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

[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? :)