We will meet again ~ Fred Weasley

- Never Let Me Go -

"Moving on isn't the same thing as forgetting."

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Katherine kept her eyes tightly closed as the familiar sensation of Floo travel carried her away from the Burrow, concentrating on the thought of the destination she had repeated over and over in her head.

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

She knew where she was going.

She knew who she was going to see.

And yet, despite everything, there was still a strange nervousness sitting heavily in the pit of her stomach.

She had spent the entire journey trying to prepare herself for Fred.

She had told herself that it wouldn't matter.

That she was only going to find George.

That Fred was no longer her problem.

That whatever he had done since they separated was none of her business.

She had been the one who told him to move on.

She had been the one who had insisted that whatever they had shared couldn't continue.

She had been the one who had walked away.

So if he had listened to her, what right did she have to be angry?

None.

Absolutely none.

At least, that was what Katherine kept telling herself.

Then the movement stopped.

Her feet touched solid ground.

Katherine opened her eyes.

And immediately wished she hadn't.

For several seconds, she simply stood there.

This wasn't how she remembered the shop.

The bright colours that had once filled every inch of the building were gone, replaced by darkness and destruction. The walls were stained black from whatever had torn through the place, sections of the ceiling had collapsed, and shattered glass covered the floor beneath her feet.

Products that had once been displayed proudly throughout the shop lay scattered and broken across the ground.

Some of the shelves had been knocked over entirely.

Others hung crookedly from the walls.

The cheerful signs that had once advertised ridiculous products now dangled from broken fixtures, their bright lettering dulled beneath a layer of ash.

Katherine slowly stepped forward.

Glass crunched beneath her shoes.

Her mouth fell open.

"Oh, Merlin..."

The words barely escaped her.

She crouched down beside a ruined display, carefully lifting one of the battered joke-shop products from the floor.

Something inside her hurt.

This place had always represented something.

Freedom.

Fun.

A future.

Fred and George had built it with their own hands, turning an idea into something real when everyone else had told them they were being ridiculous.