Rabbit: August 1971
Title: Rabbit
Chapter Number/Title: August 1971: How? (54/100) [[ Previous | Next]]
Rating: G
Word Count: 1901
Workshop?: Suggestions welcome.
August 2, 1971
How?
Rabastan’s smile stretched so wide that his face was beginning to hurt. He was still wary about plenty concerning Hogwarts, but getting a wand made everything else seem unimportant. New robes, too -- plain black Hogwarts student robes. But more than that, he had a wand. He, Rabastan Algernon Lestrange, had his own wand, and it was beautiful and perfect and amazing.
He grinned wider at the sight of Sirius Black bobbing his way through the crowd. “Sirius!” he shouted. “Here!”
Sirius spotted Rabastan and Rodolphus and rushed toward them, dodging shoppers who were trying to enter and exit the robe shop. He pounced on Rabastan and shook him in excitement. “Did you get it? What’s it made of? Show me! Wait, let me show you mine!” He whipped a black wand out and shoved it into his friend’s hands.
Rabastan held it out, and spun it around. It was long and elegant, with a stone set in silver between the slender shaft and flared handle. “Wow.”
“It’s ebony,” said Sirius, “with dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, and unyielding. Ollivander said it would be well-suited to combat spells and Transfiguration, and that it takes a wizard with strength and confidence to handle it!”
A more insecure boy might have needed to add, Isn’t that great? but Sirius already knew that it was great and that he was great for having it. Still, it did not hurt to affirm. “Wow,” repeated Rabastan. “That’s perfect!”
“Quite like Bella’s,” noted Rodolphus.
“Yeah,” said Sirius, “except hers is ugly. Mine is dignified.”
Rodolphus chuckled, and Rabastan handed the wand back to its master. He was so genuinely excited for his friend that he almost forgot his excitement for himself -- almost. “Here, look!” He reached into his bag and slid open the newly-purchased box. The wand was fairly simple, straight from base to tip aside from the shoulder, where thin sinews swirled around and then merged into a subtly-carved lattice pattern on the handle. “It’s, um, cedar, and unicorn hair. Eleven-and-a-half inches. Unusually inflexible.”
“O-oh.” Sirius touched the carved swirl of warm light wood. “That’s neat.”
“Isn’t it?” Rabastan drew the wand out of its box and swished it once in the air. It felt like holding pure energy, like a lightning bolt. “He said it’d be suited for, er, ‘understated and precise’ spellwork. What else did he say, Dolph? ‘You never fool the cedar carrier.’”
“And that you should never cross one, either,” Rodolphus added.
Rabastan grinned again. “Can you believe it, Sirius? We finally have wands!”
Rodolphus ruffled Rabastan’s hair. “Just don’t use them quite yet,” he warned. “Avery and Rosier are supposed to meet you at the ice cream parlour at three, so you two should hurry over.”
“Aren’t you coming?” Rabastan asked.
“I’ll, uh, meet you there,” Rodolphus said. “I told Lucius and Bella that I’d meet them for a bit. I trust you two to make it across the street. Here, this should cover the four of you.” He handed Rabastan a small pouch of gold and nudged them on their way.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Rabastan huffed. “You know he’s off to do something interesting and the ice cream’s just a bribe to get rid of us.”
“Duh.” Sirius laughed darkly. “It’s not exactly a coincidence that Knockturn’s two doors down, is it? Wish we could ditch the Ev-Dar and see what they’re up to.”
Rabastan grimaced. He was perfectly happy to not risk getting caught by Bellatrix, but he also knew better than to say it to Sirius. It might sound like a challenge. “Sure,” he said instead. “But we can see their wands too! At least we get ice cream out of it.” That seemed to satisfy Sirius, for now at least.
As Sirius and Rabastan arrived, a young witch in a colorful uniform appeared. "Four, thanks," said Rabastan. She scouted out an outdoor table and the boys slid themselves into seats.
"I'll have the quadruple-chocolate chocolate-frog chocolate-cauldron explosion," ordered Sirius.
"And I'd like your cucumber lemon sorbet," said Rabastan. He felt very adult, with his wand, and sorbet seemed like an adult kind of order. Of course he then added, "Four scoops. And, oh, the sweets medley on top."
The witch had just left to put in their orders when Darren and Evan appeared. "Hullo, hullo!" Said Darren, pulling out a chair. The metal feet whined on the cobblestone. "So it's certain. All of us to Hogwarts, as planned?"
Rabastan nodded. "I decided I couldn't leave you all to all the fun," he lied.
Darren laughed. "Well, good. We tried to think who would replace you in Slytherin if you didn't come. The options aren't great, let me tell you."
Sirius squinted. "Who says we'll all be Slytherin? I mean, obviously I will, but--"
"All our fathers were,” said Evan.
"My mum, too," added Darren.
"Sure, but that doesn't matter," countered Rabastan. "People go in their parents' Houses because they're similar. It's not automatic. Any genealogy will show that -- except the Blacks’, I guess. It’s about what you value.”
The ice-cream girl dropped off Sirius’ chocolate-upon-chocolate treat and Rabastan’s candy-covered sorbet, and looked at the other two boys.
Evan looked up without moving his head. “Two scoops, vanilla, with pumpkin glaze.”
“Hm.” Darren scrunched his face looking at his friends’ orders, and then grinned at the girl. “Surprise me,” he said, in what seemed to be a noble attempt at channeling his father. The witch laughed and went back inside.
“So the question is,” continued Evan, “how do they know what we value?”
“We were arguing about this before,” Darren explained. “Right? We know we’re Sorted, and there’s some kind of test. But what?”
“I bet I know,” mumbled Sirius over a mouthful of chocolate. He swallowed and leaned in. “The Forbidden Forest’s right there, yeah? So they let us out and see what we do to survive. The ones rushing in to fight the monsters, they go to Gryffindor; the ones who outsmart them, Ravenclaw.”
“And Slytherin?” asked Rabastan.
Evan scoffed. “A good Slytherin would find his way out of the Forbidden Forest.”
“They wouldn’t do that, though,” said Darren, looking slightly crestfallen. “Wait, do you think they would do that? Because that’d be fascinating. If they don’t do it, we should suggest it.”
“Maybe it’s more like…” Rabastan took a bite of his candy-covered sorbet and tried to think. “In the old days, the Founders chose the students, right? So maybe there’s a mirror, or portraits--”
“No, portraits are boring. But so, see -- it’s probably --” Darren scrambled so that he was perching on his chair and continued: “So like Rabbit says, in the old days, they’d pick you themselves, so obviously now they have like, not portraits, but statues or something -- yeah, statues! great larger-than-life statues of the Founders -- and you go up and present yourselves to one of the four statues, and it Animates and says, I don’t know… Welcome, Sirius Black, to Slytherin House.”
Rabastan’s lips pursed, and it wasn’t from his lemon sorbet. “That would be awful, though, if you get rejected.”
“Then apply to the right House!”
“Maybe,” offered Sirius, “you don’t apply, but you just go forward, and only one Animates and greets you, so that’s how you know.”
“Yeah,” said Darren. “Like… Rabbit goes up and then Helga Hufflepuff steps forward and gives you a big Hufflepuff hug.”
If eyes could cast curses, Rabastan’s glare would have roasted his cousin.
The waitress returned, floating Evan’s vanilla-and-pumpkin order and a mystery sundae for Darren. They landed in front of the boys with little clinks of metal on metal.
“Any bets what it is?” asked Darren, poking his sundae with a spoon.
“Well, it’s got Bertie Bott’s Beans on it,” said Rabastan. “Maybe that’s the surprise.”
Sirius grinned. “What if they’re all bogie flavored?”
“She wouldn’t do that to me,” said Darren. He dug into the ice cream, scooped a huge bite, and shoveled it into his mouth. He looked happy enough, but his face was turning red and steaming.
“Are you all right?” Evan shook Darren’s arm.
Darren nodded, swallowed, and grinned. “Cinnamon! I think my mouth is on fire.” As he said it, little flames licked away on his breath. “Whoa, brilliant!”
“Judging by our ice creams,” said Sirius, “I’d put you in Gryffindor. Evan got vanilla, like he was trying to be boring, so that’s Hufflepuff. And Rabbit’s cucumber lemon seems very Ravenclaw to me.”
“And I suppose you’re still Slytherin?” asked Evan coldly.
“Well, yeah. I went for decadence.” Sirius smiled and pulled up a spoonful of ice cream, hot fudge dripping down from it.
“You have a little decadence on your nose.” The voice - a girl’s - came from behind Rabastan, who spun in his chair. Bellatrix. Of course. Rodolphus and Lucius stood by her at either side. “You think you’ll be sorted based on ice cream?”
Rabastan felt an internal protective tug. “No-o,” he said. “We’ve come up with lots of ideas. That one was a joke.” His heart raced, but he felt very brave, sticking up to Bella. He looked over to Sirius, who nodded with approval.
Bellatrix turned to Rodolphus. “Roddy, you mean you haven’t told him?” She looked at the boys like they were some kind of delicious ice cream treat. “None of you know? Why, it’s a Hat.”
“Bella!” Rodolphus elbowed her in the arm. “It’s supposed to be a surprise,” he hissed.
Bellatrix waved a dismissive hand and leaned onto Rabastan’s chair, shadowing over him and clearly staring at Sirius. “It’s not just any hat, though. It’s an ancient, enchanted hat that can read your mind. They strap it onto your head, and it sucks out all your thoughts and memories.” To demonstrate, she wrapped her bony fingers around Rabastan’s scalp and mimed a vacuuming of his brains. Rabastan’s shoulders tightened and he sunk lower in his seat to get out of the finger-hat. “It goes through them, looking for information, and everyone in the school can see what it’s seeing. And then, when it reaches its decision, it puts a little thought into your head with it, and bam-” She clapped her hands once over Rabastan’s head. “You pass out, and wake up in your House dormitory.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Rabastan saw Lucius looking on with a raised eyebrow. Perhaps, then, it wasn’t true. But then Lucius sighed and said, “Bellatrix, now there won’t be any surprise. The poor children.”
“Come on,” said Rodolphus, “Let’s go give our order. I’d kill for something cold to drink.”
Rabastan heard Bellatrix laugh and felt her step away from his chair. He turned around to see her linking arms with the two boys and leaning in toward his brother. “If you’d kill Lucy, I’ll get you the cold drink myself,” she joked.
With the rising seventh-years gone, the poor children looked between each other, silently processing Bellatrix’s words. “Do you think-” Rabastan started.
“Doesn’t matter,” interrupted Sirius. “However they do it, if they lived through it, so can we.”
“So!” Darren lodged his spoon into the mountain of ice cream. “You all are going to come round Derby for pets, right? I’m bringing a monkey, myself.”
Chapter Number/Title: August 1971: How? (54/100) [[ Previous | Next]]
Rating: G
Word Count: 1901
Workshop?: Suggestions welcome.
August 2, 1971
How?
Rabastan’s smile stretched so wide that his face was beginning to hurt. He was still wary about plenty concerning Hogwarts, but getting a wand made everything else seem unimportant. New robes, too -- plain black Hogwarts student robes. But more than that, he had a wand. He, Rabastan Algernon Lestrange, had his own wand, and it was beautiful and perfect and amazing.
He grinned wider at the sight of Sirius Black bobbing his way through the crowd. “Sirius!” he shouted. “Here!”
Sirius spotted Rabastan and Rodolphus and rushed toward them, dodging shoppers who were trying to enter and exit the robe shop. He pounced on Rabastan and shook him in excitement. “Did you get it? What’s it made of? Show me! Wait, let me show you mine!” He whipped a black wand out and shoved it into his friend’s hands.
Rabastan held it out, and spun it around. It was long and elegant, with a stone set in silver between the slender shaft and flared handle. “Wow.”
“It’s ebony,” said Sirius, “with dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, and unyielding. Ollivander said it would be well-suited to combat spells and Transfiguration, and that it takes a wizard with strength and confidence to handle it!”
A more insecure boy might have needed to add, Isn’t that great? but Sirius already knew that it was great and that he was great for having it. Still, it did not hurt to affirm. “Wow,” repeated Rabastan. “That’s perfect!”
“Quite like Bella’s,” noted Rodolphus.
“Yeah,” said Sirius, “except hers is ugly. Mine is dignified.”
Rodolphus chuckled, and Rabastan handed the wand back to its master. He was so genuinely excited for his friend that he almost forgot his excitement for himself -- almost. “Here, look!” He reached into his bag and slid open the newly-purchased box. The wand was fairly simple, straight from base to tip aside from the shoulder, where thin sinews swirled around and then merged into a subtly-carved lattice pattern on the handle. “It’s, um, cedar, and unicorn hair. Eleven-and-a-half inches. Unusually inflexible.”
“O-oh.” Sirius touched the carved swirl of warm light wood. “That’s neat.”
“Isn’t it?” Rabastan drew the wand out of its box and swished it once in the air. It felt like holding pure energy, like a lightning bolt. “He said it’d be suited for, er, ‘understated and precise’ spellwork. What else did he say, Dolph? ‘You never fool the cedar carrier.’”
“And that you should never cross one, either,” Rodolphus added.
Rabastan grinned again. “Can you believe it, Sirius? We finally have wands!”
Rodolphus ruffled Rabastan’s hair. “Just don’t use them quite yet,” he warned. “Avery and Rosier are supposed to meet you at the ice cream parlour at three, so you two should hurry over.”
“Aren’t you coming?” Rabastan asked.
“I’ll, uh, meet you there,” Rodolphus said. “I told Lucius and Bella that I’d meet them for a bit. I trust you two to make it across the street. Here, this should cover the four of you.” He handed Rabastan a small pouch of gold and nudged them on their way.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Rabastan huffed. “You know he’s off to do something interesting and the ice cream’s just a bribe to get rid of us.”
“Duh.” Sirius laughed darkly. “It’s not exactly a coincidence that Knockturn’s two doors down, is it? Wish we could ditch the Ev-Dar and see what they’re up to.”
Rabastan grimaced. He was perfectly happy to not risk getting caught by Bellatrix, but he also knew better than to say it to Sirius. It might sound like a challenge. “Sure,” he said instead. “But we can see their wands too! At least we get ice cream out of it.” That seemed to satisfy Sirius, for now at least.
As Sirius and Rabastan arrived, a young witch in a colorful uniform appeared. "Four, thanks," said Rabastan. She scouted out an outdoor table and the boys slid themselves into seats.
"I'll have the quadruple-chocolate chocolate-frog chocolate-cauldron explosion," ordered Sirius.
"And I'd like your cucumber lemon sorbet," said Rabastan. He felt very adult, with his wand, and sorbet seemed like an adult kind of order. Of course he then added, "Four scoops. And, oh, the sweets medley on top."
The witch had just left to put in their orders when Darren and Evan appeared. "Hullo, hullo!" Said Darren, pulling out a chair. The metal feet whined on the cobblestone. "So it's certain. All of us to Hogwarts, as planned?"
Rabastan nodded. "I decided I couldn't leave you all to all the fun," he lied.
Darren laughed. "Well, good. We tried to think who would replace you in Slytherin if you didn't come. The options aren't great, let me tell you."
Sirius squinted. "Who says we'll all be Slytherin? I mean, obviously I will, but--"
"All our fathers were,” said Evan.
"My mum, too," added Darren.
"Sure, but that doesn't matter," countered Rabastan. "People go in their parents' Houses because they're similar. It's not automatic. Any genealogy will show that -- except the Blacks’, I guess. It’s about what you value.”
The ice-cream girl dropped off Sirius’ chocolate-upon-chocolate treat and Rabastan’s candy-covered sorbet, and looked at the other two boys.
Evan looked up without moving his head. “Two scoops, vanilla, with pumpkin glaze.”
“Hm.” Darren scrunched his face looking at his friends’ orders, and then grinned at the girl. “Surprise me,” he said, in what seemed to be a noble attempt at channeling his father. The witch laughed and went back inside.
“So the question is,” continued Evan, “how do they know what we value?”
“We were arguing about this before,” Darren explained. “Right? We know we’re Sorted, and there’s some kind of test. But what?”
“I bet I know,” mumbled Sirius over a mouthful of chocolate. He swallowed and leaned in. “The Forbidden Forest’s right there, yeah? So they let us out and see what we do to survive. The ones rushing in to fight the monsters, they go to Gryffindor; the ones who outsmart them, Ravenclaw.”
“And Slytherin?” asked Rabastan.
Evan scoffed. “A good Slytherin would find his way out of the Forbidden Forest.”
“They wouldn’t do that, though,” said Darren, looking slightly crestfallen. “Wait, do you think they would do that? Because that’d be fascinating. If they don’t do it, we should suggest it.”
“Maybe it’s more like…” Rabastan took a bite of his candy-covered sorbet and tried to think. “In the old days, the Founders chose the students, right? So maybe there’s a mirror, or portraits--”
“No, portraits are boring. But so, see -- it’s probably --” Darren scrambled so that he was perching on his chair and continued: “So like Rabbit says, in the old days, they’d pick you themselves, so obviously now they have like, not portraits, but statues or something -- yeah, statues! great larger-than-life statues of the Founders -- and you go up and present yourselves to one of the four statues, and it Animates and says, I don’t know… Welcome, Sirius Black, to Slytherin House.”
Rabastan’s lips pursed, and it wasn’t from his lemon sorbet. “That would be awful, though, if you get rejected.”
“Then apply to the right House!”
“Maybe,” offered Sirius, “you don’t apply, but you just go forward, and only one Animates and greets you, so that’s how you know.”
“Yeah,” said Darren. “Like… Rabbit goes up and then Helga Hufflepuff steps forward and gives you a big Hufflepuff hug.”
If eyes could cast curses, Rabastan’s glare would have roasted his cousin.
The waitress returned, floating Evan’s vanilla-and-pumpkin order and a mystery sundae for Darren. They landed in front of the boys with little clinks of metal on metal.
“Any bets what it is?” asked Darren, poking his sundae with a spoon.
“Well, it’s got Bertie Bott’s Beans on it,” said Rabastan. “Maybe that’s the surprise.”
Sirius grinned. “What if they’re all bogie flavored?”
“She wouldn’t do that to me,” said Darren. He dug into the ice cream, scooped a huge bite, and shoveled it into his mouth. He looked happy enough, but his face was turning red and steaming.
“Are you all right?” Evan shook Darren’s arm.
Darren nodded, swallowed, and grinned. “Cinnamon! I think my mouth is on fire.” As he said it, little flames licked away on his breath. “Whoa, brilliant!”
“Judging by our ice creams,” said Sirius, “I’d put you in Gryffindor. Evan got vanilla, like he was trying to be boring, so that’s Hufflepuff. And Rabbit’s cucumber lemon seems very Ravenclaw to me.”
“And I suppose you’re still Slytherin?” asked Evan coldly.
“Well, yeah. I went for decadence.” Sirius smiled and pulled up a spoonful of ice cream, hot fudge dripping down from it.
“You have a little decadence on your nose.” The voice - a girl’s - came from behind Rabastan, who spun in his chair. Bellatrix. Of course. Rodolphus and Lucius stood by her at either side. “You think you’ll be sorted based on ice cream?”
Rabastan felt an internal protective tug. “No-o,” he said. “We’ve come up with lots of ideas. That one was a joke.” His heart raced, but he felt very brave, sticking up to Bella. He looked over to Sirius, who nodded with approval.
Bellatrix turned to Rodolphus. “Roddy, you mean you haven’t told him?” She looked at the boys like they were some kind of delicious ice cream treat. “None of you know? Why, it’s a Hat.”
“Bella!” Rodolphus elbowed her in the arm. “It’s supposed to be a surprise,” he hissed.
Bellatrix waved a dismissive hand and leaned onto Rabastan’s chair, shadowing over him and clearly staring at Sirius. “It’s not just any hat, though. It’s an ancient, enchanted hat that can read your mind. They strap it onto your head, and it sucks out all your thoughts and memories.” To demonstrate, she wrapped her bony fingers around Rabastan’s scalp and mimed a vacuuming of his brains. Rabastan’s shoulders tightened and he sunk lower in his seat to get out of the finger-hat. “It goes through them, looking for information, and everyone in the school can see what it’s seeing. And then, when it reaches its decision, it puts a little thought into your head with it, and bam-” She clapped her hands once over Rabastan’s head. “You pass out, and wake up in your House dormitory.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Rabastan saw Lucius looking on with a raised eyebrow. Perhaps, then, it wasn’t true. But then Lucius sighed and said, “Bellatrix, now there won’t be any surprise. The poor children.”
“Come on,” said Rodolphus, “Let’s go give our order. I’d kill for something cold to drink.”
Rabastan heard Bellatrix laugh and felt her step away from his chair. He turned around to see her linking arms with the two boys and leaning in toward his brother. “If you’d kill Lucy, I’ll get you the cold drink myself,” she joked.
With the rising seventh-years gone, the poor children looked between each other, silently processing Bellatrix’s words. “Do you think-” Rabastan started.
“Doesn’t matter,” interrupted Sirius. “However they do it, if they lived through it, so can we.”
“So!” Darren lodged his spoon into the mountain of ice cream. “You all are going to come round Derby for pets, right? I’m bringing a monkey, myself.”