Short Stories

[rin68nyr]

All complete in one post! Post them here!

Here is one I wrote for an essay contest...it didn't win, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. The task was to write an excerpt from one of Gilderoy Lockhart's books.

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Excerpt from Break with a Banshee, By Gilderoy Lockhart

There came a time when my travels took me to Ireland, and the town of Bandon in County Cork. I was gracing a pub with my presence, and heard tell of a Banshee who was haunting this vulnerable town. Apparently, down by the river, there were houses that, one by one, were getting visits from a banshee. Her scream always preceded the death of one of their family. I knew I could handle this threat! Being an honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League (not to mention Order of Merlin, 3rd class, AND five time winner of Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award), I knew that I was the right man for the job! The townsfolk, seeing my obviously impressive abilities, were eager to tell me that this banshee had been traveling down the river, stopping at each house in turn…and they knew which house was due tonight! I flashed them my dazzling smile, and told them that I could handle this troublesome lass! As they gazed at me in adoration, I started forming my plan. I decided to hide in a tree, in wait, and I set myself up at the house they led me to. As I waited, I passed the time by signing some photos for my fans…there was never enough time for that! Soon, I noticed an eerie sort of mist…and gathered myself together. The trick was to stay hidden until just the right time… My extraordinary talent as a wizard would come in handy, for I would need to apperate silently at precisely the right moment. Too soon and she would know I was there before she got ready to utter her scream….too late, and I would hear her scream, sending me to my death. I would be mourned worldwide. I couldn’t do that to my legions of fans!

So I watched her carefully. The ugly hag circled once round the house, and then stopped at the front door. The time was drawing near…my powerful senses were heightened. The banshee lowered her head for a moment, and as she did, I did the awesome feat of silent apparition, and arrived right in front of her, just as she was closing her eyes and tilting her head back…getting ready for her scream. I pointed my wand at her neck, and said “Rupto Collumus!” Thus breaking her neck, leaving her unable to even begin her scream…and then she fell dead at my feet. And that, ladies and gentlemen is how I conquered the Bandon banshee single-handedly…and of course, there was an elegant dinner put out in my honor, where all the townsfolk honored me. My picture was on the front page! How they love me!
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Erin

[fangsfan1]

Erin, this is so cool, it does sound just like something Lockhart would write! Really enjoyed this, I would like to sometime try doing an excerpt from a diary or letter from one of the characters.

[Duddahs]

Erin,

Like I said in my PM to you. I so enjoyed this and appreciate your sharing it with us all here.

May I be so bold as to encourage you to write more. I understand that free time comes at a premium but you are truly exceptional at this..

I love how I am surrounded by so many fine writers here.

[rin68nyr]

Aw, thanks, guys!

Time IS hard to come by, but when I get an inspiration, I promise to post it here!

I'd love to read some other's short stories!

Erin

[Duddahs]

September 1, 1991
1:34 AM.


I am laying here, trying with all my might not to make a sound.. I have never been been around so many people before in my life especially not at bed time. They all seemed to be getting along so well with each other. Well, almost everyone. There was that Draco Malfoy. I remember my Uncle telling me to keep away from him as much as I could but not to let him push me around that if I showed fear he would just kill me all the faster.

Push me around, who do they think they are kidding? Sometimes I think that is what Merlin put me here for, to be pushed around and bullied. And why did I have to have this stupid thing as my pet anyway. I feel even more like an idiot than everyone else seems to be.

They all had normal looking robes. Mine, well mine were not even the ones that I wanted to get. I wanted to get the really cool ones from Madam Malkins but no I had to get the ones off the rack at Witch-mart.. I would have thought that if they wanted me to somehow be one of the cool kids they would have let me get some of the cool things to bring to school, but no, I get stuff that looks like the red headed kids from that big family would not even buy it and they have less money to spend on their kids than any family I have heard of.

I saw them all at a party for my Uncle a few years ago. They all had kind of slightly shabby looking cloths but at least they seemed to be able to wear them well. They all had smiles on their faces and if they were not being the center of attention just for telling the best jokes, everyone wanted to be with them because they seemed to have the cool and fun people hanging out right there with them.

Even back then, I felt so uncomfortable to step out of the shadows. I sat in a chair, one of a row of empty chairs that lined the wall by the punch. No one much even noticed I was there unless I was suddenly being grabbed and dragged out as a public showing that I had in fact existed and then was allowed to crawl back to the safety of that chair.

Yeah, there were a few others that seemed to have the same problems but even with them, if I caught their eye or they caught mine, they would quickly turn away and act as if they had just sneezed or something that caused them to look my way.. Yeah, as if I was some sort of poison and if you got some of me on your wand hand, nothing good would ever come out of your wand for the rest of your life.

What the heck was that Hat thinking putting me in this house? I can't do any of the stuff these kids can already do. They all seem to already be able to get along with each other as if they knew each other from birth. Brave, what was that Hat doing last night, soaking itself in Firewhiskey. Brave.. Now I feel like dieing.

He's snoring, I can't believe that he just felt so comfortable that he just fell asleep and started to snore.. Yeah now there are two of them. Really, I would strangle myself into quiet if I ever snored. I would probably make the worst noise ever and no one would ever talk to me cause I kept them all awake all night..

Then there is that kid, the one that You know Who killed his parents. He is just so cool. Everyone wants to be near him and here I am only a couple of feet away from him that I could almost get up and touch his scar. NO, don't even think about that. He would probably wake up and blast me into next week with some curse that I had never heard of.. Not that I would even remember tomorrow what it was called if you made me repeat it a hundred times over tonight.

There is also that super cool kid who grew up with Muggles for parents. Wizard oh Wizard, I really wish I had grown up with Muggles for parents and grandparents and uncles and aunts. That way no one would know that I am supposed to be a Wizard but am nothing more than a fake.. I just don't get it.. I can feel it inside me, I really do but when ever I try to make it happen when I want it to, nothing comes out. No not that kid, he walked in here with all sorts of full of himself. Walked right up to that Irish kid, who I really am kind of scared of you know.. He reminds me kinda what it was like at home.. You never seem to know if he is gonna blow off some steam or just hit you with a spell or something he picked up on the streets.

You should have seen him get all guffed up about that other kid talking about his favorite Football team.. I don't get it. Why would anyone want to kick something if they were not angry at it anyway? But then again, Uncle tried to explain Quidditch to me, like I was going to remember anything he said. Heck if I ever get on a broom the first thing I am going to do is probably wet myself.. Nope, that would be the death of me. I would probably be put back on the train home the same day and then I would have to somehow explain to everyone why I was wet and why I was also not allowed back at Hogwarts.

It's 2am and that kid with the scar, Harry I think his name is, is still sitting there with that White Owl. Wow, is she ever the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I thought that maybe that kid with the rat might have the worst pet and no one would laugh at me for what I brought but no, he had these super cool brothers that kind of made him famous and now he seems to have become best friends with the most cool kid in all of Hogwarts, that Harry kid.

Yeah and who else had some stupid pet that keeps getting away anyway. Guess he knows how much a looser I am and he is just embarrassed to be seen with me..

How come I had to be like this? Why was I not born looking like one of the cool kids.. Why did I not have muscles or have parents that everyone talks about as if they were descended from Merlin himself.

How come they had to go and name me Neville anyway? Really, were they just painting a bulls eye on my forehead at birth or what?

[rin68nyr]

I liked it, Duddahs! I kept changing my mind about who it was as I read! Had it by the time you named him. good one!

Erin

[grandpalovegood]

Yeah I agree.. I kept thinking Neville but then I'd say... no... it's this other character... then Neville... then someone else.

I like what you both posted.. and the different techniques too... Thanks.. I really enjoyed reading them.

[Duddahs]

It was just a page out of Nevills personal diary.

I envisioned he was in his four poster, his covers pulled way up over his head and just scribbling away to himself or to his gran.. The date is the first night at Hogwarts.

[grandpalovegood]

Yeah... That was always how I envisioned writing my dumbledore story... as if it were mostly taken from his diary.. but then some events were witnessed as part of the story.

I love how you did it though.

Then in Erin's... it does sound just like something Lockhart would put in his book. These are fun.

[fangsfan1]

The Neville diary was great Duddahs. I actually read the 25 latest posts first so I knew beforehand it was him-so don't know how long it would have taken me to figure out. But I can bet a lot of the new students would feel a lot like that too. Very well done!

[grandpalovegood]

Eek... sorry about that.

[Duddahs]

You guys are too silly for toilet paper you know... Gets me some paper towels instead.... ;D

[misscharlotte]

Sept 13, 2010 13:02:43 GMT -6 Duddahs said:

You guys are too silly for toilet paper you know... Gets me some paper towels instead.... ;D

You forget you are talking to women here... OH... I must have my toilet paper... I wont' even go pee in the woods without it.

...

I think I will think up some sort of short story to put up here soon. I'm working on something else right now.

[Duddahs]

The Royal and Ancient House of Black.


Blast her, blast her sometimes. I get the feeling that she would smother me in my sleep with a pillow if she had the chance.

It is not like she has the right to tell anyone but her own what to do. I have lived a life that she could never understand. She would never in her wildest night mare have it pop into her messy head.

Then why, WHY do I let her get to me like that? Why didn't I just whip out my wand and blast her one right there in the kitchen. Yeah, right there between both of her blue eyes.

No, I could not do it.. I was too weak, too cowardly. As if I had been stripped of all my strength, all my manhood the day that those filthy Dementors touched me for the very first time. The day that Barty Crouch stood firm on the pulpit pronouncing my guilt.

What did I do then? NOTHING, not one dag blasted thing. I laughed inside myself thinking that somehow that I had avoided being shown for the coward I was. For not fighting to stay as the secret keeper, as the protector as the one that my best friend, his wife and my only godson could count on in a moment of peril.

No, I was nothing more than the Rat that actually betrayed them. Nothing more, who am I kidding, I was less. At least Peter was loyal to someone.. Who was I loyal to? No ONE, that is who. If I had not been such a blasted coward, they might well have been spared, but NOOOOO I was nothing more than a piece of worn out parchment. No use to anyone, not even to myself.

And here I am, today confronted by the child who if it had not been for my own cowardice might well have had his parents here by his side... All these years to nurture him, to hold him when he was sick, to wipe his head when he was feverish. To come and tuck him in and lay by his side until he fell back to sleep after a bad dream.

Why, blast it, why did he have to ask me if he could come back and live here, HERE in this filthy forsaken hovel of a house. Things must truly be horrible for him at the Dursleys for him to even consider coming and living here.

Well, I will be damned if he is going to have to go anywhere. There is just no way that Dumbledore is going to let him down. He mustn't. He is afterall at this time Harry's best hope for his future. Without Dumbledore, Harry would be swallowed up by the Wizarding world and thrown away into Azkaban and forgotten about. Like so many other who have come before him.. Forgotten, unloved, hated, reviled.

No, I will walk into that Dining Room in the morning and just set things straight. I will sit him down and give him the truth of the matter. That if it were not for Dumbledore that he, Harry would surely be long since dead to our world. If it were not for him, OH BLAST, who am I kidding, if I had not been such a lousy godfather, maybe Harry would be turning to someone for answers who had more than the wit of a common Garden Slug.

That Witch, I tell you, if she speaks to me one more time, I will, yeah, what will I do? Nothing. That seems to be me all over... Snape tells me that I am nothing and I can not do anything more than get angry and reach for my wand. It was his words, his WORDS phooey it that got to me.. Not him, not his power, not his insipid abilities as a Wizard. No, he meant what he said, he meant what he was here to defend.

What am I? Who the Merlin AM I anyway? I allow this filthy wreck of a house to be used as the home of the Order but in all honesty, what am I?

If I had half the mind to, I would walk out that front door and what ever happens will happen.

But then what would that solve? He needs me. He really seems to NEED ME! For once in my life, What the heck was,,,, Kreacher, get your disgusting self back here right now and bring that box with you.

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If Harry could just be OK. Oh Merlin I pray that he will be OK... Even though I offered him to escort him as my Dog presence, he did not jump at that opportunity. Was it that he still blames me. Knows that I was the ultimate game card to be played in their life and death deal with Voldemort?

What does that kid see when he looks into my eyes.. I look in the mirror and I see nothing, emptiness, holes bored deep into my skull as if with a mindless and heartless drill. Creating sockets to house those dead eyes.. What does he see. What does anyone see. I still have a soul you know, it is there, it may be deep down inside me, but it is there none the less.

Oh Harry, you are so very much like your father you see. If it had not been for James, I would never have had anywhere to go once I finally left this soul less place. Left the horrific life that my mother, father and brother were leading... They themselves did not even realize that who they were backing was nothing more than the evil Joker Card in the deck.. There with nothing more than the simple check the in win column. Nothing more than promises for some sparkling future that will never come to fruition.

They are nothing more than crab grass. Once a little bit takes root, in no time it will have taken hold of your surface and will have invaded your roots.

What the heck are we to do about this monster, about what he proposes.. We are not animals, we do not have to follow in his miss-guided ventures. I am strong, strong as a bull. Bring it on Voldie, bring it on baby.. Let's see who is standing in the end.. Who's wand is held high above their enemies. Their fate in their own hands

[grandpalovegood]

Wow.....

[rin68nyr]

Ooo...pent up anger....I like it! LOL

Erin

[grandpalovegood]

Yeah... YOu know he was in the zone when he wrote that one... I LOVE being in the zone.

[Duddahs]

Love is for all time. Not for a moment

Written by; Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

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It seems like yesterday. Who am I kidding, it was not yesterday, it has been years now. Years since I first laid eyes upon you. You, with that full head of hair all bushy and messy. Your care free manners, the way you walked, the way you smiled that playful sparkle in your eyes. It all comes back to me low these many years.

I can still remember the wonderful smell of Coal burning in the engine of the Hogwarts Express. It was crammed full of students, all of whom would one day come to know you for the great wizard you are.

But did they see in you that day, that first day that I laid my eyes upon you? When that first tingle started at the very bottom of my spine and then shot right through the top of my head. Did they get that same exhilaration when you called “HI” like you did to me? I felt like I was suddenly the only person there on Platform 9 3/4.

When I finally found myself being pushed out of the way of so many trolley carts, all laden down with trunks and caged owls, cats purring and frogs croaking away. All of this seemingly to being directed by faceless people pushing them to and fro. As if they all had somehow choreographed this show, this dance, where none were to ever crash into each other. It all seemed as if it had all somehow been planned. That is except for you. You could not have been planned, how could you have been? No, these feelings came out of nowhere. I had no idea that they existed before that day.

I remember that year. It must have been the longest year of my young life. I remember how I tried to put you out of my mind but somehow you kept on invading my senses, my dreams, my thoughts.

I was not safe, day or night. It mattered not if I were busy as a bee; you seemed to keep popping up in my mind as if a flash card were suddenly held before the light.

My heart was full but my soul felt empty. For I knew that you must not even have known I existed. Really, I came to the conclusion that you just said Hi to everyone and that I was no one special. That I was just another person who knew who this famous young wizard was. And how vain I must have been to think that you would want to spend time with me.. ME!! What an idiot, what a complete buffoon I must have made of myself for an entire year.

Then when I thought things could not be worse, that second year after having first laid eyes upon you, there you were again. But now it was pure torture. I would see you each and every day. You would sit there at the table with your friends surrounding you. They would hang on every word you would utter as if your tongue were made of gold and galleons spilled out from you with every breath you exhaled.

Yes, even the headmaster seemed to be taken by you. By the attention you garnered and yes also by your physical beauty. It was in your imperfections that you seemed to be so perfect. It was torture and nothing less.

This went on for years, far too many for me to wish to reflect upon too deeply. Even as such, I can still recall fondly my time at Hogwarts as a student, having been part of one of the greatest Gryffindor Quidditch Teams of all time and for having been so honored as one of the Great Female Quidditch Players of my time as a Gryffindor Student.

Oh how I loved the days of pure innocence of what I did not know. The fantastic adventures of what was to come the next day, the next week or the next year. I remember growing into a young Witch of some notoriety. The boys fancied me, but deep down, there really was no true room for them. There was a balled up reminder of you each and every time I was kissed, was held tight, had my hand pressed into yet another hand. They all had been measured against you and not one of them ever measured up. They all came up short in the long run...

Short in the long run.. Listen to myself, I sound like some sort of babbling idiot! I was a young Witch in love, yes in LOVE but in love with someone that had no clue that I existed other than to say hello or speak my name in passing. I never seemed to have made much of an impact upon you back then.

Times are different, years have passed and we have both grown so very close to each other.

I would not wish for anyone else. Not another, no one to share my deepest secrets with. The very thought that you would not be in my life today is preposterous.

We walk this earth together, hand in hand and as friend to friend. There is no one that I will confide in, the way I confide in you. And for you, I am always here. I am your bank for you to deposit your thoughts, your dreams and your wishes into.

For this, I say thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart. It is for the years that you have been there for me and I also for you. Thank you for loving me for who I am and understanding that though our lives do not turn out the way we had thought they would when we are young, that we are truly happy.

Still after all of these years, I still sometimes see you through that young Witches eyes. All though your posture has gone a bit prone and your hands have become weakened with time. Yes, your colorful ways have toned down just a bit but thankfully not to the point of becoming dull. You still have that twinkle in your eye and that glint when you smile, that wisp of rebellious hair that just seems to refuse to obey.

For this, I say Thank You... Thank you.

Yours truly,

Minerva

[grandpalovegood]

What?? Who was she talking about? Was her heart for Albus or someone else? Now this will haunt me until you reveal it to us. You are not going ot make us sit this one through are you?

Another good one. Thanks.

[rin68nyr]

Wow! I totally thought it was Ginny all the way through...and was sort of thinking it didn't really sound like her.... ;D

Erin