You Must Go On
If I owned anything of any import you'd have heard of me. Since you have no idea who I am, I quite obviously own neither harry potter nor buffy the vampire slayer.
I would like to thank JediJeff for being an amazing influence and would also like to say that the songs "The Show Must Go On" By Queen and "Heartbreaker" by Pink were a big help with this chapter.
XXX
Dawn wasn't sure when she had been put to bed, but she and George were cuddled up on Fred's old bed, Willow and Buffy on Georges. They obviously hadn't made it back to the flat. Dawn got out of bed, trying not to wake up George, but she failed. His eyes blinked open, a confused look to him. Dawn held a finger to her lips and gestured to her sister and Willow. George nodded and sat up. Dawn snagged the sweatshirt she'd been wearing the night before and pulled it on over her tank top and sleep shorts. She notices that George was only in a pair of sweats. She figured that Hermione or Ginny had changed them with a spell. The two comrades slipped out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. Molly was sitting at the table with a cup of tea in front of her. No one else seemed to be awake.
"Come here my dears," Molly held out her arms to the two. Dawn and George moved forward, embracing her tightly. Molly hugged them and then gripped their chins softly, pulling them down to study their faces. "Enough of my hysterics, my children need me. You two haven't been sleeping enough," She said in a very quiet voice.
"I'm sorry you aren't feeling any better Mrs. Weasley," Dawn told Molly in an equally quiet voice. Molly tilted her head to the side, a sad look in her eyes.
"I told you to call me mum." Molly told her firmly. George tugged his mother to her feet and held her tightly against him while Dawn sat down in a chair beside Molly's, a sad smile crossing her face. It had been a long argument that Molly had won. If Dawn was to marry one of her hellions Molly deserved to be called mum. Only Dawn wasn't marrying Fred now.
"Thanks mum, I needed that," George said, a ghost of his reckless grin flashing across his face for the briefest moment. Molly cupped his face in her hands and looked up at him with loving eyes.
"I'm here whenever you need it, love. Now sit, it's high time you two were fed," Molly informed them, still speaking softly. She had become lucid when she'd woken up this morning, all of the spells and potions having worn off. A quick tour of the house had her deciding that it was high time she took hold of her family. They all fell to pieces without her ... without Fred. She accepted the pain that tore through her at the thought of her 5th son and continued to flick her wand, making breakfast the easy way. Once everything was started she sat down again, a cup of tea appearing in front of Dawn and George. These two had lost so much more than she could bring herself to imagine. She didn't like their red rimmed and black bagged eyes. She wasn't surprised that they were the first two downstairs though, neither of them would want to sleep for a while yet. During her quick inspection of the house she had seen them cuddled together on Fred's old flat mattress, two strange women on George's. They had looked so lost and broken, even in sleep. As though they weren't sure where they were they were supposed to be, or who they were supposed to turn to.
"You two eat up," Molly said briskly as the eggs and bacon finished cooking. Toast joined the two plates her magic had fixed and they were set in front of the two kids in front of her. Both of them knew better than to argue with her and started shoveling in the food at a reasonable pace. Dawn finished first.
"Go start getting everyone up. I expect everyone clean and well dressed for this afternoon," Molly informed her, walking over to the stove as tears burned her eyes. They were going to put one of her babies in the ground ... At the Cemetery for War Heroes. Him and all the rest of the students that fell at the final battle, giving their lives for their fellow children. Because that's what they were, children ...
"Yeah, I can get them up," Dawn said softly, seeing the telltale signs of tears. George stopped eating and just stared at his mothers softly shaking shoulders. Dawn didn't want to see any more. She left the kitchen and started up the stairs. She knocked quietly on one door, waiting for someone to acknowledge life before moving on until she stopped at the last one. Ginny's. She opened the door quietly, peaking in to see the petite redheads arms wrapped around Harry's shoulders, his dark head resting against her throat. She smiled softly at the protective instincts of the girl. She really was her mother. She stepped into the room and touched Harry's shoulder with her hand, jumping back as he sprang into action; wrapping Ginny in his arms and pulling her between him and the wall, facing out to Dawn with a half scared half determined look on his face. Dawn smiled softly and nodded at him.
"You're perfect for her," Dawn told him. Realization came to his eyes and Ginny sighed softly, kissing him on the cheek and reaching over to set her wand on the table by the bed. A wand that the other two hadn't noticed her snatch up. Harry sat up, rubbing his hands over his face before standing up and stretching his arms in the air. Dawn couldn't bring herself to tease her almost-sister-in-law about the pretty body he had when he was wearing only black pajama pants. Ginny stood up wearing a pair of shorts and a huge shirt that looked like it was Charlie's.
"I'll be down in a few minutes to start breakfast, I'm sorry I slept so long," Ginny told her friend, a frown on her face as she searched her dresser drawers.
"No worries, you're mom is up and cooking for an army. She says be clean and pretty for the services," she sent a quick sly glance at Harry "Both of you," She stepped out of the room and missed the surprised smiles on the couples faces. Dawn would be alright eventually.
At the bottom of the stairs she noted that most of the family was still upstairs, though there were sounds of movement in every room. Dawn took her original seat and caught the cup of coffee that hovered in front of her. She sent a greatful smile to Molly and sipped the liquid, quirking an eyebrow at Xander as she did.
"This coffee is amazing. Thick, dark, and probably capable of cleaning a carburetor," He told her, "Especially after sleeping on a couch and getting a crick in your neck," He grinned to show he didn't mind. He also didn't mention that he'd been awake when she and George had walked through the living room, neither one noticing the sometime carpenter. Dawn gave a little smile and nodded. The smile quickly faded when Arthur didn't rise to the comment about muggle gadgetry. Just another reminder that all could not possibly be right in the world. As though she needed other reminders. Dawn took a deep breath and tried to focus her mind, to wipe unfair and selfish thoughts from her head. She wasn't the only one hurting.
"Dawn, as soon as your done with that I thought you and I could head to the flat. Get ready there and then meet everyone at the cemetery," George offered, knowing that she would want a few moments to herself, just as he did. Dawn nodded and gulped down the last of her coffee.
"I'm done," She told him. George nodded and hugged his mother close before disapparating with a loud crack. Dawn hugged Molly as well before turning and staring at Xander for a moment. "I'll meet you there," She said after a bit, not sure what she wanted to tell him. Xander made a shooing gesture and Dawn closed her eyes, feeling the light tickling sensation that meant she was traveling before opening her eyes to find herself in their flat. George was standing in the center of the living room, eyes looking at everything around him.
"Does this mean we're admitting we wont see him again?" George asked quietly after a moment, walking over and righting the picture he'd placed face down earlier. Dawn stepped up beside him and stared at the picture for a moment.
"I don't know," She told him after a moment.
"I'm gonna hop in the shower," George told him. Dawn nodded and started walking around the room. She'd never before thought about what all of them meant to their living space. It was there though. The dagger tossed on the side table was hers, the notepad covered in doodles was Georges, the stray bouncy ball was Fred's. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry at the last. Fred and his toys. He said he was inspired by muggle playthings, something about the imagination that refused to be limited because of a simple lack of magic. Dawn loved introducing him to things. Like the slinky. That had been her favorite. Especially when he was able to use it to create a curse to help the war only to refuse to let anyone have it because it would destroy an innocence in the muggle born students. He had turned it into a new prank for the joke shop instead. That was so Fred. His priorities might not fit with the Aurors, but it fit perfectly with Dawn.
Dawn heard the shower turn off and turned toward her own bedroom. She walked inside and looked around for a moment. She had a dress. It had a long skirt that floated behind her as she walked and a halter neckline with almost no back. Fred had picked it out for her, it was for their honeymoon. For a nice dinner in Jamaica. It was warm enough to wear it now though. She opened her closet slowly, staring at the contents for a moment and carefully pulling it out, laying the light fabric across the bed before she stripped down. She pulled out her red silk underwear, bought on a whim simply because Fred was so fond of the color. She pulled them on and then pulled the dress over her head, letting cascade down her skin like a waterfall, catching the straps and hooking them behind her neck. She looked in the mirror and cocked her head to the side. The dark blue fabric snugged every curve, but wasn't skin tight. The neckline dropped just enough to give a hint but no more. She turned away from the mirror to face her dresser, where her jewelry box sat. She didn't need to look back to know that if the back had gone less than an inch lower her underwear might have been seen. She'd plan to go commando in it for Fred ... but that wasn't going to happen now. She dug through her box but couldn't find the necklace she was looking for, the simple sapphire pendant that had been her mothers.
The brunette turned again, this time toward Fred's bedside table. He tucked her jewelry in their when she wore it to bed and he had to untangle it from her hair. She opened the drawer and dug around. One hand touched a thin chain, the other a velvet box. She withdrew both items, glancing down at the small silver band and the large sapphire on her ring finger. Her engagement ring. She put on the necklace, the teardrop sapphire hanging just below her collarbones. She turned toward the door as George came in, wearing his black suit. He looked good in it. She smiled softly and held up the little jewelers box.
"I'm trying to bring myself to open it," She told him, not sure if she should be fighting back the tears. George sat on the bed beside her and she handed him the box. He opened it and smiled. Inside was the matching ring, the other half of the set. George took it out of the box and pulled her hand to him, slipping the ring on her finger.
"He'd want you to wear it," George told her. Dawn nodded. She stood up with a deep breath and walked in front of the mirror. She could have cheated and used magic, but she felt the need to put her hair up the old fashioned way. She spent ten minutes brushing her long straight hair before looping it up in a ponytail and twisting the locks into a simple bun. She didn't want to put on makeup. She figured it would just get ruined with the crying later anyway.
"I'm ready to go," She told George. He nodded and took a deep breath, his hands in his pockets.
"I know it's rather sudden, but I feel I need to tell you something," He told her, his voice serious. Dawn nodded.
"Alright," She agreed. George stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders, bracing her.
"You haven't got any shoes on," The two of them stared at each other for a moment before breaking down into laughter. The laughed so hard they couldn't breath, their faces flushing and cheeks hurting.
"It wasn't that funny," Dawn said after a few moments. George chuckled a little and nodded.
"I know," He agreed. Dawn snagged a pair of blue stiletto sandals out of the closet and pulled them on. Fred had loved that she was tall and he liked it when she wore heels. She finished adjusting the straps and stood up, glancing back in the mirror at her big blue eyes and damning herself for not having a tan. She looked wan and pathetic. She felt wan and pathetic. With a raised eyebrow she adjusted her inner magic to send her to the cemetery. A few moments later George joined her.
"This is cheerful," George said dully as they looked across the field. There were a lot of other services being held at the moment. They should probably be at some of them. Harry and Ginny had gone to a few, as had the rest of the Weasleys. Molly George and Dawn were the only ones that had missed Remus and Tonks' funerals.
"Let's go give them something to talk about" Dawn told her friend, walking slowly toward one of the larger funerals that hadn't yet begun. With so many headlining War Heroes going to this one some of the hangers on and the press as well as the extended family were going to be there. Dawn didn't realize what a figure she made. It was bound to be another front cover; tall brunette in the soft dress, walking against the wind, her dress floating and roaring around her, her face blank of expression, but still with red and black rimmed eyes. The bruising and cuts hadn't been fully healed and purple splotches colored her skin, though she didn't notice. A few wisps of hair escaped confinement to play around her face, drawing notice to her big blue eyes, so filled with pain.
"Is it wrong to want to turn them all into canary's," George asked just before they got into hearing range.
"I think Fred would approve," Dawn told him seriously, her mind racing forward, contemplating the speech she didn't want to make. She took the seat beside Molly and focused on the dark coffin in front of her. She wanted to kiss him goodbye. She knew he was smirking in that thing, in the dark coffin. As though this was all hilarious. For some reason it was all that she could focus on. He was smirking at them all, smiling as though this were the funniest thing ever. He got the last laugh. The jackass.