A/N- And here we have it; the final chapter of Brotherly Love. It's been so fun writing this, even though I disappeared a lot, and I can't wait to start the sequel.

I'll also be writing a BBC Sherlock fic, if anyone is into that, so look out for it.

Now, on with the show, and thank you for all of your support!

-oOo-

Chapter 49: In the End

"George, you're going to give yourself heart failure."

Fred sat beside me on the couch and patted me on the back, attempting to stop me hyperventilating. The following morning, an owl would be landing in front of me at breakfast with a letter from Bill (and Kate) telling me which path my future would be taking. I felt like I was on the verge of spontaneously combusting right there on the sofa. My breathing was rapid and shallow, my whole body was flushed, and I'm pretty sure I was having a panic attack, and I couldn't make myself calm down. It was like all the worry I could have been feeling had stored itself up for that exact moment, then decided to wreak havoc through my whole system.

"I'm getting him a calming potion from the hospital wing," Hermione said, standing up from the arm chair a few feet away.

"Madame Pomfrey isn't going to let you take it out of the wing," Fred pointed out, looking up at her. He then began rubbing circles on my back to no avail.

"She wouldn't let you take it out of the wing," Hermione replied with an underlying snobby tone. "She trusts me."

Fred rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded like "whatever", and turned his attention back to me. I tried to tell him I was fine, but he wouldn't have it.

"You hardly ever panic, and now you look like you're about to go into shock. You're not fine," he tried to reason, but I shook my head. I tried to breathe normally, but that just put me on the verge of tears. Pull yourself together, I thought viscously. You can handle whatever happens. You've know about this for over a month. You know what you're expecting. Except that I didn't know what to expect. No one knows what to expect with their first kid. And as a teen? Shit.

I'll be honest; I was pretty irresponsible. I didn't show a glimmer of maturity until this year, and didn't even plan on it. Now there I was, the possibility of being a father looming over my head at such a young age. I wasn't even of age yet. I hate admitting defeat, but I'll say it; I'd been defeated. I had a long way to go before I was even slightly ready to start acting like an adult, and now I was being shoved into adulthood prematurely. Well, mentally anyway. I only had a few months before Fred and I turned seventeen. Speaking of Fred, he didn't have to have anything to do with my screw up, but he wanted to. He wanted to help me to the best of his ability, even though it was a massive roadblock.

Hermione came back after about twenty minutes with a vial in her hand. She uncorked it and handed it to me, telling me to "drink up". I threw it back on one gulp and handed her back the vial, which she vanished. It only took seconds for me to feel the effects of the potion; a warm calming feeling spread through my whole body, and suddenly all of my problems seemed insignificant. I even felt a little floaty.

"You're not shagging me like this," I told Fred.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Fred said, chuckling, and Hermione shook her head and covered her face with a book.

After that, Fred and I pulled Lee aside and started going over more ideas for joke products. I mostly listened though, because I was still feeling off from the calming potion.

We compiled a list of ideas that we'd all agreed on, and another list of things still to be considered. We had quite a list of things we'd already finalized, and most of them we knew how to make; it was just a matter of getting the things we needed. Potions ingredients, mostly, since we had a lot of ideas for food products; more sweets for the skiving snack boxes, canary creams (that one would be rather difficult), and the like. If we wanted to actually start selling, we'd have to really step up and actually start making them. As of now all we had was spell-check quills and a few botched attempts at Nosebleed Nougats. I hate it when life gets in my way.

Fred and I had this dream to open up our own joke shop after we left Hogwarts. Then we could be as immature as we wanted and still be contributing to society. To open such a shop, though, we'd need money; a lot of money, which was why we wanted to sell right away. We wanted to get a place in Hogsmede, since the target age group took trips there every month, but there's never anywhere available there, so Diagon Alley was our second choice. There was a place that had been for sale for ages; we didn't have much hope of getting it, since we wouldn't have enough until after we graduated, but it was nice to dream.

I started to wonder if our hopes of achieving this goal had been dashed because of this possible pregnancy. If I had to take care of a kid, would we have the time or money to go through with it? Maybe Fred would, but where would that leave me?

It was at that point that I realized I'd affected more lives than my own.

-oOo-

When the calming potion started wearing off, my anxiety began slowly creeping back. This year hadn't gone at all as planned; in fact, it seemed like everything had gone wrong. It could only get better from there, right? I kept telling myself that, but I couldn't make myself believe it. I was too wrapped up in all the other things that could go wrong. What would happen when Mum and Dad found out about Kate, getting through school, the coming summer… Hell, I'd even been giving thought to what would happen if Mum and Dad found out about me and Fred. I think they'd be less than appalled with us being gay, but then came the rest of the story. They're tolerant people, but I didn't want to test the limits. I thought it best to wait until Mum started bothering us about when we'd meet a girl and get married, or whatever. What she didn't know wouldn't kill her.

Then there was the fact that Kate was a Muggle, and I couldn't keep the fact that I'm a wizard away from her forever if I planned on being an active part in this process. And even if I did tell her, I'd have to prove it to her, and then I'd get cited for using magic in front of a Muggle. Every time I think of Kate, new worries arise.

I tried to disconnect myself from whatever Kate would face with the possible arrival of a baby, but the more I tried to not think about it, the more I thought about it. It was like telling someone not to think about a troll. Well they're going to think about a troll, aren't they? All of Kate's potential problems had become my potential problems. If they became her actual problems? Well then I was really fucked.

"I can hear you thinking," Fred said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked around; the common room was empty. How long had I just been sitting there? "Everyone's at dinner," Fred added, reading my expression. A while, then.

"Sorry," I shook my head.

"If you keep exercising your brain like that, you might just be able to bump up some of your grades," he chuckled.

"I'm not using the right equipment for that," I said, smiling. I stood up from the armchair I'd been sitting in and stretched, cracking my back. My legs felt a little stiff, but that was to be expected.

"Details, details," Fred waves my comment away. He tossed me a folded bit of parchment, which I scrambled to catch. "It's a list of a few more ideas Lee came up with. I already looked them over, but I want your opinion as well," he said, smiling. I unfolded the parchment and scanned the list.

"Daydream charms sound brilliant, but they're going to require some heavy magic," I addressed, tossing the list back to him. All the others seemed pretty plausible.

"Yeah, well. It's a suggestion. Probably for a lot later, but a good one to have on the table." He shrugged noncommittally, stowing the list away in his pocket. I nodded my agreement and suggested we go down to eat. There was no need to think it over, of course.

-oOo-

I'd never been less excited for a meal in my entire life. With breakfast, came the inevitable arrival of mail, and I was starting to think I'd rather be left in the dark until summer.

I took the longest route to the Great Hall I could think of, and walked as slowly as I dared. Not that it mattered; if I missed the arrival, it would still be there waiting for me. Fred intended to wait with me so we could go down together, but after watching me tie and retie my shoes he gave up and said he'd see me down there.

Walking though the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table felt like the Walk of Shame, even though no one else knew what I was expecting. It was like I feared that they'd all somehow found out and were silently judging me. Irrational fear, yes, but I can't be blamed for it. No one was even looking at me, but they may as well have, the way I was feeling.

It felt like I'd walked a thousand anxiety-filled miles before I came to a stop next to Fred at the table. I sat down, visibly shaking, and looking like the biggest pansy alive. Fred and Hermione had chosen to sit away from everyone else, which was fine by me. I didn't need anyone else knowing whether or not I'd impregnated a stranger. Well, I say stranger. Kate's a stranger to them. Merlin, she was a step above a stranger to me. I was not making myself feel any better.

Neither of them said anything about it when I sat down, in order to preserve their own well-being, and probably to keep me from having a psychotic meltdown.

Unfortunately, I didn't walk slowly enough, because the mail hadn't come yet, meaning I'd have to sit there internally freaking out until It arrived. Waiting is always the worst part of any situation; then there's the situation I was in, where the waiting is the worst part multiplied by ten. Or more. Yeah, more. I'd be a wound tighter than a spring by the time the mail arrived, assuming I wasn't dead by then.

When the mail did finally arrive, I just about passed out. This was it; the moment of truth. Oh, Merlin, I'd never been so terrified in my life. The owls swooped in going in every direction, some carrying lard parcels, and other carrying envelopes or newspapers. Hermione's daily newspaper came, and she dropped a knut in the little sack tied to the owl's leg. An envelope dropped in front of me and I nearly had a heart attack. It was from Mum, though. Was that it? I handed it off to Fred. (It turned out to just be a letter wishing us well). For one half-terrified-half-relieved moment, I thought maybe the letter wouldn't come, but then a tawny owl swooped down and held out his leg; a black envelope was tied to it. Only Bill used black envelopes.

I picked it up gingerly, as if it would bite me if I held it the wrong way. My name was scrawled across the back in silver ink. If I hadn't been so terrified of what was inside, I would have commented on the presentation of it. I carefully broke the seal and slid out the parchment from inside. There were two notes; one from Bill and one from Kate. I read the one from Bill first.

George,

I promise you that I didn't read anything that you or Kate wrote, but I thought I'd let you know that when I told her who the note was from, she looked horrified. I hope you didn't get yourself into anything you can't get out of.

-Bill

Great.

I turned Kate's letter over in my fingers several times before Hermione snapped at me to "just read it". It was fairly longer than Bill's, I could tell right away. I took a shuddering breath, and started reading.

George,

Your brother told me that your note was urgent, which worried me, because you don't seem like the kind of guy to think anything is urgent. I'm glad I had until now, though, because I only just found out the day of writing this.

I'm pregnant.

I understand completely if you don't want to stick around; you're still in school, just like me, and don't have the time, especially considering you're at a boarding school. What happened was a massive mistake, and neither of us had any intentions of this happening. On that subject: even though it was unplanned and unintentional, I plan on keeping the baby. As far as names, my plan is Anthony for a boy, and Michele for a girl, but if you have any ideas, I really want to hear them.

I hope you're able to come around at least sometimes in the summers. I won't lie, I'd be devastated if I never saw you again. Even though we only really knew each other for less than a week, I think you're a pretty ace guy, and a bloody great friend.

Say hello to Fred for me.

Lots of Love,

Kate

I put the letter down.

And closed my eyes.

-oOo-

A/N- Oh my God, writing this has been so much fun, and I hope you enjoyed it just as much. This is the first time I've actually finished anything that was more than a one-shot (both here and outside the web), and even though it took the better part of four years (two before publishing and two after), it was worth it. Hopefully the sequel will be updated more frequently since I am now a community college student with less time in the classroom and more time to write.

Again, the sequel will take place about a year after where we left off here. It will be rated M, and will be either entirely from George's POV, or alternating POV's. If you have a preference, please let me know.

I'm on a writing streak right now, so the first chapter should be up before the end of the month. I have yet to determine a title, but if you have suggestions for that, let me know as well.

For now, I bid you adieu.