I am incredibly sorry for not updating this story sooner. Both school and health related issued have come up and updating this story as constantly as I used to will be almost impossible. Expect updates around every two weeks or so.

The world of Harry Potter and its characters belong to JKR. I do not support JKR. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Trans people are people.

*italicized/bolded text is straight from the books*

Chapter 7: The Lion's Fire

Harry and Hermione didn't see Ron after the match, Harry had been involved in a fight with Malfoy, and all thoughts about celebrating with the team had gone out the window. And now he was serving a week's worth of detention along with the twins. It didn't matter to her or Percy the horrible things that Malfoy said about Mrs. Weasley, and Harry thought at first that he'd seen George at his angriest with Malfoy, but when he saw that Percy was doing nothing knowing the things Malfoy said about their mother he thought George might've killed his older brother.

After he returned to the Common Room, he informed Fred of what'd occurred, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team once again had to restrain him. Harry was asked by Hermione where Ron was, Harry figured Ron was just avoiding them out of embarrassment.

Hermione spotted Hagrid's return and Harry couldn't have been happier. Harry and Hermione sneaked their way out to Hagrid's Hut using Harry's Invisibility Cloak, the Marauders' Map and pausing at intervals to prevent themselves from being found by Filch or Mrs. Norris. They walked across the grounds and knocked on Hagrid's door, they had made their way to Hagrid's home without having made a single noise, that was until Hermione saw Hagrid's damaged face and screamed.

"Merlin's beard, keep it down!" said Hagrid hastily, staring wildly over their heads. "Under that Cloak, are yeh? Well, get in, get in!"

Hermione apologized as she gasped, her and Harry made their way inside the house and pulled the cloak off once inside so he could see them. As Hermione worried for him once more and Hagrid dismissed her, Harry took a good look at the half-giant. He had bruises all over his face, there was blood on his clothes, beard, and hair. His movements suggested he may have broken a few bones, perhaps his ribs.

As he dismissed Harry's demands to tell him what happened to him he put a copper kettle on the fireplace offering them tea.

"I'm tellin' yeh, I'm fine," Hagrid said as he turned to Harry and Hermione trying to show a smile, but wincing at the attempt. "Blimey, it's good ter see yeh three agai-" Hagrid suddenly turned to look all over his home as if to double check, his good eye roamed every corner before settling back on both Harry and Hermione.

"Oi," said Hagrid. "Where the ruddy hell is Ron? Too old ter visit his old friend?" Harry and Hermione looked at each other before explaining what happened at the last Quidditch Game, Hagrid seemed quite angered by the Slytherin's mocking of Ron. "Those ruddy slimy snakes, hope yeh taught 'em a lesson ay Harry?" Harry looked curiously at Hagrid as if questioning what he'd say.

"What?" said Harry confused. "I mean not exactly, I was more focused on catching the snitch so Ron wouldn't have to spend more time being laughed at." Hagrid looked quite shocked and the slit that was his very bruised eye seemed to open a bit before he winced, he then looked at Hermione.

"Well then," said Hagrid. "Surely yeh gave sum o' them Slytherins detention idn' yeh? Saw the prefect badge on yeh, congratulations by the way." Hermione looked pleased before looking at Harry for help, Hagrid looked more surprised than ever before and he almost let the dragon meat fall off his injured face. "Can' believe the two of yeh! Yer best friend gets laughed at and yeh don' help the poor boy?!"

"It's not like that Hagrid!" The two of them almost said in unison, but the way Hagrid had put it made Harry think that it was very much like that. Hagrid looked at the two of them not really believing their answer, but nonetheless he didn't push it further, he took the now whistling copper kettle and poured out tea in bucket-sized mugs. He sat back down on his chair.

"How were yer summers?" he said in an upbeat mood. Harry was about to answer when Hermione suddenly slammed down her hands on the table.

"Oh no you don't, Hagrid," she said in an almost fierce voice. "What happened to you? Why were you attacked?" And so Hagrid explained exactly what happened during the summer, his journey with Madame Maxime, he seemed to have been hiding something, having no apparent explanation as to why he looked so injured. Harry and Hermione in turn told him everything from being attacked by Dementors during the summer to the return of the founders, the latter had Hagrid quite shocked.

Harry and Hermione turned to leave after having no way of getting Hagrid to say anything about what he'd been hiding, but just a few inches from the door Hagrid told them something.

"Make sure to brin' Ron soon, would like to see how he's doin', bein' a Champion must be hard ay Harry?" Harry simply nodded before he and Hermione put on the Invisibility Cloak and walked back to the castle. When Harry went back to his dorm that night Ron's four poster bed was empty, Harry checked the map and after several minutes searching the map he saw no sign of his best friend's name. He went through the map more than twice before he went to sleep, deciding to go search for him the next morning.

As he woke up Harry looked at Ron's bed just to find it empty once more, he got dressed and went down to the common room where he met Hermione, she looked over Harry's shoulder most probably looking for Ron.

Hermione looked pensive for a moment. "Maybe he spent the night inside the Room of Requirement," she said. "If Ron required a bed then maybe the Room gave it to him, I just hope he's fine," she added worriedly.

When Harry and Hermione arrived to the Great Hall there was still no sign of their ginger best friend, they exchanged worried glances, and they both made their way to the Room of Requirement, they walked in front of the tapestry three times and they made their way in, unknown to them some of the members of the D.A had seen Harry and Hermione, and soon called their friends for an impromptu D.A meeting.

Harry and Hermione were quite understandably disappointed by the sudden disappearance of their friend and turned to leave when they saw a group of eager students expecting a session of DADA given by Harry. He reluctantly started a very simple duelling session among themselves, Harry also noticed the absence of both Luna and Cedric. By lunch they were all reasonably tired and decided to end their session and head to the Great Hall.

That's where they saw him, Ron was wearing the hood of his robes up, however Harry would recognize he too short and tight jeans anywhere, he had dirtied bandages on his hands covered in dirt, dust and specks of blood, he was hunched over as always, but he seemed to keep his head down, he moved as if he was a sloth, or maybe a turtle, Harry and Hermione walked over to him at once.

"Where have you been?!" Hermione shrieked as she sat down beside Ron, he paid no attention to her as he slowly lifted his spoonful mashed potatoes to his mouth.

"Training," he said calmly once he swallowed, he continued eating as if nothing when Hermione simply shot him an outraged look.

"What do you mean training?" asked Harry sitting by the other side of Ron. "I checked the map last night, you weren't by the Quidditch Grounds or anywhere for that matter."

" 'Ampion trainin'" Ron said through a mouthful of steak and vegetables. He quickly swallowed before continuing "Master Gryffindor told me it was about time to start."

Harry and Hermione were about to continue their questioning, but Ron had finished his meal was set to leave, Harry quickly stood up and grabbed his shoulder. "Listen mate," he said. "Don't listen to what those gits say about you, alright? You were just nervous, it could've happened to anyone."

"Look it's fine," said Ron shrugging off Harry's shoulder. "I can deal with it, I'm not alright about it, but it's fine." With that Ron walked out of the Great Hall, once again disappearing from his friends' sight.

Ron put his hand inside the lionhead ornament, the raging fire that at first put him off was apparently all for show, a challenge for the daring as his master had said. He pulled the lever and recited the password, entering his private chambers he looked at the training dummy and shed his robes, as well as some of his clothes changing into more comfortable ones for training. He ended up wearing a dark red tank top and black shorts both of which his master had conjured for him.

His wraps as Gryffindor called them still weighed far more than they looked, it had been a challenge to even lift his spoon, knife and fork to eat his meal. Not only that, but even sleeping was a challenge. Last night his forearm had ended up on top of his neck and he almost strangled himself in his sleep. He made a fist through the physical struggle that was using the enchanted cloth wraps and picked up a word from the wall.

He started the sword exercises Gryffindor had shown him, slicing, cutting, fencing, deflecting and parrying the magically enchanted dummy, which was wielding its own weapon along with a wand, Ron used the swords as shields whenever the dummy sent a stunner towards him. Gryffindor had explained to him that every sword in his private chamber was magically enhanced to stand magical attacks.

It was difficult moving with the wraps. It felt as if his limbs were constantly being pulled back as they moved, Ron found it quite difficult to even walk with them as he constantly tripped and bruised his body because of it. After a few attacks with both the sword and his wand, Ron managed to disarm the dummy leaving Ron as the winner of the training exercise.

He walked down the stairs to the stadium, there he met Gryffindor looking expectantly at Ron.

"Are you ready to continue our training session?" he asked the young student. Ron nodded and Gryffindor snapped his fingers, suddenly mist started to pour out into the stadium joining at one place. "Adversarius," the mist started twirling like a tornado. "Wizard," and the mist stopped spinning in place. What looked to be a body made out of blue light came from the mist, it was about Ron's height, if not a little taller, it had no face or recognizable features.

"This," said Gryffindor. "Shall be your opponent, it has an above average wizard's ability, this exercise will consist of you defeating this opponent. Ready? Go!"

It was sudden, it couldn't have taken more than five seconds, and it couldn't have been more humiliating or painful. The adversary brandished a wand made out of translucent light like that of its body, it pointed its wand at Ron and a fast stunner made his way to his chest connecting and sending the red headed boy flying to the other side of the room. It felt like a fist colliding with his chest, he groaned in pain laying on the ground looking at the now still enemy.

Gryffindor remained completely neutral, it made a sort of fire erup in Ron's chest, he slowly stood up breathing heavily as he did, he raised his wand and the glowing practice dueller made its move, it made a move to send another stunner to Ron, but he ducked out of the way as he sent a blind stunner at the enemy.

"Vermillious!" he randomly casted at the enemy, who had to cover his face with his forearms.

The enemy sent spell after spell towards Ron, and the fifth-year could only run away from it. Ron didn't know if it was supposed to this hard, perhaps it was only hard because it was him, there would be no way Harry or Hermione would have any trouble dealing with the stupid bloody–

'Oh for the love of Magic,' Gryffindor's voice thundered in his head. 'You want to drown in self-loating and compare yourself to your friends time and time again? Fine! Do it if you must, but first defeat the bloody enemy!'

He sounded angry, and a sort of rage filled Ron, how could he know? Maybe he used to, but that was before he became the Godric Gryffindor. The anger that filled him joined the rage that had placed itself in his chest when he saw his master's indifference when the enemy had stunned Ron. He looked around trying to see anyway so that he could defeat that stupid bloody enemy. A piece of rock laid a few metres away from him, a quick plan forming in his mind, Ron ran after it with all his strength.

He picked up the rock, and threw it at the enemy who looked to be dodging the small rock, but Ron aimed his wand at the rock and hoped that his very rushed plan would work.

"Reducto!" And the rock exploded in a cloud of dust, the enemy had no time to cover its eyes this time, and the dust covered his non-existent face, it was rubbing the place where its eyes should be. Its guard was down and Ron saw an opportunity, he raised his wand and aimed it at the enemy.

"Stupefy!" Ron casted. The stunner was sent the enemy's way hitting him in the chet taking him down. Ron's chest was heaving, his heart was thundering inside his chest, he was sweating profusely and his limbs were shaking from exhaustion.

"Finally!" exclaimed Gryffindor out loud. Ron looked at him, his breathing erratic as he tried to calm down. "You finally used your biggest strength," Ron continued to look at him, arching an eyebrow to show his confusion, before Gryffindor had to spell it out to him. "Strategy! I'm talking about strategy, you have the mind of a war general and you're not even using it. Pretend that every battle could be your last, see every spell as a pawn and its caster as the king, stop thinking this is any different from something you're already good at, take advantage of it instead!"

Gryffindor's voice was filled with determination as it echoed across the giant stadium. But uncertainty remained inside Ron.

"But," he said, his voice low and quiet. "I don't really know if–"

"Shut up!" he bellowed, but not in anger. "You can do it! I know you can do it! Why the hell do you think I chose you and not anyone else?!"

"I just don't–"

"YOU'RE THE ONE!" he shouted, his voice filled with passion and excitement, he punched the air with both of his fist and smiled. Ron felt something swell in his heart, his throat got a little tight. He showed a full white grin as he suddenly made his way towards Ron and hoisted him up, he dusted the dust off his shoulder and extended his hand. Ron gulped, but no in nervousness, and took it.

The training continued, with more and more wand and sword training. Gryffindor taught him how to deflect spells with the sword, and to put to a better use his strategy skills. His body would sometimes scream for a break, but there was something inside of Ron that felt as if he couldn't stop, his instinct was telling him that he couldn't stop, it was like that feeling he had with Lockheart back in second year, when he just knew that his old annoying professor had lied about his achievements.

As December came by and the cold swept in, Ron's training became more rigorous, waking up at six in the morning to run a lap or two around the Black Lake, or at least as many until breakfast started. After that he would go to class as always, but his breaks and free time would be spent in the stadium. He had not been witness to any of the other champions' training. According to his master whenever more than one champion used the stadium as training grounds the room would use a complicated spell to prevent either of the founders or champions to interact with each other as a way to not interrupt their training, however it seemed as though Ron was the only one of the champions who used the stadium as their permanent training grounds.

Luna was using the Astronomy Tower whenever it was being unused, and like with every other champion it was strictly forbidden for anyone to see their progress. Lady Ravenclaw seemed to be a fair, but strict mentor. Ron had never seen Luna without a carefree expression until a pair of weeks into their training.

There was also something weird going on with his own master and Lady Ravenclaw, one morning during breakfast she had worn a good-looking dress that showed her neckline and accentuated her eyes, Gryffindor had looked at her with what could only be described as hunger. Ron's mentor in turn had managed to spill a goblet of grape juice on his robes and needed to shed them, revealing his white medieval-looking shirt underneath. Lady Ravenclaw looked, and there was no other word for it, feral.

Cedric was spending his time inside the Forbidden Forest accompanied by Helga Hufflepuff. He would come back covered in dirt with his hands looking dirty and rough.

Daphne Greengrass on the other hand walked every day by the Black Lake along with her own founder, just to suddenly vanish from thin air. He would've guessed Apparition when Hermione's voice boomed inside his head suddenly yelling.

'You can't Apparate inside Hogwarts!'

Ron had managed to also break a couple of bones because of training, and thankfully Gryffindor was almost as skilled as Madame Pomfrey and a healing spell from him as well as a quick checkup with the Hogwarts's healer and he was good as new.

Everything was going quite well, except for one thing, because of his overloaded schedule it was hard to spend any time with Harry or Hermione. He would either spend time with Harry during Quidditch practices or with Hermione while they patrolled. He briefly wondered if this is what Harry felt when he and Hermione were having a row. His lack of interaction with Hermione had also led him to ask Gryffindor to help him with his homework and essays. He had agreed and for the first time Ron was having no trouble studying or completing his assignments.

But of course, things could never go completely swimmingly as they seemed. As they approached the holiday break Harry had woken up telling Ron his father had been attacked by a snake. You-Know-Who had targeted his father of all people, his father who had never wronged anyone. It felt like a lucid dream as they walked from their shared dorm, to Dumbledore's office. Or at least Ron wanted it to be one.

When they arrived at Grimmauld Place Ron didn't say anything. Was there anything to be said? He put his head in his hands as they sat in silence, every second filled with uncertainty and despair. It was quiet, too bloody quiet for four Weasleys and one Sirius Black to be in the room. He gripped the locks of his hair, Ron looked up to see Harry looking ashamed and guilty, of what Ron didn't know.

When their mother arrived and announced his father would be alright Ron thought he might have fainted. He finished his Butterbeer in one good swig, and after a good dinner they all went to bed. As he laid in his bedroom Ron looked at the ceiling, and a sudden feel of fear settled in his mind.

Why was his father not finished off? Was Voldemort only playing with them like a predator with its food? Was this some show of power? A way to tell Dumbledore, "hey, look I can kill any one of your precious members without batting an eye". Was his father left alive as some sort of message? Turn back or face the wrath of the Dark Lord. As the questions swam in his mind he couldn't help the feeling of uselessness settle over him, how was he supposed to represent the house of the brave when he couldn't even go to sleep without pissing his pants.

The next morning Ron woke at six in the morning as usual. His morning run around the Black Lake was a little impossible seeing as he couldn't return to Hogwarts for the time being. Instead Ron decided to do a couple of push-ups inside his room, while he waited for breakfast, but the feeling of looking at the same four walls for two hours didn't quite sit well with Ron.

After an hour and a half, Ron walked down the stairs heading to the kitchen, hoping that no matter how horrible Kreacher was he might make Ron something. As he opened the door he looked at his hand which had reached for the doorknob, it was still wrapped in cloth, the wraps now dirty and bloodied where Ron had once broken one of the bones in his forearm. They weren't smelly, Gryffindor had made sure of that, and the skin beneath the cloth was washed every time Ron took a shower or bath. It was only the physical appearance that had changed since he first put them on.

As he opened the door to the kitchen he came face to face with his mother, she was sitting down at the table wiping silent tears off her face with a handkerchief, in front of her there was a cup of coffee. She looked up and their eyes met, as he gazed into them he was reminded of how alike they were to his father's. He got his temper and over-protectiveness from his mother, but the physical aspects of him were those of his father.

There was a silent moment where the Howler came to his mind. Molly looked at Ron curiously, before she averted her gaze elsewhere.

"Why are you up this early?" she asked.

"I've been waking up at 6 in the morning for the last month," he said. He didn't go on to explain why he was doing it. He walked over to the pantry taking out a jar of pumpkin juice and pouring himself a glass. He sat down at the table, and the two Weasleys settled in a very tense silence. Ron took very small sips of his drink, as Molly looked at her hands which were conjoined at the table.

"How has Hogwarts been?" Molly suddenly asked. Ron's head jerked up, her mother had an expression all too familiar to him, it was the same he used when Bill got his first girlfriend, and somehow their mother knew before anyone else.

"Fine," said Ron. "I guess," but things could not be further from the truth. Ever since his match in November and his selection for the tournament Ron had been the target of constant teasing and mockery, making the school's number one punching bag. Neville of all people had even looked at Ron with pity. On top of all that because of the training regiment that he went through Ron could only spend so much time with Harry and Hermione.

"When I heard that you were entering that thing," Molly started. "I… I don't know why I sent you that Howler… Ginny even specified in her letter that they chose you… I just–" she cut herself off as tears welled up in her eyes, Ron felt very uncomfortable all of a sudden. His mother was the strongest woman he knew, and to see her this upset was mind boggling. He stood up and sat down in front of her offering his hand, she took it, rubbing his knuckles with her thumb tenderly.

"When Harry came back last year," she said once she'd calmed down enough. "I only saw one of you. I saw one of you hurt and tired beyond exhaustion looking as if a single breeze would bring you down," she said in a choked voice dabbing the tears with her handkerchief. "And when I heard that another one of my boys was getting himself into another one of those infernal… traps, I just couldn't…"

Ron stood up and walked around the table holding his mother in a way to convey support. He held his mother as she sobbed.

Harry was growing tired, it had been at least two weeks since the match, things had still not quieted down, but they were better than the first few days after the match against Slytherin. And still, Harry and Hermione had not spent any time with Ron, their friend had completely disappeared from their lives, the only times he would actually spend time with the both of them was during lunch or dinner seeing as Ron woke up before the two of them.

That was another weird thing about him, ever since he'd begun spending time with Gryffindor his best friend had changed a lot. He didn't sleep in his dorm anymore, apparently he had been given his own private chambers. Whenever Harry and Hermione would start their homework they would normally wait for Ron, doing homework was something they would all normally do together, but seeing as he only rarely showed up to the common room they would start without him.

And to Hermione's shock, even when he wasn't spending time with the two of them for normal schoolwork, he was now getting good grades. Or at least better than Harry's, even Snape had nothing to say when Ron handed in six extra inches rather than the foot and a half that Snape had assigned the class.

While Ron did who knows what in who knows where there was only Hermione and him with the occasional company of Ginny or Neville. It was like last year, but now there was nothing to apologize for, or something to mend, there was just Ron being busy and not having time to spend time with Harry. And like last year, being Hermione's friend meant less time talking about Quidditch and more time spending his time in the library or in the common room in silence while she read a book in silence. He missed Ron, and he knew Hermione missed him just as much as he did, no could get him to talk about what he did while he spent his time with Gryffindor. The twins had tried only for Ron to tell them that it's none of their business and he went to bed in his dorm for the first time in days.

He was changing, and Harry wasn't there to at least help him somewhat. He briefly wondered if this was how he acted last year, so tired of people whispering as he walked.

"How did he get his name into the Goblet of Fire?"

"How long do you think he'll last?"

"If it had to be one from Gryffindor why him?"

Harry was used to being in the spotlight, to be celebrated for his achievements either in the Quidditch field or outside of it, but there was also a bad type of attention, the type where you can't walk anywhere because some students think you'll petrify them. The type of attention a first-year would get for losing his house over a hundred points.

But Ron didn't have that, no one was congratulating him for being Gryffindor's Keeper, or Prefect or Champion. He was just ridiculed again and again with no end, and he had to endure it all on his own. Why couldn't he just get through his thick head that he didn't have to do this on his own…

'Blimey,' thought Harry. 'I'm starting to sound like Ron.'

He could see the effect of Ron's absence in Hermione, ever since Ron stopped hanging out with the two she had become more distant, she kept company with Ginny and Luna, the latter had no obligations outside of her Champion position and was available far more than Ron or Cedric.

Long gone was the relaxed and calmed version of Hermione who could be convinced to leave her homework for later. Now, there was only a girl that resembled his best friend from third year all to similarly. There were bags under her eyes, and she looked as if she could use a good nap, or twelve. Harry had advised her to take it easy, but Hermione went on to ramble how O.W.L.s were coming up and she couldn't fall behind, after the first hundred words Harry stopped listening.

But doing so was somehow worse, there wasn't anything to keep him busy. And he couldn't help but feel guilty for Ron. If Harry had been the one to have a mocking song made after him would his friends just stand on the sidelines as he took it? No, he answered immediately in his head. Ron would be there ready to punch every one of them disregarding their weight, height or age. Hermione would immediately give them detention or take points off of them. Ginny would hex them. The twins would prank them. Merlin, he basically had an entire "army" that trusted him enough to break the law.

What did Harry do in exchange? Catch the Snitch as soon as he could? Pathetic. Honestly pathetic. Hermione took no points away from the couple of Slytherin third-years that were jeering at him. Ginny and the twins, Ron's own sister and brothers, had done nothing. Why the bloody hell had they all done nothing?

Had Harry been the one to drive him away? No, he tried countering in his mind. But, last year he hadn't tried to understand how Ron felt, and according to Hermione he had been as miserable as Harry was when they weren't talking to one another. He was jealous of Harry, tired of always being on the sidelines and never being recognized for who he was, there was nothing that Harry could do for that. And now he had it, and he immediately seemed to abhor it.

A small part of him was satisfied that Ron was finally in Harry's shoes before feeling disgusted in himself. He seriously needed to talk to Ron.

As Ron looked at his father, his face bandaged and hurt, he looked to be resting peacefully. How he managed it was beyond Ron, he felt like he hadn't slept since he'd left Hogwarts some weeks ago. Right now he was sleeping on the couch in Grimmauld Place having passed out from some Firewhisky he, Moody and Sirius all shared. How could he be so calm? He almost died, Ron knew had little to say, after all he himself had almost died at least once every year at Hogwarts ever since he arrived there.

And now, he had to spend his time in a dirty house full of who knows what, cleaning floors that seemed to get dirtier the more he wiped them off. He felt something stirring in his throat and it burned, it burned like how he guessed Firewhisky burned one's throat when drunk, it felt painful and constricting. Ron quickly walked to the bathroom, locking the door so no one could walk in on him.

He looked at himself in the mirror and was surprised and angered to see tears welling up in his blue eyes, the complete inability to do anything even after all the bruises, scratches and broken bones he was still just a boy who could do nothing. He looked at his reflection. He was breathing heavily the anger coursed through him, or maybe it was his protectiveness, he didn't know. For a brief second, his eyes turned into an amber colour, his canines turned sharper looking almost like a vampire's fangs and something seemed to glow from the inside of his throat he sputtered and nearly fell back into the tub.

Ron stood up quickly just to find his eyes their normal blue colour and his mouth intact without any fangs or any sort of glowing. The feeling that coursed through was dying down just to completely disappear after a few moments.

He splashed his face with some water, deciding that the lack of sleep was doing something to his head. He looked once more in the mirror expecting another image of him to jump, this one with amber eyes, fangs and a glowing mouth. He was about to step out of the bathroom to go to bed when a lion Patronus suddenly appeared inside the bathroom.

"Hello!?" he heard Gryffindor's voice yell. "Is this thing working?! Ron! I want you to come straight to me when you return to Hogwarts! It's important you do so!"

The lion disappeared and Ron was left standing looking around the bathroom. He walked outside and saw Ginny standing with her arms crossed looking up at Ron, her hair was disheveled, there were bags under her eyes and she looked as if she had just woken up.

"What is all that bloody noise?!" she whispered fiercely at Ron. "I swear to Merlin, if you don't keep it down you'll be at the end of one of my hexes, Ron."

"Sorry," he said, looking around as if expecting someone else to come.

"What is it?" she asked, there was a hint of curiosity in her voice. One that he knew very well, she had taken after the twins after all.

"Nothing," he said, more rude than intended. "Stop being so nosey, and go to sleep," Ginny wrinkled her nose and looked like she was about to protest when she yawned.

"Ugh, fine, just don't wake up the whole house again."

Ron went to his bedroom where he kept staring at the ceiling, his thoughts drifting to his hallucination. Because it had to be that, there was no other explanation, it was either lack of sleep or his eyes, teeth and mouth changed into something beastly for a brief second, his mind drifting through explanations and reasoning until sleep took him over.

He was in his school robes, but they were on fire, strangely it didn't hurt him, it was more like a warm embrace from a loved one, there was this calmness that came to him, so unlike his usual nervous self that felt that at every corner he was about to face bad news. It was weird, it was home, it was love, and his mother's cooking all at once. His surroundings could've been anywhere, but most specifically any cave, as he looked around he saw it.

There was a silvery shine by the end of the cave he tried to get close, but the fire that previously kept him safe was consuming him as he tried walking towards the shiny silvery shaft that was stuck at the end of the cave. He could see glints of red shining from it, but before he knew it the fire had turned completely wild, surrounding everything around him burning through his skin and making his body feel like lead.

It hurt, more than he could possibly comprehend, he only felt intense heat consuming every inch of skin, making his eyes feel like they were about to pop, his skull felt as if something hot was being poured over him like burning oil or boiling water. The pain was immeasurable, he needed it to stop, he needed to wake up.

Ron quickly sat up on his bed, he was drenched in his own sweat, his breathing heavy and his heart thundering against his ribcage, the cool air swept over his exposed chest cooling him down from the nonexistent heat. He looked at the empty bed beside realizing that Harry had woken up as well. He got out of bed hoping that last night's nightmare wouldn't follow him.