A woman's wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of her life.

But on the morning of her wedding, all Angelina Johnson could think of was that this day was simply a reminder of al the things that she could have had in her life.

She loved George – she wouldn't be marrying him if she didn't – but she didn't love him nearly as much as she should. She didn't love him the way he deserved, not like the way she had once loved – still loved – Fred.

Fred Weasley had been her soul mate, the person who was a perfect fit for her. He had been just the right mix of mischievous and reckless to balance out her seriousness and sense of responsibility. George would never be able to do that. He had always been the more responsible, more sensitive one of the twins, and the two of them as a couple were like two puzzle pieces that didn't fit exactly right, that had to be forced together. They fit because they each had a little part of them that was missing, not because they had been designed that way.

Though she hated herself for thinking like that, there was a tiny part of her that wished that it had been George who died. Because then Fred would have lived, and it would he who would have been standing next to her facing the marriage official, not George.

She knew George knew that she thought that, and she also knew that he thought the same. That was what connected the two of them; what allowed them to love each other – their shared love for Fred Weasley. No one else would be able to understand the sheer depth of their loss – the rest of the world had lost a friend, a brother, child. They had both lost a part of their soul when Fred died under that pile of rubble.

As she walked down the aisle, she couldn't help but think that she was cheating everyone who had come to see the wedding. Everyone was thrilled that George was finally moving on from his twin's death, and their wedding was seen as just what he needed to start living his life again. How were they to know that this wedding would not accomplish that; that this wedding was just another way for the two of them to keep Fred close?

They loved each other, but they weren't in love with each other. But they needed each other to get through life without Fred. So George pretended her didn't realise that she would never look at his left side, his lost ear a cruel reminder that he wasn't Fred. He pretended not to hear her scream out Fred's name instead of his. And in turn, she pretended that she didn't see the way in which he drowned his sorrows in alcohol, covering for him whenever his family came looking.

A woman's wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but for Angelina Johnson, it was simply a reminder of all that she had lost and all that she would never have.

For:

The Canon Pairings Competition

The if You Dare Challenge, Prompt 551. Three Dead Hearts

HP Potions Competition, Muffling Draught

Fantastic Beasts Challenge, Mooncalf