Chapter 2 – The Reunion

Fred stared at George with a silly smile that soon died when he noticed George empty eyes. Wasn't he happy to see him? The happiness that he had felt disappeared as quickly as a wave, and left nothing behind but emptiness. The spooky twin didn't get to brood for long, since the door opened with a bang and Bill and Charlie ran in with their wands drawn. Bill (who came in first) stopped, so suddenly that Charlie ran into him and almost pushed him to the ground, when he saw Fred. The colour had been drained from both their faces, as it had from all the other familiar faces. No one said anything, they just stared.

When a dark and foul feeling started seeping out from the corner of his mind, he knew he had to say something to lighten the mood. "You look like you've seen a ghost," he said with feigned surprise.

For a moment his wrist became strangely mushy. Strangely mushy and wonderfully warm. When he locked down he saw Molly trying to grab his leg, several times without succeeding. She said something, but her sobbing made it almost inaudible, so Fred leaned closer.

"Y-y-you idiot! Of all stupid jokes.."

Fred smiled at his mother. Despite the situation, she always managed to find something to yell at him for, and he loved it. It used to be extremely annoying, but now it filled him with well needed warmth. Not that he was cold, but he wasn't warm either. Empty, was probably the correct word. "I'm sorry, mum," he said with a soft smile and tried to pat her on the head with a clumsy movement. He didn't want to push his hand through her head, so he patted above her head, which oddly enough seemed to sooth her a little.

There was a sudden cry from Ginny, and when Fred looked up at her he saw her shocked face crack and give way for hysterical sobbing. It reminded Fred of when she, as a toddler, had fallen of her broom. Fred felt a pang of guilt, knowing exactly how he would have felt if he had seen any of his siblings die. Okay, no, he didn't know exactly who he would have felt, but he could imagine. He had, after all, turned back because he didn't want to be alone. Selfish.

Once again Fred pushed the dark feeling aside and went to put his arms around his inconsolable sister. It didn't really go that well, since he didn't want to push his arms through her. The strange hug made Ginny cry even louder, and Fred didn't know what to do. He glanced towards George, hoping that he would do something to lighten the mood, but his other half just stared at him with the same empty, lifeless eyes. The others weren't of any help either. They just stared at him without saying anything. Fred couldn't help but think about how stupid they all looked. Bill and Charlie stared at him with eyes widened by shock and their moths opened, Molly and Ginny cried like babies, Fleur looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze. And George.. George who looked like.. Like he..

It sizzled from the stove when the soup suddenly decided to boil over. Charlie was the one who reacted first, and hurried over to the stove to remove the pot. One by one they seemed to wake up from their trance, and first to say something (something audible) was surprisingly enough Fleur, who, with strong accent and insensitive tone asked: "So.. what? You're going to be here now?"

Fred could barely stop himself from laughing, but he felt that it was best for all of them if he tried to answer the question seriously. Well, as seriously as a Weasley twin could. "Yeah, something has to liven up the place, lest the ghoul dies from occupational fatigue."

"The ghoul had been usually quiet lately," Bill murmured with a smile playing in the corner of his mouth.

"O crap, I'm too late. May he rest in peace." Fred made a sign of the cross on his chest, and succeeded to look serious for a brief moment, before his face broke into another smile. "Speaking of resting in peace.. What a nice tombstone. But seriously, what happened to the things I wrote in my will?"

Ginny laughed a cried at the same time, and Fred felt that he could finally let her go. "Do you honestly want your body to lay in front of the entrance to Zonko's?" Molly had managed to get up from the floor, and sat down in a chair that Bill pushed towards her. She looked slightly nauseous when they spoke about Fred's body as if it was a slab of meat. Fred himself didn't mind though. He didn't think about his body like apart of himself, since he was standing right there, and his body wasn't a part of him any more.

"Yes, of course! I can't imagine a better way to take out the competition. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes would gain monopoly of the whole market."

Fred glanced towards George, whose expression had finally changed. His brother smiled, but it wasn't the natural, warm smile that Fred was used to seeing on his bothers smile. Fred couldn't explain it, but for a moment he felt as if they would never be able to return to what they was. He felt as if he, not by dying, but by coming back, had caused an irreversible damage. They looked each other in the eye, and Fred wished briefly that he was dead again.

"Welcome home," said George finally. His voice sounded strained, just like his smile, and he didn't even seem to notice that he was crying.

Fred had longed for his brothers voice, to see his smile, but this was far from what he had expected.. But despite of that the words that George had just uttered was better than anything Fred had ever heard before. Welcome home.

He wanted to give George's smile back, his real smile, and without stopping to think Fred ran forward to throw himself around George, in an attempt to hug him. It resulted in him falling through George and doing a bellyflop through the floor and down into the basement.

Couldn't he touch anything? Not even his second half? Once again the dark feeling started creeping out, but Fred pushed them away. It was to much, way to much for him to be able handle. He tried to convince himself that he had imagined the stiffness in George's smile.

It took a while, but he finally managed to learn how to control how high he floated above the ground. He flew up through the floor, just high enough so that his head poked up through the floorboards. The others stared at him with a mix of shock, fright and amusement. Ginny smiled through her tears.

"Stop crying, all of you. It's not like I've died.. Kind of." And that was really how he felt, despite the fact that the others didn't seem to agree.

… … … … …

A couple of things I thought about while writing:

1. You do remember the family ghoul that lives in the attic at the Burrow, right? Apparently it makes a lot of noise when it thinks that the house is too quiet. Might be good to know if one wants to understand the joke. (I know, cracking jokes isn't really my thing, but Fred has to try to compensate for George who is ridiculously depressed.)

2. They wouldn't really get full monopoly of the market, since "Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop" lays in the Diagon Alley.

Aaanyway.. Thanks for reading and please review! - Alvarin