Intro

The majority of my prompts have come from my family. As of now, I have only created 2. Doesn't sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but I have more prompts that I haven't yet written so if you saw the list, you'd understand better.

Anyhow, today is Veteran's Day and I'm hesitant to draw attention to myself as a vet. Why? Hell if I know. I served for 3 years during peacetime and in my family of Marines, I'm a soldier... and overlooked by them often. Okay, that's probably why. I'm a grown woman, for cripe's sake. Whatever, not the point.

The point is, it got me thinking about this...

- Day 11 -

Harry was eleven when he first heard he was a wizard. Harry was eleven when he first heard that he was a 'hero' and 'famous'. Harry was eleven when he finally heard how his parents truly died and why… and by whom. To be more accurate, Harry was told all of this on the day of his eleventh birthday by someone he had just met… a giant of a man that forced his way into the building, threatened his uncle and cursed his cousin with a pig's tail… a real honest pig's tail growing from Dudley's bum. It was brilliant.

Hagrid did his best to ensure that the boy knew all of this before he entered the wizarding school. Especially since all other students would be aware of these past events and forewarned is forearmed when it came to dealing with the information.

Harry never really liked his scar. It was ugly, it was in the middle of his forehead and he was teased about it often by his cousin and his stupid friends. Besides, Aunt Petunia told him he got it in the car accident that killed his parents. It was a reminder of how he failed to die with them.

Not that the story was entirely true. It was most definitely a reminder of how he failed to die with his parents, but he did not get it in a car accident. No, that stupid scar that he had already didn't care for was where his parents' murderer had tried to kill him and failed. Now, Harry hated his scar for more than just aesthetic reasons.

But that was two months ago and now it was Hallowe'en, October 31, the tenth anniversary of his parents' murder… and the entire school was celebrating.

Harry had never been a huge fan of Hallowe'en. He wasn't allowed to do the fancy dress or go to houses for sweets. He was always holed up in his cabinet under the stairs, told freaks don't get to celebrate holidays.

Only, Harry was no longer living under the stairs. He was not currently living in the Dursley home and while the students of Hogwarts didn't do the fancy dress, they did at least enjoy sweets during the evening feast.

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table and looked around at the decorations. The carved pumpkins were enormous and floated overhead with the lit candles. Live bats flew in formations from one wall to the other, to the ceiling and swooped at tables in a dance only they knew. And when the gold plates appeared on the table, so did the feast of cakes, apples, sweets of all sorts and Hallowe'en decorations.

The entire evening was rather overwhelming for the preteen. Harry poked at his meal… or what was supposed to pass as his meal that evening. As weird as it may seem to others, Harry was wary of too many sweets. His first taste of them was on the train ride to school and he had over indulged. He suffered with a sore tummy that night, but he kept that to himself.

There was happy chatter all around him, gossiping girls and bragging boys… but he didn't participate in the banter. Harry's thoughts had been wandering all day to his parents… who they were, what they stood for, what they died for… and why.

"Aren't you going to eat, Harry?" Ron said through a full mouth of something Harry would rather not try to identify.

"Not really hungry," Harry admitted and pushed away from the table. "I'm just going to-"

But his words were cut off by a loud bang. The entire Great Hall came to a standstill as Professor Quirrell came running in crying, "Troll! Troll in the dungeon… thought you out to know…" before passing out, face planting on the stone floor.

Day 11 - Prompt: Holiday

Word Count: 8992

AN: To all uniformed personnel, be it military or civil service, thank you.