AUTHOR NOTE:
A SONGFIC BASED ON 'TURNING' IN THE FILM 'LES MISERABLES' WRITTEN TO COMMEMORATE THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS.
THE SECOND OF MAY WAS ALWAYS HARD BUT THIS YEAR ESPECIALLY...
I own neither Harry Potter or Les Mis. This is just for fun and feels. Don't blame me if you cry. I did.
Did you see them going out to fight
Minerva remembered the hope and desperation in each of their faces as one by one they stood to fight for the freedom they from the overwhelming darkness.
Children of the barricade
Children of Hogwarts. Children of war. She remembered every one of their names. The children she had taught and protected and sent out to die. She remembered their faces as excited and nervous eleven year-olds. The ones who lived and the ones who died. The ones she fought with. And the ones against. She had taught some of their parents. Now she taught their children.
Who didn't last the night
Fred Weasley. Nymphadora Tonka. No. Lupin. Foolish girl. Colin Creevey. Creevey who was underage. Creevey who she had sent away. Creevey who, five years before, she had explained the wonder of magic to. Creevey whose parents she had to explain the limits to. How their son could never return. Remus Lupin who had finally got all he deserved only to have it cruelly snatched away. Lavender Brown. So pretty in life so savagely destroyed.
She could name others if she wanted to.
Bella Black who fell to the darkness. Who ended up a savage murderer. James and Lily Potter. Sirius Black who died laughing. Ted Tonks, such a kind and talented boy. Peter Pettigrew who started with hero worship and ended with betrayal and violence. Cedric Diggory. Severus Snape. Now that one was a...
Stop! Minerva was almost weeping. Enough. There would be time for that later.
Did you see them lying where they died?
She had helped carry the bodies. Hunting down these children in the castle that was supposed to keep them safe.
Someone used to cradle them and kiss them when they cried.
Arthur Weasley holding his beloved daughter back at the sight of Potter's "corpse". Then cradling his boy George while tears streamed down his own face. Andromeda cradling her poor little grandson as she stood by her daughter's body, refusing to be comforted herself.
Did you see them lying side by side?
In a line. In the middle of the Great Hall where they had once laughed and complained. Cried and loved. Lived. It was twenty long years ago to the day but she wouldn't forget. Not ever.
Who will wake them? No-one ever will.
Not even magic can awaken the dead. Not even magic can reverse the past. All that is left behind is the memories and the promise to live.
No-one ever told them that a summer's day could kill
Except that she had. "We duel to kill" she had warned them.
They were schoolboys never held a gun. Fighting for a new world that would rise up like the sun.
What had Lupin said? Potter told her once. Something about his son growing up knowing "I died trying to make the world a better place for him to live in".
There was a muggle song like that. Something about fighting for a new world. How did if go again?
WHERE'S THAT WORLD WHEN ALL THE FIGHTING'S DONE?
That was it. Well this at least she could claim. They had made the world a better place for the children of the new world. Perhaps this time... This generation might live in peace. And the children of Potter and Weasley; Granger, Longbottom, Malfoy and the rest would grow up in a happy world without the pain and division that destroyed the childhoods of their parents.
Perhaps this time she would finally be outlived...