Author's Note: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Dedication: To MH who once asked me for a bonding story between the twins and Ginny and who is helping me move the rest of my stuff tomorrow, ergo absolutely earning this fic as a sign of my undying love (which she already had) and thankfulness.
Warnings: Grief, loss of a sibling, funeral, references to the aftereffects of the Battle of Hogwarts
Submitting info:
House: Hufflepuff
Year: Head Girl
Category: Standard, Round 7
Prompt: [Prompt] Dance Party
Word Count: 1392
Stacked with: MC4A; Shower of Words
Individual Challenge(s): Gryffindor MC (x3); Seeds; Booger Breath; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
Representation(s): Funeral; invented holiday; coping mechanism
Bonus Challenge(s): Tomorrow's Shade; Chorus (Ladylike)
Tertiary Bonus Challenge(s): NA
Word Count: 1387
Dancers Dressed in Black
They agreed to let Mum speak. It wouldn't have felt right, not to let Mum talk at her own son's funeral. Everybody else, however, could shut up as far as Ginny and George were concerned.
Fred was buried in Ottery St. Catchpole, in the little graveyard just outside the town, to be precise. It seemed like such a straightforward thing: they had lowered Fred into the ground and buried him. There, done. They didn't even have to water the flowers they'd left there, those would just die too.
But then came the messy complications: the knowing that Fred was just laying there because he was gone, the finality of Fred being gone, the patching up of lives now that Fred was gone, the rearranging of the world to deal with Fred being gone… There was a lot of gone going around.
Mum had asked George if he wanted to help with the arrangements. He'd simply shaken his head, told her that he needed her to do it, and proceeded not to talk or eat much for the rest of the day.
So Mum had taken care of everything, keeping him updated quietly as she went about it, and George had mostly tried to pretend that the whole thing wasn't happening. He didn't succeed much in that one.
His siblings had stood by him, all of them, but he could tell that they were delegating amongst themselves to make sure someone was watching over him each day. Unfortunately, Bill (the most likely head of the operation) had assigned Ginny to his case the day before the funeral—which helped to explain how the whole thing had gone down.
So yes: they let Mum talk, after the body was buried with just the immediate family and a few close friends standing around, watching. Then, they all gathered in an enchanted silvery tent that had been set up to accommodate the larger service—to which tons of mourners, including people George knew for a fact Fred had hated, appeared. The funerals for those who had died at the Battle of Hogwarts were regularly drawing these massive, massive crowds.
Mum had a lot to say about Fred, and it stirred everything in the bottom of George's stomach. He could barely stand to listen to it; why did this woman have to love them so much?
Then it was his turn to go up there and talk, and Ginny squeezed his hand before he went. She winked at him.
George stood before the assembly, which was emitting various sounds of the breathy and sobbing sort.
"I suppose I knew Fred rather well. He was alright," George said. Some people who forgot that there should be no laughing at funerals laughed, including Dad, bless his heart. "I have a lot of brothers, but Fred was my best friend. We grew up together and we'd planned on growing a business and growing old together. There's nothing that I can really say about losing all of that. It's too… too big to deal with quite yet. But I was also familiar with Fred's work, and that is much easier to pay homage to. So that's exactly what we'll be doing now."
He had to admire Ginny's speed. As soon as he winked, giving her the signal, she shot up. She hiked up the long black skirt she was wearing to make sure she could run as quickly as possible to the front of the room. George reached for the radio they'd stashed under the podium and tossed it to her. She caught it, and tapped her wand to it.
They'd asked Hermione to help them set up the Muggle sound system yesterday, that way it would be harder for a witch or wizard to interfere. Of course, they still gave the system a few magical tweaks to make sure that the sound would carry. Lee had helped them make what the Muggles called a "mix-tape" for the occasion, since he'd learned all about it while breaking into Muggle sound studios to tape Potterwatch in the night.
You'd think that Ginny had practiced her part in the plan as fiercely as she practiced Quidditch drills or hexes, because within five seconds the tent was filled with music.
"Which is why I give you, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, hooligans of all ages: the First Annual Fred Weasley Dance Party!" George called out as the music got louder and louder.
Ginny looked up to him and grinned, and he reached out to take her hands and pull her onstage where they immediately dissolved in the most ridiculous dance moves they could conjure.
Of course, the funeral-goers were stunned enough by this development that Ginny and George were the only ones dancing for a good (absolutely ridiculous) thirty seconds. They had discussed this possibility yesterday, but had decided that they didn't care. They were going to dance at this damned funeral like nobody was watching. Plus, they were rather sure that Mum wouldn't murder either of them for at least another year.
And then Bill got up and pulled Fleur to her feet and spun her around. She laughed, and then starting moving with the music too.
Then Mum and Dad rose and danced awkwardly to a song George was reasonably sure they had never heard before even if it was currently breaking charts.
Ron got up and started tangoing with Harry. Hermione and Luna rose too, Luna showing Hermione one of her favourite dance moves which didn't look much like dancing at all, to be quite honest.
Lee Jordan stood on his chair and danced, kicking and shimmying and forcing everyone in his row to get up and awkwardly shuffle. Charlie and Percy were next. Then came Neville, Verity, Angelina and Katie and Alicia, Kingsley, Andromeda Tonks with Teddy in her arms, Oliver, Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, McGonagall even… Oh, what good money Fred would have spent to see McGonagall dance amongst this crowd of swaying black robes.
Before the first song was over, everybody was up and dancing.
"It's a hit," Ginny said, grinning. Getting hot, she gathered her hair up at the top of her hair, pinning her bun into place with her wand.
"Yeah," George said, grinning back.
"He'd have loved it," Ginny said, squeezing his hand before jumping offstage—presumably to find Harry or Luna in the swaying crowd.
The officiant of the ceremony had taken a seat to the side during the speeches, and he looked absolutely stunned. Maybe even more so now than when Death Eaters had crashed a wedding.
George patted his shoulder.
"You should just assume from this point on that whenever the Weasleys book something, you can throw any plan we pretended to make out the window," George said. "Can I have this dance?"
The officiant didn't say no, and they danced for a song before George leapt into the crowd.
George wasn't sure how long Lee had made the mixtape. He and Ginny had given him a list of good dancing songs and other tunes Fred had liked, and Lee had said he'd take care of it. The dance party felt like it took hours. George was fairly sure he danced with every single guest there. At least a dozen people leaned in as they danced to tell him just how much Fred would had loved this, or recall a memory of Fred causing a scene. George liked to think that this was the ultimate prank. He saw Harry laugh for the first time since the Battle as he danced with Ginny, he saw Mum and Fleur dancing together, Dad showed off all these so-called Muggle dance moves he'd learned, he and his siblings somehow got Percy to lead a Conga line, Weird Sisters' lyrics were screamed out at the top of the crowd's collective lung power…
Look at that, huh? He thought to himself, looking around at all the dancers dressed in black around him. Maybe I can do this. Merlin knows I don't want to… But maybe I can do this, Fred.
When the last song ended and there was a moment of absolutely deafening silence, George made his way back to the front of the tent and stepped onstage.
"To Fred Weasley," he said simply. "There are refreshments just in the back there; other than that, we'll see you next year, everyone.