IWD Drabbles - the results

[snorkackcatcher]

The IWD Drabbles are finally done, so here they are below. They're 'drabbles' in the sense of ficlets, not by the strict definition, as I didn't aim for an exact word count! Most of them are about 200 words, but the Ginny and Tonks ones went on a bit and ended up north of 1,000. Unbetaed of course, but hopefully they're consistent and reasonably appropriate for the original meme.

For mrstater:


Arwen Undómiel (The Lord of the Rings)

[Book version, set towards the end of The Return of the King; my attempt to pastiche Tolkien's more formal bits!]

For in due season the Evenstar rode in great company from the land of Rivendell to fulfil her hopes and those of the King. And when they were yet a day from Minas Tirith and took rest before the journey of the morrow, her kinswoman Galadriel came to her.

"The hour draws near, granddaughter," she said. "I see much, and foresee more. I have looked in the Mirror, and see there your joy and your grief, and I shall know not of these things otherwise."

Arwen looked at her, and she understood. "For you have leave to go into the West upon your return?"

"I will do so, for it is time. We both shall see Lothlórien but once more, unless you turn back. Are you truly determined on this path?"

And Arwen met her searching gaze, and smiled. "Should I, who made my choice when none could see the way through the darkness, now forswear it when all has become new? You would not ask if you believed this so. I too pass the test. I will become as Lúthien, and go not into the West, and remain Arwen Undómiel."

---

For plaid_slytherin, prompt 'music':


Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)

Luna knows perfectly well that even her friends joke she's a dreamer, someone who marches to the beat of a different drum. But when the conversation turns to actual music, she's always surprised to realise that everyone assumes that if she likes it at all, she must be a fan of some obscure cauldron-rock group who make experimental sounds with dragon's teeth and charmed teacups.

They couldn't be more wrong.

Luna likes to play her Tunesmith Tombola in private, but the music she plays on it is far from obscure. She's always loved the old standards, the ones Celestina has been singing since the beginning of her career and weren't new even then. They make her feel connected through time to all the people who've heard them and loved them before.

But most of all she loves orchestral music, wizarding or Muggle. She lies back on her bed and listens, and it's as if the sound simply flows through her, lifting her into a world shaped by rhythm and harmonies. And in that world, Luna can do what she loves best and let her imagination race away, a dreamer who hears the same drum as everyone else but finds different ways to march to it.

---

For lyras:


Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter)

"So you're Ginny Weasley, eh? Pleased to meet you at last. I've been hearing a lot about you from old Horace." Gwenog Jones looked her up and down with a critical eye. "Good build for a Chaser, impressive school record, and you don't need to become a Quidditch star to get your name in the papers. None of that matters, by the way. We can't afford to make allowances for celebrities, and just because you flew rings round some fifth-years it's no guarantee you can step up to professional level."

"I know that," said Ginny. She found herself rather overwhelmed by Gwenog Jones, and that irritated her after everything she'd been through. Then again, it didn't help that she was talking to one of her heroines about the chance to achieve one of her childhood ambitions. She took a deep breath. "You wouldn't have asked me to come unless you thought I might be what you're looking for."

Jones grinned. "Very true. Well then, we won't find out talking about it down here. Let's get up there and see." She reached into the box by her feet and without warning flipped a Quaffle backhanded towards Ginny, who just managed to catch it by a combination of reflexes and sheer luck. "You'll be needing that. I'll be needing these." She picked up her bat and unbuckled two Bludgers, which streaked into the sky; then nodded to the group of players waiting on the pitch, who followed the Bludgers. "We've got a good defensive three waiting for you, and Jenny Hetherington behind them." Ginny nodded in trepidation; all were well-known players, and Hetherington was being talked about as a possible England Keeper. "You've got Vanshi Dhawan and Annie Malone to assist you, but you'll be taking all the shots. Let's see how you do!"

Ginny swallowed her nerves as best she could and felt briefly disoriented as she kicked off from the ground -- until Gwenog Jones sent a viciously-hit Bludger in her direction, which she only avoided by means of a desperate Sloth Grip Roll. The shock did at least help her focus. With an annoyed grimace she flew forward, exchanged quick passes with Dhawan and got off a shot.

Hetherington calmly caught it and threw the Quaffle back.

Trying not to look too disappointed, Ginny took stock of the defensive formation. The central opposing Chaser was drifting across to support her partner; Ginny dived directly at the narrowing gap between them, then at the last moment wrenched her broom round into the vacated space in the middle and sent the Quaffle hurtling towards the left-hand ring.

Hetherington dived to her right and deflected the shot with cool efficiency.

Ginny gritted her teeth and sternly quelled a touch of panic. This wasn't school Quidditch; there was no need to try to do it all by herself when she had two real professional Chasers to work with. She bided her time for a while as they passed the Quaffle between them looking for an opening; finally, the defenders were pulled slightly out of position, and Ginny looped around to the left from behind Malone and sent a shot back across the goalposts, with just enough spin for it to sneak inside the far edge of the rightmost ring.

Her feeling of exhilaration lasted about two seconds, as she ducked hastily to prevent another of Jones's Bludgers from taking her head off.

After a couple of hours of this, Ginny was beginning to tire, although she didn't dare show that in front of players who regularly found themselves in a day-long match. Worse, her scoring rate wasn't improving. Goals were going in on a fairly regular basis, but for every shot that counted there were three or four that didn't, and even when she won penalties several of them were saved. She found herself fighting against a growing conviction that it was all going horribly wrong.

It was both a relief and a sickening blow when the assistant coach who was acting as referee blew her whistle and waved to indicate that they should land. She did so slowly and reluctantly; however weary she might be, if this was going to be her only opportunity to impress she didn't want it to end.

Gwenog Jones broke off from her conference with the Harpies manager as Ginny approached and gave her a critical look. "Weasley! How do you think you did?"

Ginny took a deep breath. "Not too bad," she said with an entirely artificial air of confidence. "It took me a while to get used to the speed, but I was getting the hang of it by the end there."

"Do you know what your goal percentage was?" asked Jones, consulting some papers.

"Er -- no?"

"21%," she said brusquely. "Might have gone down if we'd carried on, though, you were clearly tiring there. You handle the broom well, and you didn't drop the Quaffle any more than most triallists do, but your link-up play was very weak. In the Quidditch League every goal counts at the end of the season. Even the superstars can't forget they have team-mates at this level."

"Right." Ginny fought not to show her crushing disappointment. A goal percentage of 30% would be considered poor even at the Cannons; anything short of 40% would leave most Chasers struggling to hold down a place in the side.

Some childhood ambitions came true, some didn't.

"Is that all you've got to say?" demanded Jones.

"Doesn't seem much else I can say, does there?" said Ginny with a shrug, trying not to seem sulky. Maybe she should apply to the Cannons. If nothing else, it would make Ron's head explode. "I've coped with much worse setbacks than this. At least I tried."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"21% isn't going to set the Quidditch League on fire, is it?"

"No, it's not." Jones looked at her curiously. "But for someone playing against pros for the first time, it's a minor miracle. Most of the witches we give a trial to, we think they did OK if they got 10%."

"What?"

Gwenog Jones riffled through her papers and selected a large sheet of parchment. "This is the standard starter contract the Harpies offer someone with promise to see how they develop. You'd only get games in the reserves to begin with, of course, but provided you live up to that trial day in, day out you should soon improve enough to start challenging for a place in the League squad. What do you say?"

Ginny couldn't speak in shock for a moment, and then she could feel a huge grin slowly forming on her face as the idea sunk in.

"Got a quill?"

---

For currycio:


Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

It almost seems like a contradiction to say so, but there are times when Jadzia just wants to be alone.

Well no, that's not quite accurate -- or fair. She enjoys company. Just not her own company, the company she carries around with her. At these times she just wants to be Jadzia, not Jadzia Dax.

She wants to remember she's the girl who grew up in a small quiet town on Trill with ambitions to join Starfleet and see the galaxy, with her own personality and her own tastes in modern holodeck programs. That she isn't, any more, the other girl from the big city, the one who learned the catchphrase "I want to be alone" in the first place, learned it a century ago from a human medical student with a penchant for antique two-dimensional Earth films and an interest in unusual anatomies.

It's a not uncommon feeling for joined Trills, of course. She knows that perfectly well.

Of course, the reason she knows it so well is because she has the experience of six past lives who've felt it to tell her.

And because of that, Dax knows that from time to time it needs to retreat as far into the background as a symbiont ever can, and let Jadzia just be alone.

---

For dolorous_ett:


Mrs Hudson (Sherlock Holmes)

[Book version, as requested, although it could probably apply to the Sherlock modern AU equally well.]

There were advantages and disadvantages in renting a room to Sherlock Holmes.

The disadvantages -- well, they were rather obvious. Strange-looking people calling at any time of the day or night without so much as a by-your-leave, scrapings on a violin when you were trying to get to sleep, and the smell sometimes! Experiments, indeed! (And that wasn't even mentioning the bullet holes in the walls -- you had to be the one to get someone in to mend them, because he wouldn't.)

But still, at least he paid well. Very well, in fact. For a widow with a little property of her own, that was worth any amount of funny smells. And he wasn't a bad lad -- just a little eccentric. Well, all right, very eccentric -- but you have to make allowances for those geniuses, as they say.

With Sherlock Holmes on the floor above, though, life was never dull. And when your fellow landladies called round for a quiet chat, and a few hands of whist, and maybe a glass or two of gin just to help the evening along, that could be a hidden advantage too.

"So tell us, Edna, what did they do?"

"Well, this very pompous man called round to see him. He claimed to be a Bohemian Count, but of course I could tell there was something odd about him ..."

Mrs Hudson sat back in enjoyment as Ethel, Doris, and Maggie hung on her every word, and reflected that the balance was well on the advantage side of the ledger.

---

For malinbe:


Nymphadora Tonks (Harry Potter)

[Not compatible with NTLJ, oddly enough, although since in that I said Tonks hadn't actually met Moody maybe that's not surprising.]

It came as a shock to Tonks to realise that this was actually the first time she had ever been in Dumbledore's study. It might have impressed her more if she hadn't been listening with fierce concentration to his account of what had happened at Hogwarts over the past year.

"How's Mad-Eye been taking it?" she asked when he eventually ran down. "I came as soon as I could when I heard what had happened, but of course you've had more chance to talk to him than I have."

"I have no doubt that Alastor will make a full physical recovery," replied Dumbledore heavily. "He has already suffered far worse injury and survived. As for the effect on his mental stability -- well, that is harder to judge. Perhaps this traumatic experience will reinforce his tendency to paranoia; perhaps the fact that the worst has already happened may help restore balance." He added, with a pointed look, "He will need the support and encouragement of those few friends and colleagues he does trust."

Tonks nodded. She'd only had time for a short talk with Mad-Eye before Madam Pomfrey had chased her out of the hospital wing in order to let him rest; although he seemed extremely twitchy, he'd brightened noticeably when she walked into the room. "I told you about this," she said quietly, then as anger overwhelmed her she slammed her fist down on the arm of the chair, something she would never have dared do if any of her school escapades had brought her here. "I knew he would never have cut me off the way he did -- well, Crouch's kid did -- I wrote and told you to keep an eye on him because he wasn't himself! I mean, all right, even I didn't realise he literally wasn't, but ..."

"I confess that as far as his behaviour was concerned, I took my eye off the Bludger, as the Quidditch players say." Dumbledore seemed weary, more than Tonks would have suspected. "It is sometimes hard to know what to expect from him, as I am sure you will agree; Crouch played his role well, and I had many other matters of grave import to occupy my attention. If it is any consolation, it was your most recent letter that alerted me to the fact that I had overlooked the possibility of something being genuinely wrong with Alastor, and caused me to watch him closely on the final night of the Tournament."

"It isn't really. Well, not much." Tonks felt she could make a pretty good guess as to the nature of the 'matters of grave import'. The leaks from the first floor at the Ministry were that the man in front of her had had a bee in his bonnet all year about You-Know-Who returning, and was planning some kind of dangerous private action. The latter was something she could easily believe. The former was something she was trying not to.

Dumbledore smiled at her. "I make mistakes, Nymphadora. Naturally, as Headmaster I take pains to avoid revealing this to the students, but since we now meet as adults I can admit that I do occasionally make them. Unfortunately, under the current circumstances mistakes from someone in my position can have very serious consequences."

Tonks studied him for a moment. "You really do think You-Know-Who is back, don't you?" She shuddered a little as she said it.

"I have not the slightest doubt of that."

"Fudge obviously does. No warning to the Auror Department to watch out for incoming Death Eaters. Quite the opposite in fact." She hadn't known how seriously to take Mad-Eye's urgent warnings not to trust her bosses, but presumably this had been what he had in mind.

"Cornelius has been presented with the same evidence you have and has made his own choices in the matter. I regret those choices, but I cannot allow myself to be bound by them. I hope that others will make different choices."

There was a suggestion of a cue there. Tonks let it pass -- for the moment. "He doesn't trust you, does he? His secretary -- no, sorry, under-secretary -- sent round a Ministerial memo denouncing 'troublemakers who are circulating unfounded rumours about recent events for their own malicious purposes'. Half the Ministry didn't know who they were on about. The rest of us had heard the rumours and just assumed it meant you."

She was talking almost randomly, to see what reaction it might provoke, but Dumbledore remained urbane. "I have no purposes with regard to Cornelius, except to compensate for any rash actions on his part that may interfere with the struggle against Lord Voldemort. He has been informed of the story that Crouch told under Veritaserum, and of a number of worrying but apparently unrelated incidents which finally make sense in the light of it; if he takes his refusal to believe me to such lengths, than naturally I must do all I can to spread the word myself."

"And he doesn't believe Sirius Black told you that story about Pettigrew being alive, either?" Tonks tried hard not to give that as much weight as she wanted to; she'd hardly known her cousin, but in her few childhood memories of the man, he hadn't seemed like a monster.

"He certainly believed that the story had been told. He did not, however, believe in its veracity. Even though Harry Potter provided independent confirmation of both this and Crouch's version of events."

"According to the Prophet, Potter's round the twist." Tonks wasn't quite sure what she herself believed, but Moody's Auror training came to her rescue; put your interviewee on the spot, keep firing questions and challenges at them, see whether the bugger tells a consistent tale or not. She rather doubted the effectiveness of this policy when it came to someone like Dumbledore, but you never knew.

"The suggestion that Harry is mentally unbalanced has been put forward -- dare I say repeatedly emphasised? -- in the press, yes. It appears to be an official line."

"But you don't agree?" The Prophet had certainly been more servile recently. Somebody had obviously been applying pressure, which usually meant something was up.

"No. Of course, Cornelius does not know the boy as well as I do, and due to no doubt understandable caution he did not take the opportunity to interview your cousin personally, as I did. I might perhaps mention that, as the Ministry have previously been made aware, I have some considerable skill in the field of Legilimency and can generally determine when a person is lying or Confunded. Neither Harry nor Crouch nor Sirius gave me any reason to doubt their story."

Tonks had half-expected something like that, but hearing it stated baldly was still somehow rather shocking. A number of things were slipping into place now, things she'd probably known for a while without ever acknowledging them. "And has Kingsley Shacklebolt been told about this? He's leading the chase for Sirius Black, I'd have thought it would be the sort of thing he'd want to know."

"I have kept Kingsley fully informed -- albeit through private channels for the sake of discretion," said Dumbledore, in a suspiciously bland voice. Again, there was that slight hint of a cue. This time, Tonks played to it.

"So if you really think You-Know-Who is back, what are you going to do about it?"

"I shall oppose Lord Voldemort wherever I see an opportunity to do so," replied Dumbledore. "But that, of course, is not the most interesting question."

"It isn't?" said Tonks in surprise.

"No." Dumbledore met her eyes. "The question that sprang to my mind was -- what are you going to do about it?"

"Me?" Tonks looked away. "If he's back, it's part of my job to do something about it. I'll do whatever they tell me to do."

"And if they tell you to do nothing?" Tonks flinched. "Or perhaps, tell you to direct your attention as an Auror to the investigation of disruptive elements -- such as, for example, myself?"

"And why should I believe that you're not?" she countered. "Why should I take your word for it? How do I know you're not stirring up trouble because you're angling for Fudge's job?"

"You were willing to take my word regarding Alastor's state of mind. Do you honestly doubt me when I report what I heard, or believe that if I wanted Cornelius's position, I could devise no better way to oust him than the fomenting of rumours?"

Tonks didn't trust herself to respond to that. She had a feeling the answer might commit her to a course before she was quite ready to admit to it. "What are you asking of me?" she said bluntly.

"I am asking no more of you than you are willing to offer. If that is merely to keep an open mind regarding any information you are given, that is all I can ask. If you wish to take a more active role in forestalling Lord Voldemort, your chosen career will doubtless offer many opportunities to do so once the higher echelons of the Ministry come to their senses."

"And if they don't? What can I do about it all by myself?" There, she'd given him her own cue now.

Dumbledore looked at her gravely. "You would not be alone in wishing to take action. I shall do all I can, as will Alastor -- who will no doubt urge you to assist him in the forthright terms you are used to -- as will others who have offered to act on my suggestions."

"Does that mean Kingsley?" she challenged. "And Sirius Black, I suppose, if he's meant to be innocent?"

"I cannot break confidences, Nymphadora, especially not to someone in your official position." That wasn't exactly the stoutest of denials. "At least, not unless that someone had already made common cause with us. I can readily understand that in your case this would put you in a difficult position at the Ministry. Would you be willing to go that far?"

It was hard to avoid Dumbledore's gaze; Tonks remembered what he'd said about Legilimency, and had a strong suspicion that he was using it to gauge her true feelings on the matter. Well, if he was that good he probably already knew she would commit herself with her next answer.

"Yes," she said, locking eyes with him. "Sign me up, Albus. I'm in."

---

For gilpin25:


Sarah Jane Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures/Doctor Who)

There were times when Sarah Jane felt very old.

How much longer could she carry on chasing aliens, or running for her life when they chased her? How was she ever going to keep up with colleagues who were a quarter her own age? And that wasn't even mentioning the disconcerting appearances of a Time Lord who must have been born on Ork, not Gallifrey, because every time she saw him he looked younger than the time before.

Maybe she was getting past it? Did she really want to be doing this, instead of sitting quietly down with her laptop and a cup of tea and writing her memoirs (that no-one without a Ultra Top Super Secret security clearance would legally be able to read)?

"Sarah Jane!" cried Rani, bursting in through the attic door. "There was a sort of orange spider thing hiding behind the dustbin, it says it needs our help to rescue its hatchlings before they get eaten by the savage local carnivores! I think it means Mrs Walton's cats actually, but ..."

Hell yes.

Sarah Jane grabbed her lipstick, pushed the laptop aside, and as for the cup of tea, it could go cold for all she cared.

"Tell it I'm on my way."

Comments

[plaid-slytherin.livejournal.com]

That makes so much sense for Luna! Especially her feeling a connection to people in the past.

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you! That bit seemed rather Lunaish to me. :)

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

Oooh...Now you've made me hanker to re-read LotR! You nailed the style, and I like how you've played on Galadriel's own words; it does, indeed, make them feel like grandmother and granddaughter, yet there's also a playful undertone that shows how Arwen fits into the world of Men...but also that touch of sadness that they'll be parting forever. So much in 200 words, wonderful! And thank you. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you -- that "I shall remain Galadriel" line has always been one of my favourites from the books.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the Arwen one. I'm always a little hesitant about clicking on Tolkien fanfic because it only really makes sense to me when the tone's right, but the first half-sentence showed that this one was going to do it right. And a couple of the characters I most wish we knew more about, too.

[snorkackcatcher]

Thanks -- I know what you mean about tone! The trouble with Arwen in the books is that though she's of considerable underlying significance to the plot, there are orcs that get more actual screen time and character development.

[tree_and_leaf]

I love all these - the Tolkien one is probably the most impressive, because the voice is so hard, but I have a particular love for the Luna ficlet (the last line!)

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you -- Tolkien's style of writing strikes me as being easy to spoof but rather difficult to match when taking it seriously, presumably because it's so linked to his own particular fantasy world. Which is why 200 words is about my limit. :)

I didn't see why Luna should be off the wall in everything, but she definitely has her own private ways of looking at things.

[malinbe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved them all and mine the most. Thank you very much!

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed them. :)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

Oh, such good reads - I've enjoyed all of them. Particularly my own, of course (the line about the memoirs and security clearance made me snort), but I also loved the idea of Mrs Hudson and the many tales with which she clearly impressed fellow landladies over gin. Excellent. :D

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you very much! Come to think of it, if she'd written them before you could imagine UNIT, original!Torchwood, the Shadow Proclamation and various others desperately trying to get hold of the manuscript. :)

[cavgirl.livejournal.com]

I loved the Luna and Ginny parts especially, and Sarah Jane too. I was really quite annoyed about the getting-old storyline for that last story of S4; it would have had so much more impact if we'd seen SJS being absentminded or something a time or two before. As it was, ... kinda dropped out of nowhere.

*is gearing up for an SJA rewatch*

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you! I hadn't noticed this had been linked. I suppose the getting-old happened so fast because the memories were actually being drained, and so maybe was meant to seem suspiciously fast? It'll be interesting to see if the next series picks up on the idea though.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for the late reply - this post whizzed past me a few days ago, and since then I've been busy.

I loved the Ginny story, and was completely suckered in by Ginny's disappointment with herself, so the ending was perfect. It's a really lovely piece of writing - I'm impressed at the amount of action and character-building you squeeze into such a short story!

[snorkackcatcher]

Ah, thanks! I wasn't sure if it would be obvious that the trial must have gone OK, so if I suckered you in it worked. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Thank you -- I wasn't quite sure what to do with Jadzia. :)