Ok, I admit it! I have a thing for reminiscent one-shots. Not sorry. I have had this one in my head for ages now and it's such a relief to finally have it done. Thanks to Id65 for her input when I wanted to bash my head against the wall when I didn't know where to go with this (the only thing I had certain was the ending).
Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics sung by Charlie Puth (not the Wiz Khalifa version), or the characters (all of the wonderful JK Rowling's creation).
See You
It's been a long day
Without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it
When I see you again
George pressed his chapped lips to her skin, feather light so as not to disturb her in sleep.
Ever so quietly, he breathed in Angelina's ear.
"Goodbye, love."
His eyes followed her body one last time before making his way out the door, encasing their bedroom in darkness once again. He had felt it in the pit of his stomach after breakfast and under the warmth of their covers some hours ago, the tremble of anticipation, the internal squeezing. He was ready. He had waited all day. Over ninety years.
We've come a long way
From where we began
Oh I'll tell you all about it
When I see you again
When I see you again
Outside, standing in the snowy garden of his home in Alresford, Hampshire, the wind blew around him, and then, with a faint pop, he was gone.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was always a sight to behold during the day, full of light and colour and life. But it is at night not many witness the beauty of its slumber. All the whirring and whizzing gadgets and gizmos were still; the colours were dimmed in shadows, restoring its brilliance to shine the next day. While everything slept under the cover of darkness and the faint stars in the London sky, the pictures displayed on the wall behind the counter were alive.
He walked between the aisles, fingering the products, classics and new, remembering the development of each one, the performances in the Alley announcing and displaying them to the public. He smiled, knowing how not one person in wizarding Britain had escaped the news. Fred would have liked that. His grin widened.
Why'd you have to leave so soon
Why'd you have to go
Why'd you have to leave me when I needed you the most?
The first picture George's eyes were drawn to was the initial opening of WWW back in 1996. It was of him and Fred, both in identical magenta robes and matching grins, arms slung around each other in front of the monstrosity that was their creation. Long nights sweating over cauldrons and parchments, hours spent hiding from their parents and professors. It had taken lots of hard work, determination and patience. Dear Merlin was there a lot of waiting they had to do! Bagman had slowed them down greatly with his ordeal with the goblins and leprechaun gold. But they made it. Of course they did. And it was worth every bloody sleepless night. Every failed exam. Every scolding. Every detention. Every fight and every struggle.
From their messy room in the Burrow, cramped and bursting with explosions to the Wheezes Empire.
There was no chronological order to the arrangement of the photos surrounding that first photograph. At the very top there was a row of George and his siblings, pictures from holidays and announcements cut out from newspapers. Then scattered all around were his parents on special occasions and ruffled at home. His friends, his in laws, his wedding, his children.
Angelina had always been Fred's. In school the two were a clash of temperaments, fighting and loving as hard as they could. George had never meant to take her. He hadn't wanted to after the loss of Fred. But they had fallen into each other, their sorrow as blatant as the blinding sun was to a blind man, evident from the warm rays kissing skin, as it wasn't as obviously visual as spiritual. It was perceptible in their eyes, but only to them, as they held each other on their wedding day, staring at one another and then to the flash of the camera, laughing at the brightness blurring their vision, and Teddy's, who had stumbled into sight of the camera lens and hit George's precious Weasley wand.
But they had found and fallen into each other, healed one another, supported and loved, knowing Fred couldn't have been happier in his spot up above in the bright, heavenly clouds.
Cause' I don't really know how to tell ya'
With that feeling goes worse I know you're in a better place
But it's always gonna hurt
George and Angelina had gone through so much. His ancient blue eyes swept over his family: siblings, nieces, nephews and children. Merlin, his children. Even to this day the pang in his heart, the drop in his stomach and the chill tingled his nerves. They had almost lost their first, their beautiful, wonderful Roxanne, but Fred had saved her, George knew it. Moments away from a premature death in her mother's womb from lack of air, death a breath away from kissing, and she had survived. A miracle.
Roxanne cuddled in her mother's arms, so unbelievably tiny, her entire body the size of half of George's arm as it rested beside her. Even with the miraculous birth of Roxanne, Angelina suffered and was warned with the improbability of another. But once again Fred had showered them with strength and love, and a few years later baby Fred II was born.
Carry on
Give me all the strength I need
To carry on
Through it all, the highs of steep mountains and lows of deep abysses, Fred was there with George. He thought of it as his late twin making up for missing out on life with him by lighting up his life in any way he could, no doubt dealing with the Great Himself with the charm of a Weasley twin. And yet, he couldn't wait to be reconciled with him and regale the life he lived.
It had been hard at first. The tug of Fred inside him numbed over by the bitterness of liquor. George tried, by Merlin did he try, getting up in the morning, eating normally, smiling for his family and customers. Months had dragged before he had been able to bring his thoughts and ideas together to create a new product.
A particularly horrid incident printed clearly in his mind before his beautiful wife and children. The flat above the shop was filled with Fred, his spirit and belongings only biting into George's heart every time he stumbled over a shoe, saw a dirty mug with 'Gred' swirling on the porcelain. It was unbearable. He had only moved back in to get his mother off his back, but he debated with himself whether or not he should just run back and hide under his covers for the rest of eternity.
He couldn't remember exactly, but it was perhaps his first shower since the Day, and the first time he looked in a mirror. Glass poked out of his skin, framed by dripping red blood as his fist connected with the mirror. His chest heaved with heavy pants, eyes burned with tears, hand numb, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
It was the first time George truly broke down, but most certainly not the last. The next time he looked in the mirror he was greeted with an image undoubtedly himself; he had purple hair.
His recovery wasn't one to happen overnight as many would have believed. Gruelling weeks spent struggling and fighting himself. His family had supported him, and yet, it was with Fred's encouraging words in his head that got him through, had him reacquaint with Angelina and get his life together.
It was all so tiring, but so completely worth it. But George was ready now. He had accomplished life.
It's been a long day
Without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it
When I see you again
We've come a long way
From where we began
Oh I'll tell you all about it
When I see you again
When I see you again
George with five year old Roxanne in his arms, tickling her fidgeting body and wild curls flying. His little girl.
George with baby Fred II, shirtless on a sweltering summer day, half asleep, bottle in hand feeding the naked baby. Angelina leaning against the doorway, lovingly watching her two boys.
Fred and George as toddlers, pushing and pulling one another like the waves of a current, moving in complete synchronisation as they supported each other from toppling over on the ground.
His children each held a strong resemblance of Fred. George knew it was because they were twins, so it was only natural Fred would be in their smiles, their laughs, their jokes. And he was okay with that, seeing Fred again. He no longer wanted to hurt and break the image serving as a devastating reminder to him.
But more than anything else, he was ready to come face to face with him again. He couldn't wait to tell him of the adventure that was his life.
How do I breathe without you?
I'm feeling so cold I'll be waiting right here for you
Till' the day you're home
Carry on
Give me all the strength I need
To carry on
George's eyes fell shut as a breeze flew around him. Photos began to glow a glittering gold, his mother, father, Ron, Charlie, Harry, Fred, his deceased family. He smiled to himself. The curtains to the backroom blowing caught his attention, and after one last look at his life he walked over to it.
A beautiful white light shone out of the gap. He stood right before it, and the curtains gently opened around him. The sweetest scent blew out, the fragrance of the sunniest summer over blooming flowers. Angels, George could have sworn were standing, smiling at him, haloed in the purest white. A fleeting thought of dirtying the garments flashed in his mind. He chuckled.
The angel was no angel. Her bright red hair, curly and long framing a smooth face. It was a face he could seldom remember, and yet it was a face he could recognise in the largest crowd. His lips tilted up. He hadn't seen his mother in years but in inadequate replicas replaying a scene capturing a moment of her life.
So let the light guide your way
Hold every memory as you go
And every road you take
Will always lead you home, home.
Molly Weasley chasing him and Fred out of the kitchen as they attempted to sneak ants in Percy's plate.
Molly cradling his bruised arms and legs after a rather violent incident with a garden gnome.
Molly scolding the boys for apparating behind her in Grimmauld Place for the hundredth time.
Molly yelling at the absurdity of Wheezes.
Molly smiling at its success, her boys' pride.
Molly holding George together when the earth split from underneath him, when he wanted nothing more than to shatter and break apart.
It's been a long day
Without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it
When I see you again
Arthur Weasley grinning, a young Arthur Weasley, slimmer and with a head full of hair. Standing parallel and adjacent were George's siblings, his uncles, the Marauders, old professors.
George couldn't stop his eyes from watering, eyes that no longer stung in pain from harsh lights. The sweet breeze washed over his body, energising his brittle bones and muscles like an elixir. He smirked an identical smirk to the form opposite him. Over ninety years. No broken mirrors this time.
We've come a long way
From where we began
Oh I'll tell you all about it
When I see you again
When I see you again
When I see you again
When I see you again
"I see you."