You guys know the drill by now! This is my standard for the Slytherin Astronomy team on the Houses comp. This time, I chose the prompt [event] celebrating someone's death. This was tough, so let's see where this leads
Betas: Aya Diefair, shy-n-great
Word Count: 995
May 2, again, Neville thought as he woke that morning. He always wanted to avoid this day, and yet it came. It was the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, and of the defeat of Lord Voldemort. It should have been a good day, a day to remember their victory and celebrate the defeat of evil.
Neville had trouble seeing it that way, though. Of course, he was glad that Voldemort was gone, that was a given. However, when he thought back to the day itself, all he remembered were the losses. Good people, struck down in their prime. Fred, Tonks, Remus, Colin… all of their broken bodies flashed through his mind, and the anniversary of their deaths made it all the worse.
Neville knew them all. Remus' death had particularly affected him, because Remus was one of the first teachers he had who had encouraged him, rather than belittle, as Snape had done, or think him dimwitted, which he knew McGonagall had, though she never said so. So when he'd seen his body lain out on the Great Hall floor, he knew that mentor was gone.
He hadn't known Tonks as well as he'd have liked, but she was funny, and incredibly fearless. He wished he could have been as sure of himself as she was.
Neville only really knew Colin through the DA, but he was also courageous and brave. He had died, having snuck in despite being underage. When Neville had found his body, he felt a cold twinge in his heart at the loss of such an innocent soul.
Neville checked his pocket watch—a gift from his Uncle Algie—and saw that it was nearly eleven. I'll be late!
Every year since the Battle, Hogwarts had held a celebration on the anniversary of the battle. It was both in honor of those who had died on the good side, and to celebrate the fact that the greatest evil wizard of all time had finally been defeated.
Neville didn't like it at all. It seemed inappropriate to him to celebrate such a tragedy with a huge party and the like. Others took to it just fine, able to separate the dichotomy in their mind. Neville didn't know why he couldn't. Maybe he'd seen too much during the battle, or else life had simply made him unable to do so.
Nevertheless, he always had to attend. As one of the foremost figures in the battle itself, he would be expected to be there. He knew he would be missed, otherwise, he would probably have skipped out on it.
Let's do this, he thought grimly.
It was well into the celebrations now. The speechmaking had ended, and now everyone present was chatting and having a good time.
Neville couldn't wait until he could leave. He felt supremely uncomfortable surrounded by all these people, many of whom he didn't even recognize. He couldn't help but cynically think that many of these people hadn't even fought at the battle.
"Hey, stranger." Neville looked up to see Hannah Abbott approaching. She was one of the students who had fled to the Room of Requirement during Snape's rule of Hogwarts. They had become friends, as he had done with most of those who came. She'd become his confidant, but since the war had ended, they had not spoken much beyond a few letters.
"Hannah, hi," Neville said. "It's been forever."
She nodded. "I keep meaning to write to you, but I never have time. I've been working at the Leaky Cauldron, you know."
"Oh, really?" Neville replied. "You like it?"
"Absolutely," she nodded. "Tom's getting old, you know. He's even talked about allowing me to take over once he can't do things anymore."
For a few minutes, they were silent as they watched everyone. Hannah seemed to pick up on his discomfort.
"You don't like this, do you?" she finally asked.
Neville made a face. "No, not really." He took a moment to form his thoughts. "It's just… it's distasteful to me. Half of these people I don't know, and they probably weren't fighting with us. They just come for the party…"
Hannah nodded understandingly. "It does seem like that. But think about their perspective. They were scared, living in fear, for almost two years. These celebrations are their opportunity to feel like they had a role in ending the tyranny and, thus, their own fear."
Neville sighed. "I guess I see that. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when some of them make up stories about their fights and all. I just wish… I wish they could know how it really felt. How it felt to know that the next moment could be your last, losing people you've known forever."
Hannah smiled in response to this. "And this is our way to remember them, too. To make sure they're not forgotten. History will remember the people who fought, both living and dead."
Neville considered this for a few moments. "I do like that. I just wish people would act like it was something bad."
"Well, would it help if you thought of it as celebrating Voldemort's death instead of the people who died?"
Neville shrugged. "Maybe. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever be okay with these kinds of pomp and circumstance things."
"And that's all right," Hannah acknowledged. "It was terrible, but we can choose how to look at things. We can choose to see different sides of the same situation."
"I missed being able to talk with you," Neville said after a few moments of silence. "You help me work out my own thoughts sometimes."
Hannah smirked. "That doesn't have to end, you know. Come by the Leaky Cauldron, have a Butterbeer and chat with me."
Neville returned her smile. "I might just take you up on that. It'll be our celebration of defeating Voldemort."
"Im looking forward to it."
And Neville found that he was also looking forward to it.