He's lying there, like he's sleeping. His mouth is agape, but curved in a way that said he was about to laugh, as if he was having a happy dream. His red hair is tangled, as if he was turning around so much because he was bursting out in cackles that he couldn't breathe. His complexion is pale for once, under the freckles, so maybe he really did forget to swallow some air. His chest isn't heaving, so maybe he forgot how…?
And George is laughing, because how the hell do you forget how to breathe? That person would be an idiot, and maybe that idiot is him, because he's trying to. And there's something wet in his eyes, and now they're on his cheeks, and he realizes they're just water. Maybe that's just Fred pulling a prank on him, and the person with the broken eyes staring back at him isn't his brother, just a piece of wood his twin transfigured into looking like him, and maybe the Weasley Twins are still Twins, and maybe…
Merlin damn it all; are those tears?
Then he stops laughing, because aren't tears universal symbols of sadness? He doesn't have anything to be sad about, and George is confused, because Fred's here with him, right? And suddenly he's screaming, and his voice is as wobbly as everything else, because he is that scared of his Mum to find that they haven't even left their beds yet and Mum's going to blow up and –
Sob.
He's crying. Call the aurors and run for the hills, women and children first, everybody; George Fabian Weasley is crying his weak, little, pathetic heart out. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are laughing in his face because finally, they broke George Weasley and he'll never be whole again because he lost the other whole that kept him happy and laughing and normal and now nothing will ever be normal again because he's broken, Fred! Have pity on him, Fred, and wake up and see the black-and-white butterflies, because he can barely see in color anymore and everything isn't even remotely beautiful anymore because you're gone, Fred.
And he's searching inside himself, tearing himself apart, because he wants to be there with his partner, his brother, his twin, his Freddie; and bloody hell Fred, you said you were okay!
Wake up, he hears himself saying, and he's chanting it like a mantra, over and over again, because wake up Freddie this joke isn't funny, wake up Fred Mum's going mad, wake up come on for me please do this for me Fred.
Please don't stare at me with those broken eyes, Fred. Wake up.
He looks like he's dreaming, and the other is hoping that's all it is.