((A/N: Hey hey hey! It's me again! …Wow, who am I, Fat Albert?
Anybays, I'm back for another exciting chapter….Yeah that's not fooling anyone. Lol
I'd like to take a moment, you guys, to appreciate you, the readers. These reviews and feedback have made me feel amazing, you guys, seriously. I get so excited every time I see a review alert in my inbox, and every time it's something good or someone says something nice it makes my day so much better and I get joyful ) but seriously, I love you guys, and you all make me want to write more and more and it just pulls me right along.
Also, a few more things. I've noticed that some people have my story on their alert lists but they haven't reviewed yet…Yeah, you guys know who you are. I mean, it's understandable if you're too busy to review or you don't have the time right away, but it would seriously be great if you guys reviewed thanks.
One more thing is that I don't think there are going to be pairings in this story. Okay, maybe a few. There might be a little Oliver/Alicia and a tiny tiny bit of George/Katie, and PAST mentions of Fred/Angelina, but they are currently not dating. I actually like Lee/Angelina, I just don't like her with either of the twins because she didn't really strike me as an…interesting person in the books…actually she was really boring, and I see Fred n George going out with someone super funny and someone who isn't quite like everyone else. So if you like Fred/Angelina or George/Angelina, sorry but it probably isn't going to happen. There's going to be a few chapters of the twins and friends, but mostly it's going to center around the family and how they're coping. Kapeesh? Lol
Onward!))
What if: Day 2
"MERLIN, FRED! WHAT THE HELL!" George jumped back slightly, and finally getting over his shock, glared at his brother fiercely.
"Whoa there, George, don't have a heart attack on me now." Fred grinned back at him, leaning against the headboard slightly.
George stared at him. "Did you…did you just wake up?"
Fred shrugged and looked around the room nonchalantly. "Nah, it's been like...10 minutes. I was waiting for you to get up, 'sleepy head.' You looked comfortable over there, Georgie. Some hot nurse tuck you in?" He asked, winking.
George gaped at him, and it felt like he was seeing Fred for the first time. How could he go from being so pale and weak, to bright and cheerful?
"Anyways, my lovely brother, how long have I been cooped up in this place?" Fred asked, looking at the cramped room in distaste.
"Um…Almost two days."
"Two days too many." Fred commented, looking at the vases of flowers on his bed side table with a grimace.
"Do you…remember what happened? At Hogwarts?" George asked carefully.
"Oh, yeah. One second Percy and I were laughing it up, the next a wall decides it wants to fall on me. I swear, George, the bloody wall came out of nowhere. It was plotting against me."
He then looked mock angry for a second. "Oh yeah, and you know how your life supposedly flashes before your eyes? Uh…yeah, so didn't happen. Muggles lie, damnit."
George stared at him, taking him in, breathing a little heavily. "Why are you joking about that, Fred? This is serious." He said, realizing then how boring he must sound to Fred.
"Uh…yeah, why shouldn't I be joking about it? At least I'm alive. I feel fine, mate. I'd feel better though if I could get out of here." Fred said, now checking out the wall paper decorated with flowers lining the ceiling.
Just then the door opened.
"Oh! Mr. Weasley, you're awake." Healer Marshall said, walking in with an armful of blankets. "Why didn't you tell me, George?" She asked playfully, smiling.
Fred turned to stare at George with a look that said, 'this the nurse?' He was grinning slightly.
"Oh…um," George stuttered unattractively, "He hasn't been for long."
She was smiling as she set the blankets on a nearby table. "Well, this is great news, then. You should alert your family."
George nodded, looking at her apprehensively.
She turned her back to arrange the flowers in a careful manner, and Fred raised his eyebrows a few times at George suggestively.
When she turned to face them again, he was straight faced and giving her a look of mock attention.
"Well," She said evenly, glancing at George, "I'm wondering if you could give us a few minutes alone, please."
"Yeah…sure, fine." George said in a rushed manner, fear coming back to him. She was going to tell him. 'Merlin, this is getting more real by the second.' He thought, wishing it wasn't, wishing it was just a dream.
"I'll…go, then." He commented slowly, taking his time walking to the door. He didn't want to leave, yet he didn't want to hear it again either. It was so hard hearing it the first time he wasn't sure he could bear to take in the news again.
While opening the door, taking his time, he walked out but not before hearing Fred ask Healer Marshall, "I know what you want to tell me, I know, I know. You're the one who's going to be giving me sponge baths, right?"
George would've laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. Yet Fred didn't know how serious it was…until now.
Closing the door with a small click, George had to lean heavily against the hard wall or he probably would've fallen right over.
He turned back to look through the glass windows lining the door. He watched as Healer Marshall talked rather animatedly, with her hands moving, while Fred was watching her, nodding every now and then and also smiling sometimes. She paused, giving him a serious look, but Fred looked the same. He didn't look like a person who was just told that he was going to die.
She said something else to him, and he nodded, laughing. She laid a hand on his shoulder, removed it a few seconds later, and with a final nod, walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
George gave her a piercing look. "…Well?"
She sighed, looking in through the window at Fred, who was staring down at his hands, frowning.
"It seems he took it rather well, but I don't know how he shows his emotions so….He could be taking it pretty bad, also." She said, glancing over at George.
George swallowed hard, looking away because he couldn't really take it. "I…um, I should tell Mum and Dad."
She nodded. "We have owls you can use downstairs." (1)
"Got it." He walked away rather quickly, leaving her standing there. He took two stairs at a time, making his way down to the floor below.
He spotted the room with the owls and entered. There were rows of beautiful brown, black and white owls lining the walls. He looked around and sought out a table that had various types of quills on it with different colors of ink and there was also a stack of parchment that was leaning against the wall near the door.
George grabbed parchment and ink rather quickly and wrote a letter to his family, explaining that Fred was up and ready to see them all. It was short, brief, and to the point, his signature scrawled messily at the bottom.
Rapidly, he stuffed the letter into an en envelope and labeled it "The Weasleys." He tied it to the leg of a beautiful red and brown owl and watched, dazed, as it soared out the open window and into the crisp air. He didn't even realize how late it was.
Back in the hospital room, Fred was lazily flicking through the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, a bored expression on his face. He didn't even look up when he heard the door open.
"Hey, George, can you--" He stopped in mid-sentence, looking up to find Healer Marshall walking into the room, a tray full of food carefully balanced in her outstretched arms.
"Oh, um, George, you've uh…You've changed since the last time I saw you." He grinned 'charmingly' at her.
She shook her head at him and smiled slightly. "Always the charmer, huh?"
"I do what I can." He grimaced as she set the plate down on the side table.
"Ooh, hospital food, my favorite." He nodded, glancing at her.
"Oh, it's going to be, once you get used to it. And you are going to get used to it." She said sternly, a slight edge to her voice.
"Yes, sir." He saluted her and started to pick at the food, grinning to himself as she sighed in exasperation, leaving the room with a slight smile on her face.
He looked up when the door opened again, and this time it really was George. He walked over and slumped down in the chair next to the foot of the bed, watching Fred closely.
"Hey, are you feeling alright?" He had a nervous edge to his voice.
"Uh, yes, mother." Fred said in mock impatience, glancing at George out of the corner of his eye. "I feel fine. Although this food is going to make sure I don't feel that way for long."
George smiled weakly and continued to watch him.
Fred looked at him impatiently. "I'm fine George; you don't have to stare, really. No, its okay, I know I'm good looking but really, this is getting a little bit old."
This time George did laugh. "You're ridiculous."
"So I'm told." Fred nodded, still grimacing at his food. "So, when are the rent's getting here? And everyone else, of course, how could I forget them."
George leaned back, yawning slightly, trying to push the thought out of his mind that it was unusual Fred was feeling okay. "I just sent them a letter, so it might take a while, but knowing Mum they'll be here in a heart beat."
Fred nodded. "Spiffing." (A/N: xD I use that all the time.)
He gave up, pushing the food away, and leaning back heavily. "So…this is definitely boring. Think we should sneak out?"
George looked at him incredulously, his eyes wide. "Are you serious? Fred, you cannot leave this room, you are in no shape to—"
"Whoa, whoa, George, I was kidding, what's wrong with you?" He interrupted, laughing slightly. "I expect this from Mum, but really, are you okay?"
"Fine." George sighed, leaning back again, closing his eyes. "I'm just worried about you." He opened them again and stared at his twin seriously.
Fred nodded, looking away. He knew this was coming but he hoped he could prolong the conversation. "I know, George, I was kidding, I won't do anything stupid." He paused. "Well, anything too stupid at least."
George smiled slightly, and jumped as the door opened with a bang.
"Oh, Fred!" He barely had time to react as someone threw themselves at him, covering him in an enormous hug and squeezing the life out of him.
"Mum, really, he can't even breathe!"
Molly Weasley squeaked sharply and straightened up, blushing fiercely. "Sorry, dear." She said, brushing her and her son off.
Fred grinned. "It's nothing Mum, you're fine." He pulled her into another hug and she gave a dry sob, which was muffled since her face was pressed into his shoulder.
The rest of the family looked on at this rather awkwardly, until she backed off slightly and let her husband give him a hug.
It was Ron who had spoken earlier, and he walked forward to give his brother an awkward handshake, not meeting his eyes. He swallowed nervously, and backed off to give his other siblings room, aware of Fred's gaze on his back.
"Ah, Fred." Percy gave him, also, a handshake, and Fred scoffed at him. "Psshht…Yeah I don't think so." He grabbed the unsuspecting Percy's arm and pulled him into a one arm hug and Percy smiled into his shoulder for a second, then straightened up and cleared his throat, backing off.
One by one the rest of his siblings came up to greet him, usually giving him handshakes and hugs, until Ginny. She looked at him briefly, her eyes narrowed, almost looking angry with him, then she gave a sob like her mother and threw herself in his arms. He was braced for it this time and put his arms around her immediately.
"Shh, Ginny, it's okay, really, I'm feeling fine. Come on now, pull yourself together." He joked slightly, his voice quiet. He stroked her hair lightly and smiled at his parents from over her shoulder.
Ginny pulled back and wiped the tears off her cheeks and away from her eyes quickly. She smiled through her blurry vision and punched him on the shoulder lightly; trying to joke, yet her eyes were serious. "Fred, you make me so angry." She sighed and gave him another brief hug, getting off his bed and moving to stand next to Ron.
He shrugged. "I do that sometimes." His smile fell rather quickly and he looked at all of them with a serious expression.
"Alright, people, there are rules. Yes, rules. There are rules to follow in the hospital room of Fred." He waved his hands over his head in a rainbow-shape motion and he paused for effect, looking around at them.
"One, there is no crying from here on out. I'm serious, no exceptions. Well…" He paused to think about it briefly.
"Maybe Mum and Ginny can occasionally, but except for them…There are manly hugs only. Yes, because we are men." He grinned as Bill and Charlie exchanged smiles.
"Also, I want to hear jokes. Tons and tons of jokes, or I haven't gotten anywhere with you people." He smiled at them apologetically.
"Anyways, yes, a joke. Who'd like to go first? Anyone, anyone?" He looked at them, expectantly.
Percy swallowed hard. "Can I…Can I have your room?"
Molly turned sharply with her eyes wide and angry, mouth open, ready to scold her son but she stopped as she saw Fred grin and heard him laugh.
"You know what, old boy? I reckon you can." (A/N: Wow, are you guy's sick of my writing yet?)
Percy smiled at him weakly and nodded. "Really, thanks."
"Ah, yes," Fred leaned back, yawning, "George, of course, will have to carry on with the joke shop, no matter what, no excuses, mate, and Ron can--"
"What the HELL is wrong with you?!" George was on his feet in an instant, his eyes blazing, staring at his twin furiously. "How can you…How can you fucking joke about this like it's nothing?" He heard his mother gasp faintly and saw she had her hands over her mouth.
Fred was staring at him, his smile wiped clean off his face. It seemed that he only realized then how pale George was, his body shaking.
They were boring their stares into each other's eyes for a few seconds longer until Percy cleared his throat loudly, looking around at all of them.
"Maybe it's…best if we all leave the room for a little while." He said, his voice stern.
"Oh, Percy," Fred was grinning now, "It gets me all tingly when you take charge like that."
He shook his head at his brother in a mock exasperated fashion, hurrying the rest of his family out the door and leaving only the twins left.
Fred was avoiding George's angry gaze and swallowed hard. "So you've been…you've been taking screaming lessons from Mum while I was out."
"Stop it, Fred, please, just stop it." George said, his voice as furious as his eyes. "I love that you can joke about this and all, but there's a time and place where it needs to stop. Merlin, do you even have any idea what this is doing to me? Not only me but everyone else in the family? Even if you do, you don't show it. You just keep laughing it off, like it's nothing, like you're not going to die and you're not going to leave me here by myself. Sometimes…sometimes you are so selfish." He said in one long breath, his voice shaking yet his gaze was unwavering.
Fred nodded to himself, still not looking at his brother which was infuriating him even more. He looked like he wanted to say something, but George saw him bite his tongue and meet his stare head on.
"I know I'm being…stupid and immature." He winced as he admitted this. "But, I don't know George, its how I deal with it…Otherwise it wouldn't be a pretty picture and Mum would go completely mental."
George nodded, backing off and sighing shakily to himself.
"I know, I know…But seriously, while it's nice and all, I can't take you joking every five seconds…It's hard."
'Yeah, hard because I know that soon I'll never be able to hear him joke again.' George added to himself, turning away from Fred and biting his lip as hot tears stung his eyes.
Fred sighed and ran his hand through his hair, the awkward silence growing steadily between them.
"Do you mind…calling everyone back it?"
George nodded, and without another word, walked to the door and closed it behind him.
Molly rushed up to him, her expression worried and distraught.
"Are you two okay?"
George smiled vaguely at her, not looking at any other member of the family. His cheeks grew red and he realized how embarrassed he felt.
"Sorry to go off like that while everyone was in the room…It was stupid."
"Yet necessary." Charlie said bitterly, staring at the wall.
Molly sighed and looked at George with a sad expression as Arthur placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I just don't like seeing you two mad at each other." She said, tears visible at the corners of her eyes. "Especially at times like these, hard, hard times. We need to stick together as a family and support each other." She said, more to the other members of the family, who were all swallowing hard.
George sighed and gave her a look of compassion. "I know, Mum, I'm sorry. He's ready for everyone to go say hello again…Although it's getting kind of late and you all look tired." He saw Ginny try to cover up her yawn.
Molly looked through the glass windows at her son, who was pushing the leftovers on his plate around, looking confused and troubled. ((A/N: Stupid word, sorry.))
"Well, shall we?" She sighed, yet her husband was already pushing open the door and taking his place at the side of his son's bed.
For the rest of the night you could only hear laughter coming from his room, yet behind all the jokes and all the laughter, was an impending sense of depression and sadness that was unfixable and there was nothing that any of them could do about it.
((((A/N: Heyyyyy all! Another chapter finished, yay, sigh. Sorry it's taken me so long to update. The usual, you know; School, winter formals, homework, the impending doom of huge tests. And everyone is always on this computer so it's hard to write.
1. Idk if St.Mungo's has a room of owls you can use, I totally made that up, lol. Don't flame!
Once again, I'd like to apologize if this chapter is rushed, or if it just plain sucks, or if it was too short. I always feel like the chapter sucks whether the reviews say otherwise. Oh well, I still have fun writing this.
I'd like to end this chapter with a brief section from my favorite chapter of the Shoebox project.
Of course she wouldn't understand. For the first time in James Potter's entire life, he wishes that he could discreetly swap Lily with Sirius, just for this specific moment in time. In the door, looking taller and browner and brasher than ever, are the Prewett brothers. They are wearing dragonhide trousers. James is suddenly in third year again: awkward, pimply, and breathless with awe.
"That's never little Potter?" Gideon booms, ruffling a hand through his tousle of golden hair. "Why, you look just like a person! In trouble already, are we? School not even started?"
"Jolly good," Fabian adds. "Grand old Gryffindor house tradition. Carry on!" He makes a little pumped Pride! fist in the air.
James feels as if he may faint. "You know my name!" he squeaks, fortunately in a voice so tiny that only Lily hears him, and, mercifully, does nothing worse than roll her eyes.
The motion, however, is enough to attract Fabian's attention; he lifts his eyebrows and bows a little, dropping his voice several octaves. "I don't believe we've met." His hair is all shiny and swingy. James goes from feeling as if he's walking on a cloud to as if a little angel has sauntered along and punched him right in the neck. No one, James remembers, can resist Fabian Prewett's hair.
"Oh," Lily says, giggling quietly and tucking her hair behind her ears, "yes, we have, I was in third when you were in seventh, it's Lily, Lily Evans, and you're the Prewetts, aren't you?"
"Not Lily Evans?!" Gideon says, frankly astonished. "Carrotty Evans?"
"Well," Fabian says, drawing back, "I feel quite dirty and ancient. Beg your pardon, Evans. You are looking lovely. Though I'm surprised to find you knocking about with a troublemaker like this one." He favors James with a lazy, approving grin. Never have James's emotions been so toyed with. Any minute, he thinks. The fainting. It's going to happen. He'll wake up with Fabian Prewett splashing water in his face and Gideon Prewett checking his pulse and it will, actually, be like dying and going to heaven, if only for a minute while he's still disoriented.
"As a matter of fact, Mr. Potter and Miss Evans are in my office for their first meeting as Head Boy and Girl," Dumbledore says mildly. "So good to see you, Gideon, Fabian. I had thought you were arriving earlier."
"Held up, weren't we," Gideon murmurs darkly, striding to the desk and straddling a chair backwards. "Bit of a do-up near Oxford."
"You have never seen anything -- well, no, I suppose you have seen a lot of things like it, but the point remains, it was just -- the scale -- positively astronomic," Fabian explains, also sitting backwards. The seat of his dragonhide trousers is so shiny, but James really isn't trying to look.
"What he means to say is," Gideon clarifies, "is, we saw stars."
"And it was a cloudy night," Fabian finishes.
Dumbledore casts a significant look across the room at James and Lily, both frozen in place, for various, awestruck reasons of their own devising. "While I have, indeed, seen such occurrences as you are so poetically describing, I can assure you Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans have not. Thank you, Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. That will be all."
James stumbles out into the hall feeling dizzy. "They are amazing," he mumbles. "The way they sit on their chairs, did you see that, they always used to do that, and in dragonhide trousers, sitting backwards on a chair in dragonhide trousers, they are brilliant--"
"And probably sterile," Lily finishes for him. "You'd think they were from Busty and Bewitched, the way you carry on about them."
"My heroes," James squeaks.
"I don't," Lily says, "I can't -- believe -- what are -- how -- argh!" She turns on her heel and storms off, leaving James to sit in the middle of the hall and recuperate.
"Padfoot!" James screeches, hurtling up the stairs completely out of breath and bursting into the dormitory, where Sirius is methodically unpacking. Of course he had to come up when James did, and of course James went up early to do Mysterious Head Boy Things, and so Sirius is now bored and alone and the best solution to this is to make the unpacking last as long as humanly possible. It reminds him of Remus, the way he separates his socks into 'nighttime socks' and 'daytime socks' which aren't actual sock categories; they just involve a higher level of organization. Sirius folds a pair of shorts and carefully color-codes them before looking up with calculated disinterest.
"Pads," James pants, "you'll never -- never guess -- who's here -- right here, in Dumbledore's office, not one hundred feet away, right now--"
"Edgar Allen Poe?" Sirius guesses caustically.
"The Prewetts," James breathes in hushed reverence. Sirius drops the shorts.
"The Prewetts?" he whispers tremblingly, after a few worshipful moments.
"Gideon and Fabian and they're wearing dragonhide trousers and they said 'That's never little Potter' and Fabian hit on Lily only not really because he felt unclean after but Gideon called me 'Potter' and Fabian smiled at me and he said 'carry on,'" says James in a rush. "I was going to ask them to sign my head but I hadn't got a quill."
((Haha, love the prewetts 3 And james, of course.
'Till next time! Reviews are welcome, of course. ))))
