George sat on the curb staring at the shuttered doors of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It was no good. It was over. The war had been over for three months and he still couldn't bring himself to open the store. Truthfully, George couldn't bring himself to do much of anything. He hadn't bathed in days. He couldn't remember the last proper meal he had. Molly would have fed him but George had been avoiding the Burrow. Avoiding everyone and everything. He couldn't do it. Not without Fred. George dropped his head as a tear trailed down his cheek.
"Gina come on!"
"Sshhh! Momma will hear you."
George looked up to see two young girls running up to the front of the shop. They had long blonde hair pulled back in ponytails and were dressed in jeans and t-shirts. The corners of George's mouth turned up a little seeing the shirts were those of Ginny's favorite team the Holyhead Harpies.
"Shoot. They're closed," the one named Gina said with disappointment. The other young girl was trying to peer through one of the boarded up windows. "Do you see anythin' Freddie?" George gave a start and stared at the two girls. They were twins. Identical from head to toe.
"Nah, it looks like they've been closed for a long time," the girl said while turning away from the window with a sigh. The girl's twin looked down at a magazine in her hands with disappointment on her face.
"Georgina and Fredericka McCoy!" The two girls looked down the street with wide eyes. They had a look on their faces that George knew well. The look of being caught. George followed their gaze and saw a middle aged woman. She strode towards the girls with a look of fury on her face. As she grabbed the girls' wrists the magazine fell to the ground. "What are you two thinkin'?" asked the woman in a tone reminiscent of his own mother. "Runnin' off like that? These people just had a war! It's not safe. We didn't come all the way from Texas so you could go runnin' off," scolded the woman. The twins looked at the ground as their mother looked at the boarded up store front. Seeing the dark store sign the woman's face softened.
"Well, I don't see what you two like so much in these silly products," the woman said looking at her daughters. Seeing the sadness in their faces the woman's tone changed. "I'm sorry girls. It doesn't look like they're goin' to open again. Probably because of the war. Come on. Your brother wants to buy you ice cream," the woman said guiding the two girls down the street. As the three foreigners left George got up and walked across the street. Bending down he picked up the magazine the girl had dropped. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes: Products and Pranks To Make Life Fun! Catalog 1. It was Fred and George's first catalog. The one they released when the store first opened. George opened the well worn magazine and flipped through it. Inside were the original products he knew so well. The ones Fred and he had invented in their room at the Burrow. The ones they tested on First Years at Hogwarts. Many products were circled with names of people they could be used on written in the margins.
"Ma'am!" George called down the street. The trio of blondes turned around and looked at him quizzically. "You're in luck," George said looking up at the store sign. He took his wand from his pocket and pointed it lighting up the sign. "You're just in time for our Grand Re-Opening 100% Off All Products sale," he said bathed in the bright light of the sign. It wasn't near as bright as the smiles of the twin girls running to the open doors of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.