Chapter 1

It was hard to believe. She didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. Fred Weasley was dead. The boy who'd been her best friend ever since she was 5, was gone. She'd never see him again. He was practically her older brother – better than her real family most of the time. Obviously this was going to happen someday. Someday. Not when he was only 20 years old. Especially not at the hands of some stupid Death Eater.
Although, however bad she was feeling, she couldn't help but let her thoughts wander to the only other boy she considered herself to be as close to – George. She could picture the look of anguish on his face when he'd seen Fred, the image crystal clear. She shook her head, perhaps convincing herself she could shake the thoughts out of her head. She rolled over to face her bedroom door, staring at it; still on some level hoping Fred would throw open the door and wake her up, moaning about how she always slept too much, before he proceeded to jump on the bed with George to try to get her up. It had been a sort of routine since they started Hogwarts, really. She'd wake them up, or they'd wake her. She sighed, her eyes starting to burn as her vision blurred. She slid out of bed, running her fingers through her tangled hair. She grabbed the closest pair of jeans to her, pulling them on, before tugging her jacket over the top of the tshirt she'd slept in. Walking out of her room she was shocked at how bright it was, considering she'd spent the last few days in what was basically darkness, even the slightest bit of sun was painful to look at. Dragging her feet to the bathroom she stared at herself in the mirror. She looked awful, or more so than usual. Her brunette hair was sticking at odd angles, and her fringe had curled slightly; her blue eyes were ringed with red from crying, and were in complete contrast than her paler-than-usual skin; though under her eyes were now a purple shade.
'I look like shit.' she muttered to herself, then sighed and pulled out her wand, giving it a small flick. Her hair suddenly looked clean, shiny and straight; her eyes were no longer ringed with red and the purple bags were concealed. She left the bathroom and plodded down the stairs, continuing to drag herself into the main room, where her muggle-born mother was sitting, her image as perfect as it had always been, not a blonde hair out of place, perfect make up – everything. She was unaffected by Fred's death, even though she had known the family just as long as Ashley had, she had never had the same connection with them, preferring to spend time with people who were similar to her. Ashley, however, loved the Weasley's more than her own family the majority of the time.
'I'm going to the Weasley's later,' she said, as her mother pushed a plate of toast towards her, 'I don't know when I'll be back.'
'Are you sure you want to go, Ashley? It seems like you're doing better here-'
'I need to see George, I need to make sure he's okay.' she said, and her mother sighed.
'Well, I suppose I can't stop you anymore, you're old enough to make your own decisions.'
'Yep.' she said, nibbling on the corner of the toast. After she had eaten and her mother was pleased, she apparated. She landed just outside the Burrow, which, although looking just as homely as it always had, had an air of sadness about it. She slowly walked up to the front door and knocked lightly, being greeted by the face of Ron Weasley, who gave a small smile,
'Hey, Ash.'
'Ron...you alright?'
'Better than George – but...you know, not good.'
'So, definitely no improvement?'
'I think he's getting worse,' Ron said quietly, as she walked into the house, 'Mum's really worried about him...well, all of us are to be honest. Hasn't left his room since...you know what.'
'Maybe I should-'
'Ashley, dear!' came the voice of Mrs. Weasley, 'Are you alright?'
'I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley,' she said, smiling slightly, 'Well, fine considering everything,'
'Yes, dear.' Mrs. Weasley said, giving a small sigh and a sad smile. 'Well, everyone's in the kitchen,' she quickly changed the subject, directing Ashley into the other room, before she herself went back.
'How does she do it?' Ashley asked Ron, as they slowly walked, 'I can't even act like I'm okay right now, never mind convince anyone else I'm alright.'
'No idea,' Ron murmured, 'anyway, come on,' he wrapped his arm over her shoulder and led her into the kitchen, where she immediately heard 'Ashley!' from Ginny Weasley, and was hugged merely a second later,
'You okay?' she said into her ear, and Ginny nodded,
'Been better, but I'm coping. You?'
'Same, I guess. Don't think anyone's as alright as they're saying they are, though.'
'Yeah.' Ginny muttered, 'I'll go tell Hermione you're here,'
'Oka-' Ashley began to reply, as Ginny disappeared. She glanced around the room and her attention was immediately drawn to the only male not talking, but simply staring at the wall; the only dark haired boy in the house.
'Harry Potter.' Ashley said, sitting down next to him, 'How you feeling?'
'Bad, really.'
'Yeah.' she muttered, 'What about everyone else?'
'Good and bad, mainly. There's moments where we all forget what's happened, and then it's alright...but when you remember again...it's...'
'Awful.' Ashley supplied, her voice cracking. Harry nodded, and she rested her head on his shoulder,
'I'm not sure about George, though,' he said, 'I don't think he's had a proper conversation with anyone since we got back; just grunts.'
'Sounds normal considering.'
'Yeah, but I don't know, if he isn't talking to anyone at all...'
'Not good.'
'Nope.'
'Percy isn't brilliant, keeps blaming himself.'
'Shouldn't be; if anything he should be blaming that stupid git Rookwood.'
'I just...I wish I could have done something, anything at all.'
'The only person who could have done something was Fred. We both know it. I was there when it happened, and we couldn't have done anything, Harry. Don't punish yourself for this.'
'Thanks, Ashley.' he muttered, though he wasn't convinced, 'What're you doing here, anyway? I figured you'd stay at home.'
'I came to talk to George, but apparently he's hiding away in his room. Also I wanted to check on you lot.'
'You're part of "us lot",' Harry said, a hint of a smirk,
'Yeah you're right.' she said, nodding slightly, 'So it's like George has fallen off the earth?'
'It's as good as, yeah. Hasn't even come out for food.'
'I'm going to go to him.' she said, 'he's not locking himself up and starving.'
'Alright, see you in a minute.'
'Yeah, maybe.' she said, walking out of the kitchen, before backtracking and grabbing the chocolate off the counter, walking on afterwards. She climbed the stairs to the second floor, then made her way down the corridor, eventually reaching what had been Fred and George's room. Previously, the two boys' names had been scratched into the door, however now the name "Fred" had a thin line over it. She figured it was George's handiwork. She knocked quietly,
'Go away,' a groan came from inside,
'George?' she said quietly, 'It's me...are you alright?' another grunting sound came from the room. She opened the bedroom door just enough for her to slip inside, closing it behind her to be greeted by complete darkness. Her eyes adjusted quickly and on a first glance she wasn't even sure George was in the room, however after paying more attention she noticed there was a lump in the bed covers.
'You know you can't stay in here forever,' she murmured, sitting on the edge of his bed, then running her fingers through his hair lightly,
'Why?' he groaned,
'Because you have a life, too.' she waited for a few seconds, but realised he wasn't going to reply. She continued messing with his hair, before speaking again, 'I have chocolate. You should have some, considering you haven't eaten in about three days, apparently.' he lifted his head up slightly and looked at her, causing him to give him a small smile, 'please?' no reply. 'I'm not going to stop talking and being irritating until you eat this chocolate so you may as well just eat it.' a small smirk appeared on his face, though was gone almost as soon as it had come. He reached and took the chocolate,
'Now, leave me alone,' he said, a small smile on his face. Ashley had a look of fake shock on her face,
'What a lovely friend you are,' she scoffed, before holding her hands up in defeat, 'but fine, I'll go-' she made a move to get up, but was immediately pulled back down.
'Don't.' he said, his voice breaking,
'Well, I do need to go so I can tell everyone that you're not dead – and it sounds like you need a drink, so I'll be back as quick as possible, alright?' he gave a small nod. She kissed his cheek quickly, before rolling off his bed and exiting the room. She walked as quickly as possible to the kitchen,
'So?' Harry asked, once she had entered back into the room – Harry was the only one left in the room at this point.
'Not dead, and I got him to smile a little bit. I guess that's improvement.'
'Definitely an improvement.' He said, 'By the way, you haven't seen Ginny anywhere, have you?'
'Last I saw her she was looking for Hermione – who I haven't seen yet, either.' she said, grabbing a glass and filling it with water,
'You going back to George?'
'Yeah, tell everyone else he's not dead, alright?'
'Okay.'
'I'll see you later?'
'Obviously. I doubt Mrs. Weasley will let you be here without eating anything.' he said, smiling slightly. Ashley turned and walked back to George's room, the floorboards creaked as she stopped outside for a second, thinking.
What was she even going to do? It's not as if he was prepared to do anything – understandable, of course, but it's not as if she could fix this for him. She sighed slightly, before opening the door and stepping in, letting it click shut behind her.
'Hey,' she muttered, crossing back over to the bed and holding the glass out, 'Here.'
'Thanks.' he replied quietly, downing the water as Ashley rearranged herself, sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed.
'Do...do you feel a little bit better?' she murmured, and he stayed silent for a few seconds,
'...I – I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I'm worse.'
'I think you're a bit better...but of course, that could just be because of my wonderful company.'
'Obviously.' he said, the hint of a smile on his face,
'I knew it.' she smiled, before it faded and they sat in a silence.
'Do you think Fred's still here?' he asked, glancing up at her,
'I – I think so. I know it'll sound stupid, and probably insane, but I doubt he'd leave without making a big deal over it or anything…or until he thinks you're okay...'
'What if I'm never okay, Ash?'
'George, of course you're going to be okay. Obviously not tomorrow or next week or next month, but one day, you'll be fine. I promise you.'
'Then he'll be gone forever.'
'No he won't, he's not ever going to be gone.'
'He's gone now!' he yelled, 'He's gone and he's never going to come back!'
'George..' she murmured, as he sniffed and looked down at his bed cover, and Ashley noticed tears falling. She shifted up the bed and sat next to him, reaching up and stroking his hair lightly, whilst her other hand slipped into his. He buried his head into her shoulder and they crying increased, the material on her shoulder glued to her skin from tears. 'It'll be ok.' she muttered, resting her head on his as she continued stroking his hair. She noticed the crying getting quieter, and she moved her head to see that George had fallen asleep, soon after she followed his lead.

so I'm rewriting this because I read it again a few days ago and realised how badly it was actually written. Expect more rewritten-ness in the next few weeks. Also feel free to check out the other stuff I've done since this :)