Rabbit: September 1967
Title: Working Title Rabbit
Chapter Number/Title: September 1967: Earth (7/100) [[ Previous | Next]]
Rating: G
Word Count: 1456
Workshop?: Sho', as I wrote this between 1 and 6:30 am. It may lack some... sense.
September 22, 1967
Earth
"Dig faster, Rabbit."
"But Darren's my cousin! And our friend!"
"Some friend. Remember your last birthday? He pushed you into the pool!" Sirius widened his eyes in defense of his friend before continuing to shovel out more dirt from the already large ditch. He was angry, but the way he looked at his friend asked for a challenge, for someone to dare to say that he didn't have the right to be angry.
Maybe he did have the right. "That was rude," Rabastan agreed.
It felt like hours later when they took a step back and were able to admire the hole. Sirius picked up the huge stick they had gathered before-about his own height-and held it into the ground. "Perfect," he announced, trading the stick for the pail of soil.
They weren't quite ready to hide, though. "Hold on." Rabastan scurried around the area, collecting the biggest leaves he could, and scattered them around the hole. "That should hide it. I wish we could do magic. The real kind."
**
It wasn't long before the Averys arrived. Rabastan and Sirius bit their tongues and watched as Darren made his way across the grounds. Soon, he was very close to them and the hole that had been so carefully disguised. Rabbit felt his heart beat in excitement, waiting for Darren to slip in. But he wasn't slipping; he was looking. Rabastan elbowed Sirius in the shoulder in frustration. They didn't have a plan next, except to wait to see what Darren would do. Darren, though, didn't seem to think long about what to do, and was instead running off with some hidden purpose.
Sirius tapped his hand against the tree trunk and then jerked his friend's wrist. "You stay here. I'll be back in no time."
"But-" Rabastan's protest was lost. Sirius had already bolted up towards the manor, weaving around the adults, and going off to do Merlin knew what. Rabastan didn't have a very good feeling about his friend running about the house at Tor Delorage alone, nor about his cousin running about the grounds alone. He bit his lip and looked around for either's return.
What he saw instead was that his robes were filthy. Rabastan reached down at his knees and tried to brush the dirt off the hem of the orange tunic, but it only made it worse, because his palms still had soil packed into the grooves. If he held them up to the sun, bits of earth sparkled and lit up the lines. He hoped they said good things about his life.
Sirius was first back, with a small pouch, but he wouldn't say what was inside, because just as he slipped behind the tree, Darren was running back, his arms full. It was hard to find gnomes at Tor Delorage, but the grounds were big enough and the gnomes were determined enough that there were apparently at least enough for Darren to carry back a load. He dumped them on the ground next to the ditch and kicked them, one by one, into the hole that Sirius and Rabbit had dug. The diggers watched as he brushed the surrounding red and brown leaves on top of the gnome-pile and backed off to another nearby tree to hide. "Oh no! A hole!" the two heard him shout, adding the effect of a yelp he might have made if he had fallen in the hole.
Rabastan met Sirius's eye and they both smiled. Sirius opened the pouch to show the contents: eye of newt. He nodded; Rabastan caught the silent idea and went out towards the ditch. "Sirius Black?" he called, "I do think my dear cousin fell into your trap!" He kicked a twig into the ditch and watched as the gnomes broke out into a fight. "Oh, no, silly me! It's gnomes! Never mind that." The young Lestrange whistled and walked off in a general direction, hearing his cousin shuffle out-most likely on a new mission.
"Come on, now's our chance!" Sirius bolted out from behind the tree and started burying the eyeballs under slight layers of dirt here, or under a leaf there.
The bag was soon empty. Rabastan leaned down to place his last newt-eye just right when he saw Darren's head watching him from behind a bush. "He's still here!" Darren didn't wait long, and visibly ran off this time, around the wing of the house. "Well, not anymore."
Rabastan sighed and kicked an orange leaf. They needed a new plan, or Darren would win, and they couldn't allow that. He kicked again, and grains of earth flew into the air. "Sirius, Sirius, the dirt!"
Sirius ran to pail of dirt and started climbing the tree, hauling the pail. He worked his way onto a bough stretching toward the hole and slung the pail onto a branch directly above it. "Good?"
"Perfect," Rabastan confirmed, having lost his earlier concerns. Clearly Darren was playing at the same game, and it's not like he would be one to die from some newt-eyes or dirt. He ambled back to his normal place and waited until he saw his cousin return, carrying water in some sort of oversized leaf. The other boy was careful to avoid eye contact while making a large circle around the hole and letting the water trickle into the soil until it was slick on all sides.
When he was finished, he stepped away, and called out. "Rabbit! Happy birthday! It's Darren."
Rabastan popped his head out to see Darren. There was no hiding now. He stepped forward, avoiding the ditch by a few feet at least, and held out his hand to his cousin in the way he'd been taught. "Thank you! It's good to see you!" The thanks were cut short by Darren reaching over to hold Rabastan in a grip, but the smaller boy deflected. "Oh, and Sirius is up there." The birthday boy pointed up to his friend, who was stretched out on the bough with a hand on the bottom of the pail, ready to turn.
"Hallo, Sirius," Darren called, as if he had not spent his entire time plotting against him.
The noise of new visitors carried over and interrupted their moment of greeting. Rabastan looked and saw two blond children and a tall blonde woman in a dark brown robe and hat. He froze and swallowed, looking around at Sirius, Darren, the ditch, and the newcomers.
As if trying to make the worst come true, the little blonde girl rushed forward. "Rabbit! Happy birthday! We bought presents and they really are the best presents, you'll see!" She wasn't quite running, but she was moving far too fast. It was all, really, too fast to prevent.
It started when Cissy stepped on an eye, maybe two, and jumped. A squeal of disgust and surprise carried across the grounds as she slid in her dress shoes along the newly-created mud. She slipped and fell but was pulled forward into the well-dug ditch. Of gnomes. With a mound of dirt atop her head.
Suddenly, Narcissa was crying and Mrs. Black was stepping forward cautiously and Sirius was barking out a laugh and Darren was holding back his own laughter. Rabastan probably would have been more humor in it all if it hadn't been his birthday, and Mrs. Black there to judge them for it. He rushed forward, not caring much about the eyes of newt, and grabbed Cissy so as to pull her from the gnomes. He wasn't terribly strong but between his effort and her kicking, she was out of the ditch, though muddied and dirty and still crying.
Mrs. Black knelt by her and hushed sweetly over her daughter. She pulled out her wand and muttered a few incantations, and soon Cissy looked as if nothing had happened at all-save all the crying. The mother turned on Rabastan, with a tone harsher than he'd ever heard from her. "Rabastan Lestrange, is this your doing?"
His dark blue eyes were wide in shock and he opened his mouth to make an excuse but nothing came out. Thankfully, Sirius had the grace to jump from the tree. "No, Aunt Druella. It was mine. Well, part Avery's. It was meant for us, not Cissy."
She shifted her gaze to her nephew and lightened her tone just barely. "Well, Sirius, I don't think it's very kind to laugh at your cousin, then. What do you say?"
Sirius sighed. "Sorry, Cissy."
Rabastan's shock had turned to guilt. "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Black. And Cissy. It was for Darren. He pushed me in the pool last year."
Druella Black raised a narrow eyebrow at the less than logical reasoning, but looked mollified after the two apologies. "It's all right, Rabbit. You and Sirius ought to run in and have an elf fix up your robes though. Digging in the ground, really. Thank Fortune I have daughters. Go along."
Rabbit nodded and took Sirius's hand, backing away toward the house to follow Mrs. Black's order. Before Sirius began to talk again, he heard Darren's voice "Merlin's knee! I thought you'd never come, Rosier! I wanted to tell you about this hag I saw..."
Chapter Number/Title: September 1967: Earth (7/100) [[ Previous | Next]]
Rating: G
Word Count: 1456
Workshop?: Sho', as I wrote this between 1 and 6:30 am. It may lack some... sense.
September 22, 1967
Earth
"Dig faster, Rabbit."
"But Darren's my cousin! And our friend!"
"Some friend. Remember your last birthday? He pushed you into the pool!" Sirius widened his eyes in defense of his friend before continuing to shovel out more dirt from the already large ditch. He was angry, but the way he looked at his friend asked for a challenge, for someone to dare to say that he didn't have the right to be angry.
Maybe he did have the right. "That was rude," Rabastan agreed.
It felt like hours later when they took a step back and were able to admire the hole. Sirius picked up the huge stick they had gathered before-about his own height-and held it into the ground. "Perfect," he announced, trading the stick for the pail of soil.
They weren't quite ready to hide, though. "Hold on." Rabastan scurried around the area, collecting the biggest leaves he could, and scattered them around the hole. "That should hide it. I wish we could do magic. The real kind."
**
It wasn't long before the Averys arrived. Rabastan and Sirius bit their tongues and watched as Darren made his way across the grounds. Soon, he was very close to them and the hole that had been so carefully disguised. Rabbit felt his heart beat in excitement, waiting for Darren to slip in. But he wasn't slipping; he was looking. Rabastan elbowed Sirius in the shoulder in frustration. They didn't have a plan next, except to wait to see what Darren would do. Darren, though, didn't seem to think long about what to do, and was instead running off with some hidden purpose.
Sirius tapped his hand against the tree trunk and then jerked his friend's wrist. "You stay here. I'll be back in no time."
"But-" Rabastan's protest was lost. Sirius had already bolted up towards the manor, weaving around the adults, and going off to do Merlin knew what. Rabastan didn't have a very good feeling about his friend running about the house at Tor Delorage alone, nor about his cousin running about the grounds alone. He bit his lip and looked around for either's return.
What he saw instead was that his robes were filthy. Rabastan reached down at his knees and tried to brush the dirt off the hem of the orange tunic, but it only made it worse, because his palms still had soil packed into the grooves. If he held them up to the sun, bits of earth sparkled and lit up the lines. He hoped they said good things about his life.
Sirius was first back, with a small pouch, but he wouldn't say what was inside, because just as he slipped behind the tree, Darren was running back, his arms full. It was hard to find gnomes at Tor Delorage, but the grounds were big enough and the gnomes were determined enough that there were apparently at least enough for Darren to carry back a load. He dumped them on the ground next to the ditch and kicked them, one by one, into the hole that Sirius and Rabbit had dug. The diggers watched as he brushed the surrounding red and brown leaves on top of the gnome-pile and backed off to another nearby tree to hide. "Oh no! A hole!" the two heard him shout, adding the effect of a yelp he might have made if he had fallen in the hole.
Rabastan met Sirius's eye and they both smiled. Sirius opened the pouch to show the contents: eye of newt. He nodded; Rabastan caught the silent idea and went out towards the ditch. "Sirius Black?" he called, "I do think my dear cousin fell into your trap!" He kicked a twig into the ditch and watched as the gnomes broke out into a fight. "Oh, no, silly me! It's gnomes! Never mind that." The young Lestrange whistled and walked off in a general direction, hearing his cousin shuffle out-most likely on a new mission.
"Come on, now's our chance!" Sirius bolted out from behind the tree and started burying the eyeballs under slight layers of dirt here, or under a leaf there.
The bag was soon empty. Rabastan leaned down to place his last newt-eye just right when he saw Darren's head watching him from behind a bush. "He's still here!" Darren didn't wait long, and visibly ran off this time, around the wing of the house. "Well, not anymore."
Rabastan sighed and kicked an orange leaf. They needed a new plan, or Darren would win, and they couldn't allow that. He kicked again, and grains of earth flew into the air. "Sirius, Sirius, the dirt!"
Sirius ran to pail of dirt and started climbing the tree, hauling the pail. He worked his way onto a bough stretching toward the hole and slung the pail onto a branch directly above it. "Good?"
"Perfect," Rabastan confirmed, having lost his earlier concerns. Clearly Darren was playing at the same game, and it's not like he would be one to die from some newt-eyes or dirt. He ambled back to his normal place and waited until he saw his cousin return, carrying water in some sort of oversized leaf. The other boy was careful to avoid eye contact while making a large circle around the hole and letting the water trickle into the soil until it was slick on all sides.
When he was finished, he stepped away, and called out. "Rabbit! Happy birthday! It's Darren."
Rabastan popped his head out to see Darren. There was no hiding now. He stepped forward, avoiding the ditch by a few feet at least, and held out his hand to his cousin in the way he'd been taught. "Thank you! It's good to see you!" The thanks were cut short by Darren reaching over to hold Rabastan in a grip, but the smaller boy deflected. "Oh, and Sirius is up there." The birthday boy pointed up to his friend, who was stretched out on the bough with a hand on the bottom of the pail, ready to turn.
"Hallo, Sirius," Darren called, as if he had not spent his entire time plotting against him.
The noise of new visitors carried over and interrupted their moment of greeting. Rabastan looked and saw two blond children and a tall blonde woman in a dark brown robe and hat. He froze and swallowed, looking around at Sirius, Darren, the ditch, and the newcomers.
As if trying to make the worst come true, the little blonde girl rushed forward. "Rabbit! Happy birthday! We bought presents and they really are the best presents, you'll see!" She wasn't quite running, but she was moving far too fast. It was all, really, too fast to prevent.
It started when Cissy stepped on an eye, maybe two, and jumped. A squeal of disgust and surprise carried across the grounds as she slid in her dress shoes along the newly-created mud. She slipped and fell but was pulled forward into the well-dug ditch. Of gnomes. With a mound of dirt atop her head.
Suddenly, Narcissa was crying and Mrs. Black was stepping forward cautiously and Sirius was barking out a laugh and Darren was holding back his own laughter. Rabastan probably would have been more humor in it all if it hadn't been his birthday, and Mrs. Black there to judge them for it. He rushed forward, not caring much about the eyes of newt, and grabbed Cissy so as to pull her from the gnomes. He wasn't terribly strong but between his effort and her kicking, she was out of the ditch, though muddied and dirty and still crying.
Mrs. Black knelt by her and hushed sweetly over her daughter. She pulled out her wand and muttered a few incantations, and soon Cissy looked as if nothing had happened at all-save all the crying. The mother turned on Rabastan, with a tone harsher than he'd ever heard from her. "Rabastan Lestrange, is this your doing?"
His dark blue eyes were wide in shock and he opened his mouth to make an excuse but nothing came out. Thankfully, Sirius had the grace to jump from the tree. "No, Aunt Druella. It was mine. Well, part Avery's. It was meant for us, not Cissy."
She shifted her gaze to her nephew and lightened her tone just barely. "Well, Sirius, I don't think it's very kind to laugh at your cousin, then. What do you say?"
Sirius sighed. "Sorry, Cissy."
Rabastan's shock had turned to guilt. "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Black. And Cissy. It was for Darren. He pushed me in the pool last year."
Druella Black raised a narrow eyebrow at the less than logical reasoning, but looked mollified after the two apologies. "It's all right, Rabbit. You and Sirius ought to run in and have an elf fix up your robes though. Digging in the ground, really. Thank Fortune I have daughters. Go along."
Rabbit nodded and took Sirius's hand, backing away toward the house to follow Mrs. Black's order. Before Sirius began to talk again, he heard Darren's voice "Merlin's knee! I thought you'd never come, Rosier! I wanted to tell you about this hag I saw..."