Looking Back.
The battle was won. Voldemort was dead. The death-eaters had been either killed or taken away. But did that stop the tears flooding from her eyes, staining her pale cheeks? Did it heck. The two of them had been together through everything. Right from the first time they met on Platform 9/34, when she had accidentally rammed her trolley right into his. From the first train ride they shared, where she spent the whole day watching him across the compartment. From their sorting. Getting detention together in their first week, for blowing up a cauldron and throwing the contents over a certain Professor Snape. At the yule ball with George, and feeling a twang of jealousy towards her best friend for landing a date with Fred. From fighting against Umbridge with the DA, to seeing him fall at her feet.
Yet, now that he was gone, she had a strange, painful feeling in her stomach. It felt as though someone was constantly sending a cruciatus curse at her. It hurt to see him so cold and lifeless. It had been hard enough to see him jump in front of her when Dolohov had sent the killing curse her way. And now he was gone, she missed him more than ever.
She remembered the last words that the two had ever shared before going into battle.
"Fred, listento me! I want you to... No. I need you to know something. I love you. I always have, and I probably always will. Since that day I crashed into you at Kings Cross, you've been the one person who made my heart skip a beat whenever you walked by. If I don't make it out alive, or if you don't, or if neither of us do, I want you to know that I never stopped loving you," she said, choking through her tears.
"Licia... I had no idea that you.. That you felt like that... Except that, you know, you blushed brighter than a tomato whenever I spoke to you. But... I... I'm not good at this. But since we kissed under the mistletoe that time in first year, when you had to get up on tiptoes just to reach my lips, I've felt this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that made me feel like I was on cloud nine. That day, when I got back to my dorm, I collapsed on my bed and grinned for hours on end..." he said softly, pulling her close and playing with a strand of her hair. When he reached the end, and was lost for words, he pressed a quick, gentle kiss to her lips and took a step away, grabbing her by the hand.
"If you don't wake it out of there alive, I will not be happy, Spinnet," Fred mocked Oliver Wood's pre-quidditch match tone, and she laughed, kissing him again, running off into the battle.Hours later, and her lips were still tingling from their kisses. She was totally oblivious to the fact that those kisses would be the last ones they would share. That never again would she feel his soft lips against hers, have her arms wrapped around his neck, have one of their infamous tickling wars. And yet, as she sat on the floor with her fingers still knitted in his, she allowed her mind to wonder far away from reality, into a world only of dreams and memories...
"Hey, uh, Fred... C-can I... Can I kiss you?" an eleven year old Alicia Spinnet asked feebly, wringing her hands.
"Kiss me? Uh, any particular reason why, or..?" Fred asked, ruffling his hair.
"Well.. B-because... I uh... I've never kissed a boy before, and it's Christmas, and we're here, alone, under the mistletoe, and you're like, my best friend, and well... If you can't kiss your friends, who... Who can you kiss? And uhm-" she began, but Fred cut her off.
"I'll tell you what. If you stop rambling, then I'll say yes. Deal?" Fred joked, chuckling. Alicia nodded, smiling like an idiot.She blushed slightly, poking her hair behind her ear and looking up into his eyes. He took her hands and bent down, pressing a gentle, long kiss to her lips. She gasped at how surprisingly overwhelming one kiss could be, and returned it. The two pulled back at the same time.
"Satisfied?" Fred asked, letting go of her hands and walking backwards, sumbling a few times. She nodded, watching him turn a corner.Reality hit her like a tonne of bricks. Remembering the day had been so vivid, like looking into a pensieve, butclearer. It hurt more to come back to reality. To ease away the pain, she remembered the more positive times she had Fred had shared.
"Ha, truth or dare, Licia?" Katie asked, an evil gleam in her eye and a grin forming on her lips. "Fred, I'm very sorry about this. It's a dare," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and pulling him in for a long kiss, which he returned, much to her delight. She pulled away after a minute or so, walking back over to her friends, leaving him stood there completely baffled.
"Uh... Truth. I don't trust you,"Alicia said cautiously, leaning back on her elbows and taking a mouthful of water from a cup beside her.
"Under what circumstances would you go over there and snog Fred?" Katie asked non-chalantly, shrugging. It came as such a shock that Alicia choked on her drink, just managing to cough out the word "Dare".
Of course, this had been a huge mistake. Katie and Angelina exchanged a mischevious glance, then Angelina spoke.
"I dare you to snog Fred," she said. Alicia moaned at this, standing up.
"I can't believe you're making me do this..."
"Both of you. Going to hell for that. Right, Ange, truth or dare?"
Her mother was making such a fuss over nothing. Constantly checking she had everything she would need, checking that she would write every day, making her promise to stay out of trouble, to try her hardest, to do this, that and the other. He picked the book up and handed it to her, smiling.
"Mum, I've got everything, for the seventy fifth time! I'll write as much as my homework schedule allows me to, I'll try to stay out of trouble, but I've never been much good at that, and I'll always try my hardest. Can I get on the train, now?" she asked, eager to get to Hogwarts.
"Yes, just one more thing. Make sure you stay away from anyone who might get you into trou- Alicia, watch where you're going!" Mrs Spinnet shouted, but too late. CRASH.The young girl, having diverted her attention for five seconds, had run straight into another student.
"Oh, I am dreadfully sorry. I wasn't watching myself. It's entirely my fault, I apologise," Alicia said, bending down to pick up her things. A hand brushed across hers as she went to pick her book up, and she looked up to find the owner. She was faced with a handsome young man, her age by the looks of it, but much taller, with red hair and blue eyes.
"I'm Fred, by the way. Fred Weasley. You're... Alicia, right? I heard your mum say it. Well, I'd best be getting back. See you on the train, yeah?" he said.
"Yeah, see ya," she said, sounding much more confident than she was feeling. She felt herself burning up, but she kissed her mum goodbye and pushed the trolley over towards the platform edge, getting on the scarlet train and waving goodbye to her mum and little sister, Abigail.
"Alicia, listen to me. Don't cry because he's gone. He wouldn't want that. He'd hate to see so many people sad. Be happy because he was here, because he existed, because he loved you. I know he did. Call it twins intuition. But we'll make it through this together, I promise. Some way or another, this loss we all feel will fade, and we'll be left with happy memories of him and the times that he made us laugh and smile. You can stay with my family if you like. But we'll all come together and celebrate his life. Not our loss. His life," George whispered, putting on a brave face. He was right. She shouldn't be sad because he wasn't with them. She should be happy. Happy that she had found love. Love in a time of little hope. Love in a time of desperation. Love in a time where if you searched far enough into the deepest forest, looked beyond the end of the rainbow, searched beyond the depths of the deepest ocean, there was always light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe not the light you were expecting. But the light you needed...
FIN.