----------Title: What Comes Next
Fandom: Harry Potter Fandom
Rating: Teen
Genre: Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Main Characters: George Weasley, Ron Weasley, Sally-Anne Perks
Relationships: George Weasley/Sally-Anne Perks
Warning: Alcoholism, Referenced Self-Harm, Twin Lost, Trauma, Recovery in Progress, Grief
Word Count: 541
Summary: George’s life after Fred.
Author Note: Written for Hermione’s Nook’s fest for Fred and George’s Birthday Celebration 2023 where my prompt was fanged flyer, and the word count had to be 500-1000. This was originally posted March 31, 2023 on Ao3.
It started with drinking nightly in various pubs before moving on to day drinking at the shop. That was when Ron began working there, meaning the shop had been running like it was supposed to. George would sit in the back throwing around fanged flyers, sometimes without the gloves, as the pain in his hand was a better alternative to how he felt without Fred. He and Fred came into the world together and were supposed to leave together. He just felt empty and alone. No one understood either, and they never would. George was mad at the world and mad at himself.
That was when his father and mother put out an ultimatum because they didn’t want to watch him drink himself to death. That was when he started therapy, and support groups for his loss and his drinking. Coming back into the world after not participating for so long was a shock because while life was on pause for him, the world still turned. He had learned that all he had been doing with this alcohol abuse was prolonging his pain and making it harder to heal. He hadn’t been the only one. Sally-Anne Perks was at the grief support group. There were more, but she was the only one he knew from Hogwarts. George didn’t even know her that well.
It wasn’t even like he was looking to meet anyone or make any new friends, but it just kind of happened.
Sally-Anne’s blue eyes pulled him in, and her fun personality made him want to stay. The support group wasn’t a place to date, and it wasn’t something encouraged. For that reason, they kept their relationship quiet from her friends and his family. Her family had been murdered by death eaters because they were muggles. It made George thankful that he still had the rest of his family. Therapy taught him that everyone had pain and that everyone was allowed to express it. That it didn’t matter if someone somewhere else had it worse. As grief is not a competition
He also learned he needed to treat his family better, especially Ron. His younger brother paused his plans to help him carry out Fred’s and his dream, and it was a bigger deal than he recognized then. So, when George started becoming more present in the shop and in life, Ron took him aside and, with tears, hugged him. That is when he learned that Ron was afraid of losing him too.
In his flat Sally-Anne had brought over a muggle global from her childhood home.
“What comes next is you point at the globe and spin it and where your finger points is where we will go,” Sally-Anne explained.
George had never really thought about traveling too much before. Not only did Sally-Anne make it sound like an adventure, but it would also be nice to leave and take a break from everything to explore the world. Plus Sally-Anne would be there, and he felt stronger around her.
The globe stopped, and Sally-Anne’s dark hair whipped around to see the results, and he hoped it was a good sign since she was smiling.
“Japan is next for us,” she smiled.
“Then Japan it is,” he smiled back.
