Challenge Name: Challenge: Atonement

Challenge Issuer: Jay FicLover

Where?: HPFC

Challenge: To write about characters making atonements for their sins.

Massive thanks to: tat1312, whose help with this fic was absolutely invaluable. Without her help, this wouldn't have ever seen the light of day.

Summary: Nine 107 drabbles with the theme of atonement.

Notes: Why 107 words? Because when you give each letter a number, e.g. 'A = 1', 'B = 2', etc, and add up the letters of 'atonement' you get 107. 'Atonement' is a nine letter word, so nine drabbles. So basically, this works on a similar principle to chapter two of this fic, only I had 53 words extra. Oddly, this was a lot harder! I think I would have liked more words for some of these drabbles because the theme has such potential, but at the same time, working with such a tight limit really pushed me as a writer. It was fun.

This is also a response to a personal challenge from tat, who asked me to write an R/Hr fic with the Pablo Neruda poem 'Always' as my prompt - which of course belongs to Pablo Neruda and not me. I'm afraid I only gave her a drabble and an extract from the poem (the '...' mark where I left bits out), but I hope she likes it. And I hope you all like it, too. :)


Bartemius was a career man. A man who had wanted the best life for his family: financial security, good prospects, respect...

His wife was different, however, and when he saw the blood on her handkerchief, he finally started to understand that.

He'd rationalised it. He'd blamed other people.

But perhaps he was at fault for their son's... 'rebellion'.

...no. No, no. NO.

Even so... she still loved their son. She still loved him, too, despite how often he'd put his career before her. Despite how much this must have made her suffer.

...Now she could suffer no more.

"It's for your mother," he tells Barty, "not you."


Neville doesn't name his daughter Alice.

Many people are surprised; and though Hannah understands his decision, Neville can see why. His mother sacrificed a lot for him.

But then, so had a lot of people.

He'd apparently borne it with good grace, and Neville had tried to be a good child. Even so, he'd had his tantrums; he'd caused problems; for a long time, he'd been a disappointment.

And there'd been times when he'd acted up purely because he didn't have 'normal' parents and 'everyone else' did.

He looks at No Name, five days after her birth, and finally decides.

"Augusta is a better name for you."


His grandchildren are over.

They've played outside for most of the day, so they're almost too tired for a story.

Almost.

His stories are more like fables. The characters are Crupps, Neazles, Knifflers, Hinkypunks... Every story has a lesson behind it.

Be loyal.

Be sensible.

Material wealth isn't everything.

Don't ever lose your way.

("Especially that!" he'll stress; and then he'll look reproachingly at his son.)

His favourite one is 'The Centaur and the Unicorn'.

Have pride, but do not be blinded by it.

It's the story he tells today, hoping they won't inherit this shortcoming; afterwards, the children fall asleep, and

.

Amos Diggory jolts awake.


She'd never really known Remus. Oh, they'd met; and oh, Dora had talked about him - how she'd talked!

Memories of the Are-you-sures and Yes-of-course-Mums make Andromeda smile through her grief. There are so many feelings behind the smile that she's not sure where the pain begins and ends.

Harry is little Teddy's Godfather, and everyone knows Harry holds his family closest to his heart.

Yet part of their closeness is her own doing.

She'd never really known Remus... but Harry had.

And little Teddy... he needs the knowledge that Andromeda - always reluctant to let people in - had failed to collect.

(She hopes Dora's watching.)


"Under the old management, I think I became a little... misguided."

No simpering. No whimpering. No affectations.

This has to sound like the truth -

"However, I think you'll find that before this assignment, I had never once failed the Ministry. The decision is completely in your hands, but I really do want the opportunity to atone for my sins. With another chance, I could... return to the beginning."

- even though she's lying. Her only failure was not finishing the job properly. She's done nothing wrong, so what need is there for repentance?

(Dolores does pity Fudge, but only briefly. For the ambitious, survival is everything.)


After they've had a row, Ron inevitably ends up wondering why she's with him. He never says things the right way, even though he knows what he wants to say to her.

.

"I am not jealous

of what came before me.

Come with a man

on your shoulders,

come with a hundred men in your hair,

...Bring them all

to where I am waiting for you;

we shall always be alone,

we shall always be you and I

alone on earth..."

.

Hermione's finished reading - and she's smiling now. "Did... you write this, Ron?"

"Well, no," says Ron, ears reddening.

But she's not stopped smiling.


Dudley isn't sure what's come over him.

Maybe it's fear. Maybe he's so afraid of everything, he just wants some kind of 'good deed' to boast of.

Maybe it's affection. Maybe there's affection for the boy he grew up with lurking somewhere, deep down.

Or maybe it's simply that Harry saved his life... maybe it's because of the debt he owes Harry.

...

Maybe he doesn't know a thing anymore.

...

This is stupid, Dudley thinks.

Harry probably doesn't even remember saving my life.

Besides, what good's a cup of tea after all I've done to him?

...

Dudley almost empties the cup into the sink.

Almost.


Percy's really putting his neck on the line for George. He's supposed to be protecting these documents, but instead...

He's never been very good at protecting things, though, has he? For all his hard work under Mr Crouch, he'd merely been taking on the responsibilities rather than looking at what actually needed to be done.

He'd failed to protect Ginny in her second year. She'd attempted to confide in them, yet he'd rebuffed her. Dismissed her.

And Fred.

When Percy sternly presents George with this "vitally important" Ministry research, the prankster grins his thanks.

For a moment, Percy loses sight of his brother's ear...

...and smiles back.


They all tell him that he has gone through enough - sacrificed enough - and that this isn't his burden to bear.

Yet Harry bears it.

Hogwarts was his first true home, and these people... yes, he's exhausted, and no, this isn't the most pleasant of tasks...

Yet these are all people that Harry failed to protect.

If he had been stronger. If he had worked everything out sooner. Would these people still be alive? Would they be here with him now, smiling?

Or would they still have died?

He carries the dead into the ruined Hogwarts halls and thinks that, no, they probably wouldn't have done.