Ron was in his room at Grimmauld Place. His stuff was already packed, courtesy of Bill who had come in a few moments ago and helped him finish magically. His brother was now packing Harry's things.
Ron was baffled by what was going on. Why had Harry and the twins gone to the Burrow? Why were they going there now? And why in Merlin's name were his parents so angry? His mother being angry was one thing. That wasn't exactly unusual. But his father hardly ever yelled. In fact, Ron could count on his hands how many times his father raised his voice. Yet, not too long after they'd been sent up to pack, he'd heard his father scream, followed quickly by his mother's angry voice.
Ron supposed it could be about Harry. That his parents had discovered what Sirius had done when Harry was a baby. They had always considered Harry like the rest of them and they might be outraged on his behalf. But that didn't explain Bill's presence or the anger Ron could clearly see both when he first showed up and even now as he packed for Harry.
Ron finally had enough and decided he was going to get answers from his older brother. "Okay, what's going on? Why are we suddenly picking up and leaving? Why was Dad screaming? He never yells.
Bill had to give Ron some credit. He'd waited a good five minutes after he came in before demanding answers. He'd sort of expected Ron to bombard him with questions the moment he entered the room. "Ron, I know you want answers, but you're going to have to wait for Mum and Dad."
Ron huffed. He did not like his brother's answer much. He wanted answers now. "Come on, Bill, just tell me! What's going on?"
Just then, Hermione and Ginny came into the room with their trunks. "We're all packed. What's going on though? Why are we leaving?" Ginny asked.
"That's what I've been trying to find out, but Bill won't tell me anything?" Ron grumbled.
Bill sighed. "Look, I know this is confusing, guys, but you'll have to wait just a bit longer."
As if on cue, Arthur and Molly walked in. "Are you all packed?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah. What's going on?" Ron asked.
"Uh, Harry's all packed her. So are the twins. Their stuff is in their room and it's all shrunk. I'm going to leave you all alone," Bill said. This was something his parents should discuss with his brother and sister alone.
"Will you be at the house later?" Molly asked hopefully. After everything they'd learned, she felt it was important for them all to come together.
"Yeah. I'm going to go home and get some things together. Then I'm going to see if I can't get ahold of Charlie. We should be together right now," Bill said. He was also going to see if he couldn't pull Percy's head out of his ass, but in case that didn't work, he didn't want to get his mother's hopes up.
"Alright, we'll see you at home, son," Arthur said.
Bill quickly apparated out.
Arthur turned back to the children and sighed. "You should sit down. There is something we must tell you."
"Um, maybe I should leave," Hermione said. Whatever this was, it seemed like a family thing. She felt like she was intruding.
"No, dear, stay. This is something you need to hear as well," Molly said. Hermione was best friends with both Harry and Ron. She was practically family. She had just as much a right to know as Ron and Ginny.
All three children sat down on Ron's bed.
"Ron, Ginny, I'm afraid we've been keeping something from you. We want you to know that the only reason we did it was to protect you. We didn't want you to feel the same pain that the rest of us felt," Arthur said.
Ron suddenly had a good idea of what this was about. He always knew there was something that his family kept from him, something that caused members of his family immense pain. He'd asked Percy about it once, but he was told to drop it and not mention it to their parents. He'd obeyed the order because he remembered the shot of pain that crossed his brother's face. He knew it was bad and he didn't want to cause his family pain. Now it was different though. Now he had to ask. "Does this have anything to do with Mum crying sometimes on my birthday?"
"You saw that?" Molly asked surprised. She thought she'd hidden her pain so well from the younger children. Obviously she was wrong.
Ron and Ginny both nodded. They'd both seen it.
Hermione, meanwhile, fidgeted. She felt so out of place right now. This seemed like a deeply personal thing that she had no business being a part of.
"Well, yes it does have to do with that," Arthur told his son. "We love you, Ron, and your birthday has always been a celebration, just has it has been for your brothers and sister. I hope you realize that. But there was a sad element of it too."
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"There's no gentle way to say this, so I'll just say it. Ron, you have a twin brother," Arthur said.
Ron's mouth slowly went wide with shock. That one sentence had left him almost speechless. "I… What?"
"Ron has a twin? We have another brother?" Ginny asked just as shocked as her brother.
Molly nodded. "His name was Prewett. He and Ron are fraternal twins."
"Well, where is he?" Ginny asked once a little of the shock wore off. She was still plenty shocked, but she was also curious about the brother she never knew.
"I think it's obvious, don't you? He's dead," Ron said. It was the only thing that made sense. His mother crying on his birthday, the way Percy looked when he asked it, how his parents said they kept it a secret to protect him and Ginny. It was all because his twin had died.
"Actually, no, he didn't. We thought he had, but we were wrong," Arthur said.
"What?" Ginny asked in confusion.
"There was a situation the day after the boys were born. A baby died at the hospital and we thought our baby died, but it turns out it was someone else," Molly said.
Blood began to drain from Ron's face as he began to figure it out. Harry had supposedly been born the day after him and they'd just learned that Sirius and James Potter had stolen him from his family. That combined with the way his parents had been acting told him all he needed to know. "Bloody hell. It's Harry."
Arthur nodded. "Yes. Harry is your brother."
"Oh, bloody hell," Ginny said cringing. She thought about how she was with Harry when they first met. She'd realized a long time ago that she never really had a crush on Harry, but on the 'Boy Who Lived' persona. Still though, it was very creepy to think about.
"It actually makes sense. Harry now looks a lot like your family, Ron, and the two of you have always had a brotherly relationship," Hermione said. While it was very surprising that her two best friends were related, it also seemed right somehow.
"So Sirius took Harry away from us," Ron said angrily. He had been a bit angry before at Sirius and James Potter for the pain they'd caused his best friend. Now he was also angry on a more personal level. Those two gits had taken his brother away from him. They could've grown up together. They could've been as close as Fred and George. But that chance was taken away from them because James Potter decided it was okay to replace his dead son with someone else's.
Ron's anger continued to build until it reached its boiling point. He angrily bolted up and ran for the door. He was going to confront Sirius for what he did to his family.
"Ron, no!" Hermione exclaimed. She knew what her friend was going to do and it was a bad idea. It wasn't going to fix anything that had happened.
Arthur grabbed his son before he even reached the door. "Son, don't! I know you're angry right now. We all are, but going after Sirius right now isn't going to do any good.
"He took Harry away from us! He made him live with people who hated him!" Ron yelled as he struggled to get away from his father.
"I know and he'll pay, I promise, but right now Harry needs us. We have to put our anger aside to him, okay?" Arthur asked.
Ron took several deep breaths and thought about his… brother. Merlin that sounded weird even in his mind. Harry had always been his brother in his heart, but it was weird to know that he really was. Anyway, his father was right. Helping Harry was the important thing right now. "Okay."
Arthur slowly released his son. "Do any of you have any questions before we go home?"
"Harry knows, right?" Ginny asked.
Arthur nodded. "He does. He took the lineage test today at Gringotts. That's how we found out."
"I want to go home. I want to see Harry," Ron said.
"We all do, son. I'm going to go get the twins' things and then we'll go home," Arthur said. He then left the room to do just that.