Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Fred Weasley wouldn't have died.
A Weasley Battle Cry
He runs through the crowd. He lost Fred at one point before Voldemort was defeated, but he's not sure when.
He spots a cluster of red hair, relief inundates his brain because it's his family, but his heart knows better and, as he approaches his sobbing family, his brain finally realizes what his heart's been screaming at him. There's going to be one less Weasley heading back to the burrow.
He can't see who he's lost; he's still too far away. As he begins to run, his brain tries to guess the victim's identity. Is it his father? His mother? His baby sister?
He finally gets close enough to get a glimpse at the lifeless body. Only he wishes he hadn't, because somehow, it's worse than losing his father, mother, and sister combined. Not that he would've preferred their deaths over this one; he hadn't wanted anyone to die. But this felt like the end of the world.
It's Fred.
Fred Weasley. His twin, his other half, his partner in crime, lays stone cold dead on the ground in front of him. Tears fall from the eyes of his loved ones like summer rain, trapping Fred in an ocean of sadness. Only his twin brother doesn't notice because he's slowly making his way through the small cluster of people that is his now slightly smaller family.
He can feel them watching him, now weeping for him as well as Fred. He can feel the tears falling from his own eyes and the sobs escaping his throat, but it's hard to focus on anything really, it's all too surreal.
But then, as he kneels down next to his dead brother, he sees the slight smile- only a ghost of the live one- still present on his cold face. And something inside him breaks, his heart, he guesses. Because now he is all too well aware of his own sobs and tears and snot. The pain, which had been previously been dread and confusion, now lies heavily in his chest. He leans over his best friend's corpse and throws up on the other side of him.
He's sobbing harder than before, now. He clutches himself to Fred and opens and closes his eyes like maybe, this is all a dream. Maybe he just needs to wake up.
Or maybe, it's all a joke. Fred's smiling after all. He hopes against hope that this is just a cruel, sick prank.
But George Weasley knows deep in his heart that this is no joke.
It's been two weeks since the death of Fred Weasley. George doesn't leave his room. He hasn't left, not even one single time, since they've been home. He drinks when necessary and eats when forced (Ginny's usually the one that comes in and shoves oatmeal or bread down his throat, fighting back tears the entire time). The need to use the bathroom doesn't come often. And when it does, he takes care of it with magic. He's slept in Fred's bed the entire time. He wears his clothes, holds his stuff.
People stopped trying to comfort him on the 4th day of this. They still check in occasionally, to make sure that he's alive, probably.
How could they think he wasn't? Do they not hear him? In the middle of the night, when he sobs for his missing half? Of course they do. He knows because he can hear all of them. The past two weeks, they've grown familiar with each others' cries.
Molly attempts to smother hers in her pillow, to no avail, while Arthur's shaking voice attempts to soothe her, again to no avail. Bill, who's been home since the war, waits until he thinks that Fleur is sleeping, then sneaks outside and sobs in the garden, but she always comes for him. George can hear Charlie's loud sniffles, the only sign of his cries (George appreciates the fact that Charlie is, by far, the quietest). Percy's are the most child-like, but not in a bad way. The springs on his bed creak, indicating that he's rocking back and forth, his tear-filled voice whispering that everything's going to be all right one day, he sniffs occasionally. Ron cries in his sleep. George knows this because Ron's cries start some time after the others (George knows that Ron tries his hardest to act strong, and admires him for that), and not long after they've started, Hermione can be heard telling him to wake up. Once he finally does, they cry together. Ginny's cries are the saddest. She sobs her little heart out, repeating Fred's name over and over again. Harry, like Arthur, tries in vain to soothe her. When it doesn't work, he gives up and joins her, his quiet sobs mixing with her loud weeping. Together, the sounds of his devastated family create a disheartening melody. This is the Weasley Battle Cry.
George doesn't know what his sobs sound like to the rest of the house. Is he the loudest? The most shameless? The most broken? All three?
Tonight, it's what George's come to recognize as a Worse Night. Tonight, the thoughts well up to too much and the image of deceased Fred won't leave his mind and the disheartening melody is now a full blast deadly symphony of sadness; no longer a Cry, but now A Weasley Battle Howl. The numb feeling that's there on a Less-Worse-But-Still-Horrible-Night is replaced by grief and anger and helplessness. He can't go to sleep because his body is shaking too much and his throat hurts and his head is throbbing and he feels raw.
It is a Worse Night.
Fred Weasley watches from Heaven as the sun rises and his brother still hasn't stopped crying. He can't take it anymore.
He asks God for permission to go speak to his brother.
God says yes.
George's sobs are cut off suddenly when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He didn't hear anyone enter his room.
He turns around to see his brother at his side, smiling his Fred Weasley smile. George attacks him with a monstrous hug.
Fred hugs him back.
"Hmmm… you think you'd go right through me, seeing as how I'm a ghost or angel or something." Fred says, and the brothers share a long overdue laugh.
"I miss you so much." Says George, voice full of tears.
"I miss you too, Georgie." Fred replies. "But you've gotta move on, alright. No more of this moping around all the time. The rest of the family needs you too, ya know."
Silence from George
"Quit being such a baby!" Fred kids.
George smiles.
"I'll always be with you brother." Fred says.
"Always." George replies.
"See ya in Heaven, loser." Fred laughs
"Yeah, I'll see ya there, Freddie." George laughs back
The two hug one last time and George is filled with happy memories of his brother, and then Fred is gone again.
But this time, George does not cry. Instead, he smiles. Fred will always be watching him, and listening to him, and laughing at him from Heaven.
Things will never be right again, not without Fred. But George decides to make the best of his life, starting by going downstairs to willingly eat breakfast. This gets him puzzled-yet-pleased looks from the rest of the Weasley clan, which includes Harry and Hermione as well.
"Morning" George says.
"George" says Ron. Everyone is utterly speechless, except for Ginny who leaps from her spot, runs to her brother, and hugs him tightly.
"I love you, Georgie." She says, a single tear making its way down her cheek, leaving behind a glimmering shadow.
"I love you too, Gin." George replies, wiping away the tear.
The rest of breakfast is spent reliving Fred's memory. Sharing stories and jokes and laughs. George doesn't tell the others about seeing Fred in his room, that's his private moment with his brother.
And he knows that one day he'll be with Fred in Heaven.
One day.
A/N: Sorry, I really needed some brotherly happiness after Fred's horrible death in DH. *sobs* WHY ONE OF THE GINGERS?