“Sol, help me out~” Cormac clasped his hands together with a pleading expression.
“Can't you just...you know? Read the notes you took during the year?”
“But my notes aren’t as good as your tutoring.”
“Haah~ I won’t always be there to tutor you.”
“Don’t say that. I plan to exploit you until I graduate.”
Sol was in disbelief, “You...”
“Kate, say something. You rely on him too.”
“Hmph!” Katie snorted, “Sol's right. You should’ve done a better job studying.”
Sol nodded, “Than-”
“But you’re also right. I also plan to exploit Sol until I graduate. So, Sol, help us out.”
“...”
He put his fists on her head and kneaded it. As Katie cried out from pain Sol said through gritted teeth, “If you're going to do that then at least sugarcoat it when you say so. The word is ‘rely’ not ‘exploit’, get it?”
“Ow, ow! I get it! I get it! Sorry!” Katie cried out.
“That’s better,” Sol let go of her head. “If you want me to help you out, then come to the library. Well, I guess I’ll have to call Cho as well. There is no way in hell my patience will last dealing with you two idiots.”
“Hey! Who are you calling idiots?” Cormac protested.
“You two.”
“At least sugarcoat it,” Katie said in a quiet voice.
“If you acknowledge it then there’s no need. Now, come on. Off to the library”
“Yes!” the two said in unison and followed Sol to the library.
In The Library
“Take out your books. We’re doing Potions first.”
“I hope Snape will go easy on us,” Cormac groaned.
“No use hoping for impossible things.”
“I know but can’t you let a man dream?”
“How’re you going to call Cho?” Katie asked.
“Ah, right.” Sol took out his wand, “Avis!” A small yellow bird was conjured from the tip of his wand. It flew around for a while before perching itself on Sol's shoulder. During this time, Sol wrote something on parchment and folded it up. He handed it to the bird who grabbed it with its talons. “Give this to Cho Chang and wait for her to reply back,” he instructed.
The bird bobbed its head as if it were nodding and flew off. Sol turned to the others, “It won’t be long.”
“So, uh...how would it know who Cho is?” Katie asked.
“That’s a good question,” Cormac agreed.
“Oh, that's simple. I created it so it'll know some of the things I know as well.” Sol waved it off as something insignificant.
“Is that right? There’s nothing like that in the books.”
Sol was shocked inwardly but his expression was calm as ever. He joked, “You read?”
“You!” Katie immediately got furious, “Even if it looks like I’m a blockhead, can’t you be a bit more gentle? A maiden's heart is fragile,” Katie was shedding crocodile tears.
“Ha! Fragile?” the other two cried out in disbelief.
“A tomboy who regularly beats us up is fragile?”
“A gorilla who even the seniors are afraid of is fragile?” Cormac said aloud.
Sol snapped his head towards Cormac. He had an expression filled with sympathy and respect.
Damn, man! I mean you took it out of my mouth but now's not the best time.
Stolen story; please report.
Both of their reactions were not without basis. Katie was renowned among the Gryffindor students as someone you don’t wanna cross. Aside from beating up Sol and Cormac, she has beat up Fred, George, and Lee before just because they played a prank on her. Admittedly, drawing on a girl's face was a bad idea in the first place. They realized it a bit late and had to walk around Hogwarts with black eyes and swollen cheeks for a full 2 days. After that, they swore not to do anything to her and were a bit respectful for a while before returning to normal. But they still held to their promise and never pranked her again.
As such, she was renowned to be a bit manly if not a full-blown gorilla. She didn’t like being called them especially the latter. Suffice to say, calling her a gorilla was a one-way trip to the grave. Now that, Cormac blurted this out, one could see her rage hit new heights as she clenched her fists. When she was angry she didn’t look angry, instead, she would coldly smile at you. Which was happening here. Cormac felt a chill up his spine. She cracked her knuckles and got up from her seat.
Tweet! Tweet!
Hearing that sound, Sol looked over at the window to see the bird he sent come back with a letter stuck to its legs. Sol looked at Katie, “Kate, sit down.”
She was reluctant, wanting to beat up Cormac. But seeing Sol's serious expression, she did as he asked. However, she continued to glare at Cormac from her seat who started to sweat excessively. Sol opened the letter which had only one word on it: “Coming.”
Sol sighed. He had averted at least one disaster. After a while, Cho came down with her bag full of books and looked around. Sol waved at her from the table. She looked over at Sol and smiled before coming over.
“That was a nice use of the spell,” Cho said as she took out her books.
“Thank you. Now, help me teach these numbskulls.”
“You take Cormac and I'll take Katie,” Cho suggested.
“Sure, that's fin-”
“No! I want Sol!” Katie whined.
Sol and Cho both looked at Katie, stunned.
“Don't hog Sol for yourself,” Cormac protested.
Cho looked back and forth at Katie and Cormac, confused. Sol just sighed inwardly. He waved his hands, trying to pacify them, “Stop fighting. I'll take Cormac first for the first half then Katie for the remaining half.”
“No, me first!” Katie chimed in.
Sol stared at her, seeing her not back down he shook his head, “Fine, Cho you take Cormac first. I don’t want to get beaten up.”
Cho sighed, “Let’s get started.”
Both of them taught the other two until it turned into Sol teaching the other three. Sol felt mentally exhausted.
----------------------------------------
The Night Before Exams Start
Sol was reading a book inside the common room. Katie was talking to the Quidditch team. If all went well, she would get into the team next year. So, she was a bit excited. Fred and George ran downstairs from the sleeping quarters and jumped down to sit next to Sol.
“Hey, Sol!” Fred poked him.
“Yes,” Sol didn’t shift his eyes from his book.
“It's time,” George said.
“Time for what?” Sol looked at the two of them.
“It’s time for the-”
“-Annual Sol Concert!”
“The what now?” Sol was stunned.
“The Annual Sol Concert! It’s about time you sing. You did last year and you’ll do it this year as well.” George explained.
“Wha-? Are you guys going to make this a tradition or something?”
“That sounds like a bright idea. What do you say, Fred?”
“Right you are, George. You’re going to do this every year.”
“Stop! It'll just be a nuisance.”
“Don't worry, Sol. People want you to play as well.” Lee chimed in from before.
Sol turned around, “What, Lee? It's the night before exams. Everyone's studying.”
“No, no. Don’t worry, they want it as well,” with that said he turned around to the others in the common room, “Oi~ you guys! Sol's going to sing this year as well!”
Cheers erupted:
“Hell yeah!”
“It's our good luck song!”
“My exams went well last time surprisingly!”
“Mine too!”
“Tell us who that woman is!”
Sol facepalmed, “Jesus Christ...”
All of the students in the common room surrounded him and started cheering and yelling. Sol suddenly stood up and waved his hands, “Fine! Fine! I'll do it!”
“Yeah!” everyone cheered in unison.
The first years there were confused. They had not been there last year so they didn’t know. Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached Katie.
“Um... Katie, what's happening?” Harry asked.
“Sol’s going to sing again,” Katie explained.
“Again?” Hermione asked.
“Yeah, he sang last year as well. It was before exams too.”
“This seems something that Sol would do,” Ron remarked.
“Not really. It’s the twins who insist on making Sol do it.” Katie shook her head.
At this moment, Sol yelled, “Give me some space!”
The students dispersed a bit and Sol whipped out his wand.
Wingardium Leviosa!
With a wave of his wand, Sol lifted the table that was in the middle of the Common Room and floated it to a side.
“Oi~ what are you doing?” Cormac asked.
Sol looked at him as if he was looking at an idiot, “Making space.”
He then reached into his robes and took something out. At first glance, it looked like a miniature piano. He then placed t where the table was and waved his wand. In a second, the piano enlarged. It was black with carvings on it. Vine carvings littered its body. Flowers were also carved into it, growing out of the vines.
Katie's eyes glittered, “Is that the piano?!”
“Yep! It took way too long to fix it,” Sol sighed.
The students spread amongst the students.
“Damn!”
“A piano?!”
“Does he carry that around with him everywhere?”
“Does he have an entire orchestra in his pants?”
Sol yelled again, “Shut it!” He took a chair and sat in front of the piano. There was no sound except for the collective breathing of the students. Sol put his hands on the keys and took a deep breath. After exhaling, he started.
Glittering Breeze!
As Sol furiously played the piano, the others didn’t see any woman or didn’t fall into a trance this time. All they could feel is their blood pumping. His song went on for a full 4 minutes before ending. After he was done, he got up, shrank the piano, and took it with him. Everyone was speechless and couldn’t stop him from leaving.
Sol closed the door to the sleeping quarters behind him as the common room erupted with screams, cheers, and warcries. He smiled mischievously.
That should keep them up for the night.
He laid down on his bed and kept reading his book. After a while, he put it down, drank a glass of water before going to sleep.
Unbeknownst to him, tomorrow will be the longest night of his second year. And a prelude to the many events that will shake the Wizarding World.