xxx
'The sharp knife of a short life, well I've had just enough time.'
xxx
"Lee!" George shouted, his throat felt raw from all the shouting he's done. "Duck!"
His friend didn't even hesitate. Usually when the Weasley twins (or half of them) tell you to duck, you better damn well make sure that you duck.
Lee threw himself onto the ground just in time for the killing curse to pass right over him. George gave a sigh of relief, his friend was left unscathed.
"Don't you dare die on my watch you bloody git!" George said helping Lee up.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of him myself." George looked at the slimy Death Eater who was leering at him. The ugliest thing by far he had ever seen in his whole life, then again, it was a Death Eater. Shouldn't expect anything else but ugly.
He glared back at him and raised his wand. Before he could call out a curse, another killing curse was thrown from the Death Eater. George jumped away just in time, singeing the tips of his bright red hair.
"Stupefy!" Lee shouted.
George looked at his mate and grinned, "That was so unfair, the bastard knew silent casting!"
Lee smirked "Yeah, but that doesn't say anything for your lack of reaction time."
George didn't even mention to Lee about how he saved his ungrateful arse. He wondered where was Harry, Hermione, and his family.
He looked around trying to find his family in all the fighting, "Come on!" he said, lurching himself back into the battle.
Lee raced to keep up with him, "Wait up!"
"But we have to find-"
Lee thrust his wand forward aiming at a Death Eater, "Stupefy," he yelled. "Be careful you wanker! He was aiming at you!" Lee yelled at George.
George slowed down, looking guilty about giving him an almost heart attack "Right, sorry."
Lee sped up and grabbed his arm, "Just look where you're going!"
"Right."
"Stop saying that!"
"Right."
They ran through the crowded hallways casting spells at all the Death Eaters in sight.
George saw flashes of light, and scattered bodies (possibly dead) everywhere. His eyes watered in silent desperation, he needed to know if his family were okay. He'd be damned if they died today when he could have saved them... they've survived worse. 'We can survive this too.'
Lee exclaimed as he rounded a corner. George grunted as Lee was thrown into him by a mysterious blast of energy that was not unlike a muggle bomb. They fell onto the hard ground, George felt pain in his chest- he had broken a rib. They both covered their heads as bits and pieces of stone fell on them. He felt a stinging pain in his right arm as the stone slashed at his skin.
George slowly uncovered his head, "You okay, Lee?"
Lee started hacking "Erm," he cleared his throat "Yeah." his voice raspy.
"What the Hell was that?" George asked, struggling upward shakily onto his feet.
"Fred!" "No!"
George gave Lee a panicked glance and he ran around the corner only to see his family who he'd been searching for. They were sobbing, especially Percy. It can't have been Fred... he was practically invincible.
'But Percy never cries..."
He noticed a body on the ground. George's eyes widened in horror. "No!" he gasped, starting to walk forward, "Damn it!"
Lee grabbed his arm, he was crying too, "Don't do anything rash George."
George shook the hand off, just staring ahead, shaking his head in denial.
"Give me!" George whined, reaching for his stuffed animal.
Fred grinned and kept it out of his twin's reach. He laughed as George stomped angrily.
"Mum!" George shouted, his little body started trembling.
"Are you crying?" Fred asked incredulously, his smile beginning to slip into a frown.
George cried out, and pushed Fred onto the ground.
"Hey!"
George stormed away, out of the kitchen passing his mother on the way out.
Fred picked himself up brushing his clothes off, "I don't get it," he grumbled, "Such a big baby!"
His mother frowned "Don't you talk about your brother like that!"
"But he pushed me!"
xxx
'Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors.'
xxx
Fred knocked on the door. No answer.
"I don't even know why I'm knocking," he called out through the door, "This is my room too!"
"Go away!"
Fred grimaced at the sobbing tone in his brother's voice. He looked down at the stuffed hippogriff in his hand. Bill had gave it to George when he was leaving for his fourth year of Hogwarts. Fred had only gotten a muggle yo-yo, he was so jealous. Charlie sat him down when that jealousy became apparent when he glared at Bill and accused him of liking George more. Charlie explained that even though Fred himself wasn't a wreck whenever his two big brothers left-
('Which offends me a bit.' Charlie had said jokingly)
George on the other hand was a bit more sensitive and didn't take their absence too well.
('Mum told me that he's been crying everynight. Bill and I wanted to give him something that reminds him of us, and that we're always coming back. It's more than a gift, Fred. It's a promise.')
Fred opened the door.
"No one said that you could come in." George mumbled into his pillow.
Fred rolled his eyes and walked over to his brother's bed, "Here." he thrust the hippogriff at George.
George looked up and glared angrily at him, "What? You're not going to take it away again?"
"No I wont," Fred pushed the stuffed animal towards him, "Sorry." he said simply, looking at George's eyes that were rimmed red from tears.
George grabbed it and buried his head into it.
"Mum smacked some sense into me." Fred tried again to get an answer.
"I miss them."
Fred ruffled George's hair. "I know," he looked up at the ceiling, "So do I."
George ran toward the body laying on the ground, he could only see the legs... maybe just maybe it was another person. He felt bad for thinking it, but he couldn't help it. No matter how much it logically made sense, he hoped that it wasn't his twin.
He dropped to his knees right beside his sobbing Mother and Percy, in front of his... dead brother.
Tears spilled down his face. George stared down at the body of Fred Weasley, his face, it was frozen in a glassy smile. Mocking him. He waited for Fred to get up and yell 'Surprise! Ha, the looks on your faces!' George would tackle him into a hug, then proceed to beat the living hell out of him. Someone would pull George off of Fred, and then they'd live their lives. All of them.
But none of that happened. Because he was really and truly dead. Just like how George felt inside.
"We're going to Hogwarts." Fred and George skipped through the burrow chanting, "We're going to Hogwarts-"
"Mum, make them shut up!" Ron whined pulling at his mother's dress.
"Let them have their fun, Ron!" she laughed, "Now come on, put on your afternoon clothes before Ginny wakes up."
"I can help with Ginny!" Percy offered, "When she wakes up, of course."
"Thank you, Percy!" she looked at her son gratefully.
"cough-suckup-cough." Charlie fakely coughed.
Percy glared, and took his reading book off the table. "I'm going to read in Ginny's room," he said, "Ginny." he emphasized, "The only bearable one here!"
Charlie shrugged, continuing to eat his breakfast, he snorted at Ron's offended face.
The twins skipped into Bill's room, "We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to Hogwarts! We're-"
"If you both don't shut up this instance, then I'll make sure you'll go to heaven instead!" Bill said, flipping through his textbook on dragons.
"Oooh, Bill, is that a threat?" George taunted, sharing a glance with Fred.
"Yes, it is." Bill said giving them a scowl, "I have a huge test for this training school in Romania! I have to get in! I just have to!" he pulled at his hair and his breath came in short, "And I am freaking out!"
They stared at him and started to back away slowly with their hands up,
"Right..."
"I think that we'll"
"Go bother, Ron-"
"Instead."
The Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and the new Mrs. Weasley were having lunch in the kitchen together... except for two missing members.
One was upstairs locked in his room, and the other was 'upstairs' looking down at his brother.
The Burrow was quieter than usual after Fred's death. But they tried, everyone really tried to keep up a facade for George. The conversation at the kitchen table was loud and filled with laughter, though it still missed that realistic quality. As if the noise was only there to fill in the sad silence that would have been there instead.
Ginny and Harry laughed to themselves.
"No way!" Harry chortled.
"Yes way, can you believe all the stupid pick-up lines that he had used on me?" Ginny asked, scrunching her nose, "When Fred and George overheard-" she stopped dead, her face going pale.
Harry reached under and grabbed her hand underneath the table and rubbed small circles, "How is he?" he asked concerned.
Ginny's eyes filled with unshed tears, "George hasn't come out of his room ever sine we came back home four weeks ago. I think that he comes out when we're asleep to actually eat... or mum leaves out a plate for him and it stays there, but when we get up in the morning, the food's gone."
"What about Percy?"
Ginny sighed, "Same thing."
Harry bit his lip, he wished that he could comfort her. But he knew it was something that only time could heal. He could only help. "Are they getting better?'
"That's the worse part, they aren't." she said, trying hard not to cry. "This week George is crying more often. With Percy, what worries me the most is that I don't even hear a sound coming from his room." she sighed, "I know it's because of the funeral on Thursday." she looked up at her boyfriend. "I hope that they'll even want to go."
xxx
George laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling blankly. His head hurt badly. It seems that his crying fit had stopped again, but he was sure to start again. He didn't want to cry anymore, he wanted to be strong. Like Fred has- had always been.
He teared up again, he couldn't do this! His whole life, he's spent side by side with his twin, and just like that- Fred was gone? George just couldn't wrap his head around it. He didn't know how to cope by himself and when he was younger he didn't think that he would have to.
George wrapped his arms around his torso, sobs shaking his whole body. Tiny whines escaped his lips. His eyes were still glued to the ceiling.
"Why?" he moaned, "Why?" he repeated.
"You son of a bitch, why'd you leave me?" he shouted at the ceiling, "And Angelina, and our family?"
George shook his head, "You deserted us." he whispered.
xxx
The kitchen was silent now. The hadn't heard the whispers or groaning of anguish, but they had definitely heard the shouts.
xxx
Thursday Morning
The Weasleys waited downstairs, they were all jittery. The atmosphere was sorrowful. Today was the day of Fred's funeral.
"Are they even going to come out." Molly cried to her husband, "I can't believe that they would miss their own brother's funeral!"
All of a sudden, they heard two pair of steps slowly going down the stairs. George and Percy appeared, both in their dark robes. Their faces were pale and both looked like they hadn't gotten sleep since forever. But that didn't matter to their mother right now. All that mattered was they fact that they were right here. Right now.
Ginny and Molly ran to hug Percy and George.
Arthur smiled a watery smile as he walked up to his sons "Glad you two could make it."
xxx
George's Speech
George didn't look at the crowd, instead he looked at his brother's casket.
"My brother," he started, "Was no angel. Matter of fact, neither was I." George lips pulled into a slight smile. "We pulled cruel pranks sometimes, I admit. But with him, everything was possible. There was no such thing as 'can't'. He believed that if you didn't live your life to the fullest then what the Hell are you living for? He had always said to me "We can do this easily!" But when we were together, everything was easy- everything felt free."
Tears rolled down George's cheeks, "I never thought that I would have to live without him... but I swear to you, that I can practically feel his presence right next to me. Maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me, I don't know."
George finally looked at the crowd he saw his mother, his father, his siblings, and everyone he loved right there. "I miss my brother, but I don't want stay holed up in my room. Yes, I locked myself into my room for weeks and I contemplated about suicide."
The silence was deafening as most people looked at him in shock. George felt ashamed, he couldn't bear to look at anyone in the face now. But he had to make them understand.
"But today I finally realized something... Fred would have wanted me to stop crying over him and start living my life. I was just too busy feeling sorry for myself to realize that. I'll get to meet Fred again when my time comes. Fred may have died way too young, he still lived his life to the best. But still, I wished that I would have had the chance to grow old with him."
George gripped the stand tightly, "For the first time since his death, I feel like I'm getting better. If only a little."
xxx
'Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no,
ain't even grey, but she buries her baby.'
Fred clapped his hand on George's shoulder "Ready?"
"Totally!" Well not really. But George needed to be strong, just this once for his brother.
Fred sighed and let his arm drop to his side."Well I'm not."
"Why not?"
"I'm worried," Fred said, "What if Harry dies? Mum? Dad? Ginny? Bi-"
"I'm here with you, mate..." George interrupted, "Side by side."
They connected their fists together. "Bring it on." they said in unison.
Song in Story: If I die young by The Band Perry