Author's Note: I would like to give a huge thank you to my beta – Bex and Sam – for legit being queens and reading through this weird fic, especially after knowing how much of a writer's block I've been going through recently, and giving me really good feedback as always. I tried a bit of impulsive writing, because I've realized I become disillusioned the more I plan it out (I don't know if that's the right way to say it, but it works for me).
Please read and review if you have anything to say!
Just letting everyone know right now, this is based on Nearly Headless Nick's view on the Battle of Hogwarts.
stuck in the middle ground by ValkyrieAce
There is nothing you can do.
People scream around you. It pierces the heart that you've long lived without, and rings with an ache you're surprised to feel. The pain-filled cries of the injured reeks of a viscous miasma, and it fills you with rage. Rage that the school you've loved – and the students you've cared for – have been dragged into this utter mess.
The picture of chaos is what fills your vision.
Yells of forbidden curses, the sound of a person landing in their last moments, the vibration of the shielding spells all blur together in a disembodied symphony. It's displeasing and makes you want to crawl into a hole and hide, yet at the same time, it fills you with a sense of justice. The want to help and make things better.
Yet there is nothing you can do.
You see a first year student crawl toward a wall, yearning for the meagre sense of safety it may provide, and notice their left leg injured beyond repair, trails of blood marking her movements for all to see. You see a stunning spell fly in her direction.
She does not.
Hogwarts is no longer able to protect her students from harm.
The sudden realization of the fact petrifies you. There is no joy in the thought of Hogwarts at this moment. There are no memories relived, only the injured and the dead. There is no laughter or joy, only a battle fuelled by the hatred of an abandoned, homicidal teenager and other students – no, the brave wizards and witches – who fall prey to him.
Hogwarts is a shell of the place it once was.
Still, there is nothing you can do.
The fear spreads through your translucent body and you pray.
You pray that the world regains its balance and peace. You pray that the students conquer over evil and live to stand tall and proud. That are are able to laugh once more as the memories of this day washes away with time. That they are able to forget the fear that possessed them in this darkness.
But most of all, you pray that you do not exist to see another war as catastrophic as this one.
Because there is nothing you can do.
And the pain blinds you with unshed tears.
Fin
Word Count: 387
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry Prompts:
Term #10: Assignment #4 – Mythology: Events of Ragnarok, Task #2 – Yggdrasil: Write about an instance where fear spreads among a group of people.
365 Prompts – 285. Homicidal
The Insane Prompt Challenge – 701. Writing Style – Second Person
Yearly Scavenger Hunt – 52. Write for a character you've never written before.
Fortnightly Challenge – March – Women's History (by Elizabeth) – 3. Helena Ravenclaw — Write about a ghost. and Cabin Fever! (by Kim) – Treatments: 2. Trade "war" stories with others who are going through the same thing – Write a war fic.
The Return of the Chocolate Frog Cards Club – (Gold) Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington