They didn't understand. None of them did. In all fairness, he supposed they couldn't. They had no idea what it was like to lose a part of themselves. Of course, everyone had been hurt by the war. He was not foolish enough to assume he was the only one who suffered. However, they all seemed to have moved on quite well. It was too soon, he thought. Too soon for him to forget. How could he ever forget? But hey were all too busy celebrating to realise that. Every week, it seemed to him, brought some new celebratory event. He prefered to stay away from most of them.
But when he found a party bring organised at the Burrow itself, he reluctantly consented to attend, despite having no wish to do so. Molly would not have it any other way, however, and attend he must.
It was as he expected; he ended up spending a large part of the evening slinking against a corner, holding his drink. Occasionally, his siblings or their friends would walk up to him and ask him to join them. His refusals grew louder with each glass of firewhisky that he gulped down. It was when Harry approached him, that he finally snapped.
"I will not join you!" he exclaimed, nearly shouting. "You think you've won, have you? Bloody hell you did! Did you even count your losses? Or do they not matter to you? Everyone that died for you. So you could win your stupid war and be the Boy Who Lived, just because they didn't. You don't understand what it feels like to lose someone that important. Not one of you, does."
The whole room had fallen deathly silent and everyone had turned to stare at him after his drunken tirade.
George closed his eyes, embarassed. He hadn't meant to burst out like that. He would have to apologise to everyone. Just as he was working up the courage to do so, a voice broke into his thoughts.
"You're right."
He opened his eyes to find a girl stepping forward.
"You are," she repeated, even as he struggled to place her, through the haze that clouded his eyes. She was in Harry's year, wasn't she? What was her name again? Parvati, he thought. Then something clicked. There were two of them weren't there? Sisters. But he saw only one now. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the other since...Merlin! Had he really been so blind?
Parvati was standing near him now. Everyone else had gone back to whatever it was they were doing before, albeit making sure they did not tread around him.
"They don't understand," Parvati said to him quietly, looking at the crowd. Her voice sounded as if it was close to breaking. He noticed her eyes were ringed with dark circles and her face looked thin, and pale. He wondered if her looked like that too.
"But," she continued, "is it really their fault?"
George was taken aback.
"I..." he began, then paused. "I don't know anymore." She nodded and gave him a sad smile.
"I'm sorry, about before," he said, after a while.
"I know," she replied.
As he stared at her, standing by his side and watching them celebrate, he wondered if it was time to move on after all. Perhaps it would be easier, together.
Notes: For TGS' Through the Universe Challenge: Prompt: Bloody hell
Also for the Cruel and Unusual Pairing Challenge.