Beauty and the Beast (Remus Lupin)

96.

Dear Fred,

You've been gone for about a month now. And within that month, nothing has been able to make a difference about your absence. I go back to our conversations about life in general. How you said you'd be the first married and all and even Obi's favorite uncle. But the memories tend to make me feel guilty for everything you didn't get. Now, I know you'll say you've always had enough, but there was still so much left to see. So much left to know, to feel, to go through. I'm sad you'll never be able to know Oberon, or any other niece, nephew, or whatever lays ahead. That's the part out of everything that sucks. Is that I know there's nothing new for you to see. There was so much I wished I could've said...I wish I could've told you that when I was being sorted, I was about to be in Hufflepuff but the sorting hat saw that I had liked you. It saw my motivation for wanting to be in Gryffindor. Thinking about it now, it saw everything I didn't. Truth is, and no one knows this but...When I found out Cedric liked me, I didn't care because you were on my mind. I lied and pushed it aside that you were just a friend because that's better than something bad happening and you never be in my life. But then when I heard you had liked me, I freaked out. I never knew what it was like to have those feelings, so again...I pushed them aside. After Cedric died, I think I had finally realized that it's better to live in the moment. You don't know what's going to happen in week, month, or a year. But then I saw Remus after all the time. It's funny actually, Hermione had a crush on Lockhart and I had one on Remus. It seems a bit childish now. Anyways, I was too consumed in my new feelings to not think about you or anyone really. Even then, you were always there. Always. When I got hurt by Umbridge, you were there. When I was in the hospital, you were there every single morning to see me. When Remus was going crazy...you were there. When Remus ran out...you were still there. Actually, thinking about it now, I didn't deserve you. I didn't deserve your kindness and how much you cared for me. Even if I didn't deserve it, I'll always cherish it. Your parents are the strongest people I've ever seen. Your mother has been holding everyone up, your father has been working and Kingsley is the Minister of Magic. Charlie is back home for a bit, Bill and Fleur might just be in baby making business, and Ginny and Hermione will do their 7th year together. Harry, Ron, and Neville got offered jobs as Aurors. Percy is still with the Ministry but merlin, he's changed so much. So much nicer and yes, he's still joking around. Oh, and Ron and Hermione are FINALLY together as well as Harry and Ginny. George is...well he's trying his best. Remus got together with George and suggested he and I go out to lunch or breakfast everyday to talk. We've been doing that, but it mostly consists of eating...Andromeda and your mother are here everyday. Andromeda wants to be around more often because of Tonks and your mother had forced me to call her Molly now. Said we've been through so much that it's like an insult to call her anything but that. Merlin, I miss you. I wished I didn't have to write everything about our lives through a letter. I wish I was able to talk to you face to face about it. I'm not doing so well myself because of that. But we're managing...I love you, Fred.

Love,
Ro

~

Rose and George sat at a café together in complete silence. This was how most of their meetings were. Occasionally they'd ask about their day but never how they're doing.

But after everything that happened with Remus, Rose was determined to change this.

"George, how are you?" Rose asked.

George shrugged, "Hanging in there. You?"

"Managing...Seriously though, how are you?"

He sighed, "I don't know. All this time I've had to kind of push this aside. I had to open up shop and figure everything out."

"Your mother mentioned something about um...mirrors?"

"How does she know?"

"She's your mother, George. We notice every single detail there is to know about our children. So, what's going on?"

George sat back and stayed quiet.

"We're all we have left, George...We can't shut each other out too." Rose said.

"We were twins, Fred and I...Looking in a mirror just reminds me of everything I lost." He cleared his throat to hide his cracked voice, "And I-I don't know what to do to help it. It's just too much sometimes."

Rose looked out the window and smiled, "You have no need to do that to yourself...You look nothing like Fred, at least in my eyes."

"What do you mean?"

Her smiled faded as she looked back at George, "I've loved your brother since I was a first year. I have recognized every detail of his face that he has that you don't. Like how his nose is straightened out while you've got a dent, how he has a less prominent cupid's bow than yours or a rounder face...I've memorized all the beauty marks and their placements...You are nothing like Fred."

"That long? And you said nothing?"

"Fear makes us do the most foolish things imaginable. I was afraid...but with Remus I wasn't."

"That's what makes Remus so right for you, though. Because he made you feel so comfortable than anyone else."

She nodded, "Exactly why."

For some reason, finally being able to talk to George made Rose feel so much better than she had been feeling since the accident. If anything, her conversation with George gave her some needed closure.

"I'm going to open up shop in Hogsmeade." George said, "thinking about spending some time over there too."

"What about the store in Diagon Alley?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come work at that one. I was going to ask Ron but now he's in training so, I remembered how Fred talked about you helping out."

"He was joking around-"

"He wasn't. He was serious. But I don't want to rush you either. You can think about it for as long as you would like."

Rose knew she had to move forward sooner or later in life. She knew she'd go through the stages of losing a loved one.

Denial hit like a truck while she isolated herself and her feelings. She was angry at the fact that she felt like it should've been her. Bargaining for more time seemed to have destroyed her more than anything. Depression had been there from the second he pushed her out of the way. And this was it. This would be her acceptance.

Accepting was the last thing that she dreaded because she'd know that they were both truly gone. But there was no way to go forward in life if she didn't do this.

"I'll do it." Rose finally said, "I can be your partner or whatever they call it."

George smiled and held out a hand, "alright, partner."

Rose shook it, "partner..."