"So, who do you think is going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year, Georgie?" asked Fred

"I dunno, they do keep disappearing though, don't they? Rather dodgy, isn't it?"

"Quite dodgy, yes. Bet Snape's behind it, but if he's putting that much effort into getting a job, would it really that hard to wash his hair?" Laughted erupted from us, a warm sound, echoing happiness and excitement throughout the isles of the train.

The laughter soon ceased. The train stopped. Warmth was replaced by cold, freezing, chilling, cold. The windows fogged up and our shuddering breaths became visible. I started shivering violently, and Fred must have been shivering, too, because I felt his shaking figure leaning against me.

I started feeling sad, as sad as I would be if someone close to me died. Tears ran down my cheeks, and I didn't utter a word. Darkness descended upon me, and it almost went completely silent, but I heard sobs coming from my right. Horrible, shaking, painful sounding sobs, coming from Fred, who had curled up into a ball. His pitiful form curled into fetal position. I wanted to hug him, hold him tight, my being screamed with every second I grieved alone. I scooted over to him, forgetting my sadness.

I was sad, of course, but now my Freddie was crying, and I couldn't bear to see that.

I wrapped my arms around him, wanting to hold all of him close to me, for him to feel what little warmth I had. I wiped his tears away with a trembling finger, and ran my hand through his hair. His sobs continued, and they shook his body, he cried out, and I held him tighter, feeling even more despair wash over me as he cried. He buried his face in my shirt, and I attempted to comfort him. I whispered in his ear, my voice shaky.

"It's okay, Freddie, I promise. Nothing's wrong. It must be magic, something must be making us feel this way. It's alright." And then it was over, and the lights turned on and the train erupted with chatter and worried whispers. The train started moving again, and Fred raised his head, looking worried, and I saw his red face, still puffy from crying. He was still holding onto me, and I started getting up, assuming he would want to let go now that it was over, but he clung to me, still. His arms wrapped around my neck, as I got up to sit upon the compartment seats instead of the ground. After a moment, I decided to ask him about it.

"Fred, what's wrong? Why are you still holding onto me?" He said nothing, only rested his head on my shoulder. I was getting concerned. He didn't answer for a while.

"...I was..so sad, and it was freezing...and, I never want to feel like that again. Never."

"What was it that made you so sad?" I felt two warm tears soak through my robes.

"Pictures of you...dead, kept going through my head..I didn't want them to! They just kept coming, and- and.." His speech faded away, as tears filled his eyes.

"Hey, Freddie, it's okay. You don't need to cry. I promise I'll still be alive for many years to come, so no need to worry, alright? Besides, we can't waste time, we need to work out our first day prank for Snape, eh? But by the way, how did I look dead? Pretty sexy, right?" Fred wiped away his tears and exchanged a wicked grin with me.

"Very. You were the sexiest corpse I have ever seen." Fred smiled, a lovely sight after what had happened just moments ago.

"And was I missing any body parts?"

"Nope, both ears, same nose, two eyes.."

"And was anyone sad? Better have been sad, I'm quite amazing."

"Yeah, Percy was shaking you and Ron was kneeling next to him. Everyone was crying really hard. But guess what?"

"What?"

"You died smiling." And Fred showed another wide grin.

"Is there any other way for a Weasley to go?" I said, also smiling.

"Definetely not." And we both laughed, before I called order.

"Alright, alright, so what are we going to do to Snape?"

"I thought gnomes singing would be quite annoying.."

"Yeah! But..we don't have any gnomes." I said, slightly less enthusiastic.

"I wouldn't say that.."

"You didn't, Fred."

"But I did, George." And true to his word, he pulled a short gnome out of his bag.

"Geroff me, Geroff me!" it cried, thrashing around. We smiled down on it, and spoke together.

"Not a chance, you're going to make Potions very exciting for a certain Professor.."