Not your usual Veela mate [Chapters 39-69]

New Resolve [51]

Bill Weasley Flooed into his twin brothers' apartment, surprised as always at the tasteful decor of the place. Somewhere along the way, the two clowns of the family had grown up. Oh, they would always be a pair of pranksters, and Bill would never fully trust them around food or drink; nevertheless, they had grown up.
"

Greetings and salutations," he called cheerfully as he brushed the soot off his clothes. Clean again, Bill made his way to where the others were sitting. "So, what are we going to do about that prat of a brother of ours?" he asked, sitting down on the couch next to Charlie, accepting the mug of cocoa one of the twins was handing him. Giving the mug a suspicious look, he took a sip nevertheless.
Fred barked a laugh, but there was little humour in it. "Who would have thought that Ron would turn out to be an even bigger idiot than Percy? Dear Merlin, but what is wrong with those two? It can't be that they are blinded by ambition, because we all have that, and in spades, and we aren't stuck-up prats like those two are."
"Bad genes, they are bound to show up in even the best of families," George said with a fatalistic air, shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't particularly concerned; he had the best of his family gathered around him. The only one missing was Ginny, and it was due to her warning that the brothers had gathered here tonight.
"I understand that you have already made your displeasure with our youngest brother known?" Charlie asked, sipping on his hot cocoa. He would have preferred something stronger, but knew from experience that hard liquor and discussing prats did not mix well. At least not for him.
"Yeah, you should have seen it!" Fred said, his eyes lightening up with delight. "It was priceless. Wait, I'll get the pictures," he added, bounding out of his armchair.
"Pictures?" Charlie asked, glancing wearily after his energetic brother. "What exactly did you two hellions do?"
George grinned, bouncing slightly in his chair. "We sent Ronnikins a letter filled with Bubotuber pus. We knew he'd be too thick to check it out for unfriendly fire. Apparently, we got him but good!"
Charlie groaned, shaking his head.
"We had charmed the letter to explode in his face, taking care to make sure it wouldn't harm his eyes of course. He might be on our bad side, but we'd never do anything to damage him permanently. He is family, after all. Unfortunately," Fred sighed, handing his older brother a small stack of photos.
Unprepared for the sight, Charlie choked on his cocoa, forcing Bill to pound his back to unclog his airway. "Merlin and his beard, what did you two do?" Charlie asked while, beside him, Bill was busting a rib laughing.
"We told you, we-"
Charlie waved the explanation aside. "You already told me that, but that doesn't explain these," he said, waving the photo of a bald Ron around.
"We charmed the pus to go everywhere, but especially into his hair. The treatment for Bubotuber pus doesn't react well with human hair, so for Pomfrey to be able to treat the wounds on his scalp, she had to vanish his hair first. Personally, I think that look suits him," George said gleefully.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Bill said, sending the twins an admiring look.
"Just don't hurt those who are family," Fred said, waving the look aside. "So what do we do about Ron? He is the biggest threat since he is in school with Harry and has the easiest access to him."
"I'm not so sure he is the biggest threat, although he is certainly the closest," Bill said musingly.
Charlie nodded. "I agree with Bill; you haven't been around much lately, but Mum is sprouting off nonsense to anyone who wants to hear it. She has actually grown worse since the Prophet revealed that Percy was involved with that Dementors' attack on Harry."
"And as usual, Percy can do no wrong in her eyes," Bill said, making a face. "You know, it is no wonder Percy turned out that way he did, what with Mum always holding him up like some sort of paragon or something. She was forever telling you younger kids to follow his example, how could he not become a stuck-up prig?"
The other three nodded their heads in agreement, and silence fell over the room as they contemplated their brother.
"All we can hope for is that that whole fiasco taught Percy a valuable lesson," Bill said eventually, having brought refills for everyone.
Charlie nodded his head in agreement. "He is lucky to still have a job, even though he was demoted to a mere secretary. At least he is still working for Fudge," Charlie said, making a face. Why his brother would want to stick up for that man was more than the dragon tamer could ever understand.
"Yeah, but I'm not so sure Percy agrees with you," George said with a snicker.
"He could have ended up like that bitch, Umbridge," Bill said evenly, though he was fighting hard to hide his amusement. Due to his employment with Gringotts, the curse breaker had managed to work out a way to be present at the closed trial of Dolores Umbridge. Until he knew just what Umbridge had been up to, the Minister of Magic would not risk even more bad publicity by having the press present.
The proceedings had been swift, short, and brutal. Fudge, in his desperation to stay on the people's good side, had dosed his Senior Undersecretary with the strongest dose of Veritaserum possible, and turned her over to an Inquisitor.
The things the toady woman had admitted to, all in the name of the Ministry, and Fudge, had rocked them all. Apparently, Dolores had ruthlessly suppressed any and all opposition to her beloved Cornelius. She had not been above fabricating truths, sending several poor bastards to Azkaban, and having multiple others fired from their positions. It left them all reeling, and the legal department had their work cut out for them, freeing the innocent and finding suitable compensations for those who'd been wronged. Fudge would not come out smelling like roses this time, that was for sure.
Fudge knew that as well, and was only too happy to accept the verdict that had sent Umbridge to Azkaban for life.
Percy was also grilled, but it soon became clear that he was nothing but a bootlicker, eager to please whomever he was working for. He had known what he did was wrong, but managed to explain away his actions with the age old excuse that he was only following orders. Fudge was all for firing him, but since he didn't need any more bad publicity, settled for demoting the youth to a secretary. After all, Percy was good at his job, and hopefully this experience would knock some of the hot air out of him.
Bill had shared his memories of the trial with his family, and most of them agreed that Percy had gotten what he deserved. Only Molly had disagreed, ranting and raving about the unfairness of the Ministry prosecuting her sweet baby boy, when she wasn't sobbing into her handkerchief.
Arthur had done his best to soothe her, but when she started in on how all this was Harry's fault, the Weasley patriarch finally put his foot down. The normally gentle and even-tempered man had flown into a passion, proving once and for all that he was both a Weasley and a redhead, dressing his wife down and tearing strips from her hide.
Molly had stared at him, open-mouthed, before running from the room, crying true tears of distress. For once, her husband did not follow to calm her, but took the rest of his family out to celebrate the downfall of Dolores Umbridge. Things had been strained in the Weasley home since then, and most of the brothers did their best to avoid spending time at the Burrow. They did what they could to support their father, often going out and having lunch with him, as much as time and duties allowed.
"Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about Mum," George said with a sad, tired sigh, bringing Bill back to the present. "We have tried to talk to her, repeatedly, but she just refuses to listen."
Fred nodded his head in agreement. Both he and George had all tried to make their mother see reason, but she was determined to paint Harry blacker than black. What truly irritated him, though, was that Molly refused to listen to them, treating them like toddlers. And if they dared to persist, she would turn on them, and tear into them for the hundred time how they had left school and never finished their N.E.W.T.s. As if they needed them! They were doing fine, thank you very much, who needed some stupid grade anyhow?
Bill and Charlie nodded their heads in agreement. They too had tried to reason with Molly, having as much luck as the twins. The woman just refused to listen.
"I suppose all we can do is making sure that Harry knows that we don't share Mum's feelings. And to help him deal with Ronnikins," Fred said, voicing what they were all thinking.
The four brothers finished their drinks in silence, and then they sat down to plot. They were confident that, between the four of them, they would be able to devise a way to make sure that Ron left Harry alone.