potter drabble.

[hackthis_archive]

The Gift
Notes: I was re-reading GoF the other night and they mentioned Harry’s broken watch and I’m like *what* watch?


On Harry’s tenth birthday he received a present from the Dursleys: a broken watch. The plastic face was scratched and the black band worn ragged, but amazingly enough it worked. The watch was the best gift he had ever received from them.

Harry wasn't sure what he did to deserve it.

The watch was shiny, and Harry could pretend that it fit. It took him a whole year to grow into it, but even then it slid around his wrist like a bracelet. Like a cuff.

Around his twelfth birthday he bought himself a digital watch, but it felt wrong. It was too new, and he kept the Dursleys' watch in his trunk with the rest of his things. It still worked; there was no reason to toss it out. Just because it wasn’t new and improved was no reason to dismiss it.

Not all change is welcome.

Harry’s digital watch stopped working four days before Harry’s fourteenth birthday. During the Triwizard Tournament, he took the newer watch off and never put it back on. When he went back to Privet Drive, he finally tossed the digital watch and put the old watch back on. It was safe. It reminded him of life before.

For his sixteenth birthday Harry received another watch. This time it was silver with etchings on the back and a dragon-hide wristband. Harry smashed the face with his broom handle and rubbed the band in the dirt. Once it was worn and abused, then it was all right. When he took off the Dursleys' watch and replaced it with the new one, he took care to place the old one someplace close by. He knew the new one wouldn’t last long.

It was only a matter of time.

Comments

[seren-himitsu.livejournal.com]

There's something very poignant about this piece, a delicate quality to it that appeals to me very much. I have a fondness for vignettes that have to do with the little throwaway details that most people just ignore. Very, very lovely.

He knew the new one wouldn’t last long.

It was only a matter of time.

Because eventually, we all return to ourselves. *sighs*

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

I'm thrilled you enjoyed it, I just wish I had a better idea of what it's supposed to be about. I've heard some interesting interpretations though.

me, I originally had thoughts about Draco giving him a portakey watch. actually, no, I just had that thought, but there was supposed to be a present from Draco but too much sap per month gives me the willies. *g*

Re:

[seren-himitsu.livejournal.com]

I think that's what great about vignette-ish ficlets, that you get to leave it open and have the readers make their own interpretations. In a way, it's a lot more interesting than telling them everything and walking them through it. Variety, you know? :)

[nefeleo.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I think LJ ate my comment. Darn it.

In short: I really enjoyed this. I love an unhealthy Harry - I mean, anyone in a situation like his would have serious issues to deal with. I think you have illustrated his psychological scarring with a deft hand. I very much appreciate his resignation to the fate of his watches, and how it almost echoes the fates of his parents.

The Dursleys (and by extension their gifts) are there to constantly remind Harry that things die.

Well, at least that's how I think of it. Oh my, I've depressed myself. ::sigh::

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed the drabble so much. I'm completely fascinated by all the different interpretations that people are coming up with.

[cyclogenesis.livejournal.com]

Ah, very nice. You do gen so well. This was a nice little character piece, it said a lot in a really subtle way. And the last line. Hee.

::applause::

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it, babe. :)

[impudent-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Why do I suddenly want to hug Harry?

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

no no no. ::pushes rabbit away from harry:: everybody always wants to give him everything, hell, he's even got a book named after him. i don't even wanna write him, i wanna write draco! make it stop!

[marysiak.livejournal.com]

So here's my fun interpretation.

I love the idea that Harry can't quite cope with being given new, shiny things. Not exactly canon but I can totally imagine him being uncomfortable with expensive gifts, I can imagine his obsessive use of the broomstick cleaning kit being part of that. He feels he has to use it all the time to prove he was worthy of owning it. He had to make the watch less new because otherwise he didn't deserve it since he already had a working watch. The invisibility cloak and Firebolt don't count as he sees the first as not a gift but an inheritance and in his heart he feels it's till his father's and not his, the brooms he sees as gifts to the Quidditch team and his house so that he can win the cup for them, not actually gifts for him.

Am I trying too hard? Reaching too much?

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

I've gotta say, y'all are some seriously brilliant people. I dunno how you get this stuff, my professors would have loved you. Me? I just write the first random thing that pops into my head and let it slide, but you (and this lot (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=hpdrabble&itemid=57488)) have subliminal messages and possible interpretations, and me I couldn't even make hide nor hair of it when I wrote it. Bless. *g*

[fearlessdiva.livejournal.com]

Because the new watch has a dragon-hide wristband and etchings on the back, I think it's from Draco, and his belief that the watch won't last is emblematic of his belief that no relationship lasts and Draco will leave him, just as his parents did. But he's trying to make himself comfortable with the relationship for as long as he can.

Writing cryptic is so much fun. Your readers do all the work and you can just sit back and enjoy.

This is a lovely little piece, quietly disturbing and sad.

You rawk.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

::shakes head::

like i was telling marysiak i just write the pieces, if you want meaning you are coming to the wrong person. 9 times out of 10 i spend 10-15 minutes on then and then forget about it because i just want them exoricised (this one just kept saying harry, watch, gift - deal with it).

you know that originally i had wanted draco to give harry a watch, right? but then it all got messed up because well a) too mushy and b) i think harry has 'issues'.

my issue, however, is that i don't actually *want* to write harry, i mean he's got his own book for crissakes! but, you know, i'm glad you enjoyed it.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

love this to death!

I have many watches. Like ten. I swear. Batman and orange and one that's ban is a bondage bracelet.

Harry needs some serious therapy.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

i am extremely put out with all this harry shit i keep producing. i don't wanna write harry he has his own fucking book for crissakes.