Hello my lovlies~ This is a story that was written for a very good friend of mine. She saw a post on tumblr, said how awful and sad it would be if someone wrote it...so I did. I know, I'm a horrible person. So without further ado, here we are with a sad little snippet of Harry Potter! Remember to review!
"How do I do it Freddie?" Rain crashed hard against the soggy ground as the thunder rumbled above and lightening filled the sky. "I've hit a new low, and you aren't there to help me out of it." George pressed his lips together into a thin line, staring at the gravestone embedded in the ground in front of him. "I don't know how to pull through. What if something happens? W-What if they get hurt. W-What if something happens to them?" George brought his hands up to his face, pressing them hard against his cheeks as he let forth a dam of tears from his eyes.
"They're growing up too fast for me. I'm worried for them and I miss you, Freddie." There it was. George hadn't really visited the site of his deceased brother to tell him how worried he was for his children their first day at Hogwarts. No, he had gone there because it had been too long since his last visit.
"I miss you. Ginny misses you, Ron misses you, mum and dad, Bill, Percy, Charlie, everyone we know misses you." George kneeled down, sobs starting to rack through his body as his emotions poured from his cracking soul. "Half of me is gone! My brother that always cared the most, that was always there for me, that got into trouble with me is gone!" George screamed at the gravestone, yelling at it with all his might.
"Why! Why couldn't you have lived! Why couldn't you have been healed!" Thunder boomed overhead and George took in a deep breathe, letting it out slowly before putting his hand on his brothers stone. "Why couldn't I have been there in your last moments to comfort you. You were alone, you were scared, and you were hurting."
Rising from the ground, George stared at the sky, watching as the rain fell down onto his cheeks and traveling in a solemn stream to his neck before disappearing into his wet clothes. "I am so sorry Freddie."
Fred stared ahead of his sister as they ascended the many stair cases of the castle. The paintings! The sculptures! Little Fred was awestruck by what he was seeing and had a hard time believing that this was to be his new home for the year. "Fred! Pay attention to the Headmistress!" Roxanne scolded her brother. Her vibrant red hair immediately whipped around, listening closely to what Minerva McGonagall was saying.
"While you are here, your house will be like your family and you will treat them as-" She stopped. The Headmistress stared ahead of here as she picked out the young boy from the crowd. Her voice caught in her throat as she saw the striking resemblance of the use to be troublemaker. Red hair, a smile that reached for miles, and the traditional handmade robes were all too familiar to her.
"Headmistress? Are you all right?" One of the many other students asked. Her aged eyes glanced down at the student in front of her and she gave her a small smile.
"Oh yes I'm fine dear. I just drifted for a moment, that's all. As I was saying, when you pass through these doors you will go to the front of the room and wait until your name is called. You will then be sorted into your house." With a flick of the wrist, the doors were suddenly opened and the new first year's student stormed inside, their heads shooting up and looking at the magical ceiling above them. Floating candles illuminated the roof and the patterns of stars and the night sky twinkled brightly.
"It's amazing isn't it Fred?" Roxanne pulled on the hand of her brother and they followed the swarm of other students, looking around at the many faces of the elder student before them. "It's beautiful."
Fred was in too much of shock to even process what his sister was saying. Everything about this place was wonderful. It was exactly as his father and mother had described it. Long tables full of people, teachers with happy smiles, and animals and ghosts, and secret passages! It was paradise to the young boy.
"Alright, when I call your name, please come up and Mr. Filch will place the sorting hat a top your head." The Headmistress pulled out a long piece of parchment just as a greasy man stepped forward with a worn looking hat in his hand. Fred's father was right about him as well. Thinning hair, a crooked smile, and a hunch on his back made him look very creepy like.
Minutes passed and still the young boys name had not been called. His sister thought had been sorted into Gryffindor and she nearly screamed with joy as she ran over, embracing several students when she reached the table.
"Fred Weasley!" The room was quiet as Fred made his way over to the stool. Sitting down gently, he closed his eyes as they hat was placed upon his head. It was still for a moment until it shot up with energy.
"AH! HA! Another Weasley! It's like you people are born every minute around here! I know exactly where to put you! GRYFFINDOR!" Fred opened his eyes wide and let a larger than life smile etch itself onto his face. He had been put into Gryffindor! Thank the wizards for that one.
How on earth was Fred supposed to sleep when all of his roommates snored so loudly? Brown eyes stared at the ceiling and Fred saw it as a lost cause. "I bet the couch is comfortable." He mumbled out, throwing off his blankets and tip toeing down the stairs. He made it to the common room and had just sat down on the couch when he head someone shout at him.
"Hey there!" Whipping his head around, Fred saw no one. Maybe it was a ghost playing a trick on him deep into the night? No, that voice was way too familiar to him. "I said, hey there!"
Once again whipping his head around, Fred saw his father leaning against the wall, a wicked smile clear on his face. "Dad!" Getting up from the couch, Fred ran over to his father, excited to see him.
"Shhh, we have to be quiet. Sit down, tell me how schools going? Are you having fun?" George sat down on a spare chair and watched as Fred's eye lit up with excitement.
Of course he would! "Dad! What are you doing here!" Fred immediatly plopped down on the couch and began to tell him of all the wonders the school had to offer. Potions, transfiguration, seeing into the future, and even looking back! Everything that Fred ever dreamed of was rolled up into one large castle and he adored it.
"So how's your sister doing?" George crossed a leg over the other and smiled brightly at the younger version of himself. "She must be having just as much fun as you are."
"She is! She says that her favorite class is potions. She likes the way she can answer all the questions really fast. She reminds me of that nice lady that comes to visit. Ron's wife, Hermione. Yea, that's her name, Hermione. She reminds me of her." Fred gave out a long yawn and noticed that his eyes began to drop slightly.
"I'm glad. Go to bed, you're tired. I'll come visit again some other time." Fred curled up on the couch and pulled a spare blanket over himself that was resting on the arm. Within minutes he was out like a light and George had disappeared from sight.
The days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and still there wasn't any sign that George was going to visit Fred again. A sort of depression hovered over the small child and he wondered if it had been a dream. Maybe his dad didn't really visit him and he was just that tired a few weeks ago.
"Fred! What's wrong! You act as if a raincloud is following you everywhere!" Roxanne quickly sat down beside Fred, giving him a plate of breakfast along with the tradition pumpkin juice. "You need to eat; you'll get sick if you don't."
"Hey Roxanne, can I ask you a question?" Fred turned to his sister, watching as she began to eat her own food as if it was her last meal for life. "Sure." She replied.
"Has dad come to visit you lately?"
Roxanne looked confused. In fact she looked at Fred as though his hair had turned blue. "Fred, dad can't come visit remember? He said him and mom were going to Romania to help Uncle Charlie with the dragons. Don't you remember?"
A flash of fear suddenly shot across Fred's face and he bolted from his seat in the Great Hall. "Fred! Where are you going! Fred!" Roxanne stood in an attempt to follow her brother, but he was gone before she even managed to wiggle her way out from between the seat and the table. "What's gotten into him?" She wondered out loud.
Fred stormed through the halls, tears daring to spill from his eyes. He knew where he was going; he knew that if one person would tell him the truth it would be the Headmistress. Left and right, then right and left was the turns Fred took until he saw the familiar gargoyle guarding passage to the office of the Headmistress.
"Headmistress! Please! I need to talk to you! P-Please!" Fred did not know the summoning charm to allow him access. None of the students did, only staff and professors at the school could enter without the Headmistresses approval.
"Fred Weasley, what's with all this shouting?" There she was. Minerva McGonagall heard the pleaded cries of one of her student and came rushing to the scene. "Fred, what's wrong?"
Seeing the Headmistress, Fred felt the tears he had been holding back flow freely from him face. "I saw him! I saw my dad's ghost! He's here in the castle! And if he's in the castle then that means he's-" A fit of coughing and hiccups overtook the young boy and McGonagall quickly ushered him into her office. In those few brief words she felt her own heart clench. She knew exactly what had happened.
Setting the boy down into a chair, she quickly brought over a damp cloth, wiping his eyes and nose before handing it to him all together. "Fred, I know you are upset but you did not see the ghost of your father."
"Yes I did! He's with Charlie in Romania working with dragons! That's dangerous work he dead! H-He's dead and came here as a ghost." Another flood gate had been breached. Sniffles and sobbing erupted from the boy as he came to the hard terms that his father was gone.
"Fred. I need you to calm down, please. I have a question to ask you. "Several minutes and several clean cloths later, Fred had managed to control the shaking of his body and the hiccups that had plagued him only moments before.
"W-What? What is it you wish to ask me?"
Fred could tell that McGonagall was struggling with her words, trying not to send him into another terrified fit of crying. "What do you know of your late uncle?"
"You mean Uncle Fred?" A sniffle came forth and Fred quickly brought the cloth up to his nose, closing his eyes and bracing himself for a sneeze that never came. "I know that I was named after him. And that he died before I was born. I tried to ask my family about it but they wouldn't tell me. It seemed to really bother them so I let it go."
"It is no surprise that you...or your sister...does not know the full length of what happened to him. I will tell you so the next time you will not have such thoughts about your father dying." The Headmistress poured herself a piping cup of tea and sat down on a chair opposite of young Fred.
"Many years ago, when your father and his brother and many others of your family members went to school here, there was an unspeakable evil that haunted one of us, Harry Potter."
"I know Harry!" Fred piped up.
"Yes. Harry was a very special student here and befriended many. But as a child he had an encounter with someone that followed him from his time of birth to the day that he died. The feud between the two of them caused a horrific war. A great war that was fought here at Hogwarts. Your father, your mother, your aunt, Harry, Hermione, and many others took part in this war and like your uncle, many died." McGonagall could see Fred starting to put the pieces together in his head. The way he would squint his eyes and bend his head to the side was more than enough for her.
"You're Uncle Fred gave his life protecting those he loved. He died here at the school and that is who you saw. Your father is fine. You met your uncle. You met the first Fred Weasley." Fred looked over and saw McGonagall reaching for a cloth of her own. "Forgive me Fred. It's just when I think of all those that were lost here it brings back such painful memories. Knowing that your uncle is here causing trouble in the school is a nice thought. He's here, in the castle, watching over the students and causing who knows what to happen while the staff isn't looking." She began to laugh to herself as Fred caught note of a few tears that slipped from her aged and tired eyes.
"Thank you Headmistress, for telling me what I needed to know. I'm going to class now." Fred gave a smile to the laughing lady and exited down the spiral stairs behind the gargoyle. Blowing out a breath of relief, as well as sadness for the newly acquired facts, Fred began to head towards the class he should have been in nearly an hour ago.
"Hey there!" That voice. Whipping his head to the side Fred saw the ghostly figure of what he had believed to be his father. "What's the matter Fred? Cat got your tongue?" He was so much like his father. A twin, obviously, but the mannerisms and the smile and everything about this apparition screamed George. Screamed his father.
"Headmistress told me what happened." The young boy whispered out, looking down at the ground sadly.
Fred could hear his elder sigh out. The smile leaving his face and being replaced with a small frown. "She did. I was there listening. And I've been watching." Fred's apparition kneeled down in front of his nephew and stared deeply into his doe like orbs.
"Fred, I have a favor to ask of you, please." It was rare that the trickster was so serious. Even in death he had been roaming the halls and causing mischief wherever he went. Pulling a lock of hair here, tugging on a robe there. It caused a great amount of laughter to erupt from him, but never was he caught. No. His memory is not a happy one and it must remain in the shadows. He had seen a few others that passed in the war roaming the halls as well. Tonks, and Lupan, Moody as well. They all kept watch, but they did it in the shadows.
"Sure, whatever you need...Uncle Fred." The young boy allowed a beaming smile to stretch across his face, and he ran after the apparition quickly, not daring to lose him from his sights.
"There they are! There's my little wizarding masters!" Anjelica embraced her children with love as they came screaming off of the train and into her arms. Tears pricked at her eyes she was so happy. It took everything she had that day to send them to the school. After what she and countless others had been through, it was a bittersweet moment of happiness and a constant worry that nagged her the entire time they were gone.
"Look what I can do mum!" Roxanne quickly pulled out her want and began to float a small pebble on the sidewalk of the train station. A spell that was learned first year. At least the customs of the school hadn't changed. "That's wonderful dear!"
Anjelica was so pleased with the progress of her daughter she hadn't noticed that her son had made his way over to her husband and his father. "Hey dad."
"Hey there. How did you like school? Fun right?" George bent down to become eye level with his son and noticed that something wasn't right with him. "Son, what's wrong? Did something happen at school.
"I'm going to give you something. But only on one condition." That was odd. Like himself, it was a rarity that his speedy little child became serious. Getting the vibe that something was seriously wrong George nodded his head.
"You can't read this until you're at Uncle Fred's grave. I-I know you don't like to talk about him or what happened at the school, but you need this dad. Please, don't open it until you're there." Fred pulled out a small letter bound in a traditional envelope. It was sealed with the press of hot wax and a red ribbon.
Taking the letter, George stared at it for a moment before putting it into his pocket gently. "Alright, Fred. I promise." George placed a small kiss to his child's forehead and was tackled by his daughter and wife.
He couldn't take it. George Weasley was not a patient man and whatever his son gave him bothered his mind until they had gotten home that same day. And now here he was. Standing by the gravesite of his deceased brother. And once again he was alone.
Taking out the letter George undid the ribbon and wax and was shocked when it quickly flew from his hands and levitated in the air. Confusion racked at his body until he heard it.
"Hello Georgie..."
A hand flew up to his mouth and he nearly lost his footing on the dry ground. Tears instantly left his eyes as he stared up at the letter.
"Do you know how hard it is to write something when your hand goes through everything? Bloody pain in the arse! You better appreciate the time and effort I put into this!"
Fred. Oh his brother Fred. George fell to the ground, sobs racking at his body and causing his to cry out. Merely hearing his brother's voice was more than enough to send him to pieces.
"Georgie...I am sorry. I am so sorry that I wasn't there. I wasn't there to see you get married, to see the birth of your children, to see them grow up to be fine wizard. But in fact, I was there."
What? Confusion once again entered his brain as the letter spoke to him, as his BROTHER spoke to him with a kindness he had almost forgotten. "F-Fred..."
"You never saw me but I was there. I was at the burrow when you wed Anjelica. I was there when she gave birth and you held your children for the first time. I was at the train station when you sent them off and I was on the train to see them to the school. And I was there to make sure they were ok the entire year. Helping them when they needed it most. And giving them space when I knew they could use it."
Staring down at the headstone, George placed a hand on it, bringing his forehead down to rest on it as tears splashed and ran through the engraved words. "I-I miss you, Fred. It's not the same without you here! I feel like half of me is missing!" He screamed out, throwing his head up to the sky and wishing that there was something, anything he could do to bring him back.
"Georgie there's a lot of reason that I wrote this. I wanted to let you know that I will always be there to watch over Fred and Roxanne."
And then he felt it. A hand on his shoulder caused George to shoot up from the ground. His nose running and his eyes a floodgate that just wouldn't stop. And then he saw him. By the wizards he was dressed in the same clothes, he had the same hair, the same smile, the same awkward stance. "Fred." Lunging forward, George made an attempt to embrace what was maybe the only opportunity of his brother. But he should have known better, he was going to fly right through him and land hard on the ground.
But he didn't.
Instead he felt the lanky limbs of his brother wrap around him. "Georgie, you have to let me go. You have to move on." Fred whispered out, holding his brother tightly as he sobbed into his shoulder.
"No! I can't! You are the other half of me! H-How can I just let something like that go!" George felt something on his head, pulling it back. He saw Fred looking at him with a smile. "Georgie. You don't have a choice. You have to let me go. But know that I will always be here. I will always be watching." Fred began to pull away and George clamored for him, but now his hands went through Fred's body.
"Don't leave me. Please Fred. Don't leave." George choked out, begging for something that was inevitable. "Please."
Fred began to disappear, going back to the school where he truly belonged, but not before giving George one final piece of something.
"I will always love you, Georgie."