Now, I know it's not Christmas This was written for the Remembrance Day event "Lest We Forget" in The Golden Snitch.
Prompts used: (word) peace, (word) home, (word) trench, (object) letter, (setting) Anywhere in which a Muggle conflict was known to take place (trenches WWI)
Word Count: 969
They had said it was the war to end all wars. The war to bring peace and freedom to the world.
It most certainly did not feel like it to Jürgen Schmidt. Not anymore. This was far from the great adventure he had been promised. You'll be back in time for Christmas, they had said. 'A Trip To Paris', they had called it, as if it was a fun activity.
After four months of sitting in the trenches, Jürgen couldn't help but doubt these promises. The first few weeks had worked well but then they had encountered the British and French armies and their progress had stopped. All they had done was dig themselves some trenches to protect them.
What did anyone actually gain from this whole endeavour? The front line never moved more than a couple of kilometres over the Belgian—and French, according to rumors—terrain and he could not figure out what on earth made the area of Ypern and the surrounding kilometres so damn important. It wasn't like they brought the Archduke and his wife back to life or anything.
Like many others, he just wanted to go home. Back to his family and back to his friends. Back to the woods and hills his village was built in. Back to the place and the people of his childhood. Even missed his teachers back in Durmstrang and his job as a baker.
Anything was better than this. Sitting in the mud half of the time and almost being killed the other half. Wasn't that some fun and excitement?
Every day was spent the same and every day one hoped that the poor sots that would be killed on that particularly day weren't their friends or they themselves.
It was particularly hard for the wizards in their group, as there had been a ball of all eleven elite schools held in Castelobruxo just months before the war broke out. They were recognizing some of the faces that fought on the other side.
Of course the same might be true for some muggles, too, but Jürgen was reasonably certain that their chances were much lower.
Which did not mean that this whole mess was any less painful for them. He was sure that no one could find this amusing or entertaining.
It was tiring and exhausting. And the cold most certainly did not help. Neither did the fact that their rations seemed to get smaller every time most certainly did not help, even if he was pretty sure that is was just his imagination. After all everyone still got send good food from home occasionally, that had to mean that there was still a lot to go around, didn't it?
They were all just waiting to join their fellow soldiers in death, Jürgen supposed, because their chances of escaping the trenches was just about zero, unless they lost a limb. Not just a finger or so, it had to be an arm or a leg, something that would completely prevent them from being useful here.
All of that happened around them every single day. They had long since given up hope that they would escape unscratched, nevermind have a peaceful Christmas, like the Pope had suggested.
Jürgen had actually debated stunning everyone around him for the duration of it, but he had quickly realized that not only that would break the Statue of Secrecy, he also had a high chance of being killed in the process. It was not worth the effort, no matter how much he wanted to open his presents from home in peace. He even got a letter from the major of his village!
Then, suddenly, he heard his saw some of his fellow soldiers place candles above the trenches. What were they doing? These candles would just make their position clear! Jürgen did not want to die on Christmas!
But the expected shoots did not come. Instead, he heard some singing.
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
Alles schläft, einsam wacht,
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar
Holder Knabe mit lockigem Haar
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh
The music gave him a feeling of warmth and home that he had not expected to feel ever again; or at the very least not here. He had joined in as soon as he had recognized the song as did most others around him.
Then—and that was the most surprising thing by far today—he heard applause from the direction of the British. There was no way that this just happened.
"If you like it so much, you might as well join in!" some brave soul shouted over to the British lines.
There was some laughter, before a young man replied, "I'd rather die than sing in German!"
"And we will kill you for it," Heinrich, his friend, declared, smiling for the first time in weeks.
Jürgen found himself smiling too and to his amazement, he heard the British sing their version of the song.
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
It was truly beautiful and it seemed to change what everyone thought of each other.
"Let us bury our dead!" his general, Alfred Baldus, requested the next morning.
"Then let us do the same!" was the only reply they got.
One by one, they left the trenches to collect their dead.
Just as they were about to return to their trenches, someone—it did not matter if it was a general or a private, a Brit or a German—proposed they play a game of football together. The proposal was met with great enthusiasm.
It was truly a Christmas miracle and Jürgen did not think that he would ever forget it. Not that he wanted to.
Please tell me what you think!
~Marvelgeek42