We at Snape-Potter decided to revive our challenges. We won't issue them in the form of monthly themes, which could be restricting and boring, but we'll post a challenge whenever there's something worthy to be celebrated or remembered. Our first theme is one of remembrance:
Challenge: November - Month of the Dead, Month to Remember
Starting with the last day in October, Halloween, the eve of All Saints' Day, remembering the dead is the prevailing theme throughout the first two weeks of November.
On Halloween, the old Celtic Samhain, it's said that the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolves, and that it becomes possible to communicate with the dead. No wonder that Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party is set on Halloween in Harry's second year.
All Saints' Day assumes a role of general commemoration of the dead in the Lutheran churches, while in the Roman Catholic Church, churches of the Anglican Communion, Old Catholic Churches, and to some extent among Protestants, November 2nd, All Souls' Day, is observed to commemorate the faithful departed. The Mexican Día de los Muertos on the 1st and 2nd of November focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died.
On November 11, Remembrance Day in the UK and the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia and Canada, and Veterans Day in the United States, the world remembers the armistice that lead to the end of World War I, and with it, the heroes of any war, the soldiers killed in action and the veterans. In the UK and the Commonwealth States, traditions include two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time when armistice became effective. Ceremonies are held at local war memorials and, typically, poppy wreaths are laid as a symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare and people wear a poppy on their lapel as a mark of respect.
We'd like to challenge you to create fic or art to show how the end of the war is commemorated in the wizarding world. How do Snape and Harry celebrate, how do they remember their dead? How does Harry cope with Snape's death? With the fact that he survived?
DH compliant creations or AUs, anything is possible. Create your own version of the end of the war, or show a special celebration of Halloween. What part do the ghosts play in Harry's (or Snape's) efforts to communicate with the dead? Maybe Snape's brewing a Memory Potion with poppies as an ingredient. Is there a war memorial, a special ceremony?
Let your fantasy run wild. We'll accept anything from drabbles/drawbles to ficlets, drawings, vids or full length fics and pieces of art. Please post your creation or a link to your creation to snape_potter on Halloween or any time during November and mention the challenge in your header.