Halloween First-Year Chapter 19:
It was Halloween. And boy, did Hogwarts love Halloween! There were grand pumpkins everywhere! Spider webs and other decorations adorned every crook and nook that the pumpkins weren't on.
Gilbert even thought that he saw some extra ghosts lurking around. It was rather awesome, not as awesome as him, but still awesome. He was rather awed by it all (not that he would ever admit it out loud; he was too awesome for that). And with just the thought of the stuff that had been told him at the Hetalia Club last month, at least some of the stuff, he knew that it would be even more awesome.
When he entered the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast, he was even more awed. The feast was even more extravagant than the last time every member of the Beilschmidt family had been eating together for Christmas.
As he sat down, he caught Eliza's eye over at the Gryffindor table. They grinned at each other.
The Feast hadn't even lasted ten minutes, when an odd noise was heard. At first, no one bothered to take notice of it. But when it didn't stop, and even got higher, people started to look around them. It was a Slytherin that first located the source of the noise. It came from the Slytherin banners over their table.
They were… humming. The Great Hall went completely quiet.
As if they noticed people staring at them, or perhaps it was the silence, they started… singing.
'Don't mess with me. I'll shoot you down'
It wasn't a song, or a singing voice, anyone recognized. As soon as they had begun, however, they stopped.
If people thought that was the end of that, they were dead wrong.
The Ravenclaw banners were next.
'I got the brains, you got the brawns. Let's make lots of money'
Then the Hufflepuff banners.
'We will always be friends forever'
And eventually, the Gryffindor banners.
'You'll hear me roar. Roar. Roar. Roar!'
Then all four banners… started counting!
'one, two, three, four'
Before they started singing all together.
'Gender roles impose control & deceive progressive times'
Although, as with the songs the banners had sung individually, it wasn't a song that anyone recognized (though some of the Muggle born thought it sounded familiar), it was clear that it was a song about stereotypes, but mostly gender roles. The next song they started to sing, however,
'We are, we are, Not your ordinary fami-mily, But we can all agree that, We are, we are, Close as close can be'
Was about unity, even if the people in the union were different. They went eerily quiet after that; everyone kept waiting, some nervously eating, but nothing more was heard from the banners. At all. The entire evening.
When people filtered out of the Great Hall, they were met with a banner hanging horizontally from the ceiling. Amidst the spiders and pumpkins was fourteen words written:
The Elements, Air, Earth, Fire and Water, were proud to present the singing banners
Author's notes:
Try to ignore that the songs would probably have taken up the entire Halloween Feast, time-wise.
I couldn't, naturally, include the full lyrics of the songs I've mentioned here (and I want everyone to be aware that they didn't necessarily sing all the lyrics and that they kept it PG-13), but the credits go to:
Temposhark: Don't Mess With Me (2008) - for the song the Slytherin banners sang
Pet Shop Boys: Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) (1985) - for the song the Ravenclaw banners sang
Vitamin C: Friends Forever - Graduation Song (1999) - for the song the Hufflepuff banners sang
Katy Perry: Roar (August 10, 2013) - for the song the Gryffindor banners sang
Benny: Little Game (2014) - for the first song the banners sang together
Keke Palmer: We Are (2012) - for the second song the banners sang together
In the next chapter:
When he thought he had found the place, he sat down. He was a little disappointed though, when it turned out that someone else was close by. He was about to find another place to sit, when a sentence rang out that caught his attention,