Disclaimer: I own none of these characters -- just the idea.
A/N: This could be considered a stand alone, I guess. But I wrote it as a companion/prequel to Love and Loss. I guess it would be considered AU as well. I haven't written anything in quite a long, long time! This is just to get the creativity flowing again -- constructive criticism is always welcome. Enjoy!
When you lose someone close, how do you cope? Do you move on from losing a friend? A brother? A twin?
Fred Weasley had seen a lot of things in his life. As far as life experiences went, he had done more than many people would ever do. He had it all, he had seen it all, but he never could imagine losing something more important to him than he did just two hours ago.
George Weasley had been Fred's best friend. In all interpretations of the word, he still was. It hadn't quite hit that he was gone, but he was. The terror that was the Dark Lord had unleashed his fury onto an unsuspecting group of young members of the Order of the Phoenix.
They had been fooled, that was true. Word had been given that two weeks from now, there would be a dark ceremony going on. Usually activities were limited leading up to a big meeting of the Dark Lord's followers, so that their powers were well rested. The leaked word seemed almost too planned. But no one seemed to pay it much mind. It was that carelessness that left them so unprepared. Fred and George were just returning to the Order's Welsh hideaway with their co-worker, Lee Jordan, whenever they were ambushed. Oliver Wood and Katie Bell, along with six other members of the Order, had just arrived to warn the twins of what they had just figured out, but it had been too late. Fred and George had fought bravely, and George tried his best to protect Lee – who wasn't the best at defensive spells. But in the end it had all gone horribly wrong. They were outnumbered.
Fred could still hear his brother's cries.
"Katie, Katie behind you!" George Weasley screamed across the field to his friend as an especially sinister looking Death Eater raised its wand to aim a spell at the young witch. Katie immediately turned and blocked the spell. George's attention snapped back to the other Death Eaters closing in on him and his friends. There had to be twenty or so Death Eaters, with only ten members of the Order present, plus the defenseless Lee Jordan.
"Lee!" Fred yelled to his friend as he saw the Death Eaters realizing their weak link and turning their attention to the ex-Commentator.
"Watch it, watch it!" Lee was trying his best to duck and block and evade the numerous spells directed his way. It was only when George saw a green streak of color leaving a Death Eater's wand that he realized he had to make a decision. His best friend or himself.
"Avada Kedavra my arse!" George screamed as he leaped in front of Lee Jordan and the bolt hit him right in the stomach. George Weasley was dead. Ten minutes later, so was Lee Jordan.
Fred shook his head. He had cried more than he ever thought himself capable after things had ended. Something scared the Death Eaters off. But they had won as far as Fred was concerned. They had taken away the lives of two good people. Lee Jordan who had just gotten a job commentating for the Wimbourne Wasps whenever he wouldn't be working at the Weasleys' joke shop. George Weasley who just last week had bought an engagement ring for his longtime girlfriend and love, Alicia Spinnet.
The same Alicia Spinnet whose apartment Fred Weasley had been standing outside of for the past ten minutes, unable to knock. Unable to simply apparate into. Then the door suddenly oppened.
"Fred – whats – ?" Alicia took a look at her longtime friend. Fred had always been like a brother to her and now he looked so weak, so distressed. She ushered him inside and immediately began to fear for the worst.
"Where is George, Fred?" Alicia looked him up and down, panicked. She hadn't heard from George since the day before – something not completely unusual due to the circumstances of the War, but they were supposed to be leaving for her parent's home in Yorkshire the next day.
Fred didn't say anything – what could he say? He looked at Alicia as he attempted to form words. He felt numb and humorless. No joke or prank in the world could bring him out of this harsh reality. And he would have given anything in the world not to be the one about to shatter the heart of the petite blonde in front of him.
"Where is George, Fred?" This time there was a rise in her voice – panic, fear, anger. She searched the redhead's eyes for answers, but the one she was looking for wasn't there. She knew in her gut that Fred wasn't about to tell her 'Oh, George is just running late – he's closing up shop.'
"Alicia... I ... I...," and then he broke. For the first time in her life, Alicia Spinnet watched as one of the infamously happy and carefree Weasleys shed a tear in front of her. The drop fell from his eye in a slow, rolling motion. As Fred's tear hit the wood flooring of her apartment, Alicia threw her arms around Fred and her own sobs of dispair were muted against the coarse material of Fred's robes.
"I couldn't save him, Alicia, I couldn't," Was all Fred could say as the tears became more and more frequent. His arms wrapped firmly around his brother's lover, half comforting, half seeking solace himself.
Alicia couldn't form any coherent words. Her entire world had just crumbled. She had been infatuated with George Weasley from the moment he burst into her compartment aboard the Hogwarts Express, hiding from his older brother Percy whom he had just pranked. Throughout her Hogwarts years she had grown to love him – first as a friend and then as much more. He was her housemate, teammate, and eventually boyfriend. She understood his humor perfectly and had envisioned one day marrying the Weasley, maybe even having a few children. All with red hair, of course. Now what was there to do? He was gone and she would never look into his eyes again. Never meet him at the end of the aisle. Never raise a redheaded miniature of themselves; never again be held by him as she slept.
Oh Fred. She hugged George's brother tighter. How were the both of them supposed to deal? She loved their friends tremendously – but none of them would be able to relate to how Fred nor herself felt. She tried stopping the tears – Fred was hurting too, she needed to be strong. But she couldn't bring herself to be that selfless, not right now. She couldn't help it. The memories of Fred were hitting her like a thousand knives.
She loved him, every part of him. It was now she wished she hadn't ignored some of his inventions – it was now she wished she hadn't brushed him off when she had had a stressful day at work. Then she thought they had all the time in the world, and now they didn't. Without any warning, their time together had expired.
What was left was George's broken other halves – the twin brother who had been inseparable from him and the woman who had captured his heart so many years ago.