Each year Students Publish Here! sponsors a writing contest. In past years the contest has been to use a list of random words to compose a poem. This year the contest involves writing an extension to a modern piece of fiction. This is a short short story that tells what happens to the main character(s) after the end of the published work. Write about your favorite characters: the hobbits, the talking horses of Narnia, or Merlin and King Arthur. Here is an example of an extension to the Harry Potter novels.
Harry Potter took a deep breath snapping the box closed and slipping it back in to his pocket. It was a lovely autumn day; a light wind blew through his hair as he stood on the beach waiting for Ginny. Harry had taken Ginny on holiday to a small cabin on a peaceful beach in Wales. As Harry waited for Ginny to go for walk down the beach with him, he glanced down at the gold watch the Wesley’s had given him for his seventeenth birthday.
So much had happened since that day, some things as he had never dreamed would happen and some he had only hoped for. For sure one of the highlights had been getting his girlfriend Ginny back. Harry thought of how good the last couple of years had been with her. He thought of his best friends Ron and Hermione, who had gone to the mountains of Iceland for their holiday. The previous day Harry and Ginny had received an owl message that they were going get married the following spring. Ron, Ginny’s brother, was Harry best friend so they were both immensely excited for them; and sent the owl back with a letter of their congratulations. And what about Neville? Had he gotten the job at Hogwarts as Herbology teacher that he had applied for?
Just then Harry was torn from his thoughts; as he saw Ginny’s red hair coming over the sand dunes. Harry took another deep breath and walked to meet her.
“About a lot of things; about all that’s happened in the last three years, about Ron and Hermione, about you,” Harry paused as Ginny stopped walking and looked up at him.
“What about me?” Ginny asked.
Harry didn’t hesitate. “About how much I love you,” he said simply. Harry considered whether he should go ahead and do it or say something before. Ginny looked as though she didn’t know that to say, and Harry made his decision. He let go of Ginny’s hand and slipped his hand down into his pocket where his wand and a small box sat. Taking out the box, Harry opened it and looked down into Ginny’s eyes and said four simple words,” Will you marry me?”
Ginny was grinning ear to ear; she looked at the ring and back up at Harry, and stammered back “Yes, yes, of course I will!”
Harry took the ring from the small box slipping the box back in his pocket and slipped the ring onto Ginny’s finger. She stood admiring the ring for a moment, a beautiful silver Goblin-made ring with a shiny topaz in the center. When Ginny lifted her head, Harry leaned over and kissed her.
Harry was ecstatic! He had been planning this trip for months and she had said yes! Suddenly, there was the sound of fireworks overhead; Harry wonder whether he was imagining it, but Ginny seemed to have heard it also. They drew apart. There on a sand dune near the cabin stood Ron with his arm around Hermione and his wand in the air producing to fireworks!
“Oh!” Ginny exclaimed. “I forgot to tell you, Hermione sent an owl said they were coming for dinner!”
Harry was overly excited to see them; he had not seen much of them over the last six months because they had been traveling all over Europe together. “Sounds brilliant!” he said taking Ginny’s hand once more, but now feeling the cool silver of the ring. ”They’ll be the first to hear.”
“Hear what?” asked Hermione.
“Sounds like we’ll be haven a double wedding,” said Ginny happily holding out her hand toward Ron and Hermione.
“Well you did it, mate. I was starting to think you were having second thoughts when we didn’t hear anything,” said Ron.
“And you did it to say congratulations,” Harry replied.
“What? Do you mean to say you knew and didn’t tell me?” demanded Hermione.
“Course, we planned it together months ago when we planned our trips; we bought the rings together!” explained Ron. “That’s why I knew it was all right to send the fireworks!”
“Well, let’s go up to the cabin and have some supper,” interrupted Ginny trying to distract Hermione from lecturing Ron.
“And,” Harry added, “Ginny and I have some owls to send!”
The four friends began to walk up the sand dunes to the cabin, Ginny’s hand in Harry’s, and Hermione’s hand in Ron’s.
END