A/N: This just popped right into my head and I had to write it down and see what happened.
Tons of thanks to Linnea, who offered to beta this for me as soon as I told her I had started working on it and to Amanda who was the first person to read this (even though her initial feedback was 'i hate you.').
Obviously the characters and the world belong to JKR, and it's a gift that she lets us play around with it all.
George stood near the front of the Great Hall. Harry had just defeated Voldemort, and the entire hall was filled with cheers and celebration. George however, couldn't bring himself to partake in anything. Fred wasn't with him, and he would never be again.
George watched as McGonagall took charge, fixing the house tables and sending the house elves to the kitchens to prepare a celebratory feat. Those who had lost loved ones were throwing glances to the row of dead at the top of the hall where the high table normally sat, but no on came up to grieve as they had done earlier. George was sure they would later, but the jubilation of You-Know-Who's defeat was keeping everyone as close to the day's heroes as possible. They all wanted to be near Harry. George was certain that Harry would only wish to be alone, knowing what he had just been through, but George couldn't help him. Harry was still at the back of the Hall and George stood alone at the front.
George turned to move closer to Fred's body; he couldn't imagine being far away from him, particularly now. But suddenly, he felt a hand close over his upper arm and stopped to turn around and see his older brother Percy standing with the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. Percy's eyes were still red from crying, just as George assumed his own eyes must be.
"George, Mum wants us to come to the end of the hall and sit together, our whole family," said Percy steadily. George could still hear the sadness in his voice.
"Oh," George responded distantly, "right. But I wanted to see…" George trailed off as he looked over to where Fred's body lay.
Percy smiled sadly. "I know, but Mum really wants us to be together now. You can see him later; we all will." George could tell his brother was near tears again, but that he was being strong for George. Losing Fred had been a terrible blow for George's newly returned brother.
"Okay," said George, resigned, "would you give me a minute though? I just really need to be alone right now."
Percy nodded, walked a ways away, and then stopped, clearly waiting for his brother to come with him when he was ready. George greatly appreciated the gesture, just as he had appreciated how Percy held back tears for George moments before. Percy seemed to know that if George saw anyone begin to cry over Fred, George would inevitably start crying himself.
Just then, George remembered with a pang that Percy had been with Fred when he was… George couldn't finish the thought. But Percy had been there and so had Ron, Harry, and Hermione. That was all George knew. At the time, all that mattered to George was that his twin, his best friend, was gone. He suddenly realized he wanted to know how Fred had… died… George almost cried as he finally thought the phrase, but he did want to know. He needed to know. Had Fred left the world in a manner befitting a Weasley twin? Meaning, of course, had he left the world laughing and joking. If he had, then the… death… was fitting.
George slowly walked over to his older brother who was looking around at the opposite end of the hall. George put his hand on Percy's shoulder and Percy looked over at him quickly.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah," said George, not sure if it was true, "But can I ask you one thing Percy?"
"Sure…" responded Percy, a bit confused at what George would want to ask him.
"How-," George began, but stopped. He breathed in sharply, "How did Fred," he paused again. "How did Fred die? I mean I know there was a curse and everything, but what was he doing… what were his last words?"
George glanced at his older brother. Percy was smiling sadly, but his eyes were glistening with tears.
"Well," began Percy, "Fred and I, we were each dueling a Death Eater, and then the one I was dueling, his hood fell down and it was Thicknesse, and so I joked to Thickness that I was resigning, and-"
George cut him off. "Wait, you joked about something?" George stared at Percy as if something was wrong with him.
Percy laughed quietly. "Yes, I was joking. He –Fred- couldn't believe it either. He stunned his Death Eater and jokingly asked if I was joking, and then when he realized that I was he started laughing and then he said 'You actually are joking, Perce…. I don't think I've heard you joke since you were-'" Percy fell silent and George knew what had happened then. Neither brother spoke for a moment.
"So he was laughing?" said George, breaking the silence.
"He was laughing," affirmed Percy. "It…. it was the way he would have wanted to go. I think."
"It was." George agreed, and suddenly he found his eyes were swimming with tears. He tried desperately to blink them back, but it was no use. He looked up at Percy through his tears and saw that his older brother had started crying as well; tears running thickly down his face. And then George reached out hugging him. The two men began crying on each other's shoulders. George felt slightly pitiful, but he needed the comfort of his older brother who was facing the same thing as he was.
When George regained his composure enough to stop crying and wipe the tears from his face with the sleeve of his robes, he broke away from the hug, leaving Percy still crying quietly.
"Perce," George said softly," you know what Fred would say to us if he were here?"
"He'd probably call me a prat wouldn't he?" Percy responded, laughing through his tears. "And he'd say he expected better of you than to stand around crying."
"He would say that." George shook his head. "Merlin, I…" He paused, "I miss him, Perce, I really miss him."
"I do too, George. I do too."
The brothers stood there for a moment before George spoke. "Well, Mum's probably wondering where we are, don't you think?" George was trying desperately to take his mind off of Fred.
"I'm sure she is," Percy agreed, clearly trying to do the same.
The men began walking down the length of the hall to where their family sat. On one side of the table, was Charlie with Bill next to him and Fleur on Bill's other side. Across from Bill, Charlie, and Fleur sat George's mother with his father on one side of her and Ginny on the other. Ginny's head rested on her mother's shoulder. Sitting beside his dad, George saw Ron, with Hermione next to him, leaning into his side.
"Are they finally together?" George muttered to Percy while motioning to Ron and Hermione. Percy simply shrugged. George decided he would need to find this out. He and Fred had always been big supporters of Ron and Hermione finally doing the world a favor by removing the sexual tension and getting together. In fact, the two brothers had had a bet on about it.
Back in August, right before the wedding, when the twins knew that Ron, Hermione, and Harry would be leaving soon, Fred had bet George 10 galleons that Ron and Hermione would be officially together by the next time the twins saw them. George took the bet. If they were together now, George lost, unless they had gotten together sometime during the battle. George thought this was a fairly plausible possibility, and he now really wanted to find out for sure.
When Percy and George reached the table, they took the seats next to Charlie, opposite Ron and Hermione.
"George, Percy, are you both alright?" asked George's mother, concerned and tense. Her face was weary and battle worn, Fred's loss had been as bad for her as it had been for George.
"We're fine, Mum, we're fine." Percy answered for both of them, offering a comforting pat on his mother's hand. She visibly relaxed with Percy's assurance and turned back to her daughter with whom she had been conversing quietly. Percy immediately joined in discussing with their father, who looked older than George had ever seen him, about the future of the Ministry. The Ministry had never been an interesting topic for George, and it was even less so now. He turned, instead, to the pair across from him.
"Are you two together then?" he asked Ron and Hermione, "officially?"
"Er…" started Hermione, turning faintly pink, "well…"
"Yeah, we are," interjected Ron, his face redder than Hermione's. George saw a faint smile pass between the two of them.
"FINALLY!" George was grinning wider than he had in hours. "Glad to hear it! Since when?"
"Since… well… since a couple of hours ago, I suppose," said Ron thoughtfully, looking at Hermione, who hurriedly, and semi-embarrassedly nodded her agreement.
"Wait, so after you'd seen me right?" George checked.
"Yeah…" Ron replied, confused. "Why does it matter if we'd seen you?"
"We had a bet!" George stated triumphantly. "I said you wouldn't get together until after we saw you next, as opposed to you getting together while you were off on your mission thing with Harry, which was what Fred-" George stopped at Fred's name. How could George care about winning a silly bet if the person he'd made it with was… well gone. George looked away and around at the rest of the hall. Ron and Hermione said nothing. George saw his close friend Lee sitting beside Alicia at the next table over. Lee had his arm around her and she was leaning into him. It seemed Angelina wasn't actually the right girl for Lee to be chasing after. But that thought reminded George of something else, where was Angelina? George quickly scanned the hall and finally found her at the same table as him, closer to the end, sitting alone with her head lying on her arms. George knew she needed someone to be with her right now, and he realized he wanted to be that someone. She and Fred casually dated during sixth and seventh year. More than that, she was a good friend to both twins; therefore, George knew she would understand his pain and anguish. His family understood what it was like to lose Fred as a brother, but only his friends would know how it felt to lose Fred as a friend.
George turned to Ron and Hermione, both of whom were looking at him with concern etched into their faces.
"I'm going to go see Angelina," he said to the couple," I want to see how she's doing." He gestured down the table to where Angelina sat alone.
"That's probably a good idea," said Hermione, nodding.
George stood and his mother glanced up at him nervously, as if expecting him to run away.
"I'm just going to talk to Angelina," George assured his mother who took in a breath and nodded slowly. "I'll be back in a bit."
"We'll be here," said his mother shakily.
George affirmed he understood her with a quick nod and he slowly walked away from his family, toward Angelina.
When he reached her, he placed his hand on Angelina's shoulder. She looked up, startled. Tear tracks were clearly visible on her face and her normally pulled back bundle of braids was spilling all around her face. She seemed surprised to see George there, and looked away quickly.
"Can I sit down?" George asked kindly as she avoided his gaze. She nodded and George sat.
"How're you doing Angelina?" George began what would surely be a difficult conversation.
"I'm fine, a bit shaken, but I'm fine." While speaking Angelina was using her robes to remove the remnants of tears from her face. George didn't believe the calm 'I'm fine' that Angelina gave him in the slightest. Gaining more composure, she turned to face him fully for the first time. "The real question, George, is how are you doing?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," said George looking down, avoiding her gaze.
"I know you, George Weasley," she attacked, "and I know you're lying."
"Well if I'm lying, Miss Johnson," George responded with a hint of his usual joking tone peeking through, "then I'm pretty sure you are too."
Angelina looked sheepish. "Well then…" Neither Angelina nor George knew what to say next, so the two sat in silence or a few moments and George took to scanning the Hall. Once again, his eyes fell on Lee and Alicia.
"Since when are those two together?" he asked Angelina, pointed to the couple at the other table. "I can't believe Lee didn't tell us-me." George corrected himself. He was so used to saying 'us,' meaning himself and Fred, saying 'me' just sounded odd. He pushed the thought out of his mind. Lee and Alicia was a safe and Fred-free topic. He wanted to have a few moments not dwelling on the tragedy that was weighing heavily on both George and Angelina's minds. Discussing Lee and Alicia seemed the best way to do that.
"Oh," said Angelina, at bit surprised at George's topic of choice. "Alicia and I have been living together; Lee needed a place to hide out a month or so ago, so he came to live with us. Lee had finally given up on me, thank Merlin." Angelina gave a small laugh that almost sounded like her old self, but not quite. "And I guess he finally realized that he and Alicia had something. She's my best friend. She'd always sort of liked him, well always liked him or you."
George smiled slightly, remembering his past thoughts of possibly dating Alicia, none of which had amounted to anything.
Angelina continued, "But, of course, she knew all through school he was a bit obsessed with me, so she never really got her hopes up for anything. But, as he was living with us and realized that he and I weren't meant to be together," Angelina laughed again, "things just finally worked out. It was the one good thing they got out of this horrible war, each other."
Angelina looked thoughtful. "Merlin, it's all over isn't it? The war, the suffering, everything. I can't believe it. We can go on with our lives. Me and Alicia can get real, good jobs, we can get married… It's all safe now isn't it?" She looked up at George, her eyes shinning with joy rather than tears, but George couldn't share in that happiness. Fred wasn't there to share in that happiness. Fred was gone and George was alone. George looked down at the table. He couldn't think of a single thing to do or say that wouldn't leave him with hurt, pain, and suffering, even if Angelina said it was all over. As he stared down at the polished wood of the table, George felt Angelina's hand on his back, comforting him.
"I know how you feel, George." Angelina spoke in a soft and soothing voice, almost a whisper. "He was… he was one of my best friends." Angelina's face, so happy a moment before, fell. She looked sad and lost. Her eyes, so recently shining with happiness, were full of tears. She was biting her lip to keep from crying.
George began taking in great rattling, shuddering breaths. He was, once again, holding back tears.
"I… I…" George couldn't find the words to express to Angelina what he was feeling. "I don't know how to live without him," he said finally. And then the dam broke; the tears he had been holding back burst forth like a river. Angelina, as if on cue, began sobbing as well. George reached out and clutched her in a tight hug as though he needed her to keep him there, and he felt Angelina's arms grip him just as tightly. The two friends sat crying into each other for several minutes.
George couldn't believe how many times he'd broken down crying in the last few hours. George never cried. He and Fred had always laughed their way though everything. Their policy was that only through happiness and laughter could things turn out okay. But now… George felt like the complete opposite of a Weasley twin. There were tears instead of laughter. No desire to be in a large crowd of people. And really, how could he be a Weasley twin anymore? There was no more "Weasley twins." Fred was gone. And George had absolutely no idea how to function as a single unite. He needed Fred. Fred was his best friend, his brother, George's other half.
This thought made George hug Angelina even tighter, but after a moment she removed herself from George's embrace. Her face was again covered in tear tracks. She'd stopped crying, unlike George who had no idea how to do such a thing. Looking up at her, George saw Angelina grin through his tears.
"I was just thinking," began Angelina, "about what Fred would do if he saw this." She began to laugh, "He'd hex you for crying, don't you think? And he'd tell me to suck it up and be the Quidditch Captain I used to be." Angelina stopped laughing and shook her head. "I'll miss that… I really will… And I know you'll probably miss it quite a bit more than I will. But we all have each other. You have me, Lee, Alicia, and your entire family. We're all here for you. I guess that's how we'll have to survive now, relying on each other. We can't fall apart at the memories we have of him; we need to be strong for each other and be strong for Fred. He would want us to mourn a little, but he'd also want us to celebrate and to stand by the great Weasley tradition of laughter and joke telling. I think most of all, he'd want you know to you can go on without him. That if you really do need him, he'll always be there in your memories and within you, helping you along. You're still a Weasley twin, with or without Fred. You'll be okay, George."
George had stopped crying. Angelina seemed to have known exactly what he was thinking and her words were helping more than anything anyone had said to him since Fred's death. He could live through this. He could survive with this. He would need everyone's help along the way, but Angelina was right. He would be okay.
He smiled at her, "You're right, Angelina."
"Of course I am," Angelina stated matter-of-factly, smiling back at George. "Would you like to go see Lee and Alicia? The George I know would never pass up an opportunity to tease friends about a relationship."
George smiled, feeling lighter and freer. It was nice to have someone say out loud that they were all there for him. He'd known it all along, but having Angelina state it made it more real and more true.
"Fantastic idea, Angelina," George said laughing. "I do love teasing people about relationships… It's always pretty fun. But I want to stop and talk to Mum first, she's having a hard time."
Angelina nodded seriously, "Well, I'll walk over to Lee and Alicia and you can meet us over there."
George nodded and walked over to his mother, his father and older brothers were gone. George could see them with Kingsley and other Ministry workers in a group down the Hall. Ron and Hermione disappeared as well, probably off with Harry, since George could not find the day's hero anywhere in the Hall. Ginny and Fleur both still sat at the table and were engaged in a friendly conversation, getting along better than George had ever seen them. His mother was not participating in the conversation; she merely watched the two women and listened. She looked up when she heard George approach. She stood and held out her arms. George stepped forward and was enveloped in a large, motherly hug.
"Are you okay, Georgie?" she asked when she released him, still clearly worried about her son.
"Yeah, Mum," George responded, "we've all got each other, and that's what matters now." His mother gave a small smile at his words.
"But actually Mum, I've just remembered. You and Bellatrix! That was BRILLIANT! I can't believe you finished her off! That was definitely the proudest moment in Weasley history." His mother's smile grew larger.
"Well someone had to do it, so why not me?" she was glowing with pride.
"It was amazing, Mum. Really amazing." His mother hugged him quickly.
"Are you going to sit down here with us, George?"
"No, I'm going to talk to Lee, Alicia, and Angelina for a bit. I'll come back over when I'm done."
"Okay, Georgie, we'll wait for you here."
George nodded, "Thanks Mum. See you in a bit."
As George walked over to his friends, Angelina looked up and locked eyes with George, who grinned. She smiled back and George felt a contentment flow over him. He had friends to help him through everything and a loving family that would do the same. George realized that he was very lucky. Even though he had to go on without Fred, this was probably the easiest way to get through it.
A/N: I hope you like it! Reviews would be awesome! Thanks guys!