by redfaced 15 May 2024

OOOOHHH!  This sounds good ! Popcornia!!

Ron slowly raised his wand and muttered, 

“Popcornia!” 

A few hard, yellow kernels popped out of his wand. They fell onto the table of the Gryffindor  common room with a dull, hollow clank. 

“Ronald”, snapped Hermoine,  

“You’re doing it all wrong!” 

“Well, then do it yourself.” 

Hermoine raised her wand with a flourish.

 “Popcornia!” 

A steady stream of seasoned popcorn flowed from her wand. Hermoine had a smug expression on her face.  

“What’s this?” said a sickly sweet voice.  

Harry froze. Ron busied himself with the worn out sleeve of his frayed robes.  

Professor Umbridge stood there, wearing a horrible pink cardigan,  smelling faintly of moth balls and garlic.

“Have you not seen the rules, Mr Weasley?”  

She tapped on the wall, where glittering letters were suddenly clearly emblazoned… 

NO POPCORN AT HOGWARTS  

“That’ll be 750 points from Gryffindor,” said Professor Umbridge sweetly.

Tom Riddle wrote on 14 May 2024 19:02:

Mad-eye Moody wrote on 15 May 2024 23:56:


So which one is it?

One makes popcorn, the other makes really bad dad jokes.

gevura shebyesod wrote on 16 May 2024 17:37:

There was a off line consultation by the full Wizengamot.

Stan Shunpike wrote on 16 May 2024 17:37:

Leave it to Ronald to fudge up a simple spell. Can't even turn his stupid fat rat yellow. 

And leave it to eagle-eyed Stan to even notice that, lol!

Harry quickly turned the corner, and sighed in relief. He hadn’t been seen. Ducking furtively down a side passage, he made his way back to the dank room off the side hallway near the dungeons. 

“Back so soon, Potter?” , hissed a leering voice, as one of the ghosts who haunted those halls popped in and out of the wall.
“Go away”, muttered Harry, as he hunkered down in the corner. The ghost looked at him for a moment, almost  understanding , and vanished into the gloaming shadows.  

He took out the quill he had stolen from Umbridge’s office and looked at it curiously. Why did it have this strange fascination and appeal? He raised it to the light looking at the small reflection of his face in the shiny, hard top of the quill. There was a dab of bright red there… interesting. 

Watching almost from a distance, Harry saw himself shudder, as he began to write with the quill, almost in a frenzy.

The letters he wrote immediately cut angry, red lines into his skin, slivers of sharp, carving rawness etching into himself, and he watched in horrible fascination, as blood welled and the painful tears were dripping onto the filthy floor, watching as he kept feeling the full hurt of his not-feeling-nothingness, without knowing why…

It was a long time before Harry made his way back to Gryiffindor common room that night. And a part of him did not… 


And high in the tower, far, far above the dungeons, Albus Dumbledore sat silently, keening, as he rocked back and forth in pain, silent tears falling onto his beard. It hurt more than ever this time. To have to watch, and hold back and not help . Sometimes it was just too much …

The men and women in the pictures surrounding the Professor watched in frozen silence, not really understanding. There were just no words.

chaimoigen wrote on 20 May 2024 17:17:

Are you okay?
This hurt.

Heard a great line, and wanted to share.

The intelligent person gets ahead in life, yet the optimistic fool has a happier life.

Now choose.