Thursday February 18th, 2021

The exercise:

Write about: smooth sailing.

2 comments:

Greg said...

I'm hoping that this prompt means that the roads have flooded between your new house and your workplace and you're having to use a boat to get to work. However, good winds and a favourable current mean that it's surprisingly smooth sailing and your commute is down to half an hour!

Smooth sailing
"You're not authorised to go near any government committees," said Genius quickly. "And I'm not helping you."
"Harry will," said Hermione with the confident voice of someone who knows they'll obliviate the memory of anything illegal she had to do to force Harry to obey her. "He's a pet."
"Most people would say friend," said Genius. "And you sound rather like you mean that."
Harry opened the fridge door, nudging Ronnie aside, and took out a plate of cold chicken legs and set them on the table. "I'm hungry," he said to the room in general. "Anyone joining me?"
Ronnie pulled some more cold meats from the fridge and set them on plates, and then found condiments and cutlery, while Hermione and Genius sat down on opposite sides of the kitchen table eyeing each other like cats in unclaimed territory.
"Master Harrington appears to have been subjected to magical attack several times in the past," said Genius. "Of course, he's now protected by a genius loci so that will severely restrict the things that can affect him. And allow a certain measure of fighting back, to use very crude terms.
"Harry's had smooth sailing so far," said Hermione. "His scars are normal for a boy his age, and he's emotionally much more stable than Reggie here."
"Ronnie," said Ronnie, though neither of them paid him much attention. He spread mustard on a chicken leg and started eating it, while Harry sorted the salami into piles according to colour, size and country-of-origin.
"Magical warfare is a difficult topic to study," said Genius. "So little remains afterwards, of the landscape and the combatants."
"There are still books," said Hermione, possibly to herself. "And committee minutes."
Genius sighed. "You're on the watch-list," he said.
"What?" All three of them spoke at once.
"Mr. Abstract isn't dead," he said.
"I thought so," said Harry. "It was too convenient, like in a book. Too many witnesses."
"Idiot," muttered Genius, but he continued, "All three of you are on a government watch-list because of something odd centred around you. No-one's been able to figure it out yet, and the Scrying division are having nightmares and nervous breakdowns trying to see your future. So you're all being watched, and giving you the Ramshackle is just a temporary measure to see if we can find out what's going on. At the moment we're seriously considering killing Harry, locking Ronnie up in wizard-prison, and sacrificing Hermione to Elder Gods."
"Thank-you," murmured Harry, while Hermione muttered, "Wont' work" and Ronnie burst into tears.
"But it seems that getting rid of the three of you still doesn't get us into calm waters and smooth sailing," said Genius, "so here we are, seeing what happens next. Hermione, what do want from the Committee of the Phoenix, exactly?"
Hermione's mouth twisted like she was being made to suck lemons but her eyes softened slowly. "Fine," she said. "They produced a memorandum on magical weapons that includes the method for constructing the Goblet of Firepower. That's what I'm after."

Marc said...

Greg - no. But that would be pretty sweet.

Ah, the foggy picture of what's going on begins to grow clearer. Fascinating tidbits throughout.