Fred and George Weasley were never nervous, worried, or anything like that.
If ever something interrupted them, or messed up their plans, they would improvise. They would find a way. And they had the full confidence that, no matter what happened to their plans, they could continue to do that, and accomplish whatever it was they were trying to do, no matter the opposition.
But George and Fred Weasley were nervous.
Voldemort was the one and only exception to that confidence. Plus, it wasn’t even their plan.
And now, that entire plan hinged on Ron making friendly contact with Harry.
They’d been able to learn enough, from chatting with Harry and his friend Hermione (who was most vehemently not his girlfriend, even though they looked so much like a girlfriend/boyfriend pair), that they were reasonably sure Harry was following close enough to Dumbledore’s plan that it could still be salvaged. They’d told Dumbledore that in a direct letter, and the response they’d gotten back had been nothing if not relieved. Though there had been a note of alarm, regarding Harry’s position as a student instructor- apparently, the Headmaster had not heard that.
But they could not guide the boy the way Ron could, without drawing attention to their doing so. They weren’t in his year.
Even so, Ron wouldn’t be able to guide him as well as the plan had called for; they didn’t share any classes.
They were worried that he would screw up the greeting, and permanently alienate himself from Harry. If he did that, it was more than likely that Harry would depart from the planned path… and never return to it.
They weren’t allowing any of that worry to show.
“Ahh,” George said, snagging a passing Ron’s hand, and pulling him in towards them. “This is Ron, our brother.”
“Leave me alone,” Ron grumbled. “I’m looking for Harry.”
Fred didn’t miss the way Hermione’s eyes narrowed, or how Harry’s eyes closed exasperatedly. Ron was clearly already on the wrong foot. He suppressed a sigh. “Ron, meet Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.”
His statement got no response from the duo, but Ron froze completely for a second.
“Did-?” Ron began, before turning to face them. “H-Harry? Then-!” He took a deep breath, and looked towards Harry. “There you are, Harry! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
Both twins facepalmed in perfect unison.
“We’ve heard,” Hermione barked.
George’s hand fell with his jaw. Fred wasn’t much better- his jaw didn’t fall quite as far. How could they have known Ron was looking for Harry?
“Why?” Harry asked Ron.
“Why?” Ron repeated back, surprised. “Because… Because I…”
George glanced sideways, to where a blue-and-white haired Equestrian had just stepped out of the crowd, arms folded and an expression of guarded curiosity on her face.
“Because you were looking for Famous Harry Potter, and hoping he’d have gold and jewels?” Harry suggested sarcastically.
“Ah- No, I-!”
Harry gave him a level look. “Because you wanted to be my friend?”
Ron seemed to give up on words, and just nodded.
“Well get in line,” Harry instructed. “You’re the… what?” He looked at Hermione. “Four thousandth?”
Hermione checked her notebook. “Yeah. Forty eight seventy third.”
Harry nodded. “You’re the four thousand eight hundred and seventy third person to say hi with the express purpose of making friends. Get in line, and don’t bother talking to me again.” He leaned back in the seat, letting out a sigh.
Hermione leaned back as well, as Ron- looking confused- was shoved away by Fred. “You know, I kinda wonder how it took him so long to do that. I mean, he sleeps in the same room as you, doesn’t he?”
Harry nodded. “As a matter of fact, he sleeps in the bed right next to mine.” He wrinkled his nose. “I wonder if the Equestrians have an empty room somewhere?”
Fred winced. “I’m… sorry about that.”
“We,” George corrected. “We are sorry about that. He’s usually not so…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
Fred shook his head as well. “But that’s what happens when you give him an important task. After all, he’s not, ahh…”
“The brightest crayon in the box?” Hermione suggested.
“Y-yeah,” Fred said slowly. “I… I hate to admit it, but yes, that fits. Doesn’t it, Fred?”
George nodded- and didn’t miss Harry’s- or that blue-and-white-haired Equestrian’s- amused smiles. “Wish it didn’t, but it does, George.”
“So,” Hermione began, leaning forward. “What important task?”
The twins blinked in unison. “Ahh…”
Harry raised his eyebrows questioningly at them.
“Err…” They averted their gazes… and met the blue-and-white-haired Equestrian’s gaze.
“What important task?” the girl repeated- wait, no, that wasn’t just any Equestrian, it was that girl from the Leaky Cauldron- what was her name… Lyra? She folded her arms, tilting her head inquisitively. The rest of her body language informed them that she would not give up.
They looked the other way.
“Um…”
Hermione sighed. “It’s secret, isn’t it?”
“Y-Yeah,” George muttered, looking at the floor in front of him. “Though… if…”
Lyra tilted her head the other way. “How about if we find an empty classroom to talk in? Could you tell us there?”
They looked at each other, sighed, and looked back forward. “Might as well.”
Harry and Hermione snapped their books shut in perfect unison. “Right then, let’s go,” Hermione stated, as they both stood.
Lyra blinked. “Okay. Um… Classroom E-17 should be empty right now.”
“Lead the way,” Harry instructed her.
The twins nodded mutely, and followed.
They could hope that Harry would understand… and follow the path.
Or that Lyra knew the right people in the Equestrian circles to make that path unnecessary.
Nothing else they could think of would work.
“So,” Lyra began. “You’re telling us that Dumbledore has this elaborate plan to defeat this world’s local Big Bad, and in order to do so, he has to manipulate hundreds of people, including controlling every aspect of Harry’s life, so Harry can become a martyr?”
Fred nodded. They’d just explained the plan, and Dumbledore’s planned path for Harry.
“Even though he has to have known that the unpredictable nature of the new-DADA-instructor-every-year thing is going to screw with any plans he makes?”
George nodded.
“And he decided to push those plans anyways, even after enough Equestrians entered Hogwarts to outnumber Wizarding Britain?”
Fred nodded. “That did seem a bit strange to us, but…”
Lyra folded her arms. “Huh. I wonder…” She turned to Harry and Hermione, who both had hands on their foreheads- from facepalming. “Something tells me they didn’t find you right away.”
George shook his head. “No.”
“Actually,” Hermione said, the corner of her mouth bending in a grin as she lowered her hand. “You did, on the train. You just didn’t know you did, because we said no.”
“... Oh.”
“I wonder how you found them here?” Lyra asked.
“Ahh… Dumbledore took forever to look up his class schedule, and sent it to us. I think it was, what, three weeks?” Fred looked at his brother. “Four?”
George shrugged. “Thereabouts, yes.”
Lyra snorted. “Shoulda asked Professor McGonagall. We gave her six copies of each student’s schedule, all nice and sorted, from the moment we built them. But that does suggest he hasn’t been thinking very straight, doesn’t it?” She looked at Harry. “Perhaps he’s still at the point of trying to cobble together the remains of a plan that has already been blown to smithereens, and hasn’t yet realized he needs to accept that new variables have entered play?” She folded her arms. “Because if anything else, we are not going to surrender anyone. We’ve faced a couple Big Bads over in Equestria, and beat every one of them without losing anyone. Any less is unacceptable.”
Lyra looked between Harry, Hermione, Fred, and George, who were all looking at her.
She shrugged. “Well, it’s unacceptable in Equestria. I see no reason why it should be acceptable here either. In any case, dooming someone to be surrendered is unacceptable.”
By the time they left that classroom as empty as they had found it fully three hours prior, both Fred and George had stopped worrying.
Lyra knew the right people in the Equestrian circles.
So Ron's not coming in to play at all? I mean, I always thought he was a little bit useless, so I don't mind, but...kinda sad how Harry blew him off like that. Still, looking forward to another chapter!
We’ll Plan A
Fire The Orbital Frendship Cannon Of Deos Ex Makina
Well it seems that F&G are blessed with an abundance of good sense. They've preemptively made Dumbledore, Voldemort, and all related scheming somebody else's problem. Not a bad day's work really.
This also demonstrates the principle of compartmentalized information, or rather the necessity of it. However right they may be, two teenage boys should not be able to blow Dumbledore's entire plan open. Come to think about it, no they really shouldn't have. Dumbledore didn't even tell Snape all of this until the sixth year, how could these two know?
10269492
Depends on the setting. A couple universes over he's working on wizarding rocketry for his fifth year Runes OWL.
Well, that was quite the interesting turn of events. Dumbledore's plan, as he explained it to others (who knows what he didn't tell them), is out, and as one would completely expect, such an idea is abhorrent to Equestrians.
10269492
The author mentioned previously that Ron does have a role to play in the plot, just not the canon one. Spoiler tagged, because it was spoilered in the author's original post. He will, however, outside of that role, be almost entirely absent from the story.
10269515
Eh, it makes sense either way. Though I'm looking forward to seeing how they make use of him.
Now that I think about it. Only idiot of the first degree would not try to recruit the potential new allies of that sheer number. Maybe Dumbledore need a new, bigger, better glasses to notice that size of a magical army right in front of him.
Upcoming scene... Lyra in Dumbledore's office.
Lyra: You are a feeble minded old fool who should not be in ANY position of authority. Trying to manipulate children into fighting battles you couldn't finish. At least when Celestia did that sort of thing, she did it to adults.
10269586 That makes sense.
Ah so Fred and George have good sense. Awesome.
Voldemort vs. the Magic of Friendship...
I've got 20 on ol'Voldy.
10269514
Is that last one an actual fic?
10270114
Harry Is A Dragon, And That's Okay is not only an actual fic, but a very good one. In particular, if you like benevolent crazy-like-a-fox Dumbledore, general competence, and voldemort's plots being foiled incidentally by said competence, then this is the story for you. You can read the story by itself on Fanfiction.net, or the story plus author/audience commentary over on the Spacebattles forums.
Ah yes, and Harry is a dragon, if that sort of thing interests you.
10270212
only one of those things being there would have been enough for me to start reading it. thanks. (like get me interested not the link, not trying to be rude)
Ron is not dull witted, the director of the Potter films just liked Emma Watson so much he gave all Ron's best lines to Hermione. Really the Ron dislike only appeared after the movies, before the film casting he was the favorite supporting cast member. It's actually sad, the character and actor both get treated worse because Emma Watson is pretty.
Ya but, why make him so dumb? The only thing holding back Ron in the books was that hand me down wand he had. In the movies, the director either cut out all his moments were got to demonstrate that he wasn't an idiot or gave them to Hermione. Let us not forget that he's really good at chess. Worse case, he's lacking in comon sense and social graces.
10269521
I'm inclined to think that Dumbledore has his plan locked in accordance to the prophecy. Rather than let the chips fall where they may he is bound and determined to force the prophecy to come about the way he wants it to. It's likely never occurred to hime that there could be another way.
10270367
Frankly, the fact that Ron managed to do so much with a wand that was neither suited to him nor in anything that even resembled good condition is nothing short of remarkable. If not for that and that inferiority complex he acquired from growing up sixth of five uniquely gifted brothers he could have been something special right from the start.
He just had a horrible time applying himself because he couldn't imagine a scenario where he wouldn't just be a poor copy of one of his siblings.
10270271
I never watched the movie. It is not canon, to me.
My source is the books. Having read much of the series, and the first couple books a few times over, I can say- difinitively- that I don't like Ron as a character. Yes, I exaggerated the parts about him that I don't like. Yes, I did that explicitly so I would have an excuse to not have to deal with him. Yes, it's not fair.
... And yes, I'm doing it anyways. In the earlier books, he comes across as lightly manipulative- he basically curbs Harry's Gryffindor-ness, forcing Harry to be more passive than he is at the Dursleys. In the later books, he's a fair-weather friend- and abandons him when the going gets tough... otherwise known as, whenever they needed him the most, he abandoned them.
That said, I'm not surprised he was a hot favorite. He was the main driver for the story- most of the stuff in the series wouldn't have happened without him. Or other non-canon factors, apparently. He played a very important role, as a "supporting character" that was the main plot driver.
However, in order to be such a main plot driver, and to create such sweet drama, he had to be a little bit dim-witted (and less able to anticipate repercussions) when compared to you or me. This does not make him stupid, though. In RPG terms, he comes across as having a decent Intelligence score (possibly good, unless he just has a bonus that only activates for games of chess), and a not-so-great Wisdom score. Thus, it's not that he lacks the brainpower, it's that he lacks the knowledge and forethought to use it effectively. Yes, especially with this many Equestrians about, that could easily be trained out of him, given time and focused instruction- but that'll happen offscreen, because reasons. He may reappear later, with a higher WIS score. I don't expect him to play a major part even then, but I've been surprised by my own stories before. Diamond Tiara- in this story- is actually a great example of that. I expected her to be mainly a background character, and the next thing I knew, she became the next best thing to a main. This is why I generally don't use outlines for my stories- I can never stick to it, because the characters don't stick to it. They just... wouldn't do that.
Something else I noticed about Ron, particularly in the later books, is that the main reason he's in Gryffindor is because his brothers are. He's only just brave enough to be there, or close to it- he definitely has a cowardly side. That can (and likely will) be "trained" out as well, given the nature of the people he's associating with at Hogwarts. Again, I don't expect him to play any kind of major part in the future, but I've been surprised before.
Sorry if that came across as harsh in really any way. It wasn't meant to be, I just... Well. I feel very strongly about the movies (in that I feel they're utterly inadequate portrayals of the story they're supposed to be telling), and I've found so many plotholes and inconsistencies in the books that it's hard to definitively say "canon" about anything. Seriously, I've got an entire channel on my Discord server dedicated to that kind of thing.
As such... yeah. You can probably tell I'm not a fan of canon Ron, but I like the rest of the family... so whether I mean it or not, they tend to end up with the long end of the stick. Like, Fred and George seem to have an abundance of good sense, despite the appearance to the contrary. Ginny was blessed by a goddess and given a divine mission, even if literally no other character knows about it. Then Molly seems to have some pretty solid logic skills (in anticipating her various sons' probable responses to receiving Harry's schedule), but we haven't really seen enough of her, Percy, Bill, Charlie, or Arthur yet to say anything concrete about them. I don't think I can quite promise that the Weasley Family, in general, will be Harry's friends, as they are in canon, but I can say it's very likely they will be.
10270367
Before I read your comment, I went ahead and wrote this in response to someone else's comment...
10270606
But that said, you have a very good question. Why so dumb?
10270484
Yeah, I think that answers the question pretty well. That inferiority complex could well have been strong enough- especially when he doesn't get the attention from his mother that he deserves, because she's too badly stressed out from various other factors- for him to "not apply himself" bigtime. Which would result in his low Wisdom score, in spite of his high Intelligence... because Intelligence is heavily affected by genetics and the like, but Wisdom is entirely learned. You can bet the Equestrians will, once they manage to deliver the message that Dumbledore clearly isn't getting, be able to "open his eyes", so to speak... and in so doing, raise his Wisdom score, among other things.
10268835
Not really. The fact that it takes place 30 years after present isn't exactly hidden information. It's quite public, actually.
And besides, even as an editor I have no idea what those reasons are - as you most assuredly know.
10269521
TheY'Re ChiLDrEN tHOuGh!!!!
10271254 I would say in that he didn't so much betray Harry as demontrate that his true values were, that he would in a pinch choose fame and wealth over friendship.
Other than Books seven, where you have the whore crux influencing things, where else do we have Ron acting to betray hairy? Or have I misunderstood what you were saying?
And I hate how this iPhone alternates between getting the spelling right or wrong, and ended with Ron.
Oh God. That last voice so it’s just too good to fix. Voice oh. Typo. Well it knows typo, but not voice old.
10271323
... You do know how to override the Autocorrect, right?
10271336
Gigglesnort.
My one potential niggle with this is that the twins somehow know this. Considering that Dumbles shared information with practically no one in the original stories, why would they be given more than "I need you to do this, and don't ask why"?
10271724
Because they wouldn't have accepted "Do this, don't ask why". They would've done their best to do it in the way that would be most likely to make him as "What?"... and to guard against that, Dumbles had to tell them quite a bit about his plan, so they would know what they needed to avoid messing up... and thence, exactly what shenanigans they could get away with.
Ron, on the other hand, had fully accepted the "Do this, don't ask why" thing.
Uh, is this number right? Unless he was swamped by well wishers in Diagon that would leave Equestrians who would have done so to be friends with that lonely kid in the corner as opposed to doing it to be friends with The-Boy-Who-Lived.
10272907
Considering that number is greater than the total number of Gryffindor students, I rather suspect a very large portion of that number was repeat visitors that tried lots of times, despite the "don't bother talking to me again" thing, that Harry & Hermione didn't remember well enough to know not to increment the number.
10271323
Practically strong armed Harry into taking useless "easy O" classes instead of interesting classes that might have helped Harry in future problems. Egged Harry on into abandoning Hermione when she turned in the Firebolt even though she was just worried for Harry. Abandoned Harry as soon as his name came out of the Goblet. Nearly got Hermione killed by a troll. Never apologized for any of this. Not once.
I like how that quote fits just so well. Just the sheer level of disdain Doc Brown has in both his voice and on his face as he says it is just so perfect!
I admit I've only read the first three books and have seen the first three movies, but I seem to prefer the fan fics to the real deal. I guess something is wrong with me. Of course I prefer the other wizard Harry.
So, yeah, I like this.
10289027
Huh, me too.
Occasionally, the Ron's plan in the books having him displayed the quantities of the less than desirable friend material and Harry somehow tolerating that. There's nothing to worry guys. [Fred and George]
10269492
Ron was always 100% useless in canon. He provides nothing of value outside of a chess match. I cannot recall him doing anything else that couldn't have been accomplished otherwise.
10353307
You're thinking of movie Ron. The movies took all of Ron's positive traits, and gave them to Hermoine.
In the Books, Ron was the group's source of knowledge on wizarding culture and history, tended to be the guy who came up with a plan of action, and was, shockingly, the primary source of *common sense.* One of the most blatant - and strangest - changes was when Malfoy first called Hermoine a mudblood. In the movies, Malfoy says it, everyone kinda just stares in shock, then Ron tries cursing Malfoy with a broken wand and winds up puking slugs. They take Ron to Hagrid, and Hermoine *somehow* knows what Mudblood means and is the one to explain it to Harry while Rom pukes up slugs.
In the books, Ron has to shove his way past Marcus Flint, a beefy six year, and manages to get his wand past Flint to try and curse Malfoy. Spell backfires, and they take Ron to Hagrid. Hermoine has no idea what mudblood means, and is crying because while she doesn't know what it means, it was so awful that the entire Gryffindor quidditch team except for Harry got detention for immediately trying to beat the shit out of Malfoy. *Ron* tells Hagrid what Malfoy said, and explains what the word means in between vomitting up slugs, then explains what pureblood supremacy is, and why it's a bunch of bullshit. Ron in particular explains that there are almost no actual purebloods in Britain, and that most wizards are half bloods, because if they didn't marry muggles they'd die out completely.
I can't say I really like the portrayal of Ron or Dumbledore in this story. At this point making a martyr out of Harry does not serve his plans since he does not yet know about the Hrocrux in Harry's soul. Ron's portrayal is totally inaccurate even when you look at the movies where many of his lines were given to Hermione.
10407464
Well... they didn't had to marry muggles or die out.
All they needed was for the wizarding families to stop being stupid and have more than a child per couples, 4-5 would be ideal at least untill they had around 200 thousand pure bloods (98k couples moreorless) and 2-3 per couple from then on, to maintain population.
They were killing themselves by not doing the basic needed to keep their society.
11322428
Of course.
But of course, that wasn't how they looked at it.