The summer sun shone brilliantly upon the Burrow that morning and countless guests were expected to arrive within the hour. George sat at the kitchen table, mindlessly stirring his tea and staring at the family's clock. For the first time since the war, the clock revealed that all eight Weasleys were home...
He looked into his parents' eyes and realized they only ever did what they thought was right and smirked to himself about his glory days when the goal was "give 'em hell!..."

Bill was next, the first married Weasley kid even with Greyback's scars on him. But George had come to find that battle wounds somehow separate the boys from men. Instinctively, his hand covered the gaping hole where his ear had been. His oldest brother was one of his best mentors in the ways of quidditch, an attitude toward school, and of course – the ladies.

Charlie is the Romanian free spirit and always good for a laugh… Before Bill's wedding day, he suggested the Weasley boys went into the muggle town with firewhiskey coursing through their veins, shouting , singing, and living life in ways their Uncle Bilius had encouraged and their Mum had feared.

Percy… Always the perfect, annoying git; always wanted to be left alone and wanted to keep his younger siblings in line. He never had his siblings' respect, probably because he didn't have that charisma. Perce was almost outlawed from the Burrow; his pretentious behavior led to his belief that his family was insufficient and the ministry was the answer. But he sure had a comeback at Hogwarts that night.

"Why weren't you quick enough?"
George spat with a heavy sigh, but then he mumbled an apology. He couldn't hate his brother anymore, he's one of the few he's got now…

Ron's name was located by the barn, probably talking to Hermione and maybe Harry, too. His kid brother was always the joy to pick on because he squirmed so easily. Ron, a spider! That's all it took until he grew up and began to fall for Hermione, when the mention of her name caused him to turn maroon with embarrassment. The twins always thought it was pathetically obvious and much too old-fashioned. Ron is gonna turn out alright though… George and the whole family know it; he grew up away from home and it's all thanks to his friends… Lucky he sat next to Potter on that trainride, if not Ron might've died from poison, Dad might have died in the Ministry, and Ginny would be lying in the Chamber. "Shake it off, mate."

Ginny's a whole other story. God she grew up from that little girl who always tried to be the center of her brothers' attention to gain their approval. Then, she began to profess her love about Harry Potter. She went on about that since she laid eyes on him and it was quite annoying; naturally the twins were sure to take her under their wings and made her promise to marry "the love of her life" if she ever saw him in the Burrow. The day they brought Harry back and Ginny saw him, she could have been a ghost… no colour in her face, no voice, and no ability to be anything but clumsy. They've always had good fun with her. She was the only one in the family who threw a joke or insult back and be herself outside the Burrow. She always looked up to the twins, once asking if she could be their triplet (at the age of 4). Her brothers laughed, but realized she was a special kid and they've always been quite proud of her, from her Quidditch skills to her Bat Bogey Hex. That's why George has to keep his eye on Potter… if that kid breaks his sister's heart again, he'll get more than Gin's curse.

~~~~~~ (FLASHBACK):
Fred and George came home the weekend Ron and Ginny were done at Hogwarts so that the family could be together after Dumbledore's death. After a night of their homemade fireworks show for Tonks and Remus, they heard heavy breathing in the garden.
"Lumos." Fred's wandlight revealed Ginny sitting on the ground, awestruck, with tears streaming down her face and red, puffy eyes.

"You've blinded me!" She lied, wiping her eyes. Her brothers rolled their eyes and pulled her arms away from her face.

"What's up Gin?"

"I'm so happy for Tonks and Lupin!" She rushed, trying uselessly to change the subject.

Fred cut her off. "Since when do you lie to us, kid? If it's about Dumbledore, it's… mad…. It'll be alright, just give it time."

Ginny half laughed. "I wish! That wouldn't seem so pathetic. I'm not one of those girls that cries over every bloody thing… especially to her older brothers!"

"Come on, Gin! We'll only harass you a little."
George piped in "We promise we'll play nice."
" Now what is it?" They asked in unison.

Ginny looked them straight in the eyes. "It's Harry." She breathed, watching their confused faces hang in anticipation. "It… it's over."

"I'll kill that kid!"
"What happened?"

She sighed. "He wants to save my life. He has to be so noble all the time, it's so stupid! Why do I like him? Doesn't he know I'm strong enough? I've had my fair share of dark magic experiences with Riddle's bloody diary, incase he's forgotten and –" she grunted "I wish I could just slap him to knock some sense into him!"

Her brothers smirked at each other and George nodded for Fred to speak first: "You want to smash his head in?" He tilted his head as if weighing the consequences, "we'll come along. That's what we want to do to all of your boyfriends anyway, Gin!"

The muscles around her mouth twitched as she almost smiled. "ALL of them… Like I've had so many."

George knew it was his turn to try. "You're a romantic, Gin, with that whole heart-set-on-one-person-and-one-person-alone-business. We told you you're lucky 'cause we approve of this one, but-"

Ginny tried to interrupt, but stopped as Fred held up a finger to silence her as he picked up his brother's train of thought.

"Most people out there don't think you're anything special, like Harry used to, and these people don't deserve a second of your time because you have to try too and you forget to be yourself. Then you've got the gits who don't understand you; that's been Hermione's issue with Ron, I expect… they're too much work and far too stupid.
And then you have the people who get to know you and might even …" he turns to meet Ginny's bold gaze "love you. Yeah, you know I hate those prats, and they seem mad and no one's got a clue what's wrong in their heads. Turns out, they're thinking with their hearts, Gin. Alright look, you won't like hearing this, but I'm glad you two are taking a break so you won't be bait. Blimey, when we thought we lost you to the Heir of Slytherin..."

"And that was before we got hold of you and broke you out of Percy's silent ways of life." George nodded, grinning. "If you know you'll wind up with Harry, you're gonna. He knows you're a brilliant person, Gin, and if not then he's way too daft and we'll need to rethink our approval."

"But if I'm a such romantic, maybe I'm imagining that he thought I was good for more than just snogging." She mumbled.

" 'Scuse me, I did not need to hear that, Ginevra." Fred closed his eyes and shook his head in mock disapproval. "Next time he comes back to the Burrow, talk to him." Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm not telling you to propose like when you were ten! I dunno… think like us," he winked "… see what you can get out of him."

Ginny's eyes widened, "Get out of him? Test him? …Or like a promise!" Her brothers could see her wheels turning, confidence building, and knew that she liked their idea. "So I'll know he'd be with me if he wasn't going off on that mission next year."

"Yeah," Fred smirked, "a promise. 'Cause you know veela are increasingly more popular all around the world and well…" He pretended to be a damsel in distress – one hand on his forehead as if he fainted and the other clutching his firewhiskey, " I'm sure he'll think of you."

Ginny playfully smacked his arm, knocking the drink out of his hand. "Oh shutup!" She giggled "are you just jealous Bill's marrying a girl who's half-veela or that your younger siblings are closer to relationships than both of you?"

The twins pondered for a minute, looked at each other and then nodded, "nope, just the veela thing!"

Ginny smiled fully for the first time that night as they pulled her from the ground and the three walked back into the house, each person both making and receiving jokes…~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George was pulled out of his reverie by a slight tapping on the clock.
"It's wrong," Ginny whispered as she stared at Fred's hand on the clock. His eyes were closed and he could have been sleeping. If only he was upstairs sleeping, or even creating a new product that would make her life difficult, she didn't care. This is the worst experience she'd ever had dealing with Fred. She looked around and jumped as she saw George sitting at the kitchen table. "Oh!... George… I… um… I'm-"

"I know, Gin…" George scanned the empty table, none of his siblings sat there fighting over the last of Mum's biscuits; no laughter seemed to live in the Weasley house anymore. "It's not fair." He nodded for his sister to take a seat. They sat together, although lost in their own memories of that witty boy. Simultaneously, smiles crept across their faces as they began to recall powerfully happy memories and Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Um… morning, may I help you?" A middle-aged man in black dress robes nodded his head solemnly, "I'm here to assist in the burial charms for Fred Weasley. I understand the service is at 10 o'clo-"

George let a sob escape his body and he dropped his teacup onto the table as he tried to cover the sound. This ministry official said the name, the name George couldn't bring himself to speak without dissolving into a fit of heavy breathing, shaking, and crying.
'Fred can't be gone,' he thought and tried to recall happy memories, but none came to mind. All George could remember was his twin's lifeless body lying in the Great Hall, the ghost of his last laugh still etched on his face. Clumsily, he left the kitchen to go upstairs. As Ginny watched her broken brother go, her stomach lurched. She made no attempt to explain George's behavior, which needed no apology, and took a deep breath before telling the man she would fetch her parents.

"Mum?" She swallowed, "Dad?" Another pause, as she tried to meet their red eyes, "the man is here."
Arthur and Molly Weasley proceeded downstairs, where they found a patient man, waiting in their doorway and a shattered teacup on the table. Arthur welcomed the man, who introduced himself as Mr. Wood, and bade him to sit while Molly shook her head as the tears slid down her nose.

"Georgie," she whispered to the teacup, "don't you leave us, too..."

Mr. Wood respectfully reviewed the details for the day's ceremony, which they previously discussed. "That only leaves the matter of the eulogy."
"Eulogies," Arthur corrected him and met Wood's interested gaze. "We'll all speak about him. Fred would like that… very family-oriented." Mr. Wood nodded as he crossed out a plan in his notepad. "Right then," he stood, "I'll be outside as you all…" He caught sight of the unique Family clock and was momentarily mesmerized, "a- as you get ready. I'll see you in an hour."

Molly rested her head on her husband's quivering shoulders, "I'd give anything for it to be me in that tomb… not our boy." Arthur stroked her graying, ginger hair, "I know, Molly… I know."