2017
“Roosiiiee,” Hugo shouted, running towards his sister on Platform 9 ¾. She had left to start her first year at Hogwarts in September and Hugo had been looking forward to seeing his sister again since she set foot on the Hogwarts Express. The two siblings had a close relationship and this was the first time they had ever been separated for this long.
Rose caught Hugo in her arms, “Hey Hugs, did you miss me?”
“Yessss,” he exclaimed, “you need to tell me everything!”
“We’ll see, buddy.”
Rose went to greet her parents and some of her aunts and uncles before they went to their car that was parked outside of Kings Cross. During the entire car ride home, Hugo was giddy and kept asking questions about Hogwarts. At first, Rose was happy to answer all of his questions, but soon enough she seemed to have enough and only gave one-word answers.
When the family got home, Rose went straight to her room to unpack. Hugo followed her immediately, barely being able to breathe because of all the things he wanted to know. Rose rolled her eyes and barely paid him any attention while trying to put her books on her desk, where her brother was sitting.
“Hugo, can you please move?”
“You need to tell me everything, Rosie! How was Quidditch? Are classes fun? Did you get into detention yet? Wait of course you didn’t. How are all the professors?”
“SHUT UP!” Rose exploded which made Hugo jump, “I don’t wanna answer all your questions. It’s annoying. Please leave,” Rose sighed loudly and pointed to her door.
“But -”
“No! Please leave me alone.”
Hugo jumped down from the desk and dragged himself outside of his sister's room, a sad look on his face. Rose almost felt bad, but she had had enough of all the questions. She just got home and wanted to unpack her things in peace. It was bad enough that her parents were gonna ask her a bunch of questions later. She didn’t need her little brother being up in her business as well. Besides, he was gonna go to Hogwarts soon anyways. He could wait, she had to do the same.
Rose walked back to her trunk and continued to unpack, before deciding to write a letter to one of the friends she had made already, a Gryffindor girl named Olivia. She was so relieved when the sorting hat had put her in Gryffindor, as her family was super divided on where she would be placed. Her parents and Uncle Harry were the only ones who never doubted Rose would belong in their former house.
The girl sat down at her desk and pulled out a piece of parchment and began to write when she heard a knock at her door.
She groaned, “No Hugo, leave me alone.”
Rose heard the quiet squeak of her door opening and turned around rapidly, “I said n- Oh. Hi dad.”
Ron chuckled and closed the door behind him, “Hi Rosie. How are you settling in?”
“Alright, once Hugo finally left me alone,” she sighed.
“That’s actually why I’m here. Can I sit?”
Rose nodded and lowered the quill she was still holding. Ron sat down on the edge of her bed and began “Look, Rose, your brother is just excited to have you back.”
“More annoying if you ask me,” she muttered.
Ron chuckled, “Sometimes that goes hand in hand I suppose.”
“I just don’t wanna answer all of his questions,” Rose complained, “It’s so annoying. He wants to know everything.”
“But isn’t it nice that he asks you?”
“Not really.”
“Come sit with me,” he motioned for her to sit down next to it and watched as Rose stood up and walked over to her.
“You know I have older siblings and a younger one, which means I can understand both sides here.”
“See, so you understand why I am annoyed,” Rose interrupted.
“Hey, I am not finished yet.”
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s alright. So what I was trying to say, I do understand where you are coming from, but I don’t understand why you had to yell at him.”
“I don’t know, he was just not shutting up.”
“Did you try to tell him that calmly?”
“No.”
“Did he yell at you?”
“No.”
“So you understand why it was not necessary for you to yell.”
Rose said nothing and watched as her father raised one eyebrow at her.
“Rose?”
“I mean I could lie?”
Ron chuckled, “You’re not supposed to. Okay let me tell you something,” he took a deep breath and tucked one of his feet under him turning to Rose.
“I have a hard time talking about this,” Ron started, “so I need you to bare with me, okay?”
Rose nodded.
“You know I used to have another brother, right?”
“Yes, the one Freddie is named after. He died in the Battle.”
“Yes, exactly. Now, Fred and I weren’t always on good terms. He was a bit of a jokester, even more than George, and played pranks on me all the time. I found him super annoying when I was younger. And still, when the twins went to Hogwarts, I wanted to know everything. When they came home for the first time I couldn’t shut up with all the questions I had and while George tried to answer at least a little seriously, Fred only told me about the stuff he could joke about.”
“That’s not nice.”
“No it wasn’t, but it made me laugh.”
“So, you’re telling me to joke about it so Hugo will shut up and laugh?”
“Not exactly,” Ron chuckled, “I’m saying I understand him.”
“Yeah, but do you understand me as well?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“When I came back the summer after my first year because I spent Christmas at Hogwarts, Ginny was basically my shadow. Wanted to know everything.”
“What did you do?”
“Ignored her for most of it.”
“Hypocrite.”
“Hey, don’t judge me until you know the end of the story.”
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“Anyhow, I ignored Ginny as much as I could and brushed her off until a certain someone came and talked to me. You want to take a guess?”
“Grandma?”
“Nope.”
“Grandpa?”
“Also nope. It was Fred.”
“Really?” Rose now also shifted and turned more towards her father, tucking both her legs under her, “What did he say?”
“He told me I was being a prat and that I couldn’t keep ignoring Ginny.”
“I mean he had a point, but also kinda hypocritical of him to say.”
“I said the same thing, but he then told me that the only reason he made a joke out of my questions was to get me excited to start Hogwarts myself. He thought that by telling me all the absurd stuff, I’m gonna go in wanting to learn about everything on my own. And he was right.”
“Really?”
“Yes. My time at Hogwarts was definitely out of the ordinary, but the bits that were normal I was trying to cherish as much as possible because of your uncle telling me all about it.”
“So what should I do?”
“Whatever you think you would have liked to hear if you were the younger one. But you definitely shouldn’t ignore or yell at him. You’ll regret it.”
“Okay,” Rose nodded, “Thanks, dad.”
“No big deal, bug.” He gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head before standing up and leaving her room. When he opened the door he was met with Hugo standing there.
“Hi dad, I wanted to talk to Rose.”
“Go ahead, mate,” Ron opened the door for him and he snuck under his arm into his sister's room. As he closed the door behind him he could hear Rose asking her brother if he wanted to hear a funny story about Nearly Headless Nick.