Fuzzy – thanks! But I don't have any idea when I'm going to be able to write another chapter of New Rule... I have major writers block on that story!

Chapter 2

Ron met his mother's eyes as soon as he entered the kitchen with Harry and Hermione and mouthed 'Percy said that he wasn't hungry.' Mrs Weasley nodded slightly and Ron took a seat next to Ginny. Moody came and sat on the other side of him. Harry and Hermione were sat at the other end of the table, although on the same side. Harry was once again ignoring everyone else and only talking to Hermione. Ron ate quickly and quietly, only half listening to the conversations going on around him. He didn't say much though; he was too lost in his own thoughts. Mainly about how Harry and Hermione seemed to be a couple now. Ron knew that this meant that he's be left on the outside when they got back to school as well. For dessert his mum had made apple pie and with the fresh cream that was served with it, Ron forgot about all his worries and just concentrated on the delicious flavours. And then the meal was over and everyone was leaving the room, apart from his mother. Ron stacked together dirty plates and carried them over to the sink. He felt instantly guilty when he saw the shocked look on his mother's face. "I'll wash and you dry, ok?" he asked her. She didn't protest and they completed the chore quietly.

Once the dishes were done Mrs Weasley went into the sitting room and Ron went upstairs to his room. It was only the second week of the holidays, yet Ron had already finished all of his summer homework in rough form. He still needed to copy it all up though. He also knew that no one would ever believe him if he told them that fact, because it was so different form how he used to be. He had indeed grown up a lot, and he thought that maybe now, the grown ups were starting to notice it.

Sighing, Ron grabbed his Charms work and left the room. It seemed very uninviting now that he didn't share it with Harry, all dark and glum. He made his way down to the kitchen where it was warm, light and inviting. Sitting alone in the kitchen was a lot better than sitting alone in his room. Placing his Charms work down he got some clean parchment, ink and a quill and began to copy it up. He heard someone enter the kitchen, but he didn't look up. It was probably just an Order member, and if they wanted him, they'd say so.

"Do you want a glass?" Someone offered him and he finally looked up from his work. He saw Percy stood, pouring himself a glass of milk.

"Yes please," he answered and Percy got another glass and poured the milk for him. "I think there's some left over apple pie and cream as well, if you're hungry," Ron told him, remembering that Percy hadn't had dinner. He had noticed that Percy had been skipping meals a lot ever since he had came back, and even more so when Order members weren't around.

Percy grinned at him and got the apple pie out as well and set it on the table with the two glasses of milk. "Do you mind if I join you?" he asked cautiously.

"Not at all," Ron answered off hand, focussing on re-writing a paragraph of his Charms work. He did take a sip of his milk though. Taking another sip he looked up and smiled at Percy, who had cut himself a piece of pie and was pouring cream over it. Percy then handed it to Ron and cut himself another piece. Ron couldn't help but think that it was nice to be sat in the kitchen with his older brother, doing his homework whilst eating apple pie and drinking milk. It didn't matter anymore what Percy had done. Percy had been big enough to apologise and to admit he was wrong, and yet everyone still seemed to be giving him a hard time. Ron knew that he himself had been wrong on occasion and that maybe, if he, they, hadn't treated Percy as they had always had, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't of drove him to the edge and forced him to do what he had. And if Percy could be big enough to apologise to the whole family, then Ron was going to try and be big enough to apologise to Percy. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Whatever for?" Percy looked genuinely confused.

"For how we always treated you!" Ron burst out. "You were always the cleverest and you were always right, yet none of us could see that! We constantly teased you and you would never retaliate. It made us think you were an easy target and we always left you out of everything. We never stopped to think about how you felt! And it's true; you don't miss something until it's gone. I realise now that I did miss you when you were away, and I can also see that I helped drive you to do what you did. None of us ever took your ambitions seriously, never thought that you'd ever achieve anything. We never understood you and never tried to understand you. We drove you to leaving, because you needed to prove yourself and I did miss you while you were gone, you're my older brother!" Once Ron had started he found that he couldn't stop.

Percy just let him talk, and once his brother was finished, he reached across the table and took one of Ron's hands in his own. "I missed you too, believe it or not. And I didn't mind the way you treated me, I just got used to it after a while. And I never understood all of you either. And the blame can also be laid on my shoulders, I said some things I shouldn't of and that I didn't mean. And face it, I'm not the easiest of people to get along with, but we can't help being different and who we are. It is what makes us, us." Ron smiled at this and Percy gave his brothers hand a gentle squeeze. "Listen to me Ron, and listen well. We're in the middle of a war, and things are going to get hard. We need to stick together, or all is lost. We need to be able to rely on and trust in each other; otherwise we're making a bad situation worse. And yes, things will go wrong. People will muck up and make mistakes and hurt ones they love. Everyone will end up apologising to each other, but once the mistake is made you can't take it back, you can only learn from it. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone. We all will, and we'll forgive each other, because if we don't, wants the point in us all being together? Families are meant to stick together, that's what families do. But that doesn't stop the mistakes from happening, and if a mistake rips a family apart, that it needs to be put right. Hurting a loved one is a bad thing and is cause for an apology, but it does not mean that you are not still family. You're right Ron, you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

Percy gave a watery smile to Ron, who returned it. "I'm still sorry," Ron whispered.

"As am I, but I forgive you and that is subject closed. It's in the past, and it can hurt, but we've got to learn from it so that it doesn't happen again," Percy said sensibly.

"I forgive you as well, Perce," Ron said, realising that no one had actually said that they had forgiven Percy.

"Thank you. You have really grown up since I last saw you," Percy told him.

"I know," Ron said. "I've had my first look at the real world I think, where it's not all fair play and I'm not all invincible and I can get injured and make mistakes."

"I take it you are referring to the events in the Department of Mysteries at the end of last year then?" Percy said, keeping a carefully controlled neutral tone of voice.

"Yeah," Ron said miserably. "We all mucked up majorly."

"And it's clear that you've learnt from the experience," Percy cut in. "And I was proud of you, when I heard about it. Right after I finished having a heart attack out of worry that is!"

Ron laughed and finally started to eat his abandoned piece of pie in front of him. "I could of handle some things differently though, and then maybe Sirius wouldn't of died."

"Don't carry the weight of the dead Ron. We each have enough to bear. Sirius's death cannot be blamed on anyone but the person who killed him. And when you look back at decisions you made, in hindsight you can always see how you could of handled things differently, especially decisions you made in the heat of a moment. As I've said, all we can do is learn from them, and next time, just try and keep a cool head when you're in a difficult situation," Percy told him wisely. "Everything seems simpler when you look back on it, but you just have to remember how you felt at the time, the panic and the not knowing what to do, to realise that nothing is ever as simple as it seems." Percy too started to eat his own piece of apple pie.

For a while they sat in silence. Ron thought that whilst sat in the warm well-lit kitchen, it was hard to remember that they were fighting a war. He felt so content and it felt that nothing bad could happen ever again. But he knew that that could never happen and the fact was that they were fighting a war. He glanced up again and saw that Percy had finished his own piece of apple pie and was sat back and staring at the ceiling whilst absentmindedly sipping at his milk. He was clearly deep in thought. It was good to have his brother home and Ron hoped that they could have more conversations like the one they had just had. Ron had always known that Percy was clever, but he hadn't known that Percy was as wise as he was. And he gave good advice, that Ron knew now. He also hoped that Percy had saw how much he had grown up, and then maybe, just maybe, if he had, he wouldn't treat him like he was a little child, the way the grown ups tended to do.

Although, earlier on the grown ups seemed to have noticed that he had grown up. Ron knew he'd grown up very fast, but suddenly he had had a lot of time to think about things and he's come to some shocking conclusions. He'd seen how things actually worked in the real world, not just the way he thought everything happened and he'd come to realise that there was a big wide-open world outside of the one he lived in at Hogwarts. A very big world.

Ron decided to break the silence. "Percy?" he asked.

"Yes Ron?"

"Will you check through my Charms homework please?" Ron asked, passing the parchment with the rough version on over to him.

Percy chuckled slightly as he took the parchment. "Only a year ago if anyone had told me that my youngest brother would be sat at the kitchen table doing his homework in the second week of the holidays, I would of taken them to St Mungo's to get their head checked out!"

Ron laughed as well. "Yeah well, I've finished all my homework in rough!" he said mock defensively.

Percy chuckled again. "I'm impressed. And this is looking good. Do you mind if I change the wording a bit?"

"Not at all, just explain everything to me," Ron told him.

"There's nothing wrong with the content, in fact it's very good, it just could be worded better in places. I see you've already re-wrote one paragraph," Percy commented and proceeded to show Ron where his wording could be better and he explained one or two things which Ron was a bit hazy on. Sat at the kitchen table, working on his homework with his older brother, Ron felt content; it felt as if nothing had ever gone wrong. Everything felt normal, apart from the fact that a year ago Ron knew that this would never had happened. He wouldn't have even looked at his homework yet and Percy would have been working on some report for the Ministry, if he was at home at all. And even if they were sat together they would probably arguing, especially if Percy was trying to help him with his homework. Yes, they had both changed a lot over the past year, and it seemed, both for the better.

"What are you thinking about?" Percy asked quietly.

"About how much we've both changed over the past year," Ron told him. "A year ago we'd of never sat like this, with you helping me with my homework unless mum had forced us to. And even then we'd be arguing."

"Then I'm glad that we've changed," Percy told him with a smile.

"Yeah, me too," Ron agreed, smiling back at his older brother.

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