1:

He sat in the back of the service as they lowered Nymphadora Tonks into the ground. He was alone, unable to speak or really care about the death of his old friend. The death of his brother had consumed his life, taken away any chance he had left of moving on from the war. His mother kept glancing back at him anxiously, as if he was going to end up disappearing or hurting himself. It irritated him but he ignored it. Just like he was ignoring everything around him, but he glanced up as a woman stood and handed his mother a baby with—he did a double take, frowning –bright green hair. Teddy Lupin.

The young woman moved to the front of the service, wearing a simple black dress with matching heels. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun and her eye makeup had been running from the tears. He couldn't put a name to a face, but he knew who she was. They attended school together for years; she had been a Gryffindor Prefect when they were fifth years. The woman wasn't anything special back then, but he recalled that she tended to ignore his and…and his brother's pranks. They were thankful, but not enough to remember her name.

He sat up a bit straighter, watching as she looked down at the casket. They must have been related –did Tonks have a sister? He couldn't bring himself to care enough, though. He watched her closely, as she turned to the rest of the guests.

"Uhm, my name is Asteria. I'm Nymphadora's younger sister," the woman said quietly, holding her wand at her neck. She didn't speak for a moment, but then let out a watery laugh, "Sorry, I-I was waiting for her to yell at me for calling her that."

The crowd let out a sad, suppressed laugh at the horrible attempt at a joke. George watched Asteria closely, surprised his attention focused long enough to hear the sister speak.

"Dora was my sister, my best friend and more importantly…my hero. She could do so many things that I couldn't; she became an auror. She fought in the war and protected her beautiful baby boy and helped save the world. All I did was sit at home with our mum and Teddy, crying hysterically and not being productive. She was everything that I wanted to be and I loved her more than anything in the world. I love you, Dora. Please remember that. And I'll take care of Teddy. Rest in peace."

Asteria Tonks walked down from her spot on stage, makeup stained tears spilling down her pale cheeks. George watched her still, eyes following her but his body remaining still as she rushed down the middle of the service. His eyes moved over to his mum and her mum, who were rushing after her. George frowned as his mother stopped beside him, holding a now blue haired Teddy, who was crying hysterically.

"George, dear, watch Teddy. I need to help Andromeda with Asteria!" His mother commanded, handing him the crying child.

Teddy stared at him then began crying harder and louder, making the older ginger to curse angrily under his breath.

...

Teddy snuggled closer to his aunt, grasping onto the scarf that gave him such comfort as the service proceeded on. She could not bring herself to cry, though, as she had not known the deceased all that well. Granted, everyone knew his name, and his brother's, from their ever successful business, Weasley Wizard Wheezes, but she never knew them very well. They had attended school together for years, and when she had become a prefect she had never reprimanded the two for causing mischief. They were always grateful, but probably not enough to recall her name if they ever spoke out of school. Not that they had spoken out of school, anyway. There were quick "hello's" here and there simply because it was polite but never anything more.

Asteria's eyes fell upon and followed a redheaded man as he stood and slowly, almost reluctantly, made his way to the podium in front of the casket. He wasn't faking a smile; he wasn't even faking a frown. Instead, he looked completely detached from the world. She knew from the moment he stood that George Weasley was more than ripped apart about the death of his twin. Asteria couldn't blame him at all, not a bit. It would be heartbreaking and traumatizing for him and she felt his pain, she truly did. With the loss of her best friend and sister, Asteria really did know how it felt. But she'd never know the pain of breaking the bond between twins.

As George shifted uneasily, Asteria's eyes met his for a brief moment. She gave him a weak smile, one that didn't say that she was sorry or says that everything was okay; it was a smile that said she was hurt too and that she didn't know how to respond. He dropped his gaze to the ground, preparing himself to speak. His wand ignited and he held it at his throat, growing paler by the second.

"Fred was my…my twin," he murmured, though it was projected throughout the service. No one made a sound, not even Teddy. It was as if all had held their breath, waiting for the young man to break down. "He wasn't just my twin, though. He was my best mate. We've…we weren't ever separated. Never. We were always together. As kids. As adults. He and I, we were closer than anyone in the world could understand. We did everything together."

He took a deep breath, tears welling in his sleep deprived eyes as he tried to regain his composure. "That day…he pushed me off, saying to go with our dad. Bad things –and we both damn well knew it –happened when we were separated. He left with P-Percy, though," George stopped again, taking another deep breath, "He left and…and I knew something was going to go wrong. And it did."

No one breathed a word as he stopped again, closing his eyes and letting tears fall. Asteria sat up straighter, as Teddy turned his head to look up at George. He reached out, as if to grab George, but Asteria subdued him, holding him closer.

"He'd hate me, so much, for crying. For making his death hurt me, but…but it just hurts so much. It hurts to lose my best friend, my brother…my twin. If I could go back and change it, I would. But I can't. I-I…can't help him."

Without another word, George hurried off the stage and briskly ran out of the service. Asteria hesitated, looking out as Teddy moved to watch George run out. After a moment of watching George, Teddy broke out in tears, breaking the silence of the service. Then the rest of those who kept their tears silent began.

The loudest of all being Molly Weasley.

Diagon Alley was alive and buzzing again. People ran through the streets, prepping for weddings, parties and better yet, the upcoming school year at Hogwarts. Doors to shops were opened; kids were running in and out of them with bright smiles. Even Asteria was out and about with Teddy and both had a bright smile on their faces. Teddy was sitting in his carrier, playing with a toy that he managed to pull along with him. It was as if there hadn't just been some god awful war that broke the hearts of so many wizards and witches and their families.

Asteria was on lunch break, deciding that the sweets being made could handle themselves. She strolled down the alley with her nephew, waving at kids who would walk by her and say hello to her and Teddy. Teddy would giggle, changing his muddy brown hair to a vibrant, bubblegum pink. Asteria held her breath as she felt a stab of pain in stomach. She looked down at Teddy, smiling softly, continuing her walk down the road. It still hurts, she thought, gazing around the shops, And it's going to for a while. She knew she could handle it, though she could always handle it. For Teddy's sake, at least.

The bakery she owned was getting closer, being stationed in a lovely cornered building across the street from the once extravagant Weasley Wizard Wheezes. It was located at ninety-five, Diagon Alley. The shop of the boys had so much business that it brought phenomenal business to the sweet shop of Asteria's. Unfortunately, business hadn't picked up much since the ending of the war. Aside from the usual wedding cakes and birthday parties and treats, which she could barely keep up now that she was raising a child, business was much slower and less exciting.

Even though the war had ravaged the lives of a year ago, everything was returning to normal. For the most part, anyway. There were still shops that were closed and there were still many people hurt, but for the most part, everything was going back to what was expected. Asteria knew that some things were always going to be different; some things weren't going to be normal. Waking up with a screaming baby in the room beside hers, going to work and not seeing fireworks flying through the air. Going home with see her parents and not seeing her older sister ever again. It wasn't normal, but it wasn't going to stop her from moving on like the rest of the world.

Teddy reached out from the carrier as she made her way towards the bakery. He usually reached out for the door of her shop, a smile on his little face as she opened it for him. This time, though, he was turned around and reaching across the street. He proceeded to mimic the large head outside, switching his features to match the redheaded robot. Teddy had a tendency of mimicking anything and the features of the Weasley Wizard Wheezes's robot was his favorite. Sometimes he'd copy it and she would panic for a moment, thinking that her nephew was replaced with a Weasley child. Then she recalled what he could do.

She opened the door to her shop, smiling happily as Teddy tried his hardest to look back at the WWW. "Home, sweet home, Teddy!"

She placed him in the play pin next to the window, snapping her fingers and moving the carrier to the back. Teddy cried out, pressing against the screen on the pin and closer to the window. Asteria's brow rose as she glanced over the baby as she washed her hands, curious to what the baby was doing. Teddy never cried out like this, which concerned her slightly. Asteria had never taken Teddy to the Weasley's shop, which was even stranger. Maybe I should take him…, she thought, You know, just to check on Weasley. I haven't heard from him in ages…She shook her head, though, deciding against it. George and she never spoke, so it would be weird for her and a baby to show up at his door. Especially if that baby would end up mimicking him and he'd probably end up having a panic attack. She laughed softly, the image of the redheaded man freaking out if he saw a baby that was the spitting image of him.

"Oh Merlin, that's too good…," she laughed to herself, pulling out a tray of dancing sugar cookies.

Teddy turned to see what she had said, curious as he usually was. Asteria lifted one of the dancing cookies off the tray, cooling it down and walking over to the baby. He reached up for the cookie and she broke it in half, handing part of it to him.

"What's wrong, Teddy? Miss the excitement from across the street?" She asked as she took a bite of the cookie and looked over at the brightly colored shop.

Asteria stared at it for a moment, biting slowly into the cookie. Teddy reached up for more, pulling at her top with one of his tiny hands.

"Weezy!"

For a moment, the young witch just stared blankly at her nephew. He had already spoken his first word; wolf, it was. Teddy was playing with a stuffed toy when he said it and it made her smile brightly when he started chanting the word as he played. He had also said a few more words here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. Which is why Asteria was caught off guard by the sudden word choice of her one-year-old nephew.

"Weezy!" He called again, releasing her top and pressing against the screen of his play pin and looking excitedly at the shop.

Asteria was in disbelief; she never said the Weasley name in front of Teddy, nor did she ever refer to Weasley Wizard Wheezes by its full name. She tended to just call it Wheezes. Everyone knew what she was talking about; if you didn't, you were mad. Even when Ron came in, she never used his last name simply because she didn't need to. And no other Weasley ever came in. Maybe Dora mentioned them in passing before the war…they remember their mother's voices, right? Asteria shook her head, taking a breath before turning back to her nephew, who was still pointing at the shop.

"Weezy! Weezy!"

She couldn't understand it. Why was he so enthralled by that shop all of a sudden? It was dark and less cheery and no one had seen George Weasley in ages.

"What about the Weasley's, Teddy?" she asked him, kneeling down in front of the play pin.

He pointed out the window once more, turning his hair to match the robot outside. He continued to say the name, trying to climb out of the pin the best he could. Teddy was dead set on getting out of his pin and getting over to that shop.

Then he started crying. Hysterically.

"Weezy! Weezy! Weezy!" Asteria couldn't fathom what was happening so she lifted the baby into her arms and rocked him and bounced him, but he wouldn't stop.

"Okay! I'll take you to Wheezes, but it's closed Teddy!"

With a huff, Asteria shifted Teddy onto her hip and grabbed her scarf, heading across the street to the Weasley Wizard Wheezes.