(I'd like to apologize for the late Disclaimer, but here it is ;)

[DISCLAIMER: All Harry Potter characters, fictional items, and fictional settings are the creation of J.K Rowling and in no way belong to me.

The Weasley family, Harry, and Hermione apparated back to the burrow (Ginny apparating alongside her mother) and rushed inside just as lightning struck the horizon. The rain was pitter-pattering on the roof of The Burrow, and Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all scampered around the house closing the windows before the sills got too wet from the oncoming rain. Mr. Weasley sat down at the kitchen table to look over some work from the Ministry. Now that Voldemort's invasion of the Ministry had ended, there was a lot of cleaning up to do in the wizarding world to sort things out.

Mrs. Weasley took off her coat and began to prepare some tea, but Percy volunteered to make it so Mrs. Weasley could clean herself up and get some rest. She gave him a kind nod and pulled her wand from her robes. "Scourgify" she whispered. The mud vanished from her robes and face into thin air. She went on to use the charm to clean everyone's shoes that had been left at the front door.

Bill didn't remove his coat or shoes. He stretched and yawned before turning to Mrs. Weasley. "I'd love to stay mum, but I've got some work to do at Gringotts. I've been called to investigate a break-in at Gringotts, we still have NO idea who to blame." Bill gave a wink to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who had just finished closing all the windows in the house. They all grinned almost mischievously.Bill gave his mother one last hug and disappeared with a crack.

"I'll be going to mum." Charlie intervened. "A friend of mine received a pretty nasty dragon burn the other day, I won't say where, but he's in a right bit of pain at the moment. He's at St. Mungos, so I'll be staying with him."

Mrs. Weasley smiled understandingly. "Send Atticus my love, won't you dear?"she said as Charlie hugged her also.

He nodded and disappeared with another crack.

George had entered the kitchen without a word. His legs felt numb, and the image of Fred's tombstone was etched into his mind. He did not hear a word of the conversation around him.

"George…?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

George lifted his head to look at his mother.

"You will stay won't you? Just for one night!"

"I dunno mum. I have a lot of work to do back at the shop. It's going to be difficult now, without…" he fell silent, but his lips still mouthed out the word "Fred".

"Oh please, George? Just one night. I insist! You need rest, you can get back to work tomorrow."

George's gaze fell to avoid his mother's pleading eyes. "Mum, I…"

There was a long silence in the room, broken only by the purring of Crookshanks who had just leapt up on Ginny's lap to have his tummy rubbed.

Almost a minute had passed before George sighed and replied "Just one night."

Mrs. Weasley smiled at him as brightly as she could. George though, didn't seem like he would've been happy either way.

A whistling sound emitted from the teapot, and Percy, who had been leaning against the kitchen counter, turned to quickly take it off the burner. He poured tea for everyone and use his wand to mix in a cube of sugar in each mug before passing them to everyone. George took his teacup silently, looking in at it's contents. His throat was dry, and his body was soaked with cold rain, but he set his teacup down and ignored it while everyone made attempts to start weak conversation.

"So, Harry…" said Mr. Weasley, glancing over report in his hand. "Do you plan on finishing school, since You-Know-Who is gone?"

Harry had seated himself next to Ginny, and took a moment to answer. "Well…I never really thought about it. I guess it would be the right thing to do, I mean, I can't make a living without a job I guess." he shrugged.

Hermione nodded, and added "I believe I will too. I'm not exactly sure what it will be like without the usual people there, but it would definitely be the smart thing to do."

"Very wise decision. can't get far without an education." Mr. Weasley took a swig of tea from his cup before returning to his work.

"What about me?" asked Ron. "What if I don't want to finish school?"

"Ronald Weasley, you know very well that a decent education is required if you ever want to make a decent living!" said Mrs. Weasley sternly.

"Well, what if I-" Ron stopped himself in the middle of his sentence. His ears turned red.

"What if you what?" asked Harry with a grin.

"Well…" started Ron. "I was kind of hoping I could, you know, go professional with Quidditch."

"Well Ronald Weasley, you won't as much as TOUCH a broom unless you finish your schooling, do you hear me?" instructed Mrs. Weasley.

"Y-Yes mum." stuttered Ron.

Everyone turned to George, who was leaning against the wall next to the clock with each Weasley's name on it. They were expecting George to make some kind of joke, but he obviously didn't find anything funny about it.

"I think that's a great idea, Ron." he muttered tonelessly. He was too busy looking at the empty space on the clock that was labeled "Home" where Fred's hand should have been. The hand had been wiped blank of Fred's name and face.

When everyone realized George wasn't in the mood to make jokes, Percy glanced at his watch and said "Alright everyone, I think it's about time we go to bed, don't you?"

"Splendid idea!" said Mrs. Weasley "That means you too Arthur!"

Mr. Weasley looked up from his papers. "But Molly, I-"

"The work can wait, right now I think ALL of us need some time to rest."

Everyone finished their tea in a matter of minutes and made their way up the stairs to their rooms. Hermione stayed with Ginny in her room and Harry with Ron. George was the last up the stairs. He looked gloomily at the door to his room. Mrs. Weasley approached him on the stairs.

"George, aren't you going to bed?" she asked

"Actually mum…I think I'll just sleep on the couch downstairs." he replied. The thought of being surrounded by the memories of his deceased brother filled his heart with dread. All of the projects they had, their childhood belongings they had chose to leave behind when they moved out. A balloon of dread swelled up in his throat.

Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth as if to say something, but George had already started his way down the stairs. She gazed at the door to Fred and George's old room. A single tear rolled down her cheek before she continued her own way up the stairs.

George summoned a quilted blanket and a soft pillow for the couch. He glanced at the clock again, as if Fred's hand may have magically reappeared this time, but it still remained blank, so he lay down on the couch and buried himself in the blanket. He couldn't help buy miss Fred with every fiber of his being. The two of them had been the closest friends as well as brothers, and it seemed like one was never without the other until just now. He remembered how much Fred had been worried when his ear was blown off by a death eater, but this was different. Ears could be replaced. Lives couldn't be.

The rhythmic tapping of the rain on the roof of The Burrow lulled George to sleep in a matter of minutes. His slumber was filled with disturbing dreams flooded with Fred's smiling face being ripped in half at the flash of a green light and maniacal laughter in the background, but he couldn't see who it was laughing. He dreamt this same scene over and over, each time, straining to find the source of the manic laughter, but it seemed to be disembodied. The last time the scene repeated itself, as soon as the maniacal laughter died away, George found himself running through a dark forest, the sky blocked out by the dead leaves on the twisted trees. George tripped over something and felt himself fall.

George woke up to find he had rolled over and fallen off the couch. "Smooth move." he thought to himself, pushing himself off the carpet. He stood up, rubbing at a crick in his neck and glanced around the living room, wincing at a bruise on his arm where it hit the ground. Sun was streaming through the window behind him, and he looked out it to see the gnome-infested garden. George's ears caught the sound of clattering dishes in the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen still rubbing his neck, to see that everyone had already woke up and started eating. Percy was dressed for work, but Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were still in their pajamas.

" Morning George." said Ginny as she spread marmalade on her toast. "What were you doing in the living room?" she asked.

"Just woke up." he muttered in reply.

Ginny gave him a puzzled look. She was about to ask again, but Mrs. Weasley quickly interrupted her.

"Have a seat George, have some breakfast!: she said quickly.

"I'm not hungry, mum." said George.

"You have to eat something George. I can't control what you eat when you're at the shop, but while you are in my house, I am going to make sure you are properly fed! Now sit down!" she said pointing a spoon she had been using to stir something on the stove earlier at an empty chair set up at the table.

George reluctantly sat down and piled his plate with food until his mother seemed content with how much he would be eating. He began to slowly cut up one of his sausages while his mother watched him carefully, still stirring the pot on the stove.

Percy was reading the Daily Prophet at the other end of the kitchen table. He handed the prophet to his mother when he was done. "Mum, take a look at the obituaries." he said through a mouthful of toast.

Mrs. Weasley seized the paper and quickly scanned the list of deaths from the previous week.

"Oh my, we certainly did lose a lot of good witches and wizards, didn't we?" Mrs. Weasley sighed sadly.

"They mention Lupin and Tonks in there as well." said Percy.

Mrs. Weasley turned to the second page of obituaries and a mournful look crossed her face. "They did…" her eyes glistened with tears again. "I do wonder who is going to take care of poor Teddy." she said sadly.

"Who was the godfather?" asked Percy.

"Me." said Harry gloomily. "But I need to go back to Hogwarts…unless I should take care of him instead…?"

"Don't think like that Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley. "You can't support a child without finishing your education. Tonks made one of her Aunts the godmother, so she should be able to take care of the child. Oh, the poor thing." she said, looking down at the picture they had printed of Tonks and Lupin at their wedding.

"Did anyone we knew from school die?" asked George.

At first, everyone seemed appalled that George had said something without being spoken to, but Mrs. Weasley shook the shock off and said "Well, it says here that a boy by the name of Creevey died during the battle…."

"Collin Creevey?" asked Hermione, dropping her fork on her plate with a clatter.

"Wasn't that the kid who was always taking pictures of you, Harry?" asked Ron.

Harry nodded.

"Then there are a few random names, a few bodies have still been unidentified. Then of course there is Fr-" she stopped herself, looking at George, almost scared.

It took everything George had to not change his expression. He held his voice together as best as he could, but it still wavered when he asked "What does his obituary say?"

Mrs. Weasley threw the Daily Prophet in the trash behind her. "Let's not worry about that! Come on George, eat!" she urged.

George ignored the sausage he had cut up, and irritably stuff a whole one in his mouth. He chewed it only a couple of times before swallowing. Mrs. Weasley turned back to her pot, but George could swear he saw her incinerate the newspaper with her wand out of the corner of his eye.

Percy rose from the table a few minutes later and checked his watch. "Well mother, I'm off to work. Thank you for breakfast."

"Anytime Percy." said Mrs. Weasley, glad that the situation with Percy was no longer hostile.

Percy smiled and tipped his wizards hat to her before grabbing his briefcase and disappearing with a crack.

The rest of breakfast was spent with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny discussing who was going to take over as headmaster and who their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be. They were arguing the point that it was likely McGonagall would take over as Headmistress when George finished his breakfast and rose from the table.

"I think I should be going now mum." he yawned, "Verity will be opening shop up soon."

"Oh George, I-" she stopped to ponder. "Will you be alright?'

George once again dropped his gaze to avoid his mother's eyes. "I…I'll be fine." he mumbled. "I just need to get a few things before I go." he said.

"Alright George, you have a nice day at work." said Mrs. Weasley.

"Be careful, George." Said Ginny before finishing her toast.

"Yeah, take care of yourself." said Ron.

"Bye George!" said Harry.

"Good luck." chimed in Hermione.

George gave them all a weak smile and vanished with a crack. He reappeared in his room upstairs. It was almost spotless, nothing like it was when he had left with Fred. All of their old books and junk had been placed into neatly piled boxes, and the sheets on their bunk bed had been neatly made. He was surprised his mother still cleaned up here.

George went over to a desk in the corner of the room. He opened one of the drawers and scooped out several rolls of parchment and a few ink bottles. He found his old schoolbag hanging on a chair and dumped it all in there. He also found a few old prototypes of some inventions that never did work out for Fred and him. He threw those in too along with hopes he may be able to get them up and running. He found a few old order forms stacked up in the bottom drawer and stuffed those into his bag. Once he had emptied the drawers of all the things he might be needing, he slung his bag over his shoulder.

He was about to apparate to his apartment above the store when he saw something hanging on the wall. It was a picture of him and Fred about to board the Hogwarts Express for the first time. They were waving at the camera happily, making faces and laughing playfully. George pulled the picture off of the wall and looked closer at it.

He choked back a few tears at the memory. They had both been wearing hand-knit sweaters from their mother, one with a giant "F" on the front, and the other with a "G". What his mother didn't know is that they had actually switched shirts. He choked back tears at the smiling face of his brother wearing a sweater with a "G" on the front. He began sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes at George from the picture. A few tears slid down George's cheek before he tenderly placed the picture in the bag with the rest of his belongings.

He took one last look around the room, thinking of all the mischief Fred and he had planned here in their youth. When he was finished, he wiped tears from his cheek and disappeared from the Burrow with a loud crack.