Stop and Start Challenge

A/N: After a hiatus of almost ten years, I really wish to take up writing again. It used to be an outlet for me, and although I've never been a great author, I wish to try again. This is my first attempt at a fanfic.

"Opportunities"

If he had to guess, it was Harry Potter handing over his winnings from his Triwizard Tournament winnings that first gave them the opportunity to really follow their dreams.

Before that, the idea of owning and working in a joke shop was an unattainable dream, and really they had resigned themselves to a ministry position filled with boredom and monotony and the occasional prank to their co-workers to stave off a depression that would surely occur eventually.

Those winnings however, were the first real door to open and Harry would never know just how grateful they were, and would remain.

They started working on a new line of pranks immediately, purchasing most of their ingredients by owl order so their dearest mother would remain outside their plans for as long as possible. Putting a deposit down on a building had been a little more difficult, as they were still in school, but maybe there was a little throwing around of Harry's name and eventually they had the beginnings of their very own shop at number 93 Diagon Ally.

The first time they stepped foot in the doors, after sneaking off during a hogsmeade weekend, they both stood in awe for several long minutes. The floor boards were loose, the once white walls were a terrible grey, and mouldy in patches, and some enterprising soul looked to have made a bed in the space behind the counters. But none of that mattered, this place was theirs to build up from the ashes and make their own.

Umbridge rocking up in their seventh year at hogwarts was a boon to their owl order business, and with the leftovers from Harry's winnings, and then all the profits made, by mid-year they had enough to feel confident in opening. Any spare time they had would find them sneaking from the grounds of Hogwarts to apparate to their shop and work on fixing it up.

It wasn't long that they bright shop was finished, and the last thing to be done was to hand the sign; and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was born.

In hindsight, the portable swamp idea might have been a bit too much of a goodbye gift to the school, but they were 'the twins,' and really, the swamp was a legacy and a challenge to the next group of pranksters and needed to be done. Finally free of school, and the stiff regiment of classwork and homework and rule following, they breathed freely for what felt like the first time.

Mum was of course horrified, and the week of howlers that followed them was almost enough to make them apparate home and beg forgiveness before taking up seventh year once more. Almost.

But they stuck it out and over the course of the year, despite the threat of war, and then participating in said war, the shop flourished. Harry had told them when he handed over those winnings that people would need a laugh, and it seemed he was right.

Being in the main street of diagon alley was also good for spying. They set up extendable ears outside the shop and managed to create a device that would vibrate if cerrtain words were spoken, such as 'the dark lord,' and 'blood traiters.'

Through this, and against their parents wishes, they were able to join the Order and feel like they were helping, both the wizarding community in general and their favorite backer. Hearing the prophesy about Harry horrified them, and new pranks were put aside to work on things that could potentially help Harry and those fighting He Who Must Not Be Named.

The Battle of the Seven Potters had been both the most terrifying and exhilarating feeling he had ever experienced, and seeing how upset his twin was at the loss of his ear, he could do nothing but accept it with his usual attitude and calm his brother down with a joke.

When the call came for them to help at the Battle of Hogwarts, his hearts had leapt into his throat, but he gave his brother a pat on the back and they stepped into the fray. The day goes blurry there, and when he tries to remember, all he gets is glimpses of curses and hexes flying past, hear the noise of shouts and cries, and then finally the unseeing eyes of his best friend, and other half.

Fred was gone, and with him a part of his soul, and he spent most of the week following the numerous funerals in a cloud of numbness that shadowed him everywhere and in everything. WWW was closed, and he couldn't imagine ever opening the doors again. He'd moved back home to be with his family, and to avoid the memories the apartment above the shop would no doubt flood him with.

Then one morning, an owl swooped into the open window of his bedroom at the Burrow, and dropped a letter on his face. He opened his eyes in time to see the owl swoop gracefully out the window and sat up to glare at the piece of parchment.

The last thing he expected to see was the familiar penmanship of his twin, and his heart stuttered in his chest. Letting out a loud exhale of air, he gingerly picked the envelope up and stared at it, half expecting it to bite him or turn his hair pink. Just the thought made him smile for the first time in over a week, and he let out a loud sob as he put one finger in the flap and opened it.

Ten minutes later found him in the kitchen surrounded by his family, all in tears, with the last letter he would ever receive from his brother sitting in the centre of the table. When Hermione and Harry later flooed into the Burrow, they found them all sitting around the table. Molly stood immediately and drew Harry into a hug, whispering her thanks to a confused Harry, causing him to let out a breathy huff of a laugh and drawing the attention to him once more. He merely nodded to the table, where the letter sat and when Hermione raised an eyebrow in a silent question, he nodded his head and she picked it up to read.

George,

I don't think mum ever had a chance of us being normal, well behaved wizards, of polite society and respectable jobs. Our birthday really should have been a major clue to that. But despite the ups and downs we've had, the difficulty in overcoming the expectations placed on us, I wouldn't change you or me for the world.

Harry might have given us the first chance to be someone, to follow our dreams and make the world laugh, but I'd like to be your next.

I tracked down Ludo Bagman. He was living in a muggle community, well hidden from the wizarding world, and it took me a long time to do it without you catching on. Did you know we do far too much together!

But find him I did, and he was so scared I'd rat him out, that getting those winnings he owed us from the world cup was actually quite simple. I only had to jinx him a few times (I might also have planted a few things around his house for later laughs) and he gladly handed over what he owed us.

I was going to let you know when the war was over. I knew Harry would win, how could he not? But not when he would win, and I wanted to know that no matter how long the war waged on, we would have a nest egg to fall back on to get our shop running properly again.

I know the last month or so, as the war really picked up, was hard on the shop, and I wanted to be sure we could get the world smiling again. I knew we, and people like Harry and Ron and Ginny would need something to help pick us all up and I wanted to be the one to help this time.

Seeing how you've got this letter though, I suppose I didn't make it.

It's ok.

Its going to be hard for everyone, I know, but hardest for you most of all, and I just ask that you fight the melancholy you're sure to feel. I might have died young, but I lived a full life with an amazing family, and a twin that made me whole, and I got to experience my dream, even if it was for only a short time.

Mourn me for a short time, then dye your hair pink and move on. Feel free to name your firstborn after me, even if they're a girl, and embrace life with all you have.

There is a vault under your name at Gringotts containing the winnings from Bagman, and I deposited most of my earnings in there as well. I want you to take them and make our shop amazing again. We might have been given our first chance, but I want you take this next one for yourself.

The world is full of opportunities, grab them all and dive in head first the way a proper Weasley twin should.