Hello again everybody! So, as you might have noticed already, I have decided to delete my old story, also named In Honor, and rewritte it completely, hopefuly with regular updates that allow me to finish it.
As always, I do not own Harry Potter or his world. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling and the franchise. (I do own, however, all my OC's, so hopefully you'll like them).
Reviews letting me know about any gramar, spelling or language ingeneral will be realy appreciated.
Hope you enjoy this!
(The fight)
If anyone had ever been born to command respect, Rose Weasley thought, that person was Minerva McGonagall. She possessed all the skills that seem to always accompany a good teacher: the prim look of indisputable authority, the obvious intelligence, and the rare ability of making teenagers listen to her without even having to raise her voice.
Yes, Minerva McGonagall was born for people to respect her, therefore it was no estrange that as soon as she stepped through the doors every one in the crowded infirmary, who had been shouting and arguing and intensifying Rose's headache up until that moment, went quiet at once.
"What?" the older witch began, lips so firmly pressed together they were barely visible "Is the meaning of this?".
Nobody breathed for a second, and then, suddenly, several people starting shouting again, clearly blaming somebody else and wanting to be heard above the rest. Rose caught words like 'bloody Gryffindors' and even 'death eater spawn', they made her wince and her split lower lip started to bleed again.
"Silence" McGonagallall but barked "Miss Hathaway, if you may explain".
Liz Hathaway was the Head Girl, and the last person Rose would have expected to be involved in a fight (she was way too nice and patient for that). But to her surprise, she was standing by one of the beds closer to the door, with a nasty looking bruise growing on her face.
"I'm...I am sorry, Headmistress" Liz said, looking to her feet "I am not sure what happened".
"I see" McGonagall said calmly, but her eyes narrowed even more, if possible, as she looked at the Head Boy "Mister Wood?".
Liam Wood shook his head, pressing what Rose guessed to be a wet clothe against his bleeding nose.
"Am I to believe" McGonagall continued "that nobody knows how a fight that has ended up with dozens of injuries, and a part of the grounds blown up, started?".
"It was the Slytherins" someone back at the end of the room claimed, and a lot of other people agreed quickly.
"It was not!" a Slytherin girl Rose recognized from class exclaimed angrily "It was Jordan who called Sabrina 'Death Eater spawn' in the first place".
"You insulted his family first!" Rose's best friend and Liam's sister, Amy Wood, answered from her spot next to her unconscious boyfriend, who was no other than Jake Jordan "And every Hufflepuff, for that matter".
"Shut up, Amy" Amy's Hufflepuff cousin, Andy Bell, replied to Rose astonishment "We don't need Gryffindors to fight our battles, ".
"Yes, shut up Wood" the Slytherin girl replied, knotting her blonde hair in a ponytail with such force it was a mystery how none of it fell off. "You were the one who said they should have killed every Death Eater whole family after the war".
"After your friend Greengrass here said that DA members were only good for dying during the war" Elliot Davis, a Ravenclaw who had been Rose's potions partner the year before, snapped back.
"SILENCE" McGonagall suddenly bellowed, and the room went so silent Rose could swear people were not even breathing.
McGonagall's lips were trembling with fury. "Never, in all my years at Hogwarts had I been so embarrassed as I am today. Death Eater spawn and good for dying..."
She spoke slowly, like the simple pronunciation of the words was too much to ask. For Rose, however, were common sentences anyone could hear almost everyday directed to whoever they disliked.
"Apparently" McGonagall continued "You do not know that twenty-four years ago your families ended a war that had last for too long. A war to prevent anyone, no matter how powerful, how gifted, from believing himself better than the rest of us. A war in which hundreds of lives, of marvelous lives, were lost fighting for equality, and respect, no matter the family name, or the house, or their blood".
Everything stayed silent, even when McGonagall went silent for a few moments. Rose could feel a wave of shame hit her like a rock, even though she had had nothing to do with today's fight. Maybe it was just the way the Headmistress was looking at them all.
"You are Seventh Years" she continued at last, and Rose realized for the first time she was right. Almost everyone in the infirmary was in her year, and the ones who weren't, like her little brother Hugo, seemed to have ended up there as a collateral damage (Hugo had tried to step between Rose and a nasty jinx, and he had ended up with both legs glued together).
"And the fight, in which you hurt dozens of people may I add, was all about prejudices you all have created, or have adopted from the past. And the worst part is that you are about to enter the real world, and you do not even realize where those prejudices against family names and houses can lead you. But I assure you it's not pretty, and it's not worth it. I believed this was common knowledge, but apparently, I was mistaken".
Someone coughed quietly at the back, and a few people moved around uncomfortable.
Rose herself fidgeted nervously in her sit. She had never, ever, argued with anybody about their house or family, and of course she had never brought it up during an argument either. But still, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. Because she had never done anything to stop it, either.
She had stood quietly countless times, as she heard people using family's past during the War as a form of insult. Death Eaters. Cowards. Murderers. Lunatics.
Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie.
The sudden memory of her father's words took her by surprise. And she knew, really, that they had had more to do with and old school rivalry than with any prejudice, but still, it was not right. Scorpius Malfoy, who as far as Rose knew was a very decent person, didn't deserve people to even joke about what his father or grandfather had done. He was... staring right back at her.
Rose jumped, startled at the realization. She hadn't even noticed she had been staring at him up until that moment when his eyes met hers.
He raised and eyebrow towards his white blonde hair, and his lips curled sightly upwards. Like he was surprised, but in the best kind of way
Rose could feel her cheeks flushing furiously (her freckled skin had the ability of becoming absolutely scarlet in matter of seconds, a trait she had definitely inherited from the Weasleys) and she looked away quickly, using her hair to hide her face from him.
What in Merlin's name had just happened?
Before she got any time to think about it, though, Professor McGonagall continued as if she had not heard any of the soft whispers that were spreading across the room.
"Therefore, as you had clearly not learned the most valuable lesson the professors and myself can teach you during this last six years" she said "I have decided you are going to learn it. But not from us".
"Um, Professor?" Liam Wood said after a minute of silence "I'm sorry but what...What does that mean?".
Professor McGonagall didn't explain any further. And the answer to Liam Wood's question took almost twenty-four hours to arrive, in the form of a letter.
.
(The letter)
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
HEADMISTRESS: Minerva McGonagall
(Order of Merlin, First Class. Phoenix Cross)
Dear Miss Weasley,
In the light of the most recent events, the faculty of Hogwarts, along with Headmistress McGonagall, have decided to take what we believe to be necessary measures to assure it never happens again.
Therefore, every Seventh Year must hand a written essay about The War. Said essay will not be focused on the facts, or dates or concrete battles, but on the people who were affected by them. No matter what they did or if they did nothing at all. The composition must be based on at least eight conversations that you must maintain about the theme. Note that you can choose to ask about their life afterwards or before, and how it was changed by any of both wars.
We have also come to the agreement that, in order for the lesson we want you to learn to be completely understood, you will work in groups of four. Each member of the group will belong to a house and each group will present a single essay with everyone's participation.
Your group of work information is enclosed to this letter.
This assignment is mandatory, as anyone who has not handed his or hers essay by the first day of N.E. exams will not be allowed to graduate.
Sincerely,
Aurora Sinistra.
Deputy Headmistress.
MISS ROSE N. WEASLEY: group of work number 4:
Goldstein, Julianne K. (Ravenclaw).
Hathaway, Elizabeth K. (Hufflepuff).
Nott, Lyra F. (Slytherin).
Weasley, Rose N. (Gryffindor).
.
.