Pieces Left Behind

Ch 1: Twinkle in His Eyes

The night before the final battle of Hogwarts found Fred and George Weasley celebrating their lives with two girls they had never expected to see themselves with exclusively. Luna Lovegood and her friend Mary Muldoon had entered Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes that evening after slipping out of the castle on a run for those students left behind at Hogwarts to carry on the actions of the D.A. The twins had put the girls in good spirits after finding out about their cause and invited them to the flat for a bit of a stress reliever. Mary, ever the adventurous one, agreed immediately, Luna followed her friend.

The boys entertained these girls, one of whom they had always found a bit Loony and the other who until their final year at Hogwarts, they had assumed a bookworm and nothing more. Mary had had a few detentions with the twins and had shown them different, however. As the night wore on and firewhiskey was passed around amongst the young people, George got increasingly friendlier with Mary, who was two years his younger, but no less interested. He invited her to spend a bit of quality time with him, which she was quick to say yes to, partially because she had always found him dashing, and partially because the firewhiskey had added to her desire for a bit of a crazy night. Fred offered the same to Luna, who was a bit more shy, but tired of her sad, scared life in the castle.

Fred made love to Luna that night and fell asleep thinking about pursuing a relationship as he had been her first and her more normal side had shown through. George and Mary stayed up the majority of the night laughing and enjoying the pleasures of the other's body. "You're amazing," George had told her as he thrust into her quickly just as the sun started to rise.

"And you," she breathed, feeling yet another orgasm and bringing him over the edge after her. They lay sweaty and entangled, sated and very comfortable with one another.

"I should have looked you up sooner," he told her. "We could have had lots of fun at Hogwarts…not all sex, I mean," he said, trying to get the point of his liking of her across the right way.

"That we could have," she told him. "And I could have gotten rid of the nickname 'Mary with the Cherry' a bit sooner than tonight."

He laughed and enveloped her in his arms, dozing off a bit beside her curvy body. The girls had to get up, however and return to the castle, so as not to attract any negative attentions. "I didn't expect the Weasley twins to be so real," Luna told her friend as they slipped back into the room of requirement.

"They're brilliant," Mary replied with a smile. As the day wore on, they became more aware of things that were happening around them regarding a fight and by nightfall they were entangled in battle with the darkest forces on earth.

When the dust had settled and the body counts were added up, Fred was surrounded by his family, a hint of a grin still plastered on his face. The girls clung to each other and cried; their friend and Luna's first love having been killed in battle. Eventually they were both so tired, however, that they were forced to sleep. Fortunately everyone had been given a sleepless dream potion.

The next day, Mary and Luna saw George quite a bit, though he wasn't his normal, happy self, which broke their hearts. They wanted to talk to him, try to console him a bit, and get some consolation themselves, but his family was all around him and they gave him space. They attended the funeral services and saw his heart breaking as he said farewell to his other half, his twin, his best friend.

"Do you think we should go to him?" Luna asked Mary from her seat at the side.

"I think he'll need time," Mary replied. Luna nodded, tears still streaming down her face. The girls followed the rest of the crowd to the Burrow after the service for the wake to give their regards to the family.

"I'm glad you asked me to go to that shop with you," Luna told Mary as the waited for the crowd around George to thin out a bit. "I never would have really known any part of Fred Weasley." Mary simply nodded sadly and moved forward to embrace George.

The ginger man whom she had fallen in love with two days previous clung to her for a full minute as though she was a raft and he was drowning. "I'm so sorry, George," she whispered. He could only sniff through his tears. George left for the bedroom he had shared with is twin shortly after speaking to Mary, tired of being around people, and Mary stayed with Luna to talk to the rest of the family.

"We were with them the night before last," Luna told Ginny outside. "When we went for supplies, they asked us to stay for a bit."

"You were with them on the last night that Fred got to spend celebrating?" Ginny asked. Mary nodded and the red haired girl enveloped both her friends in a tight embrace. "I wish I had been there," she told them.

Luna went off to find her father the day after Fred's funeral, determined to get part of her life back together, and Mary was left alone in the flat that she and Luna had put a down payment on in Hogsmeade Village. The two had decided to live together while Mary got her potions shop opened and Luna looked for work, but as Luna was gone, Mary wondered whether she should go home to her parent's house in Ireland.

After a week, she determined that it was best to stay and try to work through her grief over her friends' deaths and on getting her life back on track the way she saw it going before the war. Her shop put together and started up, she started working toward getting the Wizarding world back on its feet the best way she could, by starting over with a business that people needed. She had a Wizarding portrait made of Fred like the ones in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts, hoping it would help ease George's pain as well.

She took the next Sunday off to go see him. George was living in the flat above his shop, which hadn't been reopened yet. It took nearly ten minutes for him to answer the door, however. He stepped aside to let Mary in and looked curiously at the package she had been levitating. "How are you?" she asked, noting the dark circles under his eyes and the puffy state of his eyes themselves.

"I've been better," he admitted.

"I know you're hurting," she told him. "But maybe this will cheer you up a bit. He wouldn't want you to stay upset forever."

George didn't reply, save for to rip the paper off of the life sized portrait. He gasped upon seeing it and looked from the painting to Mary in surprise. "You had him painted?" he asked weakly. Mary couldn't tell if it was a good or bad reaction and simply nodded. George threw his arms around the girl and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you mind getting a room? I might not be able to get any action, but that doesn't mean I want to see my twin getting any!" the portrait spoke up. George promptly let go of Mary and started at the portrait.

"I've been assured it's the only one in existence, so you'll be able to talk to George from the other side via the painting," Mary told the very excited Weasley.

"Fred?" George asked weakly.

"Too right. Let's get on with the happiness, now!" he raved. "And could you find me a painting of an excitable young girl, preferably a blonde…"

"It really is him," George said happily, breaking into the first smile he'd had since his twin's death. "Right down to the twinkle in his eyes!"

Fred rolled his eyes. "Let's get this party started!" the portrait said in response. Mary smiled again too, seeing George so happy.

"Brilliant!" he told her, charming the portrait to be able to move around the room on it's own.