aceia (aceia) wrote in lupin_snape, @ 2010-08-08 01:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | drabble, fic: g, prompt: fantasy fest 2010 |
Fantasy Fest Drabble: A Moment's Decision
Title: A Moment’s Decision
From: aceia
Characters: Remus, Severus
Rating: G
Word Count: 500
Warnings: None
Prompt: dd7. Two scruffy poor kids meet on the Hogwarts Express on their way to school for the first time.
Disclaimer: The world of HP and its characters belongs to J.K. Rowling. The author of this fic has borrowed them for the purposes of storytelling. No profit was or will be made.
Summary: In a minute there is time for decisions which a minute will reverse. ~ T.S. Elliot
Author's Notes: Written for the lupin_snape 2010 Fantasy Fest Drabble.
Thanks to my beta ams for helping me get this under 500 words.
The summary is paraphrased from the T.S. Elliot poem “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”.
The cacophony of noise from outside grated on Severus’ nerves as he waited for Lily. He kept glancing out of the window at the barrier. The train would leave soon and she still wasn’t here.
“Can I sit here?” he heard a boy ask, startling him. He looked up, locking eyes with an amber gaze.
“What?” Severus asked, harsher than he intended.
“Ca – Can I sit here?” The boy murmured. “I don’t mean to be a bother, only this is the first car that wasn’t full.”
Severus gazed at the boy, taking in his threadbare clothing. Though the boy tried to hide the fact that his clothes weren’t new, it was noticeable in the fraying sleeves and the length of the cloak – it almost reached the floor. I’m not the only kid in hand-me-downs, Severus thought.
The silence turned awkward.
“Sorry, I should have realized that you were saving the compartment for your friends. I’ll just go then,” the boy said, turning to leave.
“Wait,” Severus blurted out. “I’m only saving one seat. You can stay.”
Severus held his breath as he watched the boy turn around and stare at him.
“Thank you,” Remus replied finally, stepping in and sitting. “I’m Remus by the way.”
“Severus.”
“Who are you waiting for?”
“My friend Lily; we grew up together. We’ve been studying potions for years, and reading over the textbooks since we got them. We’ve got a firm grasp of theory,” Severus boasted.
“I’ve glanced over the potions book. I never realized how much you could do with them.”
“Yeah, Potions is my favorite subject. You can make almost anything! You could change your luck, disguise yourself, or even,” he lowered his voice to a confiding whisper, knowing the final assertion was a lie, “bring back the dead.”
Remus pulled back. Severus was too caught up in his performance to see that Remus was uneasy. As he was about to continue, he caught sight of Lily.
“There she is,” Severus exclaimed. “I’ll be right back.”
He ran out to greet Lily. She was wrestling with his bags and arguing with Petunia. He hated their arguments; they took forever. It only stopped when he and Lily had to jump on the train before it left.
“I got a compartment for us,” Severus said as they walked down the aisle. “There’s only one other person in it but he seems…decent.” Severus trailed off as he opened the door to find the compartment full. Conversation stopped as the two groups looked at each other.
“There’s no room,” one boy said snidely.
“I was here first,” Severus growled. “I was saving this compartment.”
“Finders keepers. Right Remus?”
Severus gazed at Remus, inquiringly. Was he going to say anything?
“I guess so,” he finally mumbled, avoiding Severus’ gaze.
Lily tugged on his arm. “Come on Severus, let’s go. We don’t want to room with stupid boys anyway.”
As they walked away, Severus glanced back at Remus. He couldn’t help but think about what could have been.