George POV

It had been a nightmare. The past few days had been nothing but a nightmare and Fred was still alive, or at least that's what I had convinced myself was reality. I hadn't left my room since we had returned to the Burrow. I knew that the minute I went outside and he still wasn't there, the reality would hit me and I would finally be forced into believing that he was dead.

If he was dead then what was I? Even our parents didn't take one of our names without the other. We were always " Fred and George". There was no George without Fred.

I had contemplated suicide more times than I could count. The only thing that kept me going was the look on mum's face everytime she saw me. I couldn't bear the thought of causing her more pain, it went against every fibre of my being.

My chain of thoughts was interrupted when Harry and Ron stepped into my room. Harry was holding a tray of food which mum had sent up in vain hope that I would actually eat. They put the food down on our desk, my desk now and were leaving when I said, " No hello to your favourite brother Ronniekins?" My voice sounded stranger than it ever had before as I had not spoken since the battle. They literally jumped and turned to look at me as if I had suddenly grown wings and a snout. Harry, who had managed to recover from his shock said, " Hey George, we just didn't think you would want to talk." I smirked, " Everyone likes a chat once in a while don't you think? I think it's driving me a bit barmy, having only myself for company."

Ron spoke next, "So.. umm how are you holding up?" I had expected a lighter topic of conversation but Ron being the thickheaded git that he was had dived straight into the one topic I did not want to discuss..

Harry sensing my discomfort quickly said, "Have you thought about reopening the business? I heard Olivander is starting up again, school rush will start around August, maybe you can be open by then if you start restoring now. I'm sure everyone in the family would offer to help if you did."

I honestly hadn't thought about reopening the shop, it had probably been blown to bits by now. It might serve as a distraction though, and as much as I felt like it, I couldn't sit locked up in my room my whole life. I said, " Yeah I think I'll get started soon. Maybe go to Diagon Alley one of these days and assess the damage. I'll ask Bill to come along and help with any curses that might have caused some damage."

They seemed happy to see me being positive and trying to move on, I am pretty sure I'll never fully recover from this, a part of me died with Fred and that part can never be resurrected. I didn't want to bring this to their attention of course. If I knew Harry, he had already taken the blame for every mistake mankind had made upon himself and Ron too had lost a brother.

Deciding to move onto a topic I found more enjoyable to converse about I asked Ron, "So finally found the guts to tell Hermione?" Ron's ears turned red and he said, "Umm... yeah she kind of made the first move and umm err.. yeah we're together now." I laughed half heartedly, "And you Harry? Back to my sister after abandoning her in the middle of a bleedin war?" Now it was Harry's turn to blush and being the serious, self-condemned idiot that he was he answered back, " George, I am extremely sorry for leaving her, she understands that I could not have slept a wink in peace knowing that she was unsafe and it was my fault. I love her more than my life and would never dream of harming her in any way and it hurts to see her in pain." I looked at him and said, "I was just kidding. I know that you love her. Just don't hurt her or else I will be forced to chase you around on a broomstick until you fall off."

Seeming relieved, Harry asked me, " So I wanted to ask both of you whether you would be interested in coming to Andromeda's with me? I'm on my way there to babysit Teddy while she plans Remus and Tonks' funerals. I could really use the help. I understand if you don't want to but I feel that maybe we all could use that distraction."

Hell, why not. I hardly had much to do anyways. I said, " Sure. I warn you I'm horrible at taking care of babies though." Ron said yes as well and we apparated to Andromeda's house.

She seemed pleased that all three of us had come. She said, " Good Afternoon, Harry, Ron and George! It's nice to see you all." One could see that she wasn't keeping well, there were dark circles under her eyes and tear stains on her cheeks. Harry smiled and said, " It's nice to see you too, how are you doing?". She smiled sadly and said, " Keeping busy dear." Ron asked, "Is there any way in which we can help with the funerals?" She said, " Nothing at all, just babysitting Teddy would be nice, it was very sweet of you all to come here."

Harry bid her farewell and we went inside. Harry headed over to Teddy's cot where he was fast asleep. After a few minutes of standing we headed over to the sofa there was near the cot. I sat down, Harry and Ron followed sitting on either side of me. The silence was starting to get akward, I asked them, "So how are the girls? And mum and dad?" Ron answered saying, "Mum keeps herself busy cooking up a storm, dad spends the whole day locked up in his shed and only comes out for meals. He's going to start going to the ministry and resume work next week along with the rest of the employees. Ginny goes out flying and Hermione reads. The four of us spend most of our time together. Or well, until Ron and Hermione decide to excuse themselves for some alone time." Ron threw a pillow at him and said, " You might want to watch your tongue seeing that you're the one shoving it down my sister's throat." Harry grinned answering, "And your tongue is down my sister's throat."

Ron scoffed, " Oh please, she's hardly your sister. It's not like you're related." I, not wanting to hear about Harry and Hermione's lovely friendship interrupted saying, " So, when and how did you two finally come to your senses?" Harry started laughing and said, " In the middle of the war! Ron said something about getting the house elves to safety and Hermione jumped on top of him until I told them to just keep their hands off each other until the war was over."

Ron seemed eager to change the topic and luckily Teddy woke up at that moment. He said, "Look Teddy is awake!" I walked over to his cot and picked him up, it was surprising how tiny a baby could be really, and handed him to Harry.

Harry held him to his chest and started comforting him as he cried. When he didn't stop crying Harry said, " I think he wants milk." I turned to Ron, "Quick, get the formula." H looked puzzled and said, "Wha?" I shook my head and ran to the kitchen, picking up the bottle on the table I quickly made the formula and ran back into the nursery. I had seen mum do this hundreds of times when Ron and Ginny were infants. I handed Harry the formula as he fed Teddy. He fed Teddy and burped him. Ron said, " You will make a great mom one day." I looked at him and said, " Well you sure as hell won't. Feel bad for Hermione, she'll be left doing all the work alone."

Ron's ears reddened for the second time that day and said, " We haven't even spoken about marriage." I raised my eyebrows and said, "I bet you haven't had sex either?" He replied in an almost whisper, " Umm.. well not exactly.." and a little louder, "Anyways bugger off you guys it's none of your business." I smirked and paced across the room to stand in front of the window and stared up at the sky. I did that from my window at the Burrow every time I wanted to speak to Fred. I didn't even need to say anything because just like always I knew he understood.