Hi! So, this is my first FanFic, and I'm not really used to all of this. Please go easy on me! Please read and review! One last thing: I OWN NOTHING. Enjoy!
Don't leave me.
The Great Hall had been transformed in a matter of hours. From a jolly, festive place of gathering, it had now changed to a cold, bleak, and rubble-strewn area of mourning. Wails, sobs and anguished cries filled the air. Everyone here had experienced a loss. Friends, family members, maybe even just a classmate. But everyone had lost someone.
A group of red-heads were huddled around a body. All of them had red-rimmed, puffy eyes and were hugging each other. All of them were there.
All of them but one.
George Weasley stood in the Astronomy Tower, looking out over the Forbidden Forest. He had no tears in his eyes. He just felt... numb. After finding out he was gone- his twin, his partner in crime, and his best friend- he had run to the first place he could think of. It was up here they'd concoct their worst and most deadly plans. Thinking that he was up here, now alone, he gave a bitter laugh.
This is all some sick joke. He'll come round that corner any minute laughing at me. He can't be dead, for Merlin's sake! George thought. He hadn't stopped believing it since he'd left the hall, even though he knew there was near no chance Fred could ever come back. What hurt a lot was that he wasn't there when it happened. What hurt the most was who was actually there when it did happen.
Percy.
George winced. The black sheep, the power-hungry moron, Perfect Prefect Percy. Even the thought of him being there made George furious down to his core. Not even that could penetrate the pure grief and guilt in the pit of his stomach.
He hadn't noticed, but his grip on the rail had tightened and tightened throughout the course of his thoughts. He daren't loosen it or else he would probably fall over and not get back up. He closed his eyes, for once thinking at least partially thinking normally. Why can it not just end? You've punished us enough, Lord NoNose. He snorted in spite of himself at the pathetic nickname Fred had given Voldemort when they were younger. Everything seemed better when they- he was younger.
Sighing, he remembered what had happened in the Hall.
...
George wandered through the empty corridors of Hogwarts. He couldn't wait until he found Fred and told him how he had transfigured that Death Eater into a talking cactus. With underarm hair. And a moustache.
He had, miraculously, found the Hall. If my family aren't in here, George thought, Dung doesn't sell stolen goods. He glanced at the families all around, leaning into loved ones heads, chests, waists. He could only prey that wasn't the case with his own family.
"George!"
He spun round. Percy ran towards him, looking slightly haunted and extremely pale. He had a long cut down his cheek which stood out starkly against his snowy white skin.
"Hi, Perce," George says, taking in Percy's frantic and distant look. "Merlin, you look like someone's died," he joked, but instead of a harsh insult, he got a strangling hug. "Percy, let me breathe!"
Percy let go and bowed his head, tears falling down his cheeks.
"George, I-I'm sorry, t-there was nothing I could do, I-"
But George wasn't listening. He was staring at the body, the very familiar body, of a certain 21-year-old known as Fred Weasley. The world around him was blotted out, he couldn't hear, couldn't see, couldn't think anymore.
"NO!"
"George, wait!"
Before he knew what he was doing, he was running out of the Great Hall, as far away from anyone he could. He found his way up stairs to the Astronomy Tower. He slid down the wall, his head in his hands, trembling frightfully.
...
Even now, he was slightly shaking. Reflecting on the revelation made the pain double, no, triple in size. He had to use all of his strength to remain standing, let alone keep his emotions under control. He looked down below the rail. Nothing but pure darkness enveloped the thorns and ivy below. I could jump, I really could, he considered. I could be with him and then nothing would matter, and-
"George?" A timid voice asked, completely destroying all of his thoughts.
Percy stood in the doorway, eyeing George cautiously as though he would attack him at any moment. "George? Are you okay? I-I know you're not, but-"
"Just shut it, Percival, before you do something else stupid."
He didn't mean to say it, and almost immediately regretted it. Percy winced and backed off slightly, as though George had physically harmed him. Percy swallowed.
"Look, George, I know this isn't the best circumstance for you, but-"
"THEN WHY DID YOU LET IT HAPPEN? WHY DID YOU STAND ASIDE AND JUST LET HIM DIE?"
The elder of the two closed his eyes and tears threatened to spill. George felt no guilt, no pity. His brother had left the family and didn't bother to apologize. He didn't care about that traitors feelings any more.
"... I've been asking myself the exact same questions, George. If I'd of known that the wall would explode, I would have changed places with him in a heartbeat."
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU? WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE HIM?"
Percy sighed. "Because that isn't the way it works, not all the time."
"LIAR! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU DIDN'T EVEN CARE HE WAS IN DANGER! YOU-"
Percy wasn't known for his patience. Especially where family was concerned.
"Listen! We all know how you feel-"
"YOU DON'T HAVE A TWIN! YOU'LL NEVER KNOW!"
"Maybe we won't, but he was our brother, Mum and Dad's son- their son, George! - But you couldn't care less, could you? All you care about is how sad you are, how angry you are, all you!
"I may not be your favourite brother, but we're family, and we need to help each other out, because we've all lost something."
George could no longer contain himself.
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, YOU TRAITOROUS IDIOT! ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THE DEAR OLD MINISTRY! ALL OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT! I'LL NEVER SEE YOU AS ANY BROTHER, WEASLEY OR NOT!" He bellowed at a startled Percy.
George stared at Percy and took in his frightened and anxious expression. He hadn't really looked at his face at all since he reconciled with the family.
The first thing George could see about his brother was how extremely thin he was. He had bags under his eyes and was extremely pale. His once bright red hair was now a tone lighter, and looked at lot sandier.
Percy squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
"If that's how you really feel, I'll leave you to it," He whispered, not daring to go any louder. "Besides, I agree and it's all I expected."
He turned his back to his brother and began to descend the stairs. George immediately spun round, and choked out,
"Don't leave me."
Percy stared at his brother, with a look that said everything. 'I can help you. You're stronger than this.' But the most important words came out of his mouth:
"I wouldn't leave you. Never."
It was then that George lost it. He ran to his brother and fell into his arms, sobbing. Percy stumbled, but immediately regained balance and hugged the broken man in front of him. He let George cry, and understood him as only a brother could.
George himself was a mess. How could this happen to me? How could he have helped me to open up? He glanced up and saw Percy silently shedding his own tears, of grief, of anger, of pain, but, most of all, of relief.
A few moments later, George had sat and gave a small smile and a "Thank you".
"Don't worry about it, George," Percy whispered. "Like I said, we're family, and we need to help each other through this. Now," He said, offering his hand to George. "I think that Fred wouldn't want us to cry. So, how about telling the family the same?"
"You know what, Perce?" George asked, that spark in his eyes slightly returning, "He would also say that helping family is against the joking law. Under section 3 of Wizard Wheezes rules," George cleared his throat, using the closest to a Ministry Official's voice as he could, "'Any assistance of family or friends will result in an hour of tickling charms'."
"So, I'm taking that as a no?"
"Merlin help us! Perfect Prefect Percy actually got a joke!" George said, smiling and sliding back down the wall. Percy coughed to hide his laughter.
There was a slight pause.
"... Seriously, that is a no, isn't it?"
...
The next morning, Ginny crept around the castle looking for her two brothers. When she found them, she was shocked, to say the least.
Percy was slumped against the wall, with George curled into his side. Both had their arms around each other and both were fast asleep.
Ginny smiled and shook her head. Boys.
...
So there you have it! Please feel free to review, but I'm not pressuring you! If I get some positive feedback, I'll carry on writing. Please check out Blossom That Drifts In Bracken's work! IT'S AMAZING!