Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, other than Lori, Lori's family, and George's children and the plot. That's it. Everything belongs to the fabluous mind of J.K. Rowling! The best writer since... nope... just the best writer ever!
George walked solemnly into the Burrow. The house was always bustling with guests. Ranging from Ginny and Harry, along James in tow, to Kingsley, who had been named Minister. Ron and Hermione would sometimes join them for dinner, Bill and Fleur with their daughter, Victoire, as well. Percy, since rejoining the family 5 years ago, had been by often, not letting his work interfere with his family any further.
George was the only one who hadn't settled down. Charlie had met a nice enough girl, who was even more interested in dragons than Charlie. Which was hard to believe because Charlie was obsessed. George envied his brothers and even his sister who had finally gotten all they ever dreamed of, a family.
George knew Fred wouldn't want him to wallow in sorrow. He had lost his brother. His best friend. His partner in their booming business. Fred had always been there for him. He wiped a tear from his cheek. It was still emotional for him. Even after so many years.
"Hello, dear. Dinner will be ready shortly," Mrs. Weasley smiled as she hugged her son.
"Hello, Mum," He hugged her back. His mother had known his pain. She had lost a son, he had lost almost everything.
Today, however, would be different. The whole family was here; Ginny, Harry and James; Ron and Hermione; Bill, Fleur, and Victoire; Percy and Penelope (they had gotten married the past year, after 'finding' each other again); Charlie and Lucia; as well as Arthur and Molly. But there was someone he didn't know. A girl sitting where Fred had always sat. All were smiling at him, apparently they had all been waiting for him.
"George, darling. This is Lori. She's Lucia's friend," Mrs. Weasley smiled.
The girl looked up at him and smiled. She had soft, golden eyes. Spiky blonde hair that reminded him of Tonks. She'd spiked her short hair, only it had been pink. The girl, Lori, stood up and shook his hand. He looked into her eyes, as taught by his mother. Her face was smiling, beaming really, but her eyes were oddly different. They didn't display happiness, but sorrow. Did she know about Fred?
Her eyes never left his. They didn't look him over, they didn't settle on his missing ear. They just looked at his. Holding them for the longest time. Then it dawned on him: They had asked him here not for his company, but to set him up with a girl.
"What are you lot playing at?" George boomed, taking his eyes away from hers and looking at everyone.
"We just thought—" Bill started.
"With you being lonely mate—" Ron continued.
"That you'd want someone to be with—" Charlie added.
"Someone who understood what you're going through—" Mr. Weasley inserted.
"To keep you company, love. That was all. She understands how painful losing someone close to your heart is," Mrs. Weasley finished.
"Have you lost your twin brother, too?" George snapped.
"No," Lori looked at her feet.
"Then she won't understand," George stormed out of the kitchen.
He couldn't begin to fathom why they wanted to set him up with someone. Sure, a girlfriend would solve some problems. But at the root of it, she would solve very little. She hadn't lost any one close enough to her to even begin to understand the torment he lived with.
George hadn't gone back to the Burrow. He didn't want to face his family. Instead, he buried himself in his work. He invented at least 10 new items for the store he and Fred had started. He had a picture of Fred hanging on the wall behind the counter, as a memorial to the co-founder of the shop.
It was a slow morning. A girl with spiky blonde hair walked in, she looked at a few items, grabbed five of Dung Bombs and walked up to the counter. George recognized her as Lori, the girl he'd walked out on.
She put her item on the counter and began digging in her pockets. "How much will it be?" she asked, avoiding eye contact.
"Two Galleons," George answered simply.
Lori emptied her pockets and found only a Galleon, five Sickles, and 25 Knuts. George seized his chance to apologize. Girls loved it when you were nice to them. At least he hoped this was true.
"It's on the house," George said quickly. She looked up at him, surprise in her eyes.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yea. Why not?" George smiled at her.
She smiled back and started putting the money back into her pocket. "Thank you. That's very sweet of you."
"Anytime. You see, I feel bad about storming out the other day. Can I make it up to you?" George pleaded with his eyes.
"It's a start," Lori smiled at him and walked out of his shop.
George couldn't resist. He needed to get his mind off of things. He walked into Quidditch Quality Supply shop to get some things for his broom. And possibly a magazine or two, just to keep him occupied during his shift at tending the store.
Which Broomstick? was resting on the counter, standing straight up. George thought this weird, but decided not to mind it. He scanned the shelves, admired the workmanship of the brooms, and flipped through the pages of various quidditch books before finally finding what he wanted.
He had always wanted a Firebolt. Now he had money out the nose and didn't know what to do with any of it. He was going to spend some of it on himself. For once. He walked up to the counter, expecting an old wizard who could barely hear. But the face that was behind the magazine, sleeping soundlessly was a woman. Blond hair, shorter than his, barely covered her face to make it seem as though she were actually awake.
"Excuse me?" George asked, feeling a bit rude for disturbing her.
The girl shot up, who turned out to be Lori. "Hi, I wasn't sleeping, I was just — oh it's you. How are you, George?"
"I'm fine," George said laughing, "you?"
"I'm fan-bloody-tastic. Thanks for asking. What did you need?" Lori rubbed her eyes, tiredly.
"I was just wondering about a price for a Firebolt," George smiled.
"As much as I'd love to say, 'It's on the house,' I'd get fired. I can find out for you though. As I do not know at the moment," Lori smiled. She acted as though she had repeated exactly what her manager had said to her.
"It's fine. When do you get off?" George asked without thinking.
"In an hour," Lori replied.
"Will you meet me at Florence Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor when you're done?" George was just as surprised to ask as Lori was to be asked. Her mouth fell open and George mentally kicked himself.
After a few moments, Lori answered his question, "Sure, I don't have much money though."
"No worries. I'll get it all," George said. Something had finally clicked within him. Reading Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches had finally paid off.
Their 'date' had gone well. They ended up going back to George's house to talk. He had shared the house with Fred, now it felt empty. Fred's room was empty, except for the furniture, left the way it had been since the day Fred and George had left to go into battle.
George brought in some Butterbeer for them both and sat beside her on the couch. "I'm sorry for whoever you lost," he said as he set down his glass.
"It's hard, you know, having the person around for so long and then they're gone," Lori said taking a large swig of the Butterbeer.
"I know what you mean. Losing Fred was hard on my entire family! It just affected me the worst. He'd been my best friend and brother." George tried to smile.
"I'm sorry for your brother. He fought bravely, through the thick and thin, I'm sure." Lori smiled and patted George's shoulder lightly.
"If you don't mind me asking, who did you lose?" George asked, treading in dangerous waters.
"My whole family," Lori began. "I, too, lost my brothers, my oldest would be 24, and my youngest, would be eleven this month. Seven years ago, Yaxely came into our house. We were all sleeping, so we didn't think about wands. Lex, the youngest, was first. We all woke from his screaming, he was being tortured. How could he have known anything? He was only four.
"Yaxely waited until my parents came to his rescue. He told my father to show him the way to the library. My father, you see, was intrigued by Dark Magic. He was always figuring out new counter-curses to the spells, hexes, jinxes and anything else that were in his books. My father had volumes filled of counter-curses. Yaxely wanted them. Rather, the Dark Lord wanted them.
"My father tried to plead with Yaxely to let my brother go. His screams still ring in my ears at night. My mother ran to me and told me to hide under my bed, I disobeyed. My older brother was reading through my father's books, trying to find counter-curses for the Forbidden Curses.
"My mother ran at Yaxely, a knife in her hand. Yaxely dropped my brother, who had been on the ceiling, a snap clearly audible as he fell onto the ground, dead. He used the Killing Curse to off her. My father showed Yaxely the library, Yaxely took all of the books. He began laughing, and green light lit up the hallway. I ran under my bed, which my mother had charmed to hide me. I could hear my brother pleading with the insane man, 'Please, please, you have your books. Don't hurt me!'. That didn't stop the crazed man. He tortured my brother for pleasure, then killed him.
"Luckily, he'd never spotted me. He left the house. I was so terrified to even move. I stayed under my bed for two days. I was found laid beside my mother's dead body and waited. I never cried though. I turned the emotion inward, I knew I'd get my revenge. I used it as strength to continue on," Lori looked at George, who was immersed in her sad story, "I don't know who killed him. Personally, I'd like to find the person and thank him. I hope he's dead and had left the world and will never return."
"Wow, that makes the death of my brother look like a child's story. I'm really sorry Lori. I had no idea," George apologized to her. She looked at him.
"The death of your brother was a heroes tale to me. My own is just a nightmare. A nightmare long past. I went back to school that year. I had read quotes in a book hidden away in my father's library. I kept it with me, it helped me get through it. I remember a quote that I now live my life by. 'Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.' It was by Mother Jones, who she is, I don't know. But there is wisdom in her words." Lori's eyes glistened, George noticed, when their eyes met.
He didn't say anything and she continued on. "I faced an adult's horror that night. I grew up in a minute. I was left alone and had to fend for myself. Even though I was only 13, I had the mindset of a 30 year old woman. I wouldn't have survived without my wits. My mother had always told me to cry but one tear, no more. Only one tear is needed, it will cleanse your sorrow and ease the pain. I didn't cleanse my sorrow or ease my pain. I couldn't."
George and Lori had dated six months before deciding to get married. They had become instant friends, having more in common than the death of family members. There was just a deeper connection. As if they were meant for each other.
On their wedding night, they laid on their bed, talking about the perfect day. Lori smiled and looked into George's eyes. Her eyes began watering, she was crying. George immediately sprang into action, he put his arms around her and drew her to him.
"What's wrong?" George begged.
"I miss them so much, George. Only my friends came to the wedding because all of my family was dead! I felt so alone compared to you. Your friends and family were there. I was alone," Lori cried.
George could only hold her, stroke her soft hair and let her cry into his chest. "You have me now. We're going to be a family and live happily ever after. Just like in the books we read."
Lori laughed. She kissed his lips gently. "I love you, George. You're everything to me."
"I love you too, Lori. We'll always be together. I promise." George kissed her back and then hugged her.
She wiped her tears and laughed a little. "I said I'd never cry over them. It just burst out," she laughed.
George took her hand in his, brought it up to his lips and gently kissed it, "No worries, love. I won't tell a soul."
It had been 17 years since the war had ended. George had finally found the woman of his dreams and had a favorable family. He watched his daughter Emily, after Lori's mother, beaming back at him as she boarded the train. He'd miss her. She'd be in Gryffindor for sure. George was certain of it.
Even though she was the spitting image of Lori, she was exactly like George in personality. She pulled pranks on her mother every chance she was given. Lori soon found her stash of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products. George had laughed and given her more for school. She was to uphold, not break, every record held by George and Fred.
George's other child, a boy he had named Fred, grabbed his hand. "Come on, Dad! Mum wants you," he tugged his hand firmly.
"Sometimes I'm not certain if you're my child or your mother's," George laughed. Fred was exactly like his mother. Spitting image of him though.
He walked up to Lori, kissed her cheek tenderly and then kissed the forehead of his third child, Alex. "Only three more years, love,"
Alex smiled and put his arms up to George. George obligingly picked up Alex and then tickled him. He laughed, "Daddy, no!" he shook a chubby finger at his father.
"Oh, yes, sir! Alex, sir! No more," George put his arm around Lori as they watched the train begin to leave the station.
He finally had his family. They both finally had what they wanted. Lori had a family, and three beautiful children. George had Lori, his new best friend. His life was set. His family was in order and he didn't need to worry about another thing.