I'm writing a story about the aftermath of the Hogwarts battle, but this side of things has always seemed like a goldmine for a story for me.

Fred and George were always together so I thought that discovering who George was without Fred would be fascinating. Please tell me what you think

THE FUNERAL

George lay awake in his old bedroom at the burrow. After the battle he had become a completely different person. He was no longer the jovial trickster, but stuck in a deep depression. The shop was being run by Lee while he got himself together, but George was not sure that he would ever go back there. The whole idea for a joke shop had been his idea. The shop would only remind him of his brother. He spent most of his time staring at parchment with his twins scribbles on it, forcing himself to memorise every feature of the handwriting so like his own. There were of course subtle differences. The curve of the g was more pronounces, the flick of the a less flicked up a bit.

'todays the day,' he muttered to himself. He could not stand to remind himself of the past any longer. Each time he did was like a knife cutting him in half once more. The simple truth of it was that he did not know who he was on his own. He needed his brother back, his twin, his partner, his best friend.

'Fred,' he whispered, spying a picture of them both as he walked towards his door. This was the first time he had mentioned his name out loud since his death. With a pang he realised also that today was the funeral.

He sloped down the stairs and into the kitchen. His mother was busying herself, evidently trying to stop herself from losing control. Even with all the activity he could her her sobbing. With numb hands George placed a hand on her shoulder. She spun around, and for a split second he could see a joy in her eyes, thinking her son had returned to her, but then she collapsed into his arms, shaking with the weight of grief that came down upon her in the moment of realisation. His father ran into the kitchen, hearing her lose control. Like his wife Arthur Weasley stopped dead seeing george, thinking for a moment that he was fred. He led with wife away to calm her down, but patted George's shoulder as they left.

He sank into a chair once they'd left, watching the various appliances working on the preparation of too much food for the eleven people currently occupying the house. Ever since the end of the battle Harry and Hermione had been living with them, and Charlie, Bill and Fleur had also been staying there. The house was too full for the house to manage easily, and yet it still felt not even slightly full enough. Loss was etched on every splinter of the woodwork, pain on every face. Even the food tasted bitter without the laughter that had used to fill the Weasley kitchen.

Breakfast was a silent affair, despite the small feast the mrs Weasley had prepared nobody was very hungry. The black clad party all stared at their plates, dreading the day ahead. Mr's Weasley didn't last 5 minutes before having to leave the table in a renewed fit of crying. This time it was Charlie who went to comfort her. Other than the sounds of muffled sobbing the house was silent. Ginny leant against harry while he stroked her hair, and Ron and Hermione held tightly to each other's hands, Ron staring off into the distance, as if he was still expecting to see Fred walking towards the house. George stared resolutely downwards, knowing full well that the person who had always made him feel better, was the reason he needed cheering up in the first place. He could hear Fred talking in his head.

'Blimey Perc, I never thought I'd see you lost for words.'

He could feel a tear making a path down his face, but made no attempt to wipe it away.

Finally the time came and the whole family sat under the same tarpaulin that had so recently held the wedding guests for Bill and Fleur. The same wizard presided over the funeral. Fred's body lay draped in red cloth at the found himself not even paying attention to what was going on and staring at the lifeless figure of himself.

Suddenly as the wizard stopped talking a very different sight met his eyes, than had at Dumbledores funeral. A load bang filled the air as the fireworks that they had both created filled the air. The face of Fred appeared in the sky and winked down at the crowd. Then the face dissolved into thousands of flowers, hats and 'hysterical humbugs' fell into the laps of the startled crowd. For the first time in days the ghost of a mile appeared on Georges face. His cheeks hurt from the lack of using those muscles. He remembered him and fred designing these at Auntie Muriel's.

'Now remember Freddy' he had said, 'If we die we want to go out with a bang. One for me and one for you.'

'Georgie I love the way your mind works' Fred had replied, 'I think the hysterical humbugs should go in these.'

'You know I think you are right, we should give people one last gift of laughter before we take out final bow.'

'You know, If you had another ear George you would be almost as perfect as me'

'But I am perfect,' George said with a grin, 'I'm holey remember.'

'That is still pathetic,' Fred had chortled.

Soon everyone was laughing on the floor, some of them had actually been foolish enough to eat the humbugs, and others giving Fred the send off he had wanted and deserved by laughing at his final joke.

Tell me what you think please :) I love writing this stuff, I would love to know if you love reading it :D