Forever in Our Hearts (HP ANGST ONE SHOT)

The Ceremony

Harry woke early in the morning and went through his morning routine as he normally did. When he looked up into the mirror he just started unable to recognize himself. His cheeks sunken, and his usually bright emerald green eyes were dull and lifeless. He looked as if he hadn't eaten or slept in days, and his entire being felt if he was dying.

Soul mates were rare in the wizarding world outside of creature inheritances, so to be a non creature and have a soulmate was something that was thought to be myth, legend, fairytale. But it was far from a fairytale for Harry James Potter-Black. He had a soulmate. One he had planned a future with. Sat for hours talking about their future home, kids, a family.. but all of it had been ripped from the both of them during the Battle of Hogwarts. Torn from their grasp as Fred Weasley took his last breaths in Harry's arms. Harry didn't know how long he sat with his lover's body in his arms cradling him as he sobbed, screamed, begged for the gods to take him or anyone else instead. But his prayers went unheard as the redhead died anyway. Harry had become numb after that and tore anyone down that had been in his path.. in the way of him killing the Dark Lord and he secretly hoped for himself as well.

Indeed the raven haired male did die. But it hadn't been permanent.. he didn't get to reunite with his soulmate. He killed the dark lord and became the boy-who-saved-the-magical-world. He didn't want that title.. he didn't want anything to do with being the boy who lived. He didn't even want to live. He wanted it all to end.. he wanted to join his lover in the afterlife but something stopped him every time. But it didn't stop him from becoming the husk of a man he is now. He sighed as he walked out of the bathroom and went down to his fireplace and grabbed a fist full of the green floo powder and threw it into the fireplace before flooing to the Burrow. He looked around the bright house and felt himself breaking more and more as he saw Fred's picture everywhere.. he could only zone in on the face of his soulmate.. the man who they were holding a ceremony for today.. He looked around the room and saw the faces of his friends and family all year staind and aged with sadness. They all turned to look at him as he dusted himself off. All of the eyes that were on him were wide with horrified sadness. They were pitying him, Harry deduced. They were pitying him because he looked like hell. He did indeed look like so but he didn't need their pity. Especially when his soulmate's death was on him. The death of his only lover was his fault.

He couldn't understand why they didn't hate him. Why didn't they blame him? Why did they want him here? It had been his fault that his parents died. His fault that Sirius died, his father figure that had been taken from him too soon. His fault that Remus died, his uncle. The husband of his father figure. It was his fault that so many had died. He didn't understand why he was still alive. And he couldn't bring himself to care.

Percy hadn't arrived yet, but Hermione, Fleur and Victoire had already gone for a walk to give them the privacy they needed. George was sitting on the couch, a cup of coffee in his hands, his tear-filled eyes lost in the black liquid. Ginny was sitting in an armchair pretending to read a Quidditch magazine, but she wasn't turning the pages and her eyes were fixed, misty. Ron was staring into the flames of the fireplace, his face closed. Bill was leaning against a wall, also holding a cup, but his gaze was fixed on the clock. Charlie watched it too. When Victoire was born, a new clock had been placed next to the first one, with a hand for Fleur and one for the little girl. The whole family hoped that others would join them soon, as marriages and births took place. No one, however, had had the courage to remove Fred's hand. Molly broke down in tears every time she looked at the hand that said "lost" and everyone else usually avoided looking at the object.

Harry sat down beside George, putting a hand on his shoulder to show his support. He looked at him briefly, gave him a sad smile, then looked at the rest of the items on the table, before returning to his coffee.

Arthur quietly arrived, dropped a cup off to Harry, gave him a sad smile, and went back into the kitchen where Molly was crying.

He grabbed his cup with a heavy heart and looked at the objects on the table as he sipped his coffee: a red case with the phrase "Forever in our hearts" engraved in gold on it and a framed photo of Fred. He was smiling in it, with sparks of mischief in his eyes. Harry felt the tears welling up inside him and squeezed George's shoulder a little tighter as he sobbed quietly

Green flames suddenly lit up from the fireplace and Percy, with a hard look on his face, came out. Molly and Arthur came out of the kitchen, red-eyed, tears streaming down their faces, and the whole Weasley family gathered in front of the clock. The patriarch went to grab the clock and present it to his wife, but she broke down in tears in the arms of Bill and Ginny who surrounded her.

"...I can't..." sobbed the grieving mother with difficulty

No one said anything, removing that hand was like saying a final goodbye to their brother, their son, Harry's soulmate. For all of them this gesture was like throwing a permanent dolorous at their hearts, but seeing that immobile hand was much worse, it was killing them a little more with each glance. So Harry reached out to Arthur, shocking everyone.

Tears streamed from his eyes, his hand trembled, but he did it, he unscrewed the hand. His legs gave out as he pulled it out, and it was only because of George that he didn't fall to the ground. The prankster was crying, as was everyone else present, but he had remained attentive to the brother at his side, whom he had grown to care for as his own. And whom he knew was more affected than anyone else, and was now holding him, giving him the support he needed to finish what he had to do.

Finally Harry regained enough strength to get out of the older male's arms without collapsing to the ground. He picked up the hand and put it in the case that was open on the table. He returned the clock to Arthur, who reinstalled it. Then he pointed his wand at Fred's picture and a white light came out. One by one, all the Weasleys followed him. Despite their tears, they all stared at the frame and the case they were illuminating. After several minutes, the spell faded on its own, and only the objects remained illuminated. The picture suddenly levitated, settling over the clock, then the case closed and went to rest on the top edge of the frame. The light slowly faded until it disappeared, only the words ''Forever in our hearts" continued to flicker softly as a sign of all the love they shared together.

Harry stayed staring at the picture and George stood with him. They didn't say anything. And they didn't need to either. They were both in unimaginable pain, and there was no way to combat, or comfort it. So Harry leaned against George as the older male leaned against him and they stayed like that for a while comforting each other.

Later that evening when Harry had returned home he walked into the main bedroom. The one he had decorated with Fred. And he looked around running his fingers over the dust topped dresser, over the soft plush fabric of the blanket at the foot of the bed. He drifted his hand over a shirt of Fred's that he still had and felt a melancholy smile reach his face. It was the shirt he had gifted the male before he had gone horacrux hunting with Ron and Hermione. He remembered the bright smile that had been on his lover's face when he received it. The smile was so bright and big that Harry had wondered how it hadn't hurt his soulmate's face. Harry sighed softly as he grabbed the shirt and hugged it close to himself tears coming to his eyes as he could smell Fred's after shave still on the shirt. The smell of citrus and coffee hitting him in the face. He couldn't stop the tears after that and he laid down in the bed that was supposed to be his and Fred's and sobbed. He felt so overtaken by sadness at that moment that he couldn't move, it was such a paralyzing agony.