Left Behind (A Fred & George fanfic)

1. Mischief Managed

George was fine. Walking through Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, his shop, he whistled some song he'd heard earlier that day. He looked around at all the articles, some reminded him of great times he'd had. That one time Fred and he tested the Skiving Snackbox on the first-years – Hermione had been so angry with them. That one time Dudley Dursley ate a Ton-Tongue Toffee, too bad George'd never seen what Dudley's tongue looked like in the end. And that one time Hogwarts would never forget; The great escape of the Weasley-twins. Their firework and portable swamps had done their job to annoy that horrible pink creature that called itself 'Dolores Umbridge'. Not to forget Peeves, who made the woman pay for what she did after they left. Yeah, those were the good times, the good old days.

Now Fred was gone.

George walked to the front of the shop and opened it. Some people were already standing at the front door, waiting to get in. However, it was nothing like the usual crowd that peeked through the windows just before September 1, when all the Hogwarts students were buying the stuff they needed in Diagon Alley. George smiled at the customers, made some small talk and made sure everybody was having a good time. In the meantime, he thought of Angelina. He'd been so lucky to have her. Because of her, he managed to get on with his life. She was the only one who could put a smile on his face.

Well, that was not entirely true, was it? He had a family now, he was a dad. And his two kids were  everything to him. Fred, named after his deceased uncle, ofcourse, was the oldest of the two. He was in his third year of Hogwarts right now and couldn't have been more like his dad in his younger days. He seemed to get on pretty well with his nephew, James, Ginny and Harry's son. They were probably Hogwarts' third generation of pranksters. Little Roxanne went to Hogwarts for the first time this year, she'd been sorted into Gryffindor – as was her brother – and she was a bit more quiet than Fred. She was one kind little girl, but had a strong mind and when she wanted something, it had to be done. They both were great and lovely children. Yeah, George was quite lucky.

Even the thought of his brother didn't make him feel completely miserable anymore. There had been a time when Angelina and Molly, his dear mother, had thrown all the mirrors out of the house, because every time George saw himself, he saw Fred's face instead of his own. That had changed a long time ago. His face had grown older, while Fred's would never change again.

George had lost so much since that 2nd of May, 1998. He'd never laugh again as loudly and honestly as he did before. He had to run the shop all by himself now (Ron helped him every now and then, but that wasn't the same). He had never been able to cast a Patronus again, though he hadn't admitted this to anyone yet. On top of all that, of course, he would never be with Fred again. Sometimes he wondered how he'd gotten this far without Fred. They had been twins, brothers, friends, companions, partners in crime... But that was all over now. Never again would he hear his brother's laugh.

But George was fine – he had to be.

~

That night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, two dark figures marched down the corridors. With no fear of getting caught, James and Fred were talking and laughing loudly.

"Didn't uncle Fred always do pranks like this with your dad?" James asked suddenly.

"I suppose so," said Fred, "Dad doesn't talk about him much, but mum told me they were really close. They did everything together."

"Well, that's not strange is it? They were twins. You're even named after him."

Fred nodded; his jolly mood was gone now. He had seen some pictures of his dad. On most of them, he couldn't even tell who was his dad, he and uncle Fred looked so much alike. On every single one of them, the twins were laughing the exact same smile, a smile Fred never saw on his dad's face anymore.

Suddenly, there was a clattering sound and an 'AUCH!'.

"You didn't just walk into one of the suits of armor again, did you?" 

"It's so dark here, it's not like I did it on purpose!" James shrugged.

Fred laughed while James cursed. Luckily, they knew the castle by heart. This surely wasn't the first time they got out of the common room at night.

"I still can't believe it though, your dad as a joker. I mean, he has the Wheezes and all, but still..." James couldn't quite imagine it.

"He was, though, he and uncle were the pranksters of the school, right before the Second War." Fred walked on with his head held high, as if he were the proudest man on earth. "Uncle Ron told me everybody liked them. They were funny, smart and just as unpredictable as can be."

"Bet we could've learnt a lot from them..." said James.

"Sshhh!" someone whispered from the dark. "Go to bed, you two! Go to your common room! We're trying to sleep over here!"

Both Fred and James knew what was making the noise, but in spite of that James pulled his wand and whispered "Lumos!". A small sphere of light appeared at the end of the wand and suddenly they could see the entire corridor.

"Put that light out!" The same voice sneered on their right. In one of the portraits, a grey-haired man held his hands in front of his eyes. "Why is it always the little Gryffindors sneaking through the castle like that at this time of night? You better leave, before I decide to inform the headmaster about your little trip!"

James and Fred looked at each other, amused.

"Oh we're terribly sorry, sir." James said formally. "We never meant to wake you up. We were heading for our common room anyway. Sleep well!"

James lowered his wand and the little light went out. In silence – trying hard not to laugh – they walked on, but not to the Gryffindor common room.

A little later, the duo reached the place they had to be: The girls' toilets on the first floor. Fred opened the bag he had taken and took out a small package.

"Portable swamps! Best invention ever!" James grinned.

They positioned the package in the middle of the room and activated it.

No one knew that at that exact moment, something changed on the Marauders' Map, which lay in a drawer - long forgotten by Harry and not yet found by James. For Fred Weasley Jr. wasn't the only Fred that was to be seen in the girls' toilets on the first floor on the Map. Because where ever mayhem or mischief is caused, Fred Weasley is there.