Author Announcement – Hey hey! How are you all doing? Well, here is the next chapter. Be warned, I fear that this chapter could get confusing. Be warned! And make sure you pay careful attention to what is in italics, and what is not. I will talk more at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters used in the story (damn), but the plotline is entirely my own creation.

Enjoy!

Inner Strength

Chapter 2 - Only Ron

Dumbledore peered down at the boy in front of him. He let out a deep sigh.

"You are a very special child."

"I am?" Ron questioned, sounding shocked.

"You are," Dumbledore agreed. "You have a... gift."

"Gift? You call this a gift?"

"I do. Mr Weasley, you must understand. This is a blessing..."

"No, it's not! It's a bloody pain in the..."

"LISTEN to me, Ron," Dumbledore cut in, "We need to... investigate this further, study this a little deeper..."

"I am NOT a test subject!" Ron screamed. He jumped to his feat and glared at the man opposite him. "I am, however, leaving."

Before Dumbledore could say another word, Ron jumped to his feat.

The room around him materialized, as it had so often done before. Now he was sitting at the edge of the lake, quietly leaning against a tree. He needed to think.

This... this wasn't right. What Dumbledore was saying couldn't be true. His words were... simply ludicrous! It was not only that, it was... there was no other way to describe it, but the world he was in. The colours were very vivid, anything he wanted or needed just materialised in front of him, his every whim was accounted to... and the people, the people were different to. Nobody ever treat him like this before.

He looked up, and suddenly noticed a girl and a boy, standing quite near him. The boy was holding the girl forcefully in his arms, and she was sobbing desperately. Whatever was happening, she was clearly being hurt badly.

Ron gazed at the girls face. It immediately became into sharp focus.

It was Hermione.

Ron couldn't believe it. Hermione was in agony, she needed help. Lucky Ron was there to help her, really. Without even pausing to think, without even looking at Hermione's 'attacker', he delved deep into his pocket and clenched his fist tightly around his wand.

"Harry! Look, Harry!"

Hermione pointed at Ron's right hand, which was twitching again.

"My god!" Harry cried, forcefully grabbing her hand and dragging her closer to the bed where Ron lay.

As Ron lifted his wand, Hermione's attacker forcefully tugged on her wrist and flung her towards a bed, which had materialized out of nowhere.

Ron couldn't take it anymore. He took aim then cast a curse straight towards the dark haired man.

Harry began doing a dance on the spot.

"Oh yes, Harry, isn't this wonderful! I could dance to, but..."

"No Hermione!" Harry panted, "Something's wrong!"

"What?" she asked.

"I am not dancing," he said as his legs jerked him around the room,"It's a... curse!"

Ron fired another spell at the attacker. He had to make the attacker feel the pain that Hermione was going through.

Harry was thrown backwards across the room and slammed into the wall. Hermione screamed as he slowly slid down the plaster and sank onto the floor.

"Harry! My god, Harry! Are you alright?"

Harry kept his eyes closed, and continue to lie where he was.

"Hermione, do I look alright?"

"Well no, of course not but... oh Harry!"

Hermione, who had still not stopped crying, sank to her knees beside him.

Ron slowly walked towards the figure that was now huddled on the floor. He had not finished with the evil sod yet.

Hermione ran sobbing towards the figure on the floor and flung her arms around him. This seemed rather odd behaviour to Ron, as he would certainly not hug an attacker if he had one. Fearing the worse, he slowly peered into the face of the man on the floor.

It was Harry. His eyes were shut, and was obviously in pain (Ron had done a very good job of him). Ron continued to stare at Harry.

He had just attacked Harry. Ronald Weasley had just attacked his best friend, hero of the world, Harry Potter. He could just not contemplate it.

Harry was obviously dead, Ron could tell. And this world was so... strange. Now he had just become a murder, life seemed pointless. He did not deserve to live. Ron sat cross legged on the floor and closed his eyes. He looked deep inside his very sole.

"HARRY!" Hermione shrieked.

"What now?" said Harry, as he gingerly began to test his limbs.

"It's Ron! He's not breathing!"

For a moment, there was a terrible silence.

"Ron!" Hermione was screaming, "Oh, Ron!"

"Hermione, don't panic," said Harry in a voice that was several octaves deeper than his usual one, "I'll send for a healer."

Harry swished his wand through the air, and it a stag erupted from it. It galloped out of the door and round the corner to the nearest healer. Maybe the healers would be coming anyway after hearing all the racket he was making. Harry swished his wand through the air, and a stag erupted from it. It galloped out of the door and round the corner to the nearest healer. Maybe the healers would be coming anyway after hearing all the racket they were making.

"It's alright mate, it's alright," he said, more to Ron than Hermione. They both stood dumbfounded, no idea what to do, what to say. Ron couldn't be... he wouldn't... would he?

A healer came bursting through the white door and roughly pushed Harry and Hermione out of the way, screaming out to the other healers for back-up. Soon there were at least 10 fully trained healers in the room and Harry and Hermione were being forced further and further away from Ron.

"Perhaps it would be better if you and your little chum would leave, dearie," one said to Hermione.

"No!" answered Harry, who feared Hermione was unable to speak, "We're staying."

Harry grabbed Hermione's wrist once again and they forced there way nearer the bed. A healer had his wand placed gently on Ron's chest, pointing directly at his heart and was murmuring powerful enchantments. Sparks were flying, healers were shouting, Hermione was crying... it was pandemonium.

After about thirty seconds (although it felt like several decades to Harry and Hermione), the healer who was clearly in charge moved the wand from Ron's chest and let it gently fall against his side.

"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do for him. Only Mr Weasley can save himself now."

Oooh! A cliff hanger. I could of continued, but then this chapter would have been longer than all my others. If you would rather I write longer chapters in the future, say.

AN/ I have decided to personally thank everyone who as reviewed me.

Wally4ever – Thanks very much for being the first person to review me! It means a lot to me. Thanks for saying my stories good! I hope I updated soon enough for you…

Madroswellfan – hits head Grrr! I never knew you could change chapters like that! Ah well, thanks for telling me and thanks for commenting :-)

RandomSmirf13 – Hey. I'm glad you like my story :-) Ok, giving me the pointer about more description. As much as I love people telling me I'm fantastic (which is true, lol) it is always useful to have constructive criticism. So thanks a lot.

Evilheart89 – Yay! Another person who loved my story! Hearing that makes me so happy. I hope I updated soon enough for you. And you have just read Ron's reaction for yourself!

Stuf – Hey :-) Thanks for giving me my longest review! Thanks for saying my stories good (wow, so many people, ok 5, my story!) I guess you were kind of right about Ron's reaction, but not entirely. It would have been good your way, but I had already planned out what was going to happen. I hope my way is still as good as you hoped! I can't promise you any Harry/Ginny just yet, because I'm not totally sure what's going to happen in the old romance department. I can promise you that Harry will get together with someone though. I would hate to see him all alone.

And to the three people who reviewed the story before I deleted it...

Eirauqcam Suruaseht – You were first EVER reviewer, so that really means a lot to me. Yeah, I hope in the real 7th book Harry does finish old Voldy of with a bit of Hermione and Ron's help.

MadRoswellFan – Hey! It is you again! Lol. Thanks again for reviewing. I agree, Ron is great. But sorry to disappoint you, but this is certainly not a Harry/Hermione story. Ron is the central character in this, and for a while I was toying around with him going out with many different people. I considered Ron/Hermione, Ron/Harry, Ron/Snape, Ron/Luna, Ron/OC, Ron/Lavender, Ron/Draco... but I think I know who it's going to be now.

But you never know, it might change.

And finally, I must make a special to two absolutely amazing people – Kadie and Laura. In real life (not fanfic world) they are really good friends of mine. Kadie gave me a hand thinking up some of the main details in the main plotline. I know exactly what is going to happen to make this story interesting, but I still needed to think of a plot! I think I have one now though. Laura has agreed to be my Beta! She is perfect for this role as I swear she is a walking dictionary. Thanks girls! Love ya!

Over and out

xxxxx

Well, what did you think? Please R&R