House: Gryffindor
Position: Year 2 Stand In
Category: Additional (A Happy Occasion)
Prompt: [Event] Remembrance Day
Word Count (excluding header): 1216
Beta: Angel
At five years old, Rose was aware that the garden behind her house backed up to Potter's Field. However, that didn't make any sense to her. Her Uncle Harry and his family lived a few towns over. Her neighbors were the Goldsteins and Thomases.
Rose did not like being confused, so she asked her mother to explain.
"A potter's field is a place where people were buried," her Mum said.
"Why don't they have pretty stones like the ones for Uncle Fred and Teddy's Mum and Dad?" Rose asked.
"When they were buried, no one knew who most of those people were. Either they were completely unknown or too poor to pay for an individual grave with a marker. They might have been soldiers who fought for the king's army and died in battle or they could have been travelers who lost their way. No one knows."
"So they don't have family and friends who visit them?" Rose asked.
Her mum shook her head. "No sweetie. The people buried in that field have been there for so long that anyone who might have known and loved them is long gone."
"That's so sad." Rose thought for a moment. "What if I visit them?"
Her mother smiled. "That's a wonderful idea. Why don't we host a little party for Remembrance Day?"
"What's that?"
"Remembrance Day commemorates the end of the First Muggle World War. People remember the loved ones they lost and the brave men and women who fought for what they thought was right."
"Sort of like Victory Day?" Rose asked, referencing the annual celebration honoring people like her Uncle Fred, Teddy's parents, and Great Auntie and Uncle Lily and James. Her parents had explained that they had all lost their lives in a great wizarding war.
"Exactly." Her mother smiled at her clever daughter.
"So we can have a party to remember all the people who buried in the potter's field even if we don't know who they are?" Rose asked.
"Of course we can. Now, who would you like to invite?"
"Uncle Harry, Uncle Harry! You came!"
"I wouldn't miss this for anything," Harry said as he scooped Rose up and kissed her cheek. "I think it's wonderful that you wanted to have this party."
"Everyone's already out back," Rose said as she dragged him through the house. "Auntie Ginny said that you were going to be late because you had to go into work for a little while. Mum said that you wouldn't mind if we started without you, but I wanted to wait."
"You didn't have to do that, Rose."
"It's important that everyone is here to remember," Rose said. "Oh," she dug through her pocket and pulled out a smashed red flower. "Mum says it's traditional to wear poppies on Remembrance Day."
Harry leaned down and let Rose pin the flower to his shirt. He only flinched a little bit when she accidentally stabbed him.
Once they reached the back garden, Rose ran off to gather her cousins, and Harry joined in the conversation with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.
"Do you know what Rose has planned?" he asked.
Hermione shook her head. "No, not really. She told me who she'd like to invite and I arranged that. But this is her thing."
"It's sort of weird," Ron said. "My daughter wanted to throw a party to celebrate a bunch of random dead guys in the backyard."
"Ronald!" Hermione scolded.
Harry and Ginny shared a small smile at Ron's expense.
"What? I'm just saying that it's a bit strange."
Hermione glared, but her retort was cut short by Rose.
"Now that everyone's here," she yelled, "It's time to get this fun-eral started!"
"I think you mean funeral, sweetie," Hermione said.
"Nope!" Rose declared. "It's a fun-eral. This isn't a sad party like a funeral. We're going to celebrate and remember all the people who are buried here."
"I like the way this girl thinks," George chimed in.
Everyone laughed.
"Thanks, Uncle George! Now, I want everyone to go into the field and lay their poppies down on one of the graves. Then you'll make up a story about the person who is buried there."
"I thought we were supposed to be remembering those people, not making stuff up," James complained.
Rose shot her cousin a look that was a mirror image of the glare that Hermione had leveled at Ron earlier. "We don't know who they are. But the important thing is that we remember that they lived and that people might have loved them once. Since those people are gone too, we have to do the remembering for them."
"I'm game," George said. He led the way into the potter's field.
"How do we know where anyone was buried?" Harry whispered to Hermione. "The field is leveled out and grassed over."
"Just pick a spot and spread out," Hermione said. "We have to support Rose."
"I think it's wonderful that she's doing this," Harry said. "I just didn't want to mess it up for her."
He halted at a position in between Ron and Hermione. Dropping his poppy, he glanced down at the ground and began crafting a life story for the person who might have been buried there.
Rose called their attention. "Alright everyone, we'll start. Daddy? Who are you remembering?"
Ron's eyes bulged for a moment before he settled. "This is Mr. Thompson. He was a Muggle farmer who raised goats. He forgot to feed them one day, so they tried to eat him instead. He was buried here after people gathered up all his body parts when the goats pooped him out."
"Ronald!" Hermione hissed.
Everyone else burst out laughing.
"Good job, Daddy! We remember you, Mr. Thompson."
A hush fell over the field.
"OK. It's your turn now, Mum."
The party continued well into the afternoon with everyone taking turning sharing outrageous stories about the people who might have been buried in the field. Finally, the last partygoer shared his story.
"This is General Jeremiah McHollybells," George said somberly. "He led a bunch of peasants and tried to overthrow the king in London. Except he always sat backwards on his horse, so we wound up heading towards Scotland instead. He died when his horse reared up and dump him face first into a well. We remember you, General McHollybells!"
"Thank you all for coming today and celebrating Remembrance Day with me," Rose said. "These people all deserve to be remember." She then led the partygoers out of the potter's field and back towards the house.
"This was the strangest Remembrance Day event that I've ever seen, but in a way it was sort of perfect," Harry said.
Hermione slung her arm around her old friend. "I'm proud of her. She's got a good heart."
"She gets it all from me," Ron added.
Hermione gave her a warning look.
"I'm kidding!" he insisted. "She's just like you. Always looking for the good in people and sticking up for those who can't stand up for themselves."
"I hope when we're gone someone will do this for us. That someone, who never knew us or what we did or who we fought for, will take the time to remember that we simply lived."
"They will, Hermione," Harry promised. "They'll remember."