Written for the D&D Harry Potter Challenge (Year 1) on HPFC and the Prompt Relay Challenge (also on HPFC) under the genre prompt 'Suspense' (It was that or horror. The fic isn't that terrifying.). Word count being 290 words (excluding Author's Notes).
This has been lying around in my drafts, and I felt as if it were too incomplete. However, after going over it months later, I've realized that maybe this was how long it was meant to be. :) Well, enjoy this "what-if". Don't take it too seriously.
"This is," the woman paced the front of the room, object in hand. She toyed with it, flipping it around in her hands. "A Muggle gun."
The students were already beginning to bore. The woman did not seem to care.
"One of the many weapons that will kill you before you can blink. Before you can utter a single spell. They are not playthings. They can and will kill you in an instant."
A sharp laugh from the crowd. The woman gazed in the direction of the noise, expectant.
There was some shuffling and giggles, and then the crowd was silent.
"That can't be, Muggles aren't smart enough to make something like that," the student called, finally.
The woman bowed her head with a slight smile. Then, suddenly, she swiveled, lifted the gun with both hands, and fired.
Several students screamed, clapping their hands over their ears at the sound of the gunshot.
The woman's oddly behaving parakeet was no longer moving. Blood pooled around its slumped body, filling the cage with scarlet liquid.
"That," the woman said softly, "is what Muggles are capable of."
The room was dead silent. The woman's voice echoed in the stillness.
"Parakeet's been close to dead for a while," the woman added, as an afterthought. "Sickness at his age. Put it out of its misery, poor thing."
No one said a word. They all stared in fear at the small object the woman casually swung in her hands.
"If the Muggles knew about us," the woman spoke, after a few moments of tense silence. "If they decided they wanted to kill us. Well, let's just say that there wouldn't be a Wizarding world left to come home to. Think on that."
And she left.