Post by jazzyjess on Aug 23, 2011 23:02:20 GMT -8
Title: A Fat Sort of Tale
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 1,814
Warnings: None!
Summary: Over just isn’t over until the fat lady... flies.
-
Miriam was six when the village boys started teasing her. “Miriam Sprat is very, very fat!” they’d chant, forming a sneering circle around her as she sat on the ground, arms wrapped around her legs and her face against her knees. “As fat as a cow, as fat as a sow!” Even her brothers would roll their eyes at her, making snide comments while she pretended she couldn’t hear them.
Her mother provided the best comfort she could, assuring Miriam that it was just baby fat, that it would dissolve as she grew up, but by the time she was ten, little Miriam was more than just plump. The girls in the little one-roomed schoolhouse wouldn’t talk to her, her brothers were embarrassed by her, and the boys still laughed at her to her face. Her only friend was the little boy with the eyes that looked different ways, barely helped by the thin wire spectacles perched on the end of her nose.
“Don’t worry, Miriam,” he told her every time the teasing made her cry. “You’re still the smartest one in school! You probably are going to become famous one day and then they’ll be real sorry!” It helped, a little, because it was true. She clung to her abacus and her chalk and her slate, afraid that if they disappeared, so would she.
-
One early morning at the end of June, with the summer holidays looming just around the corner, Miriam’s brothers came running into the house, looking wildly excited and shouting at the tops of their voices. “Mama, mama, there’s an owl on the roof!”
Eight weeks later, she was sitting down, alone, in one of the last compartments of the Hogwarts Express. Several students a little older than her peered through the door as they passed, but nobody stopped. She settled back into her seat, smoothed her second-hand robes over her knees, and resigned herself to a long and lonely ride.
-
It was 1843, and from what Miriam had learned by listening to the other kids whispering around her, the castle had already been there for more than a hundred years, but she was still awestruck when the outline of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry appeared against the twilight sky at the other end of the Great Lake. There were lights in every window, setting the castle twinkling, and for the first time since receiving her letter, Miriam forgot her terror and leaned forward in anticipation. Magic.
“Watch it,” sneered the boy behind her, “or you’re going to tip the boat!”
The snide comment about her weight snapped Miriam back out of her fantasy, and, face scarlet in mortification, she hunched down in her seat and kept quiet.
-
The moment the Sorting Hat touched her head, Miriam flinched. It isn’t fear that makes you draw away, the Hat mused. No, it’s something else. You heard my song, and so you know – there are four Houses in this school. What makes you think you’d fit in any of them? Gryffindor, perhaps?
“I’m not very brave,” Miriam whispered, fingers clutching the edge of the stool until her knuckles turned white.
There are many kinds of bravery, replied the Hat, and in her mind was suddenly the clearest image of a man fighting the power of a fire-breathing dragon. Miriam whimpered a little, and the image vanished. You are intelligent enough for Ravenclaw, it continued, and she squeezed her eyes closed. There were so many children in this school who were smarter than she was – she’d been top of her class at home, but these students were more than a step up from the other children in her little schoolhouse; she didn’t need to write any tests to prove that much. And you are clever enough for Slytherin House. She opened her eyes just a slice, spotted the sneering boy from the boat amongst his new comrades at the long table nearest the wall, and shivered.
Ah, well, repeated the Hat, there are many kinds of bravery. You’ll make the perfect HUFFLEPUFF!
The Hat was lifted from her head, and the Deputy Headmaster assisted her off the stool. “Hufflepuff is there, young one,” he said gently, eyes kind, and gave her a little push. Miriam barely heard the rumble of the Great Hall as the forty or so current members of Hufflepuff stood, welcoming her, shaking her hand and embracing her as she stumbled toward an empty seat. For the first time ever, she didn’t feel alienated by the people around her. For the first time ever, she felt like she was coming home.
-
“Are we really supposed to fly on these?” Miriam whispered to Juniper Bottomley as they stood over the brooms. “I would break it!”
“I heard they’re enchanted brooms, that’s why you can’t use just any old broom from your house,” Juniper whispered back. “And I bet even fat Professor Rathbone wouldn’t even break one!” The girls giggled over this for a moment until their Professor came into view.
It was hard for Miriam to pay attention, with all the sights and sounds of the beautiful Hogwarts grounds before her, but every detail she did her best to fasten in her memory. Now she was standing next to her broom – now it was in her hand and she was feeling the smooth wooden handle vibrate against her flesh – now she had one leg over – now she was kicking off –
There was no sensation quite like it. Miriam felt the push of air against her shoulders as she rose into the sky with the few members of her class. She felt the wind rush through her hair, tangling it around her pudgy cheeks. For once in her life, she felt weightless, like she’d left every roly poly pound behind her on the ground. They weren’t all that high off the ground, but from the first second, she knew that she could never give this up.
Miriam joined the Hufflepuff quidditch team as a chaser in her third year, was made team captain in her fourth year. Until she graduated four years later, Hufflepuff never once lost the Quidditch Cup.
-
She met Rudolph van Winken on the train to Hogwarts her second year. He’d been standing at the platform, seeming to drown in patched up, washed-out robes that were clearly several sizes too large. His bright yellow hair was too long and curled out in odd directions. His eyes squinted when he tried to focus him and Miriam guessed that he needed spectacles, but that his family was too poor or too neglectful to purchase some for him. She hadn’t heard him shyly ask the conductor what to do with his meagre little trunk, nor had she seen him trip on his way into the train. But she did hear the jeering of a very familiar Slytherin. With a sigh, Miriam stood up, giving a little wave to Juniper Bottomley, who was sharing her compartment, and headed into the little hallway.
Laying her chubby hands on her chubby hips, Miriam glared at the small group clustered in front of the next compartment.
“Leave him alone, Snape,” she said firmly, squaring her shoulders and adjusting her bulk to look as menacing as possible.
Her advance had the desired effect, and the two Slytherin boys abandoned their target to face her. “Who do you think you’re talking to, Sprat?” sneered the one she’d spoken to. “This little runt came into my compartment uninvited. He’s going to learn his place!”
“Why don’t you try coming and pushing me around?” she retorted, and pointed at the little boy who was plastered to the wall of the train, then pointed to the door of her compartment, where Juniper’s pointy face was staring out in worry.. “You, you can sit with us. And as for you – ” this time, she stared at Snape “ – you can leave us alone.”
That was the story of how Miriam Sprat became renowned for her straggly band of misfit followers. She was still fat, and she was still teased, but by the time she was fifteen, the little yellow-haired boy – Rudy – had grown out of his awkward stage, and along with several other boys that she’d collected over the years, made a good show of running off anyone who talked down to her. Not that she needed the help, really, but they felt that they owed her one, and since she fought enough of her own battles, Miriam didn’t mind letting them get the one-up once in a while. Even Rictor Snape left her alone eventually, but that makes for another story.
-
After the Hufflepuff team won (by a landslide) the Quidditch Cup in her seventh year at Hogwarts and fourth year as Quidditch Captain, she was surprised to learn that the Deputy Headmaster had invited representatives from three national quidditch teams to watch her play. All three individuals issued her mountains of praise and formal invitations to join their teams, and when she finally decided on one, she needed her small army of misfits to protect her from the swarming of the press.
“How does it feel to be the youngest – and only female – member of the Banfield Boggarts?”
“How is it so easy for you to fly when you’re, you know, less lithe than other players?”
“Did you ever consider taking over the position of flying professor here at your school?”
She answered the questions as best as she could, but in the end Miriam was more than happy to continue her illustrious career. Her family was living comfortably on a small winery, and she never ended up marrying (or losing weight!), but continued to sweep the halls of high society as a solitary matron of honour. Miriam had come a long way from second-hand robes. But when she broke her neck in a flying accident and her will was discovered, that was where her true legacy began.
-
“What do you mean, you want to move her portrait to the front of Gryffindor?” Professor Cornish demanded, adjusting his beret as it slid to the side in his frustration. “She may have left her money to this school, but she has no ties to Gryffindor house at all!”
“My dear Cristoff,” Albus Dumbledore said pleasantly, “I have been Headmaster here for several years now and have plenty of long chats with the portrait of Miriam Sprat. I believe that it is in Gryffindor’s best interest to have such a firm and inspiring character grant access to its quarters. There will be troubling times in our future. Our students will need her guidance.”
“But – but Gryffindor! Gryffindor house is the embodiment of courage, of utmost bravery in the face of evil! You suggest placing a Hufflepuff there as the face of their House! A Hufflepuff!”
Albus merely smiled. “There are many kinds of bravery.”
Rating: G
House: Hufflepuff
Word Count: 1,814
Warnings: None!
Summary: Over just isn’t over until the fat lady... flies.
-
Miriam was six when the village boys started teasing her. “Miriam Sprat is very, very fat!” they’d chant, forming a sneering circle around her as she sat on the ground, arms wrapped around her legs and her face against her knees. “As fat as a cow, as fat as a sow!” Even her brothers would roll their eyes at her, making snide comments while she pretended she couldn’t hear them.
Her mother provided the best comfort she could, assuring Miriam that it was just baby fat, that it would dissolve as she grew up, but by the time she was ten, little Miriam was more than just plump. The girls in the little one-roomed schoolhouse wouldn’t talk to her, her brothers were embarrassed by her, and the boys still laughed at her to her face. Her only friend was the little boy with the eyes that looked different ways, barely helped by the thin wire spectacles perched on the end of her nose.
“Don’t worry, Miriam,” he told her every time the teasing made her cry. “You’re still the smartest one in school! You probably are going to become famous one day and then they’ll be real sorry!” It helped, a little, because it was true. She clung to her abacus and her chalk and her slate, afraid that if they disappeared, so would she.
-
One early morning at the end of June, with the summer holidays looming just around the corner, Miriam’s brothers came running into the house, looking wildly excited and shouting at the tops of their voices. “Mama, mama, there’s an owl on the roof!”
Eight weeks later, she was sitting down, alone, in one of the last compartments of the Hogwarts Express. Several students a little older than her peered through the door as they passed, but nobody stopped. She settled back into her seat, smoothed her second-hand robes over her knees, and resigned herself to a long and lonely ride.
-
It was 1843, and from what Miriam had learned by listening to the other kids whispering around her, the castle had already been there for more than a hundred years, but she was still awestruck when the outline of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry appeared against the twilight sky at the other end of the Great Lake. There were lights in every window, setting the castle twinkling, and for the first time since receiving her letter, Miriam forgot her terror and leaned forward in anticipation. Magic.
“Watch it,” sneered the boy behind her, “or you’re going to tip the boat!”
The snide comment about her weight snapped Miriam back out of her fantasy, and, face scarlet in mortification, she hunched down in her seat and kept quiet.
-
The moment the Sorting Hat touched her head, Miriam flinched. It isn’t fear that makes you draw away, the Hat mused. No, it’s something else. You heard my song, and so you know – there are four Houses in this school. What makes you think you’d fit in any of them? Gryffindor, perhaps?
“I’m not very brave,” Miriam whispered, fingers clutching the edge of the stool until her knuckles turned white.
There are many kinds of bravery, replied the Hat, and in her mind was suddenly the clearest image of a man fighting the power of a fire-breathing dragon. Miriam whimpered a little, and the image vanished. You are intelligent enough for Ravenclaw, it continued, and she squeezed her eyes closed. There were so many children in this school who were smarter than she was – she’d been top of her class at home, but these students were more than a step up from the other children in her little schoolhouse; she didn’t need to write any tests to prove that much. And you are clever enough for Slytherin House. She opened her eyes just a slice, spotted the sneering boy from the boat amongst his new comrades at the long table nearest the wall, and shivered.
Ah, well, repeated the Hat, there are many kinds of bravery. You’ll make the perfect HUFFLEPUFF!
The Hat was lifted from her head, and the Deputy Headmaster assisted her off the stool. “Hufflepuff is there, young one,” he said gently, eyes kind, and gave her a little push. Miriam barely heard the rumble of the Great Hall as the forty or so current members of Hufflepuff stood, welcoming her, shaking her hand and embracing her as she stumbled toward an empty seat. For the first time ever, she didn’t feel alienated by the people around her. For the first time ever, she felt like she was coming home.
-
“Are we really supposed to fly on these?” Miriam whispered to Juniper Bottomley as they stood over the brooms. “I would break it!”
“I heard they’re enchanted brooms, that’s why you can’t use just any old broom from your house,” Juniper whispered back. “And I bet even fat Professor Rathbone wouldn’t even break one!” The girls giggled over this for a moment until their Professor came into view.
It was hard for Miriam to pay attention, with all the sights and sounds of the beautiful Hogwarts grounds before her, but every detail she did her best to fasten in her memory. Now she was standing next to her broom – now it was in her hand and she was feeling the smooth wooden handle vibrate against her flesh – now she had one leg over – now she was kicking off –
There was no sensation quite like it. Miriam felt the push of air against her shoulders as she rose into the sky with the few members of her class. She felt the wind rush through her hair, tangling it around her pudgy cheeks. For once in her life, she felt weightless, like she’d left every roly poly pound behind her on the ground. They weren’t all that high off the ground, but from the first second, she knew that she could never give this up.
Miriam joined the Hufflepuff quidditch team as a chaser in her third year, was made team captain in her fourth year. Until she graduated four years later, Hufflepuff never once lost the Quidditch Cup.
-
She met Rudolph van Winken on the train to Hogwarts her second year. He’d been standing at the platform, seeming to drown in patched up, washed-out robes that were clearly several sizes too large. His bright yellow hair was too long and curled out in odd directions. His eyes squinted when he tried to focus him and Miriam guessed that he needed spectacles, but that his family was too poor or too neglectful to purchase some for him. She hadn’t heard him shyly ask the conductor what to do with his meagre little trunk, nor had she seen him trip on his way into the train. But she did hear the jeering of a very familiar Slytherin. With a sigh, Miriam stood up, giving a little wave to Juniper Bottomley, who was sharing her compartment, and headed into the little hallway.
Laying her chubby hands on her chubby hips, Miriam glared at the small group clustered in front of the next compartment.
“Leave him alone, Snape,” she said firmly, squaring her shoulders and adjusting her bulk to look as menacing as possible.
Her advance had the desired effect, and the two Slytherin boys abandoned their target to face her. “Who do you think you’re talking to, Sprat?” sneered the one she’d spoken to. “This little runt came into my compartment uninvited. He’s going to learn his place!”
“Why don’t you try coming and pushing me around?” she retorted, and pointed at the little boy who was plastered to the wall of the train, then pointed to the door of her compartment, where Juniper’s pointy face was staring out in worry.. “You, you can sit with us. And as for you – ” this time, she stared at Snape “ – you can leave us alone.”
That was the story of how Miriam Sprat became renowned for her straggly band of misfit followers. She was still fat, and she was still teased, but by the time she was fifteen, the little yellow-haired boy – Rudy – had grown out of his awkward stage, and along with several other boys that she’d collected over the years, made a good show of running off anyone who talked down to her. Not that she needed the help, really, but they felt that they owed her one, and since she fought enough of her own battles, Miriam didn’t mind letting them get the one-up once in a while. Even Rictor Snape left her alone eventually, but that makes for another story.
-
After the Hufflepuff team won (by a landslide) the Quidditch Cup in her seventh year at Hogwarts and fourth year as Quidditch Captain, she was surprised to learn that the Deputy Headmaster had invited representatives from three national quidditch teams to watch her play. All three individuals issued her mountains of praise and formal invitations to join their teams, and when she finally decided on one, she needed her small army of misfits to protect her from the swarming of the press.
“How does it feel to be the youngest – and only female – member of the Banfield Boggarts?”
“How is it so easy for you to fly when you’re, you know, less lithe than other players?”
“Did you ever consider taking over the position of flying professor here at your school?”
She answered the questions as best as she could, but in the end Miriam was more than happy to continue her illustrious career. Her family was living comfortably on a small winery, and she never ended up marrying (or losing weight!), but continued to sweep the halls of high society as a solitary matron of honour. Miriam had come a long way from second-hand robes. But when she broke her neck in a flying accident and her will was discovered, that was where her true legacy began.
-
“What do you mean, you want to move her portrait to the front of Gryffindor?” Professor Cornish demanded, adjusting his beret as it slid to the side in his frustration. “She may have left her money to this school, but she has no ties to Gryffindor house at all!”
“My dear Cristoff,” Albus Dumbledore said pleasantly, “I have been Headmaster here for several years now and have plenty of long chats with the portrait of Miriam Sprat. I believe that it is in Gryffindor’s best interest to have such a firm and inspiring character grant access to its quarters. There will be troubling times in our future. Our students will need her guidance.”
“But – but Gryffindor! Gryffindor house is the embodiment of courage, of utmost bravery in the face of evil! You suggest placing a Hufflepuff there as the face of their House! A Hufflepuff!”
Albus merely smiled. “There are many kinds of bravery.”