A/N: For the Houses Competition. Thanks to the challenge mods and judges for another amazing year!
House: Ravenclaw
Year: 5
Category: Drabble
Prompt: Reflection
Word count: 543
After every death, there are hundreds of firsts. The first day - one you think you may never survive, and yet you do. The first birthday they aren't here to celebrate, when they should have grown older but couldn't. The first Christmas, when the room seems quiet in their absence. And, perhaps most importantly, the first year - twelve whole months since they left, since you lost.
There are, of course, many firsts in between, and still more to come, but the first year is perhaps the most telling. 365 days - has one of them gone by without a thought of them? Have you smiled rather than cried at their memory? Has nothing changed, or has everything?
These questions had different answers for everybody on the 2nd of May, 1999, one year since the Battle of Hogwarts. There was a special service at Hogwarts, and witches and wizards from all over the country came to remember the dead.
"It has been exactly one year since the atrocities of Voldemort came to an end," Minerva called out, standing in front of the crowd of mourners. "And exactly one year since that ending exacted a terrible price, one I'm sure we all wish we had never been forced to pay."
She sighed, bowing her head for a moment, before clearing her throat and looking back up. "It is a sad day," she said, hearing sobs from within the crowd. "And we are right to mourn and to cry. And so, I ask you all to reflect on this year, and on this expensive peace we have bought.
"Think of your loved ones - your friends, your siblings, your children. Think of their courage and their bravery, of their smiles and their laughter, of their love and their life. Remember them, because we must not forget."
Minerva stopped, overcome with emotion. She glanced out at the people before her, many of whom had tears slipping down their cheeks, eyes closed and shoulders shaking. Many were also smiling faintly, as they remembered their loved ones and reflected on everything that had happened before and since the battle one year ago.
In turn, Minerva bowed her head again and closed her own eyes. She thought of Fred Weasley, always a troublemaker, but she had liked him all the same. She thought of Remus Lupin and Tonks, of how cruel it was that Death had snatched them away just as they had been so happy. She thought of Colin Creevey and Lavender Brown and Vincent Crabbe, all so terribly young. A few tears slid down her cheeks as she thought and remembered, and yet she smiled, knowing that this is what all those fallen would want for them.
She sighed softly, feeling the weight of the past year begin to lift a little. Tomorrow would be a year and one day since the war had ended. She knew that the end of the year would not mean that everything would suddenly be alright again, that she would not wake up and feel the sorrow of all those deaths. But, she thought, perhaps it would be a start. Perhaps, tomorrow would be the next first - the first time she would stop counting the days and start moving on.
It was a comforting thought.
Thank you guys for reading and thanks once again to the challenge mods! Please leave a review if you have a moment!