Chapter 2: Fireworks
Harry sat in the corner of the burrow, watching awkwardly as Ginny and Katie Bell comforted a sobbing Angelina Johnson.
Alicia Spinnet, Angelina's companion for the funeral, had left quite early with an upset Oliver Wood, leaving an abandoned, unintentionally Harry was sure, and very delicate Angelina.
Fred's old girlfriend had done very well for the first hour, smiling with Mr and Mrs Weasley, gently hugging a shuddering George, and sharing memories with one of Fred's cousins. But then, while picking up a plate to get some food from the buffet, she found one of the slips of paper George had been hiding that morning. She stared at the slip for about 10 seconds before bursting into tears.
Ginny and Katie had exchanged a single look, communicating silently in that way only girls can, and proceeded to each grasp one of Angelina's arms and guide her gently to a quiet corner of the burrow. Harry had been still holding Ginny's hand when she had rushed to Angelina's rescue, so he had been dragged unceremoniously along.
After much comforting, a process that seemed to contain a lot of pats on the back, reassuring squeezes and a strange cooing noise from both the girls, Angelina calmed down enough to hold out a shuddering hand, in which was still clasping the slip of paper. Katie took the offending item from her and read.
A broad grin slowly spread across her face. Katie passed it to Ginny who read it and giggled. Bemused, Harry took the slip and read the small message George had scribbled upon it.
"That time we snuck into Angelina's office and replaced her broom polish with refined Dragon Dung."
He blinked up and Angelina who was trying to speak through her sobs.
"Fred dis... distracted me... after that training session." She sniffed loudly.
"You know the one where... where they r... ruptured those boils. Well they got back by... by playing that prank... on me."
She hiccuped, smiled weakly and tried to steam her tears.
"I just miss him so... so much." Her lip trembled dangerously and her eyes filled with tears again. Sensing another outburst, Ginny put a reassuring hand on Angelina's arm.
"Angelina, would Fred really have wanted to have made you cry with that joke?"
Angelina took a deep shuddering breath and murmured a negative.
Ginny smiled. "George just wanted people to laugh at the memory, that's all. It's to help people smile, not cry."
Dean Thomas chose that moment, much to Harry's relief, to come over and present Harry with another slip of paper, grinning widely. Harry eyed the slip before taking it.
"The time we turned Ron's teddy bear into a giant tarantula. He's now terrified of spiders."
"Did they really do that?" Dean was shaking with suppressed laughter.
Harry grinned. "Yeah. Ron told me in our second year."
Five minutes later Harry, Ron, Ginny, Angelina, Katie, Hermione, Dean and Seamus were sat in a circle on the floor with a small pile of the recollections of Fred and George's greatest pranks in front of each of them.
They took turns to read out each prank, laughing at each, amazed at the sheer quantity of mayhem that the twins had achieved during their time in Hogwarts.
"The time we convinced Peeves to chase Snape around with a bottle of shampoo... The time we cast permanent sticking charms to Filches shoes while he was napping in a corridor... The time we sent Harry a toilet seat when he was in the hospital wing... The time we locked Montague in the vanishing cabinet..."
Seamus laughed, then winced (his bruises from his last year in Hogwarts still caused him a lot of pain) as he read his next prank.
"The time, during an episode of "Potter Watch", we set Lee's papers on fire."
Angelina and Katie burst out laughing, practically rolling on the floor.
"I remember that!" cried Katie. "Lee swore, threw them at Lupin and set his robes on fire. We heard the whole thing over the radio!"
Hermione read hers and let out a bark of laughter. She shot slightly guilty looks at Harry and Ginny before reading out "The time we sent Harry a Valentines singing dwarf and convinced him that it was from Ginny and she had written the poem herself. She didn't."
"What?!" Gasped Harry half laughing, half mortified, as he remembered being accosted on the way to charms in his second year, supposedly organised by Ginny, which had made him avoid her eyes for weeks. Ginny clapped her hands over her mouth, hiding her grin as she slowly turned red. Seamus was laughing so hard, he rolled onto his back.
"That... explains... this one." he gasped, picking up a slip he had discarded earlier.
"The time we lied to Harry about us sending him a Singing Valentine Dwarf. It was Ginny. She was obsessed with him. Pranking from the grave. We are good..."
Harry glanced at Ginny's scarlet face, and after a moment's silence they both burst out laughing. Harry leaned forward, still laughing, and prised Ginny's hands from her grinning mouth. Giving her a gentle tug, he pulled her across the circle and onto his lap. And as they both giggled uncontrollably, Harry pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her lovingly.
"Oh get a room you two!" Ron muttered before Hermione jumped him, and he disappeared under her giggling form.
The group of them passed the rest of the wake reading these comments. Unknown to them, they had gathered quite a crowd. Mr and Mrs Weasley had settled on a sofa nearby, listening and smiling as Mrs Weasley snuggled deeper into the warm embrace of her husband's arms. Professor McGonagall was perched on a seat behind Hermione, her tight lips pursed, laughter in her the lines of her face, as she snorted at each one of the small confessions, eyes filled with memories. Kingsley stood leaning against a wall, eyes closed, arms folded. He could have been asleep if not for the occasional smile that flashed across his face. He stood there, as immobile as a statue, looking almost peaceful. The stress of the last week eradicated from his face. Harry thought, once he had noticed the crowd of mourners who were watching the group, that Kingsley looked much younger than he had in a long while.
Gradually the group dispersed as they noticed the crowd, and as the young men and women moved away the other mourners moved in, picking up the discarded slips and reading for themselves.
George was nowhere in sight.
It was dark by the time everyone left the house. Ephias Doge left saying that it had been one of the best celebrations of life he had ever seen. Hagrid wondered out into the dark, slips of paper falling from his overstuffed pockets, leaving a trial. Kingsley and Professor McGonagall left together, taking a detour to the orchard with Bill, Ron and Mrs Weasley to see where Fred learnt his admirable Quiditch skills.
Harry was in the living room, chatting amicably with Charlie. Mr Weasley was snoring gently in a comfy armchair in the corner. Hermione was still sifting through a pile of Fred's greatest pranks, and Ginny was asleep, stretched out on the sofa next to Harry, her head in his lap.
He ran his fingers through her long silky red hair while he listened to Charlie talk about growing up in the burrow.
For the first time since the battle of Hogwarts, he felt a sense of peace. He didn't feel that all was right with the world, because it wasn't, there was still a large hole in the room where Fred should have been. But Harry's guilt and grief was somehow diminished. He had said his goodbyes, paid his respects and seen the relieved looks on the faces of those who just grateful the war was over.
The large pit of depression that Harry had been tittering on for so long had disappeared. Harry could deal with this grief, he could move on. There would always be a place in his heart for Fred, Lupin and Tonks, Dumbledore, Sirius and his Parents, a place where he could always carry them, always remember.
Now, for the first time in a long time, Harry was gently pondering the far off future, not focusing on his mission in the present, or worrying about his destiny, he was free to think about fifty, sixty years down the line, ponder idly without having to make plans.
Ginny shivered in her sleep. Her dress, though breath-taking, was not exactly the warmest of garments. Harry gently lifted her head from his lap, rose and laid her back down again on some cushions, then he took off his jacket and laid the long robe on top of her. He perched on the arm of the chair for a while and just watched her sleeping. A strand of her hair had fallen across her face and was fluttering every time she took a breath. It was fascinating.
Sensing he was being watched, Harry looked up. Charlie was staring at the two of them, a very strange look on his face. He looked both satisfied and defensive, as if he was in two minds about Ginny dating Harry.
He met Harry's eyes.
In a low voice, he said "I'm quite please you two are together now. I could tell she was in love with you from the letters she sent me from school. All the things she said about you. And then Ron would go on about what a great guy you were, how you were best friends. But she's my sister Harry, my only sister. I have to know if..."
"I love her." Harry interrupted. "I've known it for a while. I didn't dare let myself think it over the last year because it would have made it so much harder to stay away. And I had to stay away... Not that she was much safer without me. But still..."
Harry trailed off. He didn't know where the words had come from, but he knew them to be true. He did love Ginny and, now that the war was over, maybe he could start to make a life with her.
"This last week has made me realize that if you have something good, you hold onto it. And Ginny is a far better thing than anything else in this world. I'll love her for as long as she'll have me, and probably for long after as well."
Harry could feel his cheeks burn as Charlie smiled and nodded, seemingly content with his words.
They sat in silence for a bit. Harry didn't really know what to say. The only person he had ever spoken to about his feelings for Ginny was Hermione, and she had largely guessed for herself. He'd never actually said the words out loud before but they had rung inside of him a deafening tone of truth. He was so unused to talking about his feelings that he felt a horrible crawling of embarrassment that seemed at odds with the butterfly's in his stomach he was getting as he watched Ginny.
He coughed, rose and headed for the Garden, needing some air.
As he looked around the garden, slowly changing color in the fading light, he noticed he was not alone.
George was sat on the low wall that surrounded the garden, facing the fields beyond. Harry walked over and sat down next to him.
George wiped his face, sniffing. He let out a breathless laugh. "Can't think how to get rid of these."
Harry looked down. George was sat with his feet resting on a large wooden crate, the triple W of "Wealsey's Wizard Weezes" emblazoned on the side.
"Fred and I planned in case... In case we didn't make it. Through the war I mean."
George's voice was quiet but strong.
"We left instructions in our Wills, made some stuff. I was fun really. The prank slips were Fred's idea..."
George tailed off.
"What are these for then?" Harry prompted.
George sniffed loudly again. "They were... They're a squeal to the little display we put on for our last night of school. My idea. Thought we could go out with a bang..."
"Sounds like a great idea." Harry said consolingly
"No its not." George choked, his face suddenly twisted with grief.
"It was supposed to be a goodbye from both of us! We never thought that only one... that we would be..." George's voice trailed off as struggled to maintain his composure.
"George... I..."
George cut across him abruptly.
"Don't say you know how I feel cos you don't!" He spat.
"You may have lost family and friends but I've lost part of myself. Fred... Fred and I were two halves of a whole. I've never done anything that matters without him. God! Even when I had my first kiss he was in the same room snogging Angelina..."
He trailed off.
George looked up at Harry. "What am I supposed to do without him?"
Harry looked out over the fields in front of him. "Carry on."
George screwed his eyes up tight and looked away.
Harry pushed himself of the wall and bent down to the box. "Fred wouldn't want your life to end just 'cos his did. If anything you have to live twice as hard, because now you're living for him as well."
With a grunt of effort Harry pulled off the lid to the box, and pulled out the biggest firework he could find.
He stood up and looked George in the eye. "So let's remember the good times, and enjoy some more in his memory."
Harry held out the firework to George. For a second he didn't react, then he smiled sadly and took the firework from him. "That was so cheesy, mate..."
Harry shrugged, a slight blush creeping up his neck.
George stuck the fire work in the ground then waved his wand. The fat tube seamed to quiver for a second then shot into the air, showering sparks behind it.
In the sky above them an explosion of red sparks grew into two grinning faces. Fred and George beamed down at Harry, and words appeared around their faces. "Cheer up folks! And keep laughing!"
Harry snorted. "And you said I was being cheesy..."
George threw back his head and laughed, and for the first time in a long time. He sounded like himself.
Then several things happened at once.
First Harry's heart stopped beating, and he could feel a strange tingling on the back of his neck. Next there was a bright flash of green from the fireworks, and before Harry could register what was happening, he was tackling George to the ground.
Harry stared out into the darkness, his wand pointing out though he didn't remember drawing it.
And then Harry saw him. His face was pale and lined, twisted into a vengeful smile. Harry shot two quick stunning spells at the figure, grabbed George's arm, and Disapparated.
He appeared in the Weasleys living room. The loud Crack of his reappearance cause Ginny to sit bolt upright, Harry's jacket falling off her, Mr Weasley woke with a start and Hermione jumped to her feet.
"Death Eater! Outside the boundary wall."
Charlie was the first to react. "I'll get Mum." he shouted before he to Disapparated.
"Harry, what's going on!?" Mr Weasley asked, getting to his feet, blinking sleep out of his eyes and pulling out his wand.
George was shaking. "Harry pulled me to the ground as someone shot a curse at us. I didn't even see him!"
"I think it was..."
But Harry never got a chance to say who he thought he had seen. Because at that moment the outside wall of the Weasleys living room exploded, and with a sickening lurch of De-ja-vu, he watched Ginny and Hermione disappear underneath a cascading wall of rubble.
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Jo is our Queen. xx