'Our Solemn Hour' by Within Temptation
Writing World Cup – Neville Longbottom - Broken Glass, Victory, Tears, Grey
Within Temptation Competition – Neville Longbottom, Our Solemn Hour
52 Weeks of Writing – Week 2 – Greif
If You Dare Challenge – 94. Chains
He ran through the halls of Hogwarts, dodging spells thrown from enemy and allies alike, and prayed that there would be a way for the entire Wizarding World to redeem themselves of the destruction that they were causing.
He rounded yet another corner, wand held out protectively in front of him, still unprepared for the devastation that greeted him upon entering the Great Hall. He could see a group of sixth years that had obviously snuck back into the school fighting against several death Eaters, and wondered why no one had tried to stop them. This war had been in the making for years, but he couldn't see anyone gaining anything from this endless carnage.
The battle raged on throughout the castle, and he searched desperately for a familiar face in the insanity that surrounded him. The broken glass from the large window at the far end of the Hall crunched as he ran, making it harder for him to keep to his feet when every long stride made it feel as though his legs would go flying out from underneath him, even as it glistened in the dimming light underneath the grey bodies lying unmoving on the floor making the scene around him look grotesquely beautiful.
He watched in shock as a Death Eater fell, screaming and writhing in agony, and couldn't help feel a small amount of sympathy for the faceless wizard. In his mind, both sides were to blame for the misery and pain that had almost become an everyday occurrence in the past year. If they had stopped you-know-who when he first begun to enlist Death Eaters to his cause then things would have never reached this point.
None of them would be the same after this; none of them could truly claim innocence ever again. They would never be free of this; it would haunt them in their dreams and plague them in their waking-hours as they tried to keep their tears at bay. They would always remember the suffering that they would be witness to on this day, the way they fought for the victory that would ensure that this suffering was not in vain.
They'd all been so sure that Harry Potter would save them from these chains of never-ending agony, but were they really worth it?