Eulogy for Fred Weasley
George stood up at the front of the Great Hall, seeing without really seeing the sea of faces before him. He didn't look at his family.
Everyone quietly waited for him to compose himself.
He had never felt a grief this deep. He felt as if he could never laugh again.
Because the pain was so terrible, because the silence was so dreadful, he did not want to think anymore and stay lost in his thoughts. And he finally opened his mouth and started to speak.
"Fred was my brother. Fred was my twin. Fred was my other half."
"We liked to joke about who was the better half. The better looking one."
"Many of you knew us, but you knew us at the Weasley twins. You didn't know us separately. You didn't know who was Fred and who was George. And that was okay. We liked it that way. You know why?"
"Because if I wasn't me, there's no person I would rather be than Fred. It was never an insult. We took it as a compliment to be mistaken for each other. There's no person I trusted more, there's no person I thought was a better man than Fred. And I know Fred felt the same way."
"Fred was me. I was Fred."
"So even though now, you think that Fred is gone, I want you to remember. He's a part of me. You can't get away from Fred Weasley so easily." A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd, and then was hastily choked off.
"No, really, it's okay to laugh. I'm being serious. It's my mission to make sure you never forget Fred and all he lived for. I'm going to work twice as hard. I'll laugh twice as much. I'll cry twice as much. I'm going to live my life for the both of us. As long as I am around – and I aim to be around a damn long time – the world will never forget Fred Weasley. When you look at me, call me whatever you like. Once in a while, call me Fred. Because I really am the better-looking one, and so if you call me Fred, then that means you think Fred is the better-looking one. And that would make Fred happy, don't you think?"
There was laughter through the tears. Or maybe it was tears through the laughter. Whatever it was, George knew, in his heart, that that was the way Fred would have wanted it.