A Cord of Three

Five Years Later

Tikki strolled through the marsh, her feet squelching into the soft grass. Her summer dress fluttered around her legs as the wind gently played with it. George walked beside her, his trousers rolled up and his hands in his pockets. The sunshine was warm on their shoulders, but not hot, the water under their feet keeping them cool.

It had been five years since Fred died. George and Tikki were twenty-five now—Fred would have been too. George had gotten married to Angelina Johnson, a girl who had since become a good friend of Tikki's. They had one-year-old son name Fred the Second and just announced another little one was on the way.

George was quiet. He always got quiet when he was thinking of Fred. There was something different about the silence than the quiet from him just thinking or having nothing to say. Tikki always knew exactly when he was thinking about his brother, usually because he was in her thoughts as well.

"We always liked playing in the marsh," she said, revealing her thoughts. "Fred loved stomping in the mud and creating a mess."

"Yeah, he did." George smirked a little. "He would have loved to meet Freddy."

Tikki chuckled. "They would have been best friends."

"Do you think Fred would have been married by now?"

"I don't know. He didn't really have his eye on anyone seriously. You might not have been married either, you wouldn't have wanted to part from Fred."

"I suppose that's true."

Just thinking about Fred brought a light mist to her eyes that she blinked away. If he had been here, he would have been walking on her right the same way George was walking on her left. A few times, she could have sworn she heard an extra set of footsteps walking directly beside her.

Now she could hear an actual set of footsteps, but they were behind her and distant. She and George turned around at the same moment to see a redhead walking towards them. For a moment, a brief, shining moment, Tikki thought it was Fred, finding his way back to them. It wasn't Fred, but it was another familiar redhead.

"Keenan?" she asked, stopping, and letting her feet soak in the marsh.

The man waved, walking a bit faster. When he halted in front of them, he grimaced down at his feet, which were covered in mud, then looked back up at George and Tikki. "Hello. Mrs. Weasley said I would find you here. I heard the two of you were back in town for a visit and thought I would drop by." He looked about the same as he had before, but his shoulders were a bit broader and his face a bit older.

Tikki smiled at him. "It's good to see you again, Keenan. It's been a while."

"It has," agreed the man, shaking hands with George. "I hear congratulations are in order, Weasley. Another boy?"

"We don't know yet," replied George. "The missus is hoping for a girl though."

"So am I," Tikki said.

"You know, you could just have kids of your own instead of trying to take mine," complained George with a wink.

Keenan looked interested. "Married, then?"

Tikki shook her head. "No. George is just sore that Freddy likes me better."

The other man laughed. "I was worried there for a moment that I didn't get an invitation to the wedding. I was going to be rather offended."

"Well, we haven't really spoken in years," Tikki said with a shrug. "If I had gotten married, it may have slipped my mind to invite you."

"That's true," he said. "We met that first summer, then the next year Fred was gone, so you didn't go out much and I didn't want to intrude, then you stopped coming."

"I got too busy to spend all summer here. There were a lot of other things pulling me in a different direction. So, I had to stop coming, as hard as it was." She glanced at George, then back at Keenan. "I'm glad I spent that last summer with Fred though. I would have never forgiven myself if I had made the decision to stay home."

The three of them walked through the marsh and chatted. It reminded Tikki a lot of when she had done that with Fred and George. Keenan was no Fred; he was often out of the loop that held Tikki and George together and he wasn't nearly the comedian Fred was. But no one would be able to replace the redheaded troublemaker with an eye for drama.

They had lost Fred, but Tikki still had George and their entire family. She wasn't alone in the world. And someday, she and George and Fred would all be together again. That was good enough for her.

This may be the end, but it's not too late to vote! Vote for Tikki and thanks for reading!