Age five. April 1, 1983.
"Happy birthday, Fred and George! Happy birthday to you!" Everyone began clapping as the ginger twins got ready to blow out their candles. As they huffed their breaths, their mother, Molly Weasley, pulled them back gently by their shirts.
"Mum!" the twins yelled in unison.
"Hold up guys," Molly said. "Tell us the rules one more time, twins."
"Cake is for eating, not throwing," Fred said as George eyed the birthday cake with a hungry look.
"And?" their father Arthur Weasley asked.
"No more mini pinwheels."
"That's right," Arthur said. "We don't want a recap of last year. Poor Ronnie's hair hasn't been the same since."
As if on cue, the twins' younger brother Ron, who had just turned three the previous month, climbed on the bench, looking at the cake. "Ronnie want cake!" he said, reaching out for the chocolate icing.
"Freddie and Georgie get cake first!" the twins said to them. Once Molly let go of them, they looked at one another, made a wish a piece, and blew out the candles in one blow. Fred, George, Ron, and their one year old sister Ginny stuffed their faces with cake as their parents and older siblings Percy, Bill, and Charlie laugh.
._.
The night started out fine. I rushed through the Hogwarts corridors with Fred by my side, firing spells at anything standing in our way. We ran out a door, surprised to see that the balcony was empty. I needed to catch my breath and I knew Fred was thinking the same thing. No way where we possibly safe, but we stood there on the balcony, looking over Hogwarts.
I looked over to my twin, who had a worried look on his face. I'd seen worry on his face before, but never like this. He was truly scared.
"You alright, Freddie?"
He turned to me and smiled an unconvincing smile, but I didn't let him know that. "Yeah, I'm good. You?"
I smiled back, letting him know it'd be ok. "Me too."
We heard an explosion in the distance and knew it was time to go back inside. There was a quick glance between us, and then we were back inside fighting again, throwing spells at the Death Eaters.
I tried staying by my twin's side every chance I got. I knew that together, we were indestructible. Nothing could bring us down. But it couldn't last. We became separated, and the moment I realized it, I began shouting his name, even with Death Eaters coming at me, trying to take me down.
"Fred!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Fred! Where are you?"
I saw one of Voldemort's spawn standing over my friend Lee Jordan. I ran towards him, attempting to knock him off his feet the old muggle way, but Angelina Johnson was there before me. She yelled "Stupefy!" as loud as she could, stunning the Death Eater and knocking him over. We helped Lee up and looked at each other.
"Thanks, Angie," Lee said, dusting himself off and picking up his wand. "I thought I was a goner."
"No problem," she said, huffing. Then she looked at me. "George, why aren't you with Fred?"
"We became separated!" I said in a hurry. "Have you seen him? I can't find him."
"I last saw him with Percy, fighting off a few death eaters," she said. She grabbed my hand. "But George, it might be safer if you stay with us. You could get killed if you go search for him!"
"I know that!" I yelled, jerking my hand away from her. It wasn't in anger though, but more of fear, and I knew she could sense that. "But he would do the same for me. I have to find him. We have to fight together."
All she could do was nod, Lee agreeing, and we set off looking for my brother and fighting along the way. What seemed like hours later, we came upon The Great Hall. It was the last place I wanted to be. Death of people I knew who fought on our side was in the air. It was horrible.
Lee and Angelina ran to their families, and I went over to mine. It took me a moment to realize it, but they were crying. I stopped, trying to figure out what could have possibly happened. Surely no one could have died… could they?
Of course, it was a huge possibility, but it couldn't happen to my family. It just couldn't.
I stood where I was, trying to figure out my missing family member. I didn't see Ron there. But there couldn't be anything wrong with Ron. He was with Harry and Hermione. Right?
And that's when it hit me. I didn't see Fred.
I don't remember breaking into a run, but the next thing I knew, I was getting closer and closer to my family. I saw a body on the floor. They were standing over it. It couldn't be him. It just couldn't be him…
I broke in between Ginny and Bill, Ginny crying onto Dad's shoulder and Bill comforting Fleur. He was crying himself. I looked down and saw him.
Fred. My brother. My twin.
I got on my knees next to him, tears forming in my eyes, blurring my vision so that I couldn't see. I quickly wiped them away so I could see my brother's face. I could sense the faintest smile was on his lips. He'd died laughing.
I felt something inside me break, and it hurt. It hurt worse than when my ear was cut off by Sectumsempra. (And I don't know if any of you have had a limb cut off by Dark Magic, but it hurts. A lot.) I put one hand to my chest and kept another hand on Freddie, my heart desperately breaking. I'd lost my other half. I felt so broken.