Dusk - A George Weasley fanfic

CHAPTER 18

A week had passed since I had written back to Sirius, but he still hadn't contacted me. There were two possible reasons for that: Either he didn't get the letter or he figured out that it wasn't my granddad who had written to him.

I was beginning to get increasingly frustrated, now I knew for sure that whatever grandpa was hiding had something to do with me, Sirius had mentioned my name in the letter after all. What I didn't understand was what Sirius had to do with any of this. We had never spoken about him in our house before.

Another thing on my mind was Fred. I hadn't seen him since the day he relived that memory of his, the one with his past girlfriend Alice Malvolio. He still didn't know anything about her. I realised that the gift I gave him was both a good and bad thing. In one way, it helped him remember stuff, but it also made him more confused than ever.

I made my way to work, all these thoughts beginning to cloud my mind. On top of all of it, George and I still refused to talk to each other, I didn't realise how stubborn we both were. Secretly, I wanted nothing more than to talk to him. I missed his smile and his jokes.

When I opened the door to the shop, I expected George's usual, dry 'morning' from behind the counter but he had a nervous look on his face. I immediately realised that something was wrong and walked towards him.

"What happened?" I asked, standing in front of him.

"I need to talk to you, actually, Fred needs to talk to you" he said.

"What for?"

"It's really important, about that memory thing you gave him" he said.

Oh no, had something bad happened? I hadn't seen Fred all week.

I followed George to the flat upstairs. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jenna watching us in irritation and I smirked internally. But this wasn't the time to think of all of that.

When we entered, Fred was sitting on the ground by the window, his knees pulled up to his chest.

"What's wrong Fred?" I asked, George and I sitting on either side of him.

"I remember her" he said.

"Who? Alice?", he nodded.

"What do you remember about her?" I could feel my heart racing in my chest, wasn't this a good thing?

"Vague things about her. Her smile, her laugh, the smell of hair. I also remember a beach and I remember being there with her and some other people" Fred said, confused.

"Anything else?" 

"I remember her saying something to me, that too was on the beach but it was nighttime. She had got something new that we were both very excited about but I just don't know what it was" Fred said, touching his forehead to his knees. He breathed deeply and I looked at him, concerned.

"Evelyn can I talk to you for a minute?" said George, motioning me away from Fred. Once we were out of his earshot, George began.

"I know all of what he's talking about. But I never told him about it. Fred, me and Alice had gone into hiding before the war, the beach he's talking about is at Shell Cottage, Bill and Fleur's house"

"What about that new thing that Alice said she had?" I asked.

George shut his eyes for a second and when he opened the again, they were slightly glossy.

"What was it George?" I asked again.

"Alice was pregnant. She told Fred that she was pregnant that night and they were both very excited about it. He even proposed to her" he said, his voice shaking.

My heart shattered into a million pieces. Not only had Fred lost his memory, he had lost a baby and his fiancee.

"I had no idea things were so serious with their relationship" I could feel a lump rising in my throat. George and I watched Fred.

"Do you know how she died?" asked George.

"It was a werewolf wasn't it?"

"Fred found her after she had been attacked by Fenrir Greyback, she was still alive at the time. He carried her, intending to take her to the great hall but there was an explosion. Fred hit his head and she died on the spot" A tear was streaming down his face at this point. I subconsciously lifted my hand and placed it on his cheek, wiping the tear away.

He looked at me, surprised. I felt embarrassed and pulled my hand away, clearing my throat.

"George, if this plant could bring back this memory of Alice, do you think we should try it some more? Maybe it could bring back some more memories?"

"That's what I thought. But look how miserable he is, imagine not being able to remember someone he loved and spent so much time with" he said.

We sat next to Fred again, rubbing his back to sooth him.

"Why can't I remember her? She keeps coming to me in my dreams saying things to me but I don't know what to tell her. I feel like I've known her all my life, yet she seems so out of my grasp" Fred had started to cry, his hands covering his face as his whole body shook. I had never seen Fred so distraught and it pained my heart to see him that way.

George and I both shared a look and it was decided. We would do whatever it took for Fred to get his memory back, and that meant making him eat the leaves of the memory plant which forced him to remember all he had forgotten.

--

A/N: So this story is intertwined with Before You, sort of an alternate if you want to think of it that way. Just to clarify, Emma is not a part of this story.