A/N: SOO desperately didn't want to cover the material that's coming in this chapter…but I had to…WAH! I don't know if I got 'love hearts' right. I don't know if those are what they sound like, or not!

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS SU. (See profile.)

Next chapter is the epilogue, for anyone who cares.

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Red

Sunflower

Ladybird/Ladybug

Love Hearts

I'm surrounded.

The red envelops me.

I'm choking.

I'm falling.

I'm loosing consciousness.

I'm drowning.

I'm crying.

Oh my Fred! My beautiful, perfect baby.

My sweet, angel-faced, trouble-making boy.

The other twin sat, staring at the wall, for days. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't sleep. He just stared.

And then came Alicia Spinnet, bearing more tears and a sunflower.

A sunflower.

I remembered how the sun had come out again when I lost my brothers. Thanks to Arthur.

And so perhaps Alicia could be George's sun, symbolized by that beautiful, cheerful sunflower.

No matter what, though, no matter if George got over his twin's death, I never will recover completely.

Everyday, in the morning, I wake up thinking of Fred.

I have nightmares every night.

I wake up shivering and sweating, and Arthur helps.

"Shh," he'll say in his beautiful, comforting voice. "I'm here now. It's okay. You're okay. We'll all be okay. Just breathe."

And I will. It will work. I will kiss him and smile and wipe my eyes, and he will brush away the last of my tears lovingly.

I'll bury my face in his shirt and sob my heart out, sometimes.

He'll just hold me. He'll stroke my back and whisper sweet little nothings in my ear.

And in the morning, no matter what, he'll be there, smiling his fool face off, just because I can manage a smile.

And I love him for it.

When I stared at the sunflower harder, I noticed a bright red ladybug sitting placidly on a petal, as if she were supposed to be there.

I blinked at her.

"Arthur," I whispered, "what should I do with this ladybird on George's sunflower?"

He looked up from the Daily Prophet.

And then he laughed.

"What should I do with this ladybird on George's sunflower?"

I started laughing too. It was a relief to finally laugh again. It had been weeks since the Battle, but neither Arthur nor I had laughed yet.

Thank Merlin for that Alicia Spinnet, eh?

Two years later, I repeated the thought over and over in my mind.

I stared at George, sobbing my eyes out.

My baby was getting married!

Really, Alicia is the perfect girl for him.

She saved us all from more pain than ever. She saved us from potentially loosing George, too.

Still, it's hard. I've been much more protective of him since Fred—since it happened.

But now, finally, I let my son go.

Arthur slipped his hand into mine as we walked back up to the house.

I turned and smiled at him. "I love you, Arthur," I said.

He smiled at me. We had to part, then, because of the old fashioned dance that will happen.

But I felt a piece of paper in my hands and noticed a twinkle in Arthur's eye.

It was red paper hearts connected, with the words, 'I love you' and 'my brown-eyed girl' decorating it. He'd made it by magic, that much I knew, (Arthur wasn't particularly artistic, if you will) but how he'd come up with the idea I'll never know.

I dried my tears and smiled the biggest smile I could muster.

"Three years ago, I had to give up Bill. And then, I had to give up George's twin, Fred."

Tears filled my eyes as I began my speech for George and Alicia's reception. George had asked me to be my usual self. Though he pretended he hated when I was so sentimental, I knew he secretly found comfort in that.

I smoothed my bright red dress. I looked at my matching nails. I smiled. And I continued.

"Now, I have to give up George. And next is Percy. And then, who knows? I'll have no one left. And I'll miss them all terribly.

"But never, ever have I seen a more perfect match for George than Alicia Spinnet—er, Weasley.

"You were welcomed into the family with that sunflower you brought two weeks after the Battle. The one with the laugh-inducing ladybird on it. Arthur and I hadn't laughed since the Battle, but you and your plant got us to do the unthinkable. And the second I heard George say, 'We've all got to move on,' I knew you were The One.

"And the first time I hugged you, the first time Ron said, 'She's become like a sister to us all,' and the fact that you made that beautiful speech at the funeral helped me realize: You are a Weasley through and through.

"So now I will formally welcome you into the family, Alicia Weasley. We love you. Merlin bless you."

The tears that threatened to come were dampening my face. I wiped them away and nodded at everyone clapping for me. I went and gave Alicia and George hugs.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Weasley."

"It's Molly, dear. And think nothing of it."

Thank Merlin for Alicia, those sunflowers, and the ladybird.

And thank Merlin for those love hearts.

Or who knows?

I could still be crying.

I'm surrounded.

The love envelops me.

I'm flying.

I leave the horrid red behind and reach out my hand to my husband--my lifeline.

I'm gaining consciousness.

It's surreal.

I reach the pale, perfect red that everyone else in my family is occupying

I look at the red around me.

I look at my family and Arthur.

I smile.

And I continue with life.