I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
Brotherly fic - Bill and Ron
Bill is tasked with babysitting his younger brothers, so he takes them for a rare day out.
Bill pulls out a twenty-pound note and shoves it into the machine. The machine pushes the money back out and Bill frowns as he reaches for it, flattening it and turning it around, glancing at the diagram for which way up it should be.
At his side, Ron fidgets impatiently. Bill can't really blame him. There are bright lights, lots of noise, the place is colourful, fun, whimsical. So much is going on and Bill knows his younger brother hasn't ever been somewhere like this.
The money takes this time, and the machine only takes a couple of seconds to process before coins spill into the tray at the bottom.
"Look at all of those galleons," Fred says, trying to push closer for a better look. He can understand the excitement. His brothers aren't used to seeing money, especially some that they can use so frivolously.
Bill frowns. "Hold on a minute," he says, reaching for the coin bags. He puts five pound into each, giving a separate bag to each of the twins. He starts to feed the other pound coins back into the machine to get some fifty pence coins.
"Now, do you remember our talk about money?" Bill checks, as he scoops the money up.
"A pound is a hundred, fifty pence is half of a pound," George sighs. "We remember. Can we go now?"
"You don't leave the building," Bill states. "Don't misbehave or we won't come back, okay? I don't want a single incident today."
The pair nod, and when Bill smiles, they rush off, pointing to so many things that they could go on. After a moment, they rush back, putting the pound coins into the machine to change them up to smaller coins.
"How many?" Ron asks, looking around.
"How many what?" Bill checks.
"How many turns do we get?" Ron asks, glancing up at him.
Bill grins. He understands that question too well. Well, maybe he didn't have it as bad as the others. He's the oldest, so when he was born, he didn't have to worry about things like hand-me-down clothes. But money got tighter and tighter as each sibling arrived, and it was the younger ones that were more affected. As their family grew, they slid further and further into poverty.
Charlie had all of Bill's old things, so Bill did his best to take care of them. Percy got them next, and if they lasted (which more often than not they did, because Percy was meticulous with his belongings), they'd go to the twins. Poor Ron would get them last.
But money was so tight, and still is, Bill reminds himself, that his brothers don't go to places like this for a day out. But Ginny had to go for an emergency appointment at St. Mungo's because of an incident with accidental magic, and Bill was left to look after his brothers. What better than to spend a bit of his hard-earned wage on his brothers. He planned to be frugal with his money, but he can't help himself. Just one nice day out. It won't cost him all that much at the end of it. Bill isn't really used to having money though, it's all new to him.
"You have five pounds, so at least five, maybe even ten," Bill says. "Some machines cost less, so it depends what you would like to use." He can give more money, but he'd rather treat his brothers to lunch too.
Ron looks at him in disbelief.
"Go on, take your pick," Bill says. "There's classic games - Pacman and the like, or some shooters. There are ones where you can get tickets too, but I'll be honest - we can't earn enough tickets to get a prize. Maybe next time. Just lead the way and I'll play some games with you." His gaze moves to a boy who runs past, a fist-full of magenta tickets and money almost falling out of his pockets. There's the smallest flash of jealousy from Bill before he reigns it in. They've never had that sort of money growing up, but he reminds himself not to be envious. He can help his siblings have a few nice treats now that he's working. He's discussed this so much with Charlie in the evenings. They're the oldest and Charlie will be out of school soon, and they can help their parents out with money.
Ron's gaze moves around frantically before it stops on the air hockey table that two other boys are using. His gaze follows their movements for a long moment. "How do you play that?" he asks, distracting Bill from his thoughts.
Bill's grin widens as he looks at the flashing orange numbers showing the final score of the two boys, just before they walk away. "I don't know," he admits. "But we'll find out, come on." With that, he leads the way over.
His brothers eat their ice-creams after finishing up their McDonalds. They're used to home cooking and not as used to this unhealthy stuff, but Bill is all for letting kids be kids.
"That was fun," Ron says, glancing over at him. "Thanks, Bill."
The twins nod their agreement, choosing not to talk with food in their mouths. They swallow the food down before thanking Bill too.
"Anytime," Bill says. "Next time, we'll wait until Charlie and Percy are home from Hogwarts before we go, yeah? And that Ginny is good too. All of us out together."
The other three nod in agreement and Bill reaches for his milkshake. Even though he's an adult now, he needed this too.
935 words
Yearly:
Song challenge - I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
1000 prompts - Family - Weasley
365 words - Frugal
Yearly Characters - Ron Weasley
Winter Seasonal -
Days of the Year - March 16th - Dumbstruck Day: Write about someone who is 'dumbstruck'.
Play God Day - 47. Family-oriented
Appreciate a Dragon Day - 20. Jabberwock (Alice in Wonderland): (word) Whimsical
Celebrate Your Name Week - 16. Weasley
Colours 6. Magenta
Alphabet Challenge - I - Incident (word)
Jam Roly Poly - (character) Bill Wesley - 3
Writing Club - 4. (word) Poverty
Film Festival - 17. (Word) Separate
Games Corner - Pink / Pall Mall / (Colour) Orange
Lyric Alley - . 3. We watch the day go by
Showtime - 8. Excited
Trope of the Month - 2. Surprise
Liza's Loves - 10. Gnome - (trait) kind-hearted
Amber's Anime - (food) ice cream
Snail Mail - 15. 'Oh, and your brother left a message.' - (Relationship) Siblings
Snake Nest - Dragons: Mushu (Mulan): (character) Ron Weasley
Treat Yourself - Meditate - (genre) family
Poke Pals - Submit Wordcount
Chocolate Frog Card - Ron Weasley
January Writing Month - Word Count
Pucker Up - Bill / 1. Grin
