the Headmaster's anteroom: the ankle with a pulse in it
August Y.D.A.U. had been when Hal’s chronic left ankle had been almost the worst it’s ever been, after an erumpent but grueling summer tour of getting to at least the Quarters of just about everything, mostly on hard asphalt, and he could feel his pulse in the vessels in the raw ligaments of the ankle
Context
The chronic ankle is the running tax on Hal's success, and here it's costed out plainly: a summer of "getting to at least the Quarters of just about everything, mostly on hard asphalt" leaves the joint "almost the worst it's ever been," swollen enough that he "could feel his pulse in the vessels in the raw ligaments." The deeper he goes into draws, the more surface he pounds, the more the body bills him — the ranking is bought in ligament.