House: Ravenclaw

Category: Themed

Prompt: Assault course

Word count: 523

Chicken

Padma Patil was by no means cowardly. Just because her Gryffindor sister had signed up for the Hogwarts assault course when she simply preferred to stay in the common room and read, it didn't mean Padma a coward. Nor did she have to prove this by crawling about in mud for an hour doing some endurance test.

Unfortunately, Padma's sister Parvati and her friend Lavender could not seem to comprehend this, and decided that because she preferred not to do anything that involved any form of exercise, that she was not only a coward, but a chicken. Padma could stand being accused of being a little more dignified (what they seemed to call being cowardly) but took great offence to being compared to a non-magical animal with a brain the size of a thumbnail.

Thus, she found herself in her current predicament. She pulled at her blue and silver vest anxiously. She had never been one for sports, but the memory of her twin calling her a chicken made her more determined than ever to beat her. Even if that did mean throwing away her dignity and crawling in mud.

"Padma!" Parvati yelled waving her over, getting ready at the starting point, lining up next to Lavender. Padma walked over and positioned herself next to them.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Lavender asked, grinning. "We'll understand if you aren't, it doesn't matter to us if you're a chicke-,"

"I am not going to back down," Padma said through gritted teeth, "And I am most certainly not a chicken, so if I finish this course, you are never calling me that again."

Lavender held up her hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay," she smirked, "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

The starting cannon fired, and Padma stumbled forward, slightly disorientated. Looking to see where the others were headed, she realised in horror, that they were required to run to the first obstacle. The run looked about 100 metres and as everyone else hurtled off at great speeds, Padma jogged, already out of breath. Anyway, she told herself, she was simply saving her energy. She was determined though- she was going to win.

The lengths she went to prove herself to her sister, thought Padma, as she clutched the multiple stitches in her side. In the past hour, she had had to crawl through a bog, do battle with a hinkypunk, climb over some walls, and swim through pond water. Padma couldn't actually swim, but she cast a floating charm on herself and propelled herself through the water by kicking, making wild splashing movements with her arms and grabbing onto other contestants. She managed to pull Roger Davies under the water, dragging him behind, which was unfortunate because he was one of the only Ravenclaws who had a chance of getting them any points.

She was going to win mocked a voice in her head.

Two hours later, Padma found herself sprawled in the mud while her sister and the rest of the Gryffindor team did a victory dance because of course they had won.

At least she wasn't a chicken.