Order Only: Halloween at Sherwood

[alt_terry]

I remember the grand feasts at Hogwarts, and I remember the party for the children at Moddey Dhoo last year, which was certainly humbler, but it was fun, and just perfect.

At Sherwood, it's a bit different. This is a working camp, and there are no pumpkins. Although I've seen a few carved turnips stuck jammed into the ground or tucked in next to door frames, there aren't many candles to spare to turn them into turnip lights. But the bonfires will be burning throughout the night tonight, and a few precious bottles of beer and ale have been pulled out and passed around ceremoniously. And there have been songs and stories.

Some talk of Halloween, and All Soul's Night, and some of Samhain. I really don't know what I believe.

Thinking of my friends tonight, all scattered around throughout the Protectorate.

Comments

Private messaget to Fred and George Weasley

[alt_terry]

Last year, I talked to Mrs Longbottom at Halloween about the idea that the veil between the living and the dead thins on Halloween, and so this is the one day of the year when the dead draw closest to the living.


Benjy and Emmeline died since last Halloween. Sophie Fleet. There's that man who might have been the King, who was killed at the rite. There are Arista and Hector's parents.

And your Dad, of course. And so many others--all the people who died in Ireland, for instance.

I've been thinking about them all tonight. Didn't have a candle to light for them, but I drew a burning branch out of the bonfire and watched the sparks from it spiral up to the sky.