Just so you know, I didn't write the poem in this chapter. It was written by another wonderful author named Joel L. Reid. He deserves all the credit for this beautiful poem, not me. Personally, I haven't read something this beautiful in a very long time to definite kudos to him!
Emerald was shaking as they walked into the bar, the rain pelting them from behind. Kent stayed close behind her, but did not hold her hand as she had asked. He had wanted to, but she said that it would have been too hurtful to the family for them to see her with somebody other than their son. The bar was fairly crowded, filled mostly with friends and family drinking an assortment of pints. The speech was muted and the music was simple, some piano music playing only to fill what silence there was.
Emerald let out a shaky sigh, her eyes going from person to person. She knew everybody here and she was certain that everybody knew who she was. Kent gently touched her arm, coming to stand next to her with his eyes also scanning the room.
"You'll be fine." He whispered. "Find somebody safe to talk to…besides me…" Emerald smirked slightly.
"I guess that would make sense." She looked around the room and found the one non-family member that she felt that she could talk to. Hermione was standing amongst a small group of girls and Emerald slowly approached her, Kent closely behind her. Hermione's face instantly lit up when she saw Emerald's face emerge from the crowd of black.
"Emerald!" She exclaimed, pushing away from the group of girls and wrapping her arms around Emerald's neck. "You came…everybody thought that you wouldn't come, but you did!" Emerald hugged her back, not realizing that it would be so good to see Hermione again.
"I wouldn't miss this." She whispered. Hermione pulled back, a soft smile gracing her lips.
"It's so good to see you again…we haven't seen you since…" Emerald quickly nodded.
"I know. It's good to be back…the constant snow gets old after a while." Hermione nodded.
"So…where were you?" She asked.
"Russia." Kent replied without thinking. Hermione looked up at him as if she had just noticed him.
"I'm sorry, I don't believe that we've met." She said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Hermione, it's very nice to meet you…"
"Kent." He quickly replied. "Kent Adair. I'm…"
"He's my husband." Emerald said. Both were shocked, but for very different reasons. Kent was shocked because Emerald had never introduced him as her husband and Hermione was shocked because she hadn't expected Emerald to have a husband.
"You're…married?" Hermione asked, completely stunned. Emerald nodded.
"Yes, I have been for three years."
"Oh wow…" She muttered. "I…I…this is so unexpected…I wouldn't have pictured you getting married so…quickly."
"It wasn't exactly her choice." George said, suddenly butting into the conversation. Emerald glanced up at him, her face going blank. They stared at one another before George motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, let's get you a drink."
Emerald didn't hesitate. She followed after him as they weaved their way through the crowds of people and went to the bar, leaving Kent and Hermione to make awkward small talk. George ordered her a pint, despite the fact that he knew that she probably wasn't going to drink it.
"So, he's quite the looker." Emerald rolled her eyes, surprising George by taking a good long drink.
"Believe me, I didn't marry him for his looks…"
"Right…Fred told me about you and Kent…eventually." She glanced up at him.
"What do you mean eventually?"
"It took him a year to tell me what you had written to him in that letter…and when he finally did, I just didn't see how everything had made sense to you…why would you leave him like that?" She looked up at him.
"Did you enjoy the last few years with your brother…before he was killed?" George pursed his lips together, looking down at the bar.
"I wouldn't trade them for anything." He muttered.
"Then you should be thanking me…if I had been around, none of this would have happened."
"Oh yeah right, like you could have stopped Fred from dying."
"How do you know?" She asked, tears quickly returning to her eyes. "How do you know that I wouldn't have stopped him from going to fight? How do you know that I wouldn't have stepped in front of him to protect him?" She looked away from him, biting her lower lip hard. "You're so full of yourself George…I'm so sick of it…"
"Sick of what?"
"I'm sick of you!" She covered her eyes with her hands, letting out a small whimper. "I'm so sick of all your bullshit, it's making me sick to even think about it! Fred and I loved each other…you couldn't even let us have each other…" George stared into the bottom of his own pint, feeling a pang of guilt deep in his stomach. He hadn't invited Emerald to come here to fight with her, he had invited her to allow her to mourn the loss of Fred. God, why didn't he know when to quit?
"I'm sorry." He whispered. Emerald wiped away her tears, taking another long drink from her pint.
"Right now, your words mean nothing." She muttered. "You won, Fred and I will never be together again. You'll never have to see me or hear from me ever again after today…happy?" George shook his head.
"No…I'm not." He pushed away his pint. "For the last years of his life, Fred was miserable. He thought of you constantly and wanted nothing more than to see you again…but he didn't know where you had disappeared to; nobody knew where you had gone. You were the one thing that made my brother happy…and I'm so sorry that I took you away from him." Emerald let out a shaking sigh. There was something about the expression on George's face that made Emerald believe him. Perhaps, after all of these years, he finally was sorry for everything that he had done. She leaned against the bar when George finally dared to look up at her.
"I forgive you." She whispered. George swallowed the lump in his throat, pushing back his tears.
"Thank you."
"Can I please have everybody's attention?"
Everybody looked up to see Arthur Weasley standing with a long piece of paper in his hands. He was asking for silence in a very quiet room and he quickly got it. He cleared his throat and put on a pair of fairly new glasses.
"Thank you, now if you'll all listen, I'll go ahead and read my son's will…" He straightened out the piece of paper and his eyes instantly began scanning over it. "I, Fred Weasley, being of somewhat sound mind and questionable body, certify this to be my last will and testament. I hope you haven't cried too much, believe me, I'm happy taking a nap.
"For my half of the shop, I leave it to George, of course. Who else was I going to leave it to, Ron? George, don't screw this up, you're on your own now and I won't be there to do your bitch work. And don't try to deny it, I moved boxes while you sat up front and ate all the chocolate. I ask you, does that seem fair?
"As for the rest of my stuff, divvy it up amongst yourselves. It doesn't matter to me what you keep or save. Mom will probably end up keeping my clothes, that's just a given. If mom and dad decide to just bust out with seven more kids, please give my clothing to the handsome twin out of your new set, I obviously don't need to provide a reason.
"There is one thing that I need to have delivered. My copy of Hamlet, the one that's sitting in the top left corner of my bookshelf, must be mailed to Mrs. Emerald Adair. I don't know where she is or if she would even want it back, but it must at least be offered. I know how much she loved the play, so please give it back to her at all costs."
Emerald felt a knot in her stomach, her knees shaking as she leaned heavily against the bar. Her entire body was in turmoil as she stood and listened. It was hard to believe that somebody so light hearted in their will would have missed her so terribly, but she wouldn't put it past Fred. George took her hand, giving it a light squeeze as his father continued. He knew what came next and he wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it.
"To Emerald, I hope that you're here. At least I found a way to bring you back to me somehow. Please, read what's written on the other page of what's enclosed with my will. I wrote it for you." Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a white crisp envelope with Emerald's name neatly written on it. It took her a moment, but with all eyes on her Emerald slowly made her way up to Arthur. Despite everything, Arthur smiled at her and handed her the letter. They awkwardly stood there, Emerald had started to cry with the letter clutched in her hands. Arthur suddenly hugged her, feeling his own tears well up in his throat.
"You were the best thing for him." He whispered into her ear. Emerald whimpered as he let go of her and stepped back into the crowd. Everybody was softly smiling at her, waiting intently to hear what she had to say. She opened the envelope and slowly drew out a neatly folded piece of paper. There was barely anything written on it, but she cleared her throat and started from the top.
"I wrote this…when you first left…and when I was wishing for you to come back. I still wish for you to come back.
'Her loveliness fills his waking hours,
And her tender arms haunt his troubled dreams.
Her voice is a fountain of the sweetest waters,
And her breath, the kiss of angels.
The tone of her skin, the scent of her hair,
The color of her lips in a brightly lit room,
And the softness of her careless touch
All are memories etched into his soul.
His longing heart races at the sound of her name,
And his emptiness is complete without her.
He counts the minutes until their hearts are one,
And each minute lost is his eternal regret.'"
Emerald stared down at the page, her eyes continuously going back and forth between the lines. Never in her entire life had she read anything so beautiful. Not even Shakespeare could write such beautiful words. She stared at the page and let out a heavy sigh as she slowly folded it back up and slipped it back into the envelope. She felt dead inside; like she was the worst person in the world. Emerald was finally able to pick her head up and look at the people in front of her. They were still staring, some crying and others with confused expressions on their faces. It was almost as if they were expecting her to say something, but clearly nobody was insisting upon it. Still, Emerald couldn't help what came out next.
"I loved Fred." She blurted out with the letter clutched to her chest. "I still love him, I think about him every day…I wish I had told him that, but I think he knew that I would have given anything to be with him forever." She let her tears fall, her breathing suddenly becoming very erratic. "Please never think that I ever wanted to leave…I wanted to stay because Fred was my everything. I wish…I wish that I had told him that more…" She began to cry much harder now, her entire body shaking from her sobs. Kent emerged from the crowd and wrapped his arms around her. She buried herself into his chest, crying into his suit and holding onto him tightly.
"Come on, let's go sit down." He whispered into her ear. She was slightly embarrassed as they walked through the crowd and to a table in the back corner. Emerald sunk onto the stool with Kent holding her up.
"I made a complete ass of myself, didn't I?" She asked quietly, holding her face in her hands. Kent quickly shook his head, sitting down across from her.
"No, you spoke beautifully." He told her. Emerald managed to pick her head up and stared at Kent.
"How could somebody like you ever want to stay with somebody like me?" She asked him. Kent just shrugged his shoulders.
"I have my doubts, but all in all, you're an amazing woman." Emerald shook her head, letting out a shaky sigh.
"If we're going to be living in the same space, you're not allowed to say that kind of stuff…especially if you're looking to get sex out of this." Kent couldn't help but smile.
"That still doesn't change the fact that I think that you're the most sarcastic person that I've ever met."
"Yes, Emerald has quite a gift for sarcasm." George leaned against the table, a small smirk on his face.
"And George has a gift for entering a conversation at the exact right time." Emerald shot back, a little smirk seamlessly playing on her face. She smoothed down the front of her dress, staring down at the small table. "We should probably get going…we have a house to look at, don't we?" She asked, glancing over at Kent. He nodded slightly, surprised that she had remembered.
"You're moving back?" George asked. Emerald nodded.
"Russia's getting to be a bit of a bother…" She muttered. "I think I've seen enough snow to last me a lifetime."
"Well, it does snow an awful lot in Russia…pretty sure that it's snowy white all year round."
"And you would be right." Emerald said. She slowly slid off her stool with Kent instantly right beside her. "I should go…nobody probably wants me here…"
"You'd be wrong." He muttered. "Mom was hoping that you would be here…she knew how much Fred loved you." Emerald smiled slightly, feeling a small painful pang in her stomach.
"Still…we need to leave." She slowly made her way towards the door, with what she knew would be dozens of eyes on her. They all knew the story and how it had ended and were so curious to know why. Emerald would never say; that was between her and Fred and it would remain that way until the day she died.
Kent opened the door for her, a wave of rain instantly spraying against their legs. Emerald shivered, but went ahead and stepped outside.
"Emerald!"
George rushed out after her, pulling her into a tight hug. She hesitated at the sudden embrace, but quickly wrapped her arms around him. They stayed like that for what seemed to be forever, rain pelting their sides.
"You'll always be my sister…you'll always be Mrs. Fred Weasley to me." Emerald rested her forehead against his shoulder, letting out a strangled sob.
"You have no idea how much that means to me." She muttered. George nodded, slowly rubbing her back.
"Just promise that you'll come back and visit us every once in a while…you know, just to make sure that you're still alive." Emerald smirked as George let her go.
"I'll come back when I can…if you all still want me to come back." George put a hand on her shoulder.
"You'll always be welcome here." Emerald nodded.
"Good to know." She stepped out from the bar and quickly rushed to the Lamborghini where Kent was already waiting inside of her. He had turned on the heat and had the wind shield wipers going as fast as they could. He didn't wait long to shift into gear and pull away from the bar. George stood and waved with Emerald helplessly returning the wave as they drove away. They were on the highway in a matter of minutes, speeding off towards London.
"What did you buy us?" Emerald finally asked quietly. Kent adjusted his hands on the steering wheel.
"A flat on the top floor of a complex…it's small, but I didn't think that we would need a whole lot of room…seeing as it would just be the two of us." Emerald smiled slightly, keeping her eyes forward on the dark road.
"I like that…"
"And there's only one bedroom…so unless you want to sleep on the couch, you'll be stuck with me." He reminded her. Emerald giggled.
"All right, I get it, we have to share a bed."
They sat together in silence, London still a few miles away. Kent nervously tapped the steering wheel and stole the occasional glances at Emerald.
"Em…I know that I'll never be Fred and that I'll never be exactly what you need, but I want to be…I hope that you'll think of me as a good substitute." Emerald stared at him, seeing how nervous he was. She could see that his palms were sweating and that his legs were shaking slightly.
"You don't have to be a substitute for Fred…all you have to be is Kent and I'll love you for it."
Emerald would never be able to forget about Fred, that was certain as they drove into London. But the one thing that she could do, the one thing that she knew would make Fred happy, would be to live her life without regrets and to always hold him in her heart.
She would never live happily ever after, but she would live…