Weekly Drabble Challenge - Theme: Autumn - Results

[solemnlyswear_x]

Name: solemnlyswear_x
House: Gryffindor
Title: Only Blue, Lonely Blue
Warnings: None
Word Count: 279
Authors Note: The line with mention of blue is based on a line from the Rent song, “Without You,” which is what inspired the drabble.

You try not to think of him too much.

You try not to think of the last time you saw him, or the last time you kissed him. You make valiant attempts to ignore the sound of his voice as he whispered in your ear and the way he held your hand for no reason. You efforts aren’t any use most of the time; after all, convincing yourself you’re not completely alone isn’t an easy thing to do. But because he’s never coming back – no one comes back from Azkaban – you try all the same.

It is hardest in autumn, because fall had just arrived the last time you saw him. This year, two after you lost him, November refuses to let you forget.

When you step outside, the sky is a brilliant palette of colors, an easel of orange, pink, and purple. The sun is setting slowly, ending another day that feels so similar to the rest of them. All around you, the world is full of the signs of autumn. The leaves have turned gold and red, and they rustle softly as they fall from the tops of the oaks nearby, fluttering gracefully to the ground.

Everything reminds you of him – every breeze, every cold morning, every day. Autumn brings reminders of dead dreams and lost love, of things wanted and things never to be received. It does nothing but make you remember why you needed to forget him the first place, why you try and try to keep him from entering your thoughts.

All around you, there is sound and movement and so many different colors.

But you know blue, only blue, lonely blue.

[Azhure]

Name: Azhure
House: Ravenclaw
Title: He Will Be Safe
Warnings: No direct warnings, but it's rather dark
Word Count: 498
Authors Note: I love you, Ritta! No dialogue! Relying on description alone! Yay!!!!

It was an ache, a horrible ache inside her. The slow, torturous ripping of her soul as it escaped her fragile body. Yet she remained. A shell in the dark world, taunted by life itself. The silence was a cruel shadow, a lone figure in the distance that became a tree or looming building when looked at closely.

The wind blew harshly down the deserted Muggle street, and Merope shivered in the cold, her rags barely enough to cover her frail body, let alone protect from the chill. But she knew her decision had been the right one. Tom was better off. The small bundle in her arms wriggled, and Merope hugged it closer to his chest. Her beloved son. It was cruel to be born into such a harsh world. Yet it had happened to Tom, and nothing could change that now. Oh, if only she could go back in time and fix things! She would never have stopped administering that hateful potion to her husband had she known how it would have turned out!

It was too late, though.

Her feet crunched on the autumn leaves that had dropped from the towering oak trees which bordered the street. Merope couldn’t help but think of herself as one of the leaves. She had been so beautiful, so loved by the man of her dreams... but then suddenly she was cast away and forgotten. So weak... Nothing more than a dead leaf lying on the ground. Had she the energy, she would have wept and wailed, screaming out her pain to anyone who would listen. That energy had long left her, though; she could not even utter the softest whisper without experiencing the pain of one thousand knives piercing her throat.

Her final destination was now in sight. The Muggle orphanage. The one place where Tom would be safe. Merope’s pace quickened at the thought of finally getting to rest. The autumn leaves scattered as she rushed down the deserted street, and Tom wailed as he got jostled around in his mother’s arms. Lurching onwards, Merope stumbled right up to the gate leading to the orphanage. It was a plain building, the perfect place. No one would expect Tom to be here, not the heir of the Gaunt family. He would be safe from his father, who would no doubt demand revenge on Merope; he would be safe from his grandfather and uncle who would get out of Azkaban, consumed by hate. Hate for her desertion.

She knocked on the wooden door, the sound startling her as all other sound had been consumed by the overwhelming silence that had stalked her throughout her journey. The door swung open and a kind-looking woman stood just inside the building, her whole body glowing from the yellow light of the corridor behind her. Merope passed over Tom without a second thought, and then she sank to her knees. Using her last ounce of energy to whisper his name...

Her life's name.

~~Azhure~~

[Gonz]

Name: Gonz
House: Hufflepuff
Title: The Beauty of Change
Warnings: None
Word Count: 257
Authors Note: none

There is comfort in the changing of leaves.

Once, when I was a little girl I cursed the fact that I was born with the ability to change my appearance. I haven’t always been able to completely control my magic and the color of my hair used to change with my emotions, much to amusement of those around me. Surrounded by their teasing laughter I would have given anything to be normal.

That wish, however, did not remain for long.

Seeing my tears, my mother took me outside and made me look at the leaves on the trees. An array of different colors met my eyes as I looked around our yard. My mother told me that autumn was her favorite season because of the changing of leaves. She told me that she loved the leaves for the beauty that they brought; a beauty that came from change.

Now, the man I love curses himself for a change that comes at every full moon; a change that he can’t stop any more than the leaves can keep from changing. Surrounded by a world that scorns him I know that he would give anything to be normal.

How can I make him see the beauty in the changing of the leaves?

So when my husband finds me outside staring at the leaves I tell him what my mother told me. Then taking his hands in mine I tell him about the change happening within me.

A change that is more beautiful than all the colors of the leaves.

[cirelondiel]

Name: Chelsea
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Last Time
Warnings: Very minor sexual situations, I suppose.
Word Count: 128
Authors Note: I really liked this prompt

You're wandering the Hogwarts grounds, this autumn dawn.

Your eyes sweep the vast and empty grounds.
Last time, he was your world; you saw nothing else.

Leaves are crushed underfoot with crisp crunch sounds.
Last time, you had the sound of his deep voice resonating in your ear.

A cool, almost frosty wind bites at your cheeks.
Last time, you buried your face into his warm body.

Your nose is filled with the suffocating scent of rain.
Last time, it was his soap-and-cologne smell, which made you smile.

On your lips is nothing but the traces of breakfast.
Last time, you were intoxicated by his soft kisses and minty breath.

It was better last time.

This time, you look at the changing leaves (red, orange, gold), and sigh.

-- Chels

[lily_evans34]

Name: lily_evans34
House: Ravenclaw
Title: You Know It's Autumn
Warnings: None
Word Count: 409
Authors Note: *eyes prompts* Wow, second person seems to be popular around here.

You know it’s autumn, because you can feel the slight shift in the temperature and the desolate chill in the faint breeze. You know it’s autumn, because you’ve counted the days since your imprisonment, and you know it’s the twenty-first of September, because what else is there to do to pass the time but count the minutes?

You can’t see the trees, but you can feel them. You can hear them. And you want to laugh, because a year ago, trees were trees and there was nothing else to it. You want to smile at the irony; at the fact that you can feel the presence of something a thousand miles away; at the fact that you can see the Hogwarts grounds in your mind’s eye clearer than you ever could while you were at school. You try to laugh, and you try to smile, but you can’t remember how, so you rest your cheek against the wall. It’s grimy and uncomfortable, but you’re saved from the necessity of trying to remember happiness, so you stay there.

You stretch out a hand and you note that it’s rough and unfamiliar. You know without seeing that your eyes are tired and your hair is long and matted; your figure is gaunt and your smile is vacant. You feel older than time, and when you close your eyes the grey walls are gone. The reds and greens and yellows press upon your eyelids and you’re no longer in Azkaban. You’re at Hogwarts, at a time when autumn was autumn and trees were trees – a time when your best friend was alive and regret was a foreign word. You can feel the frivolity with which you lived; the carelessness with which you breathed. You can see the faces of your friends blurred together out on the grounds, in front of a canvas of colour, light, life. The forest is seductive in its mystery, and the castle is beautiful in its profound simplicity. And you’re sitting beneath the beech tree by the lake on a cool autumn day, and you feel young, naïve and alive, because you’re where you need to be.

And you open your eyes, and the image is gone. The faces of your friends are distinct; one dead, one alive, one a traitor.

The pictures of the grounds are oddly distorted, as though you maybe had never been there at all.

You know it’s autumn, and you try to care.

[mugglemathdork]

This one was hard to judge. There was an abundant use of the second person, and I absolutely loved it! There was a lot of fresh imagery and wonderful fluency of words. However, the winners were chosen due to their use of the prompt: autumn/fall and integrating it to a canon character. Trust the Ebil One when I say that it was hard to choose just three >.>

++First Place::
He Will Be Safe by Azhure
Azhure made really good use of the prompt by using a minor character [Merope Gaunt] and giving us a different POV of her character. Instead of a cold hearted woman not strong enough to fight for life for her son, she is portrayed as a warm and loving mother trying to keep her son safe one last time.

++Second Place::
The Beauty of Change by Gonz
Gonz made an awesome use of the prompt by connecting the change of the leaves to Tonks and Remus' own physical changes.

++Third Place::
You Know It's Autumn by lily_evans34
At the End of Summer Comes the Bitterness of Fall by eternalangel

Both Rachel and eternalangel focused on the feelings that the changes of autumn bring forth to people. One is from a person who can only feel it from memory [Sirius] and the other is from a POV in which autumn forecasts his feelings [Draco] Very good use of the prompt.

++Honorauble Mentions::
Only Blue, Lonely Blue by solemnlyswear_x
Harvest Festival by theworldonlyknows

Points will be posted shortly.
~Ebil One