"Ron, you bastard, you actually learned that magic in secret!"
"Ron, you're seriously too cool! You're practically our trump card!"
"Yeah! You didn't tell us a thing! You were trying to give us a huge surprise, weren't you?"
For once, Ron enjoyed being treated like the center of attention. Fortunately, Vizet had drawn most of the eyes, so there weren't too many people crowded around him.
After showing off to his classmates for a while, he came over to Hermione and Harry.
"Well? I didn't let you down, did I?" He could hardly hide his excitement, and he spoke at a rapid clip. "You totally didn't see that coming, right? Want to know how I did it? I'll tell you, actually it was—"
Hermione cut in swiftly. "Felix Felicis?"
"Huh?" Ron choked at once and asked in astonishment, "How did you guess?"
"I could tell from the state you're in..." Hermione looked Ron up and down. "Your whole person is giving off this kind of..."
Her words were interrupted by Percy Weasley's stern voice. "Were you just talking about Felix Felicis?"
Percy Weasley appeared beside Ron with a straight face, his brows already knitted together, his tone carrying a hint of interrogation. "Ron, did you use Felix Felicis in private?"
"Er..." Ron tried to explain. "It was Vizet and Lu..."
"You could have refused!" Percy Weasley said with a grim face, his tone heavier than before. "That's Felix Feli—"
"I know!" Ron couldn't help raising his voice and spoke first. "Felix Felicis is expensive, but I only used one drop!"
"How could I possibly refuse to pay? Vizet and the others said I should prepare for the open class first, and we'd talk about everything else after it was over!"
"I was planning to go find Vizet anyway..." He turned