Chapter 2: Meet the Family

Ron barged into the house and shouted, “ANYBODY THERE! I’M HOME!”

Within a second, he was enveloped in a large warm hug, which with 26 years of experience, he recognized as his mother's.

"Oh Ron! I never thought you would come home so soon. Did you get the invitation?” Mrs Weasley said.

"Yes Mum. I got Ginny's letter too. I had just come from-"

"RON! Merlin, I don't believe it. You are already home. Had I known that you will come home, as soon as you heard of my wedding, I would have got married long back."

"Shut it, Ginny, and give your brother a nice hug worth three years."

As Ginny hugged Ron, he couldn't help muttering to her, “My little Ginny, getting married already! Seems like just yesterday she had first boarded the Hogwarts Express."

"Oh please don't remind me of that...and just what do you mean by 'Little Ginny'?"

"Mum! Save me!” Ron shouted in mock fright.” Ginny is going to kill me. You know Harry did warn me that you'll kill me if I called you 'Little Ginny'."

"Speaking of Harry, where IS he? I thought I told you to bring him with you."

"Well, before you barged in-" Ron winced from the punch he had just received from Ginny and continued, "I was just telling Mum that, when I got your letter and invitation, Harry and I had just returned from a mission. Don't worry Mum, we're fine. The mission was a success. I'll tell you about it later. Back to my story, we were going through the last minute reports of it and so, Harry convinced Shacklebolt into granting us a vacation-"

"You deserve it," Mrs. Weasley and Ginny said at once.

"Thanks. But really the point here is, Harry said he wanted to spend some part of the vacation with his girlfriend Hillary, and will be there in time for the wedding. Don't worry, Ginny, he promised me. I told him that he could bring Hillary with him to the wedding. So he sends his love to all of you."

"Oh good! At least he will be there for the wedding." Mrs. Weasley, who had been listening to the brother-sister conversation and gazing proudly at Ron, suddenly snapped out of her slight daze and said, “Okay Ron, you can tell the rest of your story to everybody else at once at dinner. I am sure you don't want to repeat it for each and everybody. Now go and freshen up a bit before we eat.”

Ron took his entire luggage up to his room and went to have a shower. As he was drying his hair, he could hear all the chaotic chatter that had started around the dining table. Not wanting to miss out on the conversation (nor his Mum’s great cooking, that he could smell from the bathroom), he finished drying off, and headed downstairs to meet everybody. The moment he made his appearance, all the chaos in the kitchen died down and he could feel everybody’s shocked eyes focused on him; you could have heard a pin drop.

“What?! Do I have Moody’s eyes on my face?”

Everybody gave a loud laugh at this and rushed to meet him.

“Ron! So nice to see you after so many years. How are you? I heard the last mission was particularly grueling.”

“I’m fine, Dad. How are you? You look tired.”

“Oh that’s old age. It is creeping in slowly. Yes, just old age, nothing else. I’m fine.”

“Hey Ronniekins”-Ron winced at this name (Will they ever stop calling me that?)- “How are you doing?”

“Doing fine. How is your joke shop going on? Anything new? Are Angelina and Alicia here too?”

“Yes Ron. We’re right here.” Ron whirled around to greet his two very pregnant sisters-in-law with a hug. He muttered to each of them, “Congratulations.”

“What? No hugs for us? Not fair, Ronnie. We are, after all, your brothers.”

“Shut up, you two. I think it is high time you two started behaving yourselves. You are going to be fathers in a few months.”

“No use telling them, Ron,” Angelina said. “Believe me.”

“Angelina’s right,” said Alicia. “I think we are going to be very tired when this baby comes, because we’ll each be looking after two babies instead of one.”

Just then, Ron felt a small push near his legs and almost lost his balance. Before he could see what had pushed him, he heard Ginny shout, “Phil! Prissy! Get back here right now! You kids finish your dinner first and then you can run around as much as you like.”

Looking behind him, he saw two small children hiding behind his legs, mostly trying to escape Ginny’s wrath. They were giving him a look that plainly said, ‘Please don’t tell her we’re here.’ But, before he could do anything, Ginny caught them saying, “Aha! Hiding behind Uncle Ron, I see! Come out, you two. You are busted!”

Ron was already gaping at the kids when he heard Ginny refer to himself as ‘Uncle Ron’. Who are these kids?

As if reading his mind, Ginny said to the children, “Kids! Meet your youngest, Uncle Ron.” Turning to Ron she said, “And Ron, these are Percy and Penny’s kids, Philip and Priscilla. You know, they may be intelligent like their dad, but in pranks, they are competition to even Fred and George.”

Still looking at Phil and Prissy with adoration replacing shock, Ron asked, “Where are Percy and Penny?”

Mrs. Weasley replied first, “Oh, they had some important work in the Ministry, so they couldn’t make it home for dinner. They’ll be back tomorrow in time for breakfast. You can meet them then. Now, everybody sit down and we can start our dinner.”

Dinner went on as peacefully as one could hope with Fred and George and their new ‘trainees’, Phil and Prissy. Ron had to agree with Ginny that they were smart like their father, but as far as looks were concerned, they were more like Penny. Although, Ron did not remember her face clearly, he could tell that nothing in their appearances came from Percy, except for their Weasley red hair.

After dinner, Ron retired to his old room, with all the latest family news flashing in his head. Lying on his back, he stared at the ceiling and the walls, the same walls that were still covered with the Chudley Cannons posters that he had pinned up when he was younger. He was glad that nobody had disturbed his room in his absence. Sure, he had grown up and was a responsible adult and all, but he had not lost that childlike obsession he had towards the Quidditch team which, he knew, had never one won a single match and had a very slim chance of winning any in the future, unless there was miracle.

He heard a knock at his door.

“Come in.”

It was Mrs. Weasley.

“Mum?”

“Oh good, Ron, I was afraid you were asleep. I was wondering if I could talk to you.”

“Sure Mum! You don’t have to ask my permission for that. You are my mum after all. Come on in,” Ron said patting the place next to his pillow.

As Mrs. Weasley sat down at the place indicated, Ron gently laid his head on her lap. Mrs. Weasley was surprised at this gesture. None of her sons, well maybe Bill, had ever expressed their feelings this way.

Out of habit, she started stroking his hair and said, “Ron, How is your Auror job going on? I hope you and Harry are not doing any foolish acts of going in search of danger.”

Ron took her free hand in his and looked up at her, saying, “Oh c'mon Mum, you know we are not eleven anymore. And besides that is what we are trained for- no, not to do foolish dangerous mischief- to face danger cleverly, when time comes. And believe me, Mum, whatever we did in school has earned us, Harry and I, a reputation as invincible. Do you know Mum that Harry and I are one of the best in our batch of Aurors?”

“I know, Ron, and I am proud of you and Harry. But don’t let that ‘invincible’ thing get in your head and make you overconfident. Promise me, Ron that both of you will be careful.”

Ron gave her a very affectionate look and said, “Oh alright Mum, I promise, on behalf of Harry too, that we will be careful.”

Mrs.Weasley watched as Ron played with the fingers of her hand he had in his, and moved to the next thought in her mind as she said, “Ron, I have been watching you from ever since you arrived. It seems like you have changed a lot. No temper, no hot-headedness. How did that happen?”

“Just by returning home, I guess.”

Ron looked up and noticed a confused look on his mother’s face. So he elaborated, “You see, Mum, when you are off on some mission in some godforsaken place, from where you have no idea if you’ll get out in one piece…or see your loved ones, you just tend to value every moment you get to spend with your family. So, here I am, appreciating all the love I get from this family, and showing how much love I have for it, how much ever we may usually disagree with each other.”

Mrs. Weasley was stunned at the sense of maturity her youngest son had developed over these years. She could see, in his eyes, the maturity of a 26-year-old Auror who has faced dangers since the tender age of eleven, but they had not lost the twinkle that they carried ever since he was born. The twinkle, which always made him look young, irrespective of his age.

“Speaking of families, Ron, don’t you think it is time that you had one?” Mrs.Weasley asked, smiling.

“No Mum, I don’t think I want to go into that yet.”

“Why ever not?”

“Mum, I am at the peak of my career and I don’t know what the future has in store for me. Mum, you know the dangers Harry and I have to face in our job. What if something happened to me? What will happen to my wife? She’d just be left alone. That'd be very unfair to her.”

“I know Ron, and I agree about the risks in your job, but what about all you said about family, don’t you want someone to come back home to? Someone for whom you will fight or do anything, just so that you can see her one more time? Someone who will remind you that you can’t be careless with your life anymore as you share it with another person now? Someone whose memory will give you strength to fight the evils?”

“Sure Mum, but I don’t want to start thinking about it now.”

“Then I suggest you should start now. Ron dear, you are the only one who isn’t settled yet. Soon Ginny will get married and only you will be left. I know these aren’t the dark times they once were, when we couldn’t be sure if we could find ourselves or our loved ones alive, even a minute from now. Thanks to you, Harry and Hermione, those times are gone. But we are growing old and I don’t know what-"

Mrs. Weasley stopped talking when she heard soft snoring. She looked down, amused and quite touched at the same moment, to see that Ron had already fallen asleep with one of her hands tightly grasped in both his hands, and a small smile playing on his lips.

At that moment, to her, he did not look like one of the best Ministry Aurors, Ronald Weasley, but like her little baby, her youngest son, Ronnie.

She gently shifted his head from her lap and placed it softly on his pillow. Moving aside, she carefully pried her hand from his grip. After tucking him, and stopping to gaze lovingly back at him for a moment, she left the room, closing the door with a soft click.
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A/N: I am sorry if this chapter has been boring. It took me lot of effort to even start writing this chapter. I just wanted to get you and Ron updated with whatever has happened in his family while he was doing his Auror duties. The main story will start with the next chapter. Also, I know you guys must be wondering, if this is a R/Hr story, then where in the world is Hermione? She too will come in the next chapter(s). I want to keep her personal life as secret as possible as that is a part of the plot climax.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that that Philip and Priscilla are 3 years old.

I want to thank my betas Kate Mari and CRJ Lupin for helping me when I need them.