SUMMER COMPETITION ~The First Picture of Summer~ RESULTS

[Equinox Chick]

'Summer breeze makes me feel fine,
blowing through the jasmine in my mind.'
~Seals and Croft

Summer is a lazy season, the time when all we want to do is relax. However, your barmaid is feeling ebil and wants you to get back to writing, so I’m issuing this challenge for the Summer.

Below is a list of pairings. It is NOT a ship list, (although you may view it like that if you wish). What you need to do is write TWO drabbles from opposing POVs about one subject. That subject is ... up to you.

Well, sort of. You need to find a picture that represents summer and/ or holidays, then drabble it first from each persons’ opposing perspective. You must link the picture, so I can see it. This should be done by using photobucket, or something similar, and not linking to an external site.

Here was how this worked for me, in case you need an idea. When I entered this challenge as a newbie, I found a picture of a strawberry and wrote one drabble about Minerva McGonagall and her fondness for the fruit and another about Sybil Trelawney who hated strawberries. The drabbles should connect in some way, but don’t have be based around the same event.(In my case, I had Minerva presenting the staff table with a large punnet of strawberries that she’d just picked, and this set off the respective reminiscence)

Rules:

• You have to use my list below
• You have to write two drabbles
• Both drabbles must be between 250-500 words each
• All usual MNFF guidelines must be followed

Points:
5 points for participation. (but only if you’ve followed the rules)
Winner receives 15 points
Second 10 points
Third 5 points

You may enter more than once but only one set of participation points will be awarded.

If I receive too few quality entries, then the placings will be adjusted. Cake woman rules apply at all times. ***

List of Doom

Albus Dumbledore/Cornelius Fudge
Lily Evans /Vernon Dursley
Sirius Black/Severus Snape
Bellatrix Black or Lestrange/Luna Lovegood
MadEye Moody/Nymphadora Tonks
Bill Weasley/Fenrir Greyback
Pansy Parkinson/Hermione Granger
Dean Thomas/Draco Malfoy
Albus Potter/Lorcan Scamander
Rose Weasley/Lucy Weasley

Please take note of the surnames of the witches. You may write Bellatrix as a Black or Lestrange, but the others are very definitely single.

Use this form for your drabble.

[B]Name:[/B]
[B]House:[/B]
[B]Title:[/B]
[B]Link to picture:[/B]
[B]Couple used:[/B]
[B]Ratings/Warnings:[/B]
[B]A/N:[/B] 

This competition is scheduled to close on 31st AUGUST at 10pm BST . However, as the summer is often a time when people are away on holiday, I may keep it open for longer, whilst running some smaller summer competitions.

****** Should the barmaids receive no quality drabbles, then we reserve the right to award neither place points nor participation points. You don’t want this fate to happen to you clickie
So use a beta, drabblers. We can overlook the occasional typo or misplaced comma, but canon spelling errors or numerous mistakes – a big fat no-no.

Ask any questions here

HAVE FUN

~Madam Carmerta~

EDIT: DEADLINE EXTENDED 31st AUGUST

[Equinox Chick]

and just to make it even clearer ...

.


The deadline for this challenge has been extended to 31st August - yes, you have another month to write your two drabbles.

Meanwhile, Madam Russia will be running some weeklies, so let's get The Three Broomsticks up and running again.

Butterbeers are on us!

[welshdevondragon]

Name: Alex/ welshdevondragon
House: Gryffindor
Title: The Fallen Tree
Link*to*picture: http://i53.tinypic.com/2luxqn9.jpg
Couple*used: Bellatrix Black and Luna Lovegood
Ratings/Warnings: Possibly violence. 1st-2nd years.
A/N:* In my personal canon the Blaise house is in Devon, so wouldn’t be too far from the Lovegoods‘. And if this doesn’t look too summery- well, as much as I love Devon, I am a city girl and being there is being on holiday for me.

Please don’t ask me why the animals Mr and Mrs Lovegood discuss are named after Roman love poets. I don’t know.

Also Bella performs underage magic. I’m near the word limit as it is (I think writing MNFF competition drabbles is the only time I’ve ever paid attention to word limits--my English teachers would be jealous) so had to cut out an explanation. She will end up successfully blaming it on someone else.

And if I've completely misunderstood the prompt do tell me

Thanks to Sarah/ TheCursedQuill for beta-ing.

1:

She stormed down the path, putting as much distance between herself and the Zabini Mansion as possible, getting away from all those stupid, pathetic people who treated her like a little girl and got upset when she didn’t behave like one.

She was not a little girl. Fourteen years old and could, as she proved, curse any of the boys her mother foisted on her even when surrounded by people her mother called important. Her mother was stupid. What did she, Bellatrix Black, care if all those people thought her deranged? She wasn’t, she was just powerful and no-one could understand that.

One man had not stared at her in shock. He’d been smiling. She remembered as she topped the small hill and saw the tree.

It being spring, the tree was not heavy with leaves but heavy with buds all waiting to grow green. She felt a surge of hatred, and raising her wand, shouted a spell she’d read about.

”Sterilus!”

Each potential leaf withered, turning from green to black. Bella felt a surge of satisfaction.

“Very impressive,” someone murmured. She snarled, turning to curse them, but pausing when she saw the man with the waxen features, who had smiled as she cursed the Zabini boys.

“It is,” she agreed proudly.

He laughed, a strange high pitched laugh. “You have destroyed its fertility, yes. Why not fell it completely?”

Bella snorted in disbelief. “You can’t do that. The tree’s mass is too great, it would take several wizards and witches to manage.”

“You will learn, Bella––” There was something beautiful about the way he said her name. It made her feel important. “––that there are many impossible things I can accomplish.”

He flicked his wand. There was a tremendous cracking sound, like lightning but lasting far longer. The trunk of the tree trembled, before the uppermost branches, previously pressing into a dull white sky, trembled even more, suddenly falling to the ground as the lower trunk and the roots tore from the ground, bursting from it like entrails from a stag Bella had once watched her grandfather gut.

“How did you do that?” She turned from the tree to face him. “Teach me!”

“If I teach you, then you’ll have to promise me your eternal loyalty and service.”

His eyes were reddish. Despite never having seen anyone with red eyes, it wasn’t the colour that intrigued her but his expression of respect. He knew she was special. He knew she was better than all of them.

If he had that power, then what else could he do?

He could fell a tree and considered her loyalty worth something. If, later, she judged him unworthy of her service then she could leave. A promise was only a promise, not an Unbreakable vow.

“I want to know everything.”

“You shall,” he assured her and she, for reasons she did not fully understand, trusted him.

“I promise.”

2:

Luna took a deep breath. She was surrounded by students, all closing their eyes, pointing their wands into the air and shouting spells.

She closed her eyes and remembered:

She looks up to her left to see Daddy, his hand clasped round her left hand, their fingers tightly entwined. To her right she sees Mama, her fingers clasped round her palm. They are walking across a field, up and up. The green grass and brightly coloured wild flowers tickle her bare legs and when she looks up she sees a blue cloudless sky. She giggles.

The wind is blowing her hair in her face and she sneezes. Mama laughs, bends down and lifts her up, swinging her round before holding her in her arms. Daddy also laughs, squeezing her nose with his handkerchief as she sneezes again.

Mama points and Luna follows her finger to see the fallen tree. She thinks it beautiful, big and graceful, like an animal. Mama takes her hand, pressing it to the trunk. Rough bark, separated from other planks of bark by smooth wood.

Mama then places her on top of the trunk, holding her hands as she jumps up and down on it, laughing and listening to her mother laugh with her. She walks along, seeing the branches swell out and fill the land in front of her when, suddenly, emerging from them Daddy jumps up, shouting, “Boo!”

She laughs as he takes her, diving through the entangled branches to emerge onto the field and carry her to the tree’s roots.

He kneels down and points at the recently displaced soil.

“Look. There’s a Three Toed Catullus.”

“No, Xenophilius,” Mama says, “It’s a Seven Toed Ovidian.”

“Darling, it’s most certainly a Catullus.”

Not remembering anymore, or memory being replaced by Luna’s guess at the subsequent dialogue, she opened her eyes. It didn’t really matter what her parents had said. What had mattered was the sunlight, the beauty of the fallen tree and the grasp of her parents’ hands around hers.

“Expecto Patronum!”

[Padfoot11333]

Name: Lily/Padfoot11333
House: Hufflepuff
Title: The Trouble with Colors
Link to picture: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj...06fho1_400.gif
Couple used: Albus Dumbledore/Cornelius Fudge
Ratings/Warnings: 1st-2nd years
A/N: Probably a little much on the extreme hilarity, also a little AU as I have people re-taking their OWLs in July, I dunno if that happened in the books. And AU in the fact that Dumbledore couldn't remove the charm. And also Carole, I know you used a strawberry in your drabble as a newbie, but I ran across this picture and couldn't resist.

Thanks to firebirdjinx for beta-ing.


1:

“Oops!”


“Quite all right,” said Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster overseeing the Charms O.W.L. that I, Cornelius Fudge, had to retake. “Now, if you could just take this lantern and make it change colours for me,” he said.

I pointed my wand at the lantern. This charm was the reason I’d failed my Charms O.W.L. the first time around, and I was determined to get it right. Professor Dumbledore took a large strawberry from his pocket—I had no idea where he’d stored it—and started to take a bite while watching me.

I pointed my wand at the lantern. “Colourus maximus!” At the same moment Professor Dumbledore put the hand with the strawberry down right in front of the lantern. The orange spell hit the strawberry…

Suddenly not only the strawberry, but also Professor Dumbledore were changing colours rapidly. Pink…orange..red..yellow…green...blue…I couldn’t keep track. Somehow Professor Dumbledore seemed to keep a kindly old face throughout it all.

“Sorry!” I squeaked.

“Cornelius,” said Professor Dumbledore, sighing. His face was now an interesting sort of turquoise. “I’ll put it right.” He reached for his wand; his hand was somehow olive green. He ate the last bit of strawberry and said, “Colourus maximus repairus!”

Nothing happened.

Professor Dumbledore tapped his wand carefully, and said, “Colourus maximus!”

The spell hit me. Now Professor Dumbledore and the strawberry top weren’t the only things changing colours every second. I was, too! I glanced down at my hand, which was ochre.


Professor Dumbledore coughed. “Er…Minerva?”

Professor McGonagall glanced over at the two of us and the strawberry leaves turning all sorts of colours. She sighed. “Cornelius Fudge…”

Pointing her wand at the two of us, she repaired the spell with one flick of the wand. I had some sort of feeling that I wouldn’t be passing my Charms O.W.L. this time around either…


2:

Dear Albus,

I have a quick question for you. As the newest Minister of Magic, we are supposed to share a ‘embarrasing’ story to humanize us. I was wondering if you could attend the dinner and tell the story of the time I turned the both of us and your strawberry different colours using the Colour-Changing Charm.

Thank you,

Cornelius Fudge

Minister of Magic

I sighed. When he was at school, Cornelius had not been the most able of wizards, and Charms had not been one of his most adept subjects. I’d made the mistake of eating a delicious strawberry while he was retaking his Charms O.W.L. (he got a T), and the great-tasting strawberry had been reduced to something whose colours were always changing—in addition to Cornelius and I. Minerva McGonagall, thankfully, had undone the charm, or else I would still be changing colours today.

Of course I’d be glad to tell the story to the whole public. I might not show it, but I had a very acute sense of humor. I wrote Cornelius back immediately, giving my consent.

The next week at the dinner, I finished telling the story while Cornelius sat and turned radish red throughout the whole thing. I was not certain why he’d asked me to do this if he was so embarrassed by it, but then again, Cornelius Fudge wasn’t the most able of wizards.

The applause at the end of my tale was tumultous, and Cornelius Fudge stood immediately.

“Thank you very much for that, Albus. That was a very interesting tale, but it’s a good thing it wasn’t true!”

I almost protested, but didn’t when I realized I’d be asked to replace Cornelius. Apparently the newest Minister of Magic didn’t want to be laughed out of the office just yet.

[iMusic17]

Name: iLuna17\iMusic17\Ellie
House: Slytherin!
Title: The Wishing Well
Link to picture: here
Couple used: Rose Weasley\Lucy Weasley
Ratings/Warnings: None (1st to 2nd years) Does fluff count?
A/N: This is a little different, and the ships are Rose\Scorpius and a hint of Lucy\OC. Thank you so much to Emma, (hermione_granger4life) for her amazing beta work.


Rose:

Sixteen-year-old Rose Weasley was wandering through the forest behind Uncle Harry’s house, looking for her good cousin, Teddy Lupin. It was early in the morning, and Teddy was most likely passed out on the ground somewhere. The full moon was last night, and as Rose was the best at healing charms, she was sent to patch him up. But a blond Slytherin invaded her mind by the name of Scorpius Malfoy.

They had stopped their playful fights and had suddenly become very awkward around one another. Rose had been distant friends with Scorpius since first year, as Ravenclaw and Slytherin had almost all of their classes together. As both were the most intelligent and witty in their respective houses, they bickered and debated often. But come of late Rose had started to notice things about Scorpius; things she promised her father that she would not come to like. Rose loved the look on his face when he was confused, the way his eyes sparkled before he did something he knew would annoy her - like picking her up and carrying her out of the Great Hall over his shoulder- and most importantly, the way he looked at her. It was the way his eyes shone with so much compassion and longing that made Rose fancy him so much. Too bad she never had the courage to tell Scorpius how she felt; why would he love the Weasley nerd in Ravenclaw with the frizzy red hair?

So Rose trekked through the forest, her mind on the youngest Malfoy. She didn’t realize where she was walking, and she ended up in a clearing she never knew existed. In the center stood an old well. Being the curious Ravenclaw she was, Rose approached the well. When she peered down, she saw that it was no ordinary well. Tiny words that were shaped like fish swam in the rainbow water. Suddenly, a piece of parchment and a flat stone appeared on the edge of the well. The parchment said said:

“From the depth of the well you seek,
We know what secret wish you keep.
Close to your heart, just yours alone,
So speak it aloud and toss the stone.
For then you shall find,
What true wish haunts your mind.”

Rose immediately knew it was a magical well, and to be able to find it you have to have a true and pure wish. What was she thinking of as she was walking? Scorpius. So Rose tossed the stone into the well and said:

I wish I had the courage to tell Scorpius how I feel, and even if he doesn’t return the feeling, at least he will know.

The wishing well granted her wish, for it was innocent and pure. It wasn’t as if she was asking the well to make him love her, she simply wanted him to know. That is what made the difference from all the other wishes the well could have chosen to grant.


_*_*_*_


Lucy:

Years later, on the day of Rose and Scorpius’ wedding, fifteen-year-old Lucy Weasley was sulking on the grass behind the festivities. Lucy was the more rebellious of Percy’s two daughters; she was the one who would fail a class or two and would get detention twice a week. But that didn’t matter, she wasn’t sulking because she was avoiding her father, she was sulking because of the wedding.

Lucy wanted someone to love her, and at fifteen, a boy had never asked her to Hogsmeade. Not once. She thought this was because she was too loud, or her stomach wasn’t flat enough, or her hair was too limp and straight, or even because she was a Gryffindor. She thought she wasn’t good enough. Lucy Weasley did not feel beautiful. So, while Rose and Scorpius were enjoying their wedding, Lucy wanted to know if she would ever even have a boyfriend. Before long, her thoughts got to her, and she needed to leave. So she ran, she ran far from the constant reminder that she would never have someone who loved her. She hadn’t run far, but she had come across a well that had never been there before. The same well Rose had used to find her courage. And just like the Ravenclaw before her, Lucy Weasley approached the well. She saw people’s hopes and dreams floating in the rainbow surface. A piece of parchment and a jagged stone appeared on the edge of the well.

“For one who believes she’s not good enough,
This well will not give her useless fluff.
For one who thinks she’ll never be loved,
All you need is wish and give the rock a shove.
From there you will find in this pit,
Someone who has something to admit.”

Lucy thought about this long and hard. Rose had said she had wished upon a well she had the courage to tell Scorpius how she felt, maybe she had a true wish like that? Hm, what was she thinking about as she ran? Someone who loves her. So she tossed the stone and said her wish:

I wish someone loved me. Anyone, it can even be the boy I hate, just let me know I’m not going to die alone.

Later that day Ryan Wood asked her for the last dance of the wedding. From there, it belongs to the ages. Or an old wishing well.

[TheCursedQuill]

Name: TheCursedQuill/Sarah
House: Gryffindawr
Title: Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder
Link to picture: Here
Couple used: Lily/Vernon
Ratings/Warnings: 1st-2nd years/none.
A/N: Thanks to Alex for betaing!

Lily
Lily trudged up the hill to where Petunia and Vernon were watching the sunset. She loved their summer visits to the Scotland islands, but she wished Petunia hadn’t brought her fiancée along; in addition to not liking him, Lily really wanted to try reconnecting with her sister, which he wasn’t allowing.

“Petunia,” she called out when she was within earshot. She saw her sister’s head look over in her direction. She didn’t miss how Vernon looked away. “Mum needs some help in the kitchen.”

Petunia stood up and said something to Vernon before slowly walking towards Lily. She stared her younger sister in the eye, but did not say a word as she took off down the hill. Lily watched her for a few seconds, an empty pit forming in her stomach. It was soon replaced with a knot of rage, and her throat clenched from the sudden anger. She stopped the tears that pushed against her eyes and, in a rash decision, took Petunia’s seat beside Vernon.

He slightly tensed, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge her presence.

“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?” she said. She wasn’t sure what she really wanted to say to him, but thought she should stay nice if she were to get on his good side.

“It’s… all right,” he said, still not looking at her.

“I think it’s gorgeous. The mountains, the lake – it reminds me of Hogwarts.” He shot her a look with narrow eyes, like she had just offended him.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked calmly, but her hands balled into tight fists. This was why he was wrong for Petunia. This was why her sister would never come to understand that being a witch wasn’t a bad thing. This was why Petunia hated her now.

“Don’t talk to me about your condition.”

That was it.

“My condition? I’m a witch, Vernon. Not a bloody contagious hospital patient!” He wasn’t looking at her again, and that just made her heart pound harder.

“I don’t know what it is that you have against magic, but it’s not a disease. It’s who I am and I happen to love it. Everything about it! And to tell you the truth, Petunia once loved it too.” Vernon eyed her suspiciously. “Yeah, she did. She used to ask me to teach her things, did she ever tell you that? Then you came along, and any dreams she ever had were stomped out of her! She’s not the happy, imaginative sister I once had. You’ve turned her into… you!”

He turned his head away from her again, a vein slightly pulsating at the side of his head.

“Being a witch doesn’t make me a freak. I’m different, yes, but being different isn’t a bad thing. Maybe if you learned that, you wouldn’t be such a loser.” At that, Lily stood up and Apparated away from him, leaving Vernon alone, his face resembling a giant plum.

Vernon
Vernon watched Petunia as she looked out over the hill to the distant lake. He wished he could have come here with only her and not her entire family. Petunia was the only level-headed one out of the four of them, an opinion he didn’t keep to himself. His fiancée knew he wasn’t on good terms with her parents, and Lily, well he wasn’t on any terms with her. She was the reason her whole family was corrupt; she was a Witch, in literal terms, though figurative would count in his books too. Petunia understood his dislike for her sister, even contributed to the aversion. That’s what he loved about her. Petunia and he shared the same interests and values; he knew they were right together.

“Stop staring at me,” Petunia protested.

“I can’t help it, darling,” he said right before someone called her name. It was her. Vernon turned his head in the other direction, not wanting to see her.

“I’m sorry, Vernon, I need to go. But I’ll be right back, sweetheart, I promise,” she said hurriedly. He nodded slightly, but couldn’t be mad at her for her sister’s presence. At least Petunia knew he didn’t like to be without her.

He was half wondering if Lily had left, when in his peripheral vision he saw her sit beside him. His body tensed. They had never been so close to each other, and he could feel that one toe out of line might force him to do something terrible. But he couldn’t do that to Petunia. She might hate her, but they were still sisters.

“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?” she asked. He looked at the sunset and didn’t think it was beautiful at all. Nature wasn’t something to behold. He remembered looking at an architecturally sound and common looking set of apartment buildings and thought they were beautiful. As it should be, beauty was man-made, and nothing unclear of its origins or workings, such as nature, could ever be called beautiful. But he shouldn’t start a fight, so instead he said, “It’s… all right.”

She began talking nonsense that he couldn’t care to listen to. He wondered how long it would take Petunia to help her mother. Maybe he should go check on her.

“…Hogwarts.” His head snapped to Lily at the sound of the vile word. Damn to being Petunia’s sister; he shouldn’t have to put up with this Hocus Pocus jibberish. She didn’t have a right to drag him out of his comfortable life and share the knowledge of her world. He shouldn’t even know about her condition.

Her condition. She didn’t like the sound of that. But what did he care!? She wasn’t like him, she wasn’t human. Their blood wasn’t the same; hers was corrupt. She would never amount to anything. He would really love to put her in her place, to show her how much of a loser she was for believing in stupid card tricks. But he wouldn’t. For Petunia.

[hestiajones]

Name: hestiajones
House: HUFFLEPUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Summer Love
Link to picture: http://i51.tinypic.com/2hpu7tg.jpg (originally found at Weheartit)
Couple used: Albus Potter/Lorcan Scamander
Ratings/Warnings: 3rd-5th year; mild profanity ; underwater kiss; slash
A/N: Hoping that I won't be cake-womaned.
Word count: 383 for Lorcan's section, and 471 for Al's section.


Lorcan

There is something mesmerizing about the way her body slides in and out of the rippling water, the pale skin shining against the deep blue, the bright turquoise bobbing in and out of sight. I can’t look away.

I can sense a sort of heat rising within me just watching her. A sort of longing. I wonder how it would feel like to join her, to clasp her in my arms and float in the coolness. The wetness on our skin. The solidness of our bodies. Floating and merging, just the two of us. I wonder what that would be like.

I’ve fancied a lot of girls in my life. I’ve had my share. There’s none like Lily, though. None.

Everything she does is bloody perfect. Her laughter, her temper, her cocky smiles – perfect. The freckles on her chest and cheeks and back are perfect. The way her hair reflects the sun is perfect. The way she revels in the deep, deep blue water of the lake is perfect. I don’t know why it’s that way; it just is.

It scares me all the time, how I am so powerless against her. I’ve only known her for three weeks; I’m only here for a summer. It feels cramped and thrilling and tragic and glorious, all at once. Over and over, my head plays the mantra It Is Not Going to Work out. Over and over, I try to hold back.

But I don’t care any longer. I may have my heart broken at the end, but I just don’t care because this moment I have with her right now, there’s no way I can ignore it.

Without being conscious of having made the decision to plunge into the water, I do it. I swim towards her, slowly and surely, relishing the thought of getting closer to her. When I reach her, she laughs.

“I thought you’d had enough of swimming,” she says, hazel eyes glinting.

“I didn’t want you to enjoy this alone.”

“I see.”

I lean towards her, but she places her forefinger against my lips. “Not here.”

“You want to go inside?”

“No,” she whispers. “Under.”

She pulls me down with her, and we kiss and kiss. So what if it doesn’t last forever? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.




Albus

Sitting here in my room, looking out the window, watching the lone figure on the shore, not doing anything about it – that is so effing typical of me. Perhaps, I’m addicted to this inactivity. I certainly seem to enjoy being lonely and gasping for love silently like a fish out of water instead of working up the energy to haul my a*** and enjoy casual sex with random strangers. Life is so tough to me, and I adore whining that way.

But you know what, I am going to do something this time. I’m not going to lose out on that thing called summer love – something almost everyone I know have experienced so often the idea doesn’t appeal to them any longer. Yes, Al Potter is going to get that ridiculous Scamander boy with the stupidly bushy blonde hair and the strange bright blue eyes and tanned skin and …

Okay, maybe ‘going to get’ is me being too ambitious. I don’t know if he likes boys. I just know Roxanne and Lucy have been trying to lay their hands on him, and he’s been steadfastly saying no. Both are great girls, really, so perhaps he’s not into that section of the human species. And … I’ve often caught him smiling at me, making me flush. Curse my pale, treacherous skin.

Anyway, I’m about to get up from this chair, change into my swimming trunks and ask if I can join him. Maybe, if it were just the two of us, he’d give me a hint.

Or I could give him a hint.

It could work either way.

It’s only when I throw a final glance his way that I notice the person in the lake. Lily. She’s swimming. And he’s watching her. His head is following her.

And so begins the trance. My eyes follow his head that follows my sister swimming in the lake. Of course, I feel like my heart is constricting, but I can handle that. I’m used to this sort of thing. Watching people I like with people they like. Nothing new, nothing new.

But as he jumps into the water, I can’t do it any longer. The sense of loss is too strong, if only because I was willing to take a risk this time. Not your time yet, Al.

And really, I should just leave the freaking room and go out and do something about it - something other than chasing someone who’s probably shagging my sister. (How quick I am to reach such conclusions.) However, that masochistic part of me is willing me to turn towards the window again – or maybe I’m hoping to be proved wrong.

No, they just disappeared under the water, entwined in each other’s arms.

C**p.

Right, I am off. Perhaps, there is some Firewhisky in the house.





~ N A T A L I E

[AidaLuthien]

Name: AidaLuthien, Aida for short
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Happier Days
Link to picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/harleymac/5574241219/
Couple used: Sirius Black and Severus Snape
Ratings/Warnings: 1st-2nd, none
A/N: canon pairings with a side of one-sided Sirius/Lily if you squint. Thank you, Minnabird for betaing!

Sirius Black curls up in his cell, feeling thankful, again, that he is an Animagus, and that a dog’s emotions are simpler than a human’s and that Dementors cannot see, they can only feel. If Azkaban had human jailers with human eyes, then he would be in trouble. Ironically, it is his canine form that preserves his humanity and his sanity.

He closes his eyes, and tries to think of happy memories. Something, anything to take away the screams in his head. I’m innocent, he insists in his mind. I’m innocent. I was never their Secret Keeper. It was Peter who betrayed them. It was You-Know-Who that killed them.

He isn’t sure if it’s the Dementors or his own guilt that answers him: It was your idea for Peter to be Secret Keeper. If it hadn’t been you, for your brilliant idea to make Peter their Secret Keeper then James and Lily would still be alive. You would have been strong enough to fight against the Dark Lord’s lies, you would have let them torture you, kill you first. Peter was weak and you should have known. If not for him, then, James, his best mate, and Lily, the best girl in the world, would still be alive.

His mind drifts, and he makes no effort to try and control it. He feels himself float away and leave Azkaban behind. He breathes and remembers the briny smell of the sea. Another breath, and he feels the sand underneath his paws, and his eyes almost hurt from the glare of the sun on the water.

The summer after their seventh year, they had gone to the beach. All of them: Remus, James, Lily, and Peter. They had laughed and played in the surf. Remus won the water battle, by managing to soak everyone else while staying relatively dry.

Sirius had even turned into his Animagus form and splashed in the surf, salt water making his fur stick to his skin. He shook himself off, water making his fur puff out, getting everyone wet, even Remus, who had complained good-naturedly. He had even played a bit of fetch, chasing after a stick that Peter had found. He tastes wood, salt, and his tongue lolls in a dog grin.

They had pretended that the wizarding world was not at war. For just one day, they pretended that they were ordinary seventeen year olds, not would-be soldiers in a war.

Sirius Black closes his eyes and dreams.

* * *

Severus Snape has never been to the seaside, but he keeps a seashell in his desk, and he hates the sea. He hates many things. In fact, some would even argue that he divides the world strictly into two categories: things that he tolerates and things that he hates. That simply isn’t true. Severus Snape’s feelings about the world are more like a loop, or a cycle, a mobius strip, some other poetic metaphor that he would hate. The division between hatred, love and tolerance is not solid. There are things that he loves, and sometimes he hates those same things. He tolerates many things, and just as often he hates them.

The beach is a good example of this. Severus Snape has never been to a beach, and he never will. Actually going to the seaside would taint his only experience of it. He knows that the sea is impossibly vast, and smells of salt. Lily told him so, and she would never lie to him. She could never lie to him, so when she had told him that she hated him and would never talk to him again, he knew that that was true too. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, but he knew it.

Before they had entered Hogwarts, before he was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor, before everything changed, before James Potter, before the Marauders, before he even thought to call her a Mudblood, the Evans family had gone to the seaside for a holiday. He had missed her for the week that they had been away. But she came back with a seashell for him, and stories about the sea. The waves crashed against the shore at night and she had found it difficult to sleep at first. She had looked for shells, but there were very few that were whole. She had given him one of the only whole ones she had found. For a week, she had eaten fish and chips, wrapped in newspaper, rock candy and candy floss.

He hates the seaside for having taken a week of Lily’s life away from him. He will never go and change the image of the sea that he has, taken from a nine year old’s description. The sea, in his mind, will always mean the sound of Lily’s voice, and the light in her bright eyes.

[LuNaLoVeGoOdLoVer]

Name: Andi/ LuNaLoVeGoOdLoVeR
House: Gryffindorrrr
Title: The Way You Look Tonight
Link to picture: http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/u...N139605127.jpg
Couple used: Lily Evans/ Vernon Dursley
Ratings/Warnings: none
A/N: ahh... enjoy and thank you thank you thank you Lea (muggle girl marauder) for all your help!

1. Lily Evans


Lily Evans sipped her ice tea, looking at her sister. She was astounded and a little amused how anyone – especially someone related to her - could like, buy, and wear anything in that awful salmon pink tone. Given, Petunia’s taste had always differed to Lily’s, but why someone would wear such an unflattering colour that made your skin look pasty and eyes dull and – Lily stopped her musings, for there really was no explanation for it.

She took another sip and glanced over to her brother – in – law – to –be. Vernon Dursley seemed oblivious to the audacity of Petunia’s dress, and was gazing at her with a smarmy smile and glazed, little eyes. Lily suppressed a sigh. She had hoped her sister would meet a man who thought Lily’s magic was a good thing and convince Petunia to be nice to Lily again. Instead, her sister had come home one evening early that summer with the opposite, no other than the man now sitting in the armchair by the fire, talking animatedly about drills. They hadn’t told Dursley about Lily’s magic yet, but she knew there wasn’t a chance he would approve. Lily frowned. Drills and salmon pink dresses. If they ever got children, they wouldn’t even stand a chance. They’d have bad taste, a boring job, no fun… again, Lily stopped herself. That wasn’t really fair.

She tried to tune in on the conversation again. Petunia was just saying how she might wear her dress to a friend’s engagement party the following evening.

“That would be lovely. You always look pretty, though, dear,” Dursley said, smiling at Petunia.

Lily supposed it was a good thing Petunia had inherited their mother’s pretty face and nice blonde hair. Otherwise, had she been wearing that dress, Dursley would be telling a lie of great proportions. Now it was merely an exaggeration of great proportions.

Petunia beamed at her fiancé. Lily saw their parents exchange happy looks, evidently satisfied with Dursley. Their mother agreed with Dursley while their father nodded his head. Lily took another sip of tea to avoid doing anything.





2. Vernon Dusley


Vernon Dursley took another bite of his biscuit, glancing around the room before his eyes landed on his fiancé again. He thought she looked extraordinarily beautiful today. Petunia was wearing a new dress in a pretty pink shade that showed off her picturesque looks: blonde hair, blue eyes, delicate build. He would have considered himself lucky, but thought he wasn’t too bad a catch either. They were a perfect match.

“Yes, yes, it’s going splendidly, thank you,” he said in response to Mr Evan’s question about his new job. “A new delivery came in on Thursday and the drills are really great, 18 volt, about 1 500 rpm, long lasting batteries, and lightweight at only about four lb. They should sell like crazy.”

He looked at Petunia again, who was smiling at him. He smiled back, satisfied with his life. He had a good job, was engaged to a beautiful woman whose family seemed to adore him too.

Except for… Vernon took another biscuit and glanced at his sister – in – law – to – be. Lily had inherited Mr Evan’s red hair instead of the appealing blonde Petunia had. She was a few years younger than Petunia and Vernon wasn’t too fond of her. She didn’t say much, at least not around him, but he knew from Petunia that he shouldn’t bother and try to get to know her better.

Taking another bite, Vernon returned his gaze to his fiancé.

“I’m thinking about wearing this dress to Melinda’s engagement party tomorrow. What do you think, honey?” she said, smoothing a hand over the soft silk of her dress.

“That would be lovely. You always look pretty, though, dear,” Vernon said, smiling at Petunia. He noticed Mr and Mrs Evans exchanging smiles as well.

Petunia really was beautiful and the dress suited her perfectly. It was mature; it wasn’t too bold but highlighted her strengths and style.

He really was looking forward to his wedding.

[ron lover]

Name: ron lover
House: Gryffindor
Title: A Summer of Football
Link to picture: http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/p...soccerball.jpg
Couple used: Draco Malfoy and Dean Thomas
Ratings/Warnings: 1-2 year, none
A/N: I like a young Draco more than a teenage one, I think. I kind of laugh at my first drabble. xD Thank you my wonderful Dinny for betaing these.
Word Count: Draco's is 292 and Dean's is 444.

Draco


France was lovely in Summertime, Draco decided. It was warm, but not too hot – it didn’t feel like his skin was burning off, at least. The view was much better, too.

Draco’s father bought property in the county some time ago, but it was Draco’s first time there. The house was out in the country, not far from a wizarding village. Spells were placed around the property so that in case Muggles were to stumble upon the land, the Malfoys would not be disturbed, and they could go on with their magic as they pleased. Draco normally would use that to his advantage and play Quidditch, but he didn’t feel like that today.

“Mother, may I go for a walk?” asked Draco on the warm summer day. He had always loved walking, and it would give him a chance to explore the area outside of where he was permitted to fly. He had always enjoyed exploring.

“Sure, dear,” his mother said from her leather chair, “I’ll just be a moment.” Draco scowled. He fully intended on going alone. He chose not to say anything.

They walked where Draco led them for what seemed like hours in the heat of the midday sun. Eventually Draco asked for a cooling charm to be placed on him before he started to sweat; he always thought it to be disgusting.

“Mother, what are they doing?” Draco stopped walking up the small hill and pointed to an area quite a distance in front of him. There were at least ten people running around, chasing a ball. A ball that was on the ground.

“I believe it is called football, dear. They’re Muggles.”

“Muggles run around chasing a ball?” Draco sneered at the thought; Narcissa nodded. “What idiots.”



Dean


“Dean, come in please,” Mrs. Thomas called from the doorway.

“In a minute, Mum!” In their overly large yard was Dean, staring intently at his friend’s feet. He was grinning.

Mrs. Thomas shut the door, knowing that it was no use trying to get him to stop playing. It was only her first try. That was a pain of being a mother, wasn’t it? No child ever does what they’re told when they’re first asked.

The door slammed shut as she left, and Dean’s friend looked up. It gave him the perfect chance to kick the ball away from Charles’s feet and start running down the yard to the goal.

If only he had been so lucky.

The grass was slick with the light summertime rain that fell moments ago, and while it was easier to slide the ball over the patchy grass, it was just as easy for Dean to slide, too. While Dean was regaining his balance, Charles took off towards their makeshift goal at the opposite end of the garden.

Dean grinned. He wasn’t the fastest on his friends for no reason. Before Charles made it half way to the goal, Dean had already caught up with him. Charles tried running faster, but that only spurred Dean on more.

Dean knew that it would be no good to get in front of Charles and try to block him that way; Charles would never give it up. It wouldn’t do to have Charles score the last goal, so Dean did the only thing that came to mind: he booted the ball away.

That way neither of them had it. For a while, at least.

“Dean!” his mother called, but Dean wasn’t listening. He was racing Charles to where the ball landed, near the corner of the fence.

He didn’t have anything in his mind except Charles and his lead on him, and the fact that his hair was sticking to his face in the mixture of sweat and rain water that covered his body. It was too distracting for him; Charles was gaining on him. He’d have to have his mum cut it later.

He slowed down in just enough time before he ran into the ball. Charles was just a moment behind him. “I win!” Dean exclaimed in a huff. He hated sprinting, but enjoyed winning.

“Dean Thomas, get in this house NOW! You are getting soaked and dirty, now come in.” Dean could have winced. He didn’t need to see his mum to know she was angry. He hadn’t even noticed the rain was picking up.

Charles picked up the ball and followed Dean inside, not regretting a single moment.