AN: This is my first fanfiction so I would love your feedback, tell me what I can do to make this story be the best it can be. I will be switching perspectives sometimes but it will be for whole chapters at a time to be less confusing :)
as usual, our queen owns all!
Chapter 2
For Ginny, looking back, the next few weeks were a blur of repairs tinged with a watercolour of emotions as she reconnected with friends, bonded with family and was introduced to many big names in the wizarding world. The magic community wanted to know everything about the young war heroes but the Order of the Phoenix, recognizing the grieving process that rebuilding Hogwarts provided, staved off the public eye for as long as possible.
Waking up one day at the crack of dawn, Ginny was about to get up and get ready for another day of rebuilding when she realized she was in her room at the Burrow. When she peered, squinting over her blankets she saw a cot with Hermione lying fast asleep. Not wanting to disturb her friend and keen for her first sleep in in months, Ginny rolled over, pulling the covers back in place.
After lying there for what felt like hours, Ginny was resigned to the fact that she wouldn't be going back to , she slipped out of bed and with the ease of many years practice, made her way down into the kitchen without a sound.
Upon her arrival in the kitchen, she was met with the sight of a tired looking Bill and Percy with their heads over a piece of paper that was charmed to be edited by wand.
"Wass goin on?" Ginny mumbled, pouring herself some tea and adding plenty of milk and sugar just how she liked it.
"Just finalizing some arrangements." Breezed Percy in his usual way. Bill, sensing Ginny's need to be more informed filled in the blanks.
"The Order has been asked to oversee the funeral arrangements for those lost in the war." Ginny pursed her lips, she always knew this time would come, she had selfishly hoped that she might miss the bulk of the funerals by getting involved in the clean up but now realised her mistake in forgetting that the bulk of the mourners were helping alongside her.
Knowing that Ginny would not want to be babied, Bill continued briskly
"Because many of us would be attending multiple funerals in a very short space of time if they were done separately, we think the burials should be private affairs and a larger, memorial service should be held where the families can meet and pay their respects en masse. There will be an unveiling of plaques with all their names and short obituaries for each." Bill looked down at his scrawled notes glumly,
"it's not enough, I know, but we can't drag the families through something long and drawn out, they must be able to grieve in peace."
Ginny spent a few minutes after Bill had finished talking gazing out the window, gathering her thoughts before she nodded.
"We can't drag this out, we'd never get past it and live the lives that they died for." She was proud of herself for not allowing her voice to catch, that was to be saved for the day they buried Fred, and then when they mourned with the other families. Bill gave her a small smile and lifted his arm so she could lean into his side.
The whole rest of that day was spent relaxing, playing wizard's chess, jinxing gnomes or just enjoying the sunshine, gathering their strength for the coming week. It would begin the next day when they would bury Fred in the Weasley family cemetery and end 5 days later when they attended the memorial service at Hogwarts on the Saturday.
When Ginny opened her eyes the next day, she wished she could go sit quietly next to Fred and not have to tell him how much this sucked because he always understood. Fred had a smile that he kept just for his little sister in whom he could see a piece of himself. Ginny closed her eyes and took a moment to lock that smile in her memory, terrified it might slip away if she wasn't careful.
The image of her older brother was so strong in her mind that, for a moment, she could hear his laugh ring through the Burrow as a pair of feet stomped down the stairs.
"Merlin, cat! You're lucky I don't skin you right now!" Ginny laughed quietly to herself at Ron's antics and rolled out of bed to get ready to face the day.
The only thing that kept her upright that day was people's hands: Harry's, Bill's, her parents, George's. They kept each other upright with their hands, shoulders and arms. Ginny had given up trying not to cry when she had gone downstairs to see her mother being soothed by Fleur about her choice not to wear black. Mrs Weasley had opted to wear somber charcoal dress robes accented by an exquisite brooch of flowers formed out of skiving snackbox wrappers.
Soon, all three women were hiccoughing with tears and laughter at the memory of Fred's best and worst moments.
"Wassgonon?" Mumbled a bleary eyed George as he stumbled through the kitchen door in search of coffee. The laughter died out quickly at the sight of the solitary twin and the group looked at anything but each other, trying to gauge how to handle the grieving brother.
Noticing the sudden silence, George peered over the rim of his coffee mug and pointedly met Ginny's eyes.
"What's going on?" He tried again, speaking chirpily, as if inquiring about a wacky tie. Ginny, hesitated a second longer before crumpling into laughter, attempting to relay to George between gasps a time when she had caught Fred practicing some one-liners with gnomes for an audience.
The tension in the room dissolved as George started snickering, saying that the only reason he was practicing on the gnomes was because Bill and Charlie had been giving him shit for using the mirror.
The rest of the morning was spent in a similar fashion, everyone crying but with smiles on their face as they remembered their brother, son and friend. After breakfast was cleared the family finished getting ready and gathered to make the small hike to the cemetery. As they reached their destination they were joined by Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson and more tears were shed and more stories shared.
Ginny, who's face had been covered by a sheen of tears since she first entered the kitchen found herself blindly reaching out and gripping the hand that found hers. Without looking she gripped it harder knowing the feel of her boyfriend's hand by heart. Although she was no longer smiling, she felt a little stronger knowing she could fall apart if he was there to hold her.
There were no poems recited or songs sung as Fred's body was lowered into the grave, only quiet words murmured by each as the payed their respects. Before the dirt was shovelled on a joke book was laid on the knitted sweater clad chest. In silence the group watched as George laid some Weasley Wizarding Wheezes fireworks at the base of the headstone.
As the pyrotechnics lit the sky, the mourners watched with silent tears running down their faces until their tears had turned to laughter at the enchanted sparklers spelling out choice swear words.
The weary group trudged back to the Burrow for light dinner before gathering in the lounge with a bottle of firewhiskey to share their favourite Fred moments.
Ginny laughed and cried with the rest the warmth of her brother's memory and the strength of her family somewhat easing the ache in her chest. As the firewhiskey was passed around she found herself seated between Harry and George, leaning on them alternately, both finding and giving comfort to each.
George was mostly silent through the stories, only adding details when necessary and chuckling quietly along with everyone raucous laughter. He went to bed earlier than the rest and nobody stopped him, just wished him a good night warmly. Mr Weasley listened quietly at the bottom of the stairs to make sure he reached his room alright, before returning to top up everyone glasses.
Finding herself in her bed the next morning, Ginny had no memory of how she got there and was concerned for a second that she had drunk too much. The lack of pounding headache indicated that she hadn't so she looked to Hermione for the answer.
The older girl was already awake and braiding her hair at Ginny's vanity mirror. Seeing Ginny's confusion she explained that she had fallen asleep on Harry and had been carried up to her room by him before being changed into her pyjamas by her mother. This made sense to Ginny because her last memory from the night was being curled up like a cat with her head in Harry's lap, listening to her family and friends talking quietly as her boyfriend stroked her hair.
She smiled at the thought of Harry's support of her yesterday. She knew that Harry had been good friends with Fred and that although he had accepted each of the dead's sacrifice, he still felt partly responsible for their deaths. That was just who Harry was, selfless to a fault, he would put of his mourning to hold up one of the bereaved.
As she got showered and dressed she contemplated the 4 days until the memorial service and was grateful that she would have time to recuperate before then. About to dress in some practical shorts, she reconsidered and took the opportunity to wear something feminine without having to worry about potential wand fights and going into hiding. She picked out a sundress made out of a floaty white material with green and yellow flowers printed on it.
The look on Harry's face when entered the kitchen confirmed that she had made the right choice. Giggling, she grabbed some buttered toast and bacon to create some bacon butties and skipped into the garden calling out for the rest of them to follow her. Summer was upon them and she had spent too long without those she loved to waste a minute longer.
Thankyou guys so much for reading! I'm going to try for a chapter a week but I don't know how reliable the inspiration gods are going to be.
A few comment on why I did Fred funeral the way I did: A lot of post war ffs I have read have gotten bogged down in the mourning of the dead and I feel that slows the flow of the story too much.
Also I think that the sorrow of losing Fred and the others is so great that spending whole paragraphs on describing an elaborate funeral and making everyone uncontrollable with grief cheapens it slightly.
Please send me your thoughts on how it is going so far and stay tuned for the next chapter!