“I always thought Hogwarts end-of-the-year exams were frightful,” Hermione confessed, “But I found them rather enjoyable.”

End-of-term exams of Hogwarts has just ended and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking out of the castle.

“Speak for yourself,” Ron said. He looked at Harry who was clutching his head, “You alright there, Harry?”

Harry groaned, “My scar...it keeps burning, Ah!”

“It's happened before,” Hermione pointed out.

“Not like this...”

“Perhaps you should see the nurse,” Ron suggested worriedly.

“I think it’s a warning,” Harry guessed, “It means danger is coming.”

Harry kept on groaning as they walked out of the castle. But then Harry stopped abruptly and looked forward.

“What happened?” Hermione asked.

“Of course!” Harry muttered.

“What is it?”

Harry started speed-walking forward. His destination seemed to be Hagrid's hut where he could see Sol playing the flute with Hagrid sitting next to them. They could hear Sol playing but it was faint.

Harry opened his mouth, “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd? That what Hagrid wanted more than anything was a dragon and a stranger turns up who just happens to have one. I mean how many people walk around with Dragon Eggs in their pockets?” Harry reproached himself, “Why didn’t I see it before?”

They started running towards Hagrid but before they could get close, they were stopped in their tracks. Sol's music rang clear in their ears and they fell into a trance. In fact, even Hagrid who was sitting beside Sol was in a daze. All four of them saw a brown-haired woman sitting on top of a cliff underneath a cherry tree. The petals flew with the wind and danced around her before flying off into the ocean which was beneath the cliff. The woman had a serene expression on her face. As if though she had seen through all your worries and would try her best to comfort you through your dark times. They didn’t know how long they had been admiring that scene for. At one time, the song ended and they were shaken back to reality. Even though Sol had seen them approaching, he hadn’t stopped playing ‘She Was Sitting Under The Cherry Tree’.

Once he stopped playing, he looked at the three with a peaceful expression and asked, “What brings you here?”

The three look at him blankly before Harry shook his head and asked Hagrid, “Hagrid, who gave you the Dragon egg? What did he look like?”

“I don’t know. I never saw his face, he kept his hood up.”

“Well, this stranger...you and he must've talked.”

“Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after,” Hagrid laughed lightly, “And I told him. I said that after Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem.”

“Did he seem interested in Fluffy?” Harry's expression becoming more and more uneasy.

“Well, of course, he was interested. How often do you come across a three-headed dog even if you’re in the trade? But I told him, I said, I said that the trick to any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy for example. Play him a bit off music and he’ll fall right to sleep.”

The three looked at each other with a hurried and excited look on his face. Seeing this, Hagrid narrowed his eyes, “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

The three ran off back into the castle.

“Where are you going?! Wai-” Hagrid yelled but to no avail.

Sol just sighed looking at this, “You really should learn how to control your mouth.”

“An honest mistake,” Hagrid quietly said.

“You have a lot of those, don’t you?”

Hearing those words, Hagrid couldn’t refute. Sol looked in the direction where the three went.

It seems tonight’s the night. I should get everything ready.

Night

Everyone had gone to sleep. Exams were finally over, so everyone could finally relax. Thus the students were sleeping peacefully. Well, everyone except Sol who was wide awake and sitting in the common room. He sighed.

I really didn’t sleep well this year. I hope that I don’t have to suffer like this every year.

After a while, Sol got up and headed over to the table. He picked up a jug of water and started pouring it. However, at that moment, he heard the sound of a door opening. He hurriedly whipped out his wand and cast the Disillusionment charm on himself and the glass. Now that he was invisible, he quietly drank his glass of water and waited for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to come down. As the footsteps became louder, their owner completely surprised Sol. It was Neville! He came down in his blue pajamas with his toad, Trevor in his hands. He put down Trevor on one of the arms of the bigger sofa and he himself sat down on a chair with his back facing the stairs. The chair made sure that anyone who came down the stairs wouldn't see him sitting there. Sol looked at Neville's antics with a strange expression on his face.

What the hell is he doing? Wait, is he waiting for those three to come down? I-Is he really going to punch Hermione as I told him to?

Sol felt that the scene of Neville trying to fight would be amusing. He smacked his lips in anticipation. Soon, the sound of the door opening could be heard again. Harry, Ron, and Hermione came downstairs. Harry was carrying his Invisibility cloak in his hands. The three stopped in their tracks when they heard Trevor croaking.

“Trevor!” Harry quietly gasped.

“Trevor, shh! Go! You shouldn’t be here,” Ron tried to shoo Trevor away.

“Neither should you,” Neville looked at them as he got up from his seat.

“You're sneaking out again, aren’t you?” Neville looked at the three with suspicion in his eyes.

“No, Neville, listen. We were just trying to-”

“Stop! You're going to get Gryffindor into trouble. I'll have to stop you right here,” Neville said resolutely. He took on a fighting stance, “Even if I have to fight you.”

“Neville, I’m really, really sorry about this,” Hermione calmly said as she took her wand out and waved it at him, “Petrificus Totalus.”

Instantly, Neville's hands and legs stuck to his body and he became upright. His face turned a bit blue and he fell straight to the floor with a thud! It looked as though he had rigor mortis. Hermione calmly put her wand away. Ron gulped as he told Hermione, “You’re a bit scary sometimes, you know that. Brilliant...but scary.”

Harry looked at Neville who was in the ground, “Let’s go.”

The three headed outside as they walked over Neville. They apologized as they walked over him. Sol was still invisible but he could barely hold his laughter in as he saw the entire scene.

He actually tried to fight them. Haha!

He revealed himself and went over to Neville. He crouched down and waved his wand over Neville's body. The blue hue on Neville's body started to fade away and it started to take on a redder hue. It seemed as though, blood started to flow again in his body. Neville was not petrified anymore. He looked around with confusion on his face. He looked at Sol before his face became riddled with shock, “Sol?! What are you doing here?”

“I came downstairs only to see you on the floor, petrified. What happened?”

“I tried to stop Harry and his friends from causing more trouble but Hermione petrified me,” he looked at Sol angrily, “You said punching them would work! Look, I couldn’t stop them!”

Sol was trying really hard not to laugh. However, he still put on a calm face, “Let me guess, you talked to them first.”

Neville's face became riddled with shock as he exclaimed, “How did you know?!”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sol flicked his forehead, “If not then how would she petrify you? If you just punched her first and spoke later, do you think she could've stopped you?”

Neville who was rubbing his forehead trying to ease the pain looked at Sol with his jaw agape. He seemed to have understood something. “You’re right! Ahh... I should’ve punched her first.”

“Yep, you should have. Now, go back to sleep, I’ll go and see what they’re up to.” Sol picked him and sent him to bed.

“Thanks,” Neville said as he went inside.

“No worries,” with that Sol left the common room with the Disillusionment charm cast on himself.

He saw that the three were still traversing the shifting staircase. After a while, he had caught up to them. The shifting staircase moved by themselves even when no one used them, so the three didn’t find it particularly weird that the stairs were moving. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were determined to stop Snape who they thought was trying to steal the Philosopher's stone. Under the cover of the Invisibility cloak, they finally entered the right-hand sight on the third floor. They went in front of the door of the room where Fluffy sleeps.

Just as Hermione was going to use Alohamora to open the door, someone tapped her shoulder.

“EEE- mmph!” she let out a yelp but her mouth was covered by someone’s hand. As the three faced the owner of the hand, they saw Sol looking at them with a playful smile. They came out of the invisibility cloak.

“What are you guys doing here?” he asked.

“We were going to-” Harry tried to find an excuse. Ron had just given up. He knew they had no way out of this.

“Yes?” Sol kept on looking at them.

Harry subtly nudged Hermione who nodded. “I hope you can forgive me-” she tried to pull out her wand but Sol swiftly stole it out of her hands. He rotated the wand in his hands and made a surprised expression, “Ooh~ a Vine Wood wand with a Dragon Heartstring core. Splendid wand, really. So, uh...what did you want me to forgive you for?”

“I-I...”

“You guys wanted to stop someone from stealing the Philosopher's stone, weren't you?”

“T-That's right,” Harry said.

“Well, you could’ve told me. Let's go.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Sol looked at them with a puzzled expression, “What? I said let’s go.”

“Wait, you’re going with us?” Ron asked.

“Yeah and?”

“Why?” Hermione asked.

“Well, I can’t let three first-years head into a dark and dangerous place now, can I?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

Sol sighed, “Who do you think you’ll find down there?”

“Snape,” the three replied in unison.

“Then? How are you going to stop him?”

“T-That’s...”

Sol looked at Hermione who was about to open her mouth, “Don't say you’ll petrify him. Not everyone’s Neville. And I don’t think you could do that to him again either. He’ll punch you in the face next time.”

Hermione promptly shut her mouth. Sol looked at the three with a look of exhaustion on his face, “Who do you think Snape is?”

“A thief,” Ron blurted out. Sol glared at him and he shifted his gaze away.

“A Hogwarts professor. You three can't fight so I’m the one who has to do it. Rather, I really can’t let you die.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll shut the school down. I want an uneventful year. And you dying will stop me from having that. Also, someone needs to take responsibility.”

“Wha-?”

“You guys go in there but find no one. What do you think Dumbledore will do to you guys?”

The three shuddered. He looked at Hermione again, “ Oh! Here,” He handed her wand back to her.

“But why are you doi-” Ron wanted to ask something but was cut off by Sol, “Enough chit-chat. The thief is getting closer to stealing the Stone.”

He took out his wand and pointed it at the door, “Alohamora!” The door unlocked itself. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were about to head in when they were stopped by Sol's arms.

“What happened?” Harry asked.

Sol flicked his forehead, “You’re going to head in there like that? If you want to die, then do it when school's not open.” He shot a disappointed look at Hermione who for some reason couldn’t stand it.

“Wait a sec,” he opened his satchel and took out a vial full of white, opaque liquid. He shook it and then threw it inside the room before closing the door.

“What was that?” Hermione asked.

“Poison!” he said mischievously.

“What?!” Harry and Ron exclaimed.

“Ah, just kidding,” Sol waved his hands in an attempt to calm them down, “It’s just a sleep potion.”

“Oh...” the three sigh in relief.

“And it should’ve worked by now. Let's go.”

“Wait!” Hermione stopped them. The others turned around. Sol particularly looked at her with curiosity and interest sparkling in his eyes.

“Yes?” he asked.

“You just threw in a sleep potion in there. You didn’t make Fluffy drink it. So then how will he fall asleep?”

Hearing this question Harry and Ron looked at Sol who smiled, “Well, it’s made to emit mist. When the vial breaks, it will emit a white mist which when inhaled will put you to sleep.”

“Then won’t the mist put us to sleep if we go in there now?” she asked again.

Sol's eyes sparkled even more, “Nice question! But no. Fluffy's too big. He inhaled all of it. Look.” Sol opened the door. Fluffy could be seen sleeping inside. But there was no white most only a broken vial on the floor.

“Oh...” the three gasped.

“Let's go!” Sol led the three. Inside the room, he saw a harp in a corner. It wasn’t playing anything. He pointed his wand at it, “Reducio!”

Immediately the harp which was as tall as a teenager shrank down to the size of an orange. Sol picked it up and pocketed it. He turned around only to see the other three staring at him.

“What? You want me to waste a good instrument?”

The three sighed. Sol walked in front of the trap door and moved Fluffy's paw off of it with Harry's help. Sol could’ve done it himself but he didn’t want them to feel useless. They opened the trapdoor but couldn’t see anything inside. It was too dark.

“Let's jump in,” Sol said.

“Wha-?” Hermione wanted to ask but Sol just jumped in.

The three looked at each other before sighing. They too jumped in after him. They fell on top of a bunch of vines. They looked around and saw Sol just sitting there, letting the vines coil him. The vine started to crawl towards the other three and slowly coil them as well. Harry and Ron started flailing and panicking while Hermione sat still.

“What is this?!” Harry asked as he struggled.

“HELP ME!!” Ron shouted as he panicked and flailed.

“Jesus Christ, shut it!” Sol tried to stop them. Harry kept struggling but Ron kept screaming and struggling which only made the vines coil around then faster.

“Ron, shut up. Or I’ll beat you up.” Hearing that, Ron promptly shut his mouth. He knew Sol wasn’t joking. Even though he had heard that threat from Sol only three times in his life, he knew that Sol would really beat them up.

Seeing Ron calm down, Harry did so as well. Sol opened his mouth, “We’ve calmed down. This is Devil Snare. The more you struggle, the faster it’ll kill you. So keep calm and it’ll free you in a while. Oh! Just like this,” having said this, the vines completely covered Sol and pulled him down, into the sea of vines. Harry and Ron looked at the place where Sol was with wide eyes. However before they could start panicking again, they heard Sol's voice, “Oi~ don’t start screaming again. I’m safe and sound.”

Having heard his voice, they calmed down again. After a while, Hermione sunk under the sea of vines and fell through to the next floor. As she was about to fall to the floor, she was grabbed by Sol.

“There you go,” Sol set her down and smiled.

“T-Thanks,” Hermione cleared her throat.

“No worries.” After a while, the other two fell down but Sol didn’t even move it catch them. So they fell on their butts.

“Ow...” they groaned.

Hermione looked at Sol with a strange gaze. He winked at her, “That’s for wasting time. Now, come on.”

The four went down the stairs they found next to where they fell. At the end of the stairs, they opened another door only to enter a huge room. They went in only to see a broom floating in front of them. There was a door in front of them.

“Ron, Hermione, check if you can open that door,” Sol instructed.

The two ran towards the door and pulled on it but it didn’t budge. Hermione took out her wand and cast Alohamora but it still didn’t open. They looked back at Sol and shook their heads. Sol looked around and saw a swarm flying around above them. Upon closer observation, the swarm was a bunch of keys with wings on them. Sol squinted.

It seems to be Professor Flitwick's charms.

He saw that one of the keys had broken wings. He nodded and looked at Harry, “Look up there.” Sol pointed at the swarm, “There’s a key with broken wings there. Go get it.”

“But how?” Harry looked at him.

Sol pointed at the broom, “The broom's not here for decoration.”

Harry stared at the broom for a while before letting out an ‘Oh’ as he understood what he meant.

“Go!”

Harry looked at the swarm to locate the key with the broken wings. After doing so, he went towards the broom and mounted it. But as soon as he did, the keys with the normal wings started to dart towards him. They swarmed him and tried to stop him from taking off. Harry took off after a while with much difficulty. The key with the broken wings still flew high above their heads. Sol walked over to Ron and Hermione in front of the door to the next room. Harry started to fly towards the key with the broken wings at a high speed, fully showcasing his seeker talent. Harry kept on flying with the flying keys behind him. The key tried to fly away from him but because of its broken wings, it doesn’t get far. Harry grabs it and dives towards the door leading to the next floor. Harry throws the key towards Hermione, “Catch!” Hermione grabs the key and tries it on the door while Harry flies away leading the keys with him. Hermione opens the door and goes inside with Ron. Sol goes in after them and holds the door open for Harry. Harry dives through the door and Sol closes it behind him just before the keys get inside. The keys stab themselves into the door. Sol and the others hear the sound of numerous keys stabbing the door and the tinkling sound of keys falling on the floor. Harry, Ron, and Hermione let out a sigh of relief. Sol continues down a set of stairs he found leading to another room below. The other three follow him.

They open the next door only to be greeted to the sight of several stone sculptures standing in formation. There were white and black sculptures. They were standing on top of a black and white tiled platform. There were broken sculptures around the platform. Sol looked at this scenery and felt a headache coming.

Professor McGonagall...

“This looks like Wizard's chess...” Sol remarked. Harry and Hermione looked at him with a confused expression.

“You're right!” Ron agreed.

“Oh look there's the door,’ Harry pointed at the opposite side of the room. A door could be seen behind the white sculptures which were chess pieces.

“Don’t walk over there, they won’t let you advance.” Sol stopped them.

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked.

Sol sighed and walked towards the door. But as he went in front of the white chess pieces, the crouched-down sculptures which were the pawns unsheathed their dual swords and stopped him from advancing. It looked like they would cut Sol down if he advanced any further. Sol turned around to look at them, “See?”

He then turned around and looked at the pieces, specifically the white king.

“Now, what do we do?” Hermione asked.

“It's obvious, isn’t it? We gotta play our way across.”

Ron then took a deep breath and started instructions with hand-gestures, “Okay, Harry, you be the bishop. Hermione, you be the queen's side castle and as for me, I'll be the knight.”

As they were going to their positions, Sol's voice rang out, “Hey, uh... Ron?”

“Huh? What?” Ron turned around.

“Does the king get destroyed if a side gets checkmated?”

“Yeah but not-” but before Ron could finish Sol had already taken out his wand and pointed it at the white king.

“Bombarda Maxima!” the white sculpture resembling the king exploded and the rubble shot at the back of the room.

“-...for all the boards,” Ron finished, his voice becoming increasingly quieter like a deflated balloon.

As the king exploded both the pieces of the white side and the black side snapped their heads towards Sol. They unsheathed their weapons and stood upright.

Looking at this, Sol took a step back with a bewildered look.

O-Oh...Fuck...