A/N: Looking at first and second year Ron, I saw myself as a younger kid. I'm the youngest of three and lived with quite a few hand-me-downs. My brothers were both athletically

and educationally gifted. Even now, over a decade after I graduated high school, some of my brother's records still stand. However, I had some different influences that let me get through my insecurities, and there was one thing in particular that helped me: music. I'm also going to portray what I think is a slightly more realistic version of a pureblood family who agrees that Muggleborns are no better or worse than Purebloods. I'm also going to start two years prior to Hogwarts. I believe at least some, if not most of Ron's laziness is learned due to a lack of confidence-why try if you're going to get beat?

I don't own the characters or the wizarding world, that goes to JKR and the various publishing conglomerates

Enjoy!

Also most chapters will be accompanied by a playlist, they will likely get shorter as we get deeper into the story, but the first few chapters will be at least 10-15 songs.

playlist/3eLapBwMSfOqIZesDJKXVj?si=ZmBTMJrHToCuKyzAgpKgTQ

Chapter 1

Summer 1989

Our story starts, as these things often do, with an unwanted chore foisted on a young boy/ "Charlie!" the boy's mother called up the stairs.

After a disgruntled sigh, which luckily couldn't be heard by his mother, Charlie Weasley called back, "Coming mum!" and began half trudging, half falling down the stairs to see what his mother wanted now.

"Charlie, the Hogwarts letters have arrived, and Bill has been offered an interview with Gringotts!" she gushed. "So I'm going to be taking him to Diagon Alley to find some new robes for him. I'll be taking the twins with me to get their Hogwarts robes. Percy wants to get some new quills, and Ginny will be coming as well."

"What about Ron?" Charlie asked with a pit forming in his stomach.

"That's why I called. I'll need you to watch Ron for a few hours," she stated.

Charlie had seen it coming, and it still hit him. He had plans-not important plans, but plans nonetheless. He was a Seeker, though, and was used to thinking quickly. As he saw it there were two options: explain his plans and try to reason with his mother and lose and raise her suspicions, or simply accept his fate and work out what to do with his little brother later. So he paused and said with the whiniest voice he could muster, "Do I have to?"

"Yes," his mother said simply, "and I do appreciate your help. I'll try to pick you up something small, is there anything you'll need for quidditch this year?"

"New gloves would be great. Bill would know what to get, but it's not a big deal," Charlie said quickly, understanding his family's finances better than his mother knew. "I didn't have anything planned today except for trying to get some of my homework done. I got some tips from Hagrid for my Care of Magical Creatures class, and I think I can handle Ron. When are you leaving?"

"As soon as I can get the rest of the herd together. Plan on ten minutes," his mother stated.

"Ok," Charlie said with a smirk. "Twenty minutes."

A quick snort of laughter came from the door. "Try thirty," a sweaty Bill said, coming in from the garden "Actually, what's happening?"

Mrs. Weasley's face contorted in an absolutely fascinating combination, caught between beaming with pride and sheer annoyance with her eldest son. "You were offered an interview at Gringotts."

Bill's eyebrows receded into his hairline in surprise. "Really?" Bill asked, rushing forward to grab the letter from his mother.

"With your marks and recommendations, why not?" Molly Weasley asked in a bit of a huff.

"She's right, you worked hard to get that job" Charlie said with a smile.

"Thanks," Bill said, seeming a little shell-shocked.

"Yes, yes" Mrs. Weasley started, "We had better get going, Bill you'll be coming with me to get you some more robes, Charlie has agreed to watch Ron."

Forty minutes later, Charlie and his younger brother Ron watched as the rest of their siblings departed. Once they were all gone, Charlie turned to his younger brother: "Alright kid, here's the deal. You know how I disappear and practice quidditch all the time for hours on end?" Ron merely nodded mutely. "I'm not always playing quidditch. I have some plans today. You can come with me if you promise to be cool. If you're going to spazz out and tell Mum, Dad, or Percy, we can't do it, and if you're going to be annoying we can't do it."

Ron's eyes had grown throughout his brother's little speech. "How did you get so good at quidditch?" were the first words out of his mouth.

Charlie chuckled: "Just because I don't practice all the time doesn't mean I don't practice. I only started these little trips last summer. You can ask two more questions. Then I need an answer from you."

"Where are we going?"

"Into town."

"Will we get into trouble?"

"I haven't yet. If we get caught, probably not much, at least not for you, though I'll get into a lot of trouble if you tell. Now it's my turn: can you be cool?"

Ron hesitated for only a moment. He wasn't sure exactly what he was getting himself into, but this was his older brother, offering to take him on an unknown adventure. And Ron wouldn't get into trouble. How could he say anything else? "I'll try… I'll do my best."

Charlie shook his head and said solemnly, "Do or do not. There is no try."

"What?"

"I need you to do it. Not try." Charlie said smiling. "Can you be cool?"

"Yes?"

"A bit more confident kid. Come on."

"Yes," Ron answered with an uncertain smile.

"Good," Charlie said, thinking that he could still have fun today. "You've got five minutes to get ready. That's when I'm leaving. I'm already going to be a little late as it is. Just get cleaned up and changed-muggle clothes. I'm going to get ready, and I'll meet you out front in a few minutes."

Three minutes later, an excited Ron was mounting a broom that might have counted as an heirloom at this point, but it was well-cared for and flew true. Charlie, meanwhile, was already up and practicing his aerial acrobatics. As the younger Weasley took off the elder pulled along-side and pointed both brooms towards Ottery-St-Catchpole.

"Here's the deal, Ron. I've got plans to hang out with some of my friends -"

"But the only wizards around are the Lovegoods, the Diggorys, and the Fawcetts," Ron cut in, clearly confused.

"True," Charlie said with a chuckle before continuing with an impressive level of patience. "You've started playing chess, right? Think a few steps back and ahead."

"You've got…" Ron trailed off, the wonder thick in his voice, "muggle friends?"

"Of course. And I'm working on a few things, so follow with me here, alright? I've got some muggle friends. We generally just hang out, listen to some music, maybe watch a film or some telly -all muggle of course. And that's part one of this operation: they don't know about magic, and you can't tell them."

"Ok… But, what do we do?" Ron asked, more concerned about being bored now that he knew where they were going.

"We hang out. We listen to music. We watch films and telly. Sometimes, we go out and do things. As I said, my friends don't know about magic-Statute of Secrecy and all that. So they think we live on a farm, which is basically true. So you can talk about your chores and the chickens, but mostly, it'll be safer for you if you just answer questions. Oh, and if they ask about school, I doubt they will, but I go to 'boarding school' and you are 'home schooled,'" Charlie continued. "Follow me. We're going to land soon, and we'll be walking into town."

The brothers landed in a clearing just outside the town and dismounted their brooms. Ron looked around, recognizing the clearing his mother would apparate him to when they went into town for groceries. While Ron looked around, Charlie stuffed his and Ron's brooms into his magically expanded rucksack and pulled out a smallish, black case. Charlie began walking to town with Ron hurrying a bit to catch up.

Ron continued asking questions, mostly receiving vague and distracted answers in return. As they turned down a side road, Ron slowly noticed a bounce entering his brother's step, and he began to hum a tune that Ron didn't recognize at all. As they turned up the walk to a house that to Ron was only remarkable for the noise emanating from it. Ron was getting nervous, and his steps began to falter. By the time Charlie reached the door and opened it, he noticed Ron still several paces back. "Come on Ron, I promise, it'll be fine," Charlie said with a smile that was clearly excited.

As he ushered Ron into the house, Charlie began to sing loudly enough to cut through some of the noise, "Here comes the sun, doo doo doo. Here comes the sun, and I say it's all right." In the middle of this, a feminine squeal was heard from the next room, and even as Ron and Charlie removed their shoes and made their way farther into the house, a turquoise streak rocketed into Charlie's arms.

Ron stood awkwardly, watching his brother snogging the girl with the bizarre hair. Charlie soon broke apart and softly continued, "Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter," to which the girl chuckled warmly. Charlie, then seeming to remember his brother was there, said, "Ren, this is my little brother, Ron. I've been put in charge of him for the day while my mother took the rest of my siblings to town to get some school supplies. Ron, this is my girlfriend, Karen." He stated warmly.

"Hi Ron!" Karen gushed and quickly pulled him into a quick, but tight hug. "It's great to finally meet one of Charlie's brothers. Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the gang. I think Gillian, Ellie, and Mark brought their siblings, too. They're upstairs in Beth's room," she continued as she turned back through the doorway she had launched herself through. "Charlie's here!" she called.

"Yeah, I think between his singing and your squealing, we figured that out," said a boy wearing all black in a bored voice, to general laughter.

"Be nice. He had to bring his little brother," she responded good naturedly, pulling Ron around her. "Everyone, this is Ron. Ron this is everyone"

Ron waved weakly at the grinning group of young teens.

Karen began pointing to people in turn: "Ian, Deb, Ellie, Gillian, Jimmy, Sharon, Bryan, and the comedian in the back is my older brother, Colin." Each time someone was named they smiled, nodded, or waved. "I'm sure you can stay with us for a bit, but there are some younger kids upstairs if you'd rather go hang out with them."

Ron looked like a deer in the headlights at having to actually speak. "Uhm…" he said before looking back to Charlie.

"Up to you kid. We're just gonna be chatting and listening to some tunes. I don't care what you do," Charlie said. "I don't mind if you stay down here. I know it's a bit much right now," he continued before finding a spot on a couch.

Ron nodded mutely and went to sit next to his brother. Karen walked over, and after a short exchange, Charlie slid off the couch and sat on the ground, and Karen took his vacated spot with her legs on either side of him, hand already tangled in his hair.

Time passed in a blur for Ron. Music was played-fantastic music he had never heard the likes of before. His brother and his friends seemed to chat about everything and nothing, but mostly the focus seemed to be on music. Every now and then, Karen would turn to him, asking if he was ok, or if he needed anything. He would smile and shake his head, trying to continually follow the conversation and soak in as much as he could.

After a couple hours, Charlie looked over at Ron: "What do you think?"

When Ron only blinked, he heard Karen let out a little giggle. "Uhm… About what?"

"Well," Charlie said, "we can stay a bit longer and risk Mum and everyone getting home while we're here, or we can play it safe. What do you think?"

Seeing Karen stick out her bottom lip in a pout, Ron said, "We can stay. I mean, Mum has the twins. They're good for at least an extra hour of distractions, right?"

Charlie smiled conspiratorially: "Good call."

Karen beamed and then looked around: "Charlie, I had something to show you before you have to go anyway." This comment had a strange effect on Charlie who immediately stood and turned in a surprisingly smooth motion pulling Karen out of the sofa and into his arms for a quick kiss.

"Lead on," he said, allowing her to lead him. When he got to the stairs he called over his shoulder, "Ron, if you want, you can keep hanging out down here, or the second door on the right upstairs is Beth's room."

Ron's eyes grew wide at his sudden abandonment before one of the other boys in the room, Brian, Ron thought, said, "It'll be alright. We don't bite."

Ron stayed put, continuing, to try to absorb both the conversation around him and the music. When Charlie's bag began beeping again, Ron was snapped from his reverie as his eyes grew wide in panic. He reached in and only found the brooms, and couldn't find the source of the beeping. He looked up at the group apologetically: "I'm sorry; I don't know how to make it stop." Most of them responded and said it was fine. Two of the young girls got up to help, and he quickly said, "Charlie doesn't like people going through his stuff." Ron pulled the bag to his chest.

"Alright," Colin responded. "Go up the stairs-third door on the left."

Ron nodded and headed up the stairs, not noticing the shocked looks being sent at Colin.

Running up the stairs, completely missing the shocked whispers and laughter coming from the room he just left. He must have made quite a lot of noise as a young girl, about Ron's own age popped her head out of the door and stopped him, confused. "Who are you?"

"Ron, Charlie's brother," Ron said a little breathlessly. "Colin told me Charlie was up here, and I think we need to leave. He said third door on the left." As he got up to the blond girl and tried to step past, she grabbed his arm.

"Colin said third door on the left?"

"Yes."

"You can't just barge in there!" she said, shocked. "Hang on." And she walked to the door and knocked, quietly at first. When no answer came, she knocked a bit louder.

A disgruntled voice called, "What!?"

"Charlie's brother needs to talk to him!"

While they waited Ron said, "Thanks… What's your name?"

"I'm Beth, Karen and Colin's little sister," she said with a smile. "If I hadn't stopped you, would you have run straight in there?"

"Probably. Why?" Ron asked confused

Beth shook her head with an odd smile. "I made that mistake once... Just… Always knock."

Ron simply nodded mutely, not really understanding what was going on or why Karen sounded so annoyed when Beth had called to her.

"They'll probably be a few minutes. If you want I can introduce you to some of the other kids who get brought here," Beth smiled.

Ron simply held up the still-beeping bag.

Beth maintained her smile: "Eh. Just leave it here. It's Charlies right?" Ron nodded, and before he could object, she deftly took the bag and hung it on the doorknob to her elder sister's room. "Now he'll know why you came, might calm him down a bit. Come on. This is Ron, he's Charlie's brother," she stated as she walked into the room. "Ron, this is Raymond, Hazel, and Samantha."

"Call me Sam," said the black-haired girl quickly before continuing, "So, Charlie's brother, eh?"

"Yup." Ron said simply, still a little lost by everything happening.

"Charlie's been in there with Karen a while. Where were you?" Raymond asked.

"Downstairs, listening to everyone down there and listening to their music," Ron answered.

"But… Why?" Hazel asked. "All they do is talk about music."

"Yeah? My family doesn't listen to much music." Ron said, "Except for around Christmas, when my mother plays some terrible stuff, but that was pretty much all I'd heard before today."

"No music?" Beth asked, astonished and a little horrified. "That's terrible. What do you do with your time?"

"Mostly work, we have a… farm." Ron faltered trying to remember his cover story. "And school stuff," he added hastily trying to remember Charlies instructions.

"That's… It?" Raymond asked incredulously. "That sounds pretty boring."

Ron seemed taken aback and became more than a little defensive "It's not so bad, I've got some older brothers who are twins and pull all sorts of pranks. It's really fun watching them driving everyone else crazy, even me sometimes."

"But no music, and I've heard Charlie say that you guys don't even own a TV," Beth said a little sadly.

Ron seemed baffled. Luckily before the interrogation could continue he saw a somewhat disheveled Charlie slid into the door. "Hey Ron, sorry about that. We should probably head home," he said, sounding harried.

"Bye everyone," Ron said as he followed Charlie, "and thank you."

They continued down the stairs to a small round of applause from the boys and general smirks from the girls. Charlie scoffed and waved to everyone: "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

At that comment, Ron paused and looked around and found a messy haired Karen behind him. "If it's ok with Charlie, can I come back tomorrow?"

Karen smiled warmly down at him "I don't mind. Anyone else?" No one objected, though unbeknownst to Ron, a few of them rolled their eyes.

Charlie merely shook his head with a small chuckle as he walked to the front door. Karen had followed the two red-headed boys and before they left gave Charlie a quick kiss. "See you tomorrow-unless you think you can make tonight happen."

"I'm not sure. I'll do my best." Charlie said, shooting Ron a glance.

The two boys began the walk back to the clearing. Ron was trying to process everything. "How long have you been coming here?" he asked.

"Last summer I decided to wander around town a little bit after practicing. I checked out a few shops, just wandering in and seeing what was what. There was a record store, and I was just looking around when Ellie walked up and told me that her friend thought I was cute. I figured what's the worst that could happen, so I looked over and saw who the most red-faced person was in the group she had come from." Charlie laughed a little at the memory. "I learned a lot about girls and muggles in general last summer. When I got back from Hogwarts this summer I immediately went to find them again. Remember the day after Bill and I got back, and Mum almost skinned me alive for being late for dinner? I was with them-more specifically most of the later portion I was with Karen, just walking around town and talking."

"But," Ron started, a little flustered, "what about the music?"

"What about it?"

"Where did it all come from? How did you find out about it? Do you ever listen to any of it at home? Or Hogwarts?"

Charlie chuckled at his little brother's exuberance, but the light in his eyes dimmed. "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to pull off much of that. I asked dad about a phonograph last summer, and he dug one out of the attic, so I can borrow some records to listen to at home, Unfortunately, that only goes so far. Most music these days is on tapes and CDs, and I haven't heard of a way to make either player work with magic. And there's a phonograph in the common room, but how would I get the records back? I doubt they'd want to lend me records for most of the year, and it's not like I could send them back with Errol. Who knows if he'd be able to make it? And even if I used one of the Hogwarts owls, it's not like muggles would really understand that." He sighed, growing a little melancholy.

After this, Ron settled down to ask about the music that they had listened to. The interrogation continued all the way back to the broom shed where they placed their brooms, and Charlie turned seriously to his brother: "Were you serious about wanting to come back with me tomorrow?"

"Yes!" Ron practically bounced off the ground with excitement. "I mean, if that's ok."

"That's fine, but this is our secret-all of it. And if you hear me lie, just try to keep your face straight, and agree with what I said if Mum asks you about anything, got it?" This earned a solemn nod from Ron, "Fine," Charlie continued, "and if you hear me say anything about tonight, just keep your mouth shut. Karen has wanted this date for a bit, and I just need to come up with something that'll work for Mum."

Ron nodded again, not willing to risk saying anything that might get him in trouble now that he was sure he'd get to go back.

As they entered the back door, they heard their mother calling for them.

"Hey, Mum!" Ron called back.

"Oh, goodness, where were you? We got back a minute or two ago and couldn't track you down."

"It's fine mum," Charlie cut in quickly. "I wanted to get some practice in, and Ron wanted to get some time in the air as well. Don't worry. I made sure he didn't get too high, and we were just back in the paddock."

"Well then," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling brightly, "you had a good day then?" The question was phrased like it was for both of them, but Charlie knew this was directed at Ron, testing him.

"Brilliant!" Ron said. At his mother's surprised look, he suddenly felt unsure of himself. Worried he might have given something away, he thought quickly: "Charlie helped me get a little quicker on the broom, gave me some really good tips..." Ron trailed off.

As soon as he could, Ron bolted for the door and up to his room where he just closed his eyes and remembered some of the songs he had listened to. It was amazing the variety he had heard today, and he was trying to keep track of everything. He pulled out a scrap of parchment and began jotting down some of his favorites, and he enjoyed recounting some of the conversations in his head, though he barely understood some of them. It was almost like another language. He wrote Run DMC and Air-O-Smith down and recalled a fun bout of bickering:

"Just hear me out on this one," Brian was almost shouting over the objections to the suggestion. "I'm never going to say Aerosmith is good, but this collaboration with Run DMC is really interesting. Just give it a shot. I'm telling you, without this track we don't get the Beastie Boys or the Red Hot Chili Peppers."

After the song was done, Colin piped up, "Not terrible, but if you want to talk about kicking a genre up we can't forget about the MC5. Without them does punk get as big?"

"Who cares what came first? Can we listen to something a little calmer? I just picked this up, and I've heard great things about this guy," Ellie had interrupted, putting a new record on. What followed was a slow piano opening followed by a man talking about food with a laughing audience before beginning to sing with a thoroughly gravelly voice.

Ron wrote, "Nighthawks at the Diner"? There had been so much.

A quick knock on the door, and Charlie entered. "Hey, nice work with Mum. Did you really have that much fun?" he asked.

"Yeah, that music was… It was something," Ron said, still excited. "What was your favorite?"

"Band? I'm a fan of the Beatles personally. Some of the newer stuff is pretty good, but for the most part I'd be happy just listening to the music of the Sixties. How about you? What are you writing, anyway?" Ron handed him the piece of parchment, Charlie scanned it and laughed at a few spots: "Spelling aside, this is a really interesting list. You've got 4 or 5 genres covered here spanning a few decades. You liked all this stuff?"

Ron nodded fervently: "I promise I won't be annoying if you let me come tomorrow. I wanted to ask Ellie a question about one of the songs she played." He pointed to a note he had jotted down.

"I don't recognize that one."

"It was after you…" Ron trailed off awkwardly

"Ah… Sorry about that," Charlie said, not sounding it at all. "Girls, and all that." Ron nodded. "By the way, thanks for not bursting in, Beth did that once and it was… Awkward"

Ron paused: "Well, she actually stopped me. Colin just said which room you were in-I think he wanted me to walk in on… Whatever you were doing there."

At that, Charlie gaped, then chuckled, and after a few seconds turned into a full-on belly laugh. "Remind me tomorrow if I don't mention it to thank Beth and smack Colin." Ron nodded, laughing lightly along with his brother. It seemed the thing to do.

"Oh, I had an idea about listening to more music," Ron said quickly, snapping back to a thought that had popped into his head while recounting a conversation the older kids had been having about bootleg live tapes in his bedroom. "The Lovegoods! Mrs. Lovegood is supposedly a really good spell designer, and they are always into odd stuff. Maybe she'd be willing to help."

Charlie's eyes lit up "That's brilliant Ron! Why didn't I think of that? Now I…" His face fell as the light faded from his eyes. "...only need a tape deck or Walkman and headphones."

"Are they expensive?"

Charlie seemed to shrug without really moving: "A bit. I wonder though. I'm going to go. If you want to come tomorrow, be ready by 10. You might have to get up earlier to get your chores done." Ron nodded emphatically, "Good," was all Charlie said as he walked away.

Ron laid back on his bed, replaying various tunes in his head over and over again for another hour before being summoned for dinner. When he got downstairs, he noticed one of his brothers was missing. "Where's Charlie?"

"He had an idea for some school project or other and wanted to ask Mrs. Lovegood about it," Mr. Weasley answered from his position at the head of the table. "Though it must be a big project. He said he might be gone for several hours. Not sure exactly what he's working on, but he seemed very pleased with the idea."

Ron smiled, thinking about the potential for his idea. As soon as Ron had served himself a little of everything, he staked his elbows into the table to fend off food thieves and quickly devoured everything on his plate, not joining into the boisterous conversation to his normal extent.