A/N: Chapter 2! Hope you enjoy! Much, much better than chapter 1, though kind of long. :D As always, R&R.
Chapter 2
The clock struck midnight as the Weasley siblings, Harry, and Hermione settled down on George's bed and the floor around it. They were all wondering why George had summoned them at this hour, much less given them permission to sit on his bed, but were too afraid to ask. George would tell them eventually, and at any rate nobody wanted to risk Mrs. Weasley's wrath if she caught them out of bed. "OK," whispered George, sitting on his twin's bed. "As the funeral," George's voice cracked slightly, though he tried to cover it up, "Is tomorrow-well, actually today, as it's after midnight-I thought we could sort of get together before..." "Sort of like a pre-funeral," Ginny added, "to prepare us for the real thing, and to share memories." George nodded. "Exactly. It seems like nobody-myself included-has really been able to talk about Fred since...that night," George whispered. "I feel like Fred would want us to remember all the good times, instead of just dwelling on the fact that he..." George's voice faltered. He still found it hard to say that Fred was dead out loud, and had thus far avoided saying it. To say it would make it final, absolute, irretrievable. After a moment, Ron spoke up from the bed next to George. "I'll start. I remember the time you and Fred stole Percy's Prefect band 'improved' it-twice-so that it said 'Bighead Boy,' and the time Percy chased you two all over the Gyrffindor common room to get his badge back the third time you stole it?" Everyone except Percy laughed a little at the memory. "Remember when everyone thought I was the Heir of Syltherin," reminisced Harry from the floor near the bed, "and you and Fred followed me all over Hogwarts saying 'Seriously evil wizard coming through, make way for the Heir of Slytherin?'" George smiled weakly. "Those were the days."
They continued in this manner, laughing and occasionally gasping as they recounted their various adventures with Fred and George, both at Hogwarts and outside of school. Gradually, George began to cheer up, contributing the "Gred and Forge" memory from their third year Christmas, as well as several run-ins with Filch. And pranks. Lots of pranks. After all, he and Fred hadn't been Trouble-Makers-in-Chief for nothing.
"I remember during my fifth year how you and Fred wanted to test your products on the first years. When Hermione found out, she was furious." said Ron. "Yeah, and after that little incident we had to do all the testing in secret," laughed George. "Really, Hermione, Fred was right. We weren't harming them, we already knew it was all safe. We tested it all on ourselves. That was just to make sure everyone reacts the same. It wouldn't do to have products with poor results, now would it? That wouldn't be all that entertaining." "For you, maybe. But what if they had reacted badly?" Hermione argued back only out of habit, she couldn't really get angry, not tonight.
Hermione grinned. "I remember the fireworks and Umbridge. Those fireworks were impressive." George brightened. "Revenge is sweet. That was awesome, seeing old Toad Face run around all day, trying to put them out." "What happened?" asked Bill, Charlie, and Percy together. "Well," said Ginny in an amused voice, "Those two and Lee Jordan decided it would be entertaining to set their entire stock of fireworks burning around Hogwarts all day. It so happened to be Toad Face's first day as Headmistress, and she spent it running around putting out fireworks!" Everyone laughed at the thought, including the three oldest brothers, who had heard all about Umbridge. Percy (Bill and Charlie had been filled in via letters) had wanted to be filled in on everything after the battle, and the others were only too happy to tell.
"Remember the swamp?" Harry asked. "George, I don't know if we ever told you, but Toad Face and Filch spent ages trying to get rid of it, with no success. Flitwick got rid of it in the end, only took him about ten seconds from what I heard." Ginny nodded in agreement, confirming the time. George grinned. "One of our more brilliant ideas, I might add. All so you could talk with Sirius." "Yeah, and then you and Fred escaped on your brooms," said Ron. "Mum was furious after that! Then again, I was positive she would find a way to blame it all on me, somehow..."
After a while, George's expression turned serious. This was so out of character that they all fell silent and stared at him, waiting for him to speak. Recoiling a bit under all the stares (which also wasn't like him), George cleared his throat. "Mum suggested to me a few days ago that I try writing a letter to Fred, she said it would make me feel better. I said I didn't see how that could help, since I can never see his reaction to it. But in the end I decided I had nothing to loose, so I wrote the letter. I was thinking that, maybe, we could all write one, to say at..." George trailed off. He couldn't tell if the others liked this idea, but he thought it worthwhile to at least suggest it. The letter, though he wasn't about to admit it, had helped, and George hoped that letter writing could help his siblings and friends as well.
After a pause, Charlie said unexpectedly, "I think that's a great idea. We should have plenty of time, the service is in the evening. It would be more personal than speeches, like we really are talking to Fred. I'm going to write a letter and see where it goes." Ginny looked up. "So am I," she whispered. "Even though I can never see his reaction to it. We can put the letters on his casket, one from each of us." Percy was next to speak, his voice choked slightly. "I'm in. You think we should talk to Mum or Dad about this idea, once the letters are written?" George looked thoughtful. "No, let's surprise them. I think that will make it more effective, if you know what I mean." In the end, everyone agreed to write a letter, read it at the funeral, and place it on Fred's casket. The gathering disbanded (it was 4 am, and they all had to go to the funeral later, it wouldn't do to fall asleep there), and everyone went back to bed.
