Fireworks.
When Molly Weasley heard about the reunion that was taking place up in Hogsmeade for her youngest son's year, she hoped that it would lead to her son returning home, if even for a few days. However, as the event crept closer there was no word from Ron that he would be gracing The Burrow with his presence. As such when her eldest son, Bill, invited her and Arthur to spend that weekend in France with them and their children, Molly jumped at the chance since it seemed as if she wouldn't be seeing her youngest son. However, upon their return, she was keen to find out how the reunion had gone, and if Ron had made an appearance.
"I've got to pop to the shops, but then I think I'll call round to see the twins, and see if they know how the reunion went," she informed her husband, before heading to Diagon Alley to get a few bits and pieces they needed.
Molly quickly picked up the things on her shopping list, before calling into a new little bakery to pick up a treat for her and Arthur for after their dinner. As she was trying to decide what cakes to buy, she spotted two witches who had gone to school with Ron gossiping beside the cookie display. In fact one of the witches was Ron's ex-girlfriend, Lavender Brown, and she was with one of the Patil twins. Although Molly had never actually met Lavender as Ron's girlfriend as it was a short-lived relationship before her son had started to date Hermione.
Intending to say hello and ask about the reunion, Molly made her way over to where the two witches were laughing over something, but as she got closer she heard her son's name mentioned, so rather than approaching them directly, she slid behind a display of bread so she could listen to what they were saying instead.
"He is such a loser," Lavender sneered. "I just can't believe I dated him."
"Look on the bright side, at least when you were dating him, he didn't blow you off to take his sister on a date," the Patil twin remarked. Molly was guessing she was Parvati as she was the former Gryffindor and had been friends with Lavender back in school.
"Maybe that was foreshadowing of the stupid lies he was going to tell," Lavender said. "I mean, if he's dumb enough to take his sister to a school dance, he's dumb enough to try and pass her kid off as his."
Molly frowned as she tried to work out what had gone on, but she was rather lost. What Lavender and her friend were saying wasn't making a lot of sense to Molly's ears. However, the pair weren't done yet and they continued laughing at events of the weekend, specifically her son.
"Although, I still don't know what was funnier, him passing his sister's son off as his own, or the show the pair of them made of themselves when they assumed Harry had been dumped for Malfoy," Parvati laughed.
"They certainly made a show of themselves," Lavender agreed. "No wonder they ran off before the reunion finished."
Not wanting to hear anymore, Molly backed away from the giggling witches and forgoing the cakes she'd planned on buying, she rushed from the bakery. Wanting to know exactly what had happened, and not some second hand gossip, she headed for the twins joke shop that sat opposite Gringotts. Luckily, Fred was in the shop, and seeing Molly's distress he escorted her out the back of the shop and up to the flat that he'd once shared with his twin brother before they'd both moved out with their respective partners.
"What's wrong?" he asked Molly as he offered her a cup of tea, which she rejected.
"I've just been in the bakery and overheard a couple of witches laughing about the reunion," Molly replied. "Specifically, Ron and Ginny's part in it."
"What did you hear?" Fred asked.
"Some rubbish about Ron claiming that Milo was his son," Molly answered. "And something about thinking Harry had been dumped."
"I think you should sit down, Mum," Fred said, urging his mother to take a seat on the sofa. "What you heard was right. Ron turned up to the reunion, claiming that Milo was his son. He and Ginny had also seen Daphne and Draco in the street together and decided she'd dumped Harry for him. Apparently it all came out in the pub, and after Ginny and Ron were pretty nasty about what they'd thought had happened to Harry, it was revealed that Milo is Ginny's son, not Ron's. After that they seemed to have ran off with their tails between their legs."
"I can't believe it," Molly said with a shake of her head. "What possessed them to try and pass Milo off as Ron's son? Surely they knew Harry and Hermione would know about him."
"They were crazy enough to believe that once they'd left, we all cut Harry and Hermione out of our lives," Fred explained. "It never occurred to him that we'd stayed friends with them."
"How foolish," Molly tutted. "And what made them think Daphne and Draco were a couple?"
"Other than them walking down the street together, nothing," Fred snorted. "To be honest, I think it was simply what they wanted to believe. They wanted things to have turned out badly for Harry."
"Pathetic," Molly hissed. "Just wait until I see them. In fact, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go and speak to them and find out what they were playing at. If Lavender and her friend are gossiping about it, then other people will be as well. Our family will be a laughingstock thanks to those two."
Not giving Fred a chance to talk her around and change her mind, even though he had no intention of doing so as he thought his siblings needed a good talking to, Molly hurried from the joke shop and headed home. Informing Arthur what had happened, the pair both made plans to visit their youngest children the next day and confront them over their scandalous behaviour at the reunion.
Ron was still recovering from the sheer embarrassment of the reunion come Tuesday morning as he was getting ready to head to work. However, before he'd had the chance to flee the house, Ginny had shouted up to his room to say they had visitors and when he headed downstairs, he found his parents in the living room.
"Mum, Dad, what brings you here?" Ron asked, getting the distinct impression his parents were angry for some reason.
"We thought we would call in and see how the reunion went," Arthur answered as Molly just glowered at her two youngest children.
"How did you know we went to the reunion?" Ron asked warily, exchanging worried glances with his sister.
"How could we not know, given everyone is talking about you, or rather laughing at you," Molly spat. "Do you have any idea what sort of idiots you've made yourselves look like, not to mention the rest of the family."
"Molly, calm down, I'm sure they have a reasonable explanation for their lies," Arthur said, placing a soothing hand on his wife's arm. "Well, what is the explanation?" he asked his youngest children.
"It was a spur of the moment thing," Ron said, trying to defend their actions. "I didn't want to go to the reunion as my life is so crap, so Ginny suggested we tell a few white lies. How we were to know they would be exposed?"
"You should have known that the rest of the family isn't as shallow as you two," Molly snapped. "You should have known that just because you two ended your friendships with Harry and Hermione, it didn't mean the rest of the family did. If either of you had ever bothered to ask, you would have known that Harry and Hermione are still part of our lives. You would have known they both know all about Milo."
"You also would have known that Harry and Daphne were married," Arthur added. "Then you wouldn't have jumped to such ridiculous conclusions without any proof."
"You heard about that as well, did you?" Ginny muttered, looking as sheepish as her brother.
"Oh yes, that also made you into a laughingstock," Molly remarked. "I just don't know what the pair of you were thinking, or if you even were thinking."
"I told you, I didn't want to admit how crap my life was," Ron muttered through clenched teeth, hating to admit his bad his life was.
"Nonsense," Molly tutted with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Does it really matter if you've not yet settled down or started a family? You're still young, Ron, there's still plenty of time for all of that. I very much doubt you were the only single person at the reunion. As for your job, it's a decent one and even if it isn't as fancy as some other people's, you're doing something you're good at. And if it's about living with your sister, then that shows what a kind person you are, helping your sister out when she's a single mother with no support from the father of her child. You could have looked at the positives, Ron."
"That's easy for you to say, but my life doesn't feel very positive," Ron grumbled.
"If you're so dissatisfied with your life then change it," Arthur said bluntly. "Don't lie about it, Ron. What the pair of you did was extremely foolish, and quite frankly I cannot feel sorry for it all blowing up in your faces. I don't know where we went wrong with you two, but I've never met such shallow people in my entire life. Are you really both so pathetic that you're still hung up on something that happened ten years ago? Move on and grow up."
Leaving Ron and Ginny totally stunned at their father's unexpected outburst, Arthur and Molly departed from their children's home, reminding them that it had been a while since they had paid a visit to the rest of the family. They then headed home, satisfied with the knowledge that while they couldn't change what had happened at the reunion, they had at least ensured that their two youngest children would never be as foolish as to pull another stunt like that again.