Every first Sunday of summer break, the Weasley family had a big breakfast. Ron knew it was coming. He mentally prepared himself to be deadnamed and misgendered by his whole family, yet, when the day came, he couldn't get out of bed. He couldn't do it. Yes, he had only come out to one person, that being Hermione, so he was used to being deadnamed and misgendered constantly, but this was so much different. He's surrounded by 8 people who will continuously be doing it. He doesn't even have that many friends at school, so he's never bombarded like he is at home.
Ron's never been a morning person, but his family is. The whole house is up by 7:30 each morning and breakfast is usually served at 9:30. At 6:00, Ginny and the twins were up to go practice quidditch, Ron could tell because all of their rooms were on the floor above him, so it sounded like a thunderstorm when they get up. At 6:30, Percy and his parents were up. He assumed Percy would be reading the paper while his parents started on the meal. At 7:00, Bill and Fleur were up. Then, at 7:15 Charlie was up.
Ron's been up for hours. He can't sleep, he's too worried about today. Time goes by, it's 7:45, then 8:00. 8:30, 9:00, 9:15, 9:30. He hears his mum call him down. He can't get up; his legs won't work. 9:40, 9:45, 9:50. He hears his dad call his name and all he can do is cry. He can't do this, not today. He doesn't believe in a god, but he prays, he prays time will stop, he prays he doesn't have to go down there, he prays he can be normal. He wishes he could be normal. He sobs to be normal, curled in a ball, hyperventilating. He just wants to be normal. He wants to be the daughter his mother wants.
9:55, 9:57, 10:00. He hears someone walking up the stairs. He just wants to be left alone. Oh, please God, let him be left alone. There's a knock at the door.
"Rosalie?" he hears Charlie say. There's someone else with him too, though. "Hey, it's us. Are you alright?" it's Bill with him.
"Please, just go away" is all he's able to choke out between sobs.
"Rose, what's wrong?" Charlie asks.
He doesn't answer. He can't answer. Not with that name. Not when he's her to them.
"I'm coming in, okay hun?" Bill says as he opens the door and steps into the dark room slowly, with Charlie. Stupid mum won't let him get a lock to his door even though he's 15. They step into the room and slowly approach him. Charlie sits at the end of the bed, putting a hand on Ron's leg to offer support, while Bill comes and sits next to Ron.
He loves his brothers, Charlie and Bill have always been so kind to him. Always there when he needs them, but right now, when he needs his brothers the most, he can't seem to even look in their direction.
Charlie traces circles into Ron's leg affectionately while Bill leans over to make eye contact with him. "What's going on? Did something happen?" he asks. Ron doesn't know how to respond. He doesn't know how to speak . He tries, but all he's able to get out is a choked sob. "Hey, listen. We're here. You can tell us anything . We're your brothers, we'll never judge you." Charlie says. Ron knows he's being genuine, but he doesn't know how he can tell them this without them looking at him differently.
"I- I don't," he tries, but that doesn't fit. He tries again, "Something's wrong with me. I'm different. I'm a freak. I'm not like you guys, any of you. I hate myself." he says, sinking further into a fetal position.
"Hey, hey hey" Bill starts, he leans closer to reassure Ron. "You aren't a freak. Nothing's wrong with you. You're Rosalie. Perfect the way you are."
Ron sits up abruptly, shocking Charlie who pulls back. "That's the problem. I'm not. I'm not Rosalie. I'm not perfect." Ron's face is covered in tears. Bill notices that he looks like he's been crying for hours. "I'm not Rosalie" he repeats quietly.
Charlie and Bill share a glance at each other before Charlie speaks. "You're not Rosalie?" Ron puts his head on his knees and shakes his head. "Who are you then?" Bill asks.
"I don't know who I am, but..." He looks up at his brothers and takes a deep breath. "I think I'm- No. I know I'm a boy. And I'm so sorry if that's weird. I'm sorry if that makes me a freak. I hate my body, and I hate everything about me. I hope you two can still love me because I love you two both so much and-" He's interrupted when Charlie pulls him into a big hug followed by Bill hugging him too. They stay like that for a minute and all Ron can do is sob.
"Listen to me. You're perfect. You. You're not weird and we love you so much." Charlie says looking at his brother. The way he says it and how he looks at Ron when he says it makes him feel like he's telling the truth. "We all love you just as you are. I'm so sorry you're hurting so much" Bill says. Ron just sniffles and looks at him. He didn't expect this reaction. He thought they'd hate him and never want to look at him again.
"You don't think I'm weird?" Ron asks.
"No." They both say together. "Nothing about this makes you a freak or weird or wrong," Bill says and Ron just smiles at him.
"I don't think I can go down there. They're just going to keep on calling me Rose. I can't do it; it makes me want to die.” Ron says looking at his brothers. He appreciates the support from them, but he can't even imagine going down there after this.
Charlie thinks for a second and then looks at Ron. "Do you want us to do anything? You could put on some of our clothes, and we can cut your hair. Would you like that?" Bill nods his head in agreement and looks at Ron for approval.
"Mum would be furious." Is all Ron says in response.
"She won't. And even if she did, screw her. This is about you feeling like you." Bill tells him, "Our clothes might be a bit big on you, but Charlie can go down and ask one of the twins for some of their clothes and then we can take you shopping tomorrow."
"You would do that for me?" Ron chokes out. He can't believe their response to this.
"Of course. You're our brother. We'd do anything for you, dude." Charlie says and puts a hand on Ron's shoulder.
"That'd be great, guys. Thank you, so much." Ron says with a smile.
Bill ruffles his hair and smiles. "Charlie, go ask the twins for some clothes and tell Mum and everyone that we'll be down in 30 minutes and that they can go ahead and start eating. Don't tell anyone what we're doing though, that's for him to decide if and when he wants to tell them." Charlie nods and heads down the stairs. "Come on little dude let's go to the bathroom and get haircut talking."
"Thank you, Bill. This genuinely means so much" Ron says as they head out the door and into the bathroom. Bill pulls out some hair-cutting supplies that he keeps under the sink and puts a chair in the tight bathroom. Ron hears the twins and Charlie go up to their room to grab some clothes as Bill asks Ron what hair length he wants. Right after he tells him, Charlie opens the door holding up two pairs of jeans, three t-shirts, and two jackets for him to pick from.
As Ron picks his clothing and Bill cuts his hair, Charlie says "Excellent choice on the haircut and outfit. Change into it when the haircut is done and show us the fit" Ron laughed. He's not exactly sure when the last time he laughed was but it felt nice.
Mid-haircut Bill asks him an important question. "Do you have a name picked out that you would like us to call you? And do you want us to call you it in front of the family?" Charlie obviously agrees with the questions as he looks at Ron waiting for a response.
"I do. I have had the name for a few years. It's Ronald. I know that it's kind of stupid, but we all have stupid names anyways, and plus, my nickname can be Ron which I think is pretty cool" he says to his brothers.
"Ron." Bill says testing the name. "I like it." Charlie nodded his head in agreement. "Ronald Weasley. I like the sound of it. Already sounds like a name mum could yell up the stairs when you've done something stupid" Charlie says. They all laugh. It's nice to laugh with his brothers. It makes him feel normal.
He wonders what people at school will think of him like this. He knows Hermione won't care and will be happy for him. She was very supportive when he came out to her. However, he wonders what Harry will think. "Do you guys think I'll have to stay in the girl's dorms?' He asks his brothers.
Bill thinks for a moment, "I'm sure we can send a letter to Dumbledore and McGonagall telling them of your situation. Only if you want to, of course." Bill finishes cutting Ron's hair and takes one final look at it before spinning the chair over to face Charlie for his opinion. "I love it," Charlie says. Ron smiles as Bill spins him to face the mirror.
He can't believe who he sees in the mirror. "I look like a boy. A real boy." He thinks to himself. He nearly wants to cry when Charlie tosses the outfit Ron picked out in his lap.
"Now, you put this on. Me and Bill will be waiting right outside the door and you just tell us when you want to show us." He smiles and ruffles Ron's newly cut hair as he and Bill exit the bathroom and shut the door.
Ron can't believe what he sees when he puts on the clothes. He looks exactly how he wants. He stares into the mirror and starts crying when he hears a soft knock on the door. "You okay in there?" Bill asks. All he can do to respond is open the door. His brothers stare at him with amazement before they pull him into a hug. "You look amazing, Ron" Charlie says. "Do you want to go downstairs now?" he asks. Ron nods and they all head down the stairs. Ron gets scared and walks beside Bill. "Hey, it's going to be okay. Remember, we all love you." Ron nods and they continue walking down the stairs and make it to the ground floor.
Everyone is eating breakfast loudly as they enter the kitchen. Fred is teasing Ginny and won't give her the strawberry jam while Fleur reads the paper; his mum and dad are having a pretty heated conversation about the bills and George and Percy are talking about his work. As they enter the kitchen, Percy looks over and stares. Which makes George stare, who is then followed by Fred, then Ginny, then his mum and dad. Everyone is staring at him, and he can't breathe. He's so scared. He should've never done any of this. He should've never even told them- Charlie grabs his hand and leads him to the table and they sit next to each other while Bill sits at the other end of the table next to Fleur.
Everyone is still staring at him as he takes a deep breath and tries to speak but can't say anything. He looks across the table and sees Bill nod his head in encouragement. "Everyone, I'm a boy. I- I've known I was for a while, and I finally got the courage to tell someone other than one of my best friends today. I hope you guys can understand and accept me. I get it will be a hard adjustment but I'm really proud of myself today and I hope you guys can be proud of me too." It's silent as he looks around the table. Everyone is still looking at him but with less shock on their faces.
"WE GOT ANOTHER BROTHER!!!!" is all that is said from George as he and Fred erupt into cheers. They lean over the table and high-five Ron as he smiles and looks at Charlie who is also smiling.
"So do you have a name that you want to be called?" Percy asks him and everyone is quiet again, looking at him.
"Yeah, I've had it picked out for a while actually. I really like the name Ronald. Ron for short." All of a sudden, his mum gasps and looks at his dad.
"We were going to name you Ronald if you were born a boy," she says as she starts tearing up. She gets up from her seat and comes over to hug him. "I love you, my boy" Ron smiles and hugs her back as the table erupts into chaos. Ginny talks about how she's really outnumbered this time, the twins laughing at her, Percy saying he likes the name Ronald. Arthur and Fleur say they like his haircut as Bill tells them that maybe he should switch to being a hairstylist because he has true talent, his mum nearly suffocating him from a hug as Charlie laughs at it.
He's glad that no one made a big deal about it. It made everything seem normal. Well, the most normal this house full of chaos can be.