Halloween Drabbles

[kelly_chambliss]

I've had a successful weekend: 27 papers graded and 1200 snapelyholidays words written. Yes, I should have written more. But I didn't.

It's still Halloween for another 30 minutes (at least in my part of the world), so I thought I'd treat you to a couple of drabbles in honor of the day. (Or maybe it's actually a trick; you never know.)

I actually wrote them both for the one-day hp_halloween drabble fest; I thought a silly one and a serious one would make a be nice set of bookends.

But the trick was on me, because it turns out that we were allowed to submit only one drabble per person. So I submittted the serious one, and I was going to save the silly one until next year, when I remembered that last week's challenge for the snape100 drabble fest just happened to be. . . "Snape and Halloween."

What a treat! Now I could post both drabbles in different communities. So I did.

If you haven't had a chance to read any of the hp_halloween entries, nip on over there and enjoy yourself. They're all fun, but here are some of my favorites:

--At Home (Severus/Percy) by starstruck1986
--Darkness Chasing Darkness (Severus/Lucius) by snapelike
--and my own excellent gift, Don't Look Back (Minerva/Severus) by scribbulus_ink. (It's really interesting to see the similarities between the gift I wrote and the gift I received.)

And now that the HP Halloween fest is over, I can post both my drabbles here for you:

This one was written for nimrod_9 at hp_halloween

Title: With You Always
Author: kellychambliss
Characters: Minerva McGonagall
Rating: G
Summary: Minerva attends a Halloween Feast.
Notes: Nimrod_9 wanted Halloween traditions, pumpkins, graveyards, loneliness. Many thanks to my excellent beta, tetleythesecond.

Oidhche Shamhna = Scottish Gaelic for the Celtic Samhain/New Year's festival.

~*~*~*~

Tonight is Oidhche Shamhna, the sixth since the war's end. Minerva waits until the students, satisfied and sleepy after their Halloween feast, are safely abed; then she leaves the castle for her own celebration. Or vigil--she's not sure what to call it. She knows what he'd call it, though: foolish, sentimental, proof that she's in her dotage at last.

The air is bitter as she crosses the grounds, her way lit by two grinning jack-o'-lanterns from the Feast. They bob alongside her, part beacon, part joke she knows he'll understand. He hates jack-o'-lanterns. "The sort of silliness that will end up laughing on my grave," he'd snarled every year.

She passes Albus's gleaming tomb and reaches the fence that encloses this other resting place, this mound with its small, flat headstone. Casting a warming charm, she sits and unpacks her basket, filling two plates with food and pouring two goblets of wine as she remembers the words her grandmother spoke at every Shamhna: "Set a place for yourself and a place for the dead who are with you always."

Her little feast floats before her. Taking one goblet, Minerva touches it lightly to the other. "Slàinte, Severus," she says.

And this one was posted at snape100

Title: Aaaaahhhhh
Author: kellychambliss
Challenge: #357 -- Snape's Halloween
Pairing: Snape/McGonagall
Length: 100 x 2
Rating: NC-17. Ish.
Warnings: Dialogue-only
Summary: Ever wonder what the teachers did to celebrate Halloween after they settled the business of the troll in the dungeon?
Notes: Written with much authorial snickering, lots of porn clichés, and no excuse. Many thanks to my excellent beta-reader tetleythesecond.

~*~*~*~

"Must we make love with that grotesque pumpkin face leering at us, Severus?"

"We're not making love, Minerva; we're fucking. Call it 'making love' on the nights you win the bet."

"I still… oooh! yes, right there… I still contend that I did win. It was my Gryffindors who… aaahhh… stopped the troll."

"And it's your same reckless idiot Gryffindors--argh! Not so hard!--who disobeyed orders to go to their common room and instead nearly got themselves killed. So I… ahhhhh, yessss… win. Don't I?"

"No, I think… why are you stopping?"

"Don't I?

"All right! Yes! You win."

~*~*~*~

"You win, Severus. But I still hate… mmmmmmm… that hideous… "

"Let's put that mouth to better use. Ahhhhhhh… Stop complaining… unnggghhh... You're the one who told Albus jack-o'-lanterns make… oh, yes, yeeeesssssss… an 'atmospheric contribution.'."

"----I didn't say I liked the atmosphere, ye daft… mmmppffffgg…"

"And I didn't say you could stop sucking… Mmmmm, that's it… aaaaaaaah…yes! Ready for your turn, Minerva?"

"Mmmpppffgg!!!!"

"Oh, right, you need your mouth. There. Ready?"

"Just take me! Now… aahhhhkkk! Oooh…"

"Good, aren't I?"

"Oh, GOD…"

"No. Just Severus."