Chapter 3—After his Death
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I settled into life pretty quickly. We did not talk about him or about life before. Verity understood that I was not ready yet.
We had very few customers those first few weeks. The wizarding world was in shock. Aurors were rounding up the last few Death Eaters. Harry's picture was on the front page of the Prophetfor ten days running. I imagined how embarrassed he must be.
To my surprise, there was a big article one day about the DA. It went on and on about how brave these students were, standing up to the evil Dolores Umbridge (who, by the way, was in Azkaban awaiting her trial). Also, how the boy-who-lived taught the class even though he was getting cruelly punished…Honestly, it was not so much about bravery. As a graduate of Dumbledore's Army myself, I can tell you, we weren't trying to aggravate Umbridge. We just wanted to be safe, to be able to defend ourselves better.
That is, the DA was not trying to aggravate Umbridge. I can't tell you that we, the we that I had always been part of until now, did not try to annoy Umbridge as much as possible. Yes, Fred and I certainly went out of our way to be as bad as possible.
One morning, I came down late and saw Verity crying over an article on the coach. I came over to her and looked over her shoulder.
It was a list of the people who died in the Battle of Hogwarts.
I sat next to her and read it too. It went on and on. Some of the names shocked me. I had had no idea.
Remus and Tonks… I had known they were dead, but it hadn't really sunk in. Poor Teddy. I made a mental note to visit him sometime. Dead. Now that I thought about it, I had even seen their bodies. I just hadn't paid attention. I was mourning Fred.
Colin Creevy. The little boy with the camera who idolized Harry. Some Death Eater had murdered him. He was underage but snuck back to the castle because he knew it was the right thing to do.
Lavender Brown. Greyback had almost killed her, leaving her on the ground after Hermione stunned him. She lay on the floor dying until someone's killing curse finally hit her. She had been Ron's first girlfriend.
Andrew Goldstein.
Dedalus Diggle.
Fred Weasley.
I realized that I was crying. Verity was too. She pointed to the list.
"Colin was my cousin."
"I remember him," I replied. "You should talk to Harry about him. He knew him well."
"Really?"
I nodded. "I knew most of these people," I said. "Ron dated Lavender for a while. Anthony was in my year. Remus was my teacher. Tonks was so much fun. Dedalus Diggle was in the Order. Very excitable guy, he was."
"And Fred," she whispered.
It was the first time either of us had mentioned his name.
I paused for a moment. "And Fred," I agreed. "Always Fred."
She hugged me and I sobbed into her hair.
I promised myself that I would go to every Death Eater's trial.
A few days later, I got an owl from Ginny. It was a fancy envelope. I was confused.
I ripped it open.
We are overjoyed to invite you to the wedding of
Harry James Potter, son of Lily and James Potter
And
Ginevra Molly Weasley, daughter of Molly and Arthur Weasely
On Sunday the sixteenth of August nineteen-eighty-one
I blinked. Harry and Ginny were getting married in two months? But Bill only just got married. The oldest and youngest kid in a family with SEVEN kids were getting married within a year of each other?
Sorry, six kids.
There was something else in the envelope. I turned it upside down. Two pieces of parchment fell out.
One was a reply card. The other was a letter.
DearGeorge
You may have noticed that there was no place mentioned in the invitation. This is because we do not want a million reporters at our wedding. Kingsley Shacklebolt, our good friend and acting Minister of Magic, has agreed to find us a safe spot. More information will follow later.
Sincerely,
Ginny Weasley
I couldn't help but laugh. I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I called.
Verity came in, holding an identical invitation. "That was a welcome sound to hear," she commented
I looked at her blankly.
"You laughing," she clarified.
"Oh," I said. "You got one too?"
"Invitation? Yeah."
"Poor Harry," I said.
"Why poor Harry?"
"He must be so embarrassed. I mean, they have to hide their wedding so the reporters don't show up. I hope it dies down."
"We're lucky they haven't come here," said Verity.
We heard a voice downstairs. "George?" it called. "Verity?"
We looked at each other. "Sounds like Ginny," I said. We went downstairs.
Sure enough, my sister's head was sticking out of the fire. "Hey, George," she said when she was me, "you got it?"
I held up the invitation.
"The Burrow is overrun. God, those reporters are awful. Harry's thinking about going into hiding. Listen, can a bunch of us come over to you?"
I glanced at Verity, who shrugged. "Why not?" I said.
"Thank you so much," Ginny looked over her shoulder. "Oh, and George? It's really good to see you. I knew you were here."
"No one else guessed?" I said.
"I told them you went to France. No one guessed that you would be in the most obvious place. Anyway, we'll be over soon." She grinned at me and pulled her head back.
"I just hope the reporters don't guess," Verity whispered from behind me.
"Who knows?" I joked. "It might be good for business."
She stared at me. "You're joking, George," she said. I looked at her for a moment. "You actually are joking, George," she said in delight. "I don't think I've heard you joke since—"She stopped when I sat down on the nearest chair abruptly.
"George, are you all right? What's wrong?"
"Those…" I began. "You sounded…" I put my cold hand to my face. It felt good. "That was almost exactly what….what Fred said right before the explosion."
She hugged me. "Oh, George. I'm sorry. I miss him too…"
Then we heard multiple cracks and my family appeared in the room.
"George!" cried Mum, and hugged me so tightly I thought my ribs would crack. Over her shoulder I saw Dad, Percy, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Bill, Hermione, Charlie, a pregnant Fleur and Verity, standing on the side. Finally Mum released me.
"Err…hi everyone," I said.
I knew why they were looking at me like that. It was not just that they hadn't seen me in a month. It was that I look like Fred.
Ginny gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, "I missed you."
We stood there awkwardly for a second. Harry said, "You don't know what a lifesaver you are, George. Those reporters…" he looked to the heavens for help.
Everyone else laughed.
"Everyone," I announced, "This is Verity. Verity, this is my Mum and Dad. These are my brothers, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron…and Harry, I guess."
Harry grinned. "I guess we are brothers now, aren't we?"
"This is my sister Ginny—"
"I know Verity already," said Ginny, giving her a hug.
"And I guess that leaves Hermione, who could be my sister but isn't."
Hermione smiled at Verity.
Dad, Charlie and Bill shook her hand, Ron sort of waved at her, Percy gave an interesting sort of bow and Mum gave her a hug.
Ron looked around. "I love this place," he said.
I looked around. The shelves weren't fully stocked, there was nothing new, the charms that made things flash lights were wearing off, but it was still the best joke shop in the world.
That's all for now. Please, please R&R!