of frizzy red locks busied herself in the kitchen. Her body was covered with splotches of flour and her blue eyes seemed to be full of joy. She moved quickly between a large bowel on the counter and the oven.

“Rosie, what are you doing? It’s Christmas Eve!”

“D-Daddy!” Rose Weasley said, turning around with surprise. She had hoped to keep her little project a secret. “I-I’m baking,” she stuttered nervously.

In truth, Rose was baking Christmas cookies to send to Scorpius Malfoy. The cookies were red and green to represent the intermingling of their houses. The only problem was that Ron didn’t know about Rose’s relationship with the young Malfoy.

“Theserdewious!” Ron said, his mouth full of cookie. “My favorite Christmas gift!”

“D-Dad they’re not…”

“Slythindor cookies!” Hugo interrupted as he entered the kitchen, “yum!”

Ron looked at Rose, his brow raised. “They’re what?”

“You know, Slythindor cookies. Rosie invented them since she’s--”

“Hugo!” Rose interrupted, her eyes full of fear as she tried to read the expression on her father’s face. “I’m trying to promote house unity!” she lied.

“You’re just like your mother,” Ron said, shaking his head.

“But I thought it was because you were dating Scorpius! You’ve made them for the past three years!” Hugo said, obviously clueless, his mouth full of cookie. It was remarkable how much he resembled his father.

“Y-you’re dating a…a Malfoy?” Ron stammered, his expression unreadable.

“Yes but…Dad!”

Ron had suddenly turned and left the room. He slowly ambled up the stairs, thoughts racing through his head. Upon reaching his bedroom, he found Hermione.

“Did you know Rosies’ been dating the Malfoy boy for three years?” He asked, shaking his head and taking a seat on the bed.

“Well…erm…yes,” Hermione answered, biting her lip.

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“Well…she knew you’d act like…this,” Hermione answered with a smile, taking a seat next to him.

“Am I that unreasonable?”

“Sometimes.”

“Why am I so thick headed?” he asked, angry with himself for his outburst. “And those cookies were brilliant!”

“It’s just your natural charms, love,” Hermione laughed.

“She’s growing up too fast.”

[Heather25x]

Name: Heather25x
House: Hufflepuff.
Title: Intertwined.
Warnings: None.
Words: 432

I used the second picture, the red and green cookies.

Lily strolled into the Hogwarts kitchen, feeling very contented with herself. She had volunteered to bake some cookies for the Christmas feast, and since only a handful of students were staying at Hogwarts for the holidays, she wouldn’t have too many to bake, and thought it would be a very enjoyable task.

But as soon as she walked in the door of the kitchen, she realised she had thought wrong.

‘What are you doing here?’ She exclaimed.

Snape looked up from the cook book he was studying, his brow furrowed, and looked at Lily.

‘Oh, hello,’ he said, standing up and making his way over to her.

‘Don’t come anywhere near me!’ Lily shouted, and a few of the house elves at the back of the kitchen glanced over wearily.

Lily lowered her voice, ‘why are you here, Snape,’ she said.

Snape frowned as he watched Lily. Lily, however, opened pulled out her grandmother’s special recipe for cookies and placed it on the counter.

‘I’m making some cookies for the feast, just like you are.’

Lily short him daggers. ‘How did you know I was coming here?’ but she already knew the answer. Snape had found out what she was doing, simply to be with her.

Lily tried to ignore Snape as best as she could, but he didn’t seem to be able to handle the silence.

‘Lily, if we could just talk about it - ’

‘There is nothing to talk about, Snape!’ Lily whispered. ‘I don’t like being called a mudblood at the best of times, but by someone who I thought was my friend - ’

‘Lily, please - ’

‘No.’ Lily stared determinedly at her recipe, and Snape knew he had no hope of bringing her round.

A few hours later, Lily returned to the kitchens to ice her cookies in a slightly better mood, but when she saw Snape was there again she just went to collect her cookies and tried to ice them as quickly as possible.

But something was wrong. As she pulled her plate of freshly cooked cookies towards her, Lily gasped.

‘Oh no!’ She cried, staring at the cookies. Her grandmother’s recipe said that the cookies would turn out with a red top, and a green bottom, but the colours had mixed. ‘I must have done the colour-splitting charm wrong,’ Lily sighed miserably. ‘Now they look terrible, and I’m going to ruin the Christmas feast.’

But as she looked at the cookies, and saw the way the green and red had intertwined, she realised that they looked rather good mixed together like that…

[Raven_in_Lion_House]

Name: Raven_in_Lion_House
House: Ravenclaw
Title: A Light in the Dark
Warnings: DH Spoilers
Words: 224

Albus had insisted that the candle be put out because, as he’d said, "Santa can’t see in the dark." Harry had almost pointed out to his son that Santa had a wand, but had decided that it might hurt Albus's feelings. The boy was ever so much more sensitive than James.

Now, Harry was glad he'd decided to light the candle. The flickering flame provided a sort of strange companionship as he enjoyed the midnight snack for "Santa". Harry supposed it was because it was the only thing moving at all in the entire house. He’d had checked three times in the past hour and was secure in the knowledge that James and Albus were fast asleep in the room they shared. A very tired Ginny had started to doze while nursing Lily in their bed. Once the baby was also asleep, Harry had gently wiggled her from his wife’s arms and placed her in the cradle. Even the owls weren’t keeping him company; they had last-minute Christmas gifts to deliver. This had left Harry alone with the job of putting out the gifts, which his sons believed were from Santa Claus.

All the while, the ever-shrinking candle had burned. Harry smiled at it. It was nice that, for once, someone (or something) else was taking on the job of warding off darkness.

[leahsm2]

Name: Leahsm2
House: Slytherin
Title: Santa Claus is Coming
Warnings: Slight Expletive
Words: 414
Option 1
Link to Poem Quoted

“ ’. . .Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.’ ” Lily read softly to her half asleep son.

“He did what?” exclaimed James who had been sitting beside her, idly listening. “Let me see that book.”

Lily sighed and handed the book to her husband. Her now wide-awake young son’s bottom lip trembled as he sensed the mood in the room changing. James looked at the Muggle picture book in horror.

“Lily. This ‘St. Nicholas’ of yours is nothing but a rogue house elf run amok. I mean,” James paused before reading aloud, his own lips trembling, but with a different emotion, “’He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf; And I laugh'd when I saw him in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head; Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.’ The little blighter Imperiused the man of the house, that’s all. I ask you. Flooed into the man’s home without permission and performed an Unforgivable Curse!”

By now Harry was crying. Lily bit her lip to keep from laughing at her husband's obvious confusion, and picked up her son to comfort him. Harry was slowly lulled to sleep and Lily carried him off to bed. She didn’t want him to see his father in this state. When she came back into the room, she saw James looking at the little plate, which held a few of the star sugar cookies she had made. She and Harry had set them out for Santa.

James said nothing, but gestured at the plate. Lily had tried to explain this custom to him earlier, but obviously without success. Without saying a word, James exited the room. When he came back, he had a small, glittery candle. He placed the candle in the center of the plate and lit it with his wand.

“What’s with the candle, James?” she asked giggling at her husband.

“It may look like a festive candle, but it’s actually a Dark Detector.” He said, solemnly. “I know you said this ‘St. Nicholas ’ of yours was a harmless Muggle myth for children, but I know our myths and they all have a bit of truth in them. This is just a precaution to keep us from being murdered in our beds.”

“I love you James Potter,” Lily said, standing on the tips of her toes and kissing his forehead. “You are certifiably insane, but I love you.”

[Pondering]

Name: Pondering
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Tears of Wax
Word Count:499
Warnings: None

Lily decorated the house for Christmas that year, as if it were just an ordinary Christmas. She set up the tree, hung up the stockings and even lit a few festive candles. But after that, she could do no more, as the candle entranced her.

The tip of the flame danced in merriment, but Lily could not help wonder if it was just a façade. If the candle was so happy, why was it crying? Tears of wax slipped down its side, and Lily could see it crumbling under the pressure of keeping the flame alive.

She shook her head. This was silly. Candles did not cry. She still had Christmas presents to wrap and owl to the friends that she still had, and the traditional Christmas dinner still needed cooking. She donned a cheerful Christmas hat as she set about her tasks.

Christmas was always a very happy time for her, a time for merriment and cheer. Even though times were dark, she could not help but feel joyous as she located her Christmas card list from last year to check who she had to send cards to this year.

Looking at the list and reading the names made the Christmas euphoria vanish so quickly it was as though it had never existed in the first place. Now an empty, desolate feeling took hold of her. Her eyes scanned the list again, and she felt her head swim. How many people on this list would never be able to feel the Christmas spirit again? How many of them would never be able to feel anything again?

Something caught her attention out of the corner of the eye, something moving…she turned around to look at it. It was that dratted candle again; the candle that she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off earlier.

She was horrified to discover that she now had tears forming in the corner of her eyes, tears she was crying for all the people that had been lost, tears that she was crying for the candle.

In a way, she was a lot like the candle, and maybe that was why looking at it seemed to around such emotion in her. It could fool itself into thinking it was happy, but the tears betrayed the fact that it wasn’t. It must hurt, Lily thought to herself, for it to be on fire… .

The patterns of the flame became more mournful, and suddenly Lily knew what to do. Leaning in, she closed her eyes and puffed gently enough to extinguish the flame, exactly the same way the list has extinguished her Christmas fever.

It wasn’t shameful to cry, Lily realised, if it was the way she really felt inside. Her head was still bent over the candle and her salty tears mingled with the wax. Lily had almost crumbled under the pressure of pretending that everything was all right, the very same way the candle had nearly run out of wax.

[The Marauding Cupcake]

Name: The Marauding Cupcake
House: Gryffindor
Title: Sweet Secrets
Warnings: Fluffiness – apply directly to the forehead
Words: 500!
Option 2: Slythindor Cookies

Rose was removing a rather large roast from the oven when she noticed her mother watching amusedly from the doorway. She gave a slightly embarrassed smile, and moving on to two bowls of batter sitting on the counter top, began spooning them equally on to a cookie sheet.

Hermione moved quietly over to her daughter’s side, admiring the work the girl had done. She couldn’t think of a better treat to come home to. Christmas decorations were placed everywhere in the home, it smelled of the wonderful feast Rose prepared, and the cookies were extraordinarily festive. The house was alive with good will and holiday spirit.

“What have you been reading, ‘Household Spells for the Holidays’?” she laughed. Rose blushed again and Hermione had a keen sense that there was more to this domestic display than holiday cheer.

“Theses cookies are quite...” she trailed off, lost in thought. She wanted to say creative, but it struck a chord within her, bringing forth a barely formed memory of a Christmas long ago at school... and cookies.

“Rosie, is everything all right? You do know you can talk to me – about anything.” Hermione waited, but Rose just smiled and, after a moment, assured her that everything was fine.

*****

In the dense silence of the night, the snow crunched under Rose’s feet more loudly than she’d have liked. She bowed her head further into her cloak against the wind and hurried through the back garden. A figure stepped out from the shadows and grabbed her.

“You startled me!” she exclaimed, lighting her wand. The soft glow fell over the features of a tall, lean boy.

“You were expecting your other boyfriend?” Scorpius teased. “How did it go? Is the plan in action?”

“Yes,” Rose gushed. “Red and green decorations everywhere and the cookies, just like the ones your father told you about. That was quite a bit of cunning, using the cookies that your dad and my mom made, to help bring my parents around.”

He noticed that she had only thrown on a pair of boots and her cloak on over her night dress; she was shivering like mad. He reached out and took the lapels of her cloak, closing them tightly and pulling her closer to him.

“You know us Slytherins, we use any means to get what we want. Is that all right by you?” He waggled his brow.

“As long as what you want is me.” Rose closed the distance between them, snaking her arms around his neck. She kissed him sweetly.

“Ever the bold Gryffindor,” he murmured breathlessly. “Do you think it will work? They might accept us together?” He nodded toward the house.

“Well, I used a little something Uncle George gave me, in the cookies. It’s a potion form of a Cheering Charm, I thought it couldn’t hurt.”

“Cunning, in deed! Are you sure you don’t belong in Slytherin?” he laughed, still holding her close.

“Nah, it just means I’m a Weasley through and through.”

~Michelle

[xombie]

Name: Xombie
House: Gryffindor
Title: Hold on Tight
Warnings: None
Words: 500

Option 1 --- Festive Candle

She ruffled her hair as she sat down on the windowsill, and gazed into the dark sky. The light breeze touched her delicate skin, tinting her cheeks with a soft glow. She closed her eyes and let the beauty of the night become her, wiping away her sorrow and distress.

‘Lily…,’ a voice breathed, and she opened her wet eyes to look at her brother. ‘Darling, is something bothering you?’

James sighed when Lily shook her head and asked him to go away. ‘At least let me brighten this room a little. It’s as dark as the sky outside,’ he said and lit a small candle beside them.

‘James – please – go – away,’ Lily whispered, her pauses choked with tears; ‘I want to be left alone.’

James put his arms around her. ‘Lils, it hurts to see you cry. Please don’t, at least for my sake.’

The girl snuggled her head deeper into James’ chest and shook her head, tears dropping down her cheeks faster than before.

‘Hey! I didn’t ask you to drench my shirt!’

Lily giggled and sobbed at the same time, frustrated with James for joking when he should be comforting her.

James laughed. ‘It’s something to do with school, isn’t it?’ he asked, hoping to catch his sister unawares. He knew he had been successful when Lily nodded.

‘Ha! Caught you! Did you get into trouble with the teachers?’

Lily’s tears glistened in the flickering light of the candle. ‘We have a Christmas Ball this year,’ she sobbed.

‘And is that a reason to shed tears?’ James frowned. ‘Weird.’

Lily smiled despite herself. ‘Richard ditched me for Alison,’ she cried, her agony resurfacing.

James wiped the tears away from the forlorn face of his sister. ‘You’re crying over the guy who looks like a baboon? Your choices amaze me!’

He got up and pulled his sister along. ‘Did you know I was a wonderful dancer during my school days?’

Lily chuckled. James had never been able to dance without sending ripples of laughter through the onlookers.

‘My date couldn’t match my standards, so she ran away,’ he said and laughed along with Lily. He took her to centre of the room, and got down to his knees.

‘May I have the pleasure of taking the lovely young lady before me to a candle-light dance?’

Lily giggled and took his hands. She rested her right arm on James’ shoulder, clasped her left hand in his, and placed her head on his shoulder. They danced slowly to the silent night.

‘Lils,’ he softly whispered to her after a few moments. ‘See that candle over there? Life is just like that. It flickers, but it gives hope. It will end, but it will have glory. It’ll be small, but it’ll brighten. You will weep, but you will smile too,’ he said and twirled her around.

I won’t leave Richard alone if I chance upon him, he thought as the flames in the candle died away, immersing the room in darkness again.

In case you're wondering, Lily is back home during Christmas.

[kritchen]

Name: Kritchen
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Holidays With You
Warnings: None
Words: 485

Option 2

Joyful greetings rang out over the Entrance Hall as people called goodbye to friends. It was the holidays once again, but this year, he had special plans. His mother had begged him to come home. He always came home for the holidays. Ted Tonks had cleverly explained to her that he had things to do over the holidays, and couldn’t leave the school. By her response, he was sure that she thought he had a girlfriend. His mum would love nothing more for her precious baby boy to have a relationship with a sweet, cookie baking girl. How sorely she’d be disappointed when she found out the truth.

Looking around the hall, he wondered briefly if she had changed her mind. His view suddenly became darkness as a small pair of cool hands covered his eyes. Laughing, he grabbed those hands and squeezed them affectionately. The pale, pretty face of Andromeda Black came into his line of vision as she settled on the bottom step beside him. No one worth caring about would see them together. Raphael had already left for the holidays, along with all his cronies.

“What are you doing down here?” Her polished voice was teasing as she elbowed his side.

“Just saying goodbye to my friends. Aveline’s going to Denmark this Christmas.”

He poked her back with his fingers, wiggling them against her side. He delighted laughter made him smile. She jumped away from him, crossing her arms in mock anger.

“Come back please. I promise I won’t do it again.”

Giggling, the girl shook her head. “You always say that.”

“Fine. I will do it again but not right now. I’ve got something for you.” He dug into the school bag beside him and pulled out a small tin.

Excitement lit up her brown eyes, and she bounded back over to his side. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she looked up at him from under her eyelashes. “Will you tell me what it is?”

“Absolutely not! That’ll ruin the surprise!”

She huffed, blowing her hair up so that it tickled his cheek. He chuckled and handed over the metal tin. Smiling widely, she pried the lid off of it and looked inside. A snort of laughter escaped her mouth before she clamped her hand over it. Andromeda looked up at him imploringly.

“The house elves were making Slythindor cookies for the holidays. I didn’t want to ruin them by transfiguring them to gold and green.”

Still giggling, it took her a while to regain her composure. Only Ted would be so silly. “Well. Thank you.”

Her simple thank you meant more to Ted than it would have to someone else. The adoring smile she flashed him before biting into one of the cookies made his heart glow. The holiday season would be perfect with just that smile. Thankfully, he got to have her all to himself the entire break.