TITLE: In Which the Saddest Generation Existed
AUTHOR: Rozalia Claennis
DATE: July 8th of 2005
RATING: PG
SPOILERS: None I know of
DISCLAIMER: All rights and privileges to Harry Potter are trademarks and property of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury Books, Raincoast Books and associated parties. The author claims no legal responsibility for problems associated with using this work. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The original work is solely written by Rozalia Claennis.
NOTE: Just slapped me in the head. And depression makes people think. I realize; sadly enough. I'm not speaking for the Harry Potter characters though. I hope you realize that.
CREDITS TO: Haname for doing the beta work. I'm waiting for your works too! And the poem Dulce et Decorum (something like that), the piece of poetry that really inspired me.
In which the saddest generation existed, the Marauder Era, the once-exuberant and happy years of the children who grew up and were pulled into a war that not only threatened their existence on earth but will forever torture them physically and mentally. Yet, we shall not call it the Marauder Era. Whatever happened to the credit that should have gone to the ones who never participated in the Marauder Quadruple? And perhaps their childhoods never contained even a single cheerful and innocent year, then what can we say? These children who aged too fast to join two forces, so vaguely divided: the Death Eaters and their leader, Voldermort, and the Order of the Phoenix, led by Dumbledore. Did they have a chance to ever realize what they were doing until it was a moment to late? Did they ever question which side perhaps was the good side and which was the bad side? Because prejudice and media can push people, twist their views into something so outrageously ridiculous; it is quite unbelievable.
In which the saddest generation, the Marauders, were remembered first: James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. But why first? Why not Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, the Longbottoms, Arthur Weasley, and all of the wizards and witches whose names were just a whisper in the air because their time had passed and fame and honour shall be passed onto the next youngster? Is it because the Marauders were so painfully divided; Pettigrew - the traitor who betrayed his best friend and his wife, Black - who was convicted of Pettigrew's crimes and then fell to his unlikely death, and Lupin - a lone werewolf who became the last survivor, all alone because all the loved ones he ever known were dead? Is it because Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape became the so-loathed enemies…for they were in Slytherin and brought up in pureblood families?
They said Hogwarts was the safest place. Safest place from what? From Voldermort, the so-called "most powerful and darkest wizard of all?" Because Hogwarts is not even safe from all the divisions and prejudice that has been vividly apparent from the beginning. Gryffindors versus Slytherins. The line was so firmly drawn that nobody from either side can have any communication or relation with each other. Brave, chivalrous Gryffindors and the cunning, deceiving Slytherins. Generations passed down to generations, don't meddle with the bloody Slytherins; don't ever put yourself down to the dirty level of Gryffindors. It's not racism, it's housism. What kind of place is this? That children in the wizarding world were brought up to hate other children just because they come from different families of different reputations and were sorted into a different house of different repute? So is this what everything is about? Reputation?
In which the saddest generation existed, where children were stripped of the bright future they should be looking forward to, instead placed into armies where they charged at each other endlessly. A puppet show for Voldermort? Did they not once think of their own happiness? No, because it is much more constitutional for one to regard the common good over personal benefit. This generation sacrificed their own lives and happiness so the future generations (if any should exist) can have what they wanted for themselves. That if they defeated the so-called "Dark Lord," the children of the future wouldn't have to live through the "darkness" and "misery" they had to. The consequence for them? Death, torture, a lifetime spent at St. Mungo's Hospital for the Physically Afflicted. Bloody chivalry. Is it really an honor to die for a cause? Would one still continue on if the cause one was fighting for was lost? Or if they didn't even know what in the world the cause was anymore? Is it still an honor?
Or maybe it's because they don't have anything to live for that they just have to keep on fighting for that cause that was so long ago introduced but killed along with the thousands of innocent victims and soldiers. Perhaps when everything is lost, you can't find a motive to live anymore. But the hopeful like Remus Lupin continue struggling for something close to a life. To protect his dead best friend's son. Can we understand why anybody would want to protect him? Only a teenager and already aware that the "most powerful and darkest wizard" is on his tail. But isn't it his choice…to decide what is best for him…instead of having others make the decision for him? He may be young, but he has experience.
So do we mourn for the saddest generation that existed? Probably not, probably yes. For all those that died for some cause, those that were brought up on some foggy evening in England and for those who are alive, living on that shimmer of a flame that might promise them something good? Can we blame them for joining forces at such a young age? No, pressure and ignorance had probably pushed them to join one or the other. Nor can we blame it on the ones who started it. But who are the ones who really started the whole gory mess called war? Voldermort, whose greed for power overwhelmed everything? The Ministry of Magic, which was supposed to play the all-knowing, lawful, constitutional group but ultimately turned out to be ignorant and painfully stubborn?
And there's the other option. We can just say it was an unavoidable event that was bound to happen in the timeline of history. That we can just accept it as it is. We can be like the Ministry, ignorant and stubborn idiots who just take the story as it is and praise the supposed "heroes" and condemn the "enemies." Some lie we would all be living in.
All I want to ask of the saddest generation is this: Did they ever think what the heck they were getting into when they joined their sides? Because so far, they've all been doomed to torture of some extent, and all I can do is say once again, "Everything you did, was it worth it?" The way I see it, I can't see anything in war worth fighting for.
The tired wrinkles outlining their aging faces, the dimming flames in their eyes, and their once crisp and smooth movements which have now deteriorated to mere slumps of the back; they're all signs of the physical consequences of a war. Yet, how could we ever know of their mental pain? How could we even start to understand it when we, ourselves, never ever participated in this bloody thing called war? And it all started with a greedy, power-hungry but oh-so-brilliant, who graduated from the house of Slytherin. Then forces were divided into two and the fighting went rampant.
Perhaps, the saddest generation, in which they were dragged into the whole mess, should also be called the lost generation.
It would be really considerate for all readers to drop a note or reaction to this. Thanks everyone. So long!