Complicated Simplicity
No one fully understood the Weasley twins, Harry thought one morning as he watched them joke around. No one ever saw the people under the prankster's mask.
One of the school owls had died, it had just come back from hunting in the forest when it was hit by a bludger from a late practice. The twins had got detention from Professor McGonagall, and yelled at for their bad aim by Oliver. No one knew that for days afterwards the pair had cried themselves to sleep, guilt ridden. No one knew that they'd returned to the pitch and found the body, giving it a proper burial with a carved headstone and speaking of how sorry they were.
Young Luna Lovegood was constantly and viciously bullied by her housemates, which at times had left her in silent tears as she whispered down the darkened corridors looking for her lost clothing. The twins had launched a full scale prank assault towards the ravens, earning themselves a week's detention scrubbing floors with a toothbrush. No one knew that since that assault the ravens hadn't bothered Luna again. No one knew that the pair had spent many nights with the little blonde hunting down each and every possession that had been taken from her.
A young first year Slytherin had been ganged up on by a group of Gryffindors, and even some of his own housemates, and teased because he was having problems understanding his school work, and didn't do well in class. The twins were found with the younger boy by Professor Snape, who assumed the worst and took points for bullying a member of his house. No one knew that they continued to meet with the boy and help him with his homework. No one knew they spent countless hours patiently going over incantations and wand movements until the boy was finally able to perform the spells and understand the magic.
Percy was in his last year of Hogwarts, and the stress of being head boy, extra homework from his numerous classes, and the looming end of year exams, were making him snappish and broody. The twins hid his school work and books for a couple of hours, leaving in their place a pack of cards and a chess board, which earned them a savage reprimand by Percy for causing problems and keeping him from doing his best in school. No one knew that the plates of finger foods and steady supply of pumpkin juice and water that continually appeared beside Percy's study table weren't sent up via the Elves. No one knew about the small amount of dreamless sleep that was added to the nightly drink that allowed Percy the few precious hours of sleep he needed to function the next day.
Ron hated being poor. He hated having to wear clothes that weren't so much second hand but sixth hand. He hated having a worn out broom while others had the latest model. But most of all, he hated that people like Draco Malfoy held the fact that he was poor over his head. The twins gently teased him about his eating habits, chess playing and his quidditch expertise, frustrating their little brother to no ends and causing him to yell at them. No one knew that each time the twins outgrew their clothes, they sat late at night and patched up each and every tear, and sewed closed every tiny hole so that the damage was hardly noticeable. No one knew about the knuts and sickles saved, or the effort spent to prevent as little damage as possible and waste very little, to ensure that Ron always had spare quills and ink when he needed them, or a chocolate frog in his pocket to cheer him up, or books for the next year that weren't torn or written on.
Ginny was a shy girl at heart. When she arrived at Hogwarts she wasn't bullied as such, but she wasn't always included in the activities of others, and when she was she was rarely talked to. It upset her because she had been looking forward to making friends and having girly nights with her room mates. The twins liked to dance around her, ruffling her hair and treating her like a little doll, to which she would huff and pull out their grasp, glaring at them for embarrassing her in front of potential friends. No one knew about the nights she got homesick, and Percy wasn't available. The nights where she would head downstairs and curl up in front of the fire, just for a while, until she felt better and able to go back to sleep. The nights that normally found her falling asleep on the sofa after crying herself to exhaustion, and being gently carried up the stairs and into her dorm room, tucked into bed, and kissed goodnight on the cheek. No one knew that the twins had found a way to bypass the spell on the girl's staircase, only when their sister had started Hogwarts.
But Harry knew. Harry knew all of this, because he'd seen it. He'd seen how sensitive and emotional the twins were. He'd seen how intelligent and patient they were. He'd seen how helpful, caring and mothering they were.
He'd seen it, and he knew it too. After all, who else but the twins were able to make a young orphan with the world on his shoulders laugh? Who else but the twins would invite said orphan into their lives and treat him like another ickle brother?
What he could never understand, he thought as he watched them grin and salute the group of girls with now green hair, was why no one else knew.
It was as he looked round though, that he realised.
Oliver had changed the late night training sessions to early morning, and had taken it further away from the owlry's flight path to the forest. Luna sat serenely eating breakfast, all her clothes in place and matching, and not a single raven sending a taunt or an insult in her direction. The young Slytherin boy had just completed with a flourish his homework for the rest of the week, happily packing it away. Percy munched on some toast with one hand, while the other flicked through a book, confident that he would ace his exams and have time to himself for the weekend. Ron debated with Dean about the pros and cons of quidditch vs. football, while also looking over his chocolate frog card collection, scribbling down the ones he still had to find with a quill borrowed from his brothers after snapping the last one with a homework scramble that had crept up on him. Ginny was giggling with her friends, homesickness long gone in place of people she could talk to, and with the confidence to do so without acting shy.
Harry knew why others didn't seem to realise just how complex the twins were. In their own way, they were making the world a better place. And they had no desire to take the credit, because they were happy with their roles in life.
'Hey Harry! You're quiet over there, what's up?'
He turned and grinned at the pair.
'Just thinking about masks and why we wear them'.
Laughing the twins hauled him over, teasing him gently for thinking about something so absurd. Harry laughed with them. Many people looked at the pair and saw mischief makers, and looked no further because they considered the twins figured out. But Harry knew better, and he wasn't about to start telling secrets that had no need to be told.