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SIYE Time:11:33 on 28th March 2024
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Fred's Legacies
By PhoenixFeather2

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Category: Post-DH/AB
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Death, Disturbing Imagery, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 109
Summary: It's the summer after the battle, but victory is not sweet. Old enemies are still causing trouble. Harry and the Weasley's are having trouble moving on. To complicate matters, Fred left something behind.
Hitcount: Story Total: 75301; Chapter Total: 3684







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Saturday morning Ginny was out with Harry again. Percy had gone off that morning too. Apparently he had a girl to whom he owed several hours’ worth of explanations. Ginny wished him luck. Ron had announced that he planned to telephone Hermione that evening. Harry had suggested it wait until he return home, a suggestion that Ron had decided to follow. A wise move, Ginny thought, given the way his first telephone call had gone. Ginny hadn’t seen George that morning, but she thought nothing of it. He spent a good deal of time brooding in his room when he wasn’t at the shop. Ginny was not going to brood. She and her boyfriend were going to have some well-deserved time together.

George, however, was not in his room. He had woken up that morning and decided to go down to Ottery St. Catchpole. Fred and he had gone there several times that year to cast protective enchantments. He hadn’t checked to see how they had held up. It seemed like a check in was long past due. When he arrived, a breakfast in the pub seemed to be the called for method of checking in. If the barman was astonished by the amount that his customer drank that morning, he said nothing. Neither did he comment on George’s being alone. It was noon by the time George stumbled out to the street, much too drunk to walk a straight line, let alone apparate. He was holding onto the half wall that ran along the street when a dark haired punk girl called out.

“Fred!” George shook his head. He was really drunk. He was hearing things. He kept walking. “Wait! George!” He stopped. The girl ran up into his narrow and blurry line of vision. She was wearing cut up low jeans and a cropped top. A huge tattoo of a phoenix ran up her left arm. “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“Hey, ‘Manda.” George managed to slur out most of her name.

“You’re wasted!” She chided him. “Come on over to my place and crash a minute. I’ll get you coffee.”

George waved his arm and swayed. “No, no, I’m fine. I’ll just walk home.”

“You are in no state to walk! You either give me Fred’s number so he can come down here and pick you up, or I will walk you home.”

George stalled. She didn’t know. And he didn’t have a home. “Coffee sounds good,” he managed finally.

Amanda’s place was the back of a music store that sold guitars, old records, and trashy posters. He and Fred had spent several hours there entertaining customers with magic tricks. George hadn’t been back since last summer. Amanda led him to a tiny kitchen table in her place and poured him a cup of coffee. “I’ll go check for customers and put the bell out. Be right back.”

George had worked his way to the bottom of his coffee when she returned. She poured him another cup before she spoke.
“I haven’t seen Fred in ages. He looked a mess last time he was here. You look a mess yourself. What’s going on? The two of you used to be inseparable and I haven’t seen you together down here in a year.”

George blinked hard. He had known Fred had been seeing Amanda. But that was back in the winter. He’d sort of forgotten about Amanda, what with everything…

“When did you last see him?”

“Fred? I saw him about a month ago. Why? What’s gotten into you? When did you last see Fred?”

“It’s been…” George had to think for a bit. “It’s been two weeks.” He hiccupped and couldn’t finish the explanation.

“Aren’t you two still doing the radio show then? Or was that one of Fred’s jokes? I tried to find it on the radio. Never could. Would have been nice to hear his voice.” Amanda was sharper than George had given her credit for.

“How’d you know about the show?”

“Fred told me. Like I said, though, I never managed to tune in.”

“Fred’s dead.” George blurted it out. “Died two weeks ago.” He was drunk. He was crying.

Amanda stood very still. “When? How? Why didn’t you tell me?” She sank down into the chair across from him and buried her head in her arms on the tiny table. The phoenix on her arm twitched as she cried.

George stayed there till supper. Amanda spread marmite on toast. Neither of them had much of an appetite. George had a massive head ache by the time he apparated back in front of Grimmauld Place, but he was sober.

Ginny was by herself at the kitchen table when he walked into the room. She frowned. “Where were you? You were drinking!” She waved the air to clear his breath.

“Lay off it, Gin.” George growled. “Is there something for a head ache in this place?”

Ginny scowled. She got up and closed the kitchen door firmly behind George. “Listen to me, George. You cannot go out and get drunk every day. Fred’s gone. But you’re not. And if you think I’m going to let you go off and become a drunk! Mum and Dad have gone through enough without worrying about their sons making fools of themselves at the pub. Mum was worried sick about you today! Where have you been? You weren’t anywhere in Diagon Alley? Ron checked. He even checked Knockturn Alley! And Harry checked every bar in a two mile radius of this house!”

George didn’t fire back. He collapsed in a chair and put his head down on the table.

“George!” Ginny was not having it. “Answer me!”

“I saw Fred’s girlfriend.”

Ginny deflated. “Who?”

“Fred’s girlfriend. Her name’s Amanda. I knew… I forgot. No one had told her, and–“ George broke off. He collected himself a minute later. “Told her I would take her to see Fred’s grave tomorrow. So don’t go off the handle at me for being gone tomorrow too, okay.” He got up and hurried out of the room.

Ginny stood stock still. Fred had had a girlfriend. And she hadn’t known that Fred had died. But everyone in the wizarding world knew. Which must mean that she wasn’t…

Ginny charged out of the kitchen and bounded up the stairs after George, barging into his room. “Do you mean to tell me Fred had a Muggle girlfriend? All last year? When he kept going off places to protect Muggles? He had a Muggle girlfriend?”

George nodded. Ginny sat down on his bed. “Why didn’t he tell us?” She wondered out loud. The answers came to her instantly. She tried to imagine Fred introducing her to his parents, and her dad saying, “A real Muggle?” and peppering her with inappropriate questions. But that would have been in a normal year. And last year had been anything but normal. Last year she had pretended she didn’t have a boyfriend. That was the way to stay safe. And that was how Fred had kept his girlfriend safe.

Ginny tugged nervously at her hair. “You’re taking her to the grave tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not apparating. How are you getting there?”

“She has a car. She’ll drive.”

Ginny nodded. “Can I come?”

“I suppose.” George nodded.

“I’ll tell Mum and Dad that we are going to freshen up the flowers on the grave.” Ginny knew this would raise no questions whatsoever. She left George’s room quickly and told her mum that he was back and that he had just been checking on Ottery St. Catchpole and forgotten to tell them where he was going. Mrs. Weasley bought the story and approved the outing for the next day. If Mr. Weasley didn’t, he didn’t say anything either. Ginny was debating telling Ron and Harry when they came in, but one glance at Ron’s face told her that he had his own troubles. She left Harry to talk Ron into a better mood. Percy was not back yet, but he had sent a message. His time with his girl had gone as well as could be expected and he had stayed to have dinner with her family.

The next day Ginny pulled out the dress she had purchased for Colin Creevey’s funeral and slipped it on. Was it a bit much just go to the grave? She wasn’t sure. Then again, her Muggle wardrobe lacked selection. She would need to work on that. She looked in the mirror. Too formal. She pulled the dress off and pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. She shrugged. It would have to do. She and George left together. She had told Harry not to worry about her and that they would just be an hour or two. George took her by side-along Apparition to outskirts of the village. They walked in together.

“Hey Amanda. This is Ginny, my sister. She wanted to meet you.”

Ginny pulled Amanda into a hug instead of shaking her hand. She approved of the girl instantly. With her purple and black hair and prominent tattoo she had obvious sass, even if it wasn’t how she was acting at the moment. They climbed into a little VW bug and headed off on the roads. George had used the stock ministry story to explain Fred’s death. He had been trying to save people in a fire. Only, since Fred hadn’t been a student at Hogwarts at the time, George had changed the story to being a fire at their house. This led to a few awkward questions to Ginny on the ride about how she had gotten out of the house safely and where they were living. Oddly, since the Burrow had actually been destroyed, Ginny didn’t it hard to make up material. She had been woken up by her mother in the middle of the night and told to leave immediately. They had stayed at their aunts first, but they were staying with a friend in London now. Ginny felt odd about the story though. She didn’t like the thought of lying to Fred’s girlfriend on their first acquaintance. Fortunately, Amanda was not in a particularly talkative mood. It took a little over fifteen minutes to reach the graveyard. The last few minutes were on an old dirt and gravel road. Ginny recognized it as a carriage road and speculated correctly that this was the first automobile to make its way up to the Wizard-owned grave plot.

Ginny stepped out of the car. George moved over and opened Amanda’s door, even though she had been the one driving. Ginny felt a weak smile on her face. He could be charming when he wanted to. Amanda unbuckled herself and got out of the car slowly. She took George’s offered arm and walked up to the grave. Ginny walked behind them. Amanda, she noted, was shaking. George held her protectively as they stood by the grave for a minute. Ginny closed her eyes. “Harry Potter is dead!” She heard the voice scream in her head. Her stomach clenched in a tight knot. She forced her eyes open and looked into Amanda’s.

“George,” Ginny spoke softly, “maybe Amanda would like a minute, by herself. To say goodbye.”

Amanda nodded mutely. George let go of her and she knelt with her hands in the dirt. Ginny led her brother away. “Take your time.” She told Amanda. “We’ll be right here.”

George stood by the car with his arm around Ginny. Normally she would mind the sentimentalism. Today it was welcome. It was a long time before Amanda came walking to the car. She had obviously been crying hard. Her face was streaked with dirt and tears. Ginny pulled a clean handkerchief out of her pocket. Aunt Muriel had insisted on her carrying one so much that it had finally become a habit. Amanda nodded gratefully and wiped her face. It wasn’t quite clean when she was done, but at least it was a bit better.

George looked between Ginny and Amanda. “How about a drink?” He ventured. “I promise not to get wasted, Gin. But I could use a firewhisky.”

“I’ve never had firewhisky, but a drink sounds great,” Amanda responded.

Ginny looked at George. That had been a slip up, but it had passed. He didn’t notice. She nodded her agreement to the plan and they got back into the car. Amanda’s driving was off. She waved back and forth across the country road, but no one else was out to notice. The three of them trudged to the bar together.

George ordered a double shot as soon as he sat down. Ginny hesitated. She hadn’t had Muggle alcohol before and she seemed to remember something about it being different than butterbeer. “Do you have…” Ginny searched for what would be most similar to something she had had “a good red wine?”

“Sure, hun.” The barman was entirely too friendly. Ginny ground her teeth.

“Let’s sit at a table. I don’t feel like sitting at the bar. But you can order first, Amanda.” She turned to the other girl, who, oddly, looked as indecisive as Ginny had felt just a minute ago.

“Very well. I’ll have a lager,” Amanda ordered half-heartedly. But once they had their drinks and sat down, Amanda swirled her glass around and didn’t take a sip. George tossed his down rather too fast and would have gone for another if Ginny hadn’t glared him back into his seat. Her wine was mediocre and she wasn’t enjoying it much. Elf-made wine was better after all.

Ginny studied Amanda’s expression. “Do you want to talk about something, Amanda? We’ve had a couple weeks to, well, to process this and….I get the impression George sort of just sprung it on you yesterday.”

“He didn’t tell you about me.” Amanda’s voice was as thick as if she had drunk six beers.

Ginny took a breath and tried to get her thoughts together. So that was what Amanda was stuck on. But how would she get her to understand: “Well, Amanda, I reckon there was a lot that Fred never told us about. I mean, the thing with us Weasleys is, there’s a lot of us. And we tease each other a lot. Mercilessly, really. I mean, the first time Percy had a girlfriend, Fred never let him hear the end of it. I guess Fred, well, he kept some things to himself.”

It wasn’t the explanation she wanted to give. He wanted to protect you from Death Eaters. If Voldemort found him, he didn’t want him finding you. How could she explain that to a Muggle who hadn’t even known about wizards?

Amanda nodded her head slowly. “I just thought… I had introduced Fred to my family. I guess I thought he would… I thought we were closer than that.” She finished lamely.

Ginny looked to George for help, but he shrugged. She was on her own here. “You probably were close. George said you saw Fred a month ago. What you might not know is…” Ginny stalled again trying to find a way to word this. What Amanda didn’t know what that Fred and George had been on the run. They had been finding places to broadcast where Voldemort couldn’t track them down. They were busy trying to protect Muggles and Muggle-borns. “Fred was very protective.” Ginny said decisively. “He was really busy. And he’d made a bit of a target of himself, with his radio show and all. Fred had lost touch with a lot of people he was really close to. If you saw him two weeks before he died, then it means he really was making an effort. You meant a lot to him.”

Amanda still had not touched her lager. It seemed odd given how quickly she had agreed to come for a drink. “I had something I was going to tell him.” Amanda picked up the cold glass and pressed it absentmindedly to her forehead.
I love you. Ginny thought instantly of the words she had yet to tell Harry Potter. The three words that she had thought she would never get to say when she had heard he was dead. Thank goodness he hadn’t really died. She really needed to get that part of the story from him though.

“You can tell us.” George had spoken.

Ginny was surprised by the offer. Amanda looked taken aback too. No wonder, Ginny thought. But then Amanda surprised them both. She spoke. “What I wanted to tell Fred was–I wanted to tell him that I was–that I am–that he was going to be… He won’t be now of course. I don’t know if I can keep the…” She hadn’t exactly said it. Ginny sat there staring at her for a long minute.

“Wait. You mean to tell me you and Fred--?”

Amanda nodded.

“Sorry.” George butted in. “I didn’t follow that.”

Ginny leaned back in her chair, rubbed her face vigorously and shook the hair out of her face. Nope, she was still sitting in a bar and Amanda was still there. This was not a dream. “Amanda, are you pregnant?” The question as incredibly blunt, but Ginny couldn’t think of a better way of asking it.

“Yes.” The answer came out as the tiniest whisper.

George leaned his chair back suddenly to deliver a dramatic whistle. The chair fell over with a crash. Ginny snorted, then laughed. Amanda joined in. George stumbled and stood up. He laughed. The girls laughed. He righted his chair and sat back down, chuckling.

“So, Fred’s baby, huh?” He asked when they had finally regained control.

Ginny looked at Amanda sharply and slid the lager over to George: “A toast to your twin.” George raised the glass, toasted Fred, and chugged it down.

“What did you mean, you didn’t know if you could keep the baby?” Ginny circled back to the original inarticulate announcement.

Amanda bit her lip. “I don’t know how to, if I can… How can I take care of a kid by myself? I had thought he would come around. If I had the kid, he would…”

Ginny stared at Amanda. Amanda and Fred had never talked about this? There was no plan?

“I mean,” Amanda noticed the harshness of Ginny’s stare, “It’s one thing if a baby has a working dad, right? There’s some support. But… I’m only a shop girl. What kind of life would that be, for the baby? If Fred was alive. If we could be together….” She trailed off.

Of course if Fred had been alive, if he knew he had a kid, he would have married Amanda in an instant. He would have been the best dad. Well, a crazy dad. Ginny’s lips twitched as she thought of it. “Promise me you’ll keep the baby, Amanda. We’ll help you. I would drop out of school to take care of it. I’m not really that fussed about going back to school this year anyway. But Fred’s baby…Amanda, I want his baby, even if you don’t.”

“Of course I do!” Amanda was crying again. “I do. I just don’t know how to take care of it. How am I going to give it anything, any kind of life? I don’t have any money, and I can’t work and look after a kid. Mum can’t give up her job and…” Amanda stopped to blow her nose loudly. Several people in the pub looked around.

Ginny looked at George as she spoke. “You know, Fred actually left some money.” She said carefully. “We were going to turn it into a memorial fund, but, I’m quite sure that Fred would rather, given that he has a baby on the way, use that money for his family.”

George nodded. He had caught on. “Listen, Amanda. Don’t worry about the money. Fred left some. It’s not much, but it could get you through a little bit. And I’m opening up the joke shop again. Business is better now, and there’s Fred’s share of the profits.”

“And I’m sure Mum could help with the baby if she needed too. She’s good with babies.” Ginny added helpfully.

“Do you think she would? Doesn’t she work?”

“I’m sure she would. She hasn’t had a regular job since Bill was born. I don’t think she wants to now either. She seems quite ready to be a grandmother actually. She’s been wanting Bill and Fleur to have a kid since they got married last summer.” This, Ginny had thought, was one of her mother’s less rational wishes, since a war-time baby would have made things trickier for everyone.

“Maybe….” Amanda hesitated. “I guess, there’s no point in rushing a decision, is there? It’s just shocked me is all. If it could work out.” She stopped and chewed her lip for a moment, fidgeting nervously with the napkin.

George was watching her closely. “Listen,” he said firmly after a minute or two, “this is my twin’s baby you’re talking about. I’m not letting you get rid of Fred’s kid. You need someone to marry you to raise the kid, then I’ll marry you. We can be a family and raise the kid that way.”

Ginny blinked. How in the world had George come up with THAT solution?! Amanda cracked a smile. “Thanks, Georgie. It means a lot to me, but you wouldn’t do. You’re just not a good replacement for Fred. You’re much too holey, you see?” She pointed to her ear.

Suddenly, both the girls were laughing together again. Yes, Ginny thought, this was definitely Fred’s girl. She had delivered that joke perfectly. Ginny would bet that, on form, she had been able to match Fred line for line. What she wouldn’t have given to hear that!

George pretended briefly to be heartbroken by the refusal of his proposal before pulling Amanda back to the topic at hand. “So, is it my niece or my nephew we are talking about?”

“I don’t know yet.” Amanda sobered back up. “Too early to tell.”

“When is the baby due?” Ginny asked.

“Around the middle of January.” Amanda was blushing. She had torn her napkin up into penny sized pieces. It was lying around the table as confetti. “Don’t talk too loudly though. This is a small town, and I haven’t told my mum yet.”

“Why not?” George was getting impatient.

“I just wanted to tell Fred first.” She sounded empty and defeated again. Ginny glared at George. Really that boy was tactless.

“We need to be getting back to London.” Ginny said, regretfully bringing the conversation to a close. It had been over two hours and she figured that Harry was not above getting the entire Auror staff out looking for her on a Sunday. “How about this, Amanda–Why don’t you talk to your mum? And I’ll talk to mum and dad too. Then I can meet you here again next weekend and we can talk things through. Just, don’t do anything rash between now and then. Please?”

Amanda nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. You know, Fred always talked like you were his baby sister. You’ve got a lot better of a head on your shoulder than he made out.”

“Too bad he’s not around for me to punch him for that.” Ginny grimaced. “I guess I’ve grown up a lot the last year though.”
The two girls stood up and hugged. George hugged both of them together. They all started chuckling again, even though Amanda still had wet tears on her face.

“Till next week then.”

“Till next week,” Ginny confirmed.

“Hey, how are you two getting back to town?” Amanda looked back and forth at Ginny and George. “Didn’t you say you were staying with your boyfriend in London?”

“Oh.” Ginny froze. She realized with a start that the journey from London to here would be sort of long if they didn’t apparate. George was quick to a cover story though, “We were at our Aunt Muriel’s picking up some things we left behind. It’s just up the road. Don’t worry about us.”

“But next weekend, that’s a long way for you to come up here, just for me.” Amanda was smart and was currently being too polite for her own good. Fortunately, Ginny had had some time to think.

“My best friend lives up here. I was going to be back up to see her anyway. And Dad was going to look at the Burrow and start thinking about rebuilding. It won’t be any trouble. Really, don’t worry about it.” She squeezed Amanda’s arm.

“Alright then. I’ll see you next weekend.” She squeezed Ginny’s arm back and walked off down the street.

Ginny and George walked the other way. He held out his arm. She held on tightly as they apparated back to Grimmauld Place.

George hesitated on the top step. His hand was on the knob, but he hadn’t opened the door. “So, who are we telling?” He turned to Ginny.

“We’ll tell Dad. Just Dad, first.”

George nodded and turned the doorknob.

Harry and Ron jumped Ginny before they got all the way down the hall, each demanding where they had been. “I was with George, ok? Relax. We went to the grave, and laid flowers. Then he was a bit upset, so we stopped in the pub and he had a drink or two.”

“Send a Patronus or something next time? Please?” Harry was obviously worried. Ginny felt a bit bad, but really, they had only been gone ten minutes later than the outside of the time bracket she had given.

“I’m not ALLOWED to send a Patronus. Ok? And you need to start trusting my brothers. THEY have done a fine job looking out for me this whole year!”

Harry recoiled. Ginny bit her lip. She hadn’t meant for that to come out as an accusation, but it just had. Ron scratched his head uncomfortably. George pretended not to have heard anything and walked right past the two of them down the hall and into the kitchen.

“Is it dinner time then?” Ginny asked covering for herself desperately. Goodness knew she couldn’t say what she wanted to with Ron standing right there staring at her.
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