Falling Apart
Disclaimer: If I owned any of this I would not be posting it here!!
George took a deep breath. "This is it." He turned the knob and entered the store. At first he felt almost shocked. Nothing had changed. A thick layer of dust covered everything, but at the same time nothing had moved. It was almost as if George had expected everything to be falling apart - like he was. It was the first time George had been inside the shop since it happened. It felt so empty and quiet. George sighed heavily and turned on the lights. The room seemed to come to life again. The colors of various boxes and wrappers were still vibrant and bright under the dust. George moved through the store muttering cleaning spells he had never thought that he would use. He moved things from place to place, touching everything and yet feeling nothing. He sighed again and almost smiled as he thought of what Fred would have said if he had seen him.
"You've turned into Mum! Cleaning to fight of stress!"
It was ironic, but true. George pushed himself to finish cleaning the shop, to get it back into working order. Having so much to do kept his mind from dwelling on the one thing that was missing.
As he finished, he caught a movement of red in the corner of his eye. "Fred!" his heart leapt as he ran to the back room. He came to a sudden stop once he entered the back room. How could he be so stupid? A mirror. He stared at his reflection. For months he had managed to avoid mirrors. All they had shown him was a reminder of all he had lost. As he stared now, it wasn't Fred looking back at him. The man staring back looked nothing like Fred. The mans cheeks were shrunken in, he had large bruise-like circles under his eyes, and his red hair hung limply and lifelessly in his face. This realization hit George hard. "I look nothing like him…" he whispered to no one. That was it. He stumbled to the nearest chair and sunk down into it, sobs wrecking through his body. He had cried once since Fred had died, and after that the tears refused to fall. All the tears had been building up, and now George sobbed until there was nothing else left. He held his head in his hands and rested his elbows on his knees. "He would be so ashamed of me for falling apart like this…"
"No… not for falling apart…"
George looked around the store startled. It was empty. He shook his head as I to shake the voice away. This is not happening… he thought.
"Not for falling apart," the voice said again, "but for taking so bloody long to pick the pieces back up again!" the voice laughed.
"Fred?" he asked softly, half expecting someone to drag him off to St. Mungo's. The hole where his ear used to be tickled a little, like his ear was still there and someone had run a feather across it.
George smiled. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to do so. He knew that everything would be alright. Even if it meant he ad finally gone crazy, Fred was still with him, and that was all George wanted. He got up and walked to the fire place throwing a pinch of floo powder into the flames. He was greeted with Ron's concerned face on the other end. "George? Is everything ok?" he asked panicky. "Everything's fine… how much experience have you had in a retail position?" "Why?" Ron asked uneasily. George smiled again and he saw the surprise on Ron's face. "Because I'm looking for a new business partner… Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is once again open for buisness!" he felt the tickle on his "ear" and laughed. It was good to be back. –Fin.