stgulik: default icon (benita)
[personal profile] stgulik
I hope you had a chance to enjoy [livejournal.com profile] melusinahp's "One Prompt, Many Writers" challenge last week. She solicited prompt ideas on her journal, and the prompt with the most votes was to be used in a drabble of less than 500 words.

I just put mine up on TPP, but I thought I'd share it here, too. The world needs more HGRL.

Special thanks to [livejournal.com profile] teddyradiator, the best alpha and all-around friend.

-o0o-

“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.”― Federico García Lorca, Blood Wedding and Yerma


-o0o-


Remus reached across the restaurant table and gently took hold of Hermione’s hand.

“All right, one more time.” He laid the red chopstick across her palm. “The bottom stick is held like so. Keep it steady. Then you place the second stick here … and hold it with your fingertips, like this.” He lingered a moment, tracing the soft flesh where her thumb and finger met. Her hand lay curled in his, a bird with a long, delicate beak.

Absorbed, she bent her fingers until the chopsticks touched. She flexed experimentally. “All right, I think I have it.”

“Now the true test.” He slid his hand away, nodded and gestured. She picked up her bowl the way he had showed her, the dim sum laid atop a snowy mound of rice. He watched not her hand, but her eyes, so it took a moment to interpret her impish look of triumph—she had simply skewered the dumpling with both sticks.

“Success,” she proclaimed, taking a healthy bite.

He laughed and sat back. “Don’t try that in China – it’s considered bad manners,” he teased.

“I can imagine,” she replied after swallowing. “How long did you live there?”

“Oh, eight months, I think. Mainly stayed in Hong Kong, working odd jobs where I could, and then I ventured out into the rural provinces.”

“Did you miss England at all?”

He concentrated on his own bowl. “I missed some things,” he replied smoothly. “Mattresses with springs. Honeyduke’s chocolate. Apothecaries with potions I recognize. That sort of thing.”

“And any … people?”

He caught the tone in her voice, and his eyes quickly raised to hers. Her eyes did not dart away, but held his gaze for a lingering moment.

Here, at last, was his opening, the chance to say what had been on the tip of his tongue all night. He could finally bridge the space between them. He felt sure she was waiting.

But over her shoulder, in the window behind their booth, the waxing moon showed its face like a hateful maitre d’ not at all sorry to intrude on an intimate moment. The moon: his first enemy, his eternal burden, his constant companion throughout his travels after the war. Already he could feel its intrusive power, coiled inside him, primed to take over sinew, muscle, bones, and will.

No woman should have to intersect her life with his. He would never make that mistake again, not even for her, Hermione, the woman who knew him so well; the woman he had loved, in some fashion or another, since her third year at school.

He took a deep breath. “Well, my son, of course,” he replied. “My Teddy.”

She dropped her eyes. “Naturally,” she agreed, laying aside the chopsticks. As she picked up her fork, Remus hitched up his most convincing smile and asked about work.

Date: 2013-04-10 09:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] darklotus1211.livejournal.com
Oh, I enjoyed that - you captured the poignancy of the situation beautifully without even a shred of schmaltz - that can be a very fine line at times, and you walked it extremely well in this.

Thanks for posting this on your page - I dont get too much of a chance to read fanfic at the moment, so I'm most appreciative.

Date: 2013-04-10 01:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stgulik.livejournal.com
Thank you, darklotus! I'm so glad you liked it.

Date: 2013-04-10 09:46 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] voxangelus.livejournal.com
Oh, nicely done. Poor angsty Remus, but that is how I like him.

Date: 2013-04-10 01:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stgulik.livejournal.com
Thank you! That's how I like him, too. :)

Date: 2013-04-10 12:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teddyradiator.livejournal.com
I'm so proud of you!

Thank you for posting. That last, bittersweet line just makes me ache for him. Well done. And post that Hong Kong story!!!!!!

Date: 2013-04-10 01:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stgulik.livejournal.com
I'm workin' on it!

Date: 2013-04-10 07:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nagandsev.livejournal.com
Hi! Because I'm running around like a lunatic more than usual and a Remus Lupin fangirl fanatic as well-- lol!-- I'm copying & pasting here--can't wait for more of your HGRL, and absolutely, the world needs more!<3<3<3

I love the prompt and the usage of the prompt! There is so much yearning on both sides, and Remus' denying himself for that which he yearns for, influenced by his constant companion, the Moon, and his curse, which always colours his perception of himself and others--and the play with the chopsticks and usage of them, or lack of, with Hermione accenting the subtle rejection by giving up and picking up the fork, Remus' forced smile *so sad* (I love your RL/SS and I'm yearning for more of your RL/HG as well!)-- lovely, lovely work, as always!

Date: 2013-04-10 07:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stgulik.livejournal.com
Thanks again, nagandsev. We HGRL fans must stick together!

Profile

stgulik: default icon (Default)
stgulik

April 2017

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
1617 1819202122
23242526272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 2nd, 2025 08:43 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios