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George decided that they should stay at the Burrow again. He was worried about Fred, and even more worried about being on their own with everything going on. Once Hermione, Ron, and Harry left to research, George sent a message to Bill asking him to come to the house after work. The boys were in their room when Bill came, he could tell something was wrong.

"What's going on?" Bill sat on George's bed across from the boys.

"I thought going home and opening the shop would be good. Routine to get his mind off of things, but it's only been getting worse." George looked at his brother.

Fred was looking at his fingers. "You were right. There are repercussions from my returning."

Bill gave him a curious look. "Did something happen?"

"We need to know any more details about when you went with the Aurors to dig up Fred's grave." George had a feeling they were grasping at straws, but they needed to know.

"I told you everything I saw. It was brief, but it's bad isn't it?"

Fred nodded. "Ever since then I've been hearing things, seeing things. I saw it in a dream…I think I was dreaming, it wants to trade places with me. Send me back there so it can stay here."

Bill shook his head. "We can't let that happen. How do we stop it, what do we do?"

George shrugged. "We don't know yet, but I think it's getting stronger the longer it stays here."

Bill could see the terror in his younger brothers' eyes. He felt that terror too. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, but believe me now that I will do everything in my power to help you."

Fred nodded.

"Hermione is looking into anything she can, maybe she'll find something to help." George rubbed his arm.

"I'm sure she will." Bill hoped that was true.

Later that night, everyone at this point was fussing over them both, trying to figure out any way to help that they could. They did not mind if they were being honest, they felt like they had strength in numbers in a sense.

The nightmares that night were the worse so far. George heard something that woke him up, but instead of seeing a terrified Fred in the bed next to him, all he saw was an empty space. George shot up and began looking around the room.

"Fred?" George listened over his own breathing to hear something else. "Fred?"

George finally saw a dark figure huddled against their wall. He rushed over to his brother and shined his wand at him. The first thing George noticed was the blood. Three long scratch marks went across Fred's shoulder and down his chest. Fred looked terrified. He was shaking and out of breath. George was not sure he noticed him there at all.

"Fred? Hey, look at me, you're alright."

Fred's breath hitched in his throat as he looked at George. He tried forming words, but nothing managed to come out.

"Shhh…it's alright." George pulled Fred into a hug as the man lost control of his emotions. Tears streamed down his face.

After Fred calmed down a little, George pulled away. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

George helped Fred up and led him to the bathroom. Once they got there, George sat Fred on the toilet and helped him pull off his jumper. The scratches looked a little deep.

"How did this happen?" George did not understand what could have done this.

Fred shook his head. "I c-can't go to sleep anymore. That must be how it's getting to me." He looked up with frantic eyes. "I was dreaming of him, and then he was in the room, I tried getting to you, but it pushed me back against the wall."

"Where did it go?" George worried that maybe that thing was in their room.

"Disappeared when you got up, I think. Maybe I was still dreaming, I don't know, but it felt so real."

"Then maybe dreaming has nothing to do with it. It knows you're most vulnerable then, but you've been seeing and hearing things all the time." George wiped the blood away. "It hasn't been this bad though…"

"Maybe it's all getting through my dreams, they must. Creep in at night and stay in the day. What do we do, Georgie?"

"I won't let anything else happen to you on my watch. We're going to keep a lookout now, make sure if anything gets to you, it has to fight us first." George finished taking care of the scratches.

Fred nodded, not sure what could be done against this thing. He was growing more and more terrified every minute. He was losing this battle at a fast pace. Once Fred was all fixed up they went back to their room and were determined to stay awake. George tried taking his and Fred's mind off of what was going on by recounting all the scorch marks they had made in their room. That seemed to help because before either realized what time it was, the sun was beginning to rise.

At breakfast both boys were quiet, they had decided not to share what had happened in the night with their parents. They knew it would send Molly in a whirlwind of paranoia which would only add to their stress. Everyone could sense something was wrong, but did not want to push either boy because of the constant stress they had been under. The silence remained between them until about midafternoon when Hermione came looking for them. George perked up at the sight of her, hoping for something promising, but saw the look in their eyes that told him she did not find anything good. Fred, George, Hermione, Ron and Harry were sitting outside, Hermione holding a book in her hands.

"I couldn't find anything on a wizard coming back from the dead, at least not one without a horcrux or something that made them return not right." Hermione fidgeted with the book.

"You did find something though, didn't you?" Fred looked at her.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, there was reference to some type of shadowy creature. There was an account of a man trying to open up some kind of realm. He thought he was unsuccessful, but it turned out that something slipped through the cracks. It almost attached itself to the man in a way and terrorized him until…"

"It killed him didn't it?" Fred could tell by her silence.

"Yes."

"What happened to it then?" George hoped that maybe if it was destroyed after they could have a chance at stopping it.

"It gets a little trickier there, the account is from the man's diary, so it stopped when he died. Records suggest a curse in the town around the same time may be linked to the creature, but no one was certain. It would seem that the creature can make itself only show to certain people, and cause hallucinations. He wrote in the diary that the creature showed itself to his father for a moment, but that was the only other witness of the event." Hermione looked at the grass.

George shook his head. "There must be some clue as to how to stop this thing. It's getting worse by the minute." He looked at Fred who sighed and pulled his shirt down for them to see the scratches.

"Blimey, it attacked you?" Ron was horrified.

Fred nodded.

"How are you feeling today?" Harry felt like they were running out of time.

"Tired, headache…voices every so often, oh and the growing pain from getting clawed."

"Which we won't let happen again, not ever." George was determined to keep his brother safe.

"I'll keep researching, see if there's anything I've missed." Hermione hoped she could uncover some lost clue.

"Thanks." Fred gave her a nod.

George pointed at the book. "Can I have that? Maybe there'll be something useful."

"Of course." Hermione handed over the diary.

After George took the book, they remained outside for a while. Harry, Ron, and Hermione left to go research more, leaving the two brothers on their own again. They sat in silence, not sure what to say at this point. George held the diary, but had not opened it yet, he knew once he did he would obsess over every detail hoping to find some answer that would not be there.

By the afternoon, Lee had come by the Burrow to check in on Fred and George. They had left somewhat abruptly telling him they needed some time before the opened the shop again. He knew this had to do with whatever Fred was going through, he just was not sure what that was exactly. He found the two in the living room with Ginny. They seemed to be filling her in on most of what was going on.

"So you've told them what was going on then?"

The three all turned to see Lee in the door way. George turned to Fred.

"He knew?"

Lee walked in the room. "By accident, but sort of. Promised not to say anything because Fred said he wanted to tell you himself. Don't be angry with him, he was just scared. And don't be angry with me, because I was going to tell you if he didn't."

Fred gave him a stern look before turning back to George. "Sorry, I should have told you that day, but I hoped it was just side effects after what happened."

"So what is happening?" Lee sat down on a chair.

George sighed. "We aren't sure exactly, but we think something came back with Fred and now it's trying to send him back so it can stay here."

"It said it's coming for everyone." Fred shifted.

"Why do I feel like it's already come?" Lee eyed the two.

"'Cause it has." George nodded at Fred who pulled down his shirt to show Lee the bandages.

"How can we stop it?" Lee's eyes were wide.

"That's where we're running into problems, so far we have no idea. There's nothing on this thing, 'cept this." George held up the diary, "But I'm not sure it's got anything useful in it."

"Or if that's even the same thing." Ginny frowned.

"Don't get discourages guys, we won't let this thing win." Lee looked at Fred. "You didn't go through whatever it was you went through for six months just to go back. You already look defeated, but the Fred and George I know would never let lack of information stop them. You two have invented more potions, spells, and equipment than I've ever seen before. Hell the Ministry has bought a ton of weapons off of you two. Whatever you need to do, you'll find a way, and we'll be here to help."

Ginny smiled. "He's right you know. You two have never backed down from anything before, and now this could be the most important thing you've ever done and you're acting like you've already lost. Buck up and get thinking, that's what you two are good at."

Smiles ghosted across Fred and George's faces. They were right, and now the two needed to get cracking if they were ever going to beat this thing. Lee decided to stay over for dinner to get some of Molly's cooking, and then help his best friends stay awake to think of a plan.

"You really think this thing is coming through your dreams or something?" Lee was trying to understand exactly what had been happening.

Fred shrugged a little. "Not exactly sure, but it's worse when I'm asleep, and after last night, I don't want to take that risk."

"This thing, whatever it is, is just another thing that needs put in its place. An Umbridge situation if you will, so we just need to figure out a big way to take it out." Lee was trying to think of a plan.

George snickered a little. "Not sure pranking this thing will get us anywhere. It's a little more threatening than Umbridge."

Fred was sitting on his bed, elbows resting on his knees. "I know it's hard to talk about, but will you guys tell me about the battle…after I-"

George's face grew solemn, while Lee's turned serious, but he nodded. "Yeah, mate, we can do that."

For the rest of the night, Lee and George told Fred everything that had happened. He knew some, but he wanted to know all the details. He needed to know what he had missed when he died. Fred would ask them questions about life after him, and Lee and George would try their best to answer them. George was getting more upset as the night went on, but Fred wanted to know, not to mention he needed the distraction to not fall asleep.

The subject eventually veered off into memories about their past pranks. George's spirit seemed to lift a little at the good memories. They had all been thinking about the things they did in school when George noticed it had gotten quiet among them. Fred nodded a little at Lee whose eyes were shut and mouth hanging open. George shook his head.

"Prat."

Fred smirked a little. "And here I thought he was supposed to help us not fall asleep."

A smile spread across George's face as he got up from his bed and went over to a box in the corner. After rifling through it he found was he was looking for. The next thing Fred knew a firecracker went off right under Lee's chair causing the man to jump straight up.

"What's that?" He looked around the room frantically while Fred and George laughed.

"Oh you two…"

" Boys!" Molly's voice could be heard from her room.

""Sorry Mum!"" Fred and George said it like a reflex.

The two looked at each other and sat back down. For a moment they both felt normal. Like their old selves. Lee rubbed his eyes and sat down.

"Almost gave me a heart attack."

"Hey you fell asleep, not our fault." George leaned back on his elbows.

"He's right you know, we've always had rules about falling asleep first." Fred crossed his legs.

"Well now that I am full of adrenaline, was their anything I missed in my short nap?"

George shook his head. "No, just talking about old times."

"Normal times." Fred picked at his comforter.

"Which we'll see again." George gave Fred a stern look. They had to save him, and they would stop at nothing to do it.

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AN: Thanks for reading!