Chapter Text
Ron is 7, Bill is 17, Charlie is 15, Percy is 11, Twins are 9, and Ginny is 6
Ron knew he was being annoying to his older brother but until Charlie himself pushed him away he wasn’t going anywhere. It had only been a few days since Bill had done something uncharacteristically mean to him, and the whole family was still reeling from the ramifications from it. Ron himself didn’t dare admit it out loud but he was very afraid of Bill right now. He couldn’t help but think that his older brother wanted to kill him now especially since nearly everyone in the family was mad at him.
Charlie was furious with his older brother, it was at this point that every time Bill so much as looked in Ron’s direction, Charlie got the urge to punch him all over again. He didn’t even want to mention the clinginess that Ron exuded all over his person, or his mum and dad.
Even now as he was sitting at the desk in his room doing summer homework, Ron was laying down quietly on his bed across from him. His little brother was suddenly so silent and he hated it, he missed hearing Ron’s voice so much. He grimaced as he pulled out his potions homework, the sooner he got done with this the better. He glanced up briefly as there was a short knock on his door before his mum appeared in the doorway.
“Is Ronnie okay in here? What’s he doing?” Molly asked fretted so because she was sure something was wrong.
“He’s just relaxing on my bed mum, though I wish he would at least talk,”, Charlie told his mom softly.
Molly nodded sadly as she understood that which is why she turned to her youngest son. “The twins want to play with you Ronnie,” she stated carefully.
Ron scowled at his mother’s words because didn’t she know that the twins didn’t actually want to play with him They wanted to play tricks on him and he didn’t want that at all. “I only want to play with Ginny,” Ron told her softly.
“I know love, but Ginny is having a play date with Luna today,” Molly reminded him.
Ron nodded, he had known that hence why he was in his brothers’ room, laying down quietly. He was afraid that if he had chosen to play in his own room that either the twins or Bill for that matter might ambush him. And that was a terrifying thought.
“I’ll stay with Charlie, I’m not disturbing him I promise,” Ron told her seriously.
“I know you aren’t love,” Molly said quietly, before she turned to leave out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Ron was a little bit happy that his mum had left finally but he felt kind of bad for feeling that way. Mummy had really been on his side and he felt a bit bad that he was thinking those thoughts about her. He really wanted to ask Charlie what they were going to do after but he didn’t want to get kicked out of his room for disturbing his studying. He found himself dozing off a bit as he had been sleeping awfully for the last few days and was even having nightmares.
Charlie turned around and smiled fondly as he looked at his baby brother asleep on his bed. He hoped this little nap would be restful for Ron as Charlie knew he needed it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ron woke up with a silent gasp, his hands quickly patting down his pants covered legs as he realized that his dream had been wrong. He glanced over to see Charlie still at the desk writing something on his parchment. Ron sat up started scooting off of his brothers big bed. As his feet jumped down to the floor, he wasn’t surprised to be see his brother turning to look at him.
“Good nap?” Charlie asked curiously.
“Uh huh, I gotta go wee-wee,” Ron told him seriously as he padded over towards the door.
Charlie nodded and put his quill down and stretched his arms, he could use a break from writing. “Kay, you want me to come with?” He asked, always going to give his little brother a choice.
Ron shook his head no, because the sooner Charlie finished the more time he had with him to play. “No, you just focus on your work,”
“Yes sir,” Charlie said playfully a giant grin adorning his face.
Satisfied that his big brother would stay, Ron opened the door and walked out into the hall way. He smoothly walked passed the bathroom in the hallway in favor of heading straight to his parents room. He wasn’t surprised to see no one was there as his Daddy was at work and mummy was probably downstairs getting lunch ready for them. He was thrilled to find that the toilet was empty, that rarely ever happened to him! He grabbed the step stool by the sink and pushed it in front of the toilet.
Unbeknownst to Ron, the twins had been waiting patiently for their little brother to get out of Charlie’s room and they had found their chance. For some insane reason Ron really thought that they hated him and that couldn’t be furthest from the truth. If he wasn’t going to come to them willingly they just had to be sneaky about it and they had found their chance.
They stealthily made their way past all three of their big brother’s room as they hurried into their parents room. As luck would have it as they crossed the threshold into the toilet they came to a stop as they saw Ron was in the middle of pulling his pants down. They wait until he had started going before they spoke as they didn’t want him trying to run away.
“Fancy seeing you here Ronnie,” Fred said lightly.
Ron flinched at his older brother’s voice, turning his head to find the twins there in the bathroom with him to his dismay. He swallowed thickly before he bent down to pull his pants up, still peeing and all. He didn’t care, he just knew he couldn’t stay in such a vulnerable position in front of them.
George winced and moved forward to stop his little brother. “Stop that, you’re gonna get wee everywhere,” he said seriously.
Ron nearly fell off the stool, making a face even as he defiantly pulled up his pants, not showing the disgust he felt when he felt his pants get warm. “Stay back!”
“You didn’t have to do that little bro, we weren’t going to hurt you,” Fred said upset now because they had channeled Bill and had made Ron have an accident.
“If either you come any closer I’m going to scream, and Charlie will kill you,” Ron said bravely.
“Don’t scream please,” George said quietly because they all knew Charlie would most definitely kill them. “We just want to talk to you,” he said kindly.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Ron said, upset too at this point because he had another accident and it was all the twins fault!
“We’ll we have loads to say to you, first off let me go ahead and apologize to you. I’m sorry you got the impression that we hated you, we don’t by the way. We love you very much,” Fred said sincerely.
“If that’s true, then why do you play so many cruel tricks on me?” Ron asked sadly.
“They aren’t cruel, we play pranks and those are funny Ron,” George insisted.
“They’re not funny to me. Charlie says that when you make jokes at other people’s expense, and they don’t laugh with you when you prank them, that makes you a bully. You’re hurting them all in the name of fun,” Ron said bravely.
Fred’s face fell because his mum had said something similar a few months back but hearing it out of the mouth of his little brother who was still convinced they hated him was something else. He turned to look at George to see his twin with a grief stricken expression on his face and Fred wondered if his own face mirrored his twins.
“Turning my teddy bear into a spider, trying to get me killed by making me do an unbreakable vow, pretending to be nice to me and giving me a sweet, only for it to make my tummy hurt and get me sick. Or telling mummy that I didn’t want my treat and then locking me in the closet so you could eat it, or smashing my fingers in the door cause I wanted to play with you and then laughing at me when I cried to mummy about it. You’re always mean to me,” Ron said sadly, blinking back tears because he didn’t want them to see him cry again.
George was staring mouth agape at his little brother, because he hadn’t thought they had been that cruel to Ron until the list was laid bare. Merlin, no wonder Ron thought they hated him, he wondered if they subconsciously did hate him on a level because hearing a few examples of what they had done to him had been nuts.
“I’m so sorry Ronnie, we have no excuse we did all of that in the name of pranking you but you’re right those are cruel pranks and you didn’t deserve that,” Fred said seriously, he actually felt sick. Since when had they turned into Bullies, and why hadn’t anyone else called them out on it?
Ron look at his brothers skeptically because did they really think he would fall for this again, they like to pretend to apologize and then go back on their word a few days later, like nothing had changed.
“Come on Ronnie, what can we do to make you believe us?” George asked quietly. He felt like he needed to go apologize to Ginny and mum as well. They hadn’t thought they had been so mean but the truth was enlightening and harsh.
“I don’t want to be pranked anymore,” Ron said bravely.
“Done,” Fred said quickly, honestly they needed to focus on Bill and Percy anyway.
“How long do you not want to be pranked for?” George asked for clarification.
“For forever,” Ron said honestly.
Fred bit his lip as he turned to look at his twin, choosing that moment to silently communicate the way magical twins could. “What if you decide that you want to be pranked sometime down the line?” He asked.
“If I ever get to that point, I will let you know but I don’t think I ever will,” Ron told them softly.
George nodded silently as finally they now understood just why Ron was convinced that they hated them. Hell if the roles were reversed he would’ve been convinced that his older brothers hated him. He bit his lip, because he felt like he wanted to cry now. He glanced over at Fred to find yet again his twin’s emotion had mirrored his own.
“Sorry we made you have an accident and I’m really sorry we’ve been terrible big brothers. We promise to be better in the future,” Fred said sadly before he turned and hurried out of the bathroom. He could hear George coming behind him and he was grateful that despite this horrible situation he was in, at least him and his twin were in this together.
Ron slumped down once the twins had left, looking down at his mess and sighing sadly. He carefully stepped down before grabbing one of the towels hanging on the rack to wipe the puddle off the floor before he tossed it in the clothes hamper. Once he was sure his parents bathroom was clean he quietly made his way out of it, their bedroom and was in the process of going to his room to change clothes when one of his older brothers popped out of their room and into the hallway.
“Ron? I was just coming to check on you, did you fall in?” Charlie asked, relieved to see his little brother. He had been worried that something had happened to him or rather someone had been bothering him.
Ron comically froze with his back to Charlie because he didn’t want to get the twins in trouble now, not after they apologized and promised to stop the pranks. He still thought the world of them and actually believed that they would stop now. With that being said, Charlie had a way of weaseling the truth out of him, even when he didn’t want to talk. “No, I’m okay, go back to your studying so we can play,” he said quickly.
Charlie frowned, because for one he was talking to the back of his brothers head and two he knew a lie and a redirection when he heard one. “Turn around Ron,” he said quietly.
Ron’s eyes were wide and he shook his head. “I don’t want to turn around,” he mumbled.
Charlie’s frown deepened because he didn’t have a good feeling about this at all, and he needed Ron to look at him. “Please don’t make me repeat myself,” he said warningly.
Ron sighed softly before he obediently turned around, his wet pants on full display.
“What happened?” Charlie asked flatly. Next time he would be going with Ron, it was clear that while he was respecting Ron’s boundaries another brother hadn’t.
“I got ambushed in mum’s toilet by the twins,” Ron mumbled out, he had never been able to lie to Charlie.
Charlie nodded, looks like he needed to have a chat with the twins today. “Let’s go get you changed,”
“Don’t kill them Charlie, they apologized to me and they said they wouldn’t prank me ever again,” Ron told him seriously.
Charlie made a face because he unlike Ron knew that you took whatever the twins told you lightly because chances are they were lying to you. But the older brother in him didn’t say that, because he also knew that the twins were trying very hard to get back into Ron’s good graces and might just keep their promise.
“I wont kill them, but they will be hearing from me because making you wet yourself falls right up there with what Bill did you the other day, and I don’t like that,” Charlie said lightly.
Ron frowned at the mention of Bill before shuddering. “I don’t like Bill,” he whispered softly.
“I know, neither do I Ronnie,” Charlie said with a sigh. He wasn’t sure if he was ever going to be able to forgive the betrayal that Bill had done after he had treated their baby brother awful the other day.
Ron sighed and held Charlie’s hand and allowed his older brother to lead him into his room to get him cleaned up.
~*~*~*~**~
It was a few days later when Ron finally had an unfortunate encounter with his big brother Bill. Ron had decided to head downstairs to see what was taking Charlie so long, as his older brother had said he was going to the bathroom but it had been ages and Ron just wanted to go check the family clock to make sure that Charlie hadn’t left without saying goodbye.
He was so concerned about Charlie, which is why the fear he would have normally felt at the thought of venturing through his home without Charlie was gone for the moment. At least it was, until Bill himself came out of his bedroom just before Ron could make it to the stairs. The little boy froze, his heart beating widely in his chest because he didn’t know what to do.
Bill was surprised to see Ron all by himself, and without Charlie or his mum or one of their other siblings with him. It had been 4 days since The Incident and all Bill had been trying to do was apologize to his little brother, but no one had let him get even remotely close to Ron.
It also didn’t help that Ron had woken up in the middle of the night for the last 4 days screaming from night terrors that Bill deduced, was from what he had done. It made sense because Ron hadn’t been doing that before his mess up. This was killing him, and he only wanted to make things right, he hated the fact that his youngest brother was now afraid of him.
Not to mention the silent treatment he was receiving from damn near everyone in the house. Even Ginny wasn’t speaking to him at this moment in time. He cleared his throat, wondering where Charlie was before turning to focus on his little brother in front of him.
“Hey Ronnie,” Bill said gently, not wanting to frighten the little boy any more then he already was.
“Hi,” Ron whispered, his eyes darting around the hallway again to find they were completely alone.
“Ronnie can we talk?” Bill asked him kindly.
Ron swallowed thickly and shook his head. “I don’t want to talk to you, I just want to go find Charlie,” he whispered in return.
Bill blew out a breath because that definitely stung but he truly had only himself to blame. And he knew that the only way to get his family the way that it had been before, was to apologize to Ron, and have the little boy accept it.
“Okay, you don’t have to talk but I most certainly do. Ron I am so incredibly sorry for what I did to you last week. I was so out of line and this isn’t an excuse but I was mad at mum and dad and I took it out on you. You didn’t deserve anything I said or did to you, I feel terrible and and I want to make this right. Do you think you might be able to forgive me?” He asked sincerely.
Ron was terrified as he stared back at his older brother, who was waiting there to hear if Ron had accepted his apology or not. The apology was the furthest thing from Ron’s mind as it raced through different scenarios of how he was going to get out of this alive.
He knew that he had essentially turned his entire family against the Weasley heir, and as such Bill would be upset and wanting revenge. Ron was worried that his older brother was going to kill him right here and now and no one would be able to save him. However, in that moment he saw his siblings walking out of their room and Ron realized his chance.
“Twins!” He called out fearfully, heart feeling like it was stuck in his throat.
Fred and George both turned at once when they heard Ron’s voice. Fred hurrying to their younger brother and pulling him into his arms, while George turned to look at Bill who was standing there silently.
“What are you doing Bill?” George asked warily, unsure of what was going on.
“I’m trying to apologize to my younger brother, what else would I be doing?” Bill muttered, getting annoyed now. Everyone always thought the worse of him now, and he hated it.
“That’s the thing Bill, I don’t know anymore. You aren’t the big brother I knew, I don’t know who you are at this point in time. All I know is that you did something despicable to our younger brother last week, and as a result of that he’s not been his normal self.
And now we’ve come up here to find you here and Ron attached to Freddie. Which is saying something because in the list of who Ron thinks are the siblings who hate him the most, its you, Perce and then Fred and I. And he’s clinging to Fred because the number one brother on that list is blocking his way in the hallway. So tell me again what you thought you were doing?” George said dryly.
Bill rolled his eyes hard because this was ridiculous! “I’m not going to hurt my little brother,” he said firmly.
“It’s a little too late for that,” Fred spat out from where Ron had his face pressed into his chest.
“Yeah and on that note,” George said before he turned and leaned over the railing so his voice would carry more. “Charlie!” He screamed, he knew when they needed reinforcements.
“What?” Charlie called back, he was in the kitchen making a snack for himself and his 3 younger siblings.
“Bill cornered Ron in the hallway, and now Ron’s upset!” George yelled back down.
Charlie froze from where he had been plating a slice of cake. “I beg your pardon ?” He called back, voice sharp because he knew he heard wrong.
“I said, Ron’s upset because Bill did something to him!” George repeated.
Bill’s eyes widened at that because George was instigating and this wasn’t to go to end well for him. Despite the fact that he was older, Charlie currently had an internship at a prestigious dragon sanctuary, and was constantly working out to stay fit and strong.
He didn’t feel like getting punched in the stomach again he had only just recovered from 4 days ago. And he knew Charlie would punch first and ask later, because if there was one Weasley member that Charlie didn’t play about, that was Ron and Bill had hurt him. So Charlie had no mercy for anything that had to do with Bill.
“No I didn’t! I was just trying to apologize to him,” he called back. This was getting ridiculous, he was the eldest brother and had no respect.
Charlie groaned loudly after Bill’s voice because he knew then there was some truth to what George was saying now wasn’t there? He set the knife down and hurried out of the kitchen. “Coming!” He called, running to the stairs and taking them two at a time. He made it to the second floor to find Bill standing across from the twins, with Ron being hugged tightly by Fred.
“Ronnie you okay?” Charlie asked, choosing to ignore Bill for the moment in favor of checking on his baby brother.
Ron pulled away from Fred in favor of running to Charlie who grabbed him and swooped him up and hugged him tightly. “Bill wouldn’t let me pass,” he said tearfully.
“Did he say why not? He didn’t do anything to you did he?” Charlie asked lightly, his blue eyes flashing to his older brother’s who was shaking his head in the negative.
“No, he didn’t hurt me or anything. He just wanted to talk but I didn’t want to talk to him, so then he apologized and he was waiting for me to accept it, but I don’t accept it. I don’t want his apology, I don’t want anything to do with him. I don’t like him, remember Charlie?” Ron said crying at this point.
“I know you don’t kid, and you don’t have to accept any apology until you’re ready too,” Charlie said soothingly. “You don’t have to cry, I will never allow him to hurt you again, I promise you that Ronnie,” Charlie told him sincerely.
“Okay,” Ron said sadly as he hugged his brother tightly.
Bill felt sick watching this, because that should have been both him and Charlie comforting Ron against a bully, but instead his brothers were protecting their youngest brother against him, and that was very painful to reckon with.
Charlie took a breath, before he kissed the top of his little brother’s head. “Okay Freddie, you and George take Ron downstairs and get yourselves and him a piece of cake. Ive already cut 3 slices and put them on plates, I’ll be down in a bit,” he told the 9 year old twins as he set Ron on his feet.
“Okay, come on Ron, Charlie is gonna come later,” Fred said as he grabbed Ron’s hand and him and George led him down the stairs and to the kitchen where they saw the slices of cake on the plates like Charlie had said.
“I’ll grab the milk, you guys sit,” George said easily.
Ron eagerly took a seat, all thoughts of Bill forgotten as Fred placed a slice of chocolate cake in front of him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Back upstairs, Charlie was staring at Bill silently, wondering if his eldest brother was going to say anything, he didn’t have to wait long.
“Why would you say that to him?” Bill asked trying hard and probably failing to keep the devastation out of his tone.
“What did I say?” Charlie said with a shrug.
“That he doesn’t need to accept my apology,” Bill spat out, hurt and angry because Charlie was sabotaging his chance to get right with the family again.
“Because I don’t want him feeling pressured like he must forgive you when he doesn’t. I don’t know how much you heard but Ron is terrified of you right now, and he doesn’t like you in the slightest. I don’t like you right now either, and we are not alone in our feelings towards you. If it takes him weeks or even months to forgive you, you’re just going to have suck it up and be patient. I’m not rushing him, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave him the hell alone,” Charlie said dangerously.
“Charlie, I made a mistake, I’m trying to make this right,” Bill told him, frustrated at this point because Charlie wasn’t making this easy at all.
“A mistake?” Charlie said with a dark chuckle. “No a mistake was you not letting him into the bathroom like we always do, a mistake was you not letting him into the bathroom the second time. You however decided you were going to air all of your grievances that you had with mum and dad over their choice of children and your lack of privacy, on our 7 year old brother.
Bill felt like he was going to be sick right there on the floor, this was awful, he didn’t want to hear this, but Charlie didn’t care.
“You made Ron feel like he had no place in this family, that his feelings did not matter. And that no matter what he said or did, mum would never take his side, because you are the heir and he is one of the spares. That was not a mistake, that was immeasurable cruelty, and because you have that in you, I don’t care if Ron ever forgives you. Also you need to thank Merlin and Morgana that we’re brothers, because if we weren’t, I would have killed you,” Charlie said darkly.
“Charlie,” Bill whispered horrified, heart in his throat because he hadn’t known this was how his brother felt about him now.
“Yeah, that cruelty you have inside of you, meet the rage that I have inside of myself. The only difference between the two of us, is I would never unleash it on someone who didn’t deserve it. This is your first and last warning to stay the fuck away from Ron,” Charlie said tightly.
“I got it Charlie,” Bill said softly, feeling like he wanted to cry and be sick all at the same time. He didn’t bother pointing out the possibility that Ron might approach him first because what would be the point? He also knew in this moment that his relationship between himself and Charlie would never be the same again, and the grief he felt about that damn near broke him on the spot. He turned without another word and headed back into his bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.
Charlie took a deep breath once Bill had left, and then another and then one more until he had calmed down. He blew out a shaky breath and turned to head downstairs, unbeknownst to him that Bill had had the same thought he had, their brotherly bond was severed and he didn’t know how they would come back from that.