Bill rubbed his eyes, and put his head in his hands. It had been a long day. His daughter, Victoire, had turned 10, and they'd had a party as usual. Almost everyone had come, and George had come late, which was also very normal for that day. The only exceptions were Teddy and Charlie. Teddy Lupin, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonk's son, was currently in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Bill chuckled as he remembered his time there. The other who was absent was Bill's younger brother Charlie. Charlie was in Romania working with dragons, as he had been since he left Hogwarts, and had owled Bill earlier that week to announce that he wouldn't able to make it. Bill glanced at an old family photo he kept on the desk, and his heart skipped a beat. No, there had been one more person absent. Bill reminded himself forcefully. Fred hadn't been there either; in fact, Fred was the reason for George's tardiness. Bill smiled for a moment, amused by the fact that he could find something similar to what had happened to the twins a long time ago when Fred would do something and George would suffer the repercussions of it (it went both ways, of course: George doing something that would later affect Fred in not the best of ways.) However, this time, when Fred had broken a major rule, it resulted in George ultimately suffering. Bill's smile slid off his face as he thought of the lone Weasley twin. He knew it wasn't really Fred's fault that he'd gotten killed, but that didn't hurt George any less. Fred wouldn't have ever left George behind, not if he could help it. However, Fred hadn't had much choice in the matter of living or dying. Fred breaking rules, it was a common thing, but Bill still couldn't help but want to scold him for breaking the rules of a duel. It wasn't a written law, but rather, an unspoken one, that when dueling: You simply don't laugh, joke around, and basically not pay attention to what's going on around you, the same goes for war, paticularly a war with the darkest wizard of the age (even if IS only his underlings that you're fighting...). Fred, being Fred, had of course been joking, and laughing and hadn't noticed the wall blowing up and gotten killed. Or well, that's what it sounded like the way that Percy told the tale of his death. Although he missed that goofy bloke of a little brother, Bill didn't doubt it for a moment that Fred would be careless like that.
He shifted a piece of paper on the desk, when a voice came from behind the doorway to his room, "Dad, I was wondering…" the sentance faded before it was finished.
Bill looked up to see his oldest child, Victoire, standing in the doorway clutching what looked like a promising new Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes joke item, and wearing the new necklace with a Victorian font-style V charm that she'd gotten for her birthday from her Uncle George.
"Hey Victoire, what was that you were wondering?" Bill asked, motioning with his hand for her to come into the room and take a seat.
"Well…" she began, trailing off. She came into the room and set the box down, pulled up a chair, then continued, "I was wondering, why is Uncle George always late? I mean, he always says he has business to attend to, but why does he schedule it for today when he knows it's my birthday? And it can't be joke shop business, because I asked Fred and Roxanne, and they said that they didn't know what he was doing. I'm pretty sure he'd tell them if it was. I asked Angelina too, and she didn't answer, just changed the subject quickly and wouldn't let me bring it up again." She said all this very fast, as if she thought she was asking something forbidden. When she finished, she gave Bill such a piercing stare, he decided it was best that she learned about the fifth uncle she didn't know she had; otherwise, Victoire would probably bother him until he told her, or ask someone else and get the distorted version, perhaps through a certain joke product that Fred and George had invented for spying on the Order many years ago.
Bill turned to face Victoire directly, silently cursing his younger brother and his dead twin for their impeccable timing, then began speaking, "Well, as you know, you're birthday is the downfall of Voldemort."
"His second downfall, you mean" Victoire cut in.
"Er, yeah. And of course, you know that there was a war, and all of your uncles were involved in the war and fought against him." Bill continued, "And, as you know, not everyone survives in war, in fact, many people died. On the last day, this day, twelve years ago, there were many casualties in the final battle. No one really thinks about the deaths, they don't want to, it's too painful. But the losses are evident."
"Who died?" Victoire demanded.
"I'm getting there! Now then, your five uncles…" Bill started, but was again interrupted.
"What? I only have four uncles, Dad." Victoire said.
"No, you have five." Bill told her, remembering her fifth uncle, remembering his death, how guilty Bill had felt. He was Fred's older brother; he was supposed to protect him. But he couldn't, and Fred had died. He remembered that Percy had told him many times that it wasn't his fault, if anyone's it was Percy's. Percy was his big brother too, and he had been right next to Fred when it happened. Despite all this though, Bill still felt guilty, and he knew that George felt guilty too. Fred was his twin, and George felt although he should have at least been there, even if he couldn't have stopped it. Bill wonder, not for the first time, if George was envious that Percy had been there in Fred's last moments. That Percy had been the reason for Fred's last smile, and for that, was George jeleous that he'd not shared his twin's final laugh?
"Dad?" Victoire prompted, breaking into his train of thoughts.
"What? Oh, as I was saying. Yes you had five uncles, and your fifth uncle, well; he and George were very close." Bill continued.
"Was his name Fred?" Victoire asked sharply.
"Yes. His name was Fred, how did you know that?" Bill asked, feeling that if she already knew this, then the conversation was a waste of time.
"Well, you started out the conversation by saying people had died in the final battle, that I had five uncles not four, and that he was close to Uncle George. Well, I figured whoever he was; he must have died during The Battle of Hogwarts. He must have a guy's name, and if he was close to George, then George probably would have named one of his children after him. So, I took a shot and decided on Fred." Victoire answered quickly, although this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well, yes. His name was Fred, and you're right, George did name his son Fred after him. You see, Fred and George, they were twins. As close as they can get, they opened the joke shop together while they were still in school. They were both beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. You hardly ever saw one without the other; it was always Fred and George, George and Fred: never just George or just Fred. But the war changed that. You know your Uncle's missing ear? The first thing he did when he woke up was make a crack about being 'holey' to Fred. He was always a joker, as was Fred. They were quite a duo." Bill informed her, "If you must know, Fred even died laughing. Your Uncle Percy was there, as were Harry, Ron and Hermione."
Victoire was silent for a moment, and then spoke up, "So, Uncle George, he misses my birthday every year to go and visit Fred?" she paused, and Bill thought angrily for a moment about the way she said it made it sound although she didn't think that Fred and George being twins was such a big deal. She then continued "And he was the only one, the only casualties among the Weasley's?" She looked up at her father, he wasn't sure what he saw in her face, hope maybe? His anger disolved instantly as he forcefully reminded himself that she was just a kid, and she didn't know Fred and George when Fred had been alive, so she couldn't understand just how close they had been.
"Yes. He was the only one." Bill replied heavily, recalling the time after the war, when everything seemed so bleak. One of the only things he could really remember was that he just knew that Fred was dead, George seemed gone too, and Voldemort was no longer in power. Then, much to everyone's surprise and amusement, George blew up Fred's tombstone at Fred's funeral. He told jokes, and even let off fireworks. He wasn't about to let anyone think of Fred in a mournful way. He had said, "Fred wouldn't have had us moping, you know. He would have come up here, laughing and making jokes about everyone, known exactly what to say to get you all smiling again. And in his honor, I don't think we should mourn as tradition, we should laugh and tell jokes; remember all the good times we had. We can't remember him as the man who died, nope. We should remember him as the man who went down fighting, who refused to stop laughing, even in death." With that little speech, everyone had cheered up, and the mood had lightened considerably. The twins' good mood's had always been infectious and they could get anyone to smile. It was rumored that one of their pranks, back in their early years at Hogwarts, had gotten even Professor Snape to smile, even if for only a few seconds. Bill was pretty sure that was only a rumor, as he knew Professor Snape, but if it actually had happened, then more power to Fred and George. Or, well George, rather.
Victoire was silent, taking in everything Bill had told her, "You all right?" he asked her.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just guess it explains some things. I remember Lee going up to Harry, asking him if George was there, and Harry had replied saying, 'Nope, not yet. He's still off talking to Rapier.' I didn't know who Rapier was, and was about to ask, but then Harry continued, 'We're lucky, he was the only one. I don't think we could have handled it if there had been more.'" Victoire had never said, 'Uncle' Harry, as he had told her to refer to him as just 'Harry'. For some reason calling him Uncle bothered him.
"Ah well, during the war, we had a radio broadcast called "Potterwatch.'" Bill began.
"I know about that, it was how the Order got news out to the other members, because the other stations didn't have any news, only being controlled by Voldemort and what not." Victoire dismissed the explanation impatiently.
"Quite right. Everyone had their code names, Lee was River, Remus was Romulus, Kingsley was River," Bill continued, feeling sad at the mention of Teddy's father, "And Fred, he was Rapier. Or, if you want to get technical, he was either Rapier or Rodent. He and Lee had an argument over the radio about it in fact. Ask Lee sometime, I'm sure he'd enjoy telling you about it." Bill laughed as he remembered that particular broadcast then became a bit more somber, addressing the issue of what Harry had said, "But yes, Harry was right. Fred was the only one we lost, and he was also right in saying it would have been much harder to handle if we'd lost more. I believe, when he was saying that, he meant it the way I just said it, as well as in reference to George. We were worried George would try to join Fred." He didn't tell her that they'd all felt that George's humor had died along side Fred, and that they had lost the person they knew as George, even if he was still there physically.
"No! Uncle George has much more sense than that; he wouldn't have, because he would know how much it would hurt all of you! That probably wasn't his only reason, he must have had more. If he was as close to Fred as you say he was, then Uncle George would have stayed to continue Fred's legacy. Continue the joke shop in his honor. Not only that, if Fred is just like Uncle George, or well as alike as you imply, then if Uncle George had done that, Fred probably wouldn't have welcomed him back with open arms, but instead would have been really annoyed." Victoire said, scolding her father for even thinking such things. Her Uncle seemed like a brave man who wouldn't resort to those tactics.
"Right again, Victoire. But, you can't blame us for feeling that way. I know we all feel guilty about it now, because we underestimated him, but we did what we felt we needed to do at the time." Bill said immediately feeling defensive at being chastised by a 10 year old. Then he took a moment to roll over in his head all that Victoire said. She seemed to be grasping all this much quicker than a 10 year old should. She must be much smarter than he had originally given her credit for, "So, do you think you can forgive your Uncle George for coming late every year and missing your parties?" Bill looked directly into her eyes, although willing her to forgive George.
"I suppose so." Victoire answered a little ruefully.
Bill sighed, and picked up the old photo he kept on his desk, and handed it to her, "Do you see them? Fred's the one with the jumper that has an F, while George has the G." he answered. But even as he spoke he wasn't sure who was who. Sometimes the twins would switch sweaters, and pretend to be the other; or they would walk around calling themselves Gred and Forge.
Victoire put her finger on George, who didn't appreciate being poked, then promptly stuck his tongue out at her, while she said, "He has two ears." She then moved her finger over to Fred, who had been laughing at George a few moment's before, and looked furious as she poked him with her finger, "So this is Fred? He seems…" She wasn't sure what she was trying to say. In the picture she noticed that Fred and George couldn't have been older than 18 or 19, "They seem much happier than Uncle George ever does, even when he's laughing." She finally decided to say.
"Yes, losing a twin will do that to someone." Bill said, taping his chin with his finger thoughtfully as he watched Victoire look over the entire picture.
"So, this is Harry, Ron, Hermione, Aunt Ginny, you, mum, Uncle George, Fred, Uncle Percy…he doesn't seem to happy, Uncle Charlie, Grandma, and Grandpa" She pointed them out, and as she did so, noticed how they all seemed much younger and happier; with the exception of Percy (who she assumed had just had a rather nasty prank pulled on him).
Bill noticed that though many times in this conversation she'd said Fred's name, she'd never called him 'Uncle', "You're never going to call Fred uncle, are you?" he mused.
"No. I don't believe I will. Actually, I'm not sure why I call Uncle George that either. It seems too formal, for either of them. As for Fred, well I don't even know him, Uncle or not." She said decisively.
"Well, I know George won't mind if you stop calling him Uncle. He said that it makes him feel old when you lot do that." Bill explained, and she started to giggle. She thought it was hard to imagine her Uncle George being old, when he was just like a kid trapped in an adult's body.
"Well, young lady, I do believe it's time for bed. New age or not, you still need your sleep." Bill said sternly.
"Yes, Father." Victoire said, doing an impersonation of her cousin Fred, who acted very much like their Uncle Percy at that age (George, however much everyone expected him to be, was not ashamed of having a son who followed in Percy's footsteps even if he was Fred's namesake, so long as he didn't turn his back on his family.)
There was silence for a moment, and both father and daughter began laughing and Bill ushered her off to bed, new joke shop item/gift in tow. For the rest of the night, he thought about the war, and his younger brothers. He thought about the loss his family had suffered, and how much George had suffered. Despite the fact he would act just as he had when Fred was there, they all knew he felt inner turmoil, and even after the funeral they all had kept a close watch on him. It wasn't until he'd married Angelina that they had relaxed a little bit, feeling although he had finally moved on. Bill thought of his own grief, and how he felt guilty about not protecting his little brother, and he thought of how Percy must have felt. He had only just come back to the family, only just made up with everyone, when BAM! His little brother died right in front of him (well literally speaking, it was right next to him), doing what he did best: teasing him, making a joke, and laughing. Bill remembered how he couldn't believe it, when he walked into the Great Hall and had seen Percy coming up to him, looking although he was about to cry, and told him through a strained voice what had happened. He remembered disbelieving Percy, doubting him, even asking him if he was under the Imperius curse. Looking back on it, that wasn't the most brilliant thing to do really, when someone is put under the Imperius curse, they're not likely to tell you, "Oh yes, and by the way, I'm Impursed.", but Bill hadn't been thinking, he'd just been told that one of his family member's had died, and most of all one of the one's who had seemed rather invincible. That was something dumb to believe too, that Fred and George were invincible. Bill knew that most of the family thought the same as he did, that Fred and George were inseparable; one couldn't survive the war when the other didn't. How wrong they had all been, and it had been a nasty shock when they had found out too. When Bill had seen Fred lying on the ground, laughter still evident on his face, he thought of how George was going to react. He wasn't sure if perhaps, even after the ear incident, if the twins had foolishly thought like the rest of the family and believed that they couldn't be separated. Of course, that was before Bill realized that if Fred was dead, George could be too, as could anyone, and when he caught site of George walking into the Great Hall smirking, he felt sick with worry and grief. He knew George would try to turn it into a joke, but after that, what would he do? Try to kill Rookwood, or maybe try to join Fred? Bill remembered what George had said in the Great Hall, when he had first seen Fred's body when he fell beside his twin's head, "Hey, c'mon, get up. Most of your jokes are funny, mate, but this one isn't. Get up!" George had commanded. When Fred hadn't responded, George had looked at Bill and said quietly, "This isn't a joke is it?" Bill only nodded his head, unable to speak, and George turned back to the fallen joker, "Can't believe you. Dead before the final battle is even over. Here you were saying you couldn't wait to throw the after party when we won, guess you were dead wrong, Gred." George really had a thing with puns that year. But after his little joke, he fell silent, bowed his head, and didn't speak again until Fred's funeral, when his first word's were, "You know, Fred and I always loved to blow stuff up" and without further adieu, had promptly blown up his twin's headstone and went into his informal eulogy. Everyone had been shocked by the bluntness of his actions, but then began to smirk, all thinking along the same lines, "What else could you expect at the funeral of Fred Weasley, especially when his twin is in charge of the affair?"
Bill chuckled weakly, remembering Fred and George when they were younger, during the war, before Fred's death. He couldn't help but laugh at all the past pranks they had pulled, even if at the time it hadn't seemed too funny. He specifically remembered the time when he first came home with long hair and Fred and George had thought it would be funny to make it look although it had been cut off when it really wasn't. To that day, Bill still wasn't sure how they managed to only make his hair seem cut; when in fact it was just as long as before. He remembered that they had told him their mother had cut it off while he was sleeping, and when he had confronted her, how silly he felt when he realized he'd fallen for one of their pranks. Bill sighed, sliding into his bed, next to his wife, Fleur. He bid her good night, and turned over. He was so sure he wouldn't be able to sleep, but much to his surprise, he was nearly asleep by the time his head hit the pillow. His last thoughts of the day were of a time back before the war, when they all could laugh with ease and not worry about looking over their shoulders and before they were missing a twin, a son, a friend. And lastly, he thought of his family, of George, and of Fred, who had died like a hero, laughing in the middle of battle, trying to make the world a better place, by being a walking oxymoron. By bringing smiles to people's faces, and jinxing off the one's on the Death Eater's, and by joking, even in his final hour, and dying with a smile on his face.