A/N: And another one…

Chapter Five: Ron's reply

Ron opened the front door and greeted Fred and George.

"How's the joke shop going, then?" he happily asked as his mother took Fred's luggage, his father George's.

"Thriving like mad," replied Fred, looking around the house as if he'd missed it.

"Has Percy…" began George, looking at Ron.

"No," Ron automatically replied.

"Pity," said Fred, "I liked him least of all of us anyway. Let him join the Dark Lord."

George snickered, "Yeah, what's he going to do for him anyway? Write him ten rolls of parchment on how violent Harry Potter is?"

Ron laughed at this, but Bill cleared his throat, "As funny as you two think you are, that was not funny at all," he said as they walked into the kitchen and sat down, "Percy is still our brother whether you refuse to accept it or not."

"Doesn't mean we have to care about him," Fred absent-mindedly said, tipping back in his chair.

At that moment Mrs. Weasley entered the room, "Still haven't broken out of your old habits, Fred?" she asked, "No tipping in the chair!" she scolded, pushing him forward so his chair wasn't tipped any more.

"Speaking of good ol Harry, have you heard from him, Ron?" George asked.

"Er…" Ron stuttered. He hoped this topic hadn't come up. The only letter he'd gotten from Harry was that morning and he wasn't too keen on sharing any of the details, but it was too late.

"Yes, in fact he just got an owl this morning!" Mrs. Weasley happily exclaimed, looking at Ron.

"Yeah…er…doing fine," he muttered.

"His aunt and uncle treating him fairly?" asked George, sticking a few grapes in his mouth from the basket in the middle of the table.

"Uh…yeah, fairly. Sure," he said as Fred tipped back in his chair again.

"Well…?" said George, staring at him.

Ron shrugged, "Well what?" he asked.

"What did he say, you dim wit!" Fred exclaimed, falling forward again.

"Just wanted to know how everybody was doing," he said, trailing off.

Fred looked down as Mrs. Weasley left the kitchen to go get some tea cozies out of the attic.

"He doesn't know about Charlie?" George asked, thunder struck.

"Well, no. Course he doesn't," said Ron, wishing he were somewhere else.

The twins looked at each other, then at Ron, "You ididn't/i tell him?" they simultaneously asked.

"No, he has enough to cope with…"

It was Bill who interrupted this time, "Wait a minute… you just said his aunt and uncle were treating him fairly."

"I…I didn't mean his aunt and uncle…"

Fred interrupted him, "Oh, that Dudley kid still pestering him, is he?" he asked, looking angered, but Ron knew it was sarcastic.

"No, well, yes that's part of it," Ron tried to explain. He was getting flustered with people interrupting him, "But he has to deal with You-Know-Who and his scar. I expect he's been having those visions again since Snape has quit giving him lessons."

"Lessons?" Fred and George asked.

Bill gave him a warning look, "Uh…R…remedial potions lessons," he stuttered, looking from Bill to Fred.

Fred's eyes widened, "Remedial Potions?" he asked.

"Snape was never one of my favorites," Bill said.

Ron looked at him, "I think only the Slytherins favor him, Bill," he said.

"So that's all he wanted to know?" George asked, "How we were doing?"

"Yeah, sure."

George studied him, "I think there's a little more to that letter. C'mon Ron, tell us what he said. Mum's two stories up and dad's at work."

Ron darkly looked around the kitchen, then leaned over the table to the twins. They leaned closer to him and Bill unfolded him arms, leaning toward them.

"He needs another rescue," he quietly told them.

"Another?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, another. His aunt and uncle aren't treating him justly and he wants us to help him."

They all stared at him for a moment, but Bill was the first to speak, "Well, I don't see how we can. You know how mum is about things like this…"

"It's not exactly easy with out the old Ford Anglia," Fred said as if he were only speaking to himself. He suddenly looked at Ron, "George and I will contemplate this situation and come up with an idea. In the mean time you tell Harry exactly what we're doing and that we're working fast."

Ron nodded and headed up to his room. He pulled out a quill, piece of parchment and an inkbottle and began to write, "Harry, Fred and George are here for the week at least. They're coming up with a brilliant plan to rescue you, so hang on for a bit. Mum and dad don't know; so don't send them anything worth looking at. Hang on, Harry, they're working as fast as they can.

Ronald Weasly"

With that he rolled it up and bound it to Hedwig's leg.

"Get this to Harry as quickly as you can," he told it, standing in front of the window, and off she flew into the midday sky.