Branded / Family Mark

[ieune]

Title: Branded
Challenge/Prompt: Symbol
Fanfiction: Potterverse.
Own character.
Rating: G
Warnings: ~~
Disclaimer: The Potterverse belongs to JKR. Napier is mine.
Summary: “In the light of the feral situation, Emergency Ministry Statute Number 147 to be enacted: all Registered werewolves to be taken up and branded. Any werewolf found not so branded will be assumed feral and put down.”
Author's Notes: Set during ‘Deathly Hallows’.

He’d known they were outside his sanctuary. The scent of flesh biteriptear so close drove him mad, chained to the wall. Gasping back his right mind post-transformation they don’t give him chance to get his wand but it takes both of them to subdue him.

“By order of Senior Under Secretary Umbridge—”

Red faces, panting garlic breath.

Impotent under the Full Body Bind, he glares defiance at death.

“Werewolf, registered, number eighty-one, to be branded this day.”

A wand tip presses to his scratched forearm, presses hard and doesn’t relent until the tattoo burns black; a wolf’s head, howling.

~~~

Title: Family Mark
Challenge/Prompt: Symbol
Fanfiction: Harry Potter
Own character.
Rating: G
Warnings: ~~
Disclaimer: The Potterverse belongs to JKR. Marcus is mine.
Summary: The shipwright puts the finishing touches to the Cutter's carved garboard.
Author's Notes: Marcus is Jèrriais (born and lives on the Channel Island of Jersey) and speaks Jersey Norman French, hence some not-quite-French-looking spellings.

Guided by skilled fingers, the gouge bites into the seasoned wood. With each nibble, each a little deeper than the last, the flat pencil lines take on dimensional form. Memories come unbidden as he works; P’pèe’s hands guiding this same gouge, shaping each delicate curve, undercutting just enough to create a semblance of reality in this identifying mark. Twelve generations of his family have used this flower to mark possessions or identify their work since Estin D’Caën quit Nouormandy in his drakkar to settle new lands. Last of his bloodline, Marcus blows away the swarf and smiles. Another perfect anemone.

Comments

[meoryn]

I haven't read much Potter fic but I think you've captured the feeling of the world quite well here. The sense of the characters themselves really come through.

Glad you decided to post them.

[ieune]

Thanks! I decided that if I got brave and posted my fanfic, others might do the same.

[sterling]

I can't say I'm very familiar with the Potterverse, but I too, am glad you posted these. I especially like the imagery of Branded. I can almost feel the anguish and anger the werewolf must have felt.

[ieune]

Thanks! :)

Oh yes, Napier was sure he was about to die, especially hearing Umbridge's name associated with the order. She's a bad lot.

[zopyrus]

You do a great job in drabble #2 of weaving the physical description, from the present, with the past family narrative. And it's really satisfying, in the last sentence, to finally find out what exactly he's carving--I'm glad you held off this detail until the very end.

[evenstar]

Even though I'm severely out of the HP loop, I really like both of these! I'm particularly intrigued by the last one, it really flows beautifully.