Drabble 24: Inspiration
"That should do it." George nodded, chest puffed out and showing a little too much teeth to be smiling.
"It almost makes me wish we were still at school." Fred sent the owl off with sharp laughter.
"Looks like you got a package, Ron." Harry nudged his friend. Ron sat up straight to get a good look at the flock of owls descending over the tables.
"Huh. Looks like you're right. Is that Fred and George's owl…?" Ron took a nervous bite out of his bacon.
"You're not up to any tricks, are you?" Hermione frowned.
"I wrote them a letter recently but I didn't ask for anything." Ron shrugged. "I've no idea what's this about." The redhead moved his plate to the side as the owl dumped the package; it landed with a heavy thud, and the owl left without any ceremony.
"Anyone want to open it for me?"
Drabble 25: Wonder
Hermione had no idea that her tiff with Malfoy would cause…this. A group of enterprising first years got together and made buttons proclaiming "Magic Minus Ignorance!" and handed them out to all the muggleborns. Adding on to that was the 'gift' from the twins. It turned out that the package had been harmless, stuffed with armbands nearly identical to the one she was required to wear. The differences were small; instead of a white it was cream, instead of yellow and black it was orange dark blue. They were indistinguishable from a distance.
Harry and Ron wore immediately. The box quickly spread out until nearly everyone in Gryffindor wore one along with a few people from the other houses. It wasn't long before the box ran empty and Ron was barraged with requests.
Hermione bit her lip and calmly told her worried friends that she had dust in her eyes.
Drabble 26: Sly?
An odd little button lay innocuously on the ground. Riddle lazily wiggled a finger and the button jumped obediently into his hand. He discovered the reason for its abandonment; it had the symbol for 'minus' instead of the word.
"What are you looking at, Professor?"
Riddle glanced behind him to see Granger approaching. That mass of fluff bounced cheerfully, providing a startling contrast to her appearance a week prior. His eyes followed her when she moved to stand in front of him.
"A button similar to yours." Riddle resisted the juvenile urge to shrug and instead offered the item.
"Aren't the professors wearing them too?" She smiled sweetly. "Why don't you keep it?" "
"Oh no, that's fine." Riddle mirrored her expression but it felt stale.
"Ah…" Granger's smile fell.
"I've no interest in these matters." Riddle blurted, foolishly, and walked briskly away.
The button bit into his hand.