The Song: We Didn't Start the Fire, by Billy Joel
The Character: Fred Weasley
The Inspiration: We didn't start the fire, It was always burning, Since the world's been turning, No we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it!
The Rating: K+ for some language.
The Disclaimer: Not mine, but gosh, I wish it were.
…
(prepared to save the world)
Fred Weasley looks up, up at the sky, up at where the moonlight is kissing the clouds, and where stars are shining like there's nothing wrong. He's oblivious to the Dark Mark circling the school ominously. There's a lull in the bedlam, and no spells are being fired. It's just him, and his thoughts. Peace in the eye of the storm.
George is at his back, catching his breath. George always has his back. George will never let him get hurt, and he will never let George get hurt. Bill's across the room, carefully Stunning a Death Eater. Percy- Merlin, he thought he'd never see the bugger again- was close to Bill, hoping to make up for the time he'd spent apart.
Fred never thought he'd be in the Great Hall, in the middle of something this big. But he is.
Then this thought hits him. Hits him like a Canary Cream when it touches a tongue, hits him like the moonlight's hitting the stone floors, hits him like an Avada Kadavra to the heart.
This will always happen. This, this battle of good and evil. It will always happen. There's always something to fight for, to die for. Like an eternal flame, they didn't start it, they just fought it a little before giving into it. There was a sense of inevitability that came with that knowledge.
Unavoidable turmoil, unavoidable battles. Yet through this unavoidable fire was choice. He could be at home now, pretending nothing was happening. He had chosen this fate, and damn it, he was going to make a difference or die trying. Die like Uncle Fabe, and Uncle Gid. Die like Lily and James Potter. Die like everyone bloody well had, or else everyone bloody will.
Damn it, he would do this. He'd blow the fire smaller.
He catches George's eye as a fresh wave of Death Eaters breaks the lull. He knows what's going through his twin's head. They dive into the fray together, prepared to save the world.