Left Behind (A Fred & George fanfic)

3. Angelina's Story

She always knew life with George wasn’t going to be easy. She knew this even before the Second War. Not a day at Hogwarts had gone by without a joke from Fred and George, even after their great ‘escape’ from Umbridge people talked about the twins every single day. A further life with one of them as a husband would’ve been crazy, every day would’ve brought a prank; a pillowcase that exploded once you touched it, the kitchen table that began dancing when you put dinner down… If only her future would’ve looked like that.

The life she had now was a whole different kind of difficult. Instead of the daily jokes, she had to deal with daily depression and pain from her husband. Of course Angelina herself wasn’t OK either. Fred had been her friend, a very good friend indeed. She still remembered the Yule Ball, he had asked her, danced with her. Yes, she must admit, she liked him.

And then he died. Just like that. Gone.

Life isn’t fair, Angelina kept thinking, it just isn’t fair. There was no other explanation for what happened to Fred. She had seen him, lying in the Great Hall with an eternal smile etched on his face, the whole Weasley family standing around him, devastated. And then of course there was George. When Angelina saw him through her tears, she was sure she saw that something about George had permanently changed, like some part of him had died. That’s when she truly realized the school was at war – and losing.

The weeks after that, she and George talked a lot. Angelina found that she understood George, if it was only for the slightest bit. They slowly grew closer and closer and then, one day, she realized she didn’t really see George as a normal friend anymore. Angelina had wondered, at first: did she really like George or was it just the vague image of Fred she saw in him that she liked? Of course she knew now it wasn’t just Fred’s memory. George had changed a lot since the War and she was his closest friend, the only one he was willing to open up to. They eventually got together, because of their shared grief over Fred. Call it romantic or call it terrible, but Angelina was happy they had.

Times were difficult after the War. Angelina remembered that time she visited the Weasleys. George had done his first prank in months, she couldn’t remember exactly what it was, but it had contained an explosion, naturally. Mrs. Weasley wasn’t happy at all and that’s when all hell broke loose.

“FRED! TRY TO BEHAVE FOR ONC…” Mrs. Weasley had stopped in the middle of her sentence and the whole room went silent. George had looked at her for a brief moment and rushed upstairs afterwards. Mrs. Weasley wept the whole afternoon and George refused to come out of his room. She, Ron and Hermione, who had witnessed the whole thing too, had sat in the living room the rest of the day. Talking occasionally and about nothing in particular, until mr. Weasley came back from work and they had to explain everything to him.

She also remembered that one time she’d talked to Percy at The Burrow. He blamed himself for Fred’s death, he had told her. He was the one who had been distracting him during the fight, because of some stupid joke. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, if he had shut up, Fred wouldn’t have died. Angelina knew it was nonsense, Percy was in no way responsible for what happened to Fred.

She had never liked Percy that much, he was way too serious and always tried to kill Fred and George’s good sense of humor. However, that one proper conversation changed her thoughts on him. She felt sorry for him and even though he was being ridiculous, Angelina understood him. Had she been in his place, she would’ve never forgiven herself.

And she knew that  in that aspect, Percy wasn’t that different from her.

George had had his ups and downs after their marriage. Some days he was perfectly fine – at least, he seemed to be – and other days Angelina could see the pain in his eyes. One of the worst times was when George went completely crazy every time he looked in the mirror, seeing Fred’s face instead of his own. Angelina and Mrs. Weasley had to carefully cover all the mirrors George hadn’t broken yet. The day after, George had come up to Angelina with a guilty look on his face. He told her he was terribly sorry for what he had done and he didn’t know how to apologize. She had hugged him and they both cried.

Luckily, those downfalls didn’t occur that often anymore from the moment Fred Jr. was born. Angelina finally felt like they were able to built up a normal life now. Both George and she herself were scarred, but life went on. And Angelina knew they’d get through it, they’d manage somehow.

Poor Angelina, if only she knew what was coming. If only she knew the hardest part hadn’t even started yet.