Title: Remembrance
Prompt: 'Smile, even if it's a sad smile, because sadder than a sad smile is the sadness of not knowing how to smile.'
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 619
A/N(optional): I won and got Mod's Choice this week! Yay me!

Remembrance

She had awoken from her fretful sleep and decided that the likelihood of her getting back to sleep was small, considering it had taken her an hour to get to sleep in the first place. She wandered through the castle, tip-toeing her way through the rubble scattered everywhere, around huge piles of stone and concrete and around portraits, statues and other artefacts that had become casualties of the epic battle that had run fierce through the halls.

She still couldn't quite take in everything that had happened, and not just in the castle. The whole year had been the most surreal journey she had ever and would ever go on. She caught herself thinking it absurd that she, Hermione Granger broke into Gringotts, survived torture at the hands of one of the most twisted witches she had ever come across and had eventually, helped to defeat a wizard hell bent on destroying their world.

But it hadn't gone as she expected. The again, how had she expected this to go? She didn't know the answer to that question, but she knew that she expected Fred to survive the battle.

It was ridiculous to think of people as invincible - she had been one of the ones to prove that even immortality wasn't definite - but Fred couldn't have died! His personality was too big and strong to be beaten by death.

She had carried on walking out to the grounds and finally came to a stop. She could see the lake, the forest, Hagrid's Hut, the Whomping Willow, everything that had become somewhat of a comfort to her over the years. But at the minute she felt betrayed by it all. She wanted to blame everything around her for taking the lives of her friends. She knew she was being silly.

She jumped when someone else stood next to her, but she was relieved when it was George she saw. She didn't know what to say to him, so she gave him a half smile and carried on looking around her.

'He thought the world of you, you know,' George said, taking her by surprise.

She didn't know how to respond, so she just glanced at him before looking at the grass.

'Said that if Ron didn't get his arse in gear and ask you out, then he would.'

'I... but he... we...'

She couldn't complete her sentence and George didn't try and do it for her. She thought about Fred and realised the grief she was feeling was that of missing out on getting to know someone properly. There was always something about Fred that had intrigued her, something about his constant joking, his sarcasm, his energy, his lack of regard for the rules... basically everything that made him the polar opposite of her, and now she wouldn't get to find out about those aspects and many more that made him unique.

'Do me a favour, Hermione.'

'Anything,' she replied, tears stinging her eyes.

'When you think about him, smile. And I mean every time, even if it's a sad smile, because that's better than not smiling at all. Fred hated it when people looked like they had forgotten how to be happy, when there was so much in this world to be happy about, even in dark times. Remember him with a smile, Hermione. Always.'

She nodded and watched as he walked away. She stayed standing in the middle of the grounds and smiled. She knew George was right, Fred wouldn't want them moping around, he would have died for nothing if they didn't carry on as they wanted.

Every time she thought of Fred she would smile.

Every time she smiled, she would think of Fred.