for Charlie ; backdated

[drop_dead_fred]

Throughout the clamor and noise that was a natural side effect of a Weasley family reunion, Fred tried to focus more on being thrilled to see his brother again, and less on the questions he wanted to ask about home. It was pretty clear from the look on Charlie's face what the answers to some of those questions were; but still, Fred was perfectly

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[chose_dragons]

"Oh, yeah," Charlie laughed. "Just the sort of nonsense she likes." He went quiet for a minute and settled in next to Fred, knocking shoulders before he said quietly, "I don't think she'd mind, yeah? Not really."

[drop_dead_fred]

Fred shrugged one shoulder, looking at his hands. "Yeah, maybe not." He swallowed, it was harder than usual thanks to a lump in his throat, and looked sidelong at his brother from the corner of his eye. "So... it really happened, then," he said flatly. "The way George said it did."

[chose_dragons]

Charlie sighed softly, nodded slowly, and kept his gaze steady. If he could stare down a Horntail, he could face this.

"Just the way he said, yeah," he concurred. "Been a bit of a hard stretch. More'n a bit, Fred. Winning the war didn't make it easier to swallow."

[drop_dead_fred]

It wasn't too easy for Fred to swallow either, and he was suddenly so angry he almost got up and walked away. Inside his chest a dark, heavy feeling roiled around poisoning him, and he was furious, the way he knew Harry had been after Sirius died, at the sheer wrongness of it. This wasn't supposed to happen, he thought, tears prickling his eyeballs thinking abruptly of his parents. Not to me, and not to them.

The only reason he didn't get up was the gratitude, still fresh, that his brother was here to tell him this to his face. Even after a year he still hadn't quite got used to the rest of his family not being a Floo call away, and having Charlie sitting next to him was nothing short of a blessing.

So he swiveled in the chair a bit, taking a breath to try and dispel some of the tightness in his lungs, and cleared his throat. "Well at least we did win," he said. "At the end there, that's... well that's all I wanted."