Title: Rise Up Billywig Nation

Written for The Houses Competition, Year Two, Round Three.

House: Hufflepuff

Year: 5th

Category: Drabble

Prompt: [Creature] Billywig

Wordcount: 487 (Google Docs)

Thank you to Aya for the beta reading!

The cloudless sky almost sang to me as sweet nectar hummed in my veins. Bill and I were so sated, cross eyed and punch drunk, thinking we were the bees knees. We flew above the big footed and careless creatures, who crushed our flowers and squashed our nectar. Stuck to the ground, they weren't able to hurt us, slow as they were, unless we hurt them first. It was law, the way we were destined to live.

The Hand came, swifter than we knew, and snatched the flower right out from under Bill. He tipped sideways and almost toppled into the stream. That would have been his death, and his Billybody would have swept away with the current. Bill barely regained his balance and swerved out of the way. The Hand swooped down again, about to snatch Gerta's breakfast, too.

Oh, Gerta! The poor Billybird hadn't eaten all week, still mourning the loss of her cousin.

I wasn't about to let that Hand near Gerta. Before I could rein in my self-control, I gave a yell, jumped on that Hand, and sank my rear end right down. Fire travelled up my spine and pain seared my head. The tips of my Billywings screamed with Billyburn. All of my strength went into my wings to work my Billybutt out of that Hand.

The other Hand curved into the shape of a bowed leaf, coming straight for me. I had stung first, and it could see me now.

I strained upwards and forwards and any which way and finally my Billybutt released from the Hand. I spun my wings fast and flew far away. I looked back and saw Gerta heading high for the canopy, out of reach. But Bill had no clue. He was making the most of another flower.

"Bill!" I buzzed. I couldn't fly back in there, because I had been Billybusted. But then I realized that the Hands could see Bill too. They could see us all. In my effort to keep Gerta safe, I had put all Billywigs in danger.

"Pull out, pull out!" I yelled. But it was no use. The Hand had Bill.

I buzzed in a rage. "Save Bill! Save Bill!"

They must have heard me. Hundreds of Bills and Gertas rose up and went for skin. Their faces scrunched as the fire raged through them. When they pulled out, the careless creature rose slowly off the ground. Hands opened, flapping uselessly in the air, and Bill began to fall.

When he crashed on a patch of moss with his wings creased beneath him, it was worse than Gerta's cousin. I had never seen a Bill that still.

I landed next to Bill's broken body. The Hands rose up and up into the great white forever, and I bowed my head. All the Bills and Gertas buzzed above us in the canopy and bowed their heads too.

The Billywig Nation mourned.