Title: Double or Nothing

Fandom: Harry Potter

Genre: Angsty

Pairing: None

Rating: PG

Warnings: Angst, Spoilers for DH

Summary: Sometimes, when you've lost someone very close to you, random insignificances become suddenly all important.

Author's Note: 1 April, 1999 – Written for Fred and George's birthday.

This is really, really sad. I'm writing Happy!fic to compensate, but this one has been itching at me for months. I keep wanting to write a happy ending to it, but I'm thinking that this is the only ending to this one...

George blinked his eyes open, blearily staring at the alarm clock and trying to decide whether or not it was worth going back to sleep. His eyes involuntarily settled on the date.

April 1st.

His birthday. Formerly their birthday.

George remembered, when he was a kid, he and Fred had a fight once. They fought all the time, actually. Those who knew the united front of the Weasley Twins, who spoke of Fred and George as though they were interchangeable, didn't really know that it wasn't always fun to have an exact replica.

(At least for him. George had really been the one to have a problem with it. Fred was always eager to trade on their ability to hoodwink and confuse people. Fred was more than willing to blend in with George all in the name of trickery. It was George who objected.)

Anyway, during this fight, George had declared his desire to be apart from his brother. He had insisted that they should even celebrate separate birthdays, so that they might totally be different people. Fred's response had been snide. He'd said "Nope. Sorry, brother. I'm afraid we're a matched set. It's double or nothing with us, and it always will be!"

George had slammed the door shut and stomped downstairs where, as usual, his mother had been waiting with cookies, tea, and kind eyes, but the whole idea of 'double or nothing' stuck in his head, and hadn't ever left.

He really wished it would. After all, if it were true, and he was no longer a double, then... What was he?

Nothing. He had to be nothing. There was no alternative.

Happy Birthday, Nothing.

George rolled back over. He wouldn't be getting out of bed today.