AN: Written for Rasiaa's Quotes Competition with the quote: "There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page or closing the book." Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Enjoy!
….
The fits of fear that haunt him come in forms of nightmares and terrors. They suffocate him, making gasp for air and twist in his sheets. They make his knuckles turn white, his shirt drenched in sweat, and tears flow out of his eyes. His mouth forms a long drawn out scream and it fills the house, floating up to the top level and waking everyone. Some of his extended family slowly awakens, sitting up, listening to the struggle their son and brother makes, while others stir slightly, unfortunately becoming used to the almost nightly ordeal.
A trio, consisting of two boys and a girl, slowly meet out in the hallway from which their rooms connect and whisper above their friend's screams. "We have to wake him up," says the girl, stealing a glance towards the stairs before looking back at her friends. "It's like torture if we don't." The boys stare at each other as another scream erupts in the silence. All three are too familiar to the nighttime struggles.
"What are we supposed to do?" asks one of the boys, who shares a similar physical appearance to the one downstairs now that he's older. "Wake him up and tell him everything's just dandy? 'Cause it's not!" The boy is running on very little sleep-all of them are.
"Stop it, both of you!" the third whispers harshly, his dark hair untidy. "It won't help anyone if we stand here fighting! And there's no harm in trying. So you either go back to sleep or come with us to wake him up."
The red-haired boy ultimately joins his friends in their nightly adventure.
As the three creep down the steps, the one downstairs on the couch is still struggling. He can't escape the embers and spells and awful memories that are still engraved in his mind since the second of May.
His twin pops up in his vision and every time, he's transported back to the moment where he's separated from Fred. It's early on in the fight and the two are dueling side by side. Both have defeated their opponents and begin to run down the long, dark corridor before there's a fork in the hall where a small group of students are dueling three Death Eaters. George begins to descend that way, to help, and calls to his brother, "When it's all done, I'll meet you in the Great Hall!"
Fred calls back in agreement and dashes off in the other direction. Neither acknowledges the possibility that the other could be wounded or killed. It's the last thing they exchange with each other.
His mind then spirals into scenarios of what he's heard Percy say about his twin's death. Explosions and rubble cloud his mind and he imagines Fred smiling at Percy's announcement of resignation before being knocked down. George screams like the life is being sucked out of him. It's almost like it is, with Fred gone.
He can barely hear the trio yelling at him to wake up. "George, George, please wake up!"
Hermione pleads at him, gently shaking his right shoulder.
"He's not gonna hear you like that!" Ron argues with her, and she steps aside before he can barrel her over. He shakes his brother by both shoulders, a look of desperation on his freckled face. "It's a nightmare! Wake up! Wake up, George!"
"Ron, you need to stop!" Harry exclaims, running forward to pull him back as George cries out at the touch. "That might make it worse."
"What are we bloody supposed to do then?"
Suddenly, they hear a gasp, and turn towards the noise. George opens his eyes and slowly sits up, breathing heavily, still crying. It's so silent, a pin could drop.
George holds his cry back and asks in a raspy, weak voice, "W-what are you doing here?"
"We were trying to wake you up. You were having nightmares again," Harry explains.
"You didn't have to," George replies, embarrassed.
"Yes, we bloody had to!" Ron explodes. "The entire Burrow could hear you screaming! No one can sleep around here when you've got nightmares!"
"So now it's my fault?" George asks, throwing a very tired, angry look his brother's way.
"It's no one's fault," Hermione interjects. "We just wanted to make sure that you were alright."
George is hyped up from Ron's outburst that he almost wants to tell her that he bloody isn't alright. But he holds his tongue and silently thanks her for their concern.
"I'm fine now," George says, slightly lying because he knows he isn't. He just wants the three to go back to bed and not worry about him. "Go back to bed-don't worry, I'll be fine."
Ron is the first to head upstairs, leaving Hermione and Harry to linger. "We'll be back down here the moment we hear you again," Hermione warns, before giving him a weary smile and heading back upstairs. Harry is the only one left.
George refuses to meet Harry's green-eyed stare and looks down at his hands.
"I'd like to let you know, that there comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page or closing the book," Harry says.
"Excuse me?" George asks.
"Think about it and tell me in the morning. Good night." Harry moves upstairs, leaving George all alone.
George sits on the couch and ponders what the hell Harry means. He's so sleep-deprived and depressed that he can barely comprehend it. He sits for hours, afraid to go back to sleep, thinking about it. But then it hits him just as the sun peaks over the fields of tall grass outside-he has the choice of moving on or completely stopping, giving up.
He's been so distraught with Fred's death lately, that it's consumed him. He hates it, really only wanting his brother back, yet knows that there's no way that can happen, even with magic. And then he realizes what his brother would really want.
He waits expectantly as his family members file down for breakfast and greets the three with a small smile.
"Did you think about it?" asks Harry, as the others look at him with slight confusion.
"Yes," George says with a sore throat and a ghost of a smile that mimics his twin's. "I'll turn the page."