Ron and Millie's entrance into the great hall caused quite a stir, since her return Cho had prattled on incessantly about how good the Institute was but the proof was now standing right in front of them. If two days there could make that change in Millicent Bulstrode then everyone in the hall was going to try like mad to get an Italian transfer as soon as possible.
It had been a tearful goodbye this morning between 'aunt and niece' with Harry eventually saying they could come for a Hogsmead weekend along with Cho, the smile he received from a crying Joan was worth the world to her dad. She promised her aunt Millicent they would go shopping again though no mention was made of Ron joining them; he had a long way to go before Joan would forgive him for making her aunt cry.
Percy actually hugged them both and congratulated Millie on her nomination for an Order of Merlin, the two looked stunned until they noticed what everyone was reading. The old Ron would have exploded at the picture of him being lugged on Millie's shoulder and her nomination, this Ron reached up and kissed her in front of everyone before telling his brother that he was so proud of her.
Millicent just held him tight, this was the wizard she loved publicly acknowledging he returned those feelings and Ron was so going to be rewarded as soon as she could get him out of here.
....
Charlie Weasley was a powerful wizard, both physically and magically. Charlie Weasley was also boiling over with anger at the wizard he had physically pinned to the wall in front of him, the only thing stopping the red head from punching the said wizard's head off was the sight of George lying on a cot with his ear cursed off.
"Just what in the name of Merlin were you two trying to achieve?"
Fred's feet weren't touching the ground as his elder brother looked ready to kill him, "we were trying to lighten the mood, everyone around here is so serious."
Charlie didn't think he could get any angrier but had just been proven wrong, "serious? Of course we're frigging serious! This is a dragon reserve; a mistake here doesn't earn you a detention or lose house points. A mistake here will cost you a limb or your life, explain to me how twenty dragon handlers puking their guts up is lightning the mood?"
George tried to help his twin, "we thought it was funny."
"You're lying there missing an ear and if I hadn't pulled you out the way that curse would have killed you. Is that funny to you?"
"How were we to know they would react like that?"
Charlie took a deep breath and tried to explain, "this is the real world, you slip someone a potion in there food that makes them violently ill, they're going to treat it as an attack and respond accordingly. They won't laugh, they won't think it's funny, they'll just retaliate and start firing curses at you."
Charlie lowered Fred so his feet at least touched the ground, "we were supposed to take three dragons, nursing mothers mind you, to Hogwarts in a few weeks. We just got an owl that they need six nursing mothers for this weekend; you couldn't have picked a worse time to try a prank. I was going to put your names down to go but I don't think the other handlers will want you anywhere near them, when you perform dangerous work you need to know that the people beside you are trustworthy and reliable. With the best will in the world I can't put Fred or George Weasley into either of those categories."
"What if we apologised?"
"Promised to behave?"
"We really want to go back."
"I'll ask," said a despairing Charlie "all you had to do was make the tea and serve the food, I didn't think even you two could screw that up."
He left the twins with some serious thinking to do, both were more committed than ever to being their own bosses but it would appear that the only way that would happen was if the kept their heads down and worked. Every time they felt like pulling a prank they would just have to think of their shop, Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and think about the gold they needed to make their dream a reality.