A.N Written for my team-mate. We have had no response from a reserve in the past three days.
Team: Tutshill Tornadoes
Position: Chaser 1 (Written by Chaser 3)
Writing about: conquering a land/nation (D-Day/invasion of Normandy)
Title: Casualties of War
Words: 1,655 (Using doc manager before adding A.N)
Prompts used: 3."Don't take yourself too seriously. And don't be too serious about not taking yourself too seriously." Howard Ogden, 6."Choose it or lose it", 14."Do what you want."
(Prompts explained below)
For those of you innocent people who stumble upon this one-shot and are unaware of my speaking of Quidditch, teams and nonsense, it is alright! This is for a sort of contest on a forum and nothing that you aren't allowed to read, so enjoy!
Also, I have tried to handle this topic the best I can, so I apologize for anything that is written that may be offensive.
Disclaimer: Characters and all other recognizable written words such as 'wand' belong to J.K Rowling.
The ramp fell.
The boy rushed forwards, gun in hand.
He heard shots, saw others falling.
As he looked ahead, his last thought zoomed through his brain,
"Dear God, keep my brother safe."
Then he fell as the bullets reached his body.
An older boy and his brother, both having steely grey eyes and coal-black hair, walked down the cobblestone street in the falling snow. They rushed into a bright shop, eyes alert. The bigger boy held a scowl of disgust as he entered it.
The shop had a counter and food behind it, though few, up for purchase.
"Ah, the Black boys, are ya?" a wide man smiled, popping up from behind the counter.
"Yes, we've come to pick up that turkey." the smaller boy nodded.
"Do you have my pay?" the man asked.
"Yes." the bigger boy responded, scowl still upon his face.
"Alright-alright, here ya are." the wide man said.
He picked up the turkey in wrappings and placed it on the counter. The smaller boy stepped up to give the money, but the bigger boy stopped him. He inspected it.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" the wide man asked, nervously. "Choose it, or lose it!"
He glanced outside, worried that the coppers would come by, stepping into the small shop. The bigger one rolled his eyes at the fat man.
"Just checking if you gave us our money's worth." he said, almost bored. "No need to get in a tiff."
It was now the fat man's turn to scowl.
"Well, are you just about finished?" he snapped.
The smaller boy elbowed the bigger one before he could respond. They shared a look before the smaller one stepped forewords. He threw the money onto the counter, grabbing the turkey off of it.
"Yes we are, sir." he said. "My apologies. My brother is not in the best state of mind today."
The fat man gruffly accepted it, and as the boys were leaving, said,
"You should learn a thing or two from your brother, Sirius Black! Might do you better."
When the boys got out onto the street, Sirius kicked the nearest thing, which happened to be a wall. His brother, stood behind him, watching.
"You could just swallow your pride and show the man some respect." he said.
Sirius whipped around, eyes narrowing on his brother.
"Respect him, respect him?!" Sirius snarled.
"Yes," his brother said, unfazed.
Sirius chuckled humourlessly.
"Oh they trained you well, Regulus."
"I do not agree with their views, as much as you do, but for now-"
"There are children dying, there are people becoming homeless because of these bombings!" Sirius interrupted. "There are people starving, starving Regulus! Yet here we are, buying illegal food-"
"Shut it!" Regulus snapped.
Silence overcame them, a passing family stared at the two boys who stood still. When they were gone and the street was once again empty, except for them, Regulus spoke.
"Listen, Sirius." he sighed. "Neither of us can do anything about this predicament we are currently in."
Sirius looked away from his brother, knowing it was true. What could he do? He couldn't very well give away the turkey. His mother and father would lock him away for days. They thought all poor were below them. Sirius hated every moment of it.
As he looked away, he saw a poster. He had seen it for days, on walls and stores all over.
He looked back at his brother.
"Alright." Sirius nodded. "I-I just need some time to think. You can go on ahead."
Regulus looked at his brother suspiciously.
"Do what you want, but be back before dinner. Mother will lose it if you're not around by then. We're having our cousin's over." he said, before turning away.
"And I'm the older one." Sirius muttered under his breath.
Sirius waited for Regulus to go around the corner before heading the other way down the street.
Regulus followed Sirius down the road, knowing whatever was happening would lead to disaster.
His brother had always done rash things after being angry. Just as outside the shop.
Regulus expected his brother to dismiss him rather than agree. It was out of character. That was why he was currently following him.
Sirius stepped into the building, excitement building up inside of him. He would be able to do this. He could contribute to the war. He was of age and he would be accepted. His parents would hate that. Happiness soared through him at the thought.
Sirius stood, in a line with other soldiers, awaiting orders. His parents had been angry with him that he signed up without speaking to them first.
"Alright you lot, listen here!" their commander yelled. "You've prepared for today, now you're going to be assigned a partner."
He had ageing brown hair and cool blue eyes. The man was well-respected, losing a leg in the Battle of Sharqat, 1918. He named off names, eventually reaching Sirius'.
"Black, Potter!"
Sirius glanced around as he stepped up to one of the machine guns. Another boy with unkempt black hair and rectangular-shaped glasses stepped towards him, holding out a hand.
"I'm James Potter." the boy greeted, grinning.
"Sirius Black." Sirius grinned back
"I am eighteen, sir! I'm big enough!"
"-Potter, Black."
"Yes!" Sirius grinned at James.
"We're in!" James cheered back.
"I can't wait to get those Jerry's!" Sirius said.
The two laughed.
The boy swallowed, watching the other. He held the gun close to his chest, afraid for both of them.
"Alright, Operation Overlord is a go, 3 H-hours!"
Sirius and James glanced at each other.
"First wave, leaving!"
The boy ducked into his own boat, awaiting the next call.
He was scared, most honestly afraid, and hoped that his brother would be safe.
An hour flew by.
"Second wave, leaving!"
This was it.
"1 H-hour!" their commander yelled.
"All main, depart!" the commander shouted.
Sirius felt the boat he was in, shift.
It was time.
"I'm scared."
Sirius and James stood close together their metal helmets hiding the tops of their heads in a group of other boys their age. They were on a landing craft.
"It'll be alright." James assured. "Just finish this mission and we'll be off back home in time for english breakfast."
"I don't want to be back at home for english breakfast." Sirius snapped.
"Then you can come to mine." James smiled. "I forgot your house wasn't exactly your cup of tea."
Sirius laughed at that.
The ramp fell.
The boy rushed forwards, gun in hand.
He heard shots, saw others falling.
As he looked ahead, his last thought zoomed through his brain,
"Dear God, keep my brother safe."
Then he fell as the bullets reached his body.
Sirius could see the beach slowly coming closer and closer. He could see the bodies, the destruction and the smoke.
James looked at him.
Both had faces of war.
The landing craft reached the beach.
"GO! GO! GO!" the lead commander of the platoon yelled.
Sirius and James rushed forwards.
They ducked down, rushing behind some nearby cover. James set up the machine gun, Sirius got the ammunition prepared. Quickly, they began to shoot.
Suddenly, one of the men from their platoon staggered to them. He fell, clutching his leg.
"H-help." he gasped. "My bloody leg."
"Can you work the ammunition?" Sirius asked.
"Y-yes..."
"Good, do it while I get a pack from one of them." Sirius commanded, pointing to a body.
"Y-yes, s-sir."
But Sirius was already crawling towards the body. He went quick, feeling like every moment might be his last. Sirius saw the bodies, scattered across the beach. Sirius reached the body and turned it over.
He glanced at the face and froze.
It was a boy who was identical to him, yet younger.
A boy he knew quite well.
A boy he thought was at home, following his mother's orders.
Regulus.
Tears swam in his eyes.
He began to sob uncontrollably.
"R-Reg-" he gasped for air. "NO! Not you, no, wake up! WAKE UP!"
"But Siri! I wanna! I wanna!" Regulus cried, pouting.
"No! You are too little!" Sirius said, pointing the paint brush at him. "You just will mess it all up! I want to do this on my own!"
"No I not!" Regulus said. "I get it all nice! I a good boy."
"It is too hard for you. I will do it. Go away."
"BLACK!" he heard James' voice.
Sirius collapsed over his brother, tears falling off of his chin. Some went into his mouth and he could feel the salt.
"Reg..."
"Hey, Reg!" Sirius grinned. "Check out this wicked game the other guys came up with!"
"I'd rather not." Regulus responded, turning the page of the book.
Sirius came and stood behind him, reading the first line of the book.
"Don't take yourself too seriously. And don't be too serious about not taking yourself too seriously." Sirius read aloud. "That certainly applies to you, Reg."
"How so?" Regulus asked, continuing to read.
"Because you're a stick in the mud."
"And you're not serious enough."
"Nonsense, I was named Sirius for a reason."
"The irony is hilarious."
Sirius pouted.
"BLACK! Get your arse over here!"
Sirius hugged his brother's body, hands shaking.
"I love you." he whispered.
Then he grabbed the medi-pack and crawled away.
As he worked on the boy's leg, he remained quiet.
"So-" James began, attempting to proper the machine gun. "What's your name?"
"Remus-" the boy responded, groaning at the pressure of the bandage. "Lupin."
Sirius sat back.
"Well-" James took another round of shots. "I'm James Potter, that's Sirius Black."
Sirius nodded but stared into nothing as he helped with the ammunition.
"We have now secured a position here in Normandy!" a voice shouted. "We have succeeded."
Sirius snorted.
They did not succeed.
There were still bodies strewn across the sand.
And his brother was one of them.
A.N I wanted to make this very emotional. Hopefully I did.
Not in a bad way, or anything.
Just it would be great if I knew that I resulted you to tears.
Let's me know I'm a decent writer.
I wrote this for another team member since she is currently unavailable and we could not get any reserves...
It was probably really bad, but it was (guiltily) fun.
Anyway, so yes! Sirius, Regulus, James, Remus, etc. are all Muggles...well, there's no wizarding world. The Black family think themselves above others and have/want nothing to do with the war.
Since Regulus died before Sirius did, I did that...
I chose D-Day because I find it interesting. Especially since the 70th anniversary was only days ago.
I am a person with limited words I know were used in 'Operation Overlord'. So I hope those few words suffice. My dad told me that the first wave departs before H-hour which is when the main people and stuff depart.
So, here are the prompts explanations:
3."Don't take yourself too seriously. And don't be too serious about not taking yourself too seriously." Howard Ogden: I put it in Sirius' really short flashbacks because I couldn't think of it to fit anywhere else. So, Regulus was reading a book and Sirius read one of the lines from it which was the quote. Then they joked about it.
6."Choose it or lose it": The fat/wide man says that to both Sirius and Regulus. He doesn't want to be arrested and so, wants to get rid of the turkey quickly.
14."Do what you want.": Regulus says this to Sirius when they depart from each other in the beginning. He's dismissing him, but is suspicious as explained.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it :)
Cheers,
Lupe