Chapter 1
AU HP Sibling Rivalry.
A/N: Fred is alive in this story. In this AU he avoided the wall falling on him and was merely concussed by a brick. Instead Percy took the brunt of the wall.
The weeks following the battle of Hogwarts were hard for everyone. So many had not survived. For a brief moment, George thought he had lost the most important person in his life. Fred had narrowly avoided being crushed by a falling wall. As it was he hadn’t managed to avoid a rogue brick. Percy, however, hadn’t seen the wall falling and was crushed underneath it. Unconsciousness and a concussion later, George and the family were relieved to find he was hurt but alive. It wasn’t until later, as the clean-up began, that Percy’s body was found.
When a full tally of the dead was finally comprised, many who didn’t even realise their family had fought were crushed to learn they had died. One such case was a cousin of Angelina Johnson’s. He had graduated the previous year. Angelina was crushed. She sought comfort with Fred but Fred, feeling guilty for Percy’s death, internalised his pain making him difficult to be around.
After her cousin’s funeral, Angelina went to the Burrow looking for Fred. Instead she found George. Unlike some, Angelina had always been able to tell the difference between the twins. Over the next few months, Angelina and George became close while helping each other to cope with their losses. A month before the first anniversary of the battle, they announced their plans to marry. Fred was furious. He had had no inkling that they had become close and was hurt that they hadn’t talked to him privately. Angelina and George seemed not to notice his pain so, in an attempt to win her back, Fred started courting Alicia Spinnet. When it didn’t change a thing, Fred found himself falling for Alicia.
Still furious at George for not telling him, Fred refused to attend the wedding. George was beyond hurt but tried not to show it on the day. A rift grew between the brothers. Days of not speaking turned into months, then years. When Fred and Alicia married, they didn’t even attempt to invite George and Angelina. George spent his twin’s wedding night crying because of the rift that had grown between them.
Their wives spent a few years trying to get them to talk to each other to no avail. When Angelina found that she was pregnant she thought it might bring the twins together again but all it did was make Fred pull away more. On the night of the birth, Fred had been invited to be there but chose to ignore the invite.
A healthy baby boy was born to George and Angelina and they agreed that George should name him. Fred II after his twin. Alicia, who had been at St Mungo’s when the baby was born, came home to tell her husband the news.
When Fred had heard that his twin had named a child after him he burst into tears. He cried harder when Alicia told him they were expecting a child too.
When their child was born, Fred asked Alicia if he could name the child. When she agreed, he was even more excited to meet the new arrival. He knew exactly what name to give his son. Unfortunately there was a surprise in store. Alicia gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Fred decided to stick with his plan. He had reached out to George and asked him to come to the birth. When George came in to hold his niece, Fred told him her name: Georgina. Tears sprung into George’s eyes.
A rift that had lasted almost five and a half years was mended with the births of Fred II and Georgina. It was the only time in their entire lives that the twins ever went more than a day without talking to each other. And after the mending, both twins made sure to never let it happen again.
