Prompt: "If you are reading this I may well be dead, for today I will claim my freedom and dignity. This trip has almost broken me..."
18th of April 1945.
Gred,
If you are reading this I may well be dead, for today I will claim my freedom and dignity. This trip has almost broken me... But I am very much alive at the moment so, don't worry. Harry was reading over my shoulder so I thought I'd give him a bit of a scare.
My prayers were answered, brother. We arrived at the base camp about three days ago to find Harry there waiting for us. He was the soul survivor of his regiment and he refused to take leave when he heard there was a Weasley coming in the relieving regiment. My entire troop has taken to switching between calling him "The Boy Who Lived" and "The Little Idiot". Harry absolutely hates it and he provides a lot of comedy relief when he gets worked up about it. Or when I goad him.
I honestly think, sometimes, that Harry sets himself up for certain situations, so that he and I can take our comrades minds off our current placement. Every time the troop bursts out laughing at something we've done, he gives me that tiny, quirky smile of his. You know the one he said he learnt to do when he didn't want the Dursleys to know he was laughing at them. That one. If he does set himself up, he does it well.
He told me yesterday that he was surprised and a little worried to see that I was the Weasley they told him about and that I was alone. Perceptive little git. When I told him what happened to you, he said he was even happier he made the decision to stay, even if he does have to put up with "my lot", as he calls them. I called him an idiot for being happy he stayed at all. He called me an idiot in general. We've since decided to be the idiots of the regiment together.
I'll be honest brother, I'm glad he stayed too. He's not you. He's not even a Weasley, either by blood or name. But he's a Weasley at heart and that's really what matters. He knows all my quirks, just like you do. He understands what I mean when my entire troop don't, simply because they haven't lived with me for, at least, five years. He's taken a weight off my shoulders I didn't even know was there. I feel lighter and many of the troops have said that I seem happier, now that he's here. Harry probably doesn't even know what he's done. Then again, he probably does, if that quirky little smile of his is any indication. As I said, perceptive little git.
This morning we were given the notice that the regiment would be leaving for the front lines in two days. All in army speak of course. I had Harry translate for me. I was called an idiot for my trouble. Then I made him promise that when he finally took leave, he would go to "The Burrow" first. I made him promise he'd go home and stay there. I think he's a little put out with me though. He wanted me to promise we'd go home together. I didn't. I couldn't. I know he understands why. He knows, just as much as you do, that if there's even the slightest chance the promise can be broken, I won't make it. Still doesn't keep him from being upset with though.
I'm scared brother. I have this horrible feeling that only one of us is coming home.
Still, I suppose everyone feels like that. We'll have to wait and see.
Feorge.
I wrote the beginning, then the end and then the middle. Because that's going to do me wonders in the English exam...