A/N: Thank you everyone, for reviewing & voting. The response was pretty absolute: all against JKR's botched ending, versus a couple that were indifferent. Therefore, goodbye canon! On with the show! Please continue to review though…! Cheers.
The room was soon in complete darkness but for the small fireworks in the center of the tables, and the crowd hushed. Katie felt her curiosity peak in spite of herself. She could hear Michael rocking back and forth in his chair; he had always been afraid of the dark. She rolled her eyes. It had just reached the point of uncomfortable silence when out of nowhere dozens upon dozens of fireworks shot out of the bottom of the makeshift stage, flew through the air, and formed into a giant W. Many others crackled and popped throughout the air, many taking on the shape of various creatures. A dragon illuminated near Professor McGonagall and as she stood up to escape it, it flew between her legs, knocking her backward onto her chair. Wood roared with laughter as Katie collapsed into helpless laughter on his shoulder. One whizzed past Alicia's head, causing her hair to fly in all directions and as Angelina opened her mouth wide in laughter, it flew straight into her mouth where it was extinguished instantly. Nearby, Mrs. Weasley was waving her purse at a stubborn firework which seemed to want nothing more than to roost on top of her head. Katie could hear Grandpa Artemis cursing loudly in the background, but by now she was so overcome by her laughter and tears that she could no longer care.
As the silver W faded out, the crowd roared with applause, and there was a burst of smoke as Lee, Ron, and George suddenly appeared on stage. The applause only grew more wild and it was a full five minutes before any of them could speak.
"Well!" boomed George. "What have we here, little brother? Lee?"
Lee pretended to squint in the distance.
"I see the Minister of Magic, he's looking supremely less regal after that firework ran off with his hat!" Lee shouted, to wild applause. Kingsley laughed good naturedly and waved.
"And Professor McGonagall!" continued George. "Professor Minerva McGonagall, everyone, they must have exhumed her!"
There were gasps of shocked laughter, but a smirk seemed to be tugging at the steel corners of McGonagall's mouth.
"I see my mother!" Ron shouted. "Hi, Mum!"
"You would," George said, rolling his eyes to yet more laughter.
"I see my date!" Lee shouted. "Wave to the people, Astrid, give 'em what they want!"
A spotlight suddenly appeared and shifted toward a tall strawberry blonde in a rather revealing little black dress. She waved, and Angelina crossed her arms in a huff.
"And mine!" George yelled as the spotlight shifted to Ange, who immediately unfolded her arms, pretending to be quite gracious. Katie scoffed and rolled her eyes, and Wood poked her.
"And mine!" Ron shouted. The spotlight jiggled, and flew wildly around the room until finally landing on Mrs. Weasley about thirty seconds later. The room roared with laughter and applause as Ron looked rather put out, flicked his wand, and caused the spotlight to land on Hermione, who blushed.
"Seriously, seriously, though folks…we are so glad you made it all out tonight," George said, stepping forward from the trio and conjuring a microphone out of nowhere. "We've got quite a show planned for you tonight, haven't we Lee?"
"That's right, George," Lee answered. "And our goal by the end of the night is…well, why don't you tell the people, Ron?"
"The goal is by the end of the night that—"
"No one in the room will have a scrap of dignity left!" George said, cutting to the finish and shoving Ron back to the back of the stage to more laughter. "Especially my kid brother, without whose dedicated support this would have never been possible. So let's give it up for Ronald Weasley, ladies and gentlewizards, before I get the opportunity to take more of the mickey out of him shall we?"
The room applauded and Ron's classic Weasley ears turned bright red.
George let the applause die down before speaking again.
"Now the idea of tonight is to get you all excited about this brand new line of products we have coming out this season, so you'll all rush up eager to spend your money so that we all can become rich and retire at the age of twenty-five, so without further ado, we'd like to start with a little addition to our snackbox line, the Pranking Pasties! And first up in this collection is a personal favorite, the Knicker Nutroll. Now, we've picked on Ron enough this evening so if I could ask for a volunteer…"
Several dozen hands shot up and George picked on a small boy who could be no more than twelve, who raced up to the stage. The boy popped the sweet into his mouth, and crowd burst into more laughter as the boy's face began to change and George explained what was happening. Katie's smile grew dimmer as she watched George. He was definitely on top of things tonight; his classic comedic timing in effect, his effortless ability to make people laugh was not lost. But she could see, as only a friend could, that it was all very much contrived, and that his eyes did not have the bright quality they did at school when one of his pranks worked out exactly as he had planned. She exchanged a wistful glance with Alicia, who nodded, knowing her friend's train of thought.
The evening continued with more displays and more jokes; Harry Potter had inadvertently digested a Farting Fancy and was erupting regularly every five minutes. Ginny looked slightly horrified, but in good spirits. Grandpa Artemis was persuaded to roll his wheelchair onstage and try a Jigging Jelly through his coughing, which caused him to leap out of his chair and perform a full Irish jig, much to Elizabeth and Alicia's dismay.
Wood was called on stage amid squeals and cheers to try a Narcoleptic NumNum, perfect, George said, for getting you out of those dawn quidditch practice pep talks at Hogwarts. Oliver immediately dropped to the floor and was left sleeping for a full fifteen minutes, drooling out of the corner of his mouth as more volunteers simply stepped over him to try more products.
"Wha happened?" Wood asked stupidly as he took his place beside Katie when he finally awoke. Katie just smiled and patted his back, and ten minutes later, he collapsed on the table into another sleep. Ron rushed down from the stage to assure Katie that the pill would wear off within the next hour. She thanked him and thought a little demonically that she was grateful to be left on her own the rest of the evening. George's face along with Fred's conspicuous unnoted absence weighed heavily in the back of her mind and refused to let some of her inhibitions subside.
Mrs. Weasley had just laughingly demonstrated a fake wand, and told stories of her frustration with them to huge amount of applause when Wood woke up and subsequently fell back asleep, and Katie stood up to escape to the bathroom. She needed air; a break from the endless laughter, bright colors, and whirling images. But she stopped as she suddenly heard a silence fall over the crowd. She turned around to see George, simply holding a framed photo of Fred and himself in front of their shop the day the two brothers purchased it. Katie recognized it immediately. It had hung in the office of the shop from the day the twins went in business. She slowly sat back in her chair.
Ron wept freely behind George, while Lee looked unusually solemn. George simply stood, holding up the picture. Not in any special way, he just stood. He lifted it a little higher, his face tightened and jaw set resolutely. His voice faltered when he finally spoke.
"This night is for my brother," he said. "Everything. It's all for Fred."
And he stood like that for a while longer amid silence, until he finally lowered the picture, his arms hanging by his sides. Katie's stomach ached. She wanted tears to come, but they would not. Michael quickly shifted his chair, one hand on Alicia's back (who was crying softly) so that he was sitting next to his sister, eyes peering into hers. She stubbornly refused to meet his gaze, but looked instead fixedly up at George. She wanted to run up to the stage and catch him in her arms and never let him go. Mrs. Weasley appeared to be wanting the very same thing, as Arthur was forcibly restraining her from leaving her seat.
"That's it," George said finally. "That's it."
The silence was devastating, until in the back, faithful Grandpa Artemis rose and put his hands together. The echo of his clapping was loud and forceful, and very solitary, but soon all around the room, witches and wizards stood up and joined in his applause. From on stage, Lee clapped hard and loud, and so did Ron, through his tears. George's mouth formed a small "o", and his eyes met Katie's as she too finally rose from her chair, one tear glistening on her cheek and he smiled at her, and held the picture back up into the air, throwing it up with force for everyone in the room to see. Throngs of people rushed the stage, lifting George up on their shoulders, George thrusting the picture as high up as his arms could possibly reach. The noise was deafening.
George was passed through the crowd until, winding back near the front, he leaped down and crossed the room to where Katie stood, still at her seat, and threw his arms around her in a giant hug. She laughed slightly, clasping onto him until her nails dug into his back and they both began to cry.
Suddenly, lights began to flash and breaking bulbs announced the arrival of the press. Looking up shocked and hurt, Rita Skeeter stood, a devilishly pleased grin on her face and quick quotes quill in hand. The crowd backed up, unsure of what to do. Many unhappy faces leered in. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Oliver awoke, surveyed the situation, and without thinking, punched the nearest photographer in the jaw. He continued this, and turned, raising his eyebrow at Skeeter who took her cue and left in a huff. People cheered as Wood grinned bashfully at his newfound audience, suddenly swooned, and then fell into a heap, asleep once more. His fan girls immediately descended around him, but Katie leapt forward, pulled out her wand, and sent a Tickling Charm at the mass.
"I have to protect my date," she said amid laughter and tears, and good cheer was again restored to the party.
"To Fred!" roared George, holding up the nearest glass of champagne he could reach.
.
"To Fred!" the crowd bellowed back. Katie grabbed someone's butterbeer and downed the entire thing, and the audience again erupted into a large and deafening applause
Katie gazed out across the room with blurred vision. The crowd was an odd mixture of people. Old and young, male and female, some covered in feathers from various prank sweets, others with wild hair, and some even with scorch marks from the fireworks. It was odd, Katie thought as Angelina and Alicia joined her laughing through their tears, and Lee, George, Michael, and Charlie appeared behind them, but it was exactly the kind of people Fred would have wanted there.