Due date: June 19, 2008 (Late) Instructions: Imitation isn't only the sincerest form of flattery. Sometimes, it's the best way to learn. Just as art students visit museums to copy great paintings, writers can master their craft by writing in the style and mode of great authors.

This assignment takes off from the fan fiction reading assignment posted in the readings section. You can approach it in several different ways, but basically, I am asking you to write a short story or scene based on a book or short story by a writer you like. It could be a prequel or sequel to the story, a "what if" story where you imagine a different ending, or a part of the original story, but retold from a different character's eyes. See how creative you can be in finding your own way to work with familiar characters and settings.

The Harry Potter fan fiction in the reading assignment is one example. Other well-known examples of 'inspired-by' writing include The Mists of Avalon (feminist retelling of King Arthur stories), Wide Sargasso Sea (a 'prequel' to Jane Eyre, from the mad wife's point of view), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (absurdist play using minor characters from Hamlet) and Wicked (The Wizard of Oz with the 'wicked witch' as heroine).

Your story can be funny or serious. You can stick to the 'rules' of the fictional world you write about, or subvert them. This writing exercise is meant to be enjoyable, so pick a writer whose work you really like (or used to like), even if their work is not considered 'great literature.'

Assignment files: None Submissions: You can only submit your assignment once. No re-submission is permitted. Notification: The instructor will not be notified via email when you submit this assignment.

Title: Responsible As They Come

Summary: What if, in Chamber of Secrets, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had come back to the car before Harry and Ron could have taken off with it? A simple change in history causes the butterfly effect to send ripples through Harry’s second year and much more.

“Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back seat, and got into the front.” –Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling

As Ron prepared to start the car, Harry heard yells coming from the station and looked back.

“Check that no one’s watching,” said Ron, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand.

“Ron- isn’t that your parents?” Harry asked, craning his head out the window to get a better glimpse of the two redheads running at a speed that belied their age. “It is… quick, turn off the car!”

Ron complied immediately, not wanting to get on his parents’ bad side once they could actually see that the car was running. A minute later, Harry and Ron were looking up at a furious and scared Mrs. Weasley, who had started ranting before she even came to a complete stop in front of them.

“How could you miss the train?! It’s an important piece of your Hogwarts experience, and being second-years does not give you permission to dilly-dally until the end of time! Oh my poor dears, how could you have scared me so badly? And what…”

Mr. Weasley laid a hand on his wife’s shoulder, and she trailed off, settling for hugging the daylights out of both boys.

Mr. Weasley looked around for a moment, determined there were no muggles in sight, and conjured a wooden park bench on the curb to sit on. “Now boys, I believe I need to know what happened at the train station. We were both worried, and it seems that there was a small problem with the barrier. Could you explain what went wrong?”

Harry, released from Mrs. Weasley’s arms while she rubbed at a spot on Ron’s nose, sat down and answered honestly, “I don’t know, sir. We hit a solid wall, tried again, and then it was too late. We went back to the car to… er, wait for you and Mrs. Weasley to get back. Do you know why the barrier stopped working?”

Mr. Weasley sighed, ran a hand through his thinning hair, and shook his head. “I have no idea, Harry, but we’ll be sure to get it sorted out. In the meantime, I believe we’ll have to contact Professor Dumbledore and arrange for alternate transportation for both of you, since you seem to have missed the train. In the meantime, how about we pile back into the car and we’ll contact Hogwarts by Floo once we get home?”

Ron gave his father a small grin. “Dad, can we fly the car to Hogwarts instead? It’d be easier I bet!” Before Mr. Weasley could reply, Mrs. Weasley cut in with, “Absolutely not! Besides, your father would not want to spend the six hours driving there and an additional six back! We’re best off taking the hour to go home, and get you boys there by Floo or side-along Apparition.”

That settled it. With Mrs. Weasley not giving in to alternative suggestions, Mr. Weasley got into the front seat of the old Ford Anglia and started the car, Mrs. Weasley got into the other side, and the boys got in back where they were handed a bag of toffees from the glove compartment by Mrs. Weasley.

The ride back to the Burrow was long, but Mr. Weasley was very talkative and took pride in regaling Harry with stories from his job at the Ministry. He offered up several suggestions of what might’ve shut down the barrier, with each suggestion having an accompanying story about muggle-baiting and the like. One particular story about a bookcase that slid to the side to open a secret passage, that had been modified to drop books on the heads of curious muggles who wondered where the funny-dressed people went when they got too close to it, reminded Harry of a muggle movie he’d once seen Dudley watching late at night. Mentioning the muggle bookcase being controlled by remote, however, got himself and Mr. Weasley into a discussion that kept Ron asking questions for the rest of the ride. By the time they arrived at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley was fast asleep in the front seat.

oOo

After getting Mrs. Weasley woken up enough to walk inside the lopsided-looking house, she proceeded to drag the boys directly into the kitchen for sandwiches and tea while Mr. Weasley walked to the fireplace and stuck his head in.

A few minutes later, Mr. Weasley popped his head back out of the fireplace and walked into the kitchen. “Dumbledore has left it up to our discretion,” he said happily. “He would rather we wait a few more hours, though, so that they can arrive with the rest of the students and not have to be babysat for the last few hours of the professors running around to get things ready. It seems that Gilderoy may have dropped a pixie cage on his way into the school, and things are running a bit hectic at the moment.”

Molly sighed. “So much for getting any shopping done today. Don’t you have to be to work in an hour?” Her husband nodded.

“Not much choice, and I suspect I’ll be joining Perkins in inspecting that barrier once the Aurors rule out foul play. Still, Molly, couldn’t we take them to Hogsmeade, and kill two birds with one stone?”

She looked thoughtful. “Well… it’s not Diagon Alley, but we don’t need much anyways. I suppose that would work for now, and it would give us easy access to the train platform once the Express arrives. Okay, let me just get changed into some robes, and we’ll go.”

Harry looked at Ron. “What’s Hogsmeade, mate? I’ve not heard of that one before.”

Ron grinned back at Harry, looking excited. “Hogsmeade is the wizarding village where the Hogwarts Express comes in. It has a bunch of good shops, I’ve only ever been there a couple of times before with Mum and Dad, but Hogwarts students third year and up can go into the village during the day on some weekends. They post it in the common room, remember?”

Mr. Weasley finished off a sandwich and nodded at his son. “I think you’ll both appreciate Honeydukes very much. I’ll make sure Molly lets you go before I take off. I’m going to change into my work robes before we leave, but make sure Ron tells you about the Shrieking Shack!”

Ron’s grin only got wider, as he began to explain the “most haunted place in all of Britain” to his muggle-raised best mate.

oOo

Another half hour later, they were walking through the streets of Hogsmeade, their trunks and Harry’s owl cage shrunk in their pockets. Hedwig had been let go on to Hogwarts on her own, since Floo travel didn’t sit well with owls. They had come out of a fireplace at a pleasant English pub called the Three Broomsticks, where Mr. Weasley disappeared for a moment. When he came back, he slipped Harry a small bag. “These are Butterbeers, make sure the others get to try them too. I think you’ll like them.” Then he walked up to Mrs. Weasley, and asked her to make sure they got to Honeydukes before the Express pulled in. Then he was off to work, and Mrs. Weasley walked with them down the lane to various stores.

The next four hours passed by quickly, and they did indeed end up at Honeydukes, much to Mrs. Weasley’s chagrin. She let up a bit on Ron’s enthusiasm, though, when Harry pointed out that they had missed the snack cart on the Express and they were only making up for what they didn’t get to buy there. The man behind the counter smiled at them both as they paid for their purchases, and informed him that the snack cart lady was actually his wife and the snack cart was part of their shop. Mrs. Weasley didn’t even try to hide her surprise; though a Hogwarts graduate herself, she had never known.

Harry couldn’t help but ask Ron, after that, just how much people tended not to know when they just weren’t told. The wizarding world didn’t think about very much beyond their own lives, sometimes, and he wondered just when he would’ve found out about Hogsmeade if he hadn’t been there on that day. Probably not until his third year, when he could go there with the other students. How odd.

He had learned a lot just going around Hogsmeade. Mrs. Weasley had to stop for more than just food at the grocer’s, which was much like a normal grocer’s but with some fairly unusual selections that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Professor Sprout’s greenhouses, and had the wizarding equivalent of refrigerators (which looked rather like a refrigerator, but had a strong cooling charm instead of a motor) and such things for meat and other spoilable food. Harry filled the air with questions about these sorts of “normal” things that were new to him, and Ron made a couple of comments about Harry being a backwards version of Mr. Weasley. Still, he and Mrs. Weasley teamed up to answer Harry’s questions each time, and continued through the next few stores.

They had been to a couple clothing stores for fabric, thread and the like, and then to a sort of general store that just carried a bit of everything. There were kitchen necessities (Mrs. Weasley spent ten minutes looking for a new spatula), cleaning supplies (Mrs. Skower’s Magical Mess Remover, 2 sickles per kilo!), a selection of practical books and magazines (Harry ultimately buying one entitled “Everything and Then Some You Need to Know About the Ministry of Magic”, by Elizabeth Weasley, apparently a third cousin once removed of Ron’s) and much more.

By the time Mrs. Weasley had started them walking in the direction of the train station, Harry’s feet were hurting slightly and Ron was avidly looking forward to the feast coming up.

Then the Hogwarts Express was pulling into the station, and they were ready to meet their friends. Mrs. Weasley lingered for a minute, hugging both of them fiercely and promising that “Your father will get to the bottom of that platform problem, mark my words!”. She then took the opportunity to say once last goodbye to Percy, Ginny and the twins as they walked off the train station and ran for Harry and Ron, before disapparating to head for home.

Harry and Ron, of course, were left to fend off the crowd of friends asking where they’d gotten off to, and barely had a chance to wave at Hagrid as he called for all firs’ years to him, before they were crowded into a set of horseless carriages and were suddenly on their way back to the castle.

Chapter 2

Harry and Ron couldn’t keep the grins off their faces as they explained what had happened, and how they’d spent the day in Hogsmeade instead of on the train as usual.