‘Healing wounds’
I remember discussing with other blogs about the fact that Ron’s siblings (in particular, Ginny and George) never really understood the full extent of his insecurities, and how much their teasing was affecting him. Since it’s a topic that rarely seems to get explored in fanfiction, I decided to write one myself.
Hopefully, this fic explores this topic in a way that is both realistic and canon-compliant.
Hope you all like it!
Charlie Weasley landed
on solid ground.
He had just apparated
from London (having taken an international portkey from Romania), and was now
standing on the edge of the Burrow’s wards. He looked on in fondness at the
familiar building, which always looked like it could barely contain the chaos of
the Weasleys contained inside.
He hadn’t been in the
UK for a while. After the war had ended, he had stayed around to help with the
clean-up. After the funeral (his heart closed up as he remembered), he had hung
around for a little while just to help around the Burrow. Eventually, Molly
Weasley had insisted that she was alright, and demanded that all of her
children return to work.
That had been two
months ago. It was now getting towards the end of the summer, and the familiar
August rains (particular to that part of the country) were now in effect.
Charlie pulled his
cloak tightly around him, and marched quickly towards the front door. Already,
he could hear the sounds of his various relatives, in-laws and assorted
partners.
Stopping only to shake
the rain out of his red hair, Charlie knocked on the door. A few seconds later,
a familiar voice cut through above the sound of the pouring rain.
‘Who is it?’
‘It’s Charlie, mum.
And- before you ask- my greatest wish is to have a dragon sub-species named after
me.’
The security questions
were a relic of the war. Charlie personally found them annoying, but there were
still a few death-eaters who hadn’t been rounded up. Better to be safe than
sorry, he supposed.
‘Charlie!’
The door burst open,
and Charlie found himself pulled into a hug with his mother. Charlie wrapped
his arms round her, and hugged back. Although he’d never admit it, he always
missed his mum whilst away in Romania.
Molly pulled away from
me, and examined his face.
‘You’re looking a
little peaky. That food they serve at the reserve clearly isn’t doing you any
good! Come in, I’m already ready to serve dinner!’
Charlie chuckled.
Everytime his mum saw him; she’d insist that he had lost weight. Well, he could hardly say no to home-cooked
food, could he?
Shrugging off his
travelling cloak and his heavy boots, Charlie followed his mother through into
the kitchen, which was full with his relatives.
Before Charlie could
brace himself, Ginny charged at him, and attempted to crush him in a hug.
Considering that she could barely have her hands meet each-other on his back,
it was a rather futile effort. But Charlie appreciated it nonetheless.
‘Gin- come one- let the
poor bloke breath!’
George got up from his
seat, and clapped Charlie on the back.
‘Alright, mate?’
‘Aside from Gin hanging
onto me like a sea urchin?’
‘Oh, shut it!’
Ginny slapped Charlie
playfully on the arm, and sat down next to Harry, who enveloped her hand in
his. The baby Teddy Lupin gurgled happily in Harry’s lap.
‘Everyone; let him sit
down!’ Mrs Weasley commanded, standing over by the oven as she began to spoon
portions of Shepherd’s Pie onto plates.
Suddenly feeling
immensely hungry, Charlie climbed into a seat next to Ron.
‘Alright, Charlie?’
‘Not too bad, thanks.’
Charlie grinned, noticing Ron’s hand surreptitiously rubbing Hermione’s knee
under the table. ‘You two still in wedded bliss, then?’
Hermione’s cheeks
blushed.
‘Not quite at the
“wedded” stage yet,’ Ron said, his ears reddening but smiling nonetheless.
Charlie grinned. Ron
and Hermione had only started dating after the war, but (from what Harry had
told him on his last visit) he knew that the two been in love for years. It
made Charlie so happy to see his youngest brother so content.
Molly placed a large
plate in front of Charlie. The smell made his stomach moan with anticipation.
‘Ever gonna pop the
question, then, Ron?’ Ginny giggled. ‘Considering how long it took you two to
finally get it sorted, I think we’re gonna be in for a long wait for wedding bells.’
Charlie sighed, his
mouth full of pie. Here went the teasing again.
He smiled apologetically at Ron, who was now cutting up his potatoes, a
slightly sour look on his face.
Charlie happened to
catch Harry’s eye, and noticed that the raven-haired young man looked rather
uneasy as he watched his best friend.
Ginny, who hadn’t
noticed, was now feeding spoonfuls of baby food to Teddy.
‘Never mind, Ron,’ said
George, grinning over his plate. ‘Maybe you can ask Hermione to propose
instead.’
‘Oh, shut up!’ Hermione
snapped, looking irritated. Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie could see
Harry’s face becoming uneasy again.
As he ate, Charlie
began to reflect on this. Whenever he had returned from Romania, it always
seemed like Ron was the punchline to a joke. Their other siblings (the twins
and Ginny especially) had always seemed to great delight in poking fun at the
youngest Weasley boy.
Charlie had never
understood it. Maybe it was the fact that their personalities meshed quite
well, but he had always been quite close to Ron as they were growing up,
despite the age difference. He remembered teaching Ron how to fly a broom.
Although their father had taught all of their other siblings, Charlie had been
asked by their mother to teach Ron. He remembered the shining look on Ron’s
face as he rose into the air for the first time. Charlie had said at the time
that Ron was an instinctive flyer.
Charlie was always more
relaxed than his siblings, at least according to their parents. Bill was the
cool one, Percy was the serious one, the twins were the jokesters, and Ginny
was… well, a firebrand to say the least. But Charlie and Ron were a lot
quieter; they didn’t stick out as much. Which Charlie quite liked; it was
something he had in common with Ron, aside from the Quidditch.
Granted, in his early
years, Charlie had often gotten sick of being in Bill’s shadow. But that had
faded quickly once he discovered his talent for Quidditch. People said that
Charlie was one of the greatest seekers in the history of the Gryffindor house
team. Charlie had always brushed those assertions aside; he just loved
Quidditch and that was all that mattered. He didn’t want to be compared to
those before him and didn’t feel the need to, either.
Ron, sadly, seemed to
have the opposite problem. As Charlie had watched him grow up, Ron seemed to
have developed a habit of constantly holding himself in comparison to others.
From Ron’s perspective, it couldn’t have been easy; he was the youngest son,
with a lot to live up to. But Charlie had always told him that he didn’t need
to be anyone else; he just had to be himself.
Ron had always laughed
bitterly whenever he said that, muttering ‘that’s
the problem’ before walking away. It made Charlie worry a lot.
And yet, the bizarre
thing was; not one of their other
siblings seemed to realise this. Not only did they not realise how much Ron
compared himself to them all, they actually made reference to it all the time.
Charlie had hoped that
time at Hogwarts would make things better for Ron. But it hadn’t. Sure, Harry
and Hermione were wonderful friends to Ron, but it wasn’t easy to step out of
the shadows when your best friends were the boy who lived and the brightest
witch of her age.
And still the teasing
continued.
After dinner was
finished, and the washing up had been done, Harry yawned loudly, and stood up,
still cradling Teddy Lupin in his arms.
‘Well, time to get this
little one back to his grans’.’ Harry said, rubbing his eyes with his free
hand. ‘If I’m not careful, Andromeda will have my guts.’
‘No, it’s okay, Harry;
we’ll take him.’
Ron stepped forward,
motioning to himself and Hermione as he did so.
‘Are you sure?’ Harry
asked, rocking Teddy gently in his arms. ‘You don’t need to-’
‘No, it’s alright,
Harry.’ Hermione said, as Ron carefully took the dosing baby from Harry. ‘You
could use a quiet night in.’
‘Besides,’ Ron added,
grinning at Hermione. ‘We might need to practice for if we ever have kids.’
Hermione smiled,
blushing slightly.
‘Knowing my brother,
he’d probably just forget to use protection,’ giggled Ginny.
Charlie frowned. Geez, he thought, let the poor bloke have his moment…
Hermione seemed to
agree with Charlie.
‘Oh, ha ha,’ the
bushy-haired witch responded, rolling her eyes. ‘Because the man who beat
McGonagall’s chess set at the age of twelve would forget something like that.
Anyway, let’s get going Ron; traffic is a nightmare at this time of night.’
As the two left the
room, Ron rocked Teddy in his arms, humming a lullaby under his breath.
Charlie turned to
Harry, and whispered into his ear.
‘Is Ginny normally that
rude about Ron?’
Harry nodded; his face
weary.
‘Ever since my sixth
year.’
Charlie frowned.
‘I wished she’d stop.
The poor bloke’s going to develop some serious insecurities if she keeps going
on about it.’
Harry nodded mutely, a
faraway look in his eyes. Charlie got the feeling that the bespectacled young
man was hiding something.
Turning to the other
Weasleys, Harry began to speak.
‘Everyone, I… I need to
talk to you all about something. It’s about Ron. About… about something that happened during the
war.’
Mrs Weasley looked
shocked.
‘What do you mean? He’s
not-’
‘Oh no,’ Harry said.
‘Nothing to do with dark magic. Well, not on Ron’s part, anyway.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Molly,’-Harry’s tone
was anxious, yet serious-‘I’m afraid you’ll just to trust me on this. This is
something I need to discuss just with Ron’s siblings.’
‘Oh, okay.’ Mrs Weasley
said, looking a little worried. Arthur put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Charlie walked into the
sitting room, his siblings trailing in after him; sprawling out over the floor
or on the various seats scattered around. Ginny was whispering into Harry’s
ear, but he seemed resolute. Eventually, Ginny gave up, and went to sit on the
floor beside the sofa.
‘So, what’s this about,
Harry?’ asked Bill, the dim lights reflecting off the scars on his handsome
face.
Harry let out a heavy
sigh.
‘Bill, do you remember
when Ron turned up at your place during that winter?’
‘Yeah.’ The oldest
Weasley boy scratched his head, as if pondering. ‘I mean, he said that he’d
walked out on you, but he never gave a clear reason.’
‘There was a reason.’
Harry rubbed his ears, wearily.
The Weasley siblings
leaned forward.
‘Ron walked out on us
because a piece of Voldemort’s soul was mentally torturing him.’
The effect of these
words was instantaneous. Bill paled, Percy dropped the plate he was holding,
George’s mouth fell open, and Ginny let out a terrified squeak of horror.
‘A piece of-’
Harry’s eyes met
Ginny’s.
‘Yeah.’
‘The horcrux?’
Harry nodded. Ginny put
her head in her hands. Bill climbed off the sofa and put his arm around her.
‘Harry?’ George asked,
his voice cracking slightly. ‘What did… what did it do to Ron?’
Harry sighed again. In
the shadows created by the lights, he looked like he had aged ten years.
‘The horcrux had to be
worn by one of us at all times, so we wouldn’t lose it.’ Harry continued. ‘It
was a locket, containing a piece of Voldemort’s soul. Until we figured out how
to destroy it, we had to keep it around. It… it effected Ron the worst.’
‘How do you mean… effected?’
Percy asked, his eyes glued to Harry.
‘It… took aim at Ron’s
insecurities.’ Harry said, his eyes flicking between the Weasley siblings. ‘It
kept telling him he wasn’t needed… wasn’t loved… that me and Hermione would be
fine without him around…’
‘Insecurities?’ Ginny
asked, taking her face out of her hands. ‘What do you-?’
But Harry continued.
‘We- me and Ron, that
is- we… we had a fight. It was after we’d heard about Ginny going into the
forbidden forest with Hagrid. Ron said… he said I didn’t care. That I wasn’t
worried about your family since I’d faced worst. I… I told him to leave…’
Charlie felt his
stomach turn to lead.
‘It was… awful…’ Harry
continued, his voice breaking. ‘It was the horcrux that did it… Ron was angry
and starved… he’d never recovered properly from losing all that blood…we just
started fighting… I told him to leave… he asked… he asked Hermione to go with
him…’
Bill let out a gasp, a
looking of dawning understanding on his face.
‘And she said that…
they’d both promised to stay and help… and he… he….’
‘He thought she’d
chosen you.’
It was the first time
Charlie had spoken since entering the room.
Harry nodded, his eyes
shut.
‘I suppose that’s what
did it… the possibility that she didn’t…. didn’t love him… it was the last
straw…’
Harry blinked quickly,
as if trying to hold back tears.
‘We… me and Hermione…
we barely survived without him… everything the horcrux had said…it was
completely untrue…but it was what he most feared…’
‘Harry…’ George said,
looking pale and drawn. ‘Why… why are you telling us this?’
Harry swallowed
audibly. It seemed like he was gathering his strength for something.
‘That wasn’t the worst
of it…you see… when Ron came back… he saved my life… stopped me drowning… but
then… we tried to destroy the horcrux… and it… fought back…’
‘How can a horcrux-’
‘It took on forms… of
me and Hermione… it said… that he was the least loved… “by the mother who
craved a daughter”… “always eternally overshadowed”…’
Tears began to stream
down Ginny’s face. George looked like he was going to faint.
‘Ron… he stabbed it…
destroyed it… but… the horcrux… it knew how to attack him… because those were
the things he always feared… that he wasn’t loved… and that everyone just
thought he was an idiot who couldn’t anything right…. And…well, he had good
reason to think that.’
Harry looked up, and
stared around the room at the various Weasley siblings, his eyes lingering on
George and Ginny.
‘What?’ Ginny gasped,
her lower lip wobbling. ‘Harry, what are you talking about?’
Harry rubbed his eyes,
not quite able to meet Ginny’s fierce gaze.
‘Did you seriously never notice?’
Charlie’s voice
surprised even himself at how angry and intense it sounded. The eyes of his
siblings fell upon him; all of them a mix of horror, shock and confusion.
‘You all just couldn’t resist poking fun at him,
could you?!’ Charlie yelled, his temper rapidly flaring. He was suddenly on his
feet, although he didn’t remember standing up. ‘You just had to keep at it! Goodness forbid that he ever get some support
from his own family! “Least loved”? Why am I not even remotely surprised he thought that?!’
Harry stepped in front
of Charlie, reaching out a hand to placate him.
‘Charlie, don’t! They
didn’t realise-’
‘THEY BLOODY DID!’
Charlie bellowed, his hands curling into fists. Everyone flinched; Charlie had
never been this angry before. ‘How many times did I tell you lot to knock it
off- that it would just make him feel worse- how many times? But you never
did! By the sounds of it, you all did it even
more as time went on!’
Percy and Bill both
looked deeply ashamed, but Charlie’s ire wasn’t aimed at them.
George was staring down
at his lap, his fingers digging into his knees. Tears were now streaming down
Ginny’s face.
‘Do- do none of you
actually realise how difficult it was
for Ron to find his own identity in this family?’ Charlie yelled, his eyes
sweeping over his siblings. ‘I was lucky; I was only second-born, I could make
me own way! But Ron… he never thought he’d amount to anything! And you lot
still mocked him for it!’
‘It- it wasn’t like
that!’ Ginny cried, wiping her eyes with her hand. ‘We never meant to- we
didn’t know he was bottling it all up- Charlie, how could you possibly-?’
‘“Pygmy puff tattoo”
sound familiar, Ginny?’ Charlie growled. An off-hand comment of Ron’s from
years earlier suddenly springing into his mind. ‘Comparing him to his best mate
was bad enough, but you joked about his lack of masculinity in front of the
girl he loved! How did you think he was going to take that? OF COURSE HE WAS
GOING TO INTERNALISE IT!’
‘Harry!’ Ginny
exclaimed, turning her attention to her boyfriend. ‘You were there! It wasn’t
like that- we were just mucking about…’
But she trailed off as
she saw the look on Harry’s face. The boy who lived was staring down at his
feet, his face a picture of the purest self-loathing.
‘I never… I never meant
to…’ Ginny slumped down against the side of the sofa, her head in her hands. ‘I
always thought he knew I was joking…’
‘You might have been,’
Harry said, his throat bobbing with suppressed weeping. ‘I might have been too,
but he thought we were just stating facts.’
Charlie put his face in
his hands. This was too much.
‘Did none of you- all
this time- did none of you even
notice?’
There was silence.
Charlie turned and
began to walk out of the room.
‘I think we all owe Ron
an apology, to be honest. It’s a miracle he doesn’t hate us.’
~~~~~~
‘Hi everyone; anything
happen while we were gone?’
Ron’s cheerful tones
cut through Charlie’s mood like a knife. He had been sat staring out into the
Burrow’s garden for what felt like hours. Both his parents were confused as to
what Harry had talked to the siblings about, but he had barely said a word.
Charlie leapt up from
where he was sitting, strode over to Ron, and pulled him into a tight hug.
Ron spluttered in
shock.
‘You- you okay,
Charlie?’
Charlie chuckled
darkly. He gave Ron one last pat on the back, and pulled away.
‘Yeah, mate.
Sorry….it’s been a weird evening.’
‘Oh, okay.’
‘You two got Teddy home
fine, then?’
‘Yes.’ Hermione said,
linking her arm through Ron’s absentmindedly. ‘Andromeda wouldn’t let us leave
until she’d fed us half her larder. Ron didn’t complain, though.’
‘Guilty as charged.’
Ron chuckled, squeezing Hermione’s hand. ‘But I do it so well, ‘Mione.’
Hermione grinned up at
him.
Feeling very much like
a third wheel, Charlie decided it would be best to leave the couple to their
own devices. But before he could act upon this, the door swung open.
‘Hey Ron,’ George said,
clapping Ron on the back. ‘I couldn’t help overhearing you two flirting again.’
‘I take it you find it
irritating?’ Ron asked, rolling his eyes.
‘Actually, I think it’s
really sweet.’ George said, earnestly. ‘I’m really happy for you two.’
Ron looked a little
shocked by this uncharacteristically-supportive behaviour from his brother.
Hermione raises her eyebrows in confusion.
‘Hey, I like seeing my
little brother being happy!’
‘Who are you and what
have you done with George?’
George laughed, and
clapped Ron on the back.
‘You’re dating a really
funny bloke, Hermione,’ he said, addressing the bushy-haired witch. ‘You picked
the right guy.’
‘I already know that,’
smiled Hermione, squeezing her boyfriend’s hand. Ron’s ears turned red.
‘MARRY HIM, HERMIONE!’
called Bill and Percy from through the doorway. ‘YOU’VE GOT THE CATCH OF THE
CENTURY!’
Ron was blushing so
much that his face now resembled a tomato. He clearly wasn’t used to his
brothers being supportive. Oh well, Charlie thought, at least it was an
improvement on the constant teasing.
‘Hey Ginny,’ George
called through the door. ‘Got anything to say to Ron?’
There was silence, and
then Charlie heard the sound of footsteps moving up the staircase.
Charlie sighed. Ginny
had obviously taken the revelation about Ron’s insecurities far worse than the
rest of them had.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Charlie awoke with a
start. The rain had suddenly started again, and was lashing against the window
of his old room.
Scratching his beard
wearily with one hand, Charlie climbed out of bed. Deciding to get some food
from the kitchen, he exited the room and softly closed the door behind him.
The house was silent,
except for the occasional sounds of sleep from the various bedrooms, and the
soft grunting of the ghoul in the roof.
Charlie stepped off the
bottom of the staircase, and tiptoes into the kitchen. Finding a packet of his
mother’s home-made biscuits in a cupboard, he decided to sit in the next room
and eat for a bit.
However, as he reached
the sitting room door, hushed whispers reached him.
‘Ginny, what are you on
about?’
‘I’ve already told you,
Ron; I’m apologising…’
Charlie stopped in his
tracks. His two youngest siblings were just visible through the crack in the
door. Ginny was talking animatedly with her hands, a nervous expression on her
face. Ron was stood a few feet from her, his eyes wide in confusion.
Charlie crept to the
side, so that his bulk wasn’t visible from through the door.
‘Apologising for what?’
Ron asked, baffled. Then, in an attempt to lighten the conversation, added ‘Did
you nick one of my chocolate frogs again?’
‘I’m serious, Ron! I
didn’t know that things were… were so bad for you…’
‘Ginny, you’re starting
to scare me,’ Ron said, taking a couple of steps forward. ‘What the bloody hell
are you talking about?’
Ginny rubbed her eyes
with the sleeve of her dressing gown.
‘Harry told us….about
what the locket did to you.’
Ron’s breath caught in
his throat.
‘Look… Ginny…’ Ron
said, trying to inject calm into his voice. ‘You don’t to worry about that… it
was just stuff inside my head-’
‘NO, IT ISN’T JUST THAT!’
Charlie’s eyes
worriedly flicked towards the stairs, but there were no signs that any of the
sleeping people had awoken. Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry,
Charlie quickly cast a silencing charm on the stairs, so that no sounds from
the living room would carry into the rest of the house.
‘Ron…’ Ginny sobbed,
wiping her eyes. ‘I’m… I’m so sorry… that I never realised. You… you always
thought you were the least of us, and… I don’t know… I guess I just thought you
were being an annoying older brother. I never realised you actually believed
you were the least loved…’
‘Ginny…’ Ron mumbled,
his voice dry. ‘You don’t have to…’
‘Yes, I do!’ Ginny
cried, her voice rising. ‘I’ve been taking the mick of you for years! And I
never… I never realised how badly it was affecting you… even though it should
have been so obvious…’
‘Gin…..’
‘No, Ron! You can’t
just sweep this under the carpet! Don’t try to spare my feelings! I… I’m so
sorry….’
Ron stepped towards
Ginny, and pulled her into a hug. Charlie could hear Ginny’s sobs amongst her
repeated utterances of ‘I’m so sorry’.
‘It’s…It’s okay, Gin.’
Ron said, cradling his sister in his arms. ‘Really… I’m not bothered by that
anymore…’
‘T-that still doesn’t
excuse the way I acted…’
‘You weren’t to know,
Gin. It’s okay.’
Charlie wondered when
Ron and Ginny had last had a heart-to-heart like this. It must have been years.
The two of them had been close growing up, but (like with so many siblings) the
advent of adolescence had resulted in them drifting apart. But that distance
finally seemed to have shortened.
Eventually, Ginny
pulled away, and rubbed her eyes wearily.
‘Does this mean I’m not
allowed to nick your chocolate frogs anymore?’
Ron let out a chuckle.
‘Pretty sure you
weren’t allowed to anyway…’
Ginny laughed, and gave
her brother’s arm a friendly slap.
Charlie smiled softly
to himself, and removed the silencing charm, before making his way back
upstairs.
Finally, the wounds had
begun to heal.
Thank you for reading, everyone! Hope you enjoyed it!
Headcanonsandmore 