A Cord of Three

A Beginning, yet an End

Tikki chuckled as she stood in front of the Burrow's front door. The sun was shining brightly, as if it approved of her plan. She threw open the door in a dramatic fashion. "I'm home!" she shouted with a grin.

Silence.

"Hello? Fred? George? Aunt Molly?" Tikki stepped inside, dropping her bags and glancing into the kitchen. "Anyone here?" Nobody answered. The house seemed deserted. "I guess you're out. I'll wait then." She grabbed her bags again and headed up to Fred and George's room. As usual, it was a mess, they hadn't even made space for her things yet, which made sense. She wasn't supposed to be there for another week, which explained why no one was there to greet her. Tikki glanced around the bedroom, pursing her lips. "I might as well make space for myself." She started out by clearing part of the closet, but ended up tidying the whole room, which quickly turned into her cleaning the main sections of the house. She was busy dusting the living room when the front door opened quietly. For a second, she questioned if she heard correctly because the Weasleys always entered chattering and pushing. Then she saw George coming in and squealed.

"George!" She ran over and threw her arms around him. "Surprise! I got here a week early! I didn't think you guys would mind, and, to make it up to you, I cleaned the place!" She squeezed him tightly, then leaned back and looked around his shoulder. "Where's Fred?" She could see Aunt Molly, her face red and exhausted; Uncle Arthur, his face pale and drawn. She looked back at George, studying him closely. She could see he had been crying a minute ago, and there were tears in his eyes now. His arm was loosely around her waist, unlike the vice-like embrace he normally gave her right away. "George?"

He buried her in a hug.

Her heart began skipping faster as she looked at her aunt, uncle and cousins waiting outside. Ginny was sobbing into Percy's chest while Percy stared at the sky, blinking hard. She looked at all of them, fear building in her chest. Something wasn't right. Her eyes began to mist as she worried over her cousin.

"Where's Fred?" she whispered, pulling back so she could look into George's face. Fresh tears covered old tear-tracks on his face.

"There was a battle at Hogwarts," he said brokenly, choking back sobs. "With Voldemort." She gasped softly, the fear creating a wave of paralysis through her limbs as she stared into George's eyes. "Fred... he..."

Her entire soul trembled as a tear escaped her eye. "Fred's gone?" her whisper was terrified, broken, and disbelieving as she stared at her cousin.

Half a sob slipped out of George's mouth as he held her close again. Not Fred. Fred can't be gone. Fred... She opened her mouth to take a breath. A wail of anguish slipped out. And then another. Another. Soon, she was out of breath and sobbing on the floor with George, clinging tightly to him.

Fred had always been there. He had been her cousin. One of her best friends. A brother.

She sobbed for George even more than for herself. As much as Fred had been there for her, he had been there ten times as much for his brother. She knew the deep bond they had. They shared a soul. They were practically joined at the hip. George's mind was one with Fred's and now half of himself was gone.

The three of them would be the two of them. The Troublesome Trio could be no more. Fred is gone... Fred...

Later that night, Molly and Arthur were having a meeting with each other about Fred's funeral. It was too much for George, Ginny and Ron to bear, but Percy sat in, as did Tikki, despite the painful ache she felt every time she thought about how horrible it must have been for Fred to die and how horrible it was that they had to go on without him.

"We won't have enough for much of a funeral," Uncle Arthur said. "We barely scraped together enough for a coffin and a gravesite."

"Fireworks," said Percy quietly. "He would have wanted fireworks."

Tikki's eyes teared up as she remembered how Fred and George had made his hair disappear last summer. He had been so angry that day. She could see the regret in his face for every time he had yelled at his brothers about a stupid prank. Tikki wasn't sure if there would ever be any pranks in the Burrow again. Fred had always been the mastermind.

"Yes," hoarsely replied Aunt Molly. "He would have."

Tikki abruptly stood and walked to the room she was sharing with George. She heard her aunt comment that it must have been too much for her. The brunette picked up her purse and pulled out all the bills she knew she could spare, leaving enough for a train ticket home and some emergency money. George glanced up at her with dull eyes, then dropped his gaze back to the floor. Tikki's heart plunged as she saw the state of her normally lively cousin, but she didn't say anything to him. There was nothing she could say.

So, she returned to the living room and knelt in front of Aunt Molly, who was sitting in an easy chair. Tikki bit her lip, looking down at the floor she had spent so many hours sitting on with Fred, then looked up into her aunt's face, tears shining in her rain-cloud eyes as she held out the money.

"Buy Fred fireworks," she whispered brokenly.

Molly's lip trembled. She leaned over and hugged her niece tightly, tears slipping into her hair. She didn't try to protest, or hand back the money as Tikki slid it into her hand. "Thank you, Tikki," she said softly, releasing half a sob.

A hand laid itself gently on her back. She slowly looked over without letting go of her aunt, unashamed of the tears freely flowing down her cheeks. Percy stared into her eyes, his own also brimming over with unshed tears and grief.

"Thank you." He barely moved his mouth, but she saw it. She leaned her temple against his forehead and closed her eyes.

About an hour later, Tikki left the little meeting and went upstairs. George was still sitting on his bed, not asleep, but staring at the wall. "Still awake?" she said softly, slipping onto the bed beside him.

"He's everywhere here," George whispered hoarsely. Tikki looked around and saw that he was right. Fred's clothes were shoved into a pile, mingling with George's. His gadgets and extra candies were on the dresser. The Irish poster on the wall had been scribbled on in black marker by him. If she closed her eyes, Tikki swore she could feel Fred's presence on the other side of George's body.

"Yeah," she whispered, laying her head on George's shoulder. She remembered that she wouldn't be sleeping in a bed with Fred and George tonight. They wouldn't wake up in an odd position because Fred was the one who always moved them around. She shivered as she tried to hold in her tears. She was so tired of crying, but that was all she wanted to do.

George suddenly sobbed. "I miss Fred."

Tikki put her arms around him, letting her tears spill over as she wept with him. "I do too." She held tightly to George, fearing if she let him go, they would both collapse into the dark depression she felt building around them. Eventually, they laid down and fell asleep with tears still wet on their faces.

Fred's funeral was two days later, right at sunset. At the end, Molly and Arthur released a slew of fireworks that lit up the twilight sky that same way Fred had lit their lives with joy. He was like a firework himself—he lived a life that had pranks trailing him at every twist and he went out in a burst of happiness that sparkled onto everyone around him. But unlike fireworks, there were still pieces of Fred that remained, his legacy continued with Weasley's Wizardly Wheezes, his face remained with George, his appreciation for a good time lingered in all his family members. Tikki would always remember how he smiled through everything and made life a game.

So, as she tilted her face up to watch the fireworks, George on her left, her mother on her right, she smiled the way Fred would have. Something whispered her cousin was all right, wherever he was. He wanted her to remember him but keep going.

I will keep going. We all will. We'll live our lives, but we will never forget you, Fred. Never.  

Fred will never die in our hearts. And neither will my thirst for votes. Vote for Tikki!