The Freedom of Individuality

Fred and George. They always said it as one word: FrednGeorge.

I hate it.

One of a set; can't function without the other half.

Why can't people see me as my own person? Even my own family refer to us as 'the twins'. Is this what I am doomed to be part of forever? Grunting in anger, I slam a clenched fist down on the bed. It wasn't fair. I know most people would love to have a twin, they always say so. Well, you can have mine! Because I don't want him any more!

Why? you ask. Why, isn't it fun being part of a double act? To be able to confuse people so easily and pretend you are the other person?

It's so funny when they do that.

Fred and George are the most entertaining people in Hogwarts, made even more of a novelty because they're identical, in both looks and personality.

I hate it! Oh yes, I enjoy making everyone laugh, but does Fred have to be the same?

The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Hatred like black bile rises within me, towards Fred, towards my family, towards the whole of Hogwarts, but I quickly swallow these feelings. It's not their fault. Fred can't help the person he had been born as - the person that is the same as me.

It's not fair! Why can't he just be slightly different? He even played the same Quidditch position as me!

I fall back against the bed and squeeze my eyes shut tight. For so long I have been in his shadow and now I am sick of it. Something needs to be done. It's been building inside me, it has been for years. Rising, burning my insides, filling my veins with a fire and a will to escape, to tear loose from all of this. My breathing quickens and I bolt upright, the blood rushing to my head from the sudden movement and making me feel dizzy.

Closing my eyes and taking deep breaths I manage to cool myself. It makes no sense to feel like this. It goes against everything I believe in.

My life has been blessed. My family is loving, and my childhood was a happy one. I have always been surrounded by lots of friends. I moved out when I left Hogwarts, sharing a flat with Fred and later buying a house with Katie.

It was a fairytale. Just what they all expected. I married my long-term girlfriend, a double wedding with Fred and Angelina. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was very successful, now almost at the stage of rivalling Zonkos, with stores all over Britain and Europe and a huge owl-post catalogue.

But something is missing. It has been nagging at me for a while now. When did it stop being a game? When did I start to feel like this?

I blink. I finally know.

It is that feeling of independence, of being able to do anything and not having to answer to someone about it. I don't know if I ever felt like that, like I didn't have to worry about having Fred there. I always have to answer to Fred, and if he isn't happy with something I want to do then we won't do it.

I feel like I have a duty to Fred, because it is one of the unwritten and unbreakable rules of twinship.

Thinking back on it now, I wonder what I would have changed. I was never really that keen on the idea of a joke shop, but Fred was and I didn't have anything better planned. I guess I always thought Fred would grow out of it. Perhaps not. It was another on the long list of things I went along with. After all, it was Fred who always made the decisions for both of us, something I have always resented and been jealous of.

Something snaps in me, it is like the first time I really ever feel alive. I rush around the small room like a hurricane reaching the sea.

My hands shake as they reach for the full suitcase beside me. I know this is my one chance, my chance to escape to a new life where no one knows me, my chance to go where I can finally be my own person.

I get more and more excited as I pick up the case and run to the door. I halt for a second to look back over the room that I no longer recognise. This room isn't mine anymore. I falter. What about Katie and my family? Surely I can't do this to them.

But there is no way they can understand how I feel. There is no way that they can understand this feeling. I have spent too long living for other people, living for Fred, for 'the twins'.

A sudden impulsive thought strikes me, and pushing my case to one side I reach for a quill and a sheet of parchment and begin to write.

I'm leaving. I know you'll all blame yourselves, but it was not your fault. I hate to leave you; but it feels as if the walls are crashing in on me. Please don't look for me. It will just make things harder. I'll never forget all the things you have done for me and all the great times we shared, but if I stay I might never know who I am, and that, I feel, is far worse. Go on please, and be happy, I'm sorry it had to be like this.

George

My hand still shaking, I fold the parchment and place it on the pillow, knowing Katie will find it when she returns from work.

Standing up, I wipe a tear from my cheek and try to flatten my trademark red hair.

I pause for one more moment, dragging my old wand. I look deeply into the mirror; it is almost as if I am saying goodbye to Fred. Sorry, I whisper to him, to me, and perform a quick charm to rid of the telltale freckles and hair colour. I stay glued in front of the mirror, I feel naked, but already a huge weight is lifting.

Smiling, I pick up the suitcase and Disapparate.