Autumn 1991

Ronald Weasley

Ron lingered in the corridor after Blaise and Theo had left, his fingers continuing to rub the sore spots on his hand as he tried to convince himself that skipping Herbology wasn't as bad as it sounded. After all, it wasn't as if he made a habit out of it, and he had a rather good reason. His heart beat rapidly and he wasn't sure if it was from the anger that still bubbled in his stomach or nervousness about possibly getting detention. Regardless, he had to take matters into his own hands. And, whatever punishment he might earn would be worth it so long as he used the time wisely.

He pushed his way back up the swarms of students and slipped through the crowd gathered around the entrance to the great hall. He edged around the side of the room towards the Gryffindor table, sweeping his eyes quickly over the rows of older students as he went. Predictably, the twins were absent, and any lingering hope he held that someone else might have been responsible for the prank faded. A part of him, a childish part, had clung to that possibility. He had hoped there was another person to blame, but deep down he knew it was only wishful thinking. After all, who else but his own brothers would want to treat him so poorly?

He settled his eyes on Percy who had his nose buried in a textbook and a half-eaten jam-drenched toast in his hand. A part of Ron felt guilty for going to him, for ruining his day with his problems. It was enough to make him stop for a moment and consider going to class like normal. He could listen to what Blaise and Theo had suggested and just do nothing. He could hold on to the hope that the twins would just leave him alone.

Ron looked down at his hand, the red mark branding his otherwise pale pink .He took a deep breath, pushed himself off the wall, and headed straight for his brother.

"Ron?" Percy looked over the top of his book with confusion. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Uh… maybe…

"I needed to speak to you," he said, hoping his voice didn't give away his anger.

Percy pursed his lips and placed the piece of toast down on a nearby plate. "Right now?"

"Right now," Ron nodded. He knew Percy probably had things to do, but Ron selfishly needed him. He needed him to know, and he needed his advice.

Percy narrowed his eyes as if to consider what could possibly be wrong. "Is it about last night?" He guessed.

Ron nodded, their conversation had been short the night before but it had said a lot about the way Ron was feeling. And Ron was glad that Percy actually seemed to care about how the twins had acted. It helped him feel less alone, and it helped him feel like a Weasly, even if the twins tried to insist he wasn't one.

Percy stood from the table and left his book at his spot, nodding for Ron to follow him out through the doors of the great hall. Once back into the corridors, he led Ron up a single set of stairs and into an empty classroom where a few underused wooden desks rotted silently under a thin layer of dust and grime.

"You're skipping class, aren't you?" Percy asked. He said it with a neutral tone but Ron knew he disapproved.

"I… something happened," Ron said softly. Whatever words he had been planning to say were quickly slipping out of his grasp.

Percy frowned. "Something bad," he guessed.

Ron nodded and held out his hand for Percy to inspect. His brother took it into his and inspected it in the light that poured through the two large windows in the side of the room. A deep frown settled onto Percy's face.

"Someone attacked you? Why? Was it because of what happened on Hallowe'en?" Percy asked rapidly. He pulled his wand from his robes and muttered a charm which sent a chill across Ron's hand and turned the bright red mark to a more subtle shade of pink

"Sort of, it was a prank," Ron said sturdily. Some of the anger which he had been concealing rushed into his chest. "The twins did this. To me and Blaise."

"I see," Percy's frown deepened. "They aren't just ignoring you anymore."

"No, and I don't think they're going to."

"I'll tell Mum," Percy said quickly. "She won't let them do this, not to you."

Ron frowned back at him. Somehow he doubted that his mother cared. After all, she had said something vaguely similar to what the twins had. Once Dumbledore wrote her a letter, it would be over for him. She would probably come to the school and tell him that he was a disappointment directly to his face. Ron shivered and felt bumps run up his arms. He didn't want to fight with her, but he knew it seemed inevitable.

"She won't help," he said back, "you know about the letter she wrote. I just… I don't know. I just wanted you to know about the twins."

"Well we have to do something, don't we?" Percy asked. "You can't just let them get away with this Ron, it isn't right. And you wouldn't have come to me if you didn't want something to happen."

"I know, I just don't know what I want. I don't want to make things worse, but Percy, I don't know if I can forgive them."

Percy stared at him with wide eyes. "Merlin, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should have stopped them a while ago."

"What?" Ron narrowed his eyes, how was it his brother's fault?

"After what happened with the owls and the letter, I promised that I would put a stop to them," Percy explained. "I told myself that I'd stop them from pranking this year because I didn't want them to do anything to you again. Only, I didn't. I thought they learned their lesson after Snape gave them detention, and then they just started ignoring you. Merlin, I'm a knob."

"That's not your fault," Ron said back. "It's not your job to police them."

"I'm a prefect Ron, and they're my brothers, it has to be someone's job."

"So what should we do?"

Percy seemed to think for a moment. "We should tell Dumbledore or McGonagall, they'll put a stop to it."

Ron couldn't help but grimace. He couldn't imagine that telling the professors would go over well, especially because it wasn't like the twins were particularly fond of listening to the rules. If anything, they would probably only get worse.

"Please, Perce," Ron said. "I want to make things better, not worse."

"Well, something has to happen. They can't keep treating you like this, Ron, and I'm lost about what to do. I'm going to talk to them again, but it didn't work last time and I don't know what to say. They're being completely unreasonable."

"I know," Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "We need to do something different."

"Different?" Percy scrunched his nose. "All the twins care about are pranks, Ron. We can't stop them from doing those without going to the professors."

Pranks…Once again Ron couldn't help but think of the nightmare spell that Theo had offered. It wasn't right, of course, but maybe… maybe there was something else he could do. Something that would let the twins get a small taste of the horror they inflicted without crossing the line. That's how things were meant to be done, wasn't it? To fight fire with fire? No, probably not. That's what Theo had been trying to do with Malfoy and it had only made things worse. But, Ron bit the inside of his cheek, maybe the twins were different?

He considered what might happen if he let Percy tell on the twins. Of course, they wouldn't listen to the rules no matter what the professors had to say about it. But maybe, maybe Percy was right in that it would stop their pranks for sometime if not the whole year. After all, even though Ron doubted his mother would stick up for him just for his sake, he knew she would listen to what the professors told her. If McGonagall punished the twins then she would be upset with them. Maybe upset enough to stop them for some time.

"Alright," Ron nodded slowly. "You can tell one of the professors, but please Perce, make sure they don't know it was you."

A wave of relief washed over Percy's face. "This is for the best, Ron. It's what they need, not just for your sake but also for all the other students they prank. We should be focusing on our studies, not worrying about being attacked by the twins. The Gryffindors don't see it as much, but the twins are relentless in pranking the other houses."

Ron frowned but found a little bit of comfort in the fact that the twins weren't only focusing on him.

"Even Harry seemed to notice, he asked me last night if you were okay," Percy added.

"What did you tell him?"

"That I think you're getting there, but that the twins are pushing their luck with you. That I'm worried you might be crushed by their carelessness. After all, Harry was with you when you saved Hermione. He knows the truth, Ron, and the twins can't just disregard that."

Ron huffed. "They don't want to see it from my point of view."

"Right, I think Harry feels the same way. He's a good friend, Ron, you're lucky to have friends like that."

"I feel guilty," Ron admitted, "for getting him roped into the whole troll thing. It was really all my fault, and he got hurt because of me. If he hadn't come with me, he wouldn't have broken any ribs and he wouldn't have had to see… see the troll explode."

Percy frowned. "I think he feels sorry that you're going through so much with the twins."

Harry feels sorry for me? About something he can't even control? Merlin.

Percy cleared his throat. "Ron… did you— uh— did you know about Harry's family? About the Dursleys?"

Ron felt his cheeks flush. "Yes," he said quietly. He had almost forgotten, how long had it been since they spoke about it? Suddenly he felt even worse about dragging Harry into things.

"It's awful isn't it? And Harry doesn't seem to know how bad it is."

Ron nodded. "I always thought muggles were nice, but from what Harry has told me, some of them are just… evil. I was going to tell someone about what was going on but I just got distracted."

"Right," Percy nodded. "From the little bits that Harry has told me, I think evil is the right word. It's gross Ron, and I want to stop it. I want to save Harry from having to deal with those sick people. I was thinking of talking to Dumbledore, would you mind if I brought you with me? I think it would help if someone of Harry's age was there to advocate for him."

"Er— Perce, doesn't Dumbledore already know that Harry lives with muggles?"

"Of course, the headmaster probably has all of our addresses, but I mean he can't know what they're doing to him. Dumbledore is a good wizard, Ron, and he wouldn't let Harry suffer if he really knew what was going on. I mean, he's the boy-who-lived. If anyone deserves better, it's him. The Ministry should have taken care of this already, but I'm certain they don't know."

Ron nodded, Harry did deserve better. And if all it took was a conversation with the headmaster then he didn't see why he would refuse. After all, Harry had believed in him even when his own brothers hadn't. It was the least Ron could do to pay back his friendship.

"Together," Ron nodded. "We can talk to Dumbledore, we can make things better."