"Sophia. We need to talk to you for a moment."

The Great Hall was filled once again with people seeking medical attention and reuniting family and friends. But the air was much more relieved and maybe even cheerful than before. There was no looming threat of Death Eaters in the hills or Voldemort appearing and killing anyone he sees. And Sophia sat with the rest of the Weasleys' who were trying their best to find light in the situation when Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared with rather serious looks. Fred sullenly lifted his head from her lap and let her stand from the bench he laid on, watching her leave reluctantly.

Sophia followed the trio out of the hall and towards the bridge that connected the castle to the hills. Parts of the stone had crumbled and fallen into the rocky crevice that lay under the bridge, but it was still holding itself up despite its damage. Fires still flickered among debris but were on their way to burning themselves out. The bodies had thankfully all been moved and Azkaban's new prisoners had already been shifted off by the new Ministry that had momentarily been put in place by Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"This will probably sound a little... strange," Hermione started as the four of them stopped at the halfway point of the bridge. "I suppose I'd better ask if you've heard of the Tale of Three Brothers."

"Yeah I've heard of it," Sophia nodded, her eyes jumping from Hermione to Harry and Ron in suspicion. "Used to read it all the time when I was younger. My dad would..."

The trio now felt awkward as Sophia's face visibly dropped into a prominent frown. They had wanted to comfort the girl for the loss of her father, but found it too close to the time of his death to even mention his name. Hermione had hated being the one to show her his body but wanted to take the position of one of her closest friends seriously. A true friend wouldn't let her continue the agony of worry in the whereabouts of her father, eventually leading to finding his body abruptly. Hermione could then be sure she was there for her when she most needed someone.

"Well you know about the three objects the brothers were given then," Ron continued to avoid further awkwardness. "The wand, the cloak and the stone right?"

"Yeah," she said. "And that Dumbledore had the Elder wand."

"You knew?" Harry asked in surprise.

Sophia pursed her lips together before nodding again. In truth, Remus had been the one to tell her of this. Not many people knew that Dumbledore carried the most powerful wand of all time. Only the very few in the Order of the Phoenix and apparently, Harry, Hermione and Ron. If the entire Wizarding world were to know that such a thing existed and was in the hands of who they saw as some crazy old man, there would be absolute chaos. The Ministry would want it in their possession and there were bound to be millions of people, like Voldemort, who seeked such power for the wrong reasons.

"Anyway-" Hermione spoke up again. "-Voldemort took the Elder wand from Dumbledore's tomb. He thought he could use it freely but realised that wands actually work their best when they belong to the user. And you have to disarm the previous owner in order to physically own a new wand."

"Right," Sophia replied.

"So Voldemort thought that since Snape killed Dumbledore, he would then own the Elder wand," Harry continued. "But he was wrong. Snape never disarmed Dumbledore. I was there."

"And that's how he lost today then wasn't it? The wand didn't actually answer to him," she helped and the three nodded in agreement.

"Draco was the one who disarmed Dumbledore," Harry informed. "I watched him do it. So the Elder wand would have answered to him. And when we were at the Malfoy Manor, you were the one who disarmed Draco weren't you?"

"Wait..." she stopped them and felt dizzy at the realisation. She thought back to the Malfoy Manor and remembered dueling with Draco briefly before indeed disarming him of his wand. The boy had looked at her with surprise as well as guilt. He had trouble looking the girl in the eye ever since seeing her at the Weasley shop the year before. But regardless of that, Sophia had unknowingly made herself owner of probably the most powerful object in existence.

"The Elder wand belongs to you Sophia," Hermione announced as Harry pulled out the said object, holding it out for her to take.

"I-I don't want it," she shook her head and even took a shaky step back, looking at it as if it was a disease. The three raised their eyebrows at her reaction and Harry awkwardly lowered the wand.

"Are you mental?" Ron questioned and Hermione jammed her elbow into his side, making him 'oof'.

"I've spent the last year trying to destroy one widely desired object. I don't need another," Sophia glared lightly at Ron. Everyone had seemed to forget that she was in possession of the object that could have led to Voldemort's victory. It was also her who obliterated it.

"Well it is yours. You can do what you want with it," Harry reasoned and held it up again, this time slipping it into Sophia's fingers.

The three watched her gulp and stare down at the piece of wood. She ran her thumb over the rune that separated the handle from the rest of its length, and stared at the small holes that dotted along its bulges. She thought about all the people who had been killed by this wand as well as how many people had killed for it. It felt wrong to have it in her hands. But it didn't feel right giving it to Draco or Harry. Its very existence was a danger to Muggles and Magic-folk alike.

Without another thought, she grabbed the end of the wand and snapped it in two. Ron let out an 'eep!' at the noise and watched with wide eyes as Sophia threw it over the side of the bridge. The wand disappeared completely and fell to its rocky end, clattering against stone before plummeting into unreachable depths. Harry barely flinched and found himself thinking of doing the same if he were to be in the same position. The wand was too powerful for its own good and as long as it was usable, there could always be the danger of it falling into the wrong hands again.

"That takes care of that then doesn't it?" Sophia said and Hermione cracked a small smile, agreeing whole-heartedly with her decision. Ron and Harry looked to each other before shrugging, the four making there way back towards the castle with much lighter shoulders.

-One year later-

True to Bellatrix's words, Weasley Wizard Wheezes had indeed been preyed upon. But it wasn't impossible to fix. The basic structure was still standing and the flat above the shop had been able to be salvaged with some moderation done by magic. The shop would take time to fully repair and for now was closed to be renovated.

Most of Diagon Alley was currently in the process of reopening and fixing the mess left behind by the destruction. But the Ministry of Magic had contributed loads to the effort and the Wizarding world as a whole was slowly becoming normal again. People weren't afraid to leave their homes anymore with the reassurance that those who were responsible for the destruction are now locked up in Azkaban for good.

For Sophia, life hadn't been too great since the Battle at Hogwarts. She lived in the flat above the shop with Fred, still married and totally in love. But things couldn't just ease back into how it used to be. There was always the reminder of the painful times and those who they lost. Not a day went by where she would think of how poorly she thought of her father because of how distant he was. And how she never was able to speak to him about destroying her mother's map. But for Sophia, the nightmares were the worst.

They were always the same. Various things sometimes changed in these horrific dreams but they always resulted in her waking up in a cold sweat and with tears staining her cheeks. Luckily, she and Fred still slept in the same king-sized bed together. This meant that Fred was always there to ease her and hold her as she wept, stroking her hair and holding her against his bare chest.

The dreams, that could even be considered night terrors, consisted of Remus standing in an empty hallway. Whether it was the hallway in the flat, the hallway at The Burrow or even at Hogwarts, he'd stand there lonesome in front of Sophia. He would stare at her with cold lifeless eyes and his scarred face looking pale and gruesome. Sophia would shake as he would raise his arm and point an accusing finger at her before saying,

"You did this. You chose to save some boy over your own father. It's your fault Sophia! You did this to me!"

His voice would get louder throughout this sentence and every time, it felt like he was really there and saying such things. She would then rip herself awake and fall into Fred's arms, murmuring it was indeed her fault. She never told Fred what her nightmares were about but he had gotten the general idea. He just let her sob and held her even after she had fallen asleep again.

But secretly, he was hurting as well. He never liked to show it and always busied himself with new products for the shop whenever he thought about it. He didn't want to burden Sophia with his depressed state as she wasn't mentally stable enough either. There was only the deep pain he felt in his heart when he saw his reflection and when he'd walk past George's room. He thought he would be able to keep it suppressed for that little bit longer. Maybe when the war was a thing of the past and the world had built itself up again, he'd let the emotions out in one big heap.

But he just couldn't handle it any longer. The grief was too much and he didn't want to see his dead twin in the mirror anymore.

So one night, Sophia had awoken from a slightly less soul-destroying nightmare and noticed that Fred wasn't in bed beside her. Sometimes Fred would be awake when she'd pull herself out of her nightmares, but he was never out of the room. This sparked worry in her and she pulled the covers back from herself, making her way towards the door and looking into the hallway. She immediately turned towards the bathroom door where light slicked into the hallway and assumed that it was where Fred was. She padded across the floor and pushed open the door, stepping inside to immediately smell the strong scent of Muggle dye.

He stood in front of the sink with brown dye covering the once glossy marble. His fingers were coated in the same substance and his flaming hair was now slightly darker than her own. His eyebrows were even brown and the skin around them was inflamed and irritated from the chemicals. His eyes were watery and Sophia knew it wasn't from the toxic smell of dye. Fred sniffled when he caught sight of her in the mirror and she felt her heart quiver at his destroyed expression.

"I can't see him anymore Soph... he's everywhere..." Fred sobbed, his bottom lip shaking helplessly.

Without a second thought, she rushed forward and took him into her arms. She didn't care about the dark liquid that was smudged on to his neck and fingers and let him bury his face into her shoulder. He bawled like a child while clutching Sophia's shirt, finally letting all his suppressed emotions out. It hurt to think that George will never grow up and live his life like a normal person. He will never experience getting married nor have children. He'll never see the Wizarding world without the fear of Voldemort and bitter evil.

"He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of it..." Fred bawled.

"I know," Sophia soothed. "But he would want you to live Freddie. And I think he would be upset to see you like this. You know exactly what he'd say."

"That I'm a bumbling twat who needs to grow up?" Fred pulled away from her shoulder and wiped at his eyes. Sophia smiled and was thankful to see his tears stop and the roll of his eyes.

"Something like that," she nodded. Fred huffed and sniffed his red nose, regaining himself quicker than Sophia expected. He seemed to take what he thought George would say into immediate consideration and stopped his crying. In a matter of seconds, Fred had decided that he wouldn't mope over George's passing, but live for the two of them. It was the only way to live somewhat happily. And he supposed George would do the same for him if he were to have been the one who had died.

"I should have used just a colour-changing charm. This stuff's rank," he cringed at the smell of his fingers and started to wash them in the stained stink. "Muggles are gross."

"I have to admit, it does look good," Sophia grabbed the cardboard box of dye, looking over it and reading the hazards before pulling out the blue thin gloves that were inside. "I think you were supposed to wear these."

"Oh."