Apparently my new chapter mysteriously disappeared overnight... So here it is once again! I hope you enjoy it and I want to ask you to please comment and tell me what you think! :)
There are only like 2 more chapters left, just wanted to put that out there.
Thanks for reading and...
ENJOY!
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Fred was alone. Leaning against an old and dusty looking armchair, he watched the room he was in. A ray of sunshine beamed through the skylight, illuminating all the stuff in the room. The Potters' attic really was a mess. It looked as if they just threw every piece of nonsense they wouldn't be needing any time soon up the stairs and into the room, which probably also was the case.
Looking through the mess, Fred recognised an owl cage that – if he wasn't utterly mistaken – had belonged to Hedwig. He also saw some old broomsticks and cauldrons spread across the floor, a few chairs, a broken table (Yeah, sure, why repair it when you can buy 100 new tables with the same ease...) and even an old clock which Fred was quite sure had once stood in the Dursleys' house.
It was odd, though, Fred thought, how he hadn't been able to stay conscious – if that was the right word – when George'd let go of the stone, yet now nobody held the stone and still, he was right there. Before he'd always just disappear if the stone wasn't held by anyone thinking of him, why was it different this time?
But that wasn't the only thing that was different about him. Since they'd made these arrangements, since Fred knew he wasn't going to be trapped here forever, he felt happier. The depressing feeling he'd been coping with the last few weeks had almost disappeared completely, maybe due to the fact that he knew there was another way.
And now he just had to wait.
He watched the stone, which was placed on a little side table. It looked so harmless, so innocent, nothing compared to the things it could actually do. Fred hated the stone for making him feel this way, for forcing him and his family to say goodbye, but he loved it at the same time. After all, without the stone he wouldn't be here, he would've never gotten a second chance.
Now he just had to make sure he did this right.
The door of the attic creaked as it opened – how appropriate, Fred thought – and Harry Potter and Hermione Granger walked into the room. They held each others hand tightly, not in a romantic, but in a friendly way, as it had always been between the two. There had been times when even George had thought Hermione fancied Harry and the other way around, but Fred had always known that that wasn't true. No, Fred had soon noticed the side-way glances between his little brother and Hermione, never at the same time, so they didn't see one another looking. Fred had been astonished he was the only one who seemed to have noticed it, but now that the two were happily married, even 19 years later, he felt smug.
Hermione glanced through the room, not looking Fred in the eye as she obviously couldn't see him yet. She then threw an annoyed glance at Harry.
“Really Harry? Couldn't you at least try to clean up a bit?”
“It's an attic! It's supposed to be a bit messy.” Harry shrugged.
“A bit messy?” Hermione eyed him, Fred cracked a smile.
Harry, however, didn't respond and pulled Hermione over to the stone. They looked at one another.
“Ready?” Harry asked.
“Ready.” Hermione nodded, taking her eye off a wobbly pile of cauldrons. They grabbed the stone, closed their eyes for a moment and then opened them again.
Hermione gasped. “F-fred? You look exactly the same as all those years ago!”
Fred grinned. “You definitely don't.” He pointed at her long brown hair, which was now in a bun. “Is that a grey hair I see?”
Hermione's hand shot up to her head, but she chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “Shut up, Weasley.”
Harry smiled too. “It's good to see you, Fred.”
They talked for a few minutes, mainly reminiscing the silly things that had happened over 19 years ago, but also about Harry's and Hermione's life right now. They mentioned their children and Fred needed some explanation on the fact that Harry had chosen to name one of his sons Albus Severus. Even after hearing the full story about Snape he still wondered why one would name his son after a greasy-haired large-nosed grumpy professor who had apparently fancied their mum, but that was probably just him.
“We really have to go now.” Harry stated suddenly, watching the door. “The others will be waiting.”
They had decided to all enter the room one by one, so each could have their own proper goodbye. Fred was okay with that, since picturing his entire family and all his friends trying to hold the Resurrection Stone at once just made him giggle. Mission Impossible for sure, no need to try.
Hermione watched him with sad eyes. Now came the first real goodbye, and Fred didn't want to do this at all.
“Thank you for teaching me how to laugh, Fred.” Hermione said, her voice trembling. “I wish I had been more like you back at school. Fun and amusing and all.”
“Don't you say that, Hermione! You shouldn't wish to change who you are, you're brilliant, just like this.” Fred said. “Even if that means you threatened to tell our mum what we were up to every now and then, or told us off for having fun...” His voice trailed off and he looked at Hermione with a smirk.
Luckily, she smiled too, a single tear dripping down her cheek. “You never change, do you?”
“He never does,” Harry said, “And he better never will, I like him far too much this way.”
“Don't make me blush, Potter!” Fred laughed.
They chuckled, but then Harry coughed and raised his voice. “So, this is goodbye then, I guess.”
“We always loved you, Fred, and we missed you the past nineteen years. And we will miss you again, until the end of our days!” Hermione cried.
“The end of your days, huh?” Fred said. “I don't think that's necessary. I mean, I'm supposed to be dead, and still here I am! My days aren't over yet, and I'm sure I'll see you again some time.”
“We will, we definitely will.” Harry smiled. “Goodbye, Fred.”
Hermione buried her face in Harry's shoulder and muttered a goodbye too. They slowly laid down the stone, both glancing at Fred for one last time, and then quietly left the room. Fred waved, knowing all too well that they couldn't see him.
It didn't take too long for the next people to enter the room. His two oldest brothers shuffled through the door, both with sad looks upon their faces, both not saying a word. They immediately reached for the stone, not paying attention to the messy room as Hermione had done, and held it together. How odd it looked for Fred to see his two bad-ass brothers holding hands.
Bill looked slightly different. His hair wasn't as long as it always had been, it had been cut short but was still flaming red. His style of clothes hadn't changed though, he still wore boots made out of dragon hide and clothes that would be suitable at a rock concert. Fred could also still see a little fang dangling from his ear, though it wasn't as large and obnoxious as he remembered it. The scar that Fenrir Greyback had left on his face was still clearly visible.
Charlie – almost a head shorter than Bill – wasn't as badly injured as nineteen years ago, he didn't have any fresh blisters or wounds he could've gotten from one of the ferocious dragons in Romania, though he still had a considerable amount of scars.
They both gasped as they saw Fred and smiled slightly.
“We missed you, little brother!” Charlie said, resisting the urge to lift his arm and padded Fred on the back.
“I missed you too.” Fred smiled sadly. “So, you've changed! What's with the hair, Bill? And are you still working in Romania, Charles?”
“Oh please, just because I'm forty doesn't mean you can call me Charles!” Charlie laughed. “But no, I do some small jobs every now and then, mostly here in Britain, but sometimes in Germany, Sweden and occasionally Romania.”
“And about my hair...” Bill started, rolling his eyes. “Mum finally got to me, I guess. And I'm not twenty anymore, so maybe it's better this way. Fleur likes it, at least. I had to tell you how sorry she was and that she misses you.”
Fred nodded. It was hard to see how everyone seemed to have moved on with their lives, while he couldn't remember where the bloody hell he had been all those years.
“Tell Fleur I said hi, and that she doesn't need to be sorry. I had much fun with her all those years ago.” Bill raised an eyebrow and Fred continued, chuckling. “Well, getting everyone to place bets on her when she didn't win the Triwizard Tournament in the end... The profit we had was partly thanks to her!”
“You evil little weasel.” Bill grinned.
“Did she get rid of that accent yet?”
Charlie laughed. “What d'ya think? At least she is still good-looking enough for both of zem, I theenk!”
“You guys are so mean.” pouted Bill.
Fred smiled. “I'm glad, though. About the way things go right now, I mean. I had expected everyone to come through that door and just burst into tears, not even bearing to look at me...” His voice trailed off.
“I know,” Charlie nodded sadly, “It probably would've gone that way if they hadn't told us about you first. A bit of preparation helps a lot, you see. At least you can think about what you want to say and accept it and all.”
“And what is it you wanted to say to me?”
Charlie sighed, looking at Bill. “Just that we miss you.”
Bill swallowed and added in a soft voice. “And that life isn't the same anymore, without your jokes and pranks.”
“And mum's angry rants whenever you thought out something incredibly hilarious again.” Charlie added, smiling.
“Yeah,” Fred reminisced. “Her rants were probably my worst fear, yet I couldn't help but provoke her.”
“I remember that time when I was twelve, right before I went to Hogwarts for my second year.” Charlie said. “I had this broomstick and was flying around in the yard. You and George were angry because mum wouldn't let you fly it. And somehow,” he chuckled, “accidentally, of course, the tail of my broomstick caught fire.”
“Accidentally, of course.” Fred smiled at the memory.
Bill cupped his chin with his hand, as if thinking very hard. “Wasn't that the time when mum let Fred and George eat outside, so she wouldn't have to look at them?”
“I remember that!” Fred laughed. “We threw all our food at the gnomes in the garden and ended up lying awake all night because we were so hungry!”
“The only thing I remember is you yelling 'But mum! I wanna be a seeker!'” Bill laughed.
“A seeker? Really?” Fred asked. He couldn't even imagine himself being a seeker. As a beater, he had been a real team with George, the other beater, but as a seeker he would've had to do everything on his own.
Just like right now.
Bill sighed again. “Maybe it's better if we go now, mum's probably waiting.”
“Mum's coming right now?” Fred said, he was incredibly glad to see her again, but was also feeling a bit reluctant, who knew how she'd react?
Charlie nodded. “Yes, she and dad would've come earlier, right after Harry and Hermione, but...” There was a short awkward silence before he concluded. “She simply couldn't.”
Fred felt a lump in his throat, both because he felt so sorry for his mum and because he was about to say goodbye – maybe even farewell, who knows? – to his two elder brothers. He had always looked up to them, he had always wanted to be like them when he grew up, fighting dragons or working with goblins, handling buckets full of galleons.
But he never got the chance to become like them. Surely he had chased his dreams, opened Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and made lots of money, but he never really got the chance to grow up, and he never would.
“Well, goodbye, then.” Fred murmured.
Bill and Charlie nodded.
“Goodbye, Fred. We love you, you will always be our little brother.” Bill said.
“And we'll see you again soon, right?” Charlie added.
Fred grimaced. “Not too soon, I hope!”
“We'll promise you that!” They laughed, although their voices sounded heavy with sadness.
A last smile, and then the two put down the stone and walked out of the room.
It took a few minutes before his mum and dad entered the room, but at long last, they did. His mum had changed a lot. Her hair was grey, with a here and there a tuft of ginger. She was holding a pile of fabric in all sorts of colours and her cheeks and eyes were red, like she'd been crying really badly. His dad had an arm around her and tried to comfort her.
“Shhh, Molly. Don't cry now, you don't want to face Fred that last time with your eyes full of tears, do you?”
Molly murmured something inaudiable and sobbed, trying, in vain, to wipe away her tears. A little while later she nodded towards her husband and took the stone from the table.
It didn't take long before –
“FRED!” Molly yelled. She dropped the pile she was holding, reaching out for him and trying to hug him. Luckily, his dad stopped her from doing so, otherwise things would've turned out pretty bad.
“MUM!” Fred yelled back, trying to ease the tension.
“Molly, get a hold of yourself, please!” His dad said, he was still firmly holding his mum, but his eyes were on Fred, as if he couldn't believe what he saw. “You – you haven't changed a thing!”
“Yeah, found the Fountain of Fair Youth about twenty years ago.” Fred joked.
“The Fountain of Fair Fortune.” His mum corrected him through her tears, she had always found it annoying when people got their facts wrong, especially when it came to fairy tales.
“Same thing.” Fred shrugged.
“It is so good to see you, Fred! I am so sorry for ever being mad at you. You and George were wonderful inventors and you did a great job, even though most of it happened behind my back. And even if you tried some of that stuff on first years at Hogwarts, I don't care and I forgive you, because you never deserved this! And George hasn't ever been the same since you left, neither have we. If only we could turn back time and get you back then I'd repay you for everything you've done to us and...” His mum's voice broke and the waterworks started again.
To be honest, Fred would've given everything to exchange this sad devastated rant for one of the usual angry ones. He couldn't stand seeing his mum like this.
“Shush, Molly!” Arthur had hugged his wife again, still holding her hand and the stone in a firm grip. “I'm sorry, son.”
“That's OK.” Fred looked down, trying not to show how sad this actually made him. Something colourful on the floor caught his attention. It was the pile of fabric his mum had dropped. “What is that?”
His mum quickly got down to the floor and picked the pile up. She took a red piece of fabric and held it up, there was a large 'F' in the middle. “It's sweaters,” she cried, “f-for you, Fred. I made one every Christmas. I just c-couldn't bear making o-one only for G-george...” She dried her eyes on the red sweater and gave the pile of sweaters to Arthur, who was holding out his hands to take them.
This affected Fred greatly. Although he never really liked his mother's knitted works (not as much as Ron had hated them though, he always got the maroon ones), he saw this as a real prove that he hadn't been forgotten all those years. Sure, he had seen George's face when they talked about the past 19 years, he knew people had missed him and had reminisced him often enough, but to actually see that love, even in a simple thing as a sweater, meant the world to him. And he would've done everything to be able to put one of those sweaters on at that very moment.
“The thing your mum is trying to say,” his dad said, “is that we missed you dearly. Life hasn't been the same without you and we would do anything to get you back with us. That's why we're so grateful for this opportunity, even if it just is to say goodbye.” Fred had never heard his father talk this way, broken, sad.
“I understand, dad, I miss you two.”
“The problem is, there were so many things we'd like to say to you, but right now I can't think of any.” Arthur was fiddling with something in his hands.
“That's OK, I really understand.” Fred tried to examine the thing in his dad's hands. It seemed to be some kind of white muggle device with a big black screen and one button on the bottom. “What is that?” He asked, pointing to the unfamiliar thing.
“Ooh, it's amazing!” His dad said suddenly, sounding a whole lot less sad. He waved the tiny device through the air in excitement. “And y'know what they call it? An Apple!”
Fred snorted, his dad hadn't changed a thing.
“Oh and this one,” he plucked another device from his coat, this one was black and had loads of keys on it, with a slightly smaller screen. “They call this one a Blackberry! Can you believe it? Those muggles... Can't tell a piece of fruit from a fellytone, can they?”
“Arthur, please!” Molly said, annoyed.
“C'mon Molly! We might as well have a bit of fun, that's what Fred likes the most, doesn't he? Don't you?” He looked at Fred.
“Yes, of course I do! Better say goodbye with tears of happiness than with tears of sadness, right?”
His mum smiled slightly and nodded. “Maybe you're right.”
“Now that's a first.” Fred remarked. He looked at his parents, who were holding hands and had an arm around one another. They'll be allright, he thought, they'll get through, together. They could handle the world without him and now he sensed it was time to say goodbye.
Obviously his dad had sensed it too, for he straightened up suddenly, clearing his throat. “Fred, my boy.” He started. “We'll miss you, we think of you every day. We'll even pull some pranks in your name, deal?”
“Deal!” Fred agreed eagerly. And though he wasn't sure what was going to happen with him in a few days, though he wasn't sure if what he was about to say was the truth, he still said it. “And we'll see each other again one day. I promise.”
His dad nodded one last time, a smile on his face.
His mum's lip trembled as she muttered “Goodbye, Freddie.”, she shut her eyes and let go of the stone, before breaking into tears again. Arthur put the stone back on the little side table and lead Molly out of the room.
However, before walking out, Fred's mum turned around. She had a smile plastered on her face, a honest happy smile, in spite of her tears.
“I'll keep smiling, Freddie. I'll keep smiling for you.”
Then she turned again and walked away.
What seemed like only a second later – Fred needed some time to get himself together again – Angelina walked in. Fred hadn't really expected her, to be honest. However, on the other side, Hermione and Harry had come to say goodbye as well and Fred had been closer to Angelina than to them when he had been alive. So maybe he should have expected her anyway.
Angelina didn't hesitated and took the stone in her hands straight away, being familiar with its magic.
“So you decided to come say goodbye as well?” Fred grinned.
“What did you think, that I'd just leave you without a farewell? I thought you knew me better than that.”
“Farewell, what a strong word.”
“It's the truth though.”
They both fell silent as the tension in the room increased.
Angelina suddenly sighed. “I'm not gonna stay long.” She said, rubbing her left elbow with her right hand nervously. “Your family deserves this goodbye more than I do.”
“Do they? It's not like you're any less.” Fred shrugged, slightly surprised by Angelina's assumption.
“To you I am.”
“Are not.”
“Am too!” Angelina argued.
“Don't you remember the Yule Ball?” Fred said, eying the floor.
“Of course I do,” Angelina said, confused, “What does that have anything to do with this?”
“Well, I really liked you back then.” Fred turned slightly red, that's new though, he didn't even know he could do that as a ghost. Shadow. Shade. Phantom. Whatever he was. “You were an amazing person, you still are. Take good care of George, will you? You're the best thing he has. Really, the best thing. Not that it matters...”
Angelina grinned. “What are you trying to say?”
“Uhmm... This might be slightly inappropriate since I'm dead and my brother is your husband and all...” He coughed before whispering his next words. “But I love you.”
Smiling, Angelina faced him. “You're amazing, you know. Of course I'll take care of George. I love him. And I'll do my best to give him everything he deserves. You just be happy , wherever you're gonna go. We won't ever forget you.” Angelina made her way back to the table, but before letting go of the stone she looked at Fred one last time. “And I love you too.”
She quickly put the stone down and hurried out of the room.