Chapter Five
Ron was bombarded by questions as soon as he walked into the common room. There were the usual, how did he do it, could he teach so-and-so, the usual. but teh loudest was Hermione. "How did you do that, Ron! It was amazing! Alchemy without a circle is probably very rare! Why else wouldn't I have heard about it?" By now, all the others had stepped back, and were waiting as Ron sat down. He looked rather ill.
He held his head in his hands and began. "I once knew Shau Tucker, and his daughter, Nina. I was there when she got Alexander as a puppy. The Tuckers used to live next door to us, guys. Mum would babysit for them when they were away, which was pretty frequently. I bean to think of Nina as the little sister I didn't have. This was before you were born, Ginny. I knew her, I loved her as I love you, Ginny, as I love Fred and George and Bill, and Percy, and Charlie. She was family to me, guys. She was family. When I heard Ed talk about what had happened, I just lost it. It felt like the gates of my soul just burst open. The second time I transmuted, I saw the circle flash before my eyes and my hands moved without thought, and the results are standing in the corner of Ed's room. Ed explained to me after class that circle-less alchemy is really rare. Do you know how many people are able to perform it, have been able to perform it in the past millennium?"
Hermione answered, "A few hundred?"
Ron looked right at her. "As of today, four." The jaws of everyone in the room dropped. "Don't look at me like that. He even told me their names. Besides me, there's Ed himself, Izumi, who taught Ed and his brother alchemy, and an orphan boy who goes by 'Wrath'."
Everyone crowded round and congratulated him. Harry muscled through, and dragged Ron up atop a table. "Everyone, It seems as though there is now a celebrity in our midst. I have to admit, the fourth person in a thousand years to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle is a fair piece higher than the Boy Who Lived, eh? So in honor of Ronald Weasley, I will be at his beck and call for the rest of the night!" He knelt in front of Ron and said, "What is your first command, Sir?"
Ron, taken aback by the turn of events, said, "Rise, I like to talk to someone's face, not the top of his head." Harry rose. "Now, I think this calls for a celebration! George, Fred, I know you've got some Honeyduke's stashed somewhere, so break it out! Harry, we need entertainment; got any ideas?" Meanwhile, Fred had drawn a circle and transmuted an armchair into a throne. These people were really going the whole hog with this party. Ron finally got irritated by all the rock-star treatment he was getting, and made it known that he really wanted to go to bed. He muscled his way through the crowd, past a couple that looked like they could care less about the world around them as they passionately snogged in a shadowy corner. Ron piled into bed and fell asleep to the tune of the Weird Sisters from the common room below. His last conscious thought was about notes not heard.
The next day dawned wet and rainy, and everyone filed into the classroom for Alchemy very glum. Especially the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Harry, in his first official act as Team Captain, had decreed that, in the tradition of his predecessor, Oliver Wood, they would practice in all weather, rain or shine, and his teammates were not happy.