Ron drew in deep, ragged breaths, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. An ache remained, a dull burning sensation that faded with every passing moment. Slowly, deciding he was physically alright, he sat back on his haunches. Dimly, he heard a fight break out, and Professor Hanrahan went from trying to see if he was ok to breaking up the fight.

"Ha, Weasley collapsed! Shows how much he's good for, if he can't even manage a simple Summoning Charm without fainting!"

"Shut up! I doubt you'd be in as good condition if you'd been in his position all summer! Oh, I forgot, you were in on it, weren't you?"

A scuffling sound ensued, punctuated by the crashing of chairs and desks.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter! You will report to me immediately after class! Hermione, if you would assist Ron to the Hospital Wing? I doubt that Madam Pomfrey will be excited to see him after discharging him this morning, but this may be no trivial thing."

Ron shook his head dully, trying to think through the fog of shock. He felt his arm draped over a pair of shoulders and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. Feeling Hermione stagger under his weight, the youth shook himself a bit more awake and managed to force his legs to support himself a bit better.

As soon as they had exited the classroom, the girl queried her companion.

"Ron, what happened? I mean, it looked like you were doing everything right, but the moment you said the words to the spell, you just....collapsed! It certainly startled us all, I can tell you, with that scream. As soon as you dropped your wand, you seemed ok, though."

"My wand! Did I leave it in the classroom?"

"No, I picked it up. Here you are."

With her free hand, she pressed the stick into his hand, but as soon as his fingers touched the polished surface, the burning sensation began again, though mild. Gasping in surprise, he dropped it again. Hermione looked at him with astonishment. Carefully withdrawing her support, she picked it up warily, this time remaining in custody of it.

"What was that for?"

"It hurt to touch it! It...it burned!"

"What?"

She picked up the hand he'd grabbed it with, but he pulled it away.

"No, it didn't burn, it burned."

Vaguely, he gestured to his head. Ron couldn't really describe it, just that it wasn't his hand, or his head, or really anywhere else. It was just a sensation. Hermione shook her curls in bewilderment.

"Why don't we just get you to Madam Pomfrey's?"

A few minutes later Ron stepped shakily into the infirmary.

"Ronald Weasley! I just dismissed you! What can possibly be wrong with you now?"

The boy gestured to the wand.

"It burned me. But not on my skin. Inside of me, but not inside of me. It just burned!"

-Damn right it did-

The nurse started, looking wildly around.

-I'm the sword. And it burned because his channels are burned-

The woman lost her look of confusion and nodded gravely. Turning to a sheet of paper, she scribbled a hurried message and pulled her wand out. Ron watched closely, because he had never seen Madam Pomfrey use magic. She muttered an incantation that Ron didn't catch and the sheet folded itself into an airplane and flew itself out of the room.

"We can only wait now."

* * *

Draco had gone pale with fury when Harry mentioned Ron's summer and hadn't wasted any breath on a retort. Leaping for the black haired boy, the blond had knocked him to the ground before Harry could work in a punch. Within moments, it was a full fledged fight, with Draco slamming Harry's head into a desk while Harry tried to choke him.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter!"

Damn.

"You will report to me immediately after class! Hermione, if you would assist Ron to the Hospital Wing? I doubt that Madam Pomfrey will be excited to see him after discharging him this morning, but this may be no trivial thing."

Well, that's Ron taken care of, thought Harry. But why do I think that detention is not going to be fun?

Sure enough, the woman fixed him with a furious stare after she had assigned Draco his punishment.

"What do you propose I do with you, Harry?"

Let me go, he thought. He didn't say that.

Those grey eyes bored into him, utterly cold and familiar. Why were they so familiar?

"You will report to me at nine o'clock tonight. The layer of gum under the desks is intolerable, and you will see to it that every wad is removed - without magic."

With that, those sterling eyes focused upon her desk again, a clear dismissal on the part of the teacher. Harry was sorely tempted to stick his tongue out, but something warned him not to, so he satisfied his temper by slamming the door to the classroom shut instead.

At least classes are over for today, he thought. Heading to the Hospital Wing, the boy nearly collided with the Headmaster as he turned a corner, stopping himself just in time.

"Oh! Professor Dumbledore!"

"Ah yes, Harry. I was just hoping I'd run into you." The cerulean eyes twinkled with merriment. "If you would come with me?"

"Er, yes sir."

The two continued walking in silence, though not uncomfortable. To Harry, the headmaster seemed a bit preoccupied, but he said nothing to Harry. They entered the infirmary together, where Madam Pomfrey immediately pulled Dumbledore aside. Before she could say anything, however, that voice filled Harry's mind once more, and by the looks of it, the minds of everyone else as well.

-Dumbledore, I ah....well, I burned his channels out-

The elder nodder gravely.

"That may indeed be a problem. How far?"

-Oh, they'll be fine when they heal up. I didn't ruin them, but well....They're as open as far as they could ever possibly be-

Dumbledore suddenly looked both very relieved and very concerned. Staring for a moment at Ron, the lanky redhead began to squirm a bit, uncomfortable under the penetrating gaze. Finally, the professor spoke.

"Well, Ron. You are about to become more special than you have ever dreamed."

* * *

Ron watched the Headmaster warily.

"Special? Why am I getting the feeling that this special might not be particularly good?"

The old man smiled, a familiar gleam in his eyes.

"It is no bad thing, Ron. You see, all people are born with something we call channels. A good comparison would be tunnels running through your mind. In most people, these tunnels are closed, blocked off, and they never open. Wizards and witches, however, are born with most channels partially open. In some, those of Transfiguration are very wide while their Charms or Potions is very small. This is how some become very talented at Quidditch or work particularly well with magical creatures. No one can tell which channels are open wide and which have only a narrow aperture until those particular talents are displayed. Also, an opening will likely open wider in the course of maturity."

-I told him he wasn't ready-

Hermione, Harry, and Madam Pomfrey all started, as if they'd forgotten there was another member to their conversation. Ron frowned.

"I remember that. What did you mean, ready?"

-You have...er, had a huge potential for magical energy. But your channels hadn't opened all the way for you yet. It will...would have been a few more years before your magical level had matured fully. By then, you were supposed to be ready for me, but the situation was too dire for me to wait-

This of course, had the effect of leaving everyone but Dumbledore more confused than before.

"Ready for me?"

-I didn't say anything about you being ready for me-

There was a definite disgruntled tone to its "voice", as if it had let something slip he hadn't meant to.

"Yes, you did."

-No I didn't-

" Harry heard you, didn't you, Harry?"

-No he didn't-

The boy gave up - obviously, the blade had decided to be stubborn.

"Ahem"

Everyone turned their attention onto Dumbledore again.

"The point is, Ron, Go- the sword came to you before you would have been capable of handling its magical abilities. In order to help you escape from clutches which - I shall put this bluntly - you would not have otherwise escaped from, the sword was forced to open a Door. But, he had to do it through you. I other words, he- it used your powers to open the Door. By its fully developed channels, it had enough power to do so. Since you had the potential, it was possible for you as well. In doing so, however, he forced your channels to open up fully, rather than allowing them to open normally. This is what we call burning channels out."

"So I'm....burned out."

"Yes."

Hermione interjected, brow furrowing.

"Professor....What is a Door?"

"A what?"

"A Door?"

"A door, my dear is an opening and closing object between rooms000."

Hermione gave up. Obviously, the headmaster had decided to play the same game as the sword.

"Is that why it hurts?"

"Yes, but it will go away after a while...It's just like a normal burn. For now, simply refrain from as much magic as possible and from touching objects such as your wand. Oh, and when you start again, please be careful not to overdo any spell. You are much more powerful than you were before."

Ron blinked. Harry grinned at him.

"Well Ron, now you finally have some fame."

Ron just sighed.