Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Alive

It was gruesome. It was more bittersweet than anything else. We won. Harry defeated Voldemort at long last, but right now, standing amongst the dead family, friends and the destruction of the place most of us thought of as home, well, it didn't feel like we had won anything at all. I must have looked a fool, standing in the middle of the great hall, watching all of the bodies being brought in and lined up against the walls and refusing to look away. I was waiting for him to be brought in. I needed to see him again. Even if he was… I'd seen what happened. A wall… I didn't think there was any way that even Madam Pomfrey could fix him. An entire wall… I couldn't finish the thought. I still can't finish the thought. I was so sure I had lost him that I had gone completely catatonic.

All I could think was how I couldn't live without him. It was thoughts of him, thoughts of what we had, hidden from the eyes of everyone but his twin, that got me through the entire bloody war. It was memories of him that kept me from sinking into insanity when Bellatrix Lestrange was torturing me. It was the thought that I would see him again, alive and laughing, that kept me going and suddenly it was all ripped away from me.

I was so lost in my agony that I didn't hear my name being called until he put his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at his face. He was smiling. How could he be smiling? He just lost a brother.

"Ron?"

"Fred's asking for you," some part of my mind registered the look of confusion on his face that accompanied that statement.

"Fred?" Last I checked, Ron was no good at divination, so how could Fred have been asking for me?

"Yeah. You were the first one he asked about when he woke up, "Ron said as he guided me to the hospital wing. "Shocked us all, really. Would have thought he'd ask for George, but George was right next to him so maybe he could tell he was alright."

"Woke up?" I know I sounded stupid, repeating the things he said, but it still wasn't registering in my brain. How could someone come back from the dead? Fred was dead wasn't he? I winced when I forced myself to finish that thought.

"Yeah. It was real touch and go for a bit. Madam Pomfrey said there wasn't anything she could do, but then some medi-wizards showed up and fixed him in a jiffy. It was kind of freaky, though, one of the blokes gave him this potion that he said would turn the bones that had been crushed into tiny pieces back into whole bones again, then he just waved his wand and said this spell and all of a sudden this loud cracking sound filled the room and all of his bones snapped into place. They gave him a potion that restores organs or something, and an enervate spell and a potion for the pain later and it was like he was as good as new. They were helping him stand up when I left to come get you." Ron glanced at Hermione and finally took note of how pale she was. "Hermione, you alright?"

She just nodded. She was trying so hard not to get her hopes up. What if she was just hallucinating? What if she had passed out and this was all just a wistful dream? She couldn't handle losing him again when she came back to reality.

We reached the hospital wing, but I couldn't bring myself to look up. What if he wasn't ok? But, then, I heard him. My head snapped up and my eyes trained on the bed closest to the door. There he was trying to get his mother to let him go and laughing away. "Mum. Mum! I promise, I'm alright now, and I'm not going anywhere. You have got to let me go, or at least loosen your grip before you crush my bones all over again."

"That is not funny, Fredrick Weasley," Mrs. Weasley scolded, but she stepped back and gave him some space. When he was finally free, Fred turned and looked at me. His face broke out into a large grin and he rushed over to me. He was going to sweep me into his arms and kiss me. He was going to be completely romantic about all of this-

And I stepped away before he could touch me.

His smile faltered. He moved towards me again and I took another step back. He gave up trying to reach me and just stood there, looking at me, smile gone.

"You're dead," I finally told him. "I-I saw it. You're dead."

A small smile made its way to his lips. "No, Love, I'm not dead." I could feel tears streaming down my face as I shook my head, in complete denial. He took another hesitant foot forward and then quickly closed the distance between us when I didn't back away again. Slowly, gently, he began wiping the tears away. "See, I'm real." He chuckled softly when I shook my head once more. "I'm just going to have to prove it to you then," and he wrapped me in his very sturdy arms and pressed his lips to mine quite firmly. He didn't try to deepen the kiss or drag it out or anything like that. He was just showing me that he was there. And then I knew.

Fred Weasley was alive and well because no dream or hallucination I ever had of him was able to make me feel as good as the real thing. I had missed this. I had missed feeling his lips on mine. I had missed him showing me that he understood what I was feeling with his kiss. He was perfect. He was mine.

He was alive.

And I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, letting him know I believed him. He pulled away from me and gave me a soft smile. A whole rainbow full of emotions rushed through me at that point. I was happy, relieved, satisfied, and I was filled to the brim with love and lust.

And I was pissed.

I pushed him away from me and slapped him as hard as I could right across the face. He didn't help matters by smiling wider than ever. He rubbed his cheek where I hit him and said "There's my spitfire girlfriend!" He tried to hug me and I pushed him away again.

"Don't touch me. I'm angry at you," I told him stubbornly before turning my back to him and crossing my arms over my chest.

He ignored my order and wrapped his arms around me as he started to kiss my neck lightly. "Come on, Love. My Angel. My heart. My spitfire. Don't be angry. We should be celebrating. Old Voldy is finally dead. We can relax again." He was still kissing my neck in between his whispered words and I was melting and my anger was slipping, but I had to make him understand so I scrambled out of his arms and faced him again.

"Damn it, Fred Weasley! You said you would be careful. You promised me you would be careful. You said, and I quote, 'Mia, I promise, I will be careful.' Were you careful? No, you weren't! You got distracted… and the wall… and you were…and… bloody hell! I thought you were dead. Dead! Do you understand what that did to me? I thought you were-"

Fred kissed me again, effectively shutting me up and stilling my waving arm and the poking marathon I was inflicting on his chest. "Mia, I'm sorry I scared you."

"Yes, well, you should be," I muttered. Then I continued more firmly, "You are never allowed to die again. Got that? No more dying." I knew that was unreasonable and completely impossible, and so did he, but he was going to placate me anyways.

"Okay, Mia. I won't die anymore."

"Good. Now kiss me before I slap you again." He grinned and did as he was bid.

I probably shouldn't have told him to kiss me. I should have figured out, with our emotions running high, our prolonged separation, and the amount of passion we had for each other in general, we would get carried away even more quickly than usual. But I didn't, and before I knew it, my legs were wrapped around his waist and he had me pressed against a wall. He was running a hand up my jean clad thigh and up under my shirt where he could caress my side. His other hand was at my face where he was stroking my cheek with his calloused thumb. I just clung to his shoulders and kissed him back with everything I had. He began to kiss my neck again when we pulled away for air and I opened my eyes- and froze.

His family, plus Harry, was still there. They were just five feet away, mouths agape and eyes wide.

Except for George. George was laughing.

"Fred. Fred!" I started tapping his shoulder. "Fred, stop it."

"Why?" he mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "Because your family is staring at us, that's why."

He froze. "Oops…"he said into my neck. "Um, Mia?"

"Yeah?"

"You're going to have stand in front of me," he whispered.

I smirked at him as he looked at me, "I know."

He flushed and let me lower my legs. I moved in front of him and he wrapped his arms around my waist once again and faced his family…and Harry. George was still snickering, so I took off my shoe and threw it at his head.

"Shit! Fred, your girlfriend is violent," George yelled as he clutched his throbbing head. I shrugged and Fred sniggered.

"Girlfriend?" Mrs. Weasley finally choked out. "How long?"

I blushed. "Um, yes, well, since my fifth year, actually."

"Two years?" Ron and Harry both exclaimed.

"Yes. We're sorry we had to keep it a secret so long, but, well, at first we just wanted to see how it went before we told anyone, you know?" I rushed to explain. I didn't want any of them to be angry or hurt. "Once we figured out that it was, indeed, going very well we decided to keep quiet until after the war. I was high on Voldemort's hit list, and I didn't want Fred to suffer because of that."

Fred and I watched nervously as we let it sink into his family's brain. Finally, Ron said, "I'm glad. I was afraid everyone was right and you did have feelings for me. It would have made things awkward when I told you that I like someone else." I smiled at him. I had the support of one of my best friends, at least. I looked to Harry next.

He seemed to be in deep thought, and then he shrugged, "I get it. Your reasoning was along the same lines as mine for breaking up with Ginny. Who, thankfully, has taken me back."

Everyone seemed to be nodding in understanding except for Mrs. Weasley. She let out a deep sigh and smiled at me. "Well, I must say, Dear, it's not what I expected, but as long as you and my son are happy, I'm happy for you."

I could feel Fred relax behind me and I gave his hands resting on my stomach a squeeze. "Oh good!" he said. "Then you won't mind us getting married in a few months time."

I sighed as shock wave number two rolled through his family.

Authors Note: Well, that's that. The prequel is complete. But I must warn you, it's going to take me a while to post the real story because I'm working on another one right now. But it's summer, which means I have time. I promise to work diligently and get these stories published as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading!