Written for 'Weekly Challenge - #7, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry' #1 Easy

As always, enjoy

-Carolare Scarletus

Watch Over me

It's been twenty years and he could still see that lingering smile on his face. That unspoken bound between two brothers who shared everything now felt like an unexplained noise in the background. While the world finally came to peace with what happened, George Weasley was still amid recovery and remembering all that was lost.

George stared at the tombstone and sighed. He had never felt the hollowness beside - and within - him before, but he liked to think that he was slowly getting used to it as the years passed on. The snow fell around him and soft spirals and while he believed he was being kissed by every person he had lost, there was always one person that he was dying to see again.

He had taken a trip to Hogwarts, looked everywhere he could imagine and when he finally found the Mirror of Erised, what he saw was completely far from what he expected. He didn't see the dead face of his brother, who he so desperately wanted to see. They weren't being brought into a tight hug by their mother and other family members. George had been entirely too preoccupied by the idea that the image he saw completely stunned him. It left more questions than answers.

When he looked into the mirror he saw himself. He was happy and hadn't a care in the world. His face was riddled with laughter marks, his eyes were shining from years of exuberance and there was a slight defining line of sparkle he hadn't felt since his brother's death. The Mirror was showing that he could move past this awful occasion. That living in the past and wishing things were different was not only a waste of time, but it was also unnecessary. George knew that it was impossible, but he liked to believe that his brother was speaking to him beyond the grave.

Now, looking at the tombstone, his heart aching and tears swelling up in his eyes, George asked," Doing alright Freddie?"

Silence met him, and then-"

"S'been better. Though, I prefer little less bells if you know what I mean."

An image formed in front of him. George nearly stumbled on his feet as the sight of Fred as he manifested before him. Instead of the last gory image he was expecting, Fred was dressed in nice attired accompanied by a shining light around his head. A goofy smile arose from his lips.

"Heaven's great! They made me a Guardian Angel!" Fred said teasingly.

"Y-you're real." George breathed.

Instead of the greeting that Fred might had have hoped to get, he was met with disbelief. George watched as the ethereal glow about him darkened slightly. It seemed to be entuned with his emotions for his smile faded into and frown. His eyes softened as he spoke again.

"Yeah, Georgie, I'm real."

"Y-y-you just can't be!"

"I'm real as they come." He laughed before the joke died down entirely. "Though, I think I am."

George wasn't the least bit amused. Slowly, he inched closer to him. He had been betrayed by his eyes before and this occasion wasn't any different; though, this image, unlike all the others, was talking to him. A thought came to him. There had been something Fred left for him and if this one was real, he would know what that was.

"What did you leave for me before you died?" George asked without preamble.

The ghost of Fred looked at him for a moment before deciding on an answer. "Come on, George. Is this-"

"Just answer the question, please!"

Fred ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Alright, I left you a talisman."

"And what did it say on it?"

"Familia Ante Omnia…" Fred said, the light around him dimming even further. "Family above others."

If George could hug a ghost, he would. A kind of immense emotion swelled up inside of him and in that instant, he knew that he wasn't imagining his brother. He was real. As real as he had been when he had seen him die.

"I'm so sorry… if it had been me-"

"You were always thinking of things first, Georgie. Always coming up with ideas and I was left in the background. But, I guess, in a small twist of fate, I was the one who was meant to go."

"Don't say that Fred!"

"It's true," he smiled sorrowfully. Fred looked up at the sky. "I haven't got long. It took me ages to convince them."

"Y-you have to go?"

Fred nodded. "Yeah… But, what I said before wasn't a lie. They made me your guardian angel." He looked up quickly. A beam of light swept down upon them and he was elegantly lifted into the air. Neither of them wanted to let go. "I'll always watch over you, Georgie. When you're at your lowest, just remember our saying. If anything, I will always be in your heart!"

In that instant, he disappeared, leaving George to swallow his pain and carry on with a piece of Fred always by his side.