Heaven...

Fred (and George)

FRED

"You haven't made a joke since you were a first year!" Halfway through my sentence, there was an explosion. Halfway through my sentence, my life was cut short at the age of twenty.

"Fred!" boomed the voice of someone I knew. It was my Uncle Bilius.

"Uncle?" I was in my old room at the burrow. "What am I doing here?"

"Well, you are in limbo m'boy! This is the place where you lived until the age of eleven! And you are in the state that you were in when you died!" he said genially. I stared at him.

"What do I do now?" I asked, confused.

"You are supposed to get used to death and being dead in here. When you're done, you just come with me and we go to the other place!" My late uncle gesticulated with his arms happily. I froze.

"I can't go there," I said. Bilius frowned.

"Why ever not, Fred?" he inquired, perplexed. I closed my eyes and sighed, then said one word.

"George." The other man's eyes widened in comprehension.

"You never did do anything without that twin of yours..." he recalled, eyes misty. I blinked back ghostly tears.

"Can I... Wait? Until George dies? Here?" I asked, still silently crying. My uncle's face softened and he nodded.

"Yes. It is rare, but yes." I smiled and waved.

"See you on the other side, then," I said, smiling and waving, tear tracks clearly visible in the ethereal light that seemed to emit from every object in the room.

I watched my passed family stride through the door, heard a flash of laughter and then everything was still for another sixty years.

SIXTY YEARS LATER

GEORGE

"I love you, Ang. Don't forget that. The kids too." My wife of fifty years smiled a watery smile.

"Say hi to that twin of yours for me, hey? He'll be waiting. You can count on- GEORGE!" I never heard the rest of my love's sentence. I felt as though my spirit was being severed from my body, then there was darkness, followed by a bright light.

"GEORGE!" A blur of ghostly red hair, identical to my own when I was younger, obscured my vision. My twin pulled back, grinning. "I waited sixty years, bro. Sixty damn years." This time it was I that engulfed him in a hug. When I pulled back, he examined my face.

"Damn, you look OLD!" he laughed. A pair of identical voices snickered in tune from the doorway of what I realised was my old room.

"Care to introduce, Gred?" I gave him the old wicked grin.

"Don't mind if I do, Forge. Gid, Fab, this is Forge. Forge, these are Gideon and Fabian Prewett, and you would hardly believe they were ever related to our Mummy dearest." One of them pulled a face.

"'Scuse me, but if you ever compare us to sis again, I will vomit. Priss if there ever was one," he said.

"Besides," started the other, "We taught the Marauders how to prank." I stared at them alongside my twin, goggle-eyed.

"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT!" exclaimed Fred.

"AWESOME!" I cried. The other set of twins burst out laughing.

"Sorry," one of them giggled, "you have no idea how funny it is to see an old codger such as yourself cry out 'Awesome!'." I rolled my eyes.

"Come on!" My brother shouted, tugging my arm, "Let's go see the other side! I didn't wait for nothing!" I shook my head and let him pull me towards the light...

"GID! FAB! FINALLY! Okay, back to business. McG just passed, we can finally get her! And- who's this?" asked a man that looked remarkably like Harry Potter. I stared.

"You're- James Potter..." I stammered. He puffed out his chest.

"OI PADFOOT! WE HAVE FANS AGAIN!" Padfoot? Oh, sweet Merlin... A fifteen-years-younger Sirius Black came trotting towards us.

"Yeah, Prongs? You just bloody pulled me away from Marlene! I thought it was urgent Marauder business, or such- hey! Fred! George!" He pumped both of our hands enthusiastically, then turned over his shoulder.

"MOONY! IT'S OUR HONORARY MARAUDERS!" Lupin came jogging over and punched Sirius in the arm.

"Wasn't there supposed to be a ghost ceremony for that or something?" Sirius waved a hand impatiently.

"Nahhh. Too much work." Fred and I looked like fish, our jaws swinging open and closed.

"You know, I thought we told you who the Marauders were," said Remus thoughtfully, tapping a finger on his transparent chin.

"Yeah," started James.

"After all," continued Sirius.

"You guys are apparently," said James.

"The guys who stole our map," snickered Sirius.

"Out of Filch's office. Filch. Good for you, mates," congratulated Remus.

"HARRY NEVER TOLD US THIS!"

"WHY?"

"MERLIN,"

"WHY?"

"I,"

"WILL,"

"KILL,"

"HIM,"

"WHEN,"

"HE,"

"DIES!" We finished together.

"But, you did say honorary Marauders, so,"

"I guess we're in," Fred grinned. James slapped the two of us a high five. And slung an arm around each of our shoulders.

"So, the first rule is, you never, ever let your significant other find out, or else sh*t will go down...