A/N: Alright, this is my first drabble. I just wanted to write, had no idea what I was writing, and turned out this. The only thing I had in mind was what would be going through Harry's mind before he kills Voldemort. This is what I think he might consider, and I specifically wrote it without a viewpoint. I refrained from using he/she/I/etc.
Now that I think about it, thought, this could work for a handful of characters. So, if it confuses you, it's just my mindless drabble. Nothing planned out, no point to it, just me and my fingers whizzing across the keyboard. I didn't go back and change anything, it's all a first-time deal. I just needed to get out something. This does have the potential to evolve into a story, though. Thoughts on that, if you want a continuation? Maybe.
This is for Anne la Jordanie, as a (belated) gift for her birthday. Joyeaux Anniversaire (probably butchered the spelling) and many happy returns, Anna.
It only takes a moment. One moment in your life, where you make a mistake, where lives are changed. That's all it takes, and that's all you need to have everything you know go up in flames.
It all began with a promise, a prophecy. A flash of lightening, a nightmare just beginning. Neither will live while the other survives. That was what they said, and that was what was lived by. Fighting for a life, many times over, surviving more than any other soul ever had. A miracle, they said. What was so miraculous? A lot of luck.
People died. Many people did. Hundreds, thousands, faces here and there, familiar and not, loved ones and hated ones. They all paid the price, the price to live their way, the price to live free, the price of their lives. All over in a flash of green light, the heraldic harginger of death that blew out countless fires.
So many innocents. There were so many, so much blood, all over the field. All of it, a sea of it, ready to swallow up the world. Children, women, men, innocent, guilty, it didn't matter. It all ran together, the red liquid, so shocking when first seen, unable to tear away wide eyes, unable to forget their screams and their pleading.
Years taken away. How many years ripped from tenuous grasps? How many died before their time? Too many. Too much, all at once, unable to take it all, unable to comprehend what was happening, it all moved too fast. Everyone lost, nobody won, and nobody had a choice. Sides were chosen. Alliances were made, broken, reforged. Betrayers betrayed the betrayer, everyone was suspicious. All of them. Wary eyes glaring, wondering, waiting.
A snake coiled to strike, a spring ready to be set loose. A ticking bomb, about to explode, taking with it everything in its path. Ticking, ticking, counting down the time. No more time, exploding, letting loose a tirade of nothing and everything and countless things, things, things.
Watching people die, watching people sacrafice themselves, watching people make choices that ruined their lives. They didn't have a choice, nobody could remain neutral. Do they betray friends, or family? Loved ones, or lovers? Themselves, or those they counted on? Choices, choices, so many choices for so many things that all went wrong.
It was all wrong. Wrong, never right, war is never right. It's wrong to go after someone for a grudge, for being different, for acting the way they do. It's wrong to be cruel, wrong to be different, it's all wrong and nothing can ever be done to change it. Nothing is right in the world, it's all wrong.
Human nature is wrong, it leads to hurt, betrayal, cruelty, differences. Can anything be done about it? Can we fight our differences, our insticts, pull away from everything we were taught, make a difference, show a smile, laugh for the sake of laughter?
No more smiles. No more, none, ever, gone away. Flying away like a bird, gone, never to be seen again. What to do? Nothing to be done. Take it with a smile, head up, hiding emotions, leaving it all locked away in a tiny box tucked away and quickly filling up. Explodin in rage, a ticking bomb gone off, taking with it all the world.
A moment.
Thank you for reading my mindless drabble. Please review.