"That Hagrid." George said, grinning.
"Tell me about it." Fred replied, sporting a grin of his own.
"Couldn't keep a secret if life depended on it, which it probably has. How about we appoint him our new Marauder's Map?" suggested George.
"Yeah, we could call him 'I shouldna tol ya that' with the password of 'I'll never tell, unless you ask' ", Fred said as they walked across the bridge towards the castle. They were breaking into silent laughter when they spotted him. The perfect target.
Little Ronniekins.
"Hey little brother!" Fred called, slipping into the I-got-you-just-where-I-want-you mode.
"How's it going?" George supplied, slipping into it just as automatically.
"…", Ron attempted to ignore them, emotionally unprepared to deal with them as he was. But as usual, they talked right through his silence.
"Ah yes, -"
"the heaviness of young love, -"
"The Chosen One and his Chosen One." Fred proclaimed, mischief twinkling in his eyes.
Cold, distant eyes…"What do you think, Ron?"
Avoiding their eyes, "Just leave it okay?" he almost pleaded.
"Oi!" George proclaimed, finally taking in Ron's despondent appearance. "What's got your knickers in a bunch?"
They stopped in midstep and shared a knowing look as well as matching grins.
"What'd you do this time?" they chorused.
Ron shot them a look of disbelief before he remembered their ignorance and sighed heavily. He said nothing else as he quickened his steps, opting to ignore the question in hopes that they would leave it alone. Unfortunately, and predictably, that was not the case.
"Look, take it from us. Your older, wiser and vastly more attractive older brothers. All you have to do is swallow your pride -"
"and apologize!" They grinned as they awaited the usual; the pointless anger, the denial at ever having been wrong in the first place, the frustrated confession followed by the acceptance of blame, walk of shame to the offended part, Harry in this case, and the reluctant apology. Then all would be well and Ron would be happy and, while they'd never willingly admit it, they rather enjoyed seeing Ron happy, as well as angry and embarrassed in their more sadistic moments.
As they watched Ron come to a sudden halt, what they got instead was an earful.
"Apologize!" He cried desperately, voice steadily increasing in volume, "For what? For being in love? For wanting to express that? For not being ashamed of it? What!?! What the bloody hell am I apologizing for because I don't know, okay?" Added in a sudden whisper, "I just don't know."
The twins stood shocked at the emotional outburst of their usually emotionally stoic little brother.
Meanwhile, the hollowness that had seeped into Ron's bones from the previous night watered his eyes with so much force; he shook from it, emitting a small sob so sudden it seemed he'd been holding it in for quite a while. And he had been.
Twin grins dropped instantly.
George walked to up to Ron, placing his hands on either shoulder, forcing him into eye contact. "Tell us what happened." they ordered grimly.
While Fred came to mirror George's position from behind, Ron proceeded to relay to them the previous night's events.
Being completely oblivious to the implications of what had occurred had been an expected reaction from them.
Siding with Harry had been even more expected, though on a more melancholy level.
The simultaneous hugs nearly stupefied him. Then all he could feel was the warmth of the twins when he so desperately wanted to be held and comforted like this by Harry.
Had Ron not been allowing himself to sob out the hurt that Harry had left him with, his inner overprotective brother may have identified the looks of anger in the twins' eyes, stormy blue with the promise of revenge.