Memorial
It was time.
She stood up slowly from her seat at the Head Table, and the masses of people in front of her and around her followed her lead out of the Great Hall. There were so many people attending that the silent and eerie lineup exiting the castle looked like a rippling black wave spilling onto the grounds.
It was not as sweltering hot as it could have been, with the sun still out and shining down on them, even with everyone dressed in black. It was windy, and it had rained the evening before, so many clouds still lingered overhead as Minerva lead the procession to the stone monument standing in a secluded area of the grounds of Hogwarts.
It seemed as if the entire Wizarding population of Britain were at the school today – student, professors, parents, Ministry officials and workers, residents of Hogsmeade – it was so amazingly crowded and yet they all managed to surround the pillar-like monument that stood in the large clearing, a small cemetery in the background. It was also as quiet as it could be with so many people, all there to pay their respects and to remember those who had fought and passed this day thirteen years ago.
"Thirteen years ago," echoed the voice, loud and clear in the morning air, crackling just slightly, old with use. She was standing a little bit inside of the circle around the monument, dressed in a long, regal and black robe, her wand to her throat, Sonorus charm in place.
Someone coughed in the background before she started again.
"Thirteen years ago, this day was the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. Thirteen years ago, we lived in fear and suspicion of each other, no matter how close we were; an anxiety that wouldn't go away. Thirteen years ago, hundreds and hundreds of wizards, witches, magical beings, beasts and creatures participated in a battle on these very grounds that decided whether that fear and anxiety would stay or go."
She took a breath. "On May 2nd, 1998, thirteen years ago, Lord Voldemort and his followers fell in battle and were defeated and those who were still alive were incarcerated or made to contribute back and help the injured Wizarding society." She paused again, looking around. "But they were not the only ones to fall."
There was a gasp somewhere in the crowd; someone had begun to cry. She ignored it, turning stiffly. "More than fifty of our brothers and sisters in arms died in this battle, not including those who had died previously in the First and Second Voldemort Wars." The crier had seemed to control themselves, as there was only an assortment of sniffling in the crowd now.
"It is today that we have chosen as a Wizarding community to celebrate a freedom from Lord Voldemort's reign of terror, and also to pay our respects to and remember those who have fought and those who had died in the campaign against Voldemort."
McGonagall glanced at the Ministry of Magic who nodded at her.
"Let us stand now for a moment of silence to remember those who had passed and those who had paid a price in order to give us our current peace and freedom."
For Hogwarts, we will rise to the occasion and take up arms to defend her,
and we will fall to defend her and protect all that she stands for.
Let us remember on every May 2nd the losses of Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Severus Snape, Colin Creevey, and the others that died, including those previous: Alastor Moody, Dobby, Hedwig, Albus Dumbledore, Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, and many more.
And for those of you who care for Voldie and his merry men? Well, yeah, you can cry for them too. xD