Autumn 1991

Ronald Weasley

Hermione tilted her head, her eyebrows angling inward. "Visit Gryffindor Tower?" she repeated, clearly caught off guard by the request. "Why do you want to go there?"

Ron took a deep breath. "My brothers, they pranked me a few days ago. I think I know how to fix it, but I can only do it if I can get into the tower."

Hermione frowned. "You're talking about revenge?"

"It's not revenge, just… a lesson." Ron matched her frown. A small amount of guilt crept into his stomach. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked for Hermione's help.

She stared at him blankly for a moment. "We could get… expelled."

"Not if we're careful," Ron said quickly, trying to force as much confidence into his voice as he could. "And it will go pretty quick, I've just got to get close enough so that I can give them a douse of potion."

"A potion?"

"False confidence," Ron looked down at his feet ashamedly. "I, uh, I snatched it during my detention with Snape. I thought it would be… useful. Blaise told me it's too dangerous to take, unfortunately, makes you think you're invincible or something like that."

"You stole from Professor Snape!?" Hermione's eyes widened. "Don't you know how much trouble you could get in?"

"We won't get caught," Ron shrugged. "Theo stole something a few weeks ago and hasn't been."

Hermione's mouth hung open as if Ron had grown an extra head.I'm not that crazy, am I?

"Do you even know what could happen if you're caught with stolen potions?"

Ron shrugged. "It can't be worse than what my brothers have been doing. Besides, I think Snape likes me for some reason. And the potion is harmless, well, mostly."

"Mostly?" Hermione's voice climbed an octave.

"It's fine," Ron shook his head. Once again he felt as if he shouldn't have asked her, it wasn't her job to get pushed into his fight with his family. "I'll think of something else."

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something under her breath. Her eyes met him with a look of sudden desperation. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but if you're absolutely set on this… ridiculous idea, then I'll help you."

A large grin overtook Ron's face. A sudden wave of relief spread through him and his fingers twitched around the note he held in his hand. It seemed a lot less heavy than it had only a moment ago. Perhaps, he thought a little smugly, he was having a lot of luck. If his letter did as Percy said and helped with his parents, and his 'lesson' was able to get through to the twins, his life at Hogwarts could get considerably easier. It would give him far more time to work out who created the entire troll incident in the first place.

As if he had been waiting for Hermione's approval, Hermes swept down from somewhere in the rafters and landed neatly on a nearby rest. Ron took a breath and tied the letter to the owl's leg, whispering the destination in the owl's ear as he did so.

"I thought you were trying to make things better with your parents," Hermione commented. "Won't they be upset if you mess with your brothers?"

Ron just shrugged. It wouldn't matter if they heard about the potion, not when they were about to hear about Hallowe'en. It was better to deal with the twins, his parents couldn't be at Hogwarts all of the time.

"So what's your entire plan then? How are you going to get them to take the potion?" Hermione asked.

"Easy," Ron said quickly. "The twins like to brag about being able to get anything, even when it's not a Hogsmeade weekend. No doubt they've got butterbeer hidden in their room. I've just got to find it."

"They've really brought butterbeer into the school?"

Ron nodded, "George told me so last year. Said he and Fred have one every night while they come up with ideas for pranks."

"That's so… irresponsible."

"My brothers aren't saints," Ron said quietly. "Far from it."

"I guess not," Hermione frowned. "But they're always nice, in the common room."

"Nice to everyone but their own brothers."

Hermione's eyes shifted to the ground. "I always wondered what it would be like to have siblings, or I did until I met you and Harry. You make me feel like having siblings could be the absolute worst, and Harry reminds me to be thankful that I even have caring parents."

Ron winced slightly. "It's just the twins really," he said uncomfortably. "All my other siblings aren't that bad. I mean, we fight sometimes… but not like this. Charlie, my older brother, bought me my wand when my parents couldn't."

"They couldn't buy you a wand?"

Ron shook his head. He had subconsciously at some point almost forgotten about the entire situation. A small raw amount of anger flared in his chest again. "It's best not to talk about it."

Hermione looked him in the eyes, her expression softening. "I didn't mean to bring up anything painful. I just… I didn't realize how complicated having a big family could be."

Ron shrugged, his gaze lingering on hers.

Hermione sighed and glanced toward the entrance to the owlery. "So, when do you want to do this?"

"Right now," Ron answered, reaching into his pocket and revealing a small flask of pale red liquid. It was viscous in the cold of the owlery, seeming thick and sludge-like through the glass.

Hermione's eyes widened once again. "Ron, you can't just carry stolen potions around Hogwarts, what if someone noticed?"

Ron snorted. "Are you going to let Professor Snape search through your pockets?"

"No! Don't be ridiculous, I just meant." She sighed. "What is it with Slytherins and getting in trouble?"

"Slytherins? I'm pretty sure what I'm doing is pretty much a Gryffindor thing. I mean, Theo would have found some clever way to douse the twins that didn't involve breaking into another house's tower."

"How exactly are you going to come with me?" Hermione asked. "I mean, you are wearing green, Ron."

Ron looked down at his !Somehow he had overlooked such an obvious flaw in his plan. Not to mention, he thought dumbly, lots of the Gryffindors knew who he was. They had spent the last two days staring at him and probably imagining how he could have managed to explode an entire stupid git!

His eyes latched to Hermione again. "Let me borrow your robe?"

"My robe? Ron, I'm shorter than you are."

"Nobodies going to be looking at my arms or feet. I can just put your robe over mine and put up the hood so it's hard for them to see my tie, but they can see the red trim around the hood."

Hermione crossed her arms. "You think they're just going to ignore the fact that you're wearing a hood in the common room?"

Ron shrugged. "It's not like they'll be paying that much attention. I'll be in and out before anyone notices."

"You're really set on doing this, aren't you?" she sighed.

"Completely."

- SS -

The Gryffindor common room was hidden behind a large portrait of a plump woman wearing a silk-pink dress. She had a pale sort of complexion that made Ron wonder if portraits took the skin tone of their real-life counterparts or if it was entirely the paint that was used. Either way, the portrait lady seemed not to notice anything strange as he cowered beneath Hermione's robe.

Hermione herself looked almost unlike herself without her robe and only her vest and skirt. She was thinner than Ron imagined, not in the same way that Harry was but in a way that Ron wasn't. Her bushy hair seemed to cup her face even more so than when she wore her robe and in the softness of the candlelight, it had a subtle sheen of lighter brown that Ron had never noticed before. He wondered how her hair would look on the weekends when students could wear less formal robes or whatever else they wanted.

The portrait swung aside and the room beyond came into Ron's view for the first time in his entire life. He had to stop himself from saying something stupid and commenting on how he imagined his first time in Gryffindor's common room would be very different. Hermione glanced back at him and smiled sympathetically before stepping into the portrait hole.

The room was alive with a sense of homey comfort that struck Ron as somewhat odd. The Slytherin common was comfortable but there was something different about the Gryffindor room that he couldn't quite place. Golden light spilt from a roaring fireplace and cast a soft glow over the cosy furniture scattered about the room. Like the Slytherin room, there were plush armchairs only they looked well-worn and impossibly inviting. A few of the chairs were occupied by students engrossed in games of chess or leafing through textbooks. Red-and-gold rugs layered over the wooden floor and they were thick enough to muffle the footsteps of passing students. The air smelled of faint butter and burning oak.

As Ron followed after Hermione she drew near to him, close enough for her to whisper.

"There," she pointed to one side of the room where a set of stairs were tucked into a circular section of wall. "The boys' dormitories."

Ron nodded, took a deep breath and set off towards the stairs, his meeting a large Gryffindor banner that hung above the hearth, its lion seeming to glare down at him as if it knew he didn't belong. He swallowed thickly and pulled the hood closer to his face. As he suspected, the stairs accepted him as if he was just another Gryffindor student and he did his best to quietly ascend them.

When Ron reached the door labelled "Third Years," he hesitated. A part of him wondered if the twins would have done something to their room to avoid anyone messing about. He knew it was the sort of thing they did at home, but that's mostly because they were worried about someone stealing their sweets. He bit his lip and turned the handle cautiously. The door swung open quietly, the room seemingly empty aside from the furniture and clutter.

Ron's eyes scanned the room until he spotted two beds side by side, one with a pillow inexplicably stuck to the floor at an odd angle. He wondered why the twins would want to stick one of their pillows to the floor, it sent a surge of anxiety through his veins. As if anything around him could somehow be a trap in waiting.

Ron crept over to the twins' beds and made sure to avoid their chests. They might not have been willing to trap the door but they would definitely have something nasty for anyone that was actually a thief. Very carefully, Ron took wide steps around both beds trying to listen to the floor as he did so. Finally, a piece of the flooring creaked and Ron stopped and crouched.

Ron tapped the board and it shifted ever so slightly, just enough to confirm his suspicion. He glanced over his shoulder to ensure no one had come in behind him, then carefully wedged his fingers into the gap and lifted the board free. Under the board was a small hollowed-out space just big enough for a small stash of bottles, each sealed with a cork stopper, the liquid inside glowing faintly golden in the dim light. Ron reached down and took the first one and examined it in his hands.

He thought about stealing one and drinking it himself. It was what he deserved after all, he had been working his hardest to ensure that the school was safe, that Charlie would live, and all the twins ever did was glare at him, say mean things, or now prank him. He bit the inside of his cheek and placed the bottle back in its place. Cursing quietly to himself, Ron pulled the potion bottle out of his pocket. He knew most potions worked better when ingested but he was sure the twins would notice if one of their bottles was open, instead he just poured the liquid over the bottles in a thin coat. Even if the effect was mild it was better than nothing.

Satisfied, Ron carefully shifted the board back into place and let out a small sigh.

"Let's see how you like that…" he muttered under his breath.