"You have fought", said the high cold voice, "valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery.
Yet you have sustained heavy losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die. One by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood spilled is a loss and a waste.
Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately.
You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.
I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."
"Well… I hope he doesn't think that Harry's going to go" said George to Luna who was standing next to him "I mean he's the Boy Who Lived, not the Boy Who Died. It would kinda ruin his reputation" he added with a smirk on his face.
"I guess we should head to the great hall," said Luna, "See, what the plan is."
They started their descent, the staircase that took them down the astronomy tower was barely still holding up, and was probably still standing only because magic was holding it up.
The rest of the castle didn't fare any better. Everywhere they looked, chaos reigned. There were gargoyles broken on the floor. The suits of armour were in pieces. Occasionally they had to climb over rubble that had been brought down by a curse.
"Poor Filch, this will definitely take a while to clean up." George quipped, trying to defuse the tension.
Luna looked up to him and smiled dreamily "I'm certain the wrackspurts won't make it easier for him either. They seem to like Mr. Filch very much you know."
George glanced at Luna in confusion, but decided not to say anything.
Finally they reached the open doors of the Great Hall.
Luna headed off to help Madam Pomfrey with a wave and a smile at George's direction and so he was left to look for his family.
George was momentarily distracted by the bustle inside. Madam Pomfrey hurried from one patient to another trying to help as many as she could and giving out orders to the people helping her. Groups of survivors were huddled together, trying to comfort each other. The dead lay in a row in the middle of the hall.
After a few moments, he spotted a ginger lot standing close together towards the end of the Great Hall.
His parents were hugging Charlie and Ginny, Bill was standing next to them looking down at something that was hidden from view by the Weasley clan.. For a moment George wondered where Ron was, but the he remembered his little brother was with Harry. He couldn't see Fred or Percy anywhere, but he assumed they hadn't made it to the Great Hall yet.
He sure was going to give Fred a hug. It's not that he was worried about his brother, he knew Fred could handle himself. He just wanted to make sure Fred was alright. That's a completely normal and brotherly thing to do, not at all weird.
He approached his family and his mother, hearing his steps, looked up at him.
"Oh George! I was so worried!" Molly exclaimed, and suddenly he was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug from his family.
"Hey mum, I'm alright." It was actually getting a bit hard to breathe now. He tried to extract himself, but the hug just got tighter.
"Umm, guys, I sort of need to breathe, mind letting me go?"
"Oh honey, sorry, yes" His mother sobbed out and released her grip a little, but still didn't let go.
"Any of you know where Perce and Fred are? I got this brilliant idea for our shop that..." George trailed off seeing Fred sleeping on the floor and Percy sobbing hysterically beside him.
„Oh come on, Fred. That's not fun..." started George but stopped as he felt a cold sinking feeling in his heart..
Fred wasn't sleeping.
„Percy?" He said in a panicky voice „What's wrong with Fred?" He asked, afraid of the answer.
Percy looked up for a moment and then continued sobbing.
„Percy! PERCY!" he shrieked and fell down on his knees besides Fred.
„He… He was laughing… and Rookwood… he… a wall fell...Fred was laughing.. He… He didn't notice it… I stood right next to him… He was laughing because of me… It's my fault… Fred's dead because of me…"Percy finally managed to voice out between sobs.
George looked down at his twin in shock.
He shaked his brother trying to wake up. "Fred, come on Fred. Wake up!
George didn't notice as tears started to fall as he kept trying to wake Fred.
"Come on Fred, I got this brilliant new idea for our shop. It'll be the next big thing, I promise you that. Come on Fred, all you have to do is open your eyes and wake up."
"Fred" His voice broke. "You can't do this to me, Fred. You can't just leave me here like this."
Suddenly George didn't have more words left in him. He was kneeling besides Fred's head and just kept shaking his brother, his best friend, as tears fell. Someone put a hand on his shoulder and then stopped his hands. He looked up and saw her mother kneeling in front of him, crying too.
"I know sweetie, I know..." his mother said and brushed his hair out of his eyes.
"Fred can't be gone mum. He can't..." George's voice broke again and suddenly he felt like a little boy again. All he wanted was a hug from his mum and a joke from his brother. But there would never be another joke from his brother. Those lips were sealed forever by death. He lowered his head and looked at Fred. He looked so peaceful and happy with his last smile still on his face. He felt his mother moving beside him and heard her anguished sobs but didn't pay her any mind. He just kept looking at his brother.
Fred would never make jokes about him. He would never come up with new ideas for the shop. They would never finish each other sentences. They would never be able to prank people.
He heard someone else approaching and raised his head for a moment to see Hermione hugging Ginny, Percy flinging an arm around Ron, his dad stroking his mum's hair and then looked back at Fred.
No one noticed that Harry wasn't there.