Dusk Till Dawn: A Fred And George Story

Part Two

------April 8, 1999------

I woke with a horrible jolt and hit my head on my headboard. Groaning, I lifted a hand to my forehead and massaged it. "Great," I said to myself. "Today's off to a great start."

I got dressed, went out to the kitchen and ate some cereal. Just like every morning since it happened, I reviewed how my life had changed.

After the war had ended, my mother had wanted me to move back into my grandparents' home so I could better deal with the loss. I couldn't do it. I had another best friend to worry about. I knew I had to stay with George. Oh, George...

He was so somber all the time, especially after his birthday, the first without his twin. It broke my heart even more to see him on a day that was supposed to be happy but turned out to be the exact opposite. It reminded me of when I first moved to the flat. The mood had been gloomy and awkward, and now it was like that again. The last time we talked, which had to have been three weeks ago, he told me he'd begun seeing Angelina Johnson, and I hadn't believed him. His demeanor hadn't changed at all.

We'd reopened the shop a couple of months back, but neither of us had tried to make any new products, and so business was "slow," if you could call 175 customers a day slow. It was for us. At first, there were people streaming in because they, like us, were suffering, and they needed something fun in their lives. But with nothing new, they got bored. The numbers dwindled down to a mere 30 a day - those who were "just looking" and the regulars. One of which was Terry Boot, who always bought the same thing when he came - one box of Bing Bong Snaps.

"Morning, Isabella," George said, bringing me out of my thoughts. He was talking, always a good sign, even if he didn't appear to be doing better.

"Morning." I watched him get out his breakfast cereal and sit across from me to eat.

"I have something to tell you," he admitted slowly.

"You do?"

"Yeah." He looked up at me. "Uh, Angelina is having me make her dinner tonight."

"Oh." I was surprised. I thought he'd been lying to make me stop worrying over him so much.

"Umm," he started again. "I mean, you can stay if you want to."

"Oh." I shook my head. "I'll join my family for dinner."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Alright, then." I could tell he was relieved.

We continued eating our breakfasts, and after a moment, George spoke again, and I jumped.

"You know, Izzy..." I looked at him at sound of the nickname. He hadn't called me that since before...

"Izzy, It'd be nice to see you find someone, too. Like, what about that Terry boy? He seems to like you well enough."

I stood up. "How can you say that? How can you just move on as if everything's hunky-dorky? He was your brother, for Merlin's sake! He was my best friend, and you bloody well know that!"

I took some deep breaths and sat back down. I looked at George, already wanting to take it back, waiting for him to get upset and yell back at me.

"Your British really shines through when you're mad."

I stared at him in amazement. He wasn't upset that I'd just lashed out at him about some very personal things.

I knew I wasn't mad at him, but I didn't know what I was even mad about. I felt like that all of the time, and I hated it.