Life Goes on, Even After the Hardest of Times
George lay awake staring at the ceiling. He could hear the sound of Ron and Charlie snoring. Percy was muttering something indistinguishable and trivial. Harry was a quiet sleeper; no doubt he had learnt when he had slept in a cupboard under the stairs.
George remembered when he and Fred had got Harry's stuff from there. Fred. His brother, his twin brother was dead. Never coming back. Twenty four hours ago the two of them had been alive, they had been twins.
And then today Harry had defeated Voldemort. They were all safe. But the Weasley family had lost one of their siblings. They would never be seven again, they would only be six.
Without warning the tears that had been threatening to fall, escaped. All the pain that had built up in one day. The dead. Not just Fred but Remus and Tonks. There was another orphan now, Teddy. Remus, who had suffered so much only to be met with a cruel and brutal ending.
At least he and Tonks were with Fred now. They were with Sirius and Harry's parents and somehow George knew that if the afterlife was anything like in stories, Fred would be living with Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Lily and James, two amazing people who George had never met.
He wept more now. For Harry who had never known a blood family, for the Weasley's were his family now and George loved Harry like a brother. He wept for Teddy who would never know his parents, for his brothers, his parents, his friends, other witches and wizards and finally for himself.
He felt an arm wrap round his shoulders and instinctively he turned his head. Sitting next to him was Katie. Her face pale and tear stained. She tried to smile at him but failed and instead she began to cry.
"It's not fair." He cried out and she hugged him as he began to cry harder. Without realising it he buried his face in her shoulder and wept. He could feel her tears falling into his hair.
George awoke the next morning to find Katie lying beside him, his arm wrapped protectively round her waist, her head on his chest. He smiled. Lying here beside him was the reason to go on living.
A small squeaky wizard, who had never even heard the name Fred Weasley before, droned on and on. George looked round at his family. His mother was sobbing into his father's shoulder, he too was crying. Bill was biting his lip, trying to keep the tears from over flowing, Fleur beside him in tears as she listened to the wizard speak. She was the only one to do so.
Charlie was a pale as a sheet but dry eyed. He was shaking uncontrollably though. Percy sat with his head held high, tears slipping down his face. Ron sat beside Hermione and like his older brother couldn't stop shaking. He was gripping Hermione's hand which looked as though it was now numb. Hermione was sobbing to as her other hand lost feeling. George had a feeling she was immune to the pain though. Ginny was gripping Hermione's other hand and was fighting a losing battle as she tried to stop herself from crying. Before long she had buried her face in her mother's shaking shoulders.
Harry was sitting on the floor; he had refused a chair, his head buried in his hands. Apart from himself George knew Harry was taking this the worst. Harry was probably blaming himself.
As for George himself, he was wreck. He had not eaten, despite Molly's force feeding. He was shaking, sobbing and was near hysterics. This was the first time any of them had seen him after the morning of the battle. The only thing that kept him from running off was Katie's arm round his shoulders. He shouldn't be here, at his twin's funeral.
The wizard's droning came to an abrupt halt. George glanced up at the headstone. There was Fred's name, the dates and then the words: Beloved Son, Brother, Twin, Friend and Prankster. Mischief Managed.
With one look at this George collapsed. Nodding to Bill Katie led him out. As soon as they were far enough away from everyone else George collapsed onto the ground. Katie sat next to him, watching as he buried his face in his hands, tears leaking out and dripping onto the ground.
She slipped her arm round his shoulders and he turned and sobbed into his chest. Katie looked down and her heart broke. Her tears joined his.
I was planning on doing Katie and George's wedding but I couldn't write it the way I imagined it so I gave up. Hope you enjoyed the story though. Please tell me what you thought, in a review for those of you thick enough not to know how.
Thanks Tac.