Author's Notes: This is my first-ever fan fiction so please Read and Review and let me know what I should do to get better! I hope you all enjoy. It's a bit of a slow starter, must develop plot and such before the adventure truly begins!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places, that's all JK.


From Pain to Passion

Prologue

George Weasley, now twenty-five, continued to co-own and run Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, created by himself, his twin brother Fred Weasley and their best friend Lee Jordan. The Dark War, the war against Voldemort that had lasted for nearly four years was now over, he had been defeated. During the war George had done experiments researching and inventing trick explosives, a weapon to fool the victim. These explosives were widely successful and helped the Order of the Phoenix immensely! He found he had a love and knack for mixing and brewing and trying and guessing. After the war, he went back to the Shoppe but felt very unsatisfied with his life, he felt useless. His brother and Lee could manage the Shoppe without him (especially with the aide of their newfound female tag-alongs). He often wandered through the streets of Hogsmeade with no destination and no purpose. What was his destination? His purpose?

The war began even before her Graduation Day. There was no march, no valedictorian speech, nothing. Three years after her "Graduation" found her to be one of the most successful female aurors of her time, keeping the Golden Trio in tact, for a while. The prophecy was fulfilled, Voldemort was gone. Harry was also gone. After his death, she quit her job as an auror. Voldemort was dead along with most of his powerful death eaters (those still alive were serving life sentences in Azkaban). Hermione saw no use nor found any satisfaction in chasing after any of his lackeys, they were useless. She was hired as a researcher for a while but left soon after traveling from job to job with no real purpose in her life. She returned back to her home as a Muggle.


Chapter One
Morning Expedition

The August morning was crisp and a bit damp, quite your typical England forecast, so sporting a sweater and khaki trousers (a wardrobe he's convinced Hogwarts brainwashed into him), George Weasley headed up dirt path behind his parents' house into the naturally landscaped wilderness that enveloped The Burrow.

"Ridiculous!" he ranted aloud, though speaking only to himself. "A twenty-five year old man moving back in with his parents…how very, very sad."

In truth, he'd been living there for a few weeks but every morning he thought of as the first. Don't misunderstand, he loved his parents and got along with them much better now that he was older and no longer blew up various household items. He and his twin brother, Fred, were known for getting themselves into a little bit of trouble, always concocting up some new creation to drive their mum slowly, but surely, out of her mind. But with Fred not living here any longer and George having been all but kicked out of the flat they shared, George was a different person. He was much calmer, more subdued and focused.

In school, the two brothers always did their studying separately. Truth be told, George quite exceeded his brother academically, scoring much higher on his O.W.L.s (though Fred seemed to have inherited the genes in the romance department, leaving George with none). Having never taken his N.E.W.T.s, he was kept from pursuing most occupations, almost all those within the Ministry of Magic, he now regretted this. He didn't regret having gone down in Hogwarts legends, however. If Fred and George were good at one thing, it was making an impression. Their pranks and schemes would be talked about at Hogwarts for years to come. This thought always brought a pleasant smile to George's face and a mischievous gleam in his eye.

Sure, they twins were pretty good separately, but together their victims wouldn't know what hit them. Excellent pranksters, they were! Those two concocted some of the biggest and best pranks Hogwarts had ever seen along with their best friend and really the most rational one of the group, Lee Jordan. They thrived on being the center of attention, making a spectacle and milking the crowd. They were often caught and served many detentions with every professor in the school, they didn't mind. Anything couldn't be too much punishment for a good laugh, especially a laugh shared by the entire school or directed at someone they enjoyed seeing suffer. It was only natural that they should leave Hogwarts to become owners of, now, one of the biggest joke shops in England, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (WWW, for short). Their business was thriving! They had opened two locations, one in Hogsmeade for the future Hogwarts pranksters and one in Diagon Alley for those young at heart. George was currently discussing the plans of going international and opening up locations in Bulgaria and Rome.

Even through the war the business stayed alive. George invented explosive tricks to be used on an enemy, catching them off-guard creating a covert ammunition store disguised as WWW. It also acted as a safe house for those injured or not currently on the line of fire. Always the immature kids, Fred and George had to grow up quickly, everyone did. Oh how he so wished he could go back to those care-free years. Not that he wanted Voldemort to still be living; he just wanted his adolescence back.

He sighed, "The war is over. It has been over for three years! Three years! Just get over it!" The nearby trees and bushes were the only one to hear him shouting at himself over the silence. A few birds fluttered away at the abrupt breach in their peace. George had a knack for talking to himself when Fred was not around and seeing as Fred was never around anymore, well, George just had a knack for talking to himself then. Just then he passed a tree with a carving in it. He went closer to get a better look though he knew exactly what it said; he'd seen it a million times. He smiled.

It was tradition that when a Weasley reached the age of eleven and was about to head off to Hogwarts, they carve their initials in this tree. He traced the messy carving of 'CWW'. "Charlie…" he sighed.

There were many casualties during the war and the Weasley family was no exception. After Voldemort had been defeated, everyone slowly began to let their guard down, unfortunately. Ginny was just closing up the Diagon Alley location of WWW when a band of three Death Eaters attacked her. It was discovered later that they had no intentions to kill her, just beat her until she went into false labor. Mum was still worried about her, after losing Harry she was very fragile. Charlie was sent to make sure she got home alright. He single-handedly fought off all three Death-Eaters, as Ginny was already injured when he arrived. He and the final Death Eater cast their spells simultaneously, killing both the Death Eater and Charlie. He died protecting Ginny and her unborn child, quite tragic and heroic. His death was regaled by the wizarding society for saving the spawn of Harry Potter, whom the Death Eaters were trying to eliminate. Ginny and Harry were engaged when they realized they were pregnant.

George looked down to Ginny's initials, half smiling. "They were to be married in the spring," he said quietly, reverently. "She lives with so much pain and sorrow and guilt. But, I guess, she lives." George was normally not a very sentimental person, but he felt a lump forming in his throat, raising his head to avoid the tears that threatened to cloud his vision settling his gaze on 'PIW', Percy.

Percy died early in the war and though he was practically already dead to the family, that made the news of his death even more difficult to endure. He was questioned by a gang of Death Eaters, headed by Lucius Malfoy (whom George himself had killed later). Percy, being the weakling that he was, cracked causing havoc for the side of good. As thanks for his information, he was forced to watch as his wife, Penelope, was brutally murdered. They left him alive as the Death Eaters did not physically kill their informants, the only standard of code they knew. Instead, they killed them in some other way, generally, emotionally. Percy was found dead, having hung himself in the lobby of the Ministry.

"It's amazing how much I miss them." He took a breath of the morning air. It was becoming more damp and heavy as the day began to fully emerge. He slowly made his way to his favorite tree overlooking the stream that ran behind their home, listening to the babbling of water over rocks he leaned against its firm trunk, slumped down and began to write. He liked writing his thoughts, fears since the war. It was helpful to him, therapeutic almost. He wrote down everything.


Author's Notes: I'm still not totally pleased with this opening, but it's been updated and revised and I'm much more pleased with this than I was the other. If you're curious as to the timeline of events I have them all mapped out. I hope you all enjoy this much improved chapter!