Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
Appleby Arrows: December - Griselda Jorkins
Optional Prompts: color: cream / word: striped
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: Mythology Task 3: Write an Underworld or Afterlife!AU.
The Hunger Games Fanfic Style II: Prompts: Word: Unexpected
Emotion: Jealousy
Dialogue: "I'm not so sure about this." / "Just trust me."
Character: Percy Weasley
AU: Soulmates
Word count: 1598
Lawful & Chaotic
A blinding white light is the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes. Blinking her eyes slowly, she adjusts to her surroundings. She's sitting in a desk—which is odd considering she's been out of school for ages—in what looks to be a classroom. The walls are painted a soft blue with soft clouds scattered here and there. There are other people from all ages filling up the classroom, all of them wearing cream colored gowns, including her. A man stands in front of the classroom commandeering the attention with a simple clap of his hands. He's wearing scrubs and holding a clipboard. There's a name written out on the chalkboard behind him spelling out: Percy W, Afterlife Instructor.
"Welcome to the Afterlife," he says cheerfully, attempting to make eye contact with all of them. It's quite difficult through his glasses. Griselda startles at his words, but she quickly remembers … the accident. She glances around the room and grimaces when she spots a small girl because she's swinging her legs and her feet don't touch the floor. She's the only child in the classroom. "Please pay close attention to the directions I'll give out next. There's a slip of paper located in the inside of your desks. These papers will indicate which Afterlife you will embark on according to your alignment. Everybody understand that?"
Griselda wastes no time and rummages in her desk until she hears a crinkling sound before pulling out what looks to be a simplified version of a school report card. Her name and age are written neatly on the top along with her cause of death. In the center of the page, typically where her scores would be, are the words Lawful Good.
This is a good alignment, right?
"I think they've got mine wrong," a voice whispers besides her. She turns to face her neighbor who is currently leaning into her space, not that she minds really. The woman is gorgeous and her blue eyes twinkle conspiratorially.
"You think?" Griselda stares down at her paper and shakes her head. This is the Afterlife they're talking about here; surely, they wouldn't, or rather couldn't, mess up alignments. "I'd have to disagree with you there."
The woman raises a brow in surprise and grabs Griselda's paper from her hands before she can protest. Griselda's surprised about how little she actually wants to do that. She's more content to go with the flow here. Something that would've frightened her had she been living.
"Aw, Lawful Good. No wonder you think they're right," the woman barrels on, handing her back the slip of paper. "That's cute."
"Well, what did you get?" Griselda asks, making grabby hands towards the woman's paper. The woman laughs, light and airy, holding the paper just out of reach. She can faintly make out Percy trying to take control of the room from where he stands, but she continues to reach for the paper, sending out a quick sorry to him in her head.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Griselda huffs as she sits back down in her seat, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know."
"Oh, she barks," the woman says, giving her an assessing look and biting her lip in order to hide her smile. She's impressed with her, and Griselda doesn't know why she gets a thrill from knowing that.
Griselda takes a look around the room and leans forward, making the woman lean forward too in amusement and confusion. "I also bite," she whispers to the delight of her neighbor and then she snatches the paper out of the woman's hands.
Chaotic Good is the alignment of Victoire Weasley.
"I like your name," she states while handing back Victoire's paper.
"I didn't think you had that in you, Griselda," Victoire admits, grinning with all teeth. She can't help but smile back.
Her own paper grows warm in her hands and she glances down to see the letters momentarily shift to Lshfotic Good before settling back to Lawful Good.
"Attention, please! If you don't heed my instructions, you'll have no idea where to go!" Percy calls out from the front, his clapping seems to be get louder by the second. The room quiets down, and Percy seems awfully smug about it.
"Okay," Percy announces, waving a hand at the wall behind him. "In a moment, I will press a button that will show the Afterlife doors you're meant to walk through. Each door is different and will therefore correspond with the name on your slip."
He pulls a remote from his pocket and presses a button which transforms the front wall into a series of doors. There's a pink door, a beige door, a blue door, a white and blue striped door, and so many different colored doors with labels on them.
"Now, will the Lawful Good follow me?" Percy calls out, walking over to the first door which sports a soft yellow color. He frowns as many people stand. "Hold up, I have a list so don't go thinking any of you will slip past me to another Afterlife."
Percy shakes his head and presses another button on his remote which causes a glow to form around their desks, effectively holding them in place. Griselda looks down and sees that there's no ring of color around her. She looks at Victoire who has a white and blue striped ring around her desk which matches the Chaotic Good door.
She waves goodbye sadly, clutching her piece of paper to her chest as she makes her towards the small group of people already lined up and waiting. She's one of only five. Griselda struggles to get there, biting her lip as Percy double checks on his clipboard before he lets the people into the Lawful Good door.
Turning back to look at Victoire, she sees the other woman conversing with a Chaotic Good man, making wide gestures. An unexpected surge of jealousy flows through. She didn't think she could feel this way about someone who's practically a stranger. Yes, an attractive stranger, but a stranger nonetheless. The intensity of her emotions feel odd, but it doesn't feel wrong.
"Griselda Jorkins, correct?" Percy confirms, tapping his pen on his clipboard. Griselda is about to hand over her paper when she shakes her head and takes a step back.
"What if—" she starts, glancing back to Victoire who's staring back at her sadly, head laying down on her desk. "What if I don't want to go?"
Percy stares at her and shakes his head. "There's an order to everything, and this is the Afterlife your actions have led you to. Don't worry, this is one of the best ones you could've gotten."
"No," she responds with a firm nod.
Percy's eyes twitch. "You're supposed to be the easiest group," he mutters to himself, scanning down the clipboard. "Let me see your paper."
She hands it over. "What is it?" she asks when he sighs.
"I figured it was this. Not just anybody would reject this door. Well, who was it?" He looks back at the others and points to Victoire. "It was her, wasn't it?"
Before she can answer, the ring around Victoire disappears. Victoire's eyes widen and she scrambles to get up, weaving her way through the desks.
"What's going on?"
Percy pushes his glasses up and summons confetti out of nowhere. Maybe he pressed another button. "Congratulations, you're soulmates! This gives you two the option to choose. Now, which afterlife will it be?"
Griselda gasps and takes a closer look at Victoire. It seems Victoire is doing the same thing. This is her soulmate. She can't seem to stop smiling.
"Excuse me, which afterlife will it be? There's Chaotic Good and Lawful Good, both equally good choices." Percy clears his throat and pulls the two out of their spell. "Have you decided?"
Victoire glances at the door and she stares at the only unlabeled one with soft brown color. It's the last door on the wall. Griselda follows her eyes and feels a pull. "What if we choose that one?" Victoire asks, body swaying in that direction.
"Oh, no, you can't. That's not an option for you two. It leads back to Earth in case there's any mishap and someone was taken too soon. They get to be reborn again, but that door is not for you. Please choose from the options presented," Percy informs them, squinting his eyes at the pair in a sort of warning.
Victoire smiles and turns to Griselda, rising on her tiptoes to whisper, "We have to go through that door."
Griselda frowns, but there's no doubting the feeling swirling in her stomach. "I'm not so sure about this."
"Just trust me." Victoire presses a soft kiss on her cheek before declaring in a loud voice, "Well, you've been wonderful, and I'll be sure to give the best review I can to your boss, but we really must be leaving now."
"Sorry!" Griselda calls as Victoire grabs her hand and they run towards the last door.
"Wait!" Percy shouts in vain as Victoire swings the door open.
"Oh, and that girl better go through this door too," Griselda calls out just before they cross the threshold.
Percy groans and stares at Griselda's report which has settled on Chaotic Good. "It just had to be soulmates."
oOo
On December 6, 1998, Griselda Harmonia Jorkins' birth is announced in the Daily Prophet. Two years later, on May 2, 2000 so is Victoire Weasley's birth.
