For Cassandra, and everyone who was present at the Birthday Party of the Century at the Sober Universe Forum.
Special thanks to Suzanne for 47. (And yes, it is a tiny hint as to what's coming in "Birthdays and Beyond", but if you've read "Sharing" it's nothing you don't know already!)
Cyndi Lauper, The Beatles, The Eurythmics, System of a Down and The Electric Light Orchestra.
Weasley Shuffle
XLVI. True Colours(Percy)
Now is the time. He has to go back now, whatever the risk, whatever the cost.
He has to show who he really is, what he really believes in. If his family yell at him, ignore him, even hit him, he doesn't care.
Finally, he has to show who he really is, what he really believes in.
He tumbles into the Room of Requirement and is stunned to see practically his whole family there. Fred – typically Fred – makes a joke of it, and he goes along with it, and admits what an idiot, a prat, a git he was. His brother's hand is gripping his, he can't believe it. His mother is hugging him. It is going to be okay.
This is who he really is. He is back where he belongs.
At last.
It is going to be alright.
XLVII. Birthday (George)
People. Noise. Laughter. Good food and drink.
Cake and candles.
On his own. That's the problem. He's never had a birthday to himself before and it feels so wrong.
He does all that's expected of him. Eats the meal, opens the presents, joins in the impromptu Quidditch match, blows out the candles (on his own…) Even manages to smile. But it's an effort, and his face aches.
In bed that night, the smile is gone.
Happy birthday, Fred…
XLVIII. Who's That Girl (Bill)
She looks vaguely familiar, but he can't place her. The blonde hair, the way she tosses it back, her expression of studied concentration as she works – he is sure he's seen her before.
He asks his friend Zoran, and he laughs at him. "Blimey, Weasley, you've only been back two days and you're already chasing the girls…"
Bill doesn't deny it. Merely waits for Zoran to give him the information in his own good time.
Zoran tells him her name – Fleur Delacour – and the Sickle drops. The Triwizard Champion, of course. He was focused on Harry – and on what happened after – he was barely aware of the Beauxbatons girl then. But now – he thinks he'd like to know more about her.
XLIX. Soldier side (Molly and Fred)
This is the bit of war that they all tried not to think about until it happened. They all knew the theory of course, knew that any one of them could die.
They'd come close – many of them – many times. Molly cried every time one of her sons or her husband left on a mission. She knew it was possible they might not come back.
And too many times, they nearly hadn't.
But this time – when it was over, when they should be celebrating – one hadn't.
Fred lies in the row of dead in the Great Hall, his hair as vivid as ever, a smile on his lips, but his eyes closed and his face and whole body still. The War is over, but they have lost their son, their brother.
And George – she cannot bear to look at George, but she does, because he is her son too – looks as still, his eyes as dead as his twin's.
They have won, but they have lost.
This is the reality of war.
L. Evil Woman (Molly)
This woman – this bitch – would kill her daughter. She has lost one child tonight, she isn't about to lose another.
And Hermione and Luna too.
(Hermione might as well be her daughter, and if she is reading the signs right, might well be in truth one day. And Hermione's own mother has forgotten she even has a daughter.)
(Luna's died years ago. Molly will stand in her place.)
Bellatrix Black made her choices – or perhaps she didn't, maybe she was as shaped by her upbringing, her circumstances, the people she was close to as Molly Prewett was herself.
But the reasons for how they are as they are are immaterial now. Bellatrix embodies all that is wrong, all that is bad, all that is evil about this war, about tonight.
She has lost one child, and she will not, cannot, lose another.
She fights as she has never fought before.
Good against evil.
It is as simple, as inevitable, as right as that.
Molly wins, as she knew she would.
For Luna. For Hermione. For Ginny.
For Fred.
For all the children.