Fred followed the three Marauders, Tonks and Dumbledore back to the house. But he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen now. He had never been on his own before. Even when he left home and dropped out of school his brother had always been with him. But once they reached the house the conversation turned to pranks, mainly the ones of Marauders. Sirius Lupin and James (it still freaked him out how much he reminded him of Harry) were reminiscing about the times when they were at Hogwarts. What surprised him more was the act that Dumbledore was taking part in this discussion, he seemed to remember each prank just as clearly as the rest of them and he seemed to have enjoyed them.
"The four of you preformed some very advanced magic. Sometimes I found myself wishing I could award points instead of taking them away. Those were some pretty brilliant pranks," added Dumbledore.
Fred loved this conversation. (And apparently so did Tonks, she loved finding out that her husband was not always such a serious man.) It allowed him to forget his brother for a second. He delighted in hearing the old pros talk.
"Um excuse me" he interrupted at one point, "where is the bathroom?" James pointed him the way and off he went. While he was walking is he was mulling over what he had just heard. He was back to his old self. He thought about how he could prefect each prank to make it even more disastrous.
How come we never thought of that? Brilliant, but it would have caused even more chaos if it were on the fourth floor right before lunch.
On his way back to the sitting room he passed a window that looked over the front yard. Lily and Snape were making their way back to the house. He couldn't make out what they were saying but with some quick magic he had an extendable ear out and ready for action.
"Sev, I am sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Can we still be friends?" Lily asked. Fred (who was better with the opposite sex than Ron could ever hope to be) detected a note of regret and sadness in her voice.
"Lily, I understand. You were caught in the moment. I know-" he paused for a second, not wanting to admit to himself what came next, "I know you love James more than you could ever love me. Lets go on as friends, and forget that ever happened" He continued to say something but Fred missed it as a few rats had gotten very interested in the extendable ear.
"Ah well, we need to make these animal proof" Fred muttered to himself, "first Crookshanks, now rats" he made his way back to where everyone was sitting. When he walked in he heard Dumbledore saying, "you know, I think you all preformed the best magic that school had seen until" (at this point Fred walked in and before continuing Dumbledore looked at Fred and smiled) "well until this boy and his brother came to the school"
Fred noticed the Snape and Lily had returned and were sitting with the rest of them.
Did he know that only 10 minutes ago they were talking about the tricks they pulled on him? Fred thought to himself.
"I can vouch for that Sir" Snape replied. They all turned to look at him, "the twins were bigger trouble makers than any I had ever seen. Their…exit…from Hogwarts was one for the record books"
Lupin laughed a bit, "Yes James, wipe that expression of your face it is all true"
Fred looked at James and found to his surprise that he looked dumbfounded. (Much like the way Harry looked right after Hermione said something Fred noticed) but the look was quickly replaced with one of respect after hearing some of Fred's war stories.
"Yeah we even had a joke shop. Did better in our first year than any of Zonko's." and Fred went on to explain the types of things they sold.
"Brilliant! All of it, really. I can see why you were a friend of my son" James replied, and Lily nodded.
"Actually we have a lot to thank Harry for. He gave us his Tri-wizard Tournament winnings to help us start our business" after this was said he could see James beam with pride that his son helped with something that had been very close to his own heart: jokes.
"Us? Was it just you and your brother?" asked Lily.
"Yeah. It was just me and George" and as soon as he said that his thoughts were on George. What is he doing now? He has never been on his own. It was always Fred and George. How was he handling this?"
They all noticed his silence. Lily walked over and sat next to him rubbing his back. And Dumbledore (who had been sitting next to him) leaned over and whispered in his ear "tomorrow I need to show you something. It is how James and Lily here watched over Harry. It will allow you to see your brother"
Fred looked up and smiled at Dumbledore, the man who he had always thought (much like Ron) that he was ever so slightly mad. He couldn't say anything, so he just nodded.
"Here, you have had a rough journey. Let me show you where your room is." Lily said to Fred. She helped him stand up and showed him to his room. Once she saw he had everything he needed she turned to go.
"Mrs. Potter?" Fred said faintly, and Lily turned and entered the room again.
"Yes?"
"Your son was a great wizard"