Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling.
A/K: This is just a random idea I though of in journalism the other day. I wasn't sure how I was gonna do this but I think this will work best. I hope you like!
George Weasley waved the last few customers goodbye and sighed. Another day done. He turned to the counter and straightened up the displays there. Just another part of his nightly routine. He half laughed. That's all his life seemed to be anymore. Just a routine. Nothing had been the same since that day. Since the day Fred had died all George seemed to be doing was struggling to cope. He had expanded the business quite a bit but it didn't seem as exciting as it should have. And now that Ron had quit to go be an Auror he was alone for real this time. He was just about done cleaning up when he heard the bell ring as the door opened.
"Hello?" he heard someone call out. He came out from behind the display he had been working on and saw none other than Alicia Spinnet.
"Hey Alicia. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Oh there you are George. How are you?"
"I'm…okay, how about you? What have you been up to?"
"I'm great. I'm working for the Daily Prophet."
"That's right. I read your piece on the new Ministry the other day. It was really good."
"Thanks." She said with a smile. "Listen, George. Umm…you know how next week will be the one year anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts?" George nodded. "Well, we're doing a sort of, memorial issue. You know, interviewing people and stuff. We're gonna get a story about what Harry and them were doing before hand and we're also wanting to interview some people about, well, how it felt to….you know, lose someone." She looked at him.
"And you want to interview me?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, everyone knew you and Fred and a lot of people were heartbroken and I thought it might be good for…might be good for you." Good for him? How could it be good for him to talk about those horrible memories?
"Why?"
"Well, you never really talked about it."
"I didn't want to."
"I know that. But maybe, maybe it's time to." He sighed.
"You're right." He conjured a couple of stools and they sat at the counter. Alicia pulled out a notebook and quill and looked at him.
"You ready for this?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." He replied.
"Okay. First question. When you first arrived at Hogwarts for the battle, what were you feeling?"
"Umm, I don't know. I was pretty excited we were finally doing this you know? The time had finally come to take this guy down and I was going to be there for it."
"Alright. You were stationed to guard the secret passages with a few of us and you and Fred split us into groups. Now do you wish you had chosen to do something else?"
"No. We did really well there. We got quite a few of the Death Eaters there and I believe it really was the best place for us to be."
"Do you regret that you weren't there when Fred died?" A lump in George's throat appeared and he tried to fight the tears.
"I…I guess I do. But at the same time I don't know if I would have been able to handle it if I was. Seeing him live his last moments…I just, I think it would have haunted me."
"You and Lee Jordan took down Fenier Grayback; did it feel strange with out Fred? You three were pretty much inseparable." George blinked hard to hold back tears.
"It was really hard. I kept looking back expecting him to be there or be on the other side of me. I thought that if I just fought harder…I would….it would bring him back." His voice faltered and Alicia put a hand on his knee.
"Are you alright?" he nodded. "Do you want to stop?"
"No, no let's keep going." He cleared his throat and looked at Alicia waiting.
"Okay. How did your view of what happened later that night change based on what had happened to him?"
"I think I was even more thrilled that Harry won. I felt like Fred had been….avenged in a way. I was still devastated but, when V-V-Voldemort died I guess I felt some bit of hope that the world would get better now."
"Last question. What did his death teach you?" George looked at his shoes as he thought about it. What had it taught him?
"I guess…I guess it taught me that nothing is for sure. You don't know if you'll be here tomorrow or even if you'll be here in an hour. You have to live life to the fullest and not take a single thing for granted. Carpe diem you know." He paused. "I also learned that you never know how strong you are until being string is the only choice you have." He looked back up at Alicia and saw she had tears in her eyes as she wrote this down. She penned the last word and put her quill down.
"George. That was…I'm so proud of you." She said with a small smile. He smiled back at her. She packed her stuff back up and stood up. "Well, thank you so much. This is going to be really good."
"Thank you." He said standing as well. He walked her to the door. "SO I'll see you around then."
"Maybe we could get a bunch of us together sometime."
"I would like that." He said with a smile.
"Okay then. I'll see you later George."
"Bye Alicia." She left and he shut the door behind her. He flipped over the open sign to read closed and turned off the lights. But he stood staring out into the street for a while. He watched until the first stars came out. And as he watched, he felt the weight that he had been carrying o his heart lift. Things would get better. They always did. He turned and headed up stairs. After all, he had to live to the fullest. He passed a picture of him and Fred at Fleur and Bill's wedding and smiled.
"Carpe diem Fred." He whispered. "Carpe diem."