Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count - 363
broken (but not irreparably so)
The world was celebrating the end of another war. Cornelius heard about the end of the battle at Hogwarts two days later, when it was finally announced on the wireless. He hadn't even known of the battle, though he wouldn't have gone even if he had.
At heart, Cornelius wasn't a fighter.
Wartime hadn't been kind to him. His once opulent home-life was gone along with his wife who couldn't handle his cowardice.
Now he was forced into living in a rundown cabin on the edge of a forest. Good for hiding, he supposed, which had been his intentions, but not so great for comfort.
He had a bed with a lumpy mattress, a chair held up by spindly legs that always wobbled and groaned, leaving him wondering if they would fall from beneath him at any moment. He'd never bothered to learn household charms, having always had an elf or someone else who would do the housework, and so the cabin had quickly fallen into disrepair. The floor was covered in dust and dirt, and although he could clean the place manually, he simply didn't have the motivation.
Nobody bothered to visit him, so what would be the point?
The only thing in the ramshackle cabin that was spotless was the plum hat that had once been his staple piece. It sat on a table in his bedroom, and he made sure to keep it clean and dust free in a way he didn't care to for the rest of the house.
Cornelius surveyed his house and then stepped outside. There was a stench from the outhouse, but he'd been living with it long enough to ignore it. Otherwise, the outside was beautiful, the forest lining a meadow that was filled with flowers.
It was almost enough to lift Cornelius' mood.
He thought one day, it could even make him happy. But not yet. Not today, and probably not tomorrow.
Cornelius was broken and he didn't know how to begin fixing the mess he had been left in.
Maybe, one day, he would be able to fix the cabin. To fix the outhouse. Maybe one day, he'd be able to fix himself.
Written for:
Showtime - 32. Cornelius Fudge
North Funfair - Splash A Mod - Lizzy - Post-War
East Funfair - Petting Zoo - Bundimun - Stench / Spindly / Dirt
South Funfair - Pygmy Puff - Oralie - Plum
365. 300. Broken