Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own harry potter JK ROWLING does.

Chapter 7 is here, thank you all for the amazing reviews and all the support, it means a lot. Other than that enjoy chapter 7!

Monday, October 7, 1991

Ron was currently in the room of requirement doing his homework in the quiet of the night. Ron had a pretty eventful previous week, he had pretty much got down the directional spell 'Semita Recta' it had taken him a little under a month but he was still happy that he got it down. He could start working on the knockout gas spell now. The previous day Ron went to sense magic in the courtyard and was amazed to find Dumbledore there again, he hoped that it would become a weekly thing. The idea of being able to spend once a week, every week of at least his first year with the most powerful wizard alive, was a crazy and exciting thought.

Ron took one last look over his potions essay to make sure everything was correctly done and had good evidence to back up his claim. Ron set down his essay when he was pleased with its result, he took a look around the room and his eyes locked on to the dueling dummies. Ron had played with the idea of dueling them but he had no faith in his dueling abilities. How else would he learn though? Ron would have to fail to become better at something and be able to succeed at it. Ron's arsenal of spells wasn't wide and very big, he had a good amount of first-year spells but all of them would be pretty useless in a duel. Ron took a deep breath as he picked up his wand and made his way over to the dummies. With one look over the dummies, he noticed the level switch on it and he switched it to level one.

Ron stood in front of the rather tall wooden dummy and he slowly aimed his wand at the dummy. Ron wasn't sure how to activate the dummy but he was pretty sure it was voice-activated.

"Start!" Ron yelled at the dummy. He waited for something to happen but nothing did. The dummy stood still in place 10 feet away from Ron. "Um… begin!…activate!…." Ron yelled again trying to get the dummy to start. Ron stood there thinking for a second before looking straight at the dummy and simply saying "Go!".

The dummy immediately had its wand arm up, it started shooting off spell after spell at Ron. The speed of the spells wasn't very quick but for Ron, someone who has never dueled before at all the speed was pretty fast. Ron was having trouble dodging the spells he was only able to dodge two stunners by jumping out of the way by a good 5 feet before he was hit directly in the chest by a disarming charm and he was sent flying across the room to and hit his back against the wall.

Ron's back was killing him as he slowly got up from the floor. Ron looked up to see in horror that the dummy didn't care that he had been hit and it kept throwing curses at him. A curse came his way and hit him right at the edge of his right shoulder, the curse was like a blazing knife and it cut right through his skin.

"AGH!" Yelled Ron as he quickly covered up the cut on his shoulder with his hand. "STOP!" Ron yelled.

The dummy immediately stopped and its wand arm dropped to its side. Ron was breathing heavily and hard. What the hell was that?! If that was level one then what were the higher levels like? Ron had a long way to go and he knew it. He couldn't even get in one spell before he was sent flying into a wall. He was frustrated and mad. It wasn't the failure that made him mad but the pain, he didn't even know that a dummy on level one could throw out cutting curses.

Ron slowly made his way back across the room and to the dummy. He had to try again. He knew he didn't have a chance at beating the thing, it would take him a good while before he would even be able to kind of dodge, let alone beat the dummy. Ron wasn't a quitter though he had to at least try one more time.

So Ron looked the dummy straight in the eye. He had seen what it could do and he had to find a way to take advantage of that. He slowly took a breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth. He felt his lungs expand and then slowly deflate while he took his breath. He pointed his wand at the dummy, ready to try his best to hold his own against the wooden terror.

Ron locked eyes with the dummies wand and then with one word it started up. "Go!".

Just like the first time the dummies wand arm shot up and spells started shooting out of its wand. Ron saw the first two coming and slowly he dodged with small movements so he could keep his eye locked with the dummies wand.

He felt himself get more confident as he was slowly dodging the two spells, he smiled as he realized the dummy was going in a pattern and he started to dodge the next three spells. He was very confident at that point, but before he could take the pattern to his advantage the dummy switched its tactics, and with a flick of its wand a cutting curse was sent towards Ron's left cheek and it went right through the skin making Ron yell out as blood dripped down the cut. Ron pointed his wand at the dummy to yell out a spell when he was hit with a spell that knocked him to the ground making him bang his head.

"ARGH! STOP!" Ron yelled as he saw the dummy about to pelt him with more spells. The dummy stopped and put its wand arm down. Ron slowly got up while rubbing the back of his head, his eyes were burning with anger towards the dummy.

"You stupid wooden prat!" He yelled as he walked over to it, he pointed his wand at the defenseless dummy and yelled out the only spell he could think of. "Coercitio!". He didn't know why he yelled out the spell, as far as he knew it was just a spell to detain someone.

He watched as two long black straps shot out of the end of his wand and wrapped themselves around the dummy. The fact that he used a harmless spell on the dummy made him more mad and frustrated. In frustration Ron threw his arms up as he angrily sighed, this little action however did something that made Ron jump. As soon as he threw his arms up the black straps started to tighten and they tightened to the point where they broke right through the wood, snapping the dummy in half. No wonder the spell was in an old dark arts tome.

Ron stared wide-eyed at what remained of the dummy. He looked down at his wand and then back up at the dummy's remains. Ron had just found his most dangerous spell and it was one of the first he learned! Ron didn't know what he was gonna do with the remains of the dummy, as he was thinking of what to do. The dummy started to repair itself to perfect condition. Welp, that worked.

Ron was exhausted and had no energy to be amazed by the magic of the dummy. Even though the magic was amazing, he was just too exhausted. He slowly made his way over to the bed in the room and then he just fell on it, falling asleep rather quickly.

Tuesday, October 8, 1991

Ron woke up in a daze, he slowly rose from the bed to see the dried blood all over the bed. He sighed heavily as he wasn't sure what to do about the sheets, so he decided to deal with it later as he went to take a shower.

Ron entered the shower room and slowly peeled his shirt off which was sticking to his body because of the blood. He entered the shower and started to wash himself off. If Ron was going to keep practicing against the dummies he would have to learn some healing magic so he wouldn't look like a total mess during class and get the teachers suspicious about his activity.

Ron exited the shower and slowly got dressed, he placed a bandage on his left cheek and one on his right shoulder before grabbing everything he needed for classes and heading off for breakfast.

The Hogwarts halls were eerily quiet during the early hours of the morning. Ron had a good amount of time before classes started but he was still sore from dueling so he decided that he would skip morning magic practice for the day.

The only thing he heard while he walked down the halls of Hogwarts was the clack of his shoes against the stone floor, the sound was rhythmic in a way and soothed Ron in a weird way that he could explain.

The sound of his shoes walking on the floor slowly left Ron's thoughts as he started thinking of other things. Ron had been doing well in classes and he was happy with that fact, he could also tell the teachers were starting to notice. He didn't know how he felt about that, it was good that they were noticing in a way where he wouldn't get attention from other students as other students hadn't noticed his progress in classes. The only class where everyone in the class could see and hear his progress was potions. Potions was only one class though and most people probably wrote it off as being able to follow directions or favoritism for being in Slytherin and not actual talent. Jokes on them Ron thought with a laugh.

At that moment Ron had reached the Great Hall. He made his way to his normal spot at the end of the Slytherin table and he started piling his plate with a huge amount of food, he looked at all the food with a big smile and then dug in.

Ron had about an hour before he was supposed to be in classes and he didn't know what to do. He had already eaten, fed scabbers, and read some old tomes on different types of magic and he was lost on what to do. That's when something came to mind which made him wanna facepalm. He quickly got up from his seat and made his way to the Owlery. He had almost forgotten to write Ginny this week and if he did it wouldn't go over well with his baby sister. Ever since the meeting in Dumbledore's office at the beginning of the year where he promised he would send a letter every week to Ginny he had.

Ron entered the owlery and sat at one of the desks inside it. He pulled out a piece of parchment, quill with ink, and then he started to write.

Dear Ginny,

Hey, how have you been? I've been doing great here at Hogwarts, not as great as would be if I was with you though. Hogwarts has been great like usual, I'm having tons of fun with other students and classes. Quidditch is going to start at the beginning of next month so I'm excited about that. I know it's only been a month but I can't wait until you get here next year, we are gonna have so much fun together! Make sure to tell mom and dad hi for me and let them know that I miss them and love them. I wanna know everything going on with your life at the moment that you haven't told me yet!

With tons of love,

Your favorite brother Ron

Ron smiled as he sealed the letter within an envelope and signed Ginny's name on the front of it. He walked over to one of the owls and tied the letter to its leg. He looked the beautiful barn owl in its eyes.

"Take this to Ginny Weasley please," Ron said.

The owl hooted in acknowledgment before it flapped its wings and took off, soaring through the sky making its way to Ginny. Ron hoped he would get a response from Ginny soon as she was pretty much the only person he talked to at the moment and she didn't even go to Hogwarts.

Ron checked the time and saw he had 15 minutes until classes started so he made his way to potions.

Ron was sitting at the back of the classroom getting everything he needed ready to take notes when Snape walked into the classroom with his signature robe flowing behind him. Snape made his way to the front of the classroom before he turned around and faced the class. His eyes scanned the classroom and roamed over every student before they landed on Ron. Snape didn't say or show any emotion besides his eyebrow quirking in interest. Ron was a little confused before he realized that Snape had noticed the bandage that covered almost the whole of his left cheek. Ron felt like an idiot, of course, a teacher was gonna notice, he wasn't wearing a small bandage, did he think it would just blend in with his pale skin?

Snape and Ron were still looking at each other before Snape cleared his throat and turned towards the whole of the class. Snape began his lecture on how one ingredient can be a world of a difference in potions. Ron had already many chapters on this same subject but Snape was a potions master and every class he would say something that Ron not only found very interesting but also Ron had never heard before, giving him more information.

Ron watched as Snape made two potions in two separate cauldrons. He watched as Snape added the same six ingredients into each potion, then with the seventh ingredient he put a different one into each. The first one became a light yellow potion that when poured on an object would cause flowers to grow on it. The second potion on the other hand immediately had flames erupt from it when the seventh ingredient was added. When the second potion was poured on an object it would combust with flames.

Ron was writing every little thing Snape was saying as most of it was new to him which was amazing!. He had been going to classes and hardly learning anything new but when his teachers told him something he hadn't read in the textbooks it made that class a lot more interesting and fun. Snape was watching the class making sure they were paying attention, most kids were paying mild attention but when his eyes landed on Ron he inwardly smiled. Ron was sitting there intently listening, hanging on to every last word and writing it all down. Snape could tell Ron was interested in potions and that for some reason made Snape a little happy which confused him.

Snape then went on to explain the next essay the class had to write which had to be one foot long. Ron began to write down a few ideas for his essay and what he wanted to write about within the topic of specific ingredients that could drastically change a potion. The bell rang just as Snape finished talking and the class started to leave. Snape looked up at Ron.

"Weasley, stay back for a second" Snape said in his monotone voice. Ugh! Why did that stupid dummy have to use a cutting curse on him? He was pretty sure Snape wanted an explanation for the bandage, probably thinking it was Malfoy or something. Ron made his way over to Snape's desk and he saw Snape wait for the rest of the kids to leave the class before he spoke.

"What happened to your face?" Snape asked. Ron signed, he knew it was gonna be what Snape wanted to know, why was he acting surprised now? "Was it Draco?" Snape said before Ron could reply to the first question.

"Uhh….yeah it was Malfoy," Ron said a little nervously. Damn it Ron, you idiot! That wasn't believable at all. Snape didn't think it was true or believable either as he arched his eyebrow and said

"There is no use lying to me, I'll find out eventually," Snape said.

Was Ron gonna have to tell Snape about his dueling training? He didn't wanna let anyone know as he was trying to be as subtle about it as possible but if he had to tell any teacher Snape would be the best choice. He was the least likely to tell all the other teachers, maybe even the Headmaster wouldn't find out.

Ron sighed before looking Snape in the eye and telling him the truth. "Well you see, um…. I was practicing dueling".

Ron expected Snape to go off on a tangent about how it was unsafe for a first-year to be doing idiotic stuff like dueling. Instead, all Snape did was raise an eyebrow as if to say "go on".

So once again Ron sighed before going on. "Well you see last night I was dueling against a dummy on level one and didn't do that well, it hit me with two cutting curses. One on my shoulder and one on my cheek, obviously", he said quietly. Ron didn't want his mission to become a great wizard stopped this early on because he was doing 'dangerous' things.

To his surprise, though all Snape did was stand up and motion him to follow him. Ron was a little scared that Snape wasn't talking but also a little relieved that Snape didn't look angry. Snape led him to the back of his class where they both entered his private office. Snape went to his desk within his office and pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. Oh no! Was he gonna tell Ron's parents! Snape came over to Ron and once he handed Ron the piece of paper all of Ron's worries disappeared and he was only left confused.

Snape must have seen Ron's confusion. "That is a spell that will heal injuries like a broken nose and cuts like what you have on your face. It is one of the easiest healing spells and won't be too hard to learn. All you have to do is point your wand at the area you want to heal, say the incarnation while coursing your magic into your wand and done" Snape said.

Ron looked at the piece of paper in shock, all it said was "Episkey". Ron looked up at Snape with wide eyes. Snape was doing this for him, a Weasley! All his brothers said that he hates Weasleys. Was Ron being in Slytherin that much of a difference to Snape?

"Thank you very much, sir, you have no idea how much this means to me," Ron said with gratitude.

Snape shook his head "no need to thank me, I'm just making sure a student stays safe" he said. Snape seemed to be thinking about something before saying "one second I'm going to get something".

Ron watched as Snape walked to his locked-up pantry that Ron assumed held his ingredient collection. Ron waited patiently as Snape sorted through different vials before coming out of the pantry with a vile in his hand.

Snape walked over to Ron and handed him the vile. "Here this is a substitute for you until you can learn how to use the spell correctly, only use a little bit on the spot that was cut and it should heal up only in a couple of minutes," Snape said as Ron took the vial from his hand.

"Thank you so much sir, this is amazing!" Ron exclaimed in amazement.

Snape shook his head again "like I said no need to thank me, just doing my job. Also, you should put some of that on before you go to your next class so you don't get questioned by other teachers" Snape said as he returned to his desk.

Ron quickly took off the bandage on his face and applied a little of the gel. He thanked Snape once more and rushed off to his next class still in shock from what Snape had done for him.

Herbology was his least favorite class and even though he still paid attention and did good work he still felt relieved to be able to leave the class. The gel Snape gave him had worked great and after three minutes his cut was completely gone. Ron was very grateful towards Snape for doing such a great thing for him, he would be able to practice dueling a lot more now and safely.

Ron was currently walking his way up towards the castle and he was just minding his own business. Ron was too lost in his world to notice three shadows that were following behind him. He wasn't too far from the castle and he was just thinking about his next class which was transfiguration when he felt someone grab his shoulder. When Ron turned around he was immediately shoved to the ground by none other than the royal prat Malfoy and his two goons.

"Hey Weasel" Malfoy sneered at Ron as he kicked Ron in the stomach. Ron keeled over in pain. Ron had been bullied constantly by Malfoy and he was done with it, he was so done. He had tried to hit him so many times, but his goons had always saved him. Let's see those idiots save him from this.

Ron rolled out of the way of Malfoy's next kick and he pulled out his wand quickly and aimed it at Malfoy. "Stupefy!" Ron yelled and he watched in glee as Malfoy went flying back and hit the ground. Crabbe and Goyle looked over where Malfoy lay unconscious and they looked back over at Ron glaring daggers at him. They went to advance at Ron and beat him up but Ron was too quick for them. Ron cast the leg-locking curse on both of them as he bolted up towards the castle. Ron took one peek behind him as he neared the castle and let out a loud laugh when he saw Crabbe and Goyle trying to get up while knocking each other over.

Ron made his way into Transfiguration with a smile on his face, his mind kept replaying the memory of Crabbe and Goyle tripping over each other and he couldn't stop himself from laughing every time he thought about it.

Ron sat down in his normal seat at the back right corner of the class and he pulled out everything he would need for class. If they were going by the schedule then they were gonna be working on the leaf to rose petal transfiguration again. Ron was the only kid to get the transfiguration down in the first class which Ron knew was because of practice. The class was supposed to spend 3 weeks on the transfiguration to get the class to understand the difficulties of transfiguration. The class wasn't suspected to get the transfiguration right but if you did it was just an extra congratulations to come your way.

McGonagall entered the classroom and began to explain what they were gonna do in class that day. Ron wasn't surprised when she said they were going to be working on the leaf to rose petal transfiguration. He listened to McGonagall explain why they were doing the transfiguration and then she went to tell the class to get started.

While the rest of the class got to work to try and make the leaf into a rose petal when it appeared on their desk Ron just sat there rereading his notes and going over them. Ron was into his notes and was writing new outlines for them when he heard someone clear their throat. Ron looked up to see McGonagall staring at him.

McGonagall leaned down and whispered to him. "Aren't you gonna try to transfigure your leaf"?

Ron shook his head and whispered back. "No I already can, there's no use doing it again".

McGonagall seemed to be thinking about something for a second. "What if last time was just a fluke or you being lucky?" She said,

Ron stared at her in shock. "A fluke? Lucky?" He said in exasperation. "I'll show you then".

Ron picked up his wand and hovered it over the grey leaf. He focused on what he exactly wanted the leaf to change into. The exact color, size, shape, and texture. He then waved his wand over the leaf and watched as it changed into a red rose petal. When Ron would get a spell down after tons of practice that spell would become very easy and pretty much automatic for him to work.

He looked up at McGonagall to smirk at her in a way of saying 'told you so' but when he saw her smiling he realized what she had done. She just wanted to see him do the magic because she was amazed a first year could do it after only a few tries. Ron shook his head at her in mock disappointment.

"You know if you wanted to see me do the spell you could have just asked right?" Ron said jokingly.

McGonagall smiled before shaking "I was just having fun Mr. Weasley" she quietly chuckled. "This is truly amazing Ronald, I must show the rest of the class".

She went to turn around and talk to the class but Ron grabbed her arm before she could speak. "Please don't, I don't want the attention," he said pleadingly.

McGonagall looked at him in shock. She didn't understand, why wouldn't he wanna show off his accomplishments? She didn't get it but she would respect his wishes. She smiled and nodded before walking back to overlook the rest of the class.

Ron looked at the rest of the class and looked at the progress of each student. Hermione was progressing the best, she had a red circle-shaped leaf. Harry and Neville both had nothing done to them like the rest of the class but they didn't seem down about it as they had noticed that only Hermione was progressing at all. No one could see Ron as he was far enough back where his finished rose petal wasn't visible.

McGonagall went on to try her best to help each student progress at least a little bit for the rest of the class. Ron finished outlining his notes and came up with an idea for his potions essay for the rest of the class. When the bell rang Ron got up and packed his stuff together before leaving the classroom.

The Room Of Requirement stood still in silence, the only thing that could be heard was a tiny crackle of the fire from the fireplace at the center of the room. Even the fireplace though was barely audible, to be in the room at that moment felt weird but also euphoric. Almost like Ron was the only person in this special world, a world he didn't belong to but was letting him stay.

Ron stared straight at the wooden dummy which was standing still only twelve feet away from him. As the seconds went by Ron was building up to saying "go" and having the dummy start to attack him. He had the vial of healing gel Snape gave him and he was ready to go head-on with the dummy once again. The dummy was set to level one like the previous night and Ron was prepared. He knew its speed, he knew the couple patterns it had used against him and he knew the true power of the restraining spell 'Coercitio'.

He would work hard, really hard to the point where he could beat the dummy at level one with ease and no problem. He had to, so he could prove himself and show that he is not just another Weasley child. Ron shook his head slightly to get rid of his nerves as he looked at the dummy again.

Ron took another few steps to put an additional three feet between him and the dummy to have a max distance of fifteen feet between him and the dummy. Ron slowly breathed in as he prepared himself for the onslaught that was about to come his way. So with one word to say, one word to start his true dueling training, he locked his eyes with the wand of the dummy and said "Go!"

Thank you so much for reading! Please review I would greatly appreciate it!