A/N: I never write enough of Fred and George, I don't know why I don't write more of them - I've decided I'm going to write more of them in the future. In the meantime, here's a short little story that's about them. And of course, it's a bit sad.

Written for Round 5 of the Houses Competition.

House: Gryffindor

Category: Short Story

Prompts: Unbreakable Vow [Spell/Promise]

Word Count: 1,170

Mini-Summary: Asking the "what if" question of: if Fred and George had made an Unbreakable Vow to never spill the secrets to their creations, and George is forced into a situation where he needs to let these secrets out.

Summer, 1997

"George?" His twin poked his head around the corner of the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about what we discussed a few nights ago, about the Unbreakable Vow stuff…" Fred came in and plopped himself down onto the chair adjacent to George's. The mood was suddenly serious. "I think we should do it."

"You think?" He asked, watching Fred carefully.

"I think."

"You never think, Freddie," George chuckled and then sighed, "Well, if you think it's the best route to take, I guess we should."

"What terms do you want to go by?" The other leaned over the table slightly, already holding out his arm.

"Well, I think it should be simple. We shan't make it too complicated, or we'll have regrets about it later. I mean, you know you can't fully trust me with secrets." He winked.

Fred laughed. "Alright, well, if that's the case, then we should probably say: the secrets of our franchise will never be revealed to anyone else. It can be that simple."

"Sounds good to me, mate." George pulled out his wand as he nodded. "Do you think we can do this with just two of us in the room?"

For a moment they sat there in a bit of confused bewilderment. The room didn't have anything special about it, it was simply the back storage and lounge room of the shop. George hadn't seen anything that could even help with the process which required someone else to be holding the wand.

"Here." Fred pulled out a holder-thingy from his back pocket - George never asked where he could find things like that.

"Better trust me on this, brother." George grinned.

They gripped hands tightly and began the ritual.

%

Summer, 2010

"Dad?" The soft voice of his son caused him to turn around and grin at the boy, who stood in front of him.

"Hey there, Freddie. What are you up to?" He had been sorting shelves in the storage room closet for the past half hour, but he hadn't been paying any attention to where his 10 year old son actually was.

"I was wondering …" Fred didn't continue his sentence, which prompted George to bend down to his height and look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Well, will I ever get to … to run your shop with you?"

"Goodness, nearly gave me a fright there, Freddie. I thought you were going to ask if you could take a trip to Mars or something." George chuckled, and gripped his son's shoulder. "Sure, when you're old enough I'll make sure you know exactly how this place works."

"So you'll teach me all of the things about everything in here?" He giggled.

George grew silent. He recalled a time, years ago, when a promise, a vow, had been made in the very room that was beside them, where he had made sure he wouldn't ever reveal the secrets of the store to anyone. They'd thought they were so invincible back then.

"Dad?"

"Sorry, chum, just … drifted off. Of course I will." He said, with a rather forced smile.

"Yay!" Fred bounced away, skipping with delight. "I'm going to go find mum and tell her I'm going to work with daddy in the future!"

"Go right ahead, Freddie." George spoke to softly for the little boy who had vanished from sight to hear, but he wasn't sure who he was talking to in that moment: his past, or his future.

%

Summer, 2015

The clang of the bell on the door informed George that the summer crowd had just begun. It was only June, which meant the truly busy season was only just beginning. He shouted a hello to them from the counter, and then turned back to the boy standing beside him.

"Hey, dad, what can I do with this?" The 15 year old was holding a box.

"Um… put it over in the sweets section. It's a new shipment of something I'm trying out." He said, nodding to the box as his hands fiddled with the money he had sitting in it's pot, preparing for a day of exchanging Galleons and Knuts and Sickles.

As soon as George had sorted that out, he turned to find Fred seated on a chair beside him.

"What's the question this time, Fred?" He was familiar with the look on the boy's face. Quite familiar.

"I was wondering… would you be willing to teach me about the way everything works, now? I'm older and I'm working here: would it be okay if I knew about it all?" Fred asked with nerves shaking his voice.

"Well…" George sighed a little. He knew that the Unbreakable Vow he'd made all those years ago with his own brother had stood for only a short time, but … did it still stand?
He'd always wondered what happened to the Vow after one person died. The best assumption that could be made was that the Vow broke, or disappeared, no longer standing for anything. There was no one else who knew about it anymore. It seemed likely that he could break it without any consequences; and this was Fred's namesake. The kid was a good bit like his Uncle, and George knew that if there was anything his twin would have wanted was a legacy to be continued in close familial relations.

So without another spot of hesitation, he looked back at Fred and gave a nod.

"I think it wouldn't hurt. But I'm going to, well, I'm going to ask something of you that is going to take a lot of courage for you to come to terms with, Freddie boy. I'm going to require that we make an Unbreakable Vow on this."

"An - oh… did you already make one? With… With Uncle Fred?" For a 15 year old, he had some remarkable insight.

"Yes." He nodded. "But we were younger, we thought it would hold forever, I do think."

"Well I don't want to harm you…"

"I do believe that you won't, Fred. That Vow has been broken for something around 18 years now. Tell you what, we'll sort it out later this evening."

Fred seemed content with that answer. The rest of the day passed quite quickly, or so it seemed to George, and soon enough he was seated in the same chair as he had been 18 years ago, staring across at another Fred.

"The simple terms I would like you to go by," he grunted as he picked up a similar holder as his brother had used, "Are that the secrets of our franchise will never be revealed to anyone else. Now, you will someday be able to pass all that information off to your own children, but not until … well, not until you know the Vow no longer stands. I'm sure you'll know when that is."

"Yeah." Fred nodded, he seemed to be nervous. Understandable.

"Give me your hand." George reached across the table, and they gripped hands.

They gripped hands, and George began the ritual.