Author's Note: This is for the Five Times challenge over on the HPFC forum. It's five times Fred Weasley wished he wasn't a twin. Now, that being said, I am not saying that these are five times where Fred Weasley wished George had never been born- I doubt he'd ever think that! Just times he didn't want to be a twin. I hope I kept him in character, it's my first time writing Fred and I don't think I did him justice, but let me know your thoughts and please review!

i.

Fred grinned at George as their parents returned to the living room, where the Weasley siblings were sitting, cross legged, under the tree.

"Presents!" seven year old Ron screamed in glee. Ginny, a year younger, echoed his cry, and the twins, nine years old, started up a rousing chant: "Presents, presents, presents!" Bill and Charlie, laughing, joined in, much to the obvious dismay of eleven-year-old Percy, who muttered something about how seventeen and fifteen year olds should not act in such a way.

Molly smiled indulgently at her brood and dumped her armload of presents under the tree. "Well, go ahead!" she laughed.

Everyone dived for the pile of presents, searching for ones with their names on it. There were shouts of joy- "Aw, a Chudley Cannons poster! Thanks!" "Mum, this sweater is amazing! I love the dragon!" "This quill is great!"- but none matched the shriek George let out when he tore off the wrapping paper and unearthed a broom.

"Mum! Dad! My first broom! Lookie, Fred!" George said in shock, reverently touching his broom.

Fred gave a roar of approval. "Nice! Where's mine?" He started searching through the presents, missing the horrified look his mother gave his father.

"Er, Fred," Arthur said slowly. "That's your broom too. We thought you two could share."

Fred and George fell silent and Molly looked at them, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm sorry, boys. But broomsticks are terribly expensive…."

Bill glared at Fred and Charlie kicked George rather roughly.

George spoke first, "Mum, Dad, it's really not a big deal. We share everything anyway."

Fred nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's not a problem! This broom is amazing, anyway."

But two hours later, when it was George's turn on the broom, and Fred was sitting on the ground, watching Bill and Charlie and George soar through the sky with a Quaffle, Fred wished he had a broom of his own.

"Maybe if you weren't a twin…." a nagging voice said in the back of Fred's mind, but Fred angrily shoved that thought out of his head and let out a cheer as George went upside down, laughing, on their broom.

ii.

On the night Fred and George got their letter from Hogwarts, Fred had snuck out of his room in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. As he walked into the corridor by the kitchen, he stopped short when he saw his parents sitting at the kitchen table. Fred, by instinct, drew back into the shadows and listened.

"Arthur, I don't know how we're going to do this," Molly said softly. "This is Charlie's last year at Hogwarts, and I think he deserves new school and dress robes- Merlin knows he needs them! But Percy needs a new cauldron. They both need their new school books, and Godric, Fred and George need so much!" She shook their two school supply lists at Arthur and sighed heavily.

Arthur rubbed Molly's shoulders. "We've done this before, Mols. And we always manage."

"I know," Molly said tearfully. "But we've never started two kids at the same time. The first year is always the hardest, they need so much stuff."

Arthur sighed heavily. "Well, Percy can use Bill's old cauldron, right? And maybe Charlie can use some of Bill's old robes?"

Molly nodded, straightening up. "Well, Charlie can get new dress robes since Fred and George are getting to use Percy and Charlie's old robes that don't fit anymore. He deserves that at least and his are terrible. I suppose if we buy second-hand books, it won't be too terribly expensive."

Arthur nodded. "We can't do much about the wands or potions materials or any of the other stuff on this list. We'll just stretch the budget this year, and we'll make it, like always."

Molly smiled and leaned against Arthur. Fred crept back into his room and hissed at his sleeping brother, "George, wake up."

"Whaa?" George muttered, burying his head in the pillows.

Fred sat on his own bed. "I just heard Mum and Dad talking."

George removed the pillow from his face. "And?"

"And Mum was crying because she didn't know how we are going to afford all our new school supplies."

"Merlin," George muttered. "Dad calm her down?"

"Yeah, but George…," Fred started hesitantly. "Don't you feel kind of guilty?"

George frowned. "Well, it's not our fault."

Fred sighed, frustrated. "We're twins! So we cost twice as much as any of the others for everything."

George stared at him blankly. "Don't be a prat, Fred. Nobody can do anything to help that. I'm going back to sleep."

Fred lay back down in his bed, but he couldn't fall asleep with the feeling of guilt rushing through him.

iii.

When Fred was a third-year, he developed his first serious crush. The lucky girl was Angelina Johnson, much to the amusement of George and Lee. Fred took their teasing good-naturedly, assuring them that he would have the last laugh when Angelina went out with him.

One day, due to excessive prompting by Lee and George, Fred decided to ask her to the next Hogsmeade weekend. He grinned cockily at Lee and slapped George's hand for luck as he sauntered across the Common Room to where Angelina was sitting with her friends.

He heard snatches of their conversation as he grew nearer.

"…can't believe he likes her, she's so annoying…"

"…and I sat next to her in Potions class and she said…."

"….is that Weasley twin coming towards us?"

Fred stopped short. Angelina had said the last one. That Weasley twin? She didn't even know his name? She couldn't tell him apart from George? Fred's eyes narrowed and he veered sharply away from the group of girls and headed towards the dormitory, ignoring George's questioning stare and Lee's laughter.

Bloody hell, he had never been so insulted in his life. He always thought that people mistaking him for George was funny, but with Angelina, he wasn't laughing.

iv.

"Hey Fred."

"Yeah?"

"You know what I realized?"

"That our business is doing remarkably well and Mum is beginning to accept it?"

"Well, that too, but also something else. Something…serious."

"Aw George, come on. Let's not do this tonight."

"Shut up. I'm telling you. We're a liability to each other."

"….What are you talking about?"

"Now. During the war. That's what Moody said."

"George, he's bonkers."

"Yeah, but it made sense. After I became holey, he cornered me…."

"…and turned you into a ferret?"

"I wish. He just told me he thought you would have died that night."

"Gee, thanks."

"Yeah, he said if you saw me get hit, you would have flew to my side and would have been an easy target for the Death-Eaters."

"I'm never an easy target."

"Well, I told him you wouldn't have been so stupid to fly to my side. You would have kept going, right?"

"Er. I'm not a complete prick. I wouldn't have left you."

"Fred! You have to. This is why we're a liability to each other."

"Because we care about keeping each other alive? That's insane."

"No, because we care about keeping each other alive more than we care about keeping ourselves alive."

"That means we're good people. Heroes, one might say."

"One might also say we're being idiots. I mean, Fred, I'd prefer that you didn't die on my account."

"And I'd prefer that you didn't die on my account."

"So it's settled? We won't sacrifice ourselves to save each other?"

"…No."

"….No."

"So a liability, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Damn."

v.

The spells came faster and faster. He saw a blur of red hair and almost panicked for a second. Ron. But no, he was fine. It was all fine. It had to be, when he separated from George, they promised that they would let nothing happen to them while the other was away. Fred wasn't worried. And Percy was there, finally fighting for the right side. Blimey, he was glad the git was back.

And his sense of humour had approved over the separation! Fred laughed delightedly at Percy's joke, made a mental note to tell George when this was all over, and was in the process of shouting his approval when he saw the explosion.

And as the world exploded around him, and he knew he was going to die, one word came to his mind: George.

------

They were children, hiding in the closet in Percy's room, waiting for him to come in so they could terrify him.

"When are we gonna die, Fred?" George asked suddenly, staring at an obituary of a high-ranking Ministry official that was taped to the closet wall, with the words "Rest in Peace" scrawled on the top in a child's handwriting.

"Together," Fred said staunchly. "When we're about 539 years old.

George nodded solemnly. "We have to die together. I don't think I can live if you're…you know."

Fred frowned. He knew. "That would never happen, Georgie."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

------

Oh, George. I'm sorry.

And then everything faded to black.