George woke up covered in a cold sweat and gasping for breath. Glancing around the room he tried to calm his breathing and remember where he was "you're at home, you are in your room, the battle is over, he's gone…."he talked himself through the familiar litany as he slowly climbed out of bed and headed towards the kitchen to get a glass of water. The dreams weren't getting worse but they also weren't getting better. George was no stranger to nightmares. He remembered nightmares from when he was little…nightmares about falling or getting lost, stupid things now that he thought back on them. He remembered his siblings waking up with nightmares, Ron would dream about spiders, Percy would dream about getting kicked out of school. He also remembered when the nightmares started to change, Ginny screaming about the Chamber of Secrets, Ron still yelling about spiders, and Sirius Black, and giant brains. Worst of all were his mother's nightmares. Molly Weasley didn't wake up screaming, she would wake up crying. To George and the rest of his siblings that was much worse. George Weasley was no stranger to nightmares, but he was used to nightmares that ended when you woke up. Not for the first time he wondered if he would spend every night for the rest of his life seeing Fred. With that thought in mind he grabbed the bottle of firewhiskey that was next to the sink and headed back to bed.

"Sorry I'm late." George said as he entered the Burrow through the back kitchen door to the sight of his family already sitting around the table, "I got stuck at the shop."

"No worries dear" said his mother as she jumped up to take his cloak. "I thought you weren't open today."

"We aren't but I was working on something." George said sliding into an empty seat and only then noticing that the place beside him was occupied by Luna. "Oh hello!"

"Hello George. Ginny invited me for dinner tonight." Luna said by way of explanation.

"Good to see you again" George said looking up to catch Ginny staring at him.

"So how is the shop dear?" Molly asked as she started passing dishes around the table.

"Things are good. We've been busy." George said giving the same answer he always gave.

"Well that's wonderful dear! So Luna are you planning on heading back to school for your last year?" Mrs. Weasley asked turning to her guest. The school had been badly damaged in the final battle. In addition to the physical rebuilding that needed to be done the wards needed to be completely reworked. It was decided that Hogwarts would re-open in December and students would forego the regular winter holidays. Ron and Harry had both started Auror training already but Ginny and Hermione were planning on going back to finish their seventh year.

"No. I missed most of last year and since I'm already running The Quibbler it just makes sense to stay where I am" Luna answered.

"Oh but aren't you going to miss finishing your classes?" Hermione asked as if she couldn't think of a worse punishment.

"I don't think so. Besides everything would be different and since I can't really go back it wouldn't make sense for me to go back." While half the table looked somewhat puzzled about this circular logic it made sense to George.

"I don't think anyone is quite as excited as you are to go back." Ginny said smiling at her friend. The conversation around the table continued as George sat and thought about what Luna had said. What would it be like to go back to Hogwarts now? He knew how much Hermione loved school and mum had pretty much insisted that Ginny finish her last year but he couldn't imagine going back and trying to be a regular student after everything that had happened. They had just lived through a war; the idea of sitting in Charms class seemed more than a little redundant.

George could hear the rest of the family laughing in the other room as he finished the dishes. He insisted on cleaning up pointing out that since he'd been late he hadn't helped get anything ready. Slipping out the door he sat down on one of the benches in the back garden and stretched his long legs out in front of him. Ginny had shot him a glance before following the rest of the family into the other room so he wasn't surprised when the door opened about ten minutes later and his sister stuck her head outside. "Wondered where you got to" she said sinking down next to him on the bench.

"What is it Ginny?" George sighed

"What? I didn't say anything!"

"The last two Sundays you've been looking at me like you have something stuck on the tip of your tongue and you stopped by the shop twice this week for no apparent reason." George laughed in spite of himself. He adored his baby sister but sometimes she was very obvious.

"Fair enough" Ginny smiled. "I'm just worried about you" she said softly, her smile fading slightly. "I don't know what will help and I don't know what to say to you but you are my big brother and I love you and I'm worried. You just seem like you are pulling away and I know what to do when Harry does that but I don't know what to do for you."

"I'm not Harry Gin" George said wondering when exactly his baby sister had turned into the beautiful and loving young woman who was sitting next to him.

"I know….I just…talking helps George. It really does. And you don't have to talk to me and you don't have to talk to anyone in the family really….just find someone…please?" She wasn't crying, Ginny rarely cried but George could see a slight sheen in her eyes and she wouldn't look directly at him. What was he supposed to say to that? That he didn't know how to talk to anybody? That he'd never actually needed words with the one person he shared everything with? That he was afraid that as soon as he started sharing any of the pain inside him he would split down the middle and never be able to pull himself back together again?

"I'll try Gin."