A/N: Okay, guys, I'm finally writing this. Once again, I apologize for making you wait so long! I didn't expect the fatigue and lack of motivation that came with starting school, but it really has taken over me. Bleh. Hopefully I can get into the swing of things and not be so damn tired all the time. Anyway, onto Chapter 3! Do I have you hooked yet?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter Three: Desperate Measures

I awoke to the sound of light rain tapping on my window, almost as if it were beckoning me to get out of bed. For days now it had rained. The sky knew how to echo my feelings all too well, but even when it had stormed and shook my floors, I barely noticed it. I was consumed with horrible thoughts, thoughts that I couldn't erase from my mind for more than a minute of sweet distraction. I was going crazy again. It was taking over again.

Reluctantly, I got out of bed and began my morning routine. I don't know how I was doing it, but I suppose someone or something must have guided me. Everything I did made me feel like I wasn't in my own body. It's a strange sensation, surrealism. I never quite knew what people meant by "feeling surreal," and now I was living it every single day. The motions were simple and fluid, but they felt complicated. I didn't feel like myself.

It had been about a month since I had talked to Harry about the Resurrection Stone. Actually, it had been about a month since I had seen or talked to my family at all. I knew they didn't think it, but I felt like I was an outcast among them. The whispers that ceased when I walked into the room, the looks of pity, Fred's always empty bed… it grew to be too much. I felt as though I couldn't take staying in the house anymore, so I left. I left four days after the battle and didn't say goodbye. Shameful as it was, I hoped they would understand. Even more shameful than that, though, was a solemn, gruesome fact that I couldn't shake: I didn't go to Fred's funeral.

Horrible. Awful. God, I was such a shit brother. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't fucking do it. If I had gone… if I had seen him like that again… I don't know what I would've done. I was terrified of the possibilities. The insanity inside my own head was bad enough; I can't imagine how bad it would be if anyone else saw it. So on the day of his funeral, I sat in my living room (our? Fuck, I don't know anymore) and stared at the wall in front of me. I said nothing. I didn't move at all. That's when the surreal feeling came to me. It came in an instant and it never went away.

Now fully dressed, I walked into my bathroom (our? FUCK) and picked up my toothbrush. I tried not to notice the shattered glass that I hadn't bothered to clean up, but it was difficult to step lightly since it covered most of the floor. Even if I had stepped on any, I probably wouldn't have felt it. I barely felt anything anymore.

It felt good not having a mirror to look into. That's why I broke it. The moment I had arrived home, I walked straight to the bathroom and smashed it. Yes, I hadn't bothered to clean up shattered glass in a month. I knew I was acting like a child, but I didn't care. It's not like there was anyone there to judge me (FUCK FUCK FUCK, STOP IT).

Luckily enough, I wasn't totally insane yet. I was slowly reaching that point, but I still had enough ingenuity left in my brain for me to come up with a fantastic idea. Over the last month, there had been days where nothing seemed to make sense. On those days, I would sit cross-legged in the shower, fully clothed, water running, and compose symphonies in my head that I would never remember later on. On the other days, though, I had had tiny moments of clarity where I would sit down and think of what I could do to bring Fred back. And then, on the first day of June, I came to a conclusion that I should have come up with sooner.

Harry had told me where the Resurrection Stone was. True, he didn't know its exact location, but I knew for a fact that it was in the Forbidden Forest. What harm would it be to search for it? Of course, I thought of this the moment that he had told me, but I tried so hard to think of simpler, more convenient methods that I put the Stone out of my head. Still, it remained in the back of my mind, waiting to pop up again. When it finally did, I felt like an absolute idiot for not taking advantage of it. I should have realized that such a situation was so permanent that nothing I came up with could ever possibly work. Finding the Stone was my only choice.

And now, not more than a week later, I was putting my plan into action. This was the day that everything would change… I could feel it.

I sat at the kitchen table and looked out at the clear grey sky, praying to someone or something that my plan would work. I thought about how for three weeks, I had been forced to look at your empty chair until I finally chucked it down the stairs. For three weeks I had been forced to look at your empty bed until I finally set it on fire. I was tired of being forced to remember you. It wasn't as if I wanted to forget you… but it was an endless, nauseating ache just to breathe. I had to do something other than breathe, or else I would forget how. I had to keep myself busy or my heart would fall into my stomach and stay there. This plan was like hitting two birds with one stone. Not only did it keep my mind off of the bleak, meaningless future, but it gave me something to hope for. At the time I thought it was the most fantastic idea I had ever had.

When I saw that it had stopped raining, I immediately walked out of the kitchen and started gathering my things. This was it. This was happening. I started feeling excited, yet nervous at the same time. I put my wand in my front pocket and grabbed my knapsack. For a minute or two I walked around, thinking to myself if I needed anything else, but then realized that I was stalling. The nervousness was starting to get to me, so I quickly said to myself, "It's time, George. Just go."

A second later, my feet landed upon crunching leaves.

The Forbidden Forest was much different than what I remembered. There was still damage left over from the battle: trees that were snapped in half, shredded leaves littering the ground, and even the grass seemed to be fading in color. It may have been mid-June, but it felt more like a scorching winter's day with the dark clouds hovering overhead. I looked all around me, trying to get a sense of where exactly I was, but I couldn't see an exit anywhere. I couldn't even see Hogwarts. I was deep within the forest, deeper than I had intended to go.

I took my wand out and began walking. I had decided earlier that since I would have no clear direction of where I was going, I would mark the ground with red lines from my wand. I didn't want to keep retracing my steps, and this way I would know where I had already looked.

An owl hooted in the distance. It made me realize just how silent the whole place was. With every footstep I took, the silence grew. I had never been scared while in the Forbidden Forest, especially during the daytime, but I began to feel a certain eeriness surround me. Perhaps I was still shaken by the battle; I don't know for sure. I had been following the news closely over the last month, and The Daily Prophet said that not all of the Death Eaters had been captured just yet. I had to be alert. For all I knew, some of them could have been hiding out there.

I tried not to dwell on these thoughts. I told myself that it was silly to think that any Death Eater would be around Hogwarts at all now that You-Know-Who was gone. It was such an odd feeling though… I was so used to having someone there with me, someone to help guide me, and now I was alone. I was alone in the Forbidden Forest searching for a tiny rock.

The more I thought about it, the crazier it sounded.

I continued to walk through the trees, but I wasn't having any luck. I must have been walking for about forty-five minutes when I decided to rest for a little bit on a fallen trunk. I got some water out of my knapsack and looked up at the sky, feeling the worry and anxiety start to creep up on me again. What if this didn't work? What if, by the end of the day, I still hadn't found the Stone? Even worse, what if I never found it?

I didn't want to imagine these things. I didn't want to imagine my life without Fred. For fuck's sake, I was already living my life without Fred. If the rest of my days were anything like the ones I had been experiencing in the last month, I was doomed.

After a few minutes, I packed up my knapsack and continued walking. There was no sense in wasting time. I searched the ground as painstakingly as I could, clearing the leaves and feeling the dirt with my bare hands while I went. Upon leaving every searched area, I left a long red line with a flick of my wand and moved on to the next. It was about midday when the clouds started to disperse, and the sun made its ways past the trees so I could see a bit better. Even with the sun, I hadn't spotted a thing. I hadn't seen many rocks, and the ones I had come across were much too big to be the Stone. I started to wonder if I should try to establish a sense of direction, but didn't even know where to begin. Harry hadn't told me where he entered the forest, and he never knew where he was when he came across You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters.

I was essentially walking to nowhere.

I searched and searched, and as I did, the horrible thoughts began to creep into my mind as they had before. This was becoming routine, feeling the steady waves of faith and despair. It seemed like it was never-ending. One minute I would be confident and sure of myself, and the next I would doubt everything I had ever known. I didn't know what to do anymore. Instead of brooding, I tried my best to move forward. I told myself, Wherever my legs take me, that's where I'm meant to go. I stuck with that thought and believed in it wholeheartedly. The only problem was that it didn't last quite as long as I had hoped.

About an hour later, I came across a few of the red lines I had left in the dirt, and I noticed that they weren't as bright as they were when I last saw them. I found this a little unsettling, so I sat down to watch them, just for a minute or two. I didn't think I had anything to worry about… that is, until they began to fade completely. Horrorstruck, I watched as the red lines slowly vanished into the ground, and the initial wave of despair I felt just minutes before hit me like nothing I had ever experienced.

The red lines were the only things tracking my progress. Now that I realized what was happening, I wondered if I had been going in circles the entire time I was there. I couldn't even think of a way to reverse the damage. I was fucked.

I expected that I would start crying or cursing or screaming at the top of my lungs, but I didn't. All I could do was sit there and tremble. I felt like I was out of options. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that could ease my pain. The rest of my family was alive and well, but I knew that we would forever be broken. Was it really so much to ask to have my brother back? Was it so much to ask for this one miracle? We had gone through so much together, and to have all of it snatched away in the blink of an eye was just… cruel. It was downright cruel.

The sun that had guided me through the forest was starting to fade on the horizon, and tiny patches of stars began to bloom in the twilight. I looked down at my dirt-covered hands and noticed for the first time that they were shaking. My whole body was shaking. I tried to calm myself, but nothing comforting came to mind. The more I tried to think about happy things, the more I thought about Fred. Fred's face, Fred's empty bed, Fred's coffee mug in the cupboard. Fuck, what was wrong with me.

I didn't want to believe that I had reached the end of the road. How could one even see it as "the end of the road" if I hadn't gotten anywhere? Impossible as it seemed, the last thing I wanted to do was abandon my search. I still felt as though there was something out there that could help me; I just had no idea what it was. It was there, in the back of my mind, waiting to be discovered. I could feel it. And I was going to discover it, but I needed some kind of push that would lead me in the right direction. If only life was that simple.

I took a deep breath and slowly willed myself to stand. Whether I found the Stone or not, I couldn't sit there forever. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of another way to mark my trail, and even if I had, I didn't want to risk the same thing happening again. I looked around, hoping that I could come up with a new plan of action, and to my surprise I began to see faint lights in the distance.

"There you are," I whispered.

Now that the sun was nearly set, it was much easier to see the outline of Hogwarts through the trees. Either that or I had found my way closer to the edge of the forest. No matter the cause, I was grateful that I now knew where I was heading.

The moment I took my first step toward the castle, I felt an eerie chill wash over me. I had no idea where it came from, but it was such a peculiar sensation that I gasped aloud. It was still light enough to where I could see what was around me, so I didn't know whether I should be frightened or skeptical. It was the Forbidden Forest, though… and I was all alone… at night…

I suddenly realized that searching for the Stone in the dark was a terribly stupid idea. I began to wonder whether I should just give up for now and then come back the next day, when another chill made its way up my spine. I darted around, trying to find the source of it. It wasn't the wind; the air was still quite humid and lifeless. There didn't appear to be anything around me. Apart from a few rabbits and owls, I hadn't seen any other living creatures in the forest that day.

As I looked around me, waiting for something to jump out of the darkness, I had a strange thought.

"Fred?" I said softly, trying my best not to move.

Almost immediately after I had spoken, I felt a strong wind at my back. I turned around, startled, but nothing was there. Clutching my chest, I sat down on the ground and took off my knapsack. I was really beginning to scare myself. Then came another gust of wind, this time stronger than the one before it. Panicked, I stood back up and looked around once more. I could have sworn I heard someone say my name. I could have sworn I saw a shadow, first to my left, then to my right. I couldn't understand what was happening. Was I really seeing these things, or was I going crazy again?

"Stop," I shuddered. "Please stop!"

My breathing was shallow and rapid, and I could feel my eyes begin to well up.

"Fred!" I yelled into the night. "I'm sorry, Fred! I'm sorry! I'm sorry…"

I had no idea what I was apologizing for, or if Fred was even listening. A part of me knew that I was mental; the other part, however, believed there was something surrounding me in that forest, something unexplainable. I could feel its presence. I could feel it in the air, no matter how badly I wanted to deny it.

I began walking in circles, trying to think of what I could do. In truth, I knew I would probably never find the Stone. I wanted to have faith in the idea, but after spending hours searching aimlessly in the forest, I began to wonder if it was the right one. As strange as it sounds, I felt as though Fred were trying to tell me something… but what was it?

Perhaps there was something else that could bring Fred back. No, I reminded myself, I've already thought of everything. Well, technically, I had thought of everything that came to mind. But that was the problem: I was confined to my own ideas, as I hadn't let anyone else know of my plan. It's not as if I could go around asking people their opinion anyway. This was my choice, my responsibility. Think, George, think.

I began listing off the different methods in my head. First, there was the Resurrection Stone, but that would only work if I could find the blasted thing. Second was a Revival Potion, which I had learned couldn't wake the dead, but only those in a Petrified or comatose state. Third was a Time-Turner, but as fate would have it, all of the Time-Turners had been destroyed in the Department of Mysteries. Come to think of it, they couldn't have all been destroyed… I was sure someone had their own Time-Turner, but I wasn't about to track down every witch and wizard in England, travel to their homes, and ask them if they had a Time-Turner.

As I racked my brain for an answer, the wind that had died down just minutes before made its way through the trees, now stronger than ever. I whipped around, expecting to see more shadows, but there was nothing there. Just as quickly as it had come, the wind was gone. I was now looking straight at Hogwarts, but because it was completely dark, all I could see were its many flickering lights.

And then, something miraculous happened. A thought came to me in that moment, a thought so unexpected and so fantastic that I could hardly believe it to be true.

Professor McGonagall had a Time-Turner.

Why hadn't I thought of it before? Years ago, Ron, Harry, and Hermione had told the story of the night they saved Sirius. Fred and I had badgered them for weeks, along with the rest of the family, since we had all thought Sirius to be a madman and, well, Scabbers turned out to be the madman. They knew they couldn't have kept that a secret, especially when Mum found out. She nearly had a heart attack, she felt so guilty.

It was all coming back to me… we had asked Hermione what became of the Time-Turner, and she said she returned it to Professor McGonagall. The chances that McGonagall had gotten rid of it were slim to none. After all, the remaining Time-Turners were gone, so she probably stashed it away, hid it for safekeeping.

I felt myself getting teary-eyed just thinking about it. Forget the Stone, the Time-Turner was even better. I wouldn't bring Fred back; I would stop his death from ever happening! Not to mention that McGonagall's office would be a thousand times easier to search than the Forbidden Forest… and I actually knew what a Time-Turner looked like, whereas the Resurrection Stone was a miniscule lump of rock that I had never seen. This plan was infinitely better, and quite brilliant, if I do say so myself.

With my heart beating like a drum, I picked up my knapsack and made my way toward the castle. It only took me a few steps before I remembered something: there was no way for me to get inside. Even though it was summer, the grounds would still be protected, and the Carrows had shut off the secret entrances that Fred and I were so fond of.

"Shit," I muttered, trying to come up with another solution.

Wait… wasn't there a secret passage that Neville had discovered the previous year? Yes, the one that led to the Room of Requirement! But to use it, I first needed to go to the Hog's Head. I didn't like this idea very much, seeing as I would have to confront Aberforth before using it, but I had no other choice. It was the one way I could get into Hogwarts undetected. Besides, I couldn't risk being seen, especially by McGonagall. She would stop me faster than a Body-Bind Curse.

I turned toward Hogsmeade and continued on, feeling much more confident now that I had a more realistic goal in mind. I put the Stone out of my head and thought of nothing but the joy I would feel when I got to see Fred again. I was somewhat angry that I hadn't thought of the Time-Turner before, but I shook that thought too.

The past didn't matter anymore.

I was about to change it completely.

A/N: I'm sorry this took forever, but I finally finished it. If you think this is a slow start, I urge you to be patient. I've planned this entire thing out, chapter by chapter. When things start getting good, believe me, it'll be goooood. I won't be setting a date for the next chapter, seeing as I never finish things on time, but it'll most likely be up within the month. Like I said, be patient, and don't forget to review! Thanks!