The Gryffindor Paw Print
Hello! And welcome to Prose and Cons. I will try and make this short and sweet! Prose and Cons is an extension of the Gryffindor Paw Print. This is a way for you all to let your expressive sides soar into the world and earn points, which we all love. We have three different sections: Caption Contest, Poetry, and Short Story.
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Here are our submissions!
Caption Contest
Here are the images individuals had to caption: Side Note: The captions this month were FANTASTIC! Thank you!
“I know it’s not really the
time for it.”
“It’s always the time.”
Submitted by:
Sky Alton, Gryffindor
“Firebolt who?”
Submitted by: Gail Allen, Ravenclaw
Submitted by Maxin Trevelyan, Ravenclaw
Poetry Challenge
Author: Sky Alton, Gryffindor
Those Lazy, Hazy Days
Gold slants in through a window,
A streak far too bright to see,
Dappled by dancing shadow,
The flickering of a tree.
The gusting wind smells sweet
Carries grass, petals, tweet
Warbling birds in the box hedge
Their fluid song louder than life,
Old cat on the window ledge,Snoozing away summer strife
Too hot to hurry, too hot
Find yourself a perfect spot.
Author: Gail Allen, Ravenclaw
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The sun has set, the day has passed
Though the heat still lingers in the stones
I lean against the wall and soak them in
So much to do this night
Although it is so short:
The shortest of the year
Yet we must wait till all are gone
This task you do alone
Walk through the fields and in each one
You pick a flower up
And once your basket holds a score
That's when it really starts
You bring them home and look at them
Each lovely in itself
And put them underneath your head
As you go to sleep
And dream you will of the one
You'll marry later on.
Taya in Sunshine
Author: Prof. Tarma Amelia Black, Hufflepuff
Taya sprawls on bed
She lies limp in the sunshine
Soaking up the rays
She came to me frail
Skinny, abused, closed up, sad
Now she happy smiles
I happy smile back
Glad that she is with me now
It has been a year
Author: Maxim Trevelyan, Ravenclaw
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Sunshine of my life,
I don’t know where I would be,
should we never met.
I would be empty,
without light, love or kindness,
just a human shell.
Each day I see you,
I remember I am saved,
from darkness within.
Freedom
Author: Sky Alton, Gryffindor
I trailed my fingers through the cool grass and watched the sun winking off the lake. It was odd having finished exams for the year: I felt like I ‘should’ be studying but there wasn’t anything to study. It was a dizzying mixture of feeling like I could jump up and dance around and wanting to dive back into the library for something to do. And that was the problem: I didn’t know what to do. And sitting here was just not working. Until the others got out of their classes in an hour or so, I was a free agent.
I leant back in the grass and tried to embrace the feeling. No more waking up with the knowledge that I had to fit 5 hours of revision in before bed. No more writing essays until gone midnight because otherwise I’d never get it all done. No more frantically running through the deadlines in my head. No more anxiety dreams. Free. Free for a glorious couple of months. The sun was warm on my face and the tree was murmuring above my head. I could catch up with sleep too: wake up to mid-morning sun streaming into my room and the whir of our neighbours lawnmower. I imagined myself floating up, up and over the tops of the forbidden forest.
A wasp dive-bombed me and I sat up, stifling a very bad word. I watched some first years daring each other to get closer and closer to the giant squid who was sunbathing in the shallows. I shook my head. They had better hope it wasn’t in a grabbing mood because I did not feel like moving from this very comfortable shade to go and help drag
them out. I stretched my arms above my head and forced down the niggling part of my brain that was still trying to think of things I could have included in my charms essay. Free. And I was going to enjoy
it.
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Story Contest
Author: Maxim Trevelyan, Ravenclaw
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Maxim threw the stone towards the Black Lake, where it immediately sank. Growling softly, he wiped his forehead from the sweat that gathered there. Glaring up at the sun, the Ravenclaw threw another stone with the same results.
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“Hold it sideways and instead of throwing them in, try throwing them along the surface of the water,” Gary said as he joined Maxim on the shore. Maxim raised his left eyebrow, then shrugged and threw the stone as Gary said. It gave two skips before it sank into the water, but it was progress.
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“Thanks, mate,” Maxim grinned as he sat down on the ground, crossing his legs. “Going to that Quidditch camp again this year?” he asked.
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Gary shrugged, tearing a blade of grass and holding it up to his face. “Nah, my parents are planning on visiting Nonno and Nonna in Sicily. It’ll take up most of the summer,” he explained before trying to throw the blade of grass into the water. It sadly floated down a few inches away from the boys. “You?” Gary asked his friend, watching how the sun rays reflected from the other boy’s blond locks.
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“Same old, same old,” Maxim shrugged, closing his eyes and turning his face up to the sun. “Visiting those family friends, suffering through the introduction to their daughters, taking care of the animals, and so on,” he sighed. Maxim had a fight with his parents right before the exams and it promised a tense beginning of the summer.
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Sensing Maxim’s approaching bad mood, Gary tried something that always managed to cheer his friend up, if only for a little while. “Let me tempt you with some chocolate that I took from the kitchens?” Gary asked when he had enough of Maxim’s uncharacteristic melancholy silence by the water.
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Maxim perked up and jumped to his feet. “Temptation accomplished,” he grinned and offered Gary a hand. Pulling him up to his feet, both friends hurried back to the castle in search of a delicious treat.