A couple days had passed since Ron's run in with Daphne Greengrass and now he'd found himself sitting in his brother's office waiting for him to return from wherever the fuck he'd gone off to.
He had thought long and hard the past two days about how he'd wanted to handle this situation and the only thing he could come to terms with was no matter how angry he was at Mione shagging the ferret—he wouldn't stand by and let some slimy Slytherin bring her to harm. He may have been a selfish git, but Ron knew that he wouldn't—couldn't stand by and do nothing either.
Hence why he was waiting for his older brother to return from whatever errand Lee said he'd gone on. Ron figured the only person who would give him the time of day was George. As angry as his older brother was with him—George cared about Mione more and wouldn't want to see her hurt either.
He was also wicked with the planning and strategy too.
Plus he could convince Harry to listen if need be.
So that was where he was when George came walking into his office about an hour later, an incredulous sneer plastered on his face as he moved around his desk and sat down in his favorite chair—openly staring at him.
"Do I want to know why you're here?" He finally bit out with a tinge of sarcasm.
"Yeah, I think you just might." Ron's voice was harsh and not altogether conciliatory but it was hard for him to admit that he'd fractured his relationships with his own siblings due to his selfishness.
"Then spit it out Ronnikens, as I have work to do."
Ron scoffed, but he sat back in his chair and fiddled with the edge of his jumper as he pondered how best to tell George his issue.
"Look, I know you're mad at me cause the way I treated Mione but I think she might be in danger."
George's eyes narrowed as he leant forward, placing his elbows on his desk as he stared down his younger brother who was clearly nervous.
But George knew Ron too.
And he wasn't lying.
"In what way?" He said at last.
"Daphne Greengrass came to me a few days ago. Wanted me to join forces with her to exact some kinda revenge on the Malfoy's but she didn't particularly care if Mione got hurt in the crossfire. She called her a mudblood—(George hissed at this)—and said that she shouldn't be taking care of Malfoy's kid. She also wanted to know how Mione was reigning in Skeeter."
George's expression was calculating as he continued to stare at his idiot younger brother.
"And what did you tell her?"
"Nothing much. I mean, I might've mentioned Mione blackmailed Skeeter back in school, but I didn't give no particulars about any of what happened."
Ron watched his older brother scoff at him, as he shook his head in exasperation.
"Were you drinking Ron?"
Rubbing his hand along the back of his neck sheepishly, Ron nodded and his expression pinched at the dark look his brother was giving him.
"You're a bloomin' knucklehead, little brother. Why in Merlin's name would you admit to something like that to anyone, much less someone who's made it no secret of her hatred for the Malfoy's? Or did that little tidbit only serve to make you believe that you could actually go up against Mione and win?"
Ron's face turned beet red as he glowered angrily at his brother. "What do you wan' me to say, George? That I fucked everything up? That I made the wrong choice?"
George just scoffed. "Come on, Ron! We both know the only reason you're admitting this now is because after that little stunt you pulled in the Leaky and Skeeter's blistering article condemning your drunken stupidity—you belatedly realize that you don't have a pot to piss in!"
"FINE!" Ron bellowed out, spittle coming from his mouth which he wiped always hastily. "I fucked it up! All of it! But it doesn't change the fact that somethin' ain't right with this whole thing!"
George just sat back and eyed his brother with disdain—unsure what to believe.
But pretty sure he couldn't afford not to.
"What do you want from me?"
Ron ran both hands down his face in frustration before he spoke. "I need to talk to Harry and he won't meet me if I ask him to."
George lifted both eyebrows in shock. "You seriously expect me to advocate on your behalf with Harry after everything? Merlin's saggy balls, Ron! If this ends up being some elaborate scheme of yours and I end up dragging Harry unwittingly into this? And Mione gets hurt? He's never going to forgive me and Mione will hex me good and proper!"
"I know George, but you need to believe me! There is something fishy going on and we need to figure it out before Mione gets hurt."
The elder Weasley just sat back and didn't say anything for several minutes before he sighed in defeat and sent out his patronus to Harry. It wasn't ten minutes later that there was a sound of apparition outside in the alleyway and the back door to George's office opened, welcoming the Boy Who Lived—who's own expression was at first curious—then wary when he noticed who was with George .
"What's going on mate?"
"Ron apparently needs our help. He thinks Daphne Greengrass may be after the Malfoy's and Mione by extension."
"And how would Ron know this?" Bright green eyes settled upon his former best friend, and Ron flinched at how dark Harry's expression was.
"Greengrass approached me a few days ago at a bar in Knockturn Alley. She was fishin' for information and wanted me to partner up with her to bring down Malfoy and his family. I don't think she's after Mione, but she didn't seem too upset at the idea of Mione being collateral damage. She called her a mudblood and mentioned that she didn't care much for the fact that Mione was being a mom figure to Malfoy's spawn."
Harry's expression soured even further at the use of the hated slur.
"You know Ron, if you'd just manned up and stood by Mione throughout all of this, she wouldn't be with Malfoy right now."
George just chuckled and shook his head at Harry's assertion.
"Don't kid yourself, Harry. My thick-headed baby brother would've screwed it up eventually."
"Thanks George." Ron grossed out petulantly, but the older Weasley just grinned.
"Just stating the facts," his gaze moved from his younger sibling to Harry and he lifted a condescending eyebrow. "As for Malfoy, he's head over arse for Mione—and she's just as smitten with him. Whatever both of your hang-ups about Malfoy are—if you want to be a part of Mione life, you're both going to have to accept that Malfoy's not going anywhere."
"Don't remind me." Harry groused out unhappily while Ron just sat back and scowled, arms folded across his chest.
"You both are such idiots." George murmured with feeling.
"Whatever." Ron replied shortly, "but the one thing Greengrass said when I basically told her to piss off was that there was more than one way to skin a cat. I've racked my brain for days tryin' to figure out what she coulda meant by that."
Harry's expression was perplexed and even George shook his head, clearly dumbfounded.
"Maybe we should go to Mione and talk with her?" Harry offered at last. "Something tells me she'll know what's going on."
"Do you really honestly think she's going to trust either one of you with whatever this is?" George quipped. "You both haven't exactly proved trustworthy in the recent past."
"Fuck off George." Ron bit back, incensed but Harry just rubbed his hands down his face in agitation.
"He's right Ron. We've both treated Mione abysmally and she has every right to be distrustful of the both upon us. I have to admit, I'm surprised to see you here. I would've thought you'd take any chance to hurt her and Malfoy."
Ron just glared at his former best mate. "Well, surprised you din' I? Look, I may have been aright twit, but I don't want some stuck up Slytherin bitch to hurt Mione any more than you do. I might hate Malfoy, and with good reason—but if Mione insists on staying with the blighter, then she's going to be a target. We all know that the Malfoy's aren't good people and they're still fairly hated by a lot of people. Even with the good recent press—which we all know is cause Mione has somehow found a way to blackmail Skeeter into helping her—there's a lot of bad blood there. So yeah, I'm not gonna sit by and let some bigoted bitch hurt Mione."
"No, you've already got that covered—right brother?"
"Oh, fuck off George!"
George just laughed to himself, enjoying his brother's put out expression. He enjoyed riling Ronnikins up!
"So we go and talk to Mione?"
Both Harry and Ron looked over at George who just sighed in defeat.
"I'll talk to her, yeah. But you both better be sure about this cause if this comes back on us—I'm placing the blame squarely on both of you."
"Nice." Harry deadpanned.
"Jerk." Ron grumbled at the exact same time.
"Just smart." George replied with a wink.