First of all, thanks for all the reviews for my other one-shots :) This one's a little more serious than the others. And I mean a little.
Goodbye Father
" Oh, Fred. You're looking unusually serious today. Who died?"
" Don't even joke."
" Why not? I could drop dead at any minute, and you expect me to go out all depressed when I've spent my life laughing?"
With a sigh, Fred flopped into the seat next to his father's bed. The sky outside was overcast, and promised rain. George lay still, gazing intently at his son. He was old; his face covered in wrinkles, his eyes sunken and watery, and his once red hair a dirty grey.
" Where's mum?" Fred asked him.
" She went out to the shops; I've had a real craving for that muggle drink, ribena," George replied.
The corners of Fred's mouth twitched.
" You hate ribena," he said quietly.
" Life's full of surprises," said George, and Fred saw his father's hand twitch, almost subconsciously, towards the hole where his ear should have been.
" Has Roxy been to visit yet?" he added.
" She came last week," George replied. " Along with Mark and the kids. Where are Susie and Leo?"
" Susie's at work, and Leo's staying at Hogwarts over Christmas," he said.
" And how's the shop?" George pressed on.
" As popular as ever," said Fred with a small smile. " Um, dad? How long have you got left to l-live?"
" Anything from a day to a year, or so the Healers tell me."
" Do you have any unfinished business that I could take care of?" he asked/
" I don't think so," his father replied. " Nothing you could do, anyway."
" About what?"
George looked over at his son.
" My regrets, but do I really have to go through them? I think I'll save them for my death bed, thanks."
" This is your death bed," Fred pointed out, and felt a lump rising in his throat as he said it.
" Yeah, but I'm not gasping for breath yet am I?" he explained, and he started smiling. " I'll tell you one of my regrets. I wish I hadn't named you Fred."
Said Fred nearly fell out of his seat. He fixed his father with a horrified stare.
" Why not?"
" Because it's an awful name," replied George sarcastically. " Why do you think? I named you after my dead twin! It's like I was expecting Fred to live again through you."
Fred stood up and walked over to the door.
" I like my name," he assured his father. " And I never feel like I should be living up to him anyway. I'm a different person. Wow, that sounds cheesy. God, dad, I thought your biggest regret would be losing your ear."
George sat up slightly in bed, but it took a great amount of effort to do so.
" That wasn't my fault," he said. " Maybe my biggest regret is that I'm going to sort of fizzle out. I'd rather have died in doing some heroic feat, you know?"
Not really," replied Fred. " Listen, I better go, but I'll come back on Saturday with Susie. Bye, dad."
" Bye, Fred."
That was the last time Fred saw his father alive. George died two days later, on the second of May.
I actually managed to depress myself, even though that story isn't sad in the slightest. The next story is about the one and only James Sirius Potter!