Raising a glass to the fallen. 26th Anniversary.

Jess smiled as he heard a familiar voice - one of the students he'd met a few times, out and about... he always seemed to crop up. Of course they had gone to school for awhile together, just never really spoken. "Hello Andrew," he said, turning around a nodding the young man. "It's nice to see you here, I'm glad you could make it," he told him.

"It was nice of the Headmaster to allow us into the Grounds, I think," he commented, looking over at the man who seemed to be sitting down, watching time go on. "It's been way to long since I was here at the school," he then muttered quietly, shaking his head a little, before remember where he was and that he was in the middle of a conversation.

"The ceremony was nice too," he commented, looking over at the podium which was now covered with rain. "Lucky the heavens held off in time for us to get the formal parts over and done with," he said with a chuckle, "Now we can honour the fallen in a way they'd prefer, with a get together," he said, grabbing two shots of firewhiskey from a nearby floating plate. "You're old enough," he said, discreetly giving him the alcohol and raising his own glass. "To the fallen," he said, wondering if anyone else would join him in his toast.

Khaat arrived on her own to the memorial. It meant more to her than she was willing to share. She had brought a small bottle of firewhiskey--the good stuff, in her large leather messenger bag that she always carried. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and then she saw Doyle. She went over and found a seat next to him.

"So you do come out every so often," she said quietly. "I thought perhaps you stayed shut up in that ancient tower much too much. Its good to see you. Thank you for allowing this today. It means a lot to a lot of people. Including me."

It had been this day those years ago, when her life had changed forever. She had lost so much in one day, more than she believed she could survive. She hadn't wanted to survive it, but here she was. She drew out the bottle, raised it in a silent toast to her family members that she had lost, and took a large swig from the bottle. She looked at Doyle. "You're welcome to share if you like," she gestured to the firewhiskey.

It had been a simple ceremony, in his opinion, one which was fitting, for grand, elaborate ceremonies tended to focus more on themselves, than on those they were commemorating.

Of course it had to rain, it always did on occasions like these, and it too, was really quite fitting. It set a good mood, one which was filled with tingling nerves, and the buzz of a general excitement.

As he stood there a bolt of lightning arched across the sky, followed quickly by a loud crack which echoed off the castle, reverberating through the Marquee, adding more of that atmosphere to the mix.

Sam himself hadn't been affected by the Battle of Hogwarts, he hadn't been alive at the time, and his parents had not been involved in any way, however his generation, he felt, still felt the effects of the battle, even today. Many of the school's rules, even some of the country's Legislation had been changed following that fateful day, but even moreso was the effect it had on the culture and society of the school, and of Great Britain as a whole. Even as a younger member of society he could certainly feel the solemnity of the situation.

Seeing the food he grinned broadly and made his way over to the table, slowly filling up a plate with a bread roll, and a whole heap of ingredients to add to it. As he left the table however, he did not watch where he was going, and bumped into someone, causing them to drop their own food. "Sorry," he said, wondering who that person was.

((Anyone can fill that role, first come I suppose.))

Cyrus had been five when the final battle took place; too young to understand but old enough to remember parts of the day. He could remember hearing his mother Flooing his grandmother in the living room. He was too busy playing with the toy Giants that his father had bought him the week before. He didn’t care about what was going on, on the other side of the world. To this day he failed to understand why it struck such a cord with people. He’d lived in Britain long enough to know the effects but still, after all these years, it was beggars belief as to why it affected people so.

Still, it made for a great story line and Cyrus wasn’t about to miss out on that. It was for that reason alone that he’d chosen to attend the affair. With his acid green quill, one his grandmother had gifted him with, in hand and a notebook in his other, Cyrus began to take notes and listen in on people’s conversations as he lingered by one of the feet of the marquee. He preferred the sound of the rain to the chatter of those around him and that was why he was tempted to just stick his book in his bag, take a few pictures and head to the drinks table. He didn’t want to be working, not today, even if it didn’t hold that much of a significant cord within him.

There were people pacing, wearing black like mourners. Cy couldn’t help but roll his eyes at this. He combed his fingers through his hair and looked down conspicuously at his own attire. He’d gone with some dark trousers, a dress shirt, a waistcoat and a ruby-red tie. He was sure his grandmother would go spare if she caught wind of the idea that he wasn’t doing his job. Frankly, Cy could care less but he doubted the paper would be as blasé about it. The Prophet wanted a story didn’t it? Well, it was going to get one.

Eventually.

Cyrus stuffed his book and quill into his bag and strode over to the drinks table, putting his thoughts into action. He picked up a bottle of red wine and poured a substantial amount into an oversized glass before wandering over to a table, glass and bottle in hand. Cy sat down and leaned heavily against the back of the chair. He exhaled and brought the drink to his lips. It was free, why waste any more moments on toasting when it was right there in front of him?

Sophia Lestrange wrote:Sophia was under under the marquee walking around wearing a knee high dress with a black traveling cloak over it with the hood pulled down. Honoring those who fallen on this horrible day that turned so many lives around. Sophia read alot about the battle of Hogwarts and how it was on this very ground where the horrilbe battle took place and so many lives. As she walked over towards the refreshment area Sophia gotten her some firewhiskey and poured it in a glass. As she seen Mariana she walked over towards her. "Hey Mari."said Sophia softly.

Mariana who was just walking around quietly still murmering preys for herself, stopped in place when somebody came next to her and called her by her name. She hadn's saluted anyone yet though she was here for a fair bit of time now; time she spent muttering all kinds of preys she could remember in her beard. She ended up her last one with "Amen." after which she turned to Soph. "Hi sis. How are you?" she finally said after a moment. "Don't know about you, but i never eat at funerals or memorials. Seems a little strange." she commented seing how a lot of people did and she didn't blame them. She was just used to stay quiet and drink a cup or two in honour to the dead.

"I just came to pay respects to those who died," he said to Jess "not really for anything else. And yeah, definitely better than that one guy...what was his name again? The one that killed Shacklebolt and nearly killed Danny?" He probably shouldn't of brought up the situation, but he needed to know. Once Jess offered him firewhisky, he nodded and drank graciously. The liquid burnt his throat a bit, definitely stronger than his usual butterbeer that he loved. Andrew made a bit of a twisted face, still surprised by the drink and said chuckling a bit "That is a bit strong." He looked at the others that had arrived, noticing Mariana and what apeared to be other students. "Really nothing formal about a slaughter..." he said, referencing the Battle of Hogwarts.

Andrew had come, not because of the ceremony. It had all happened before his time. He understood the history of it, but it was a choice for him of study hall, or going to the ceremony, and he could smell food. He had gone to the ceremony and then had gone through the food line, feeling like he was starving. He had managed to construct something of a food pyramid on his plate, glad for better than usual Hogwarts fare.

Just as he was turning around to find someplace to go eat, he banged into someone--or had they banged into him. He turned to see it was Sam.

"Dude! I really should have figured it was you!" Andrew grinned. "Great food, isn't it? I've had 3 cookies already." He looked across the crowd and saw the striking figure of his guardian's next door neighbor arriving. "Oh! Look! Over there. The man with grey hair in the black suit? He's the guy that sends us all that great fudge from Honeydukes and has the awesome potions lab in his basement. I guess he's some sort of bigwig in the Ministry or someplace. I don't know. All I know is that Kate and Robert gave me my own room at their place. Wanna go say hi?"

Jess nodded and took smiled at Andrew, reaching over and patting him on the back. "Danny was a great man," he told him, choosing his words carefully so as to not say boy. "He did things that most fully grown men would never have done, and he gave his life for a worthy cause, and doing something he thought was right," he told him. "Most of us can only hope to go out that way, it was too young, but it was a noble death, and you, as his family, have my sincere thanks and apologies," he said seriously. "And there's few things wiser than that," he added with a nod, sighing a little.

He then looked over and saw his cousin sitting alone and decided to go say hello, it felt like forever since they'd spoken, if they had at all. When they were small children, if anything, James probably wouldn't even remember it, Jess had been a few years older and he barely did.

Excusing himself from his conversation with Andrew he walked over to James' seat, sitting down next to him. "Well well well," he said slowly. "It's been a very long time," he said looking over at the young man sitting beside him. "You've grown up," he said simply, "We both have. Tell me, do you remember me?" He asked curiously, not certain of what the answer would be.

Louis came, he had come to pay his respects to his Uncle Fred, he was just a baby at the time of the battle. To Colin Creevley, to Remus Lupin, even to Severus snape. Louis would try and make them proud. He would swear his life on that. He looked at the place where his uncle supposedly died. He took his wand. He pointed it at the sky, giving grace to Heaven, and God, who held all the fallen friends. "Lumos." He murmured quietly and smiled.

Louis walked around, he waved hi to Sophia, She was like Louis' sister. He looked around to see familiar faces, he saw his cousing Lucy, Andrew, James, and Khaat. He walked over to James. "How're you coming along cousin?" Lois asked his cousin and friend.