A/n: I'm actually surprised no one's mentioned a certain…ah…something missing regarding the last two chapters. I'm sure you'll figure it out after this chapter though. It's okay, readers…I'd never leave you with a story that didn't answer every question.

And that reminds me…whoever leaves me anon reviews about being wrong…well, reread the chapters Ron and Tonks are together in DH. I know for fact that they're on the same broom. Why else would Ron need to grab onto Tonks' waist?

WARNING: This chapter refers to events happening over the course of the past two chapters. Please read them before starting this one, otherwise you will be confused.

WARNING, REVISITED: I won't say that it's absolutely necessary, but if you haven't read my other fic Apple Chunking, I suggest you do so. One: it's a good fic…but given that I wrote it I suppose that's biased. Two: it will put this chapter into context. If you love me you will read it before this, even if you don't review it, but I hope you might…

And with that out of the way, on with the fic.

Adelaide, my new and lovely reviewer, the beginning's extra long to consent to your request. ;)

The Tales of Weasley the Father
By dieselwriter

Chapter 11: The Tale of Changes

Ron rapt smartly on the door twice, looking covertly down both ends of the hall before sticking his ear to the door.

"He around?" a voice whispered from the opposite side of the door.

"No, all clear," Ron muttered.

The door cracked open, and Ron quickly slipped inside and closed the door behind him quietly.

"Let's go before he figures it out," Harry said, grabbing his cloak.

"Please…like he's not going to figure this out," Ron snorted as he went over to the fireplace in Harry's spacious office.

"Hey, I've got a full-proof plan!"

Ron did nothing but snort again as he grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the fire.

"What, come back before he finds out?"

Harry's face turned a little red and Ron smiled.

"That is your plan!"

"Well, don't go broadcasting it!" Harry hissed as he cut across Ron and stepped into the grate. "Leaky Cauldron!"

Harry disappeared and Ron just grinned broadly at his friend's distress.

"Potter, you better NOT be trying to get out of editing those Selwyn papers!"

Ron jumped as the normally cool authoritative voice of Senior Auror Williams barked, aggravated, through the door. He banged on the door as he continued to try to shout it down.

"We've been working on those for over a MONTH now!"

Ron quickly grabbed another handful of Floo powder and stepped into the emerald flames.

"Leaky Cauldron," he whispered so as not to alert the Senior Auror, but the man could not be stopped as the door flew open.

"POTTER!"

But Ron was gone in a whirlwind of color, ending abruptly as he stepped out into the muggy pub. Harry was nervously fingering the fringe of his cloak.

"What took you so long? Did Kingsley find out?"

"No," Ron grumbled as he dusted himself off and ambled out of the grate. "Williams decided to stop by though."

Harry groaned as they made for the back door of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hey guys, got time for a drink?"

Hannah Abbott smiled from behind the bar, waving at them.

"No thanks, Hannah," Harry returned with his own polite wave. "Official Ministry business to attend to."

"That's what you always say," Hannah pouted playfully. "What happened to the good old days when you two would come in and drink me out of all my Firewhiskey?"

"Wives happened," Ron said as he pointed to his wedding ring. "Surely you know about that yourself?"

Hannah rolled her eyes, but he noticed she fingered her own wedding ring lovingly.

"Well I never complain when my wife comes by."

"You know what I mean!" Ron said, flustered, as his ears turned pink.

Hannah laughed as she waved her hand like she was hurrying them along.

"Well, have fun on your 'official Ministry business.' I'll make sure the Senior Auror knows of your antics if he stops by again."

Ron and Harry glanced nervously at the fireplace before waving goodbye to Hannah and stepping out into the back alley.

"If he comes chasing us down again…" Harry said as he again checked over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed by an irate Senior Auror.

"You can blame me," Ron finished as he tapped the correct brick in the wall and the entrance to Diagon Alley formulated before their eyes. "Come on, this is important."

Both men started down the cobbled street, Harry now and then getting an eye from a passing shopper.

"Important?" Harry echoed disbelievingly.

"Well…it's important to me," Ron replied dishearteningly. "And it is Ministry business."

"I don't think getting a new owl counts as Ministry business," Harry said as they entered the Magical Menagerie.

"Sure it does…it's a work-related expense."

"Hello, sirs. May I help you?"

A short, brunette assistant smiled up at the two Aurors, and Ron returned a half-hearted grin.

"Yes, I'm here to pick up an owl?"

"Your name, sir?"

"Weasley."

The girl went to the back of the door and disappeared into the storage room. Harry turned to Ron, confusedly.

"You ordered an owl?"

"George did, actually," Ron said with a shrug. "Guess he remembered how badly I took Scabbers death back in third year…."

The assistant came back with a large cage, a small owl perched inside it.

"Here you go, sir," she said, still with that broad grin, as she handed over the cage. "Have a nice day!"

"Er," Ron, who had been reaching for his money, hesitated. "Don't I have to…?"

"It's been taken care of, sir."

Ron frowned but said nothing more as he held tightly to the cage and exited the store, Harry right behind him.

"This isn't bad, is it?" he asked when Harry had caught up. "Replacing Pig?"

"You're not replacing him, Ron. You're just getting a new owl."

"Still…I don't know how the kids are going to take it," he said, glancing between the bars of the cage at the rust colored pygmy owl. "They'll think I'm just swapping out for a new pet—"

"After the war, when you helped out George at the shop…did you think you were just replacing Fred?" Harry looked sincerely at his friend as they continued down the street.

Ron's grip on the cage faltered a bit, and the owl jerked awake with an angry squawk as he picked it back up.

"No, of course not! How could you even think that—"

"I don't!" Harry replied hastily. "I'm just saying that change doesn't mean replacement…it just means change. It doesn't always have to be a bad thing."

"And when I hex your legs off for skipping out of work again, Potter," a gruff voice from behind made them both jump, "would you consider that to be a bad thing?"

Ron and Harry turned around nervously to stare at their square-jawed Senior Auror, who had a frown so familiar to Ron he wondered if the man could even smile if he wanted to.

"Senior Auror Williams!" Harry exclaimed an octave higher than normal, and Ron would have snickered if he didn't feel so nervous. "We were just on, um, Ministry business…."

"Picking up a pet is Ministry business?"

"It's for Ministry business, sir," Ron piped up. "I can't work without an operable owl."

"You seemed to be doing fine when you had that petrified owl," Williams scowled. "Now he's croaked, you decide to opt for one that actually works? Or will this one be sitting at home collecting dust as well?"

Ron winced at the lack of compassion for his old bird friend.

"No, sir, this one's strictly business."

"Next time you pick up your pets on your own time," the Senior Auror growled before turning on Harry. "And you—"

Harry gave a nervous grin, but the Senior Auror did not crumble.

"If I don't get those Selwyn papers completed on my desk tomorrow morning, you will regret this date with Weasley indeed."

"Yes sir," Harry replied with a blushing grimace.

Without another word, the Senior Auror walked ahead of the two and back toward the Leaky Cauldron.

"Well that was a close one," Harry said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Shit, Ron, you're going to get me fired one of these days."

"Please," Ron snorted, as they continued on in the footsteps of their boss, "the only reason he rides on you so hard is because you're next in line for his job, Senior Auror Potter."

It was Harry's turn to snort as they walked back through the gateway and into the Leaky Cauldron.

"I don't want it," Harry replied as they waved at Hannah again before stepping over to the fireplace. "Besides, Williams will never retire. Even if he was killed his ghost would take up the job."

"You'd be great for the job!" Ron roared, causing his newly acquired owl to squawk again.

"Here here!" Hannah cheered from behind the bar. "Potter for Senior Auror!"

"Snooper," Harry muttered under his breath, but a smile was fighting its way through.

"Right, well, I've got a bird to deliver," Ron said as he threw a handful of Floo powder into the flames. "Don't work too long on those Selwyn papers, mate. Ginny'll go crazy."

The smile died on Harry's face as Ron stepped into the emerald fire and called for home. The cage banged uncomfortably next to him as he disappeared and spun through the Floo network.

"You're home early," was Hermione's reply as Ron's journey ended and he entered his living room.

"I've got a present," Ron said as he held out the bird cage to find a very dizzy and very angry owl inside. "What do you think?"

"She's a beautiful owl, Ron," Hermione said, leaning over to inspect the small owl.

"He's not a she!" Ron replied indignantly.

"Not according to the way she's looking at you," Hermione smiled as the bird snapped at the bars of the cage.

The back door suddenly flew open as Rosie came bounding into the living room.

"Daddy! You're home early!"

She dashed over to give her father a hug and stare into the bars of the cage.

"Who's bird? He's cute!" she smiled as she reached out to put her finger through the bars.

"It's ours, and I wouldn't do that if I were you…he didn't like the Floo trip very much."

Rosie pulled her finger back as the owl snapped its beak at her.

"He's ours?" Rosie looked up inquiringly at her father.

"Told you it was a boy," Ron raised an eyebrow victoriously at Hermione, who merely rolled her eyes. "And that's why you're my favorite daughter," he said as he gave Rosie a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"Eww!" but she giggled as she fought to escape her father's grasp.

"What about Pig?"

The three Weasleys turned to look at the backdoor, where the fourth Weasley was frowning. Ron placed the cage on the floor and gave a sigh.

"Come on, Rosie, grab your bat," Ron said as he walked over to his son.

"What?" Rosie and Hugo asked at the same time.

"Grab your Beater's bat, Rosie," Ron clarified as he reached the doorway and picked his son up and slung him around his waist.

"Dad! Let me down!" Hugo complained, but Ron didn't let go as he carried him one-handed down the porch stairs.

"Accio broomsticks!" Ron muttered, waving his wand as three broomsticks shot out of the shed in the backyard and streaked toward him. Hugo yelled but Ron caught them deftly as he continued walking.

"Dad, what are we doing?" Rosie asked as she caught up, out of breath. "Are we going flying?"

Ron smiled at the enthusiasm in Rosie's voice.

"Yep, and I'll tell you the exact same thing I told your Uncle Harry when his pet died during the war."

"Dad, Pig just died. I think we've suffered enough," Rosie groaned.

Hugo said nothing but wiggled in an attempt to escape. But Ron held him tight as they continued down the country lane to the makeshift Quidditch field.

Harry looked morosely into his bowl of porridge and stirred it around. Hermione was watching him nervously but wasn't saying anything. Ginny wasn't paying either of them much attention as she wolfed down her own breakfast.

"Hungry, Ginny?" Hermione asked as Ginny nearly swallowed her spoon on accident.

"No, but I know Mum's going to be coming for us soon enough to get wedding preparations started. The farther I am away from her, the less work for me."

"You're such a giver, Ginny," Hermione said with a small smile as Ginny finished her cereal and threw her bowl and spoon in the sink.

"Right, well, don't say I didn't warn you!" Ginny said, winking at the pair of them before leaving the kitchen.

"We've only been back a day…" Hermione muttered. "Surely Mrs. Weasley wouldn't think to put us to work so soon…."

The backdoor opened suddenly; Hermione jumped in her chair and Harry's spoon went clattering into his bowl as he jerked his head to the door.

"Hey Hermione, Harry, perfect!" Bill said as he entered, a smile throwing his scars on his face into greater relief. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Er," Hermione began, wondering how exactly Ginny knew this was coming.

"I'll do it Hermione, it's okay," Harry said, abandoning his untouched breakfast. "What do you need, Bill?"

"Just give this to Ron when he comes down, will you?" Bill said, handing Harry a wand.

"Where'd you get this?" Harry asked, examining Ron's wand. "Didn't he lose it—"

"And we found it!" Bill replied proudly. "We didn't find a trace of Mad-Eye, though."

Harry's inquisitive smile faltered.

"Oh, right."

"Who's right?"

Harry, Hermione, and Bill turned to see a worse-for-wear Ron entering the kitchen. His hair was tousled and he had dark circles under his eyes.

"You alright there, Ron?" Bill asked worriedly, but Ron waved him off dismissively.

"Long night," he said as he sat down at the table and dragged Harry's porridge over to himself to begin eating.

"I can relate," Bill said with a small smile and a shrug. "Guess what I found, Ron?"

Ron shrugged through a mouthful of porridge.

"Show him, Harry," Bill's smile widened as Harry placed Ron's wand on the table beside him.

Ron stared at it for a moment before nearly choking as he swallowed his large mouthful.

"You found it?" he coughed incredulously.

"We were looking for Mad-Eye, and we just found it on the ground!"

Ron looked confusedly from the wand to his brother.

"But that doesn't make any sense…" and he knew that for a fact; Bellatrix Lestrange had taken his wand and, if she hadn't destroyed it herself, dropping it would have caused it to smash into pieces on impact.

"Well, that's what happened," Bill said as he walked the length of the kitchen in a few quick steps. "And now I've got to talk to Mum about something."

He left the kitchen, and Ron felt far less hungry than before as he stared at his wand.

"There's no way this could have happened," he muttered as he picked it up.

"Well I think this just means we need a little more hope," Hermione said as she put her hand on Ron's shoulder. "Things might just turn out for the best, even if we don't expect them to."

Harry snorted, and both Hermione and Ron looked at him in concern.

"Sorry," he said as he blushed.

But they continued to stare at him before Ron stood up and grabbed Harry by the arm, forcing him toward the backdoor.

"What're you doing?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison.

"We're going out for a bit," he replied to Hermione.

"O-okay," Hermione said doubtfully as Ron forced Harry out of the door and down onto the lawn.

"Will you quit shoving me?" Harry muttered as he stepped away from Ron and turned to look at him. "What is it?"

Ron's brow furrowed but instead of answering him he pointed his wand to the broom shed. "Accio broomsticks!"

Two broomsticks clattered from the shed and made their way over. Ron reached out and caught one but the other slammed into his stomach.

Ron swore as he leaned over, the breath knocked out of him.

"Smooth," Harry said, leaning over to pick up the other broom. "Let's go."

Ron smiled as he stood back up and walked behind his now compliant friend.

"Hang on, Harry…Accio bats!"

Fred and George's Beater bats soared from the shed next, and Ron did a better job of catching them when they reached him.

"What're those for?" Harry asked, confused. He wasn't exactly adept at Beating.

"Apple chunking," Ron said as he passed Harry and continued on toward the Quidditch Pitch.

"Apple what?"

"Chunking," Ron answered as if it were a common thing. Seeing Harry's confused look, he just laughed and said, "You'll see."

They reached the pitch and Ron tossed Harry a bat before grabbing a few crabapples from one of the trees in the orchard.

"We're just practicing Beating with apples," Ron told Harry as he mounted his broom uncertainly. "Go on up, I'll be there in a minute."

Harry got on his broom and took a few practice laps as Ron looked at his own broom, slightly nervous.

"You okay?" Harry asked as he flew by.

"Yeah…" Ron said as his grip slipped as a result of his sweaty palms.

Harry did not look convinced as he landed nearby.

"What's wrong?"

Ron couldn't tell him…if Harry knew he was hesitant about flying since his run-in with Bellatrix Lestrange, he'd feel guilty and this plan would be all for naught.

"Nothing," Ron said as he mounted his broom and tried to keep his shaking hands under his control.

His feet wanted to remain firmly planted on the ground, but Harry was still watching him, so he unwillingly lifted his feet and took off a few feet above the earth, refusing to look back down.

"Well, you ready then?" Harry asked, not bothering to ask why Ron was only hovering and not soaring up over the trees.

Ron nodded as he held the bat and broom in his left hand and shakily pulled an apple out of his pocket with his right.

"Toss it!" Harry taunted a bit with a smile, waving his bat about.

Ron pitched it and immediately grasped the broom with both hands again, willing himself not to clench his eyes closed as Harry took a swing and brilliantly smashed the apple to pieces.

"Cool," Harry smiled as he wiped off juice from his face. "Toss me one so you can have a turn, Ron!"

Ron reached cautiously into his pocket and threw another apple at Harry.

"Well? You planning on hitting it with your head?" Harry asked as he prepared to pitch the fruit even as Ron kept both hands firmly on the broomstick.

"N-no," Ron said, hating the way his voice trembled a bit as he carefully lifted the bat in his right hand while keeping a white-knuckle grip on the broom with his left.

Harry gave Ron a sympathetic smile before descending to the ground.

"What're you doing?" Ron asked, and he rose a few more inches off the ground to try to prove to Harry that he wasn't uncomfortable with this. But as he looked down at Harry and realized how far he was from the ground his whole body tensed.

"Come on down, Ron," Harry called up. "We can throw down here…it'll be like cricket!"

"Like a bug?" Ron asked stiffly. He felt frozen up in the air.

"No," Harry said as he laughed a bit, "It's a Muggle sport."

"Like that football thing Dean keeps going on about?"

Harry just laughed some more before replying, "Just get down here!"

Ron descended and his whole body relaxed as his feet touched the ground once again.

"What happened, Ron?" Harry asked as he pitched the apple to him. Ron didn't bother swinging since his bat was still at his side so he caught it instead.

"I…" Ron hesitated, wanting to tell him something that wouldn't upset him. But Harry had always been honest with him and his problems…. "I fell."

"No you…" Harry said, confused for a moment, before realizing that Ron was not talking about the present. "You…last night?"

"I fell," Ron repeated, nervously turning the fruit in his hand.

Harry didn't say anything for a long moment, and Ron felt self-conscious as he stared at the apple in his hand instead of his gaping best friend.

"Pitch it."

"What?" Ron asked, startled.

"Pitch it!"

Ron did as requested, and Harry furiously swung and hit the apple so hard that it burst into nearly indistinguishable smithereens.

"Another," Harry said, and the tone in his voice told Ron he wasn't fooling around.

Ron threw at least a dozen apples before Harry seemed satisfied and he let out a heavy sigh.

"I miss Hedwig," Harry said through a face full of apple.

"Me too," Ron said. "Now the only one Pig has to annoy is me."

Harry gave a small smile as he wiped off some of the juice on his face.

"I just... when I was all alone at the Dursleys, she was there suffering right alongside me. Ha, I remember this one time when she brought back a rat she had caught and flew through the kitchen window to drop it on the table. Aunt Petunia had an absolute fit…."

"Yeah, last year she did something similar when she brought in that huge spider during breakfast…" Ron said with a shiver.

"She was a good owl."

"Yeah, she was," Ron said as he turned around, ready to walk back toward the house.

Harry gave an evil grin as he grabbed a large chunk of apple by him and launched it at Ron. It hit him square on the head and he turned around to glare playfully at his bespectacled friend.

"What was that for?"

Harry shrugged as he picked up another apple chunk from the ground.

"I didn't get the chance to pitch yet."

And he threw another piece of fruit at Ron, but he was ready. He ducked and grabbed a solid apple from the ground and chucked it back.

Their apple war lasted only a few minutes, ending in a stalemate as they had run out of crabapples.

"That's not the first time that's happened, you know," Ron said as he grabbed up his broom and bat, ready to head back to the house.

"You've had an apple war before?" Harry asked as he followed Ron, broom and bat in tow.

"What? No…I've been brutally assaulted while apple chunking before. George claims whacking me in the back of the head with a bat was an accident, but I have my doubts. Probably because it was broad daylight when it happened."

Harry just laughed as the two made their way back to the Burrow.

Rose and Hugo remained silent for a few moments after Ron finished his story and they reached their makeshift Quidditch field behind their house.

"What kind of moral is that supposed to teach us?" Rosie finally asked as Ron set Hugo down on the ground.

"When life gives you lemons," Ron said as he distributed the brooms out to his children, "go apple chunking."

Rosie laughed as she grabbed her broom and took off into the sky immediately. Hugo's smile was a bit more hesitant, but he too took his broom and flew off. Ron transfigured a pinecone from the ground into an apple before taking off himself.

They spent the next hour apple chunking, before they decided to start an apple war from the ground. It was therefore another hour later before they trudged up to the house, brooms and bats in tow and faces shining with apple juice.

"Hey, there are my favorite niece and nephew!"

Rosie and Hugo grinned widely as they rushed through the backdoor to find their Uncle George standing behind an amused Hermione.

"Uncle George!" the two shouted simultaneously as they battled each other for a tighter hug.

"Geez, Ronnie, what're you feeding these kids?" George asked as pretended to pry them off his waist unsuccessfully. "They get stronger and stronger every time I see them!"

Rosie and Hugo giggled as they released George so that he could look down on them with an inquisitive glance.

"Well if you've been feeding them apples, they haven't seemed to reach their target."

Rosie and Hugo grinned even more broadly as apple juice slid down their faces.

"We've been out chunking!" Ron declared as he gave his wife a kiss on the cheek.

"Eww!"

To Ron's annoyance, everyone reacted in disgust. Rosie and Hugo looked away embarrassedly as did George, and Hermione wiped off the sticky juice from her cheek with a groan.

"Fine then, I'll just hang out with the owl then," Ron muttered as he sat at the table, on which his newly acquired owl stood in its cage.

"You like?" George asked as he poked his finger into the cage. To Ron's continued annoyance, the bird only nibbled affectionately at his fingers.

"The last time I did that, he tried biting my finger off," he muttered.

"What're you on about?" George asked in confusion as he turned to Hermione.

Hermione grimaced and looked away nervously. George's eyes shone in hopeful wonder as he looked at Ron.

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Ron asked, clearly uncertain and displeased at being left out of a conversation. His children waited for the punch-line anxiously.

"You're bird's a bird!"

Ron raised an eyebrow as Hermione blushed in embarrassment.

"Well that's good," Ron replied as he snuck his kids an amused smile. "I was wondering why he had so many feathers."

"No," George said as he started to laugh at Hermione's obvious discomfiture. "It's a girl!"

Ron's mouth turned into a fine line as George burst out laughing now and Hermione continued to look mortified.

"And I bet…he doesn't know what you named it?" he got out between gasps for air as Hermione, if possible, turned a darker shade of red.

"You didn't…" Ron said, his own ears beginning to turn a delicate shade of pink.

"Well, George came over to see how she was doing," Hermione cried out as George could no longer talk through his laughter. "And I said he was fine, and he said that it was a girl, and I said I knew I was right, women's intuition and all that, and was pleased to know we had another proper lady in the house, and…well…"

Hermione said all this very fast, which made Ron even more confused and George even more hysterical.

"He's a she and her name's Lady!"

Ron looked incredulously between his brother to his humiliated wife.

"You didn't!"

But Hugo joined in the laughter as well as he looked into the bars of the cage at the new pet.

"Hello Lady," Hugo said as he too put his fingers into the cage. Lady cautiously nipped at his fingers before he started giggling. "Don't! It tickles!"

George continued laughing as Hermione worried her hands with her wand, and Rosie joined her brother at peering into the cage, but Ron couldn't be mad. He walked over to Hermione and put a comforting arm around her as he watched his children.

"You're not angry, are you?" Hermione asked him as George pulled a piece of apple from Rosie's hair and offered it to Lady, getting a laugh out of Hugo.

Ron shook his head.

"I was wrong, you were right…. Some things never change."

But he smiled as he kissed her again, and this time she did not complain.

A/n: It took for-freaking-ever to finish this, but it's here! Finally!

NOTE: How did Bill find Ron's wand, you ask? I wanted to address it in another chapter, but for the life of me I don't think I can manage. If enough of you care to know the answer, though…I suppose I could write a new fic addressing the situation...and if no one cares I'll just let you all know what happened next chapter in an aside or something.

And of course Ron's current fear of flying will be brought up in another chapter. Patience, my fans...patience. ;)

Oh, yeah, my birthday was last Friday…I'm old and 22. But you know what the best belated present would be? A review!

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers; as always you are the best!

-dieselwriter