HP Drabble Series # 25
I discovered the joys of drabbling recently and decided to put them up here for posterity.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated shenanigans are the undisputed property of Warner Bros., JKR and any number of other legal people involved with the whole kit 'n' kaboodle. These stories are non-profit making and are written for fun. No infringement...blah blah blah.
#25 – Prompt: Halloween. Word count 299
The full moon was low in the sky and was a deep shade of orange. A 'blood moon', as they called it. It seemed oddly appropriate and entirely atmospheric for it to be so – after all, this was the night that so many of the neighbourhood children had waited for with great excitement for weeks on end.
Including him.
Up and down the street, candles flickered their lights from the inside of carved pumpkins, some of which had been carved with happy, smiling faces and some of which had been carved with expressions rather less pleasant. From where the child sat, he could hear the sounds of laughter out in the alleyway behind the back yard, where a group of children made their way to the next street.
Every year at Halloween was the same. All the Muggle children would be out and he would be stuck here, in the place he had found: the gap between the sink and the end unit that only a small boy could fit into. It wasn't exactly comfortable – but it was secret.
And it was safe.
The arguing had been bad this evening. His father had eventually ceased his apparently tireless ranting and had gone down to the pub. He could hear his mother sobbing in the front room, but he only half-listened. He was waiting for the doorbell. Waiting for the street bully to be there with his gap-toothed sneer, waiting to hear the question.
He'd be there, sooner or later. And with the skills Severus had learned from his mother in the past few days, he'd be ready for him.
"Trick or treat?"
And there he was.
A slow smile spread across the boy's face.
He emerged from his hidey-hole and headed for the door.
"Oh, I think definitely trick…"