George peeked through the window, still well aware that Harry (and therefore the stone, and therefore his brother) was only a few inches away. Maybe, if he pretended to look at whatever, or whoever, was going on inside, he could grab the stone out of Harry's pocket, unnoticed by anyone else...
But as soon as he saw what was going on inside, this idea was forced to the back of his mind. His house was a mess. All the books they owned were pulled out of the bookshelf and were now all over the floor, some of them were ripped to shreds, like someone had unleashed a Monster Book of Monsters on them. This was probably also the case, George thought, since one of those books had indeed been on the shelf, safely sealed with Spello-tape so that it couldn't hurt anybody, as it had almost bitten off Roxanne's index finger a few years ago.
However, that wasn't the only thing that made the house look like an angry Hippogriff had made its way through it. The kitchen table was knocked over, the flower vase that had stood on it lay on the floor in bits and pieces. Every drawer was pulled open, and turned over, all their contents spread over the floor.
Movement.
Someone was inside, the breaking noise started again and George saw a flash of red hair.
“What the – ”
George stood up swiftly and sprinted to the front door, almost running into it because he forgot to open it.
“Hell to the no!” He yelled, running inside, making nasty stains of mud and water on the floor. “What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!”
The red head turned around and Ginny's shocked eyes looked at him. She was absolutely speechless.
Harry and Angelina had followed him and froze in the doorway.
“Ginny? I had told you not to-”
George interrupted Harry immediately. “Why?” George voice sounded unbelieving, a bit disappointed, really.
That one simple word seemed to affect Ginny a lot. She hurried towards George and hugged him, burying her face in her brother's jacket.
“I'm sorry, George, I'm so so sorry!” She sniffed. “I just... I need to see him! I need to find the stone! I can't – ”
“You know? She told you?” George felt so betrayed, looking at Angelina's tearful face he didn't know whether to hate her or feel sorry for her. However, in his heart, he knew he could never hate her. Not after everything she'd done for him.
But in the end, it was her fault that he didn't have Fred anymore.
He returned his gaze to his sister, who was clinging to him like a little girl. He was kind of shocked to see her that way, he wasn't used to this. Ginny had always been the brave one, the one who was strong and kept going on when everyone else seemed to have given up.
Right now, she looked defeated, desperate. Something snapped in George, maybe things had changed, and judging from the way it looked right now, it hadn't changed for the best.
He put an arm around Ginny and patted her back, hoping she'd stop crying, because he simply couldn't handle it right now.
“She told me, but it was only because she was so worried about you! She wants to help you! Don't be mad at her!” Ginny cried.
“But they took him, Gin, they took Fred away from me.” He whispered, now closing his eyes to stop his own tears from falling. Sure Ginny would understand when he said he just wanted his brother back?
Ginny looked at Harry. “Why? Couldn't you just explain it to him first? At least let him understand what this is about?”
Explain? Let him understand? What in the name of Merlin's undies were they talking about?
“I would, but he wouldn't listen! Don't you see what it did to him?” Harry pointed at George, as if he didn't hear what they were saying anyway.
“What it did to me? What are you talking about?” George yelled.
Harry shook his head. “The stone. The resurrection stone.”
Why did that sound so familiar to him?
“It's the second of the three Deathly Hallows,” Harry explained, “from the fairy tale.”
Of course, George knew this story all too well. The second brother with his stone... Could it really be? “But that's a fairy tale!”
“Does that mean it can't be true?” Harry asked.
“Well, yes.”
“Then can you explain to me how you're able to see Fred merely by taking a hold of that stone?”
George couldn't answer that, he just didn't know. Come to think about it, the stone fitted the story perfectly... Maybe a bit too perfectly.
The second brother... He killed himself out of grief. Because he'd brought his loved one back with the stone and couldn't stand seeing her drown in her own unhappiness. Her own unhappiness. Now that sounded unpleasantly familiar.
“But.. how?” George managed to say. Ginny let go of him and watched him curiously, wiping the tears out of her eyes.
“I found it and lost it in the Forest, nineteen years ago.” Harry stated. He bit his lip and the fingers of his right hand twitched, as if he were eager to get the wrapped stone out of his pocket himself. It was obvious he had some history with the thing, he wouldn't have summoned his parents with it, would he? Or Sirius? Remus?
Damn, Harry really had lost a lot of people... George regretted the way he had yelled at Harry, saying he didn't know a thing about grief, because, in reality, he did. He knew a lot about it, because he had been through it all.
Something was still bugging his mind, however. He needed to know if it was true, because if it was... George didn't even want to think of what that might mean.
“Harry?” Harry looked up at him. “Can I please have my stone back? I just want to – to check something.”
Harry watched him suspiciously for a moment, but then got the cloth with the stone wrapped in it out of his pocket and handed it over to him.
George took it quickly, dropping the cloth in the pile of mess that was already everywhere around him and turning the stone over in his hand. Now he knew why the odd symbol on the stone looked so familiar to him, it was in his copy of Beedle the Bard. He had seen it so often, while he read it to Roxanne and little Fred... And yet he only recognised it now.
“Wh-what happened?” Fred looked extremely confused as he appeared in front of George again.
“Harry happened.” George answered, nodding at Harry, who just shrugged and mumbled something that sounded like an apology.
Ginny, however, didn't seem that comfortable with the situation. She looked around anxiously, as if she expected to see Fred too. Next thing she made her way out of the house, running outside, where the rain was still pouring down.
George looked at Angelina, worried. Luckily, she got the hint, nodded and followed Ginny out of the house. Maybe it all became too much for her, George thought. No wonder.
Harry made his way through the messy living room, took a seat and waved his wand at the fireplace. Warming his hands on the fire (since he was soaked from the terrible weather) and finally taking his gaze off of George, he bit his lip again.
