George had pulled and pried for a full five minutes before he threw himself onto the ground and banged his fists on the ground.
"Why...is...this...so...hard!?" He yelled in between fist and ground contact.
"If it was easy, everyone would be able to come back into the world of the living," said Angelina, sitting down next to him.
"But it isn't fair! After everything! We found the stone!"
George looked back at the walls. "I'll blast my...my great-great-uncle Weasley what's his name's section of the wall and get to Fred that way."
Angelina took his hand and looked at him straight in the eyes.
"Maybe...maybe we're not supposed to bring him back. Maybe we should really say good-bye..."
George looked at her, incredulously. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Here was the girl who had cried over his twin. The only girl who had ever truly loved Fred. But here she was, telling him to just forget the last twenty-four hours. To say good-bye to Fred. To end it. To move on?
He pulled his hand away from her, disgusted.
"How can you say that? After how far we've come? After you saw him again. After you looked him in the eyes!"
"George, how are we going to get his body out? I can't think of a way without doing damage to the tomb, and possibly his body. And what if we do succeed? Then what? Hundreds of people were at his funeral. And it wasn't only his funeral, it was Lupin's and Tonks's. How would we explain that he's alive? Without the entire wizarding population wanting to know how to bring back the dead? We can't erase all their minds and his name, along with others, was in the Daily Prophet."
What Angelina said made sense. But George couldn't let it go. Fred was counting on him to bring him back. Hadn't he found the stone? And didn't the stone defy some things that even the greatest witches and wizards had said were impossible? George knew what he was risking and he knew what might...no...would happen if he brought Fred back.
"No one would have to know he's back except my family and you and Harry and Hermione...he'd be able to be with our family and be with you."
"What kind of existence would that be, George? Locked up in the Burrow and never be able to go outside? And if he did, everyone would think he was you."
"That's it," said George and he sprang to his feet.
"What's it?"
George was pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself and he had a determined look in his eyes. The look Hermione had seen and the look Angelina didn't like.
"George, what are you thinking?" She asked cautiously.
George snapped his head towards her. "Give it to me."
"What?"
"The stone! The stone! Give me the stone!"
He went to grab at her but she backed up, away from him.
"George what are you going to do?"
"Give me the stone..."
"What are you going to do!?"
George stopped, his face streaked with tears.
"I'm giving him my body."
"What? George you're crazy! You can't... you're...you know...inside it. And furthermore...no! I'm not going to let you."
"Well I won't be inside it in a minute..."
"Petrificus totalis!" Shouted Angelina, pointing her wand at him and George fell to the ground, frozen. Only his eyes were moving. "George listen to me. You can't give Fred your body. He can't go around the rest of his life being called George even by your parents who did sometimes mix you up. Your parents lost Fred, and they can't lose you. What if something went wrong and you were both gone?"
Angelina wiped her own tears from her face and turned the stone over three times in her hand focusing on Fred. Within a few seconds, Fred's ghost-like body materialized in front of them. George's eyes moved wildly in his head. It seemed that he didn't need the stone to see his twin when summoned by others.
"Where's my body?" Asked Fred excitedly.
He looked around and saw George lying flat on the ground.
"Why is he on the ground? And where are we?" He asked Angelina.
"We're in your family tomb."
"We have a tomb?" He said. "Funny how George and I never discovered it, anyway is my body in here?"
Angelina nodded.
"But we don't know how to get it out without causing damage to the tomb or to your body. You also need to talk to your brother. He wants to...he..."
Angelina started to cry.
"He wants to give you his body," said sobbed.
Fred looked at George and then back at Angelina, he too was shocked. Angelina pointed her wand at George and lifted the spell but kept it pointed towards him.
"George, you can't," said Fred.
"I told you I would bring you back!" He said, tears still falling. "I promised and you shouldn't have died! You had a full life ahead of you and..."
"And so do you!"
Fred and George continued to talk with much crying and shouting. Fred, it seemed, had drawn the same conclusion as Angelina. He couldn't take George's body. He wouldn't let him.
"Then we have to get your body out of here!" Said George, pointing to Fred's name on the wall.
"So this is it. This is where my body rests," said Fred, looking at his name.
"We can tell mum and dad!" Shouted George suddenly.
"George..."
"No listen! We'll let them have the stone and they'll be able to see Fred and then..."
"And then their hearts will be broken," said Angelina. "What if we do show them and they do believe us and help us get his body and then it doesn't work? Your mother can't handle it, George. And your father would be heartbroken again as well. I saw them at the funeral. I saw them at the battle, we all did. We can't bring him back. It isn't possible!"
"No one has ever tried! No one ever had the stone except Dumbledore and one of the three brothers!" Screamed George.
"Exactly! If Dumbledore couldn't bring back anyone then we can't!"
"Dumbledore's family was dead for years and years! He couldn't dig up his family because there would be nothing left but bones!"
Fred walked over and touched his name. He traced the letters one by one and a small, sad smile formed on his face. He turned away and walked towards his twin and the girl he loved. Fred hugged George and George felt his hug even though Fred wasn't completely solid. Fred pulled Angelina into the hug and she too, felt it.
The three of them looked at each other and began to realize that it was Fred's time to go. All they had needed was Fred to tell them it was okay.
"I'll be checking out of The Stop," he said smiling.
Angelina set the stone on the ground and she and George watched as Fred began to fade away.
He turned once more towards them winked, and waved until he disappeared completely.
A few days later, George and Angelina apparated back to Hogwarts. They sat near the edge of the lake skipping stones while Angelina held one in particular in her hand. George threw one last stone into the lake.
They both watched it skip seven times before sinking down into the dark water.
"Well that's that," said George.
Angelina nodded and opened her hand to reveal the stone she was holding. It was black and cracked down the center. She flipped it over three times in her hand and Fred's image appeared. He was waving and kept winking and giving her a thumbs up. She laughed.
"It's exactly how I want to remember him," she said, pocketing the fake Resurrection Stone.
"Me too," said George as they turned on the spot and disapparated.
A/N: So that's the end and I hope you enjoyed it. I was tempted to write the ending with the Giant Squid finding the stone but I decided against it. Maybe I should consider it as a sequel, haha.