The news that Voldemort was dead took a while to travel to the remotest parts of the castle, but it reached the great hall quickly. A stillness followed the announcement, everyone desperately wanting to believe the news but having the slightest bit of doubt in their minds. But once the first group of people began to celebrate, so did the rest of the hall.
Some were eager to make their happiness known but others could only seem to focus on those we had lost. This entire war had left a bitter taste in my mouth; I had left Hogwarts 2 years ago and had started my life outside of the school. In those two years the children had been forced to take up arms against an ever growing threat and because of their defiance, many were lying on the floor now.
My best friend included.
The celebrations continued on around me and I was pulled into a hug by Ginny. She squeezed me tight but it wasn't a hug to celebrate the victory. I squeezed my arms around to let her break down in my arms for even a little. She had been so strong during the battle and was the only one in her family to not cry when she received the news about Fred. But now she broke down into tears in front of my eyes.
I did my best to comfort her but most of my attention was focused George's tear marked face as he fell to his knees beside Fred. Rubbing soothing circles on Ginny's back I watched as Molly set a hand onto George's shoulder. She squeezed his shoulder and George rose to his feet, shrugging her hand away and walking silently through the great hall.
"Go after him," Molly said, meeting my eyes. Taking Ginny into her arms, she consoled her daughter. I glanced between Ginny and George. "Go, he needs you right now."
Following George through the great hall I manoeuvred my way through the crowd and into one of the now severely damaged hallways. He walked through the castle, in a route familiar to the two of us, still unaware of my presence. He sat down outside the Gryffindor common room, in front of the empty frame that should have contained the Fat Lady. With a deep sigh, he dropped his head in his hands and I stood a metre or so away from him, wondering if I should approach him.
Making up my mind, I walked over and silently sat down beside him. I was waiting for him to do something. Feeling the brush of my shoulder against his, he looked up at me and I caught a flash of his red rimmed eyes. He quickly buried his head in his hands again, avoiding my searching eyes.
"He died doing something he loved," I murmured, choosing to break the silence between us.
When my words had carried over to him, he looked up at me, his eyes fixing me into place.
"Yeah? And what was that?" He asked angrily, his eyes hardening so much that I could hardly see the remains of the old George Weasley no matter how much I searched for them. I couldn't find the George Weasley that I was in love with. "Fighting?"
"Of course not." I looked down at my hands that I was clasping tightly in my lap; I hadn't had the chance to cry over Fred yet. "He died laughing Georgie."
George nodded, staring off into the space ahead of us. A few minutes of silence passed between us until George turned his head into my neck. Feeling the tears fall onto my skin, I ran a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. Letting my hand run through his hair over and over again, I allowed George manoeuvre me onto his lap with my legs wrapped around his waist. He burrowed himself into my neck, trying to disappear completely into me as his tears fell even more rapidly. I let my hands wrap around his chest and returned his embrace by pressing my face into his neck. Only then did I let my tears fall.
I had no idea how long we had sat there, wrapped up in each other but at some point George had cried himself dry and had subsequently fallen asleep. If I moved, I might have woken him up and so I stayed where I was. At the sound of approaching footsteps, I looked up at Charlie who made his way towards us.
Squatting down beside us, he looked at George with sad eyes, "When did he fall asleep?"
"A little while ago," I said removing myself from around George who, as if sensing my movement, let out a slight moan of protest.
Charlie moved forward to pick up George, obviously not wanting to wake him up. He kneeled in front of George and I helped him manoeuvre George onto his back. Reaching his arms round to steady George on his back, Charlie rose to his feet.
"I should take him to mum," Charlie said, "She's waiting in the great hall."
"Alright."
He walked down the stairs and paused halfway, turning to look back at me, "How are you holding up?"
"I'm ok," I said quietly. I would have to be.
**********
A few weeks had passed since the battle of Hogwarts and I was struggling to return to the life I lived before it had happened. I had lost so much in the space of a day and it was as if I was suffering from a loss of motivation regarding work and other aspects of my life.
I was returning from work when I spotted an owl flying outside of the window, waiting for me. Opening the window, I recognised the owl instantly. Pig?
Once I had given Pig an owl treat, he flew away before I could even open the letter. Opening the envelope, I scanned the letter quickly and once I had reached the end of it, I walked over towards my fireplace. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, I headed for the burrow.
Arriving at the burrow, I dusted some of the soot off of my clothes and took my coat off. Setting my coat on the back of one of the sofas, I listened for the sound of someone but it seemed like everyone was still at work. Hearing small sounds of movement from the kitchen I walked into the kitchen to see Molly busy at work.
"Molly?"
At the sound of my voice, Molly glanced back at me and ushered me into the kitchen to sit down. "I'm glass you're here, I didn't know if you'd get the letter in time or not."
"Your letter said that you wanted my help," I said looking up at the older woman who had made me a cup of tea. Taking the mug from Molly I watched her sit opposite me. "But I don't understand what it is that you want me to do Molly."
"I explained to you in the letter what he's been acting like, didn't I?" At my nod she let out a deep sigh, "We've all tried dear, but he's unreachable. Maybe you could just talk to him."
I raised the mug to my lips and looked at the older witch. "If none of you could help him then what makes you think I could help? Not that I'm not willing to help, that is."
"When I went up to give him some food, he asked for you. He hasn't seen you since that day." Molly looked up at me, her eyes pleading desperately with me. This woman in front of me, this mother lion who had already lose one son, wouldn't survive losing another. "Will you do it?"
"Of course, I'll try my best."
Reaching over the table to put a hand on top of mine, she beamed at me. "Thank you."
When I had finished my tea, I rose to my feet and slowly made my way through the burrow. Pausing outside the twin's old room, I knocked on the door once and waited for a response. There was none. Pushing the door open I stepped into the room and watched him carefully.
Approaching Fred's old bed, I sat beside the sleeping boy. Brushing some of his hair away from his face I went to rise to my feet. I'd come back again later. Taking a step away from the bed, I froze when a hand took a hold of my own. Looking over my shoulder I saw him blink sleepily up at me.
"George?"
Sitting up, he rested his back against the headboard and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Molly said that you asked for me, so she wrote to me." My eyes moved over his face; taking in his sallow complexion and the dark bags under his bloodshot eyes. "Merlin George you look terrible."
"Thanks." He snorted. "I haven't been able to sleep since the - since he -"
"You haven't been able to sleep in almost a month," I supplied for him when it became obvious that he wouldn't be able to finish his sentence. Almost instantly I was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt; I'd just woken him up.
"It's not your fault," he said as if he was able to read my mind. He ran a shaky hand over his face, sighing into his hands. "I've been having nightmares - maybe if I had been by his side, like I always should have been then, then maybe he'd still be here. Maybe he'd still be alive."
I helped him lie down again, not sure how to respond to his words. Tucking the blanket back around him, I murmured a quiet, "You need to get some sleep George."
"Will you stay with me then?" he asked hopefully, holding my arm again.
"George, I don't think that -"
"Please?" He used the arm he was holding to pull me down. I perched on the side of the bed and looked back at George.
"Fine," I said with a roll my eyes, "But move over; this is a single bed."
George shuffled away slightly and I slid under the covers, turning my back to George who looped an arm around my waist and smothered a yawn in my neck. "Maybe you'll be able to keep the nightmares away."
I settled back against him and his grip on me tightened. A busy day of working on my feet caught up to me and I found my eyes drifting shut. I had always been a light sleeper and so was woken by the slightest of things.
"George are you- oh"
I woke with a start and looked to Mrs Weasley who was standing in the open door. Realising the positon I was in, I removed myself from George's arms.
"He said that he hasn't slept well since the battle," I explained slowly through half lidded eyes. Molly nodded in understanding.
"Alright," She said gently, "I'll send breakfast up when he's woken up."
Breakfast? I looked out of the window and sure enough it was the next morning. Pulling the blanket back, I went to get out of the bed.
"Stay with him." Molly said making me look up at her. She closed the remaining distance between her and the bed and swept some of George's hair gently off of his forehead. "I haven't seen him this at ease since before the battle."
I nodded silently and lied down once again when Molly left the room. It's not like I had work today, anyway.
**********
My life had started to shift. My days used to revolve around work, my family and friends, but there was now the added factor of George Weasley. Most days I would leave work and head straight to the burrow and up to George's old room. Molly insisted that my visits were helping him and I would be lying if I said that I hadn't noticed the difference myself.
After I had finished up at work that day, I was walking through the street, needing to get some shopping done when I saw a shop from the corner of my eye. Looking into the shop window I chewed on my bottom lip; would it be worth going into the shop?
Stepping into the shop, I walked up to the front desk and waited for someone to come to me. The old man that arrived, smiled pleasantly at me.
Merlin, I hope this didn't backfire on me.
**********
A few days later I made my way up to George's old room, lugging the large present behind me. Knocking on the door I waited for George to welcome me into the room. He told me to come in, I moved quietly into the room and put the present against the now closed door. George was sitting with his back facing the door and hadn't made a move to acknowledge my presence yet; was he annoyed that I hadn't visited him for almost a week now?
"I brought you something," I started tentatively, making him turn to look at me.
He gave me a small smile. Although it wasn't the carefree grin that I was so accustomed to seeing on his face, it wasn't the blank look that he had been giving everyone and everything up until a week ago. Compared to that look, it was a major improvement.
"So you haven't forgotten about me then?" He asked, gesturing for me to come closer to him.
"How could I forget about you George?" I rolled my eyes.
"Well you disappeared for a week."
"I was getting you a gift," I explained, taking the large parcel off from the wall and setting it in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at the size of the parcel but made no comment, "I needed to make sure that it was perfect - that's why it took so long."
"What is it?" He asked eyeing the parcel cautiously as if he was expecting something dangerous.
"Open it."
Taking my prodding, he stood up and ripped the paper that had been wrapped around the parcel to reveal a picture frame. Finally setting his eyes onto it, George froze and looked at it with wide eyes, his entire body taut.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, trying to gauge George's reaction.
"Hey Georgie," the portrait said.
"Freddie." George's voice was barely above a whisper.
He looked up at me, unshed tears listening in his eyes. I felt my heart plummet into my stomach and I moved to stand in front of the portrait. Maybe it would be better if I took the portrait away from him?
I stood in front of the portrait, moving to take the portrait when George closed the space between us. He pulled me into his arms, his chin on my shoulder. My arms wrapped around him, trying to comfort him and make up for the enormous mistake that I had just made.
"George," I said gently when I realised that he was crying. "I'm so sorry, I should have thought this through more - I'll take the portrait away."
"No don't," he said as he pulled away from me. "These aren't sad tears, they're happy tears." His hands moved down to my waist and squeezed it once. "Thank you, I never thought that I would get to see him again but thanks to you I can."
"You're welcome," I said with a shaky smile. "As long as you like it."
"I do." Giving me a breath-taking smile, he hugged me close to him. I wrapped my arms tight around him in return, "Merlin, what would I do without you?"
"You'd cope," I muttered against his shoulder.
A still silence descended between us before he murmured, "I don't think I would."
**********
A few months into my regular visits with George, I had asked Molly what it was that she wanted the most for me to achieve with regards to George. Molly's answer was simple; she wanted George to join the rest of his family for a meal. Since the battle of Hogwarts, George had taken all of his meals in his old room. Part of me thought that he did that because he didn't think he was ready to face the rest of his family but the other part of me thought that he also did it out of concern for his mother. George's appetite had diminished to the point where it had seemed to disappear altogether.
I was sitting at his old desk, swinging my feet before me as I watched him carefully. He was reading over a recipe idea for his latest product idea. It was a good sign; whilst he still wasn't going to his shop, he was at least working on his products.
"George?" I probed making him look up at me. "Aren't you feeling hungry?"
"I suppose I am."
He looked back down to his recipe and I let out a small sigh; maybe I needed to take a more direct approach. Rising to my feet I headed towards the door.
I looked back at him, taking a hold of the door handle. "Are you coming with me then?"
"Where?" His voice was cautious as his eyes flickered between me and the door.
"I can hear your mother bustling around in the kitchen from here and you know how she likes to serve lunch at the same time every day." I shrugged my shoulder, "And well, it's almost lunch time George."
"So?"
"So I think that we should join the others today." I suggested cautiously. This must have been the tenth time that I had asked him. He had refused me each time.
"Do you want to?"
"Do I want to?" I repeated uncertainly.
"Do you want to join the rest of my family?" At my nod, he rose slowly to his feet and chose to ignore the shocked look on my face. "Let's go then."
He walked out of the room and I trailed after him slowly. When we reached the top of the stairs, the voices of the rest of the Weasley's drifted up towards us. George stilled slightly at the sound and I found myself dropping into step beside him. Slipping my hand into his, I squeezed his hand and led him down the stairs before he could change his mind.
"I'm going to get two plates ready," Molly said as she moved around the table, "And take them up to George's room."
"I don't think that'll be necessary Molly," I said quietly making every head in the room turn in my direction.
Molly's eyes settled onto George and I watched as unshed tears filled her eyes. "George." A large grin appeared on her face as she walked over towards us.
"Hi Mum," George said quietly from beside him, clearly feeling awkward. Molly pulled him into a hug and George returned it with one arm, the other hand refusing to let go of my hand.
When Molly pulled herself away from George, she ushered us towards the table. George sat down in the empty seat beside Charlie and pulled me down into the seat beside him. Once we were sat down everyone included George into the conversation as if he had never been missing from the table in the first place.
**********
Whilst I had achieved Mrs Weasleys goal for George's recovery, I had yet to reach my own. It was my goal to get George to go back into work. The shop had been his dream and I couldn't see him throw it away so easily and who knows, maybe the routine would do him some good.
I had tried to prod him into picking up a single shift at the joke shop but he had dismissed my words and teasingly asked whether I was trying to get rid of him. Maybe it was time to change my tactic; being kind and tolerant had only gotten me so far. I needed to get him back to the man who made me fall in love with him.
"Don't you think that it's time for you to go back to the joke shop?" I asked, my voice hardening slightly.
"I might go back later," he muttered, turning his eyes away from me.
"George," I said with a sigh, "Ron can only cover so many shifts - he's just started his auror training."
George shrugged his shoulders in response, not bothering to give me an answer. I clenched my jaw in irritation.
Right.
I rose to my feet and stood in front of him. He was still too engrossed in whatever he was doing to look at me.
"George!" His head snapped up at my sharp tone and he looked up at me. "It's bad enough that you're trapping yourself in this room and wasting your dreams by avoiding the joke shop. But how have you forgotten that the shop wasn't your dream alone? Merlin George, can you honestly waste Fred's effort?" He avoided my eyes. "How can you give up on Fred's dream?"
George rose quickly to his feet and I wondered whether I pushed him too far. He disappeared out of the room and didn't come back for a short while. Maybe I had been too harsh on him and had managed to undo months of work in a matter of ten minutes. When he walked back into the room I was ready to apologise to him and to take my words back but the words died in my throat when I realised that he had freshened up.
Walking past me, he headed further into his room and towards his closet. Opening the cupboard, he pulled out his ridiculous purple suit and slipped his arms into the sleeves. I watched him silently as he pinned his WWW pin onto his breast pocket.
Once he was ready, George looked up at me.
"You're helping me," he said before I could even object.
"Of course," I said quietly, "I'll help out whenever I don't have to be at work."
**********
It had taken a few months but now, a year after the battle of Hogwarts, the shop was ready for its reopening.
George had started by taking up a single shift a week which quickly turned into working 3 or 4 shifts. That soon spiralled into working every single day. His passion for the shop had returned with a vengeance and suddenly, two months ago, he had announced that he would be shutting the shop down for a few months in order to give it a complete fixing over. He had gone to work creating new products and I was by his side the entire time.
I had taken the day off from work to help George set up and we were currently stocking the shelves with the new products as well as some old favourites.
"Do you think we're ready for the grand reopening?" I asked, placing the last of the Skiving Snack boxes onto the shelf.
Once I was done, I stood beside him as he scanned the entire shop. "We should be."
"Should be?" I reached over to take the clipboard from his hands to check over the list of supplies. Ticking off the Canary Creams, I scanned over the list. "I think that's about everything."
"I just can't help but think that something's missing," he admitted quietly, biting down on his bottom lip.
Hmm.
Looking over the shop once again, my eyes settled onto a plain part of the wall behind the counter. There was nothing on it.
"I think I have an idea," I muttered before disappearing into the back room of the shop.
When George had started coming back to the shop, I had ordered another portrait of Fred to be made and it had been placed into the back room of the shop. I thought that it made George feel less alone if he could actually talk to Fred as he created his products. Taking the portrait from the back room, I hung it up behind the counter. I peered at George cautiously.
"Is that better?" I asked carefully.
"Much." He said with a grin, coming up behind the counter to wrap an arm around my shoulder. He squeezed my shoulder and looked down at me. "Are you ready to officially reopen?"
At my nod George walked over to the door. Unlocking the door he stepped aside as the first customers walked in. A crowd soon developed and I was pleased to see that many of George's customers had returned. Business picked up quickly as I rushed to make sure that the shelves were never empty.
"Watch out," George said as I tried to push through the crowd to restock a shelf. He pushed me behind him slightly to avoid being crushed.
"Is it always this busy?" I asked him.
"Most of the customers are kids who are getting their prank supplies for when they go back to Hogwarts."
"They're going to give Filch a heart attack." I gave a slight smirk when I saw the number of children in the crowd.
Seeing the line that was being to build up in front of the counter, I excused myself and headed to the counter. I started to ring up the total, smiling at the customers as I did so.
"How are we doing?" George asked, appearing behind me after a few minutes to whisper in my ear. "Is the reopening a success?"
"I'd definitely say so." I looked back at him with a smile. "I don't think business has ever been better. But you might need to start hiring some staff if business continues to be like this. Or at least hire an assistant?
"Want to fill the position?" He asked once I had dealt with the line of customers. Leaning against the counter, George crossed his arms over his chest. "You can ditch your boring job in the ministry and help me."
"I'll think about it."
He grinned down at me, jumping slightly when Fred's portrait let out a long suffering groan. We both looked at the portrait as it began to speak.
"Are you going to stand there all day Georgie, or are you going to kiss her?"
Colour assaulted George's cheeks, turning his ears a brilliant shade of crimson. He muttered something under his breath and walked away, leaving me alone.
"You can't run forever," the portrait called out teasingly at George's retreating back.
"Honestly," I said rolling my eyes at the portrait, "Leave him alone Fred."
"I'm only trying to speed the process along," Fred cajoled. "Merlin knows I spent years trying to convince him to finally tell you how he feels."
A new line of customers had quickly formed in front of the counter, making me turn my attention away from the portrait. But its words kept repeating in my head for hours until it was time to close the shop down.
"Where do you think you're going?" A voice asked, just as I stepped out of the shop.
I jumped slightly at the sound of George's voice. "Merlin George, you'll give a girl a heart attack." I turned to face him as he dropped into step beside me. "I thought you said you were closing up the shop."
"I was." Putting his hands into his pockets, he watched me carefully. "You didn't answer my question; where are you going."
"Home."
"No you're not."
I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not."
"You're not," he repeated, closing the space between us to link an arm through mine. "You're coming with me."
"Where?" I asked, making no move to pull my arm away from his. Instead I followed after him, knowing that there was no point in protesting.
"We're going on a date."
"We are?" I stopped in my tracks making him look back at me.
"You heard me." George smiled patiently down at me as he pulled me into his side, "I've decided to take Fred up on his advice."
**********
11 YEARS LATER
"George," I called up the stairs, waiting for him to reply. When he didn't, I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes, "Hurry up and bring Fred with you or we'll be late."
Again there was no response and I let out a sigh. Putting a hand on my stomach, I rubbed at it mindlessly when my daughter dealt a rather painful kick to my bladder.
"George," I shouted again.
"Just a minute, love," he called back, voice shaking with laughter.
I'd sent George up the stairs to get Fred changed so we could go to the burrow for the weekly Weasley meal but he'd been upstairs for an hour now and showed no sign of coming downstairs again. Knowing my boys they were probably talking about Fred's newest obsession, quidditch, or George was tending to Fred's ever growing love of pulling pranks.
Nothing would get done unless I did it myself.
Making my way up the stairs, I headed towards Fred's bedroom and paused outside the door. Sure enough, I could hear George laughing through the door and Fred's words were mumbled phrases.
"Hold on a second," George said through a laugh, "If you keep moving I won't be able to fix it."
My eyes widened slightly at George's words - my son was a natural born troublemaker and I could only wonder what had happened. Opening the door to the room, I walked inside and my eyes landed on my two boys as they sat on the bed. At the sound of the door opening, they glanced over at the door.
One look at my son and I was giggling too. Fred's face shifted and his eyes filled with tears at my reaction. I was quick to change my expression at that.
"Oh sweetheart," I said gently, making my way over to my son and taking him in my arms. I was careful to avoid his extra-long tongue. "What happened?"
"He ate one of the ton tongue toffees," George explained as Fred buried his head into my chest, hiding away. George grinned when it was obvious that Fred couldn't see him. I hid a smile and ran my hand through Fred's hair.
"Now sweetheart," I cajoled as I made Fred straighten up. Brushing some of his hair back, I said, "Why don't we let Daddy fix your tongue and then we can get ready to go to Grandma Molly's?"
Fred nodded and turned back to his Dad who managed to return his tongue to normal with a simple incantation. His tongue shrank back to normal size and Fred let out a big relieved breath, hugging his Dad tight in thanks.
"Are you alright now?" I asked, putting a hand on Fred's back.
"I'm alright Mum." He nodded and I patted his back.
"Why don't you go and get changed then? I need to have a word with your dad."
"Oh it sounds like you're in trouble," Fred warned his dad as he walked to his cupboard to go and get changed. He was too smart for his age.
"How did he get the ton tongue toffee?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"I must have left some around the house," George explained sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"What am I going to do with you?" I wondered aloud.
"I can give you some ideas, love," he suggested flirtatiously, leaning towards me.
I pushed him away as Fred walked back into the room. George moved away from me with a slight pout and he rose to his feet. Looking down at me George grinned down at me.
"Do you need some help to stand up?"
"Yes please." I held out my hands for him to take. "Your daughter is currently playing my bladder like it's a drum."
George took my hands and hoisted me up to my feet. He crouched down slightly, leaning down to put a hand on my stomach and whispered, "Don't be mean to you mum, darling."
Fred copied his dad and muttered, "Yeah, don't hurt my mum."
I laughed quietly and rubbed both of my boy's hair affectionately. They made an identical face and fixed their hair. They were so alike.
Once the boys were all dressed and ready to go, George picked Fred up and held him with one arm and wrapped the other around my waist. I apparated us into the burrow and we were greeted at once by my mother-in-law who hurried me off of my feet. Sitting next to Audrey, I started a conversation with her and discussed her newest breakthrough at her research lab. Not ten minutes passed before we were interrupted by panicked cries.
Audrey helped me to my feet and we followed the rest of the adults to find the source of the cries. We followed the sound outside and found poor Albus crying shocked tears. I pushed through the crowd to find Harry soothing his son but also unable to stop his laughter as well. My eyes drifted past Albus and landed on Fred who was standing next to a snickering James. They both looked immensely pleased.
Scanning the crowd of adults, I eventually located George and made my way through the crowd towards him. One of the good things about being pregnant - extremely pregnant more so - was that the crowds tended to part for you. This was no exception. My brother-in-laws let me through and I found myself in front of George in no time.
I tugged on his sleeve and he looked down at me before leaning down so I could reach his ear.
"When exactly did you manage to sneak him some ton tongue toffees?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he denied innocently.
"You're incorrigible."
He grinned, leaning down to press a quick kiss to my lips. "But you love me anyway."