How Will the Twins React?

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Contains spoilers for HBP.

Fred and George enter the house laughing. They are always laughing. Ginny doesn't know a time when her older brothers aren't enjoying some joke or other. She also doesn't understand why she has to be the one to maybe make them serious for the first time she can think of.

She clears her throat from her huddled position on the corner of the couch, and they both turn, startled. Neither of them had noticed her when they came in, and they grin.

"Hey Gin," Fred says, looking around the living room. "Where is everyone?"

"Yeah," George echoes, glancing up the stairs. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

Ginny stares at them, wanting to fix them in her head as they are now, not wanting to be the one with the power to wipe the smiles off their faces, but that power has been given to her. She hadn't asked for it, but now that she has it, she knows she has to use it carefully.

"Um, sit down…" she says, vaguely gesturing to the rest of the couch.

The twins glance at each other, mystified, but they comply. They watch their sister, and the smiles start to fade as they realize that something must be wrong. There's a reason why no one else is home, and it's starting to occur to them that it might not be one that they necessarily want to hear. They shift uncomfortably on the couch and subconsciously shift closer to Ginny and to each other.

"What is it?" Fred asks, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice, but his brother and sister both hear it. George doesn't look at him, though. He's still watching Ginny.

She takes a deep breath and stares at them for a few seconds longer before she says the words that will change their lives.

"Well, first of all, Mom and Dad are fine. So are Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron, Harry, Hermione… everybody. We're all fine."

And it's clear what she isn't saying. Someone isn't fine. Fred gulps.

"Ginny, who is it? What happened?"

She sighs. She can't put it off any longer, but she still dreads actually saying the words aloud for the first time. If she says them, they become true. But there's no more stalling.

"Fred, George… it's… it's Dumbledore. He – he's dead."

She gulps as she watches their faces change, and their freckles stand out in stark contrast to their sudden pallor. They stare at her, and then they stare at each other. They can't seem to grasp some of the most horrible news they've ever been given, so they don't. They just sit and stare off into space, wondering how they're supposed to be feeling. But Ginny knows the shock will wear off. So she sits patiently, waiting for the sound she knows will come. And it does. But Fred gives in first. That, she didn't expect.

He had been sitting with his elbows on his knees, supporting his forehead in his hands, and all of a sudden his hands are covering his face, and she hears him sniff. She looks up sharply and then gets up resignedly. It's time for her to do what she knows he'll only accept from her and George and, occasionally, their mother. She gets up from her corner of the couch and moves beside him, putting her arm around him. He immediately gives into her embrace, gives into the tears he can no longer stop, and as soon as he does, George breaks too. He can withstand anything but hearing his twin cry, and as soon as Fred lets go, George loses his own battle against tears. Soon, the siblings are in a three-way hug, Ginny the only one not crying. And she can't figure out why.