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

[h_vic]

Name: h_vic
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Offerings
Warnings: Implied character death, religious references and unseasonable darkness
Words: 364

Severus Snape watched the flickering flames of the votive candles, his one concession to the festive season. Trickles of wax ran in rivulets onto his desk, pooling on the dark mahogany, as if the candles shed the tears that he could not. Each one was an offering of sorts, an apology or consecration perhaps, in his mind at least, and at the centre sat a dipped taper, weeping its lifeblood – the centrepiece of his shrine.

He had been little more than a boy when his mother had died; his father had taken him to church, at a loss for what to offer in comfort to the grieving child he barely knew, seeking perhaps the familiar routines of his own childhood in solace. Severus had found no comfort though in the austere, hallowed stone of the chapel, but he found something in the warm candlelight of the offerings to the souls of the departed. If it was not exactly comfort, at least it was more than emptiness. Religion had never permeated his soul, but the candlelight had. Now, as penance to the tattered shards of his life, he kept the traditions of his youth, but for the sake of a different soul.

Shadows writhed before him on the wall, looming large. They did not threaten him though; they begged him to dance with them, just as the owner of the soul he honoured once had. Their lithe grace stirred his memories. His palms, planted on the desk before him, convulsively curled into grief-stricken fists, sliding protectively towards his body, crumpling papers in their wake.

Christmas was the hardest time. It had been the darkest time in the Snape household, but the lightest in her presence. She had loved Christmas and she had shown him the briefest glimpse of its sparkling joy before she walked away from him.

Copper tones skirted the edges of the taper's flame and, as he watched, coalesced into a shiningly familiar fall of russet at the heart of the glow. He saw her turn, her face shining at the heart of the blaze as she smiled.

“Merry Christmas, Lily,” he whispered, his breath extinguishing the candle and her life once again.

[katrin4p]

Name: katrin4p
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Letting Go
Warnings: Er...none?
Words: 424
Option: 1

He found that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. Away from the candle that spread its glow throughout the table.

The glow of the candle was golden and it reminded him of Gryffindor. Consequentially, it reminded him of Hermione Granger.

He’d ruined his chance by never telling her. How he wished he’d ruined it by doing something horrible – but no, he’d ruined it by doing the most stupid and more characteristic thing of him.

He hadn’t told her.

If only he’d just let himself feel and show his emotions to her, maybe he could have had a chance.

He had foolishly thought that if he didn’t tell her at all, it would hurt less than being rejected.

“Draco?”

He forced a smile on his face as he looked up at her. “Hermione!”

She smiled back and sat down on a chair next to him, visibly tired. She closed her eyes momentarily, but then opened them again and looked at him. “Are you enjoying this?”

Oh, of course I am, he thought bitterly. Seeing you marry Ron Weasley is the best thing I could ever enjoy.

“Yes,” he said with another forced smile. “It’s a very…lovely…marriage.”

“The Weasleys and I worked very hard for this,” she said, visibly pleased by what he’d said. “It’s going better than I thought!”

“Hermione!” someone said, approaching their table.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Hermione apologetically to Draco, “but you know how these things are – people always want to talk to you and all that.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Draco said, forcing yet another smile as he watched her walk away from the table towards the person calling her.

Someone else congratulating her, I imagine, Draco thought.

Sighing, he looked around the room. Harry Potter was dancing with – surprise, surprise – Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley – that prat – was talking to one of his older brothers, numerous red heads were dispersed around the room, and some people from Hermione’s family were next to the Weasleys.

Maybe, he thought, he should look for someone to help him heal. Maybe he’d feel guilty for a while, what with him only being with that person to get over Hermione, but he’d like that person too.

Maybe he’d like that person more than he liked Hermione.

He saw a woman, with straight brown hair and green eyes looking at him curiously, making her way over to his table. Maybe she would be that person.

He blew on the candle’s fire and, as the light of the candle diminished, he thought, I’m ready to let go, Hermione.

So, I originally wrote a longer version BUT I shortened it and changed it around a bit and, well, I still like the longer one better.

~Ana

[thegirllikeme]

Name: thegirllikeme
House: Ravenclaw
Title: Keep Me In Your Heart
Warnings: None
Words: 497
Option: 2 - the Slythindor cookies

“My mother made me cookies for the trip,” Lily said, breaking the silence between them.

They both knew she was trying to capture his thoughts away from the cruel remarks of the boy in the last compartment, but Severus did not care what some stupid boy said. Instead, he was focused on what was to come, because if the confrontation of the boy had shown him anything, it was to make him realize his worst fear.

Lily might not be in Slytherin. That terrified him.

Lily held out the canister of cookies. In the tin were small, red and green cookies. Gryffindor and Slytherin. Severus reluctantly took one and nibbled on it. They were good, but too sweet for his bitter mood and every color was a reminder of how, in a few hours, their friendship might shatter.

As though guessing his thoughts, Lily gave him a worried look. “Sev, will you promise me something?”

He eyed her warily, but this was Lily. She'd never trick him. “Anything,” he foolishly replied.

“Promise me, no matter what happens in the Sorting, nothing will change between us.”

Severus stared at her, wondering if she was serious. By her ever-genuine green eyes, he could tell she was. How could he promise that? The future was not certain. If they ended up in different houses, he didn't know how they would make their friendship work. So he said nothing.

“Sev?”

Severus only shook his head, telling her not to press. Lily blinked sadly and gazed out the window. He hated seeing her sad, but what could he do? He wouldn't make her a promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

They remained in silence all the way to Hogwarts, reading schoolbooks and nibbling on the multi-color cookies. It was a quiet that lingered as they were called out by a burly, giant man and were escorted across the lake to Hogwarts. It was as beautiful as he'd imagined, but he couldn't help but glance at Lily, seeing her awed expression. He felt that familiar fear. He didn't want to lose her.

They said nothing as they were handed to the care of Professor McGonagall and listened to her talk about the houses. All that time, he watched Lily, watching her beautiful eyes. She was his best friend, his only friend. He didn't want to lose her.

And he wouldn't, he told himself determinedly. Whatever happened, he would be strong enough to hold onto her.

“Lily?” he whispered.

“Yes?”

He let his lips curl into a smile, knowing that just like how the red and green fit on the cookies, he and Lily would always fit together. No matter what houses they were in.

“I promise.”

Lily smiled brilliantly and took his hand. The doors to the Great Hall swung open and, together, they walked forward to face their destiny.

'If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever.'

Thanks to Tash for beta-ing this on such short notice. Also, the quote at the end is from Winnie the Pooh.

[x_lily_evans_x]

Name: x_lily_evans_x
House: Gryffindor! (:
Title: A Tale of Two Brothers
Warnings: None
Words: 499

Option 2: Slythindor Cookies!

Sirius Black, unlike most twelve-year-olds, hated Christmas. This was because on Christmas, the House of Black would be swarming with relatives, almost all of whom were nasty.

This Christmas, relatives had kept asking him which Hogwarts house he was in. When Sirius replied, “Gryffindor,” they’d all stared at him, then said politely but coldly, “Bummer, eh?”

To which Sirius would answer, “No— it was the best thing that could have happened to me,” and watch their faces twist in shock and disgust. He found it rather entertaining.

Unfortunately, his mother did not. Restraining her temper, she said to him, “Sirius, help us bake some more cookies— we’re almost out of them already.”

“Kreacher could do them,” Sirius responded.

His mother struggled to find an excuse that would make him stay in the kitchen and not embarrass his parents further. “It’s Christmas,” she said at last. “Kreacher should have a break.”

What a liar. She had never given Kreacher breaks. But Sirius agreed, because a most delightful idea had just occurred to him. He would bake cookies, all right— big, red cookies, for Gryffindor.

Once in the kitchen (and after chasing a sulky Kreacher out), Sirius got out his mother’s cookbook, flipping to the page on cookies. Then, after preparing the baking ingredients, he started to bake.

About an hour later, when all the cookies were in the oven, nine-year-old Regulus sidled into the kitchen, sniffing hard.

“I smell cookies,” he said.

“That’s because I’m baking them,” his older brother replied. Seeing that it was time, he removed the cookies from the oven and set them on the tabletop. Regulus wandered over.

“Sirius, why’re they red?” he asked, eyeing the cookies with a hungry expression.

“To show my support for Gryffindor,” Sirius said, with a look of undisguised glee on his face.

The hungry expression vanished.

“But Mummy will kill you!” Regulus said in horror, and used his magic to turn the cookies to the colour green.

“What d’you think you’re doing?” Sirius demanded, turning the cookies red again with his own magic.

Resolutely, Regulus turned them green.

And Sirius turned them back to red.

Green.

Red.

At the next change, the cookies became a mixture of green and red, and the colour wouldn’t be changed no matter how hard the two brothers tried.

“Look what you’ve done,” Sirius snapped.

“Sorry,” Regulus said in a small voice. A paused, then—

“I just didn’t want you to get punished.”

Sirius looked from his brother to the cookies, and then back again.

“I don’t mind getting punished for it.”

“But I do.”

And, in spite of himself, Sirius choked up, and hugged his brother. “Thank you, Regulus,” he said quietly, before pulling away. The two boys then looked at the cookies on the table.

“We can’t let Mummy see those,” Regulus said.

“So let’s eat them,” proposed Sirius.

The two brothers looked at the large amount of cookies, then grinned wickedly at each other.

“Merry Christmas, Sirius,” Regulus said.

“Merry Christmas, Regulus.”

[mugglemathdork]

Congratulations to the following drabblers for writing exceptional mini-stories:

1st - Raven_in_Lion_House
2nd - leahsm2
3rd - Weasleyboyfreak

It is never easy picking just three. XD
~Gato Loco