Disclaimer: I'm just sharing JKR's toys.
A/N: This is a little plot bunny that attacked me at work. I hope you enjoy it.
A stooped, white-haired man of at least 100 made his way to stand behind the black draped podium. Looking out at the sea of faces, he blinked back a tear and cleared his throat. Once the assembled mourners quieted, he began to speak.
"When my cousins asked me to speak today, I had no idea what to say. What do you say about a man who has accomplished so much and lived so long? I finally approached my parents' portrait to ask for advice. My dad said to just talk about what a great uncle he had been, but my mum said to talk about what he treasured most: family. I thought about it and decided I could do both.
"When I was a little boy and my dad was away playing for the Cannons, my uncle spent my birthday teaching me to fly. I was three years old at the time and my mother was horrified. She had forbidden my father to teach me until I was at least seven, and he was too terrified of her to defy her wishes."
Several audience members who had known his parents chuckled.
The man smiled slightly and continued, "My uncle remembered how disappointed I had been the previous Christmas when all of my cousins had gotten to fly his new broom and my mum insisted I was too young. He promised that he'd teach me as soon as I was older and teach me he did.
"I remember my mum standing on the ground with her wand raised as I flew what I now know was a professional racing broom with no special child safety charms installed. My uncle just laughed and told her that 'flying was in my blood' and to 'let the boy be a wizard.' It was years later that he informed my mum he had put a cushioning charm on the ground 'just in case.' As far as I know, he never told her about the sticking charm he'd placed on my bottom as well."
More laughter ensued.
"Of course, this is the same man who tore a strip off that same bottom when he caught me flying into my dorm window at two in the morning just to prove it could be done. I guess I should add that I'd already flown out of the window and buzzed around the headmaster's tower twice before I flew back in. It was that night that I learned that being the headmaster's nephew had no benefits. It was a very embarrassed second year who had to write home and explain exactly why the headmaster had confiscated the broom he, himself, had given me the previous Christmas."
Again, laughter was heard.
"The point of these two stories is that to my uncle, family was the most important thing. I cannot recall a single family get-together that didn't find him in the middle of wherever the children were at some time during the day. He was equally at home among the adults, and that he loved us all was never in doubt. It's hard to believe that he, who once had no family at all, became everyone's favorite relative. I mean no disrespect to my aunt—we all loved her, too—but Uncle Harry was our favorite, and we already miss him.
Thank you."
The old man carefully stepped away from the podium and rejoined his family in the audience.
Today, a great man's life was being celebrated, but to his surviving family—children, god-children, sons- and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews—he was just Harry. A title he had striven for all his life.
The End.
