The Mirror ~ George Weasley
first of all, I would like to sincerely apologize.
second of all, I am in physical pain as well as mental and emotional anguish.
third of all, @thoseofgreatambition, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
lastly, find your tissues, kids
this was absolutely not requested, who would ever request something like this lmfao I just like to make myself cry.
WARNINGS: d*ath (of a sibling), alcoholism, alcohol to cope, d*pression (though not specifically mentioned, descriptions of it)
George Weasley never imagined a life without his brother.
It was cruel to think that, after being born together, they would be forced to die apart.
Since the war, his hand barely left the bottle, and he himself barely left the flat that they once shared.
An addition to George’s bedroom room was made after Fred’s death. No one knew why George bought a large mirror from a shop in muggle London; the purchase was quite puzzling. The twins had always joked that they had no use for mirrors.
George had taken to wearing green, even though his color had always been purple. That was one way to tell the twins apart; when they weren’t matching, Fred always wore green, and George always wore purple.
George let everything about himself and his life fade into a mess, but the one thing he made sure of was that his hair was kept short and his face was clean shaven.
One afternoon, Molly Weasley found herself baking George’s favorite treat, and she decided to pay him a visit. He never allowed visitors, it was practically forbidden, but the overwhelming urge to see her son clouded her judgment and she promptly apparated to the apartment above the shop.
The door to his bedroom was slightly ajar, and Molly cautiously opened the door wider to be met with the sight of George sitting in front of the large mirror.
The room was littered with empty liquor bottles; it was practically impossible to see the floor, except for in the area surrounding the mirror.
George was drunk, that much was evident to Molly, and she watched her son talk to himself in the mirror without notice that she had entered his room.
She left the plate of sweets outside his door, hoping and praying that he would eat them once he sobered up. She blew a kiss at her absentminded son, and apparated back to the Burrow with tears in her eyes and sorrow in her heart.
That evening, Arthur Weasley returned home from work to find his wife standing at the kitchen sink with a far-off look in her eye.
He asked her what was wrong, and she told him about how she went to visit George.
She told him about how his bedroom floor was covered in empty bottles of liquor.
She told him about how he was so intoxicated, he didn’t even notice her presence.
She told him how George was wearing a green jumper, not a purple one, and that despite the mess surrounding him, his hair was tidy and his face looked freshly shaved.
As the images of her morose son flooded her mind while she spoke to her husband, Molly collapsed to the floor as a choked sob escaped her lips.
She had assumed George was talking to himself, what else was she supposed to think? But when she recalled the image of his slumped figure to her mind, she noticed something she hadn’t in the fleeting moment she spent in his room.
On the left side of his head, George had attached one of the first products he and Fred had ever invented; an extendable ear.
As she sat on the floor and cried, it all became so clear, no longer were George’s actions a mystery.
She now knew why he wore green, why he kept his hair and face neat, why he attached an ear to his head, and why he had purchased the mirror.
George Weasley did not sit in front of that mirror, with a bottle in his hand, and drunkenly talk to himself as most mad men do.
George Weasley altered his appearance so that he was indistinguishable from his twin.
Each day, George Weasley sat in front of that mirror, with a bottle in his hand, and pretended he was talking to Fred.
The twins never needed mirrors because they had each other; why would you need to look in a mirror when there were two of you? All they had to do was look at one another.
But now that Fred was gone, George had to replace his mirror as best as he could.