Challenges #028, #030
Title: Antidote of Antidotes.
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Cedric, Snape, Lee Jordan, references to Harry and Moody.
Summary: Cedric's turned his hair pink and Snape's not happy.
Word Count: 798
Author's Notes: For Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #028
Registered purchases?: Both
"So, Diggory," Snape said following a particularly arduous session of double Potions, "tell me again how exactly your hair ended up this brilliant shade of purple?"
Cedric was squirming awkwardly in his chair. It had been a stroke of luck that they were working on antidotes in this particular class, and Cedric had been assigned a way to remedy the Hiccoughing Solution; a potion which was notoriously fiddly at the best of times. He had been suffering from hiccups all evening (which wasn't uncommon; they tended to come and go in clusters, like his occasional migranes that tended to deter him from things that sparkle too much), so when the antidote had cured, he thought he would try a sample of it, to see if it worked.
It did work, but in one final loud "Hic!" his hair had exploded into a giant purple afro.
"Ridiculous, Diggory," Snape said in his most condescending voice. "Ten points from Hufflepuff. Now, who was your partner?"
"Me, sir," Lee Jordan said.
"And you thought it would be amusing to let Diggory make a fool of himself like that?"
"No, sir, I didn't even know he-"
"I should have expected no less, especially considering the company you keep," Snape snapped. "Five points from Gryffindor, too. Now get out of my sight, all of you."
The students started packing away, though many were staring at Cedric, still.
"Um, Professor? Can't I..."
Snape gave him one of his patented death glares that seemed to penetrate the victim's mind and scoop out their thoughts like ice cream. "No, Diggory. I will not be giving you an antidote. You will have to do wear that absurd look until it wears off. Unless you want to make another potion in detention. Maybe it will make you grow fins ahead of the next Triwizard Task."
Snape swooshed out of the room. Cedric and Lee Jordan were the last two people in the room. "Can you believe him? I didn't even do anything, man?"
"It's my fault," Cedric said with a shrug. "Sorry."
"Why are you apologising for Snape being a prat?" Lee said hotly. "Ugh, Flitwick's covering Patronus charms next, and I'm not gonna be able to concentrate, I'm this angry."
"They're good," Cedric said simply. "We did them in our class on Monday with the Ravenclaws. Nobody made one, though, though Roger Davies got close."
"Cool story, bro," Lee said off-handedly, not really listening any more. "We've got it with the Slytherins. You know, his Patronus should really be a skunk. He absolutely stinks."
"I don't like it either, you know," Cedric said simply. "But... I guess Dumbledore believes in him."
Lee laughed dryly; this was obviously Cedric's attempt at bitching about somebody, and he made it apparent it was not in his nature. "Sure, 'cos Snape's got some really redeeming teaching qualities? Let me know when somebody finds them."
Cedric smiled a little, and held the door open. "How are you finding the year without Quidditch?"
"Dull," Lee said. "You?"
"I miss it," Cedric said. "But it's good to have the break with all the challenges. Take my egg for example."
"You cracked it yet?" Lee asked.
"No, but I'm keeping it on me in case I have a brainwave. Here it- oh, no."
"What is that, a mango?"
"Well, it was, it must have got smashed in my bag," Cedric said, waving his wand to vanish the messy golden flesh. "Has Harry Potter made any progress?"
"I don't think so," Lee said. "We're all stumped in Gryffindor."
"Oh, okay," Cedric said, wondering whether Lee was being totally honest, or if he was guarding the Gryffindor champion. "Well, I've got to go to Moody's class now. Hopefully I won't have to pass by McGonagall until I get this hair fixed."
Lee laughed. "I'm sure Mad-Eye won't mind too much about someone who looks weird. See ya at dinner, dude."
As it transpired, Moody wasn't happy at all when Cedric confessed to sampling a strange potion without thinking. He docked a further twenty points from Hufflepuff and gave him a week's worth of detentions, too. However, when the Howler came from Cedric's dad (who couldn't believe his son had been put in detention), he didn't think the day would get any better.
That first detention, Moody let slip that Cedric should open the egg underwater. From there, everything made sense.
He didn't change his hair back until the day before the task. Harry didn't care to mention the change in his looks, but Cedric had hoped the afro would act as a subtle clue to consider a Bubble-Head charm.
But Harry had his own way. After the task was over, he saw Lee Jordan in the crowd, who gave him a little thumbs up for finishing first.
Title: Rebel With Causes
Rating/Warnings: PG for one naughty word.
Characters/Pairing: Nymphadora Tonks and parents. References to Bellatrix and Charlie Weasley.
Summary: Nymphadora's turned her hair pink and her mother's not happy.
Word Count: 867
Author's Notes: For Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #030. This is AU where Tonks' generation were Hogwarts age during the First War because I totally didn't make a goof with that and confused her with being Marauder age I found Andromeda REALLY difficult to write here D:
Registered purchases?: Both
"Is this some kind of joke, Nympadora?"
Andromeda Black sighed at her teenage daughter's complete impertience. "I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose to get on my nerves."
"Then back off and give me some space, mum!" Dora shrieked, their most recent of fights since she had returned home for the summer. She was fifteen now, and starting to develop a nasty bit of attitude that didn't suit her.
"Can you go upstairs and talk to your daughter, Ted?" Andromeda sighed, defeated. "I can't get through to her any more."
"She needs her space, you know," Ted said, simply. "You know what girls are like at this age."
"At this age I was worrying about my O.W.Ls, not trying to impress boys with dragon fixations," Andromeda sighed. "Heck, I wasn't even trying to impress you much at this age."
"Only because you were shunning me because of what your mum and dad would say," Ted grinned. "Maybe that's where this is all coming from here."
Andromeda sucked her lip angrily. "I'm not quite sure I follow. Or perhaps I just don't want to."
"Her grandmother is a bigoted old coot," Ted said. "No offence, but she is. And Dora's trying to do everything in her power to stop being like her family."
"Are you saying this is my fault?"
"No, nothing like that," Ted said, waving his hand as though he didn't want to entertain his wife's sulk. "But you do know what it's like to not want to be defined by your family."
"She's changed her hair again," Andromeda said. "It's a bright pink afro now."
"I'll talk to her."
Nymphadora Tonks' bedroom was, if nothing else, a good indication of her half-blood heritage. Wizarding posters stood side by side with Muggle musicians, the WWN playing out musical hits, while the girl occasionally strummed on an acoustic guitar her father had owned when he was her age. He had promised to teach her, but she had more fun just strumming to ear and improvising. If anything, she seemed to be a girl who couldn't focus on more than one thing at a time, right now.
"You know, Dora," Ted began opening her door ajar, "it's not your mother's fault the world is how it is right now."
"Doesn't anyone in this house knock?" the teenager yelled. "Honestly."
"Listen; I'm not going to pretend, okay?" Ted said. "The fact her sister is going at it on the news causing all that chaos in Coventry with the Muggles is.... frightening. I'm scared. We all are. Have people been talking about you at school behind your back?"
"No," she said unconvincingly.
"Look, you know why Bellatrix chose Coventry?" Ted said. "It's because that's where I'm from. While you were away, Bella decided she would send a lovely little Howler to us."
Nympadora's eyes doubled in size. "What?"
"Do not tell your mother I told you that, or I'll hex you myself," he said in his deepest growl. "But she wanted me to offer myself to them. 'Mudblood or Their Blood', I think she signed it off as."
"That's.... I," Nympadora stammered.
"It's nothing new," Ted said; "we put protective charms in place to stop them just... taking me. But I'm not their top concern right now. I'm just side entertainment to them. They got bored, so they took out those Muggles."
"I want to kill her," Nymphadora said hotly. "I want that woman gone. I want them all gone. This is vile."
The two of them stood in silence; the wireless had abated between tracks. Finally Ted spoke. "Do you think we were wrong? Should I have done that to save their lives?"
"No," Dora said, rubbing her head. "But I can't stand being here doing nothing while they're doing all that shit."
"Dora, language."
"Sorry, yeah?" She clearly wasn't sorry at all. Ted sighed:
"Look, are you going out again?"
"Yeah, I'm seeing Charlie?"
"Your mother lets you wear that outside?"
A shrug. "It's the seventies now, dad.
"Well, I really don't like it," he said darkly. "The hair looks silly, too."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to blend in with the Muggles while I'm not at school, right?"
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing, this is what teenagers wear these days," she said stubbornly, "but I can always change my hair, I suppose."
She screwed her face up and with a small pop, the bouffant vanished. In its place was nothing. A small amount of stubble, and something that looked like a tattoo on her skinhead.
"Better?"
Ted groaned. "I liked it better when it was pink."
"Cool," she said, changing it back. "I gotta go to Charlie's now. Back later."
"Make sure you're back before midnight."
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm serious, Dora," Ted impressed. "People keep vanishing, and Floo's not what it once was."
"I promise," she said with a deadpan begrudging tone. As the girl hopped out of the room, he hoped she would see sense very soon. As she entered the living room, he overheard a faint exchange between her and her mother that surpassed the adolescent grunts.
Defining that as a win, Ted treated himself to a shot of Firewhiskey in his tea.
798 + 867 = 1665 words / 30 = 55.5
Rob//Gryffindor//56 words (+ 20 bonus) GET!!
Rating/Warnings: G
Characters/Pairing: Cedric, Snape, Lee Jordan, references to Harry and Moody.
Summary: Cedric's turned his hair pink and Snape's not happy.
Word Count: 798
Author's Notes: For Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #028
Registered purchases?: Both
"So, Diggory," Snape said following a particularly arduous session of double Potions, "tell me again how exactly your hair ended up this brilliant shade of purple?"
Cedric was squirming awkwardly in his chair. It had been a stroke of luck that they were working on antidotes in this particular class, and Cedric had been assigned a way to remedy the Hiccoughing Solution; a potion which was notoriously fiddly at the best of times. He had been suffering from hiccups all evening (which wasn't uncommon; they tended to come and go in clusters, like his occasional migranes that tended to deter him from things that sparkle too much), so when the antidote had cured, he thought he would try a sample of it, to see if it worked.
It did work, but in one final loud "Hic!" his hair had exploded into a giant purple afro.
"Ridiculous, Diggory," Snape said in his most condescending voice. "Ten points from Hufflepuff. Now, who was your partner?"
"Me, sir," Lee Jordan said.
"And you thought it would be amusing to let Diggory make a fool of himself like that?"
"No, sir, I didn't even know he-"
"I should have expected no less, especially considering the company you keep," Snape snapped. "Five points from Gryffindor, too. Now get out of my sight, all of you."
The students started packing away, though many were staring at Cedric, still.
"Um, Professor? Can't I..."
Snape gave him one of his patented death glares that seemed to penetrate the victim's mind and scoop out their thoughts like ice cream. "No, Diggory. I will not be giving you an antidote. You will have to do wear that absurd look until it wears off. Unless you want to make another potion in detention. Maybe it will make you grow fins ahead of the next Triwizard Task."
Snape swooshed out of the room. Cedric and Lee Jordan were the last two people in the room. "Can you believe him? I didn't even do anything, man?"
"It's my fault," Cedric said with a shrug. "Sorry."
"Why are you apologising for Snape being a prat?" Lee said hotly. "Ugh, Flitwick's covering Patronus charms next, and I'm not gonna be able to concentrate, I'm this angry."
"They're good," Cedric said simply. "We did them in our class on Monday with the Ravenclaws. Nobody made one, though, though Roger Davies got close."
"Cool story, bro," Lee said off-handedly, not really listening any more. "We've got it with the Slytherins. You know, his Patronus should really be a skunk. He absolutely stinks."
"I don't like it either, you know," Cedric said simply. "But... I guess Dumbledore believes in him."
Lee laughed dryly; this was obviously Cedric's attempt at bitching about somebody, and he made it apparent it was not in his nature. "Sure, 'cos Snape's got some really redeeming teaching qualities? Let me know when somebody finds them."
Cedric smiled a little, and held the door open. "How are you finding the year without Quidditch?"
"Dull," Lee said. "You?"
"I miss it," Cedric said. "But it's good to have the break with all the challenges. Take my egg for example."
"You cracked it yet?" Lee asked.
"No, but I'm keeping it on me in case I have a brainwave. Here it- oh, no."
"What is that, a mango?"
"Well, it was, it must have got smashed in my bag," Cedric said, waving his wand to vanish the messy golden flesh. "Has Harry Potter made any progress?"
"I don't think so," Lee said. "We're all stumped in Gryffindor."
"Oh, okay," Cedric said, wondering whether Lee was being totally honest, or if he was guarding the Gryffindor champion. "Well, I've got to go to Moody's class now. Hopefully I won't have to pass by McGonagall until I get this hair fixed."
Lee laughed. "I'm sure Mad-Eye won't mind too much about someone who looks weird. See ya at dinner, dude."
As it transpired, Moody wasn't happy at all when Cedric confessed to sampling a strange potion without thinking. He docked a further twenty points from Hufflepuff and gave him a week's worth of detentions, too. However, when the Howler came from Cedric's dad (who couldn't believe his son had been put in detention), he didn't think the day would get any better.
That first detention, Moody let slip that Cedric should open the egg underwater. From there, everything made sense.
He didn't change his hair back until the day before the task. Harry didn't care to mention the change in his looks, but Cedric had hoped the afro would act as a subtle clue to consider a Bubble-Head charm.
But Harry had his own way. After the task was over, he saw Lee Jordan in the crowd, who gave him a little thumbs up for finishing first.
Title: Rebel With Causes
Rating/Warnings: PG for one naughty word.
Characters/Pairing: Nymphadora Tonks and parents. References to Bellatrix and Charlie Weasley.
Summary: Nymphadora's turned her hair pink and her mother's not happy.
Word Count: 867
Author's Notes: For Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #030. This is AU where Tonks' generation were Hogwarts age during the First War because I totally didn't make a goof with that and confused her with being Marauder age I found Andromeda REALLY difficult to write here D:
Registered purchases?: Both
"Is this some kind of joke, Nympadora?"
Andromeda Black sighed at her teenage daughter's complete impertience. "I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose to get on my nerves."
"Then back off and give me some space, mum!" Dora shrieked, their most recent of fights since she had returned home for the summer. She was fifteen now, and starting to develop a nasty bit of attitude that didn't suit her.
"Can you go upstairs and talk to your daughter, Ted?" Andromeda sighed, defeated. "I can't get through to her any more."
"She needs her space, you know," Ted said, simply. "You know what girls are like at this age."
"At this age I was worrying about my O.W.Ls, not trying to impress boys with dragon fixations," Andromeda sighed. "Heck, I wasn't even trying to impress you much at this age."
"Only because you were shunning me because of what your mum and dad would say," Ted grinned. "Maybe that's where this is all coming from here."
Andromeda sucked her lip angrily. "I'm not quite sure I follow. Or perhaps I just don't want to."
"Her grandmother is a bigoted old coot," Ted said. "No offence, but she is. And Dora's trying to do everything in her power to stop being like her family."
"Are you saying this is my fault?"
"No, nothing like that," Ted said, waving his hand as though he didn't want to entertain his wife's sulk. "But you do know what it's like to not want to be defined by your family."
"She's changed her hair again," Andromeda said. "It's a bright pink afro now."
"I'll talk to her."
Nymphadora Tonks' bedroom was, if nothing else, a good indication of her half-blood heritage. Wizarding posters stood side by side with Muggle musicians, the WWN playing out musical hits, while the girl occasionally strummed on an acoustic guitar her father had owned when he was her age. He had promised to teach her, but she had more fun just strumming to ear and improvising. If anything, she seemed to be a girl who couldn't focus on more than one thing at a time, right now.
"You know, Dora," Ted began opening her door ajar, "it's not your mother's fault the world is how it is right now."
"Doesn't anyone in this house knock?" the teenager yelled. "Honestly."
"Listen; I'm not going to pretend, okay?" Ted said. "The fact her sister is going at it on the news causing all that chaos in Coventry with the Muggles is.... frightening. I'm scared. We all are. Have people been talking about you at school behind your back?"
"No," she said unconvincingly.
"Look, you know why Bellatrix chose Coventry?" Ted said. "It's because that's where I'm from. While you were away, Bella decided she would send a lovely little Howler to us."
Nympadora's eyes doubled in size. "What?"
"Do not tell your mother I told you that, or I'll hex you myself," he said in his deepest growl. "But she wanted me to offer myself to them. 'Mudblood or Their Blood', I think she signed it off as."
"That's.... I," Nympadora stammered.
"It's nothing new," Ted said; "we put protective charms in place to stop them just... taking me. But I'm not their top concern right now. I'm just side entertainment to them. They got bored, so they took out those Muggles."
"I want to kill her," Nymphadora said hotly. "I want that woman gone. I want them all gone. This is vile."
The two of them stood in silence; the wireless had abated between tracks. Finally Ted spoke. "Do you think we were wrong? Should I have done that to save their lives?"
"No," Dora said, rubbing her head. "But I can't stand being here doing nothing while they're doing all that shit."
"Dora, language."
"Sorry, yeah?" She clearly wasn't sorry at all. Ted sighed:
"Look, are you going out again?"
"Yeah, I'm seeing Charlie?"
"Your mother lets you wear that outside?"
A shrug. "It's the seventies now, dad.
"Well, I really don't like it," he said darkly. "The hair looks silly, too."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to blend in with the Muggles while I'm not at school, right?"
"Yes, but-"
"But nothing, this is what teenagers wear these days," she said stubbornly, "but I can always change my hair, I suppose."
She screwed her face up and with a small pop, the bouffant vanished. In its place was nothing. A small amount of stubble, and something that looked like a tattoo on her skinhead.
"Better?"
Ted groaned. "I liked it better when it was pink."
"Cool," she said, changing it back. "I gotta go to Charlie's now. Back later."
"Make sure you're back before midnight."
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm serious, Dora," Ted impressed. "People keep vanishing, and Floo's not what it once was."
"I promise," she said with a deadpan begrudging tone. As the girl hopped out of the room, he hoped she would see sense very soon. As she entered the living room, he overheard a faint exchange between her and her mother that surpassed the adolescent grunts.
Defining that as a win, Ted treated himself to a shot of Firewhiskey in his tea.
798 + 867 = 1665 words / 30 = 55.5
Rob//Gryffindor//56 words (+ 20 bonus) GET!!