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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:
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Leaving on a Jet Plane: (action) getting drunk, (dialogue) "What I need is for people to stop telling me what I need!", and (setting) a funeral
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Warning for mentions of character death, alcohol, and alcohol consumption. Word count is 1,250. I hope you all enjoy Ending With a Bang.
I could feel eyes on me as I took another sip from the flask that was in my hand. I didn't care that people could see me drinking. My twin was dead and I could drink if I want to. I could see the disapproving look on Mum's face. That hurt just as much as standing over Fred's grave did.
"What do you need, George?" Harry asked, putting a hand on my arm. He had the same look of concern that everyone had around me since the ending of the Battle of Hogwarts. The look that screamed that he and everyone else around me thought I was going to break into a million tiny pieces and be blown away.
"You need to put that flask away," Ginny said, taking the flask from my hand and looking around before taking a sip from it. "Either that or try and hide it better. Mum's very upset that you're drinking already. She thinks you need to…."
"What I need is for people to stop telling me what I need!" I exclaimed, taking the flask back and taking a huge gulp of the firewhiskey within. "Do you want some, Harry?" I held out the flask to him.
"Sure," he said, taking the flask and allowing himself a sip of the contents.
"Do you think that Fred would have wanted this, George?" Hermione said, shaking her head as Harry attempted to pass the flask to her. "He wouldn't want…."
"He would be standing here right with the rest of partaking of the flask," I said, knowing full well that it would have been the entire truth. "He would have thought a rip-roaring fun time drinking at a funeral, Fred. He would also have convinced me to sort out some entertainment for the end of proceedings."
"George, you didn't?" Angelina asked, looking at me in shock.
"Didn't what?" Hermione asked, looking between me and Angelina as though we'd both grown an extra head each.
"Fred and George each wrote out wills to be put into effect if they happened to die at the Battle of Hogwarts," Angelina explained. "One of the….one of the first instructions…." She broke down into sobs.
I reached over and pulled her into a hug, running a soothing hand up and down her back. "Here," I said, handing her the flask, "have a pull of this. It might make you feel a bit better. Or at least take your mind off things for a while."
Angelina nodded into the hug, taking the flask and taking a sip from it. She handed it back to George who took another sip as soon as it was in his hand again.
"How much more do you have in there?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow at George. "You've been sipping at it all through the service at Hogwarts for those who died and now you're sipping at it still here at the graveyard."
"It's one of Fred and my last inventions," I said, looking fondly at the flask in hand. "It's a flask that is charmed to be self-filling and neverending."
"George Weasley," Mum called, stalking towards us a look of anger on her face.
"If you'll excuse me, I see a dramatic encounter begging for me to star in it," I said, bowing out of the group after the flask passed around once more. I walked toward my mum with a confused look on my face. "How can I help you, Mum?"
"Your brother, Fred's….Fred's casket is wet and yet it didn't rain," she said, looking at me pointedly. "Do you have any idea what happened to it?"
"I don't know, Mum," I said, shrugging and holding the flask behind my back. "I heard there is some crazy running around here with a flask and offering everyone drinks. He probably thought that Fred was parched and could use a bit of cool down. So, he went right on over to the casket and gave Fred a little pour of the flask."
"Hermione explained that this is your way of dealing with things," Mum said, a sad look crossing her face. "But it doesn't make it any easier to watch."
"I'm sorry, Mum," I said, pulling her into a hug. I could feel the flask being lifted from my hand before Mum could properly see it.
"Dear, I've caught the culprit who was carrying around that flask all day," Dad said, holding the flask out to me. "Is this one of your products, George? It's really rather ingenious. Do you think he'd mind if I had a sip? The owner that is."
"I don't think he'd mind at all," I said, holding the flask back out to my father.
Mum made an angry sound as the signal that the burial was about to take place was given. I grinned as I took the flask back from Dad.
"If Mum didn't like this," I said, holding up the flask with a grin, "she's not going to like what Fred and I planned for once the final shovel of dirt has been placed on the last coffin."
"What did you two do?" Bill asked, having overheard us.
"Well, Fred and I agreed that if one or both of us died in the battle that we'd have fireworks at our send-off somehow," I said, seeing Lee Jordan give the thumbs up that the fireworks were in place and ready to set off.
"Mum, going to kill you," Percy said, sounding much like Fred and I used to when we were younger. "Shall I go and get one of those Muggle recording devices to record the event? Death at a funeral."
Hermione stifled a giggle as one of our relatives gave her a sharp look. "That's actually supposed to be a really funny movie," she said. "Or at least that is what I have heard about it."
I watched as Fred was lowered into the ground with the other casualties of the Battle of Hogwarts. With the wave of a wand, all of the dirt was back in the holes covering all the coffins in their final resting spot.
"Here it comes!" I exclaimed, taking a huge gulp out of my flask as the show began.
A huge crack sounded followed by pops and whizzes as the sky was filled with pretty flashes of light. I had made sure to avoid the greens and red that would remind the survivors of the war of the different curses that had once been flung past their heads. They didn't need that sort of memory.
I leaned back against a nearby tree, knowing that Fred was watching from the other side and he would totally approve of this. A final bang went off that shook the surrounding area. I would later hear from one of the ghosts that it had shaken the castle itself to its core. But the work of art that was now shown in the sky was my pride and joy. I couldn't help but let a tear slip down my cheek as I look upon the words Hogwarts remembers!. Which then turns into a giant dragon which dive bombs the crowd that had was gaping up in awe.
"George Weasley!" Mum screamed at the top of her lungs.
"I'd better make a run for I said," racing towards the castle with my angry mother on my heels. This was a rather memorable funeral indeed. But wait until she sees what I have planned for the one-year anniversary.
I hope you all enjoyed Ending With a Bang as much as I enjoyed writing it.