After His Death

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I walked downstairs, Ginny trailing behind me. Mom dropped the knife she was holding, but caught it with a flick of her wand. "George!" she gasped.

"Hi, Mom," I said and continued walking. I walked out the door, turned and—

Was somewhere else. I stood outside a very familiar store. The signs in the window were still flashing lazily, the enchantments wearing off. A lopsided cardboard plaque said "Sorry, we're closed."

I walked in. "We're closed!" someone screamed from the backroom. "Can't you read?"

"Sure I can," I replied.

I heard something crash in the back and caught a glimpse of something blond and maroon before it crashed into me, giving me a tremendous hug.

"George!"

"I'm back," I said. There really wasn't very much else to say.

Verity stepped back and looked at me. "I missed you," she said simply. I saw her eyes go to my ear. Or rather, to my missing ear.

"You've changed," she remarked.

"Who hasn't?" I asked.

Her eyes were filling with tears. It was only later that I realized mine had too.

I settled in pretty quickly. Nothing in my room had change. It was odd, I realized. This was the only place Fred and I had not shared a room. Of that, I was glad. There was less to remind me of him.

Verity was overjoyed to have me back. I knew things had been hard for her.

We had a quiet dinner. Being here was much better than home. No, scratch that. This was home.

That night, I had a dream.

I was in a large hall draped with Gryffindor flags. I walked all the way down it. Things were happening around me but I ignored them and just kept walking.

Finally, I reached the end of the hall. There was a mirror.

I looked at my reflection. The first thing that I noticed was that I was wearing the maroon robes that we wore in the store. My eyes traveled upward.

My reflection had two ears. Automatically, I reached up and touched mine. There was still a flat spot where my ear wasn't.

"What is going on here?" I asked the world.

My reflection replied, "This is the Mirror of Erised. Remember, Harry told us about it?"

"Oh yeah," I said. "So my deepest desire is to have both ears?

The reflection laughed. "No, you dufus! I'm Fred, can't you tell?"

I couldn't. How come I hadn't guessed that?

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you, you know," I replied.

"This is a dream, bud. Anything can happen in a dream."

"So this isn't real. This is just in my head." I was disappointed.

"Of course this is in your head, but why does that make it any less real?" he asked solemnly.

I gave him a very strange look.

He laughed. "Sorry, just a line I stole from dear old Dumbledore."

"You've seen Dumbledore? He's there too?"

"On the other side of the vale," he said mysteriously.

"You've changed," I said regretfully.

"Who hasn't?" he asked, quoting me.

"You heard that?"

"I was curious."

"Seriously, though. You're different."

"Being dead does that to you." He smiled sadly.

"What's it …like?" I asked.

"Being dead? Different. I can't really explain it. It's against the rules, too."

"Since when have you cared about rules?"

Fred started to reply, but then he glanced over his shoulder. "I have to go now. Listen, George. Don't lose your sense of humor. That's the most important thing. Don't forget how to laugh." he faded away and I woke up.

I was lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

"Don't forget…"

Sorry it took so long to update. Please review!