Here is my entry for Lady Eleanor Boleyn's 4000 Characters challenge on The Dark Lord's Most Faithful Forum. This story is 2911 characters long, aka 514 words. Thanks to the lovely Lauren for supplying the quote "I'll never forget the first time I walked through those doors" from Prisoner of Azkaban, thus providing me with character and setting ;)
The 4000 Character Challenge
To make sure everyone knows just how horrible writing a Personal Statement is, I've decided that, for these two weeks, your challenge will be to write a story with exactly the same word limit as a UCAS Personal Statement.
This means that I want you to write a story centering on one or more Harry Potter characters that is no longer than 4000 Characters... INCLUDING SPACES!
(For those of you who aren't sure what characters are, all letters count, as do all punctuation marks and spaces. And don't worry, I'm not expecting you to count them. Microsoft Word has a character count underneath its word count. Just right-click on the number of words at the bottom of your screen and it'll pop up)
"My name is Sirius. Sirius Black."
The boy sitting in front of him nods, grins, extends a hand. "I'm James Potter."
And just like that, he's met someone who doesn't look so impressed with who he is. Sirius finds this surprisingly unsettling, like losing his footing in the dark and having to find another stance, quick, quick. Funny all there is in a name. Hogwarts means change, new, free – home means cold and bored and Sirius… sounds like he might have to figure out what Sirius is, all over again, if heir doesn't cover it with one haughty, dismissive syllable.
James means a crooked smile and a challenge. To say the least, Sirius has never been confronted with many challenges in life, and he recognizes and embraces that one in the same glance, with fierce, defiant energy. Gryffindor means different, noble (Another noble. Another kind of noble entirely.) and he thinks he might want to embrace that, too. New home, new rules, new skin.
(He's always had to play by the rules. He'd never admit it, of course. Never done more than toeing the line.)
Here and now is laughter without a second thought, a judging eye on his back, or a feeling of brief respite. Here and now is sweets and teasing and new faces that give him an odd feeling, like he might just be about to belong somewhere he wants to. Here and now he gets pushed and shoved in the corridor like any other first-year, shoves back as though his life depended on it, and James claps him on the back with a mighty roar of laughter.
He avoids intrusive thoughts like his cousin Narcissa or the Sorting in a few minutes, maybe ten, maybe less, maybe more, but too close to comprehend properly. He fills his lungs to the brim with cool night air and decides that this giant person leading the new students looks kind of nice. Cramped at four in the smallest boat he's ever seen, he feels the skins and the robes and sees the edgy smiles and the frowns of strangers who aren't quite strangers anymore, and he thinks that tiny space might really be enough – without the slightest doubt, it's beyond anything he's ever vaguely foreseen. He picks all the memories, all random trains of thought and sensory details, and carefully stores them under an intentionally melodramatic label: "Turning point". He feels like the hero of some ancient tragedy. Can't really escape your upbringing, it seems.
The castle stands, all width and bright lights, looking very much like it's stretching open, metaphorical arms towards the shaky lot of them. Sirius decides that he is being ridiculous and, as soon as there is firm ground underneath his feet again, prods James in the ribs. Immature jostling ensues. Sirius stumbles through the great doors, thinks he might fall down, catches his balance again. A stern-looking teacher glares at him. He grins back.
He decides that he will never forget the first time he walked through those doors. He vows to make sure of that.