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.

Chapter 10: Scorching Rivalries

As Ron stared out of a window of the Hogwarts Express he sensed his hand trembling. That often happened when he thought about Moody's words. He wasn't scared, he knew that wasn't the problem. No, the real problem was that he was quite the opposite from scared, he was excited, abnormally so. There was a fire that raged inside him, not a physical one. The physical fire hadn't made an appearance since his incident in the bathroom.

'Bad phrasing,' thought Ron.

Jokes and puns aside, Ron couldn't help it. It was a new sort of feeling, similar to the nervousness before a Quidditch match, all with the nausea, the sweating, the fidgeting, except the exact opposite. He didn't feel like vomiting because he was afraid, but because he was completely unable to think about anything else. That must have been the reason, because otherwise, it would mean that he was… That he felt…

No, he'd rather think about the excitement of it all. Whatever was happening Ron thought Gryffindor knew what was going on, after all he had sent a Patronus just moments after his first… Whatever the hell was happening to him. It couldn't be a simple coincidence.

Ron's dreams were also falling towards the weirder side. More often than not he dreamt of the same cave, with the silver shaft that stuck out of the ground and always managed to allure Ron enough for him to walk into the fiery trap. However, to his relief not every night was similar, some nights he would dream of a certain someone. They would be holding their hands, fingers intertwined with one another. They'd stared at each other in the eye before Ron would lean in and his lips would find hers.

Ever since Hermione's second kiss he had become far more, infatuated with his bookworm best friend. He found himself staring at her far more than he used to, observing and admiring her curls as she read a book. Her nose scrunching as she put all of her focus on a book of hers, every fiber in Ron's being wanted to walk over to her and kiss her on the tip of her nose. She would smile, and although she had gotten rid of her fairly large front teeth Ron could sometimes imagine her laughing with them, it gave her a sort of childish look so different from the nagging and bossy girl he had come to know for years now.

When they were on the Knight Bus on their way to Hogsmeade Ron took the chance to open some of his mail. During the holidays he had gotten a few more letters than he usually got, most probably because of his status as Champion of Gryffindor. He opened some of them up. He got some chocolates from Dean and Seamus, gillyweed gum from Neville which apparently gave webbed hands as well as some other sweets from Cedric and Angelina Johnson. He finally got to a letter from Luna which he read over quickly. Half of it was about the usual weird, strange and probably imaginary creatures that she and her barmy father believed in, however when he got to the last part he almost choked on his chocolate. Harry noticed and Ron simply pointed to the part that had interested him so much. He saw as his speckled best friend's eyes seemed to almost pop out of the frames of his glasses and his eyebrows shot up his fringe.

As he walked into the castle accompanied by Harry, Hermione and his family he couldn't help, but notice how people kept staring at them. Particularly he and his siblings. The day he arrived he didn't Gryffindor anywhere, he seemed to have left the school and nobody knew.

The next day he took Hermione aside towards the common room when he saw Cho Chang speak with Harry after a double-Potions lesson. She looked at him weirdly, but he only smirked when he saw her confusion. Once they were inside their common room Ron sat Hermione down, she seemed to catch on to what Ron was trying to do.

"What are you doing?" asked Hermione. "You do know that Cedric and Cho are still dating don't you?"

"Not anymore," he answered smugly.

"What?!" Hermione almost shrieked. Ron took the letter out of his pocket and showed it to Hermione, skipping over the parts about Nargles and what not. Getting to the same part he showed Harry.

...but thankfully the Chinese Cabbages are no longer a threat for pixies. It was a right shame that they had to expel the Veelas from their gardens though. A certain tragedy. I wonder how Fleur Delacour is taking it. Surely this is cause for an international incident. Oh well. Maybe she can take comfort in Cedric Diggory now that he and Cho Chang have decided to break up. Oh yes apparently the two have decided to split ways, Marietta Edgecombe caught Cho Chang crying by a lonely hallway. Very sad indeed. But not as sad as the Irish Cotton Dogs that…

Hermione's eyes widened as she read the passage over and over again. She looked at Ron who simply stared back almost smugly.

"What are you so smug about?" She tried sounding stern, but she couldn't help it as a smile slipped up her face. "It doesn't count if you are the only one to know about it, you smug prat."

The two laughed and Ron couldn't help, but stare at her lips as they bent upwards and the harmonic sound of her laugh came out of her throat. Ron observed her, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize he had stopped laughing. Hermione seemed to notice this because she looked at him strangely as she bent her head in confusion. Ron cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well," he said awkwardly. "I have to go now. You know Champion business and all." She looked quite disappointed with the fact.

"Oh," said Hermione, her smile slipping off her face. "Well, that's fine. I have to go to the library anyway. The O.W.L.s are just around the corner." There was a lack of enthusiasm in her tone, but Ron could only notice one thing.

"Hermione?" he asked before she walked up the stairs to the Girl Dormitories. "Have you eaten today?" It occurred to Ron it had been a long time since he had asked her this question and it greatly irked him. How could he forget how Hermione acted whenever they were studying for normal exams? And this year being O.W.L year it was probably making his best friend exhausted. Hermione blushed at Ron, before she chewed her bottom lip, a gesture that Ron tried very hard not to moan at.

"W-well, you know," she said and she was stumbling and sputtering in her speech. "There wasn't that much time at breakfast an–"

"You haven't eaten anything at all today?!" he almost bellowed, but refrained from doing so as he didn't want to upset her.

"It's not a big deal, Ron," said Hermione, her tone was exasperated as she was probably over this same conversation they'd had over the past five years when it regarded their exams. "I'll have something to eat after I've finished studyi–"

"Oh no you don't," he said and he took Hermione and started dragging her towards the kitchens. When they were almost at the basement, Hermione seemed to realize they weren't heading to the library.

"W-wha– Where are we going?" asked Hermione.

"To the kitchens," Ron stated.

"But what about your Champion training?"

"That can wait, you can not."

"Ron, seriously," said Hermione, there was a nervous tone in her voice, but Ron didn't know why. "I-I really have to study."

"No," said Ron. "You really have to eat. And I won't leave you alone until your belly's full and you're burping."

"Ron that's disgusting," Hermione said, failing to hide her laughter. The two arrived in front of the portrait and as Ron went to tickle the pear he looked down at the occupied hand that had been holding onto Hermione. In his excitement to feed her he had grabbed her hand. In the couple of seconds he took in assimilating their situation he relished the soft feeling of her palm, and of her small fingers entwined holding onto his larger ones. He let her go as if he'd burned her and the two stepped into the kitchen.

They were greeted with the sight of multiple elves working and cooking. Ron found Dobby preparing hot chocolates and quickly approached the working elf.

"Hi Dobby," the house elf looked at Ron with his big round eyes and a smile stretched across his face.

"Harry Potter's Wheezy," he seemed to take notice of Hermione by his side and also greeted her. "And Harry Potter's other friend." Hermione slightly frowned at that before she smiled at Dobby and greeted him as well.

"What can Dobby do for you?" asked the house elf.

"Nothing Dobby, we're sorry to bothe–" said Hermione

"Hermione, here, hasn't eaten anything since yesterday evening. Could you whip up something for her?" Ron said, sending a half-glare at Hermione while doing so. Hermione seemed ready to protest when Dobby jumped up excitedly in his place.

"Dobby will be more than happy to, Mr. Wheezy!"

Dobby started snapping his fingers preparing a table for the two of them. Ron and Hermione sat down, the latter doing so reluctantly, while Dobby floated some plates filled with a balanced breakfast for the two of them.

"Thanks Dobby," said Ron as he ate his second breakfast that day. Hermione followed suit eating her own breakfast as well. They sat down talking about everything they had missed during the last few months. Ron talked about Gryffindor and how he acted as a mentor as well as a tutor. Hermione recalled a Transfiguration class where Ron had answered more questions correctly than her, his cheeks had reddened at her compliment and he said he couldn't have done it without Gryffindor.

When they finished their breakfast they were still a bit early for their next class. They continued talking, until Ron noticed a bit of leftover syrup on the side of her lip.

"You have a bit of..." he said pointing at his own lip. Hermione blushed and licked her lip, but at that moment Ron went to clean it off with his own thumb and his finger ended up touching her wet tongue. His pants immediately tightened as his mind was filled with images of Hermione's tongue wrapping around his own or perhaps wrapped around other parts of him. She seemed frozen, however instead of retracting her tongue inside her mouth, she licked his finger just a tad bit more, and Ron couldn't help it as his eyelids fluttered.

His hand slid off to her jaw and then to her neck holding the back of it as he leaned towards her at an excruciatingly slow pace. Hermione's breathing seemed to stop the moment his palm held the lower part of her hair where Ron could feel tiny curls he had seen at the Yule Ball when she had her hair up and the only wild hair left were those small curls that he ached to kiss. Ron's heart was practically begging to be let out of his chest, as he could hear it banging and drumming against his ribcage. He wondered if perhaps Hermione could hear it. He was so close, so unbelievably close, when the door to the kitchens swung open.

"RON!" and he recognized the low, deep and jovial voice of his master. "IT'S GOOD TO SEE–"

Ron and Hermione separated as if a fire had been set on the other, both of their face's resembling a tomato. Ron looked at his mentor and saw him look between the two teenagers as an amused smile seemed to settle on his face.

"Excuse me," said Gryffindor. "I'm sorry, but Ron was supposed to attend his training session today."

"Y-yes of course," said Hermione, taking her bags and standing up hurriedly. "I-I'll see you later, Ron." Hermione quickly left the room leaving an angered Ron and a Gryffindor holding in his smile the best he could.

As soon as Hermione was out of range Gryffindor arched an eyebrow to Ron waggling it at him as a big smile made its way under his beard. Ron groaned and made his way out of the kitchen straight into the training chambers. When they arrived Ron noticed that there was a table in the middle of the stadium. He got up close and noticed three different weapons, a sword, a battle axe and a long spear. All of which had shimmery silver in the most lethal parts. Ron walked up to the table, he felt the same fire roaring inside of him the closer he got.

"My dear apprentice," said Gryffindor. "During the Tournament, losing your wand does not mean losing everything. Back in our day it was necessary to carry an extra weapon, as you already may know from your second year mine was a sword." Ron nodded, he still remembered the night where he almost lost his sister vividly.

"Well," said Gryffindor. "Knowing Rowena and Salazar they'll probably be training their own Champions in the arts of their weapons. Helga on the other hand will probably want young Cedric to choose between this, and normal spell dueling. I, however, want you to choose your own path. Not out of anyone else, but yourself. So don't pick anything that doesn't call to you." Ron nodded, and he swallowed down as he stepped forward bringing him only an inch away from the table.

His hand hovered over the spear, the raging fire was quite distracting as well as he felt its heat inside his body. It should've been easy, it was basically just a cool weapon to practice with, but the spear felt wrong. Next went the axe, so very passionate as the spear yet wrong all the same, and finally the sword. Ron had wanted to avoid it as if to make himself look better in the eyes of his mentor instead of an obsessed fanboy like Colin Creevey, and yet the sword felt right. The intense heat seemed to settle down as it warmed Ron's body from his head to his toes. With his left hand he picked up the silver sword and looked back at Gryffindor.

"Very well," said Gryffindor. "I was kind of hoping for that," he said and rustled Ron's hair. He used his far larger gloved hand to lower Ron's own back to the table as he snapped his fingers and chairs suddenly appeared. Ron looked impressed and sat back down.

"How do you do that, Master?" asked Ron.

"Do what?" Gryffindor responded questioningly.

"From what I've learned in school and from yourself. There are certain spells that all four of you always manage to do. I saw Hufflepuff transfigure Cedric's food into pastries, but according to me that's impossible according to the Laws of Transfiguration that you mentioned a couple of weeks ago, and two months ago you asked me if I wanted a fridge, but I was sure that electricity didn't work at Hogwarts."

"Ha! So perceptive ginger cub," Ron snorted at the pet name. He started calling him that a few days into their training, Ron had never asked why as the nickname never bothered him. "You see. We the founders aren't really ourselves. The whole explanation behind the spell that allows our mere existence here hundreds of years after our deaths is actually quite complex, but you should know that we are a part of Hogwarts. "

"Since the day we charmed the Sorting Hat so that I may be speaking with you right here we've seen it all. Every sorting, every change in culture and tradition, every new spell invented. As well as how the wizarding and muggle word seems to always change. It wouldn't really be a fridge per say, but more of a metal box with a continuous Refreshing Charm on foods, and Helga invented that little spell so that students may eat their vegetables, it's a simple charm to make certain food look like pastries and for them to taste a bit sweeter, but it's not a full Transfiguration. And as such I think a conjuring charm for a pair of chairs wouldn't be that difficult."

"Wait," said Ron, looking impressed. "You mean to say you've seen everything since you've died."

"Yes, everything. It's one of the main reasons I'm not speaking Old English to you right now. From every prank made by your brothers to every adventure made with your fellow two Gryffindors, to every incident and… death… We've seen it all..." Ron's eyebrows furrowed for a minute until he realized who he was talking about.

"Myrtle Warren," said Gryffindor nodding sadly. "One of Rowena's wise eagles. Believe me that I could barely hold her back once we came back and she saw her in the girl's bathroom. It infuriated her, I was also furious, but we heads get particularly protective over our own students."

Ron simply stared at Gryffindor as the memory of him burning the fork in his grasp as he ordered Umbridge to leave Hogwarts rang in his mind. Ron was sure he never wanted to be in the way of one of his angered moments. He was also confused as to how Gryffindor seemed to alway be able to read his mind.

"Oh don't worry about that ginger cub," said Gryffindor. "As I said, I'm basically a part of Hogwarts, as long as you're standing inside this castle understanding your emotions and mind is quite easy." Ron nodded once more, before he had to ask another question, a question that had been gnawing at his mind since he saw Salazar Slytherin in the flesh.

"Master?" Ron questioned. "Why did Slytherin hide the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?" Although they were covered by his gloves, Ron was sure that Gryffindor's knuckles were white from how hard he fisted both his hands.

"He hid it from us," said Gryffindor almost to himself. "He was my best friend and he… He hid it from me… I think that it was the first sign his paranoia was beginning to take him away from us… You need to understand Ron, he isn't… He wasn't always like this… He's just too broken to admit it to himself… Reckon I am too…"

Now Ron was sure Gryffindor was mostly talking to himself.

"He wanted to protect the school, it's what he said… Back then muggle-borns were heavily chased after. It was common for muggle parents not to understand, and with muggle-borns coming to school, so did troubling muggles… Salazar didn't see the reason as to why we needed to risk the safety of students coming from long lines of wizarding families, just to protect… them . So he built the Chamber and hid his basilisk so that it would attack troubling muggles… When we found out it was probably the biggest fight we'd ever had… It was the reason that he left."

Ron saw Gryffindor's expression change. He had never seen the jovial and gleeful legendary wizard so sad before. That was the only way to describe him. Ron imagined himself as someone older, still being friends with Harry just for him to do something that Ron couldn't forgive, and for him to leave. The thought was something that made Ron feel as if a needle was trying to pierce its way into his heart.

"Don't worry ginger cub," said Godric putting his large hand on top of Ron's head. "I've only ever seen a handful of bonds as strong as the one between yours and Mr. Potter."

Ron smiled and the two of them simply sat in silence for a while, before Gryffindor sighed and stood up and Ron mirrored him also standing up.

"Well it's time to start," said Gryffindor. Ron nodded and began stretching, one of the things that Gryffindor always told him was necessary. The warm up was now more consistently bearable. He ran a couple of laps around the stadium and that's when Ron was about to grab his sword when Gryffindor suddenly stopped him. Ron looked at his mentor curiously before he kneeled down and took a look at his wraps. "How intense was the fire?"

Ron's eyes widened and he stood motionless. Frozen without a way of getting out, as if he had been cursed with a Full-Body Bind.

"Bloody overwhelming," said Ron, as he let out a breath to calm himself. "It felt as if my whole body was being burned, but at first it didn't hurt. What the hell is happening to me?"

"It's part of your training," said Gryffindor simply. "These wraps aren't only made to increase your body strength. Before you put them on I prepared them so that this may happen. I prepared a potion I created and doused them with it, similarly to Dittany, which only needs to be drunk or spread across the affected skin. Every time you sweated your sweat glands opened, every time you broke a bone and bled wether internally or externally, it only helped increase the efficiency of the potion. I named it Essence of Dragon Heart. An ancient practice I created."

"What does it do?" asked Ron awed and excited to learn, and Gryffindor smiled.

"You'll become far stronger than you'd ever thought, in more ways than one." Ron nodded, but a questione made its way to his mouth.

"Master, I accidentally burned myself with this," Ron interrupted. "Mad-eye Moody said that he'd seen injuries like this on another wizard."

"I heard of it," said Gryffindor. "I never disclosed the full recipe of my potions. However, I can only assume that someone must have found some of my notes about two or three decades ago. Don't worry. You'll be fine, put your trust in me."

However, that didn't cease the constantly annoying feeling that kept nagging at his mind. He was excited, yes, but that other part, the part that was also the reason why his hands were trembling, was still running around in his mind.

"Now," said Gryffindor. "I want you to try and activate your power, just like you did over the holidays."

"How did you know I activated it during the holidays?"

"I put a trace on your wraps the moments they were done being doused with Essence of Dragon Heart. I charmed them so I would know whenever the power activated inside you, normally. Now, try activating it."

Ron nodded and closed his eyes. He recalled the feeling of warmth that coursed through his body, like being wrapped tight in a comfortable blanket during the winter. It felt natural and impulsive like it had nothing to hide, just being there at all times. The feeling was like the first time he learned how to fly, the feeling of soaring the sky and being free. Yet, he didn't want to fly like Charlie showed him, that was boring. He rolled and twisted and flipped all around, so much that he was sure he would vomit.

Ron was in the sky, but suddenly he wasn't seven years-old, he was fifteen inside a bathroom and he was burning. Everything burned so intensely and as he opened his eyes a bright and blinsinging light covered all of his vision, panic started to settle as he felt the heat become overwhelming, so much so that he wanted nothing more than to go back to the sky where he could soar, but he was burning. Burning till he turned to ash, until suddenly he wasn't. He opened his eyes once more, and took a look at his surroundings, Gryffindor had hsi wand out as well as a wet rag and a few bottles that laid on the ground. Neither of them said anything as he simply kneeled down and started treating a burn that Ron could feel on his left bicep. He hissed when the wet rag that Gryffindor had doused with some drops of Essence of Dittany touched his almost sizzled skin.

Ron looked down at the ground. He was sure that any second now Gryffindor was bound to kick him out and tell him he would be getting another champion. What else could he expect? The fact he got this far was a surprise on its own. How he managed to screw up so badly in front of one of the wizards he had come to respect the most was beyond him. Any second now he would finish treating his injuries and politely tell him to sod off back to the Common Room. As he stood up, Ron followed his head still looking down at his wrapped feet in shame.

"Close your eyes and take a deep breath," Ron wanted to look up at him, but the embarrassment was too much and he simply followed his instructions. "Think about that feeling… The feeling you felt the moment you lost all control… That was fear wasn't it?" Ron nodded in embarrassment, he felt his eyes start to sting, but he felt the large hand of his master swipe them.

"It's alright," he said, his deep voice soothing Ron. "I want you to recall it again, as well as the feeling you had before you lost control alright?" Ron nodded and did as told. He was afraid he might hurt himself again, but just as he felt he might've loosen control he heard Gryffindor's voice again.

"Now I would like you to recall what made you activate it for the first time," Ron did as told once more, he recalled the anger he felt on behalf of his father's attack. "And now the second time you activated it," he recalled the blissful feeling that took over him as Hermione kissed his cheek. How his heart was beating rapidly and he felt as if he could lift a mountain.

"Freedom, fear, anger, love," Gryffindor listed. "All of them affect you, they affect your heart. All of them are passion, they are fire. The element that I chose for my house. And as such the element that I chose for you." Ron kept a steady breath, trying to control those emotions was hard, how someone could do it without exploding was beyond him. "I once told you your heart was by far the biggest I'd ever seen. I wasn't lying then, and I'm not lying now."

The heat seemed to disappear, and for a second Ron thought he had failed, he opened his eyes to apologize to his mentor when he saw his amused and excited expression.

"Maste–"

"Shh!" he shushed Ron suddenly. "Concentrate," his voice was excited. "You've kept your breathing steady, but I want you to hyperventilate now," Ron did as told and he felt as if flames were lowering and then burning higher and higher. "Now roar ginger cub," he said softly.

"What?"

"ROAR!" he bellowed. "SHOW ME WHY YOU'RE ONE OF MY LIONS! SHOW YOUR WORTH! SHOW YOUR FREEDOM, YOUR FEAR, YOUR ANGER, AND YOUR LOVE! AND ROAR MY LION!"

An intense feeling from the bottom of his stomach made its way to his throat before Ron let out a bellowing roar. And from inside his mouth a ball of fire in the form of a lion roaring came from his mouth. Ron stumbled from the exhaustion before Gryffindor picked him up and threw him in the air.

"That's my fucking Champion!" swore Gryffindor. "That's my bloody brilliant Champion!"

He laughed merrily and Ron couldn't help joining him in. His throat was just a bit sore and he felt quite tired, but he knew that even though the fear was still there, so were other things. Better things.

For the whole month the training was divided between sword training, dueling and the Dragon Magic as Gryffindor began calling it. Apparently the ball of fire wasn't normal, and he became exhausted from all of the energy he had put out into the fire ball. Ever since he hadn't been able to conjure a fireball big enough to be worthy in a duel, only a mere small flame about an inch or two bigger than a snitch.

Gryffindor however, wasn't deterred by this fact. Ron's initiation into Dragon Magic as he called it was just the key to unlocking his full strength. For example, he had made the wraps even heavier than before. Their past weight of only ten times their weight had increased to ten kilograms each. It was even harder and tougher to actually move around, however after a couple of days the wraps felt as they did before, and every week Gryffindor would increase the weight by a quarter of a kilogram.

There was also a secret technique they were working on, and Gryffindor heavily prohibited Ron from talking about it to anyone.

When February came Ron took notice of Harry's sudden weird behavior, he kept glancing at the Ravenclaw table every now and then. In about a week there would be a Hogsmeade visit coincidentally taking place during Valentine's Day. When Ron had asked, Harry had blushed and taken a large gulp of his pumpkin juice before he whispered his reason.

"I have a date with Cho Chang," he whispered into his ear.

"WHAT?!" Ron all but shouted and heads were turned towards them. "Sorry," he apologized and people went back to eating their meals.

"Yes," said Harry, a small smile slipping on his face. "Seeing as she and Cedric are no longer dating, I took a chance and she looked more than happy to say yes."

Ron patted Harry's back, but he must've done a little bit too hard as his glasses flew away from his face.

"Blimey, Ron!"

"Sorry, just excited for you."

When Valentine's Day came around the corner Ron was tempted to ask Hermione to join him on the Three Broomsticks, but just as he was about to bring up the subject she told him of her idea to publish Harry and Cedric's side of the story to the Daily Prophet. On Friday Ron had thought it was a brilliant idea, what could possibly go wrong? This would finally let Harry and Cedric a little bit off the hook from the wizarding community.

Ron from Friday however was naive and stupid. So very naive stupid. When Cedric had seen Cho and Harry together he looked all but ready to hex Ron's best friend. And then came Hermione who apparently Cho thought Harry liked and as such the only thing that came out of the Daily Prophet interview with the blackmailed Rita Skeeter was some angry statements and a scraped chin from Cedric "accidentally" bumping into Harry and him hitting his chin with his glass of Butterbeer.

It was the next Saturday that unnerved Ron. It would be his next Quidditch Match, he was very obviously nervous. The Slytherins kept singing the stupid song over and over again every time they saw him. Every time it happened he felt angered and even more nervous, he needed to focus on the balance of all of his emotions. He kept repeating them in his head like a mantra, hoping that maybe it would bother him less, yet the problem seemed to remain.

When Saturday arrived Ron's hands couldn't stop trembling when he woke up. He felt the need to throw up every time he turned around the corner. Harry and Hermione were sitting down at the table in the Great Hall. Ron sat down picking some bacon, eggs, sausages as well some of his usual favorite meals at breakfast. He started chowing down not caring for what everything would think of him, he chugged down glasses of orange juice and

"Ron," Hermione whispered. "You need to stop, you'll choke."

"Hermione's right," said Harry. "Look, I'll try and catch the snitch as fast as possible, Cedric won't even know that the snitch was ever in the field."

That's when it hit Ron, this match was not a normal match. It was the first taste of a Champion against another Champion. A peek into what would come at the end of the year. If Ron failed this it would mean so much more than just a match, it was like the opening to a Weird Sisters concert, a small sample of what was to come. He looked down at his food and slowed down his pace. He breathed in and out trying to calm himself down. He turned towards the Hufflepuff table and saw Zacharias Smith smirking at him as he mouthed the words to "Weasley is our King".

Ron ignored him and instead focused on Cedric who was eating his meal merrily. Word had reached to him of Harry's disastrous date with Cho, but he probably didn't know Harry managed to get a snog from Cho, before everything seemed to go to hell. He looked at his rival, because that's what he was, as ridiculous as the notion was Cedric Diggory and Ron Weasley were now rivals. He turned back to his table, Harry and Hermione were still talking, although Hermione seemed to sense what Ron was worrying about as her hand shot out to his and she rubbed the back of it with her soft fingers.

"Ron," she said softly. "Everything will be alright. I know you can do it." Ron smiled at her and nodded, wanting to believe in himself as much as she did.

The time for the game began. The whistle was blown by Madame Hooch and brooms began to soar in the sky. Angelina Johnson managed to get the Quaffle, her path was almost clear as Fred and George managed to send a Bludger each towards Zacharias Smith and Cadawaller, leaving only Tamsin Applebee as the only Chaser free to block Angelina. She swerved around him, managing to throw the Quaffle at the center hoop just for it to be intercepted by Hembert Fleet.

There was a loud groan from the Gryffindors in the crowd. Hembert sent the Quaffle over to Cadawaller with Alicia Spinnet high on his tail. Katie Bell was busy dodging the Bludger that Anthony Pickett had sent her way. Cadawaller passed it to Tamsin, managing to avoid Angelina Johnson's interception. Ron saw Tamsin trying to swerve and lose Alicia, as he got closer and closer, he saw the Quaffle being raised and thrown his way. Ron went right, but as the Quaffle entered the hoop on his left side he knew he had been screwed.

"10 points to Hufflepuff!" Lee Jordan announced. The Hufflepuffs in the crowd cheered in a sign of triumph while the Gryffindors groaned out loud making remarks about Ron's poor Keeper skills.

Ron felt his heart in his throat. Why did he think he could do this? This was useless. Quidditch wasn't the same as training, he may have been good there, but in the field he was worse than rubbish. After less than a minute Katie had managed to get a grasp of the Quaffle just to be hit by a Bludger sent by Maxine O'Flaherty, knocking the Quaffle right out of her hands and into Cadawaller's who managed to score another ten points for Hufflepuff. Ron could see from the corner of his eye Harry and Cedric battling one another trying to find the snitch.

Then it happened again as the Slytherins jeered at him and started standing up with big signs showing the title to that stupid bloody song.

And Ron tried very hard to ignore it.

"Weasley cannot save a thing, He cannot block a single ring, That's why Slytherins all sing: Weasley is our King!"

But how could he?

"Weasley was born in a bin, He always lets the Quaffle in, Weasley will make sure we win, Weasley is our King!"

The song became louder and louder and the flame that Ron had entrusted in himself became lower and lower. He was going to do it again. Make everything worse and help Hufflepuff win the match.

"WEASLEY IS OUR KING! WEASLEY IS OUR KING! WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN–"

'Freedom,' said Gryffindor's voice softly in Ron's head.

'Master?'

'Repeat it.'

'Freedom.'

'Good Ron.'

'Freedom, Fear, Anger and Love.'

'Now repeat it until the message is stuck with you,' said Gryffindor, his voice gaining volume. 'Repeat it until the day you perish… And roar.'

'Freedom, Fear, Anger and Love,' Ron repeated the four words in his head over and over again. Time seemed to have frozen, Ron could spot an ugly sneer combined with a wicked grin in Zacharias Smith's face as he took the Quaffle from Tamsin almost forcefully. He closed his eyes. Flying through the air in his broom, the fear of being burned, the rage that came with the pain of a loved one, and the love. The blissful feeling that made him feel at peace as the girl he endlessly pined for laid a soft kiss on his cheek. Ron opened his eyes and the Quaffle was flying through the air trying to make its way to the center hoop. Ron knocked it back with such force that it passed through the tallest hoop of the Hufflepuff team.

The field was quiet. The singing had ceased. McGonagall's eyes threatened to pass through her glasses as she stared dumbily at Ron. Everyone flying had stopped looking at the youngest Weasley in the field. For a moment Ron chastised himself for being too forceful when Lee Jordan, who had taken out a Quidditch rule book, declared over the microphone.

"An amazing Herculean Punch by Ron Weasley! 10 points to Gryffindor!" The stands echoed with resounding applause from the Gryffindors and protests from the Hufflepuffs. Everyone seemed to have woken up from a dazed state as they began flying around again. Applebee managed to get the Quaffle again just for Ron to block it again, sending it Katie's way. She caught expertly and managed to score into one of the hoops earning Gryffindor another ten points.

The entire match as Harry and Cedric had their own Seeker battle, Ron was doing everything in his power to not let a single Quaffle into the hoop. And everyone witnessing the match could say he was acing it. Every Quaffle thrown his way was instantly blocked and sent towards a Chaser from the Quidditch Team. Some Slytherins were still trying to sing and jeer at Ron, but the cheering was too loud for Ron to even hear a single word.

Everything had been going so well, and in typical Ron Weasley fashion it could only go two ways: lucky or painful. It ended up being the latter as Rickett sent a Bludger Ron's way to distract him, however he confused it with the Quaffle and when he went to knock it back with his forearm he succeeded, but a resounding crack resonated all around the field. Pain shot up through his arm, he recognized that sound anywhere, he had broken the bones in his forearm. Most people in the crowd winced out of empathy.

"Ohhh!" Lee Jordan winced sympathetically. "And it seems that in his excitement Ron Weasley has hit the Bludger towards one of his brothers! Watch it, Fred! And it seems that– Oh no! Ron Weasley has broken his arm!"

Ron looked down, he had indeed broken his right arm. People were gasping and shaking their heads in sympathy. The game couldn't end like this. Ron saw as Angelina was about to speak with Madame Hooch, most probably to ask for a time out. But right now they were winning 230 to 20, if they took him out of the game they would lose their advantage. He whistled at her with his left hand. Her head turned his way and he shook it. She seemed reluctant, but she nodded her head all the same.

Zacharias Smith saw his chance and threw the Quaffle towards the hoop on Ron's right side. Ron was about to turn his broom upwards when he saw another Bludger coming his way. Instincts kicked in and he fell backwards, hanging on his knees, angling his broom so it pointed upwards and flying higher dodging the Bludger and managing to catch it while upside-down. This seemed to impress the crowds even more as they roared in more and more cheering.

"And Ron Weasley catches the Quaffle with a Russian Spider-Web!"

Ron put himself upright and tossed it back to Alicia who looked worried for him. Using his teeth he took off one of his gloves and bit down on it hard. He took a hold of his broken arm. And took a deep breath.

"And Spinnet manages to dodge Applebee's charge, and– Wait! What is Ron–"

CRACK!

"Oh my bloody– Wizards and witches Ron Weasley just snapped his arm back into place! That's got to hurt!"

Ron managed to not scream out in pain. When Gryffindor had fixed his arm he had actually used his Broken-Bone Healing Charm, a quick but large twinge of pain before he went back to training. This was very much different. For the rest of the game Ron managed to block Quaffles going towards the hoops successfully by using his left arm, and legs.

It was a very tight race, but Cedric managed to catch the snitch by using a Transylvanian Tackle on Harry, making him flinch and think that Cedric had actually tried to jab at his nose. That left Cedric with the chance of fully grasping the snitch and ending the game 390 to 170 and leaving a very tired Ron to fly downwards as a horde of students came barreling towards him. He was lifted on the shoulders of Fred and George.

"Weasley is our King! Weasley is our King!" chanted the Gryffindors as they planned to take Ron to the common room only to be stopped by McGonagall as she stopped them from going forward.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your celebration," said theTransfiguration Professor. "But I must take Mr. Weasley to the Infirmary. I believe that a broken arm will not be healed on its own, will it?"

Ron climbed down his brothers' shoulders and let himself be led to the Hospital Wing. She had given him a scolding about taking things too far, but she couldn't hide the proud smile from Ron. A quick healing charm later and he was ready to go back to the common room.

When he arrived there was an ongoing party on his behalf. People shook his hand saying how they never doubted him. Colin Creevey had taken a couple of pictures. They drank butterbeer, and when Godic Gryffindor made an appearance Ron thought that perhaps they wouldn't be sleeping throughout the whole night.

He took him outside and they walked. He expressed his complete pride in his apprentice as he recalled the events of the Quidditch Match.

"And snapping your arm back," he said as if he couldn't believe it. "I mean I've done some stupid things in my life, but none that were tha–"

Ron looked back at his mentor, and saw the expression of disbelief and almost agony stretched across his face. Ron looked at Gryffindor's sudden center of attention and saw the Grey Lady staring almost equally shocked and stricken.

"H-Helena?"