So this is what happens when you're sitting at your laptop at two in the morning and an idea strikes you. I don't know, this was just random drabble and such but I still like how it came out. Please enjoy, and as always reviews are more then welcome.
Dying. He was dying. Fred knew that much the second the wall exploded. It seemed to take forever and yet at the same time it took no time at all. He could still hear shouts and cries. That was Percy, Percy was crying over his body. Fred wanted to go cheer him up. He wanted to crack some obnoxious joke that would make him so angry he'd forget to be sad. That's how it normally was, that's what he and George had done when Percy had been upset as a kid. Fred was alone now, he realized. He immediately felt panicked. Was George going to be alright without him? He couldn't remember a single time that the two hadn't been together. Not counting recently and even then something terrible had happened both times. George had lost his ear and Fred was dead. Dead. He was dead.
"George is going to be fine." He heard a familiar voice and the sounds and images of the battle disappeared. Fred found himself standing among fog. Thick white fog that made it impossible to see anything except the person standing right in front of him. He looked younger then Fred remembered, he looked like a teenager. The creases in his face had smoothed out and his eyes were no longer sunken in. The damage done in Azkaban had been erased.
"Sirius?" Fred said, uncertain.
"Of course, who else would I be?" He smirked. "Now then, Fred, before you can go on, you need to make a decision. You could return to the world, though not completely. You could become a ghost and stay with your brother -but before you agree," He held his hand up to stop Fred who was about to hastily choose that option before even hearing the other. "Know that if you choose that, you can't ever return here. You'll forever be a ghost."
"That bites." Fred frowned. "What's my other option?"
"You could come with me, to where all the dead people go. I promise you, it'll be a lot better then being a ghost."
"Then what about George?" Fred asked.
"When his time comes he'll show up here, as you have. When he does, you can be the one welcoming him like I have done for you."
"Alright then. I'll go with you." He said. "Though I have one question. Why the hell are you so young?"
Sirius chuckled. "The thing about the after life is that you appear to be which ever age you were happiest at. Looking at you, I'd say you were happiest when you were seventeen. Just leaving school?"
"That was when George and I officially opened our shop." He smiled at the sweet memory. Fred could vividly remember when he and George had first found the location, how they walked through the entire building. They were talking the whole time. They were making plans for where everything would be. They were talking about what products they would put on what shelves. Everything was about planning their store, their collected dream. At the time, neither of them wanted anything but their shop.
This very same memory played in George's head as he lay on his death bed. He was old, and more then ready to leave the world. He was actually happy to leave, though no one was surprised by this fact. He had never been the same after Fred's death. He had put on a good face for everyone. He had gone back to normal life, or as normal as it could be without Fred. The shop had stayed up and running, with much help from the family, even Percy. Percy. There was an odd topic. He and Percy never did have the greatest relationship growing up. He was his brother, and of course he loved him, even when Percy had proved himself to be the biggest prat in the world. Even so, it had shocked everyone when he and Percy became so close after the war. For some reason the two had become closer to each other then to anyone in the family. Of course, this fact was hidden in snide comments and small kind gestures.
Molly once thought it was because Percy had been the one to get George to finally stop feeling sorry for himself and to pick himself up.
Ginny thought that maybe George was trying to replace Fred with the person that he and Fred were closest to as kids. Because, despite how annoyed Percy had ever gotten with the two, even he realized that they were his closest brothers in age and that there was a certain bond between the three.
Charlie had guessed one night that it was because Percy had been there when Fred had died and maybe that's why George felt closer to Percy then he had his other siblings.
They were all right in their own way. George was grateful that Percy had been there to pick him up and to put him back together after it seemed he had been shattered. George had to admit that at one point in their childhood that he and Fred had liked Percy more then their other siblings. And, Percy had been there when Fred had died, so getting close to Percy felt like he was getting closer to his lost twin. But, what no one had even started to notice was that the two hadn't become truly close until George's son was born. That night, Percy had found George lost in a bottle of fire whiskey, crying his eyes out at the Leaky Cauldron. When he saw Percy he stared straight at him, brown eyes piercing blue. "He looks just like him. Right down to his freckles. The only difference is his hair. It's brown like Angelina's." He said, his eyes fogging with more tears.
Once again, Percy took it upon himself to pick George up. To pry the bottle of fire whiskey away from him. To glue him together after he had shattered. He often wondered to himself how many times it would take until he wouldn't be able to put George back together. He was fine most of the time, but every few years or so he would break again and Percy would have to be there. He, thankfully, never saw the day that George broke completely. Not only did this day not happen but Percy had passed before George had the chance.
Now, it looked as though it was George's turn. He didn't mind though, and his family was there. Albeit not all of it. There was Ron, Hermione, and their kids. Ginny, Harry, James, Albus, Lily, and Teddy were all there. Fred, Roxanne, and Angelina were all downstairs, having breakfast with the rest of the family. They all knew what was coming. He was old, not much life was left in him. He was old, and tired, it was his time.
When he went, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. When he opened his brown eyes again, Fred was in front of him. He looked not a day over seventeen. His smile still on his lips.
Fred smiled for his brother, his brother that he had waited so long to see. He had seen half his siblings to the after life already, not to mention his mom and dad. He had been here for each of them, the same way Sirius had been there for him. It was great seeing them all again. Mum had come first, then Dad, then Charlie, and Bill. He had greeted them all with a smile and a hug, every single one of them. The family that he had missed so much. Every day in the after life seemed so unfair, that he had been the one to die first. He had been the one who had to leave. He had to leave so soon. He had to leave his brother. Though, he couldn't have left him in better hands. The day that Percy had arrived Fred had thanked him so many times for taking care of George. He didn't think he could thank him enough for that. Percy had smiled and said that he owed it to them both. He had been so happy to see Fred again that you would have thought that he had been the only one to truly miss him.
Fred knew that wasn't true, because now, that he smiled at his mirror image, his twin, he knew that no one could miss him more then the lost seventeen year old standing across from him. They stood there for a good long while, staring at each other from across the thick white fog, each taking in the other's appearance as though it was the first time they had seen each other. Then, without uttering a word, Fred walked over to his brother and threw an arm around his shoulder and the two walked off. They left the white fog behind them, entering the after life, arm and arm. No words were needed at this point, they would talk later, for now they just wanted to enjoy each other's company and know that the other was there. They needed to know that this wasn't some cruel dream. It wasn't. They had each other again, the two halves where once again whole