IWSC round 9 grammar school
Beauxbatons 3rd year
Theme: a MacGuffin (prompted by "…but the mouth-organ was only ever a mouth-organ.")
WC 840
The Voice of Power
Tom sat moodily on his bed in the orphanage, staring at the mouth-organ in his hands. One by one he'd ungraciously returned the other things – the silver thimble, the yo-yo, the catapult and the rest – but this was the one he prized the most.
He had considered keeping it, of course, but Professor Dumbledore had said he would know if the things weren't returned. Tom didn't know how he would know, but even the few short minutes he had spent with the wizard had convinced him of Dumbledore's power. Tom dwelt enviously on the memory of the professor's wand, and he relished the thought of the power he himself would wield when he had his own wand. One day, he told himself, I'll be the most powerful wizard in the world; nothing and nobody will ever tell me what to do again.
He turned the mouth-organ over slowly. He couldn't play it, of course, but that didn't matter; the way he had come by it was proof of his specialness. He stared unseeingly at its tarnished surface as his mind drifted back to that day.
o~o~o
They were all out on a picnic. As usual, Tom took his lunch a little distance away from the group to eat in solitude, but Ben Millerson, one of the older boys who seemed to feel some concern about Tom's solitary habits, came to sit beside him and didn't go away until an adder slithered close to them.
Like most of the orphanage children, Ben was frightened of snakes. Tom, however, was fascinated by them. He always felt as if he understood exactly what they were thinking. The snake hissed at him, and he was sure it was saying, "People are pretty annoying, aren't they?"
He nodded, and replied without thinking, "I'd like to frighten him properly."
The snake tilted its head to one side and hissed, "I can help with that."
Tom thought he was imagining the snake's reply, but then the snake added sibilantly, "It's always a pleasure to help a Parselmouth."
Tom knew he hadn't imagined that word. He didn't even know what it meant. The snake saw his confusion and hissed, "A Parselmouth. You can talk in snake language."
For the first time, Tom heard a breathy hiss in his own voice as he demanded, "Prove it. Go to that rock over there and then come back."
The snake immediately slid sinuously over to the rock Tom had pointed out and then returned to him.
The boy was exultant. If he could order snakes to do his bidding, he could frighten anyone into doing whatever he wanted.
"I want to show Ben he can't push me around," he said abruptly. "I want to take his mouth-organ away, so he knows he has to do what I say. Will you scare him for me?"
The snake nodded.
Tom looked to see where Ben was and noticed him crouched down behind a rock in a game of Hide-and-Seek.
"Come on," he commanded the snake, and it slithered after him to the rock.
Tom crept up behind Ben and said in a fierce undertone, "Ben Millerson, give me your mouth-organ right now, or I'll set my snake on you."
Ben jerked around indignantly and found himself nose to nose with the snake he had run from earlier. He froze into immobility. Tom put his hands around the other boy's neck threateningly and squeezed slightly. Ben felt the latent strength in his grip and saw the wild malevolence in his eyes. The snake hissed, and its forked tongue flickered across Ben's mouth. Only his terror at what might happen next silenced the scream in his throat.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mouth-organ. It had been the last gift his father had given him before his parents were killed in a landslide, but his fear of the younger boy was too great to hold onto it. Tom grabbed it roughly from him and shoved it into his own pocket.
"Don't you dare tell anyone about this," he ordered, "or I'll make my snake follow you everywhere you go and bite you every day."
Ben nodded, terrified.
o~o~o
That had been years ago, but Tom treasured the mouth-organ as a reminder of the day he learned he could talk to snakes and use them to terrorise even the older children into doing his bidding. He didn't want to give it back. Even less did he want to apologise. But strong though his reluctance to do those things was, his hunger to go to the wizards' school was far stronger, and he had a sneaking fear that if he failed to do as Professor Dumbledore had commanded he wouldn't be allowed into the school.
He looked again at the list of requirements the professor had given him, and the item "1 wand" stood out as if written in fire. He yearned to keep the mouth-organ, but he craved a wand even more. He got reluctantly to his feet and went to look for Ben Millerson.