AN: Tiny bit of foul language at the end. Thanks for all to all who've read/reviewed/favorited etc. the story so far. Much more to come!

After a few weeks of training, the boys' control over their magic grew in leaps and bounds. They were devoting almost any free time they had to studying their maneuvers and incantations. The only time they really saw other students were during meals and in the common areas. Like the halls, where the students blur into one mass of consciousness and you become one of the many. Harry enjoyed walking through the halls during their occupied times. Well he normally did, unless Draco Malfoy decided to make his presence known.

Harry and Ron were walking towards the Great Hall for tea when Harry was bumped into quite harshly. Of course he turned to see the white haired teen and his ever present goons. However there was a new addition to his group of flunkies. His girlfriend, Millicent Bulstrode, a girl just as arrogant and pompous as Malfoy.

"Watch it, Malfoy," Ron called out.

"Or what, Weasley? Gonna call out your big brothers to take me down?"

"Knock it off, Malfoy. You can try to act all big and bad to impress your girlfriend all you want, but it won't be against us. Let's go, Ron." Harry bluntly stated. Ron hesitantly followed.

"Well, Potter," he called after them. "There are two things you need to learn. One, I don't need to try to impress anyone, it just comes naturally. Second, you really shouldn't turn away when we're having a little chat." He pulled out his wand and fired a spell that no one had seen before. It slashed the back of Harry's right leg and he fell over.

"Harry!" Ron called out going over to his boyfriend. "You all right?"

"I- I'm fine. I'm pretty sure I can still walk. Let's get out of here."

"Get out of here? Harry, we can't let him get away with that!"

"Please, I don't want to start anything serious. Let's just let the prat think he's won."

"No."

"Ron..."

"NO, Harry. This ends now." Harry looked into Ron's eyes and the blue was slowly fading and becoming a deep black. The hand on Harry's shoulder was starting to burn through his robes.

"Ron, stop. He's not worth it." Harry called out as Ron stomped back over to where Malfoy stood. Suddenly, Hermione ran up, seeing Harry on the ground.

"Harry, are you all right? What's happened?"

"Nothing compared to what's going to," he said not looking away from Ron's retreating figure.

"Ah, back to defend your girlfriend's honor, Weasley?" Draco smirked. Ron didn't say a word...he just stared. He raised his arms and Draco fired the spell again, slashing Ron's arm, but it didn't slow him down. In an instant, Draco's robe sleeve, began to ignite. He began to panic and and waved his arm around. In his panic, he lost his grip on his wand. From Ron's raised arms, flames shot out and formed a ring encircling him and Malfoy. Malfoy looked around, he was terrified. Where was this fire coming from? Ron slowly began to walk towards Draco and with each step he took his shadow began to move seemingly of it's own accord. From the shadows, copies of Ron manifested with the same hateful glare the original was giving off, and all three were stalking towards a now petrified Slytherin.

"We've put up with your little insults for years now. Done our best to ignore your little comments," The Ron on the right began. "But the second you raise your wand against us...any of us, you've stepped out of bounds. The Ron on the left continued. "I will warn you once and only once, you white haired wormy little punk." The original Ron growled as he grabbed Draco by the scruff of his shirt. Then the three began to speak simultaneously.

"If you ever in your entire life breathe so much as a negative comment towards anyone I care about again," Draco's robes were now beginning to ignite from Ron's fists. "There won't be anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that will spare you from the rage I will unleash upon you and your group of idiots."

Ron's eyes now completely black were now blazing. "Am. I. Understood?" he ground out.

Draco couldn't speak he was too afraid to move, to even breathe. He'd no idea that Weasley had such powers. He raised his pale and shaky hands to try to struggle for his freedom. He began to kick and yell. Suddenly the copies of Ron formed from the shadows changed into large, black translucent dragons that wrapped themselves around him, keeping him from fighting further.

"I'll ask once more," Ron practically whispered. "Am. I. UNDERSTOOD?"

Draco couldn't take anymore. He screamed out an emphatic "YES!" and was thrown to the ground. From there, he looked up at the young man before him. This wasn't the Weasley he'd remembered, but it's also the Weasley he'll never forget.

Ron turned away and extinguished the flames. Once he had he saw a massive crowd of people with buckets of water and wands in their hands. 'They must have tried to put the fire out...wonder how I'm going to explain this.' He searched through the crowd and saw very a disappointed glare coming from Harry. He stalked over to where he and Hermione were. "Why haven't you gone to the hospital wing yet?" he yelled agitated at Harry's earlier behaviour"

"Because had you taken a second to listen to me before you stalked off to prove whatever to Malfoy, you'd have heard me say that it was just a minor wound that I could easily heal."

"What I was proving was that he is nothing but a prat and I thought I was standing up for you, seeing as how you seemed to refuse to do so."

"No Ron, what I refused to do was escalate things to an unnecessary point, but I guess I can always count on you for that!"

They were both yelling, uncaring to the fact that almost the entire school was around them listening to every word.

"Unnecessary? Harry, he attacked you! You were hurt! Did you think I was just going to stand by and let him get away with that? Or do you just enjoy being a pushover?"

"Ron..." Hermione tried interjecting, seeing this was going to escalate into something bad.

"A pushover?! Just because I don't walk around trying to prove how strong I am, that doesn't make me a pushover Ronald Weasley."

"Oh no? Then what happened? He could have done much more damage and you know it, but you want to just walk away and let him think that that's ok. That he can just do it whenever he feels like it. Maybe that's why you kept getting your arse beat by those Muggles. You make me wonder if you enjoy it!"

Harry shrank back at that. No matter how badly they argued, Ron never said anything so cruel. Hermione looked as though she was going to slap Ron with all her might, when she was stopped by a tearful Harry.

"You know what, Ron? Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just a weakling who just loves to be beaten. I had all of those nights of bleeding and pain coming to me, did I? All those nights wishing with everything I had that I did not exist, those were just for kicks, eh?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Ron yelled.

"Fuck you, Ron." Harry spat and stormed of leaving mounds of ice with each step he took.

Ron let out a yell and punched the nearest wall, sending a blaze up it. "What are you all looking at?!" he yelled to the crowd. They hurriedly began to disperse as he stood there panting from rage. After a few minutes, only he and Hermione were left.

"Well?" Ron asked "Let's hear it then...how I'm wrong and need to go apologize."

"Ron, I'm not your mother, and at this moment, I'm not even sure I'm your friend. I can't tell you what to do and I can't tell you what you already know. I just hope that all this was worth it." she said, shaking her head and walking away.