My well of creative juices has dried up in a most pathetic way, so I decided to do what I've seen a few people doing – a writing challenge.
I have no idea how to go about doing this, so I've decided to just use this writing challenge generator by a site called Seventh Sanctum. It's cool, yes. You should check it out.
Anyway, I got it to generate a set of 10 challenges, and this is what it's given me:
The story is set during a workday.
The story must have a lion at the beginning.
The story must have a traitor at the end.
The story must have some surgical instruments appear in the middle.
During the story, a character loses a job.
The story ends in an attic.
The story must have a rabbit involved in the middle.
The story must have a salamander in it.
During the story, there is an assassination.
The story must have a smuggler in it.
And so we begin.
The start of the day.
"Granger."
"Yes?"
"Let's have some biscuits."
"No."
A little into the morning.
"Granger?"
"… yes?"
"I recall hearing that there would be an interesting performance today. In… the middle of Diagon Alley. Care to join me?"
"No."
"It's free."
"And I'm not."
The middle of the day.
"Granger?"
"Yes?"
"We should have a bagel together."
"Excuse me?"
"For old time's sake."
"We're in the middle of work."
He groaned. "Precisely."
Sometime after lunch.
"Granger."
"No."
The end of the day.
"Graaan-gerrrr."
"What?!"
"Let's walk home together."
"… all right."
He grinned.