Left Behind (A Fred & George fanfic)

13. Apologizing

You should've seen their faces. You really should have seen their faces when they saw George walking towards them with a perfect smile on his face. They were standing in the courtyard, all 5 of them; 'Professor Longbottom', aka Neville, little Fred, James, Ginny and Ron. Their extremely worried looks slowly changed to relief when they saw him, to confusion when they saw his smile and – in Ginny's case – to a mixture between incredible anger and more relief.

“GEORGE WEASLEY!” Ginny ran towards him and hugged him tightly. “Where HAVE you BEEN?”

He heard a chuckle coming from his right.

“Wow, so far for me thinking mum was one of a kind.” Fred said.

George hugged his sister back, desperately trying to hold his laughter – Fred was right, she did look a lot like mum in some ways. The tiny stone was, of course, still clenched in his fist.

“I'm sorry, Gin, I just... I needed some time alone.” George said.

Ginny stepped back and looked up at him, unimpressed. “You needed some time alone? And you thought is was necessary to leave your confused son and nephew behind? And your crying wife? And what about the rest of the family who had no idea where you were or what you were doing?”

Angelina? Crying? Oh right, he nearly forgot he had screwed up big time.

“Woooh, red head, calm down!” Fred said.

“Calm down, red head!” George said. “I'm really sorry. I really am. I'll talk to Angelina as soon as I'm back home.” He looked around. “Why isn't she here anyway?”

Ginny raised an eyebrow. “She told you she wouldn't follow you if you left, you know she's too proud to try and hunt you down.”

George looked at the ground guiltily.

Fred shrugged. “Yup, that's Angelina.”

“Dad?” Little Fred slowly walked towards George. “Are you mad at me? I'm really sorry, I did my best, but I couldn't make uncle Fred reappear on the map! I'm so sorry!”

George padded his son's head as if Fred was still 8 years old and smiled at him reassuringly. “Don't worry, Freddy, it's OK. It's alright! I'm not mad at you at all, I'm mostly mad at myself. I never should've brought you into this. Let's just decide to never bring it up again, it didn't do any good to any of us.”

His son looked up at him and returned the smile, nodding.

“Aww, aren't you the sweetest daddy in the world!” Fred teased him.

George threw him a semi-annoyed look, he was glad non of the others seemed to be able to see his brother. Probably because he was the only one holding the stone, he thought. Maybe it was better this way, he wanted to be alone with his brother, he didn't want to share him – not yet.

“You seem... unusually happy.” Ginny stated.

Another crooked smile crossed George's face and he looked at the five (still) confused people in front of him.

“I am. It's weird to say this, but I actually feel really good right now!” He thanked Neville for helping him out that afternoon, winked at James, and gave Ron a short hug.

“Glad to have you back.” was the only thing Ron said.

“I'm glad to be back too, the Dark Forest really is a bit too dark for me.”

“You've been in the Forbidden Forest?” James and Fred asked simultaneously, their eyes wide.

George leaned in on them, whispering slightly. “You think this is the first time I did that?”

The looks the two boys exchanged were so recognizable; they were considering the possibilities, what pranks could they think of that had something to do with the Forbidden Forest?

Ginny soon told them it was time to go home, so they all said goodbye to one another.

Walking back to Hogsmeade, where they would be able to disapparate again, Fred looked at George with an astonished expression.

“What?” George murmured under his breath.

“They have never been in the Forbidden Forest?” Fred shook his head. “I take back what I said before. You are a terrible dad for not giving them the idea the moment they got on the train for their first year!”

George had thought of a five minute apology by the time he came home – however, he didn't get the chance to tell Angelina how sorry he was, or to tell her anything, for that matter. From the minute he entered the house, Angelina had hugged him and refused to let go. She told him how scared she had been, how she didn't know where he had been. She told him everything that happened the previous few hours, but carefully evaded naming 'Fred' in any way.

At first George wanted to cut off the conversation as soon as possible, to be able to talk to Fred alone. But when he looked at his brother and saw the smile on his face – a smile of happiness, not because of a prank or a joke – he decided Angelina deserved some real attention after everything that had happened.

They ended up sitting on the couch together, his arm around her, her head on his shoulder, like they were teenagers in love, talking about everything that had been going on in their lives – well, almost everything.

George never let go of the stone, but he was happy Fred didn't talk much. Fred stayed out of sight and just watched the two sit, listening to their stories. He was happy for George and Angelina, he honestly was. But seeing them together, talking about a past he never had, made him feel empty inside. All those years had gone by, and he hadn't even noticed! Everyone had moved on and here he was, stuck in wherever he was, whatever he was. Where had the time gone? That was a very good question, Fred thought. Where had the time gone? Where had he been all this time?

He didn't have a clue, he did have vague memories though, things he couldn't remember having experienced while he was alive.

While he was alive. It still sounded so odd to him. He didn't feel dead, he felt very much alive. That is, if you don't count the fact that nobody could see him, touch him or hear him. And the fact that he felt so incredibly empty inside. Inhumanly empty. He didn't know how to describe it, but it surely didn't feel good.

George, on the other hand, hadn't be this happy in years. He didn't have to see Fred, he knew he would stay with him. Fred wouldn't leave him, not again.

It wasn't until the next day that George found the opportunity to lock himself in his office once again, to 'work'. The moment he sat down, he looked at Fred expectantly.

“Now, I think we have a lot to talk about!”

Fred floated towards a little pouffe and sat down on it – God knows how he managed to do that. “Definitely! Little Fred – gorgeous name by the way – seems like the next generation pranker, doesn't he? Great he and James are so close. They still need to learn loads, but with teachers like us nothing can go wrong, right?”

“Teachers like us, it sounds good to be able to say that again.” George said, and his eyes went sad for a moment, thinking of the lonely years he'd been through. “But you know enough about me by now, tell me about you! What happened?”

Fred changed his position, letting his chin rest on his hand and his elbow on his knee, as if he were in deep thought. “Where do I start?”