The exercise:
Write about: the trophy.
Fairly quiet day at work. Ending with a little something different for the office clean once again: they've started renovating the Public Works building, beginning with the break room. So they've shifted the crew to another room (a reasonably spacious storage room that at least has room for the tables, chairs, fridge, microwaves, and coffee maker).
So I cleaned the office and washroom as usual, skipped the under construction area, and did what I could with the temporary break room.
All the while wondering why everything is happening during my final four days...
Oh well, just two to go now!
Mine:
"Here, darling, I've bought you a new dress."
"Oh, thank you Charles! It's very... bright. And sparkly."
"And gold!"
"Yes, Charles, that too."
"Don't you like it darling? It matches the shoes I bought for you yesterday!"
"Of course I do, Charles. You know I like everything you buy me."
"Oh, good."
"It's just..."
"Yes, darling?"
"It's just that I'm beginning to worry that you might be taking this whole trophy wife thing a little too literally."
"Oh, come now darling! I treat you with the utmost respect and dignity. I listen when you're yammering on about whatever it is you're always yammering on about. We even do things together that you like to do, on occasion."
"Yes, I suppose that's true, Charles. And it's not like you're asking me to carry around a bowling ball now, is it?"
"Oh! That reminds me! The rest of your gift..."
3 comments:
I think you should have cleaned the under-construction area and then registered a complaint that there was wet cement, clouds of dust and power-tools not-put-away-tidily that made your job next to impossible :) But as regards all this happening this week -- when they invite you to see the foundations of the building, say "No". Just "No". :)
Haha, I like how the trophy wife is becoming a real trophy. I also dislike Charles, but I like him more than Henri (who would undoubtedly have been more blunt). The dialogue at the end is wonderful, and the wife is far more patient than I think is wise for her... but I hope we'll find out in the future where these two end up!
Sorry for the double-post; I thought I could keep Miss Mangey's latest adventure inside a single post but Blogger disagrees :(
The trophy
Professor Slugabed's chamber was a chamber in the same way that the presidential suite in a 5-star hotel is a "room". The door was a standard wooden rectangle set neatly into stonework that looked as though it might be have organically grown fifteen hundred years ago, but when Hermione made Harry Potter knock on it it swung open to reveal a cavernous room beyond it, with archways leading in all outer directions, that a dragon would have considered a little big for its needs. Professor Slugabed waved a hand casually from where he was sat on an overstuffed couch, a tartan blanket wrapped around his legs, reading a large book that two house-elves were struggling to hold up to his eye-level.
"Miss Mangey," he said in a friendly voice as she as Harry came in. "I've been expecting you; Miss Nomer mentioned that you might be dropping by. I think you might have a note for me?" His eyes twinkled and his smile broadened and there was the faintest smell of tin in the air.
Hermione produced the note without a word, her eyes not leaving the house-elves.
"Ah yes, this is perfect. Perfect!" said Professor Slugabed. "Is there a problem, Miss Mangey?"
"I thought the infestation of house-elves had been dealt with," said Hermione. Her fingers twitched very slightly, stretching towards her hip-holstered wand.
"Obliviate spells won't work in here," said Professor Slugabed. "In fact, most magic fails in here. It's why I have to have the staff help out instead of just levitating books and other objects."
Hermione pursed her lips, then turned sharply and scanned the room. Professor Slugabed watched, his eyes narrowing just enough to give him wrinkles at the corners, and smiled only when Hermione pointed at a large chest pushed against the wall. Its lid was open, revealing a stack of books and what might have been an old curtain.
"That's a Demented," she said. "You've got a Demented tied up in here?"
"Oh well done!" Professor Slugabed clapped his hands with glee. "And now we should go and look at the trophy cabinets. You can leave the Potter child in the corner; I doubt he'll hurt himself."
"A horcrux," said Professor Slugabed as they walked through the corridors of the castle, "is the simplest way for a wizard or witch to reliably increase their power. Your power recognises you; drawing power from someone else can only work if you are, to some extent, compatible. Which is a good thing, or strong wizards would essentially treat weaker wizards as batteries. With a horcrux you sort of hollow out someone else in order to store power in them."
"So stronger wizards can treat weaker wizards as batteries?" asked Hermione.
"They don't have to be wizards," said Professor Slugabed. "And there are so many more muggles in the world. But the adjunct you need for the spell is regrettably non-trivial. You need a trophy, something that reflects the power you want to store." They stopped in front of a cabinet. "This is the Goblin on Fire," he said pointing to a golden cup. "It's awarded every decade to the winner of the Fight-wizards tournament." He waved a hand, dispelling the illusion and revealing that it was, in fact, a goblin that had been set on magical fire and was still burning. "No-one has succeeded in using it for a horcrux yet," he said. "But we have high hopes of you, Miss Mangey."
Greg - heh, that would have been quite the way to end things :P
Roger on the 'no' to foundation viewings.
Yes, Henri would have been... more blunt is the correct way to go there I think :)
God, can you imagine if I had time to do all my takes with an extra version with Henri as a character?
Ah, more Potter world fun. Always a good time. For people not named Harry Potter :P
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