A/N: Set immediately after Harry's first dinner at Grimmauld Place. What if Molly hadn't dragged Fred and George upstairs with the others after the discussion about Voldemort and the Order?
The kitchen at Grimmauld Place was dead silent. Mum had just led Ron, Harry, and Hermione upstairs to bed, but the weight of her arguments with Sirius, Fred, and George still lingered.
Dad pushed away from the table. "Might as well get it over with," he said, and left the kitchen.
Tonks and Mundungus got up too.
"Gotta go," Tonks said too brightly. "Work in the morning, you know how it is."
"See you, Sirius. Thanks for dinner, mate."
Bill waited until their footsteps had faded away completely before turning on his twin brothers. Sirius and Remus were still at the table, but Bill knew Fred and George respected Lupin's opinion. And he wasn't going to kick Sirius out of his own kitchen.
"I expected better of you, Fred Gideon and George Fabian."
Two identical looks of outrage flickered briefly across their faces before being replaced by wide eyes and open mouths. Bill waited a moment for the names to sink in before twisting the knife.
"Mum is terrified. It's not that big of a leap from dead twin brothers to dead twin sons."
"We forgot," George whispered.
"Well, I didn't," Bill shot back. "You were too young, you don't remember, but Mum cried for days after they were killed. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep…. She was pregnant with Ginny, and we were afraid she was going to lose her."
They both looked slightly shame-faced.
"You owe her an apology," Bill said firmly. "I understand why you want to be part of the Order, but you need to change your attitude."
"She's the one who needs to change her attitude," Fred said defiantly. "We're seventeen!"
"Then act like it! Yelling that you're of age just makes you sound childish and immature. Nobody is going to respect that. And Remus is right," Bill added, cutting across their protests. "You need to be of age and have finished Hogwarts. The fact that you don't understand that proves you're too little to be a part."
They glowered at him, but Bill was just pissed off enough not to care. He jerked his head towards the stairs. "Off you go."
Muttering darkly, the boys obeyed. Bill tipped his chair back and snagged a bottle of wine off the sideboard, pouring for himself and Sirius when Remus shook his head.
"Bit harsh on top of your mother's words, don't you think?" he said mildly.
Bill's knuckles whitened around his glass. "Uncle Gideon and Uncle Fabian were the best, and they adored those two. It just—it really sucks they don't even remember them. And Mum—" He remembered how scared he'd been, just ten years old. He took a gulp of wine.
"You'd better watch your back," Sirius advised. "They're likely to try to prank you."
Bill gave a slow smile. "Oh, I hope so."