Work Text:
Silence.
Ever since Ron could remember he had never known his house ‘The Burrow’ to be this silent.
For as long as he could recall Bill, his eldest brother went to Hogwarts every year, Charlie too. So he was always surrounded in the house by Percy, the twins- Fred and George and now he had a sister too. Ginny was only a year younger than him but everyone including his favourite brother Charlie who never played favourites fussed over her. That never failed to make him angry-no the word was jealous. But now Fred and George were off to Hogwarts, they were uncontrollable the day they received their Hogwarts letters and took great pleasure in pointing out the fact that Ickle wee Ronniekins still had two more years till he could set foot on Hogwarts.
His Mum and Dad were delighted and let the twins have their way on that day. Percy looked as if his grades would drop to T’s due to mere annoying presence of the twins. He was afraid of his reputation of being a studious student being ruined by them. But now…. he looked around the living room and strained his ears to listen to any sound. He only heard his Mum puttering about the kitchen fixing a cup of tea no doubt to keep her busy. His Dad had already gone to the Ministry after sending off his brothers. And Ginny was…. Where was she anyway?
Ron wandered through the house and peeked into the dining room and found something even better, the last of the iced yummy cupcakes sat on the otherwise empty dish. He could almost feel it beckoning to come and eat it. So that’s exactly what he did. He darted into the room and grabbed the cupcake and started up the stairs. He licked the extra icing off his fingers and thought back to his original question ‘Where was Ginny?’.
He soon got his answer when he went by the twins room and heard a sniffling followed by a quick gasp. He peeked inside and froze. Ginny was crying that too not the fake tears she spouted while she was throwing tantrums but those real ones when she hurt herself. Was she hurt? He tiptoed into the very room he had never been allowed into and set his precious cupcake on the bedside table. He hesitated and called out, “Ginny! Are you hurt? Why are you crying?”. Ginny looked up startled. She hadn’t heard him coming. There were tear tracks on her face and her eyes were red. She wiped her eyes and hiccupped while answering, “I’m not hurt. I miss them. It’s so quiet”, she said hugging her knees.
Ron couldn’t help but think that she looked so very young then, so much like the little sister who had held his hand and asked him to play with her because the others were busy doing grown up stuff. Looking at her so innocent and sad Ron decided to let go of his jealousness and sat down next to her and patted her awkwardly. Bill was always good at this sort of thing, comforting others. He was shocked when Ginny threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into his neck.
Merlin! He had no idea on what to do and just kept patting her back. After a few minutes her breathing evened out and she sat up. Ron thought of something to cheer her up but came up empty. He desperately wanted to say something to assure her that he would be there for her but couldn’t get the words out. So he did something else instead. He got up and brought his tasty cupcake broke it in two and gave it to her. “Seems like I’m stuck here with you. Might as well get used to it, huh?”. Ginny giggled took the half and laid her head on his shoulder and ate it. Ron was well on his way to become her favorite brother.
Molly Weasley was not the one to neglect one of her children in favor of another. But it was hard to keep track of all her boys and Ginny. She sometimes felt bad when they overlooked Ron or Percy to cuddle or buy something new for Ginny. Ron rarely made a fuss and easily faded into the background in contrast to Ginny who demanded attention.
That was why currently Molly was in search of Ron. She had seen the twins trick him into throwing his cupcake away saying that it had a worm inside and whatnot. Poor Ron hadn’t eaten his. She had observed it but in the morning chaos was unable to anything. Later when she had packed the remaining sandwiches and the cupcakes for the boys she had set aside one for Ron. After returning home, she had made her tea and came back only to find the treat gone. She set down her tea and went up the stairs in search of Ron and of course Ginny.
The small girl had nearly cried when the Hogwarts express took off. She found both of them just as Ron sat down next to her and Sweet Merlin! Was he patting her? When had Ron become so mature? She stayed behind and watched as Ginny hugged him and cried. She was almost about to enter the room when Ron opened and closed his mouth thinking something. He got up and grabbed the cupcake from the table. He must have found it then she thought to herself and frowned. Was he going to eat it in front of her when Ginny had obviously just recovered? She was proven wrong when he broke it in two and offered it to his sister.
The boy was never going to stop surprising herself she thought even as tears fell down her face when he said,” Seems like I’m stuck here with you. Might as well get used to it, huh?”
In that moment she knew that was never going to be a somebody, he was going to grow up into a wonderful, loyal, talented wizard who would be a proud Weasley.