I can't imagine it. My dad doesn't laugh. They tell me he did, once long ago when the world was not a safe place to be. But he hasn't since.

Oh he chuckles at stuff me and Roxanne say. He smiles when Mum complains about work. He even giggled once when Uncle Ron set Rosie's birthday cake on fire. But my dad never laughs.

I would never have believed he had if they hadn't told me so. He's a stoic man. Tall and thin, just like Grandpa, just like Uncle Bill and Uncle Ron with glasses that just sit on the tip of his nose. He reads. He writes. He makes our lunches. He gives Mum back massages when she comes home tired. He is my quiet, unassuming Dad.

But once, they tell me, he was a prankster. The best Hogwarts had ever seen. Even better then James, and that is saying something. They tell me he was wild, they tell me he was loud; they tell me he was brave. They tell me he had a brother. A twin. My Uncle Fred, a man I have never met, a man that I am named after. A man that was my father's mirror in every way. They tell me they laughed together. But I don't believe them. You see, my father never laughs.

But sometimes I see it. Not often, but it's there. Some days, when spring is in the air and they day is cold and rainy, my dad will go into the attic of the shop. He'll be there for hours and when he comes down, he will have made something beautiful and magical and funny.

And when he brings it home, he'll take it right to my room and set it on the bed and he'll say, so softly that I have to strain my ears to listen, "What do you think Fred?" and his eyes will shine and I'll know that, though he's looking at me, he's not really seeing me at all.

And then I'll say "It's brilliant dad." And he'll smile his sad smile, and take it away.

My dad never laughs, but I think he misses the laughter. He misses the smiles, he misses the fun. He misses Fred. But he carries on. He loves us. He smiles, He chuckles, he giggled once- and he works. He has the power to bring the joy that he misses and he does.

So when they tell me that my father was brave, I believe them. I know he is.