Classes at Hogwarts had started and it was the most incredulous thing for muggle-born Hermione Granger. When the admittance letter to Hogwarts was delivered to her doorstep, her entire family had been confused. They weren’t the type of family to attach importance to heritage or keep records of their ancestors, just like a normal muggle family. Thus, they had no one in the family with a magical background. So, that letter which told them that Hermione was a witch made her entire family question their world views. Of course, like every other muggle family, they didn’t choose to believe it at first. But then more letters came and all of them were delivered by owls. They thought it was some sort of a scam. But the repeated appearance of these letters made the Grangers remember certain incidents. Incidents such as their daughter telling them that things in her room started floating, sudden shaking of their house, things disappearing, etc. All of these made the Grangers realize one thing: maybe she really might be a witch. Of course, they didn’t give in to their thoughts as this went against their entire world views. Though world views meant jackshit when a professor from Hogwarts came to their house and showed magic to them. The Grangers were a bit flabbergasted and had to take a long time to come to terms with the whole affair. Especially Hermione’s father, who was a dentist. Hermione herself had been both excited and puzzled. She was truly looking forward to this whole new aspect of her life. So much so that she began to study diligently as soon as she got her new magic books. The professor who showed magic to her also gave her a lot of advice regarding studying and her new school. Though he also said that someone of her background might attract a lot of ire of the many pure-blooded wizards and witches in the school. Whether she studies to prove herself as good as pure-bloods or if it’s in her nature is something only she knows.

As such, she felt extremely fulfilled studying and learning magic. Though she didn’t have a lot of friends(whether or not she could call Harry and Ron her friends was up to debate), it didn’t get her down, at least for the most part. The professors were accommodating and the magic as a whole had much to be explored. One could see her spend most of her time in the library. Professor Pinch didn’t seem to mind her so she would spend most of her time here.

Now, Hermione considered herself as someone with decent intellect. She was confident in solving a problem given she knew sufficient knowledge of the topic. But right now, there was something, rather someone she didn’t understand. And that was second-year student Sol Balor. Ever since their meeting on the train, she felt he was a bit enigmatic or weird whichever one you would prefer. She saw him cast magic one year ahead of his curriculum. She felt that he was a bit of a genius but he shrugged it off saying that others could do it as well. Later, she asked other second years if they could do the same only to be met with denial. More importantly, she saw his irises become purple when casting the spell! She never read something like this happening not did it happen to her. She tried to ask only for him to wave it off again! How infuriating! Since he denied it, she couldn’t pursue the topic. Even the books in the library didn’t give her an answer. The more she looked into that boy the more questions she had. Once, Professor McGonagall had told her that she could also ask for help from her seniors and recommended she asked Sol. Which didn’t surprise her rather it only made her feel like her conjecture was correct. Upon hearing that he was an exceptional student in Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration, it didn’t faze her. After all, one person didn’t have to be good at everything. But this went out the window when she heard how he got the highest grade in every exam. He didn’t mess up even once. Hermione couldn’t wrap her head around it. Wasn’t he only supposed to be good at three subjects?!

During the sorting ceremony, she had also seen his pale expression from the crowd. While she didn’t know what was going on, she could sense it might not be anything good. And again during the feast, although he was talking to them it didn’t seem as though his mind was there. She thought back to his pale expression and her suspicion of it being bad became deeper and it became even deeper when he left earlier than everyone else. But no one seemed to be bothered by it. She asked Katie Bell who seemed to be a close friend of his only to get the reply, “Don’t worry about him. That’s just the way he is. No one knows what goes on inside that head of his. Though if you want to ask, go ahead. Don’t worry, he won’t be mad. He’s incredibly laidback to the point you can call him lazy. Sometimes, he’ll miss out on dinner because he fell asleep in the garden or outside the castle.”

When Hermione heard this, her impression of Sol went down a level. But when she later learned of his grades and prowess, she could only wonder what kind of monster he was. Though she was also a bit thankful to him. He would never refuse to answer her question about studies. Like her, he could also be found in the library some days. She would approach him to get his pointers or notes. Though the first time she approached him in the library she saw him reading books needed by fourth years and above. In her pursuit of knowledge, she would often try to study late into the night. But whenever Sol caught her, he would send her straight to bed saying, “Studying is good but don’t forsake sleep for it.” If she tried to resist, he would just take her books away or directly put her to sleep with a charm. When the latter happens, she would wake up in her bed. When she wondered how she got incredibly embarrassed at the thought of him carrying her to bed. Upon being confronted with this issue, he denied her claims saying, “No, how the hell could I get inside the girl's dorms? I just wake Katie up and then she carries you in.”

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Upon hearing that, she exhaled a sigh of relief for some reason. But his next words had her feel even more grateful towards Katie.

“I told her to change you into your pajamas as sleeping with robes on was a bit uncomfortable but all I got in response was a good beating from her.”

Though she had to admit, the day after when Sol put her to sleep did make her feel well-rested. She stopped trying to pull late-nighters frequently and went to sleep on time more. Whether she did it out of consideration for Katie or if Sol's nagging really worked is something only she knows.

But there’s something even stranger. Sol seemed to disappear from time to time. On some days, no one could find Sol after their classes would end and could only find him on lunch. He would also disappear after lunch and would only reappear an hour or so before dinner. Hermione had many questions but the most important one was:

Where does he go during the time?

Sol was close with second-year Cormac and Ron's older twin brothers but none of them knew. It was as if he vanished from the castle. Curiosity got the better of her and so she decided that she would find out what he was doing.

Right now was lunchtime and Hermione saw that Sol was conversing with them as always. He was joking around and chatting about various things. As his meal finished, he got up and bade them goodbye then left the great hall. As the doors closed behind him, Hermione quickly got up from her seat and followed him. Though she was unaware of the grins on the faces of Sol's friends.

She found out that it was incredibly easy to tail someone within the Hogwarts castle. With its architecture consisting of various twists and turns, it was very easy for an eleven-year-old to hide behind the various beams and pillars. She saw Sol sauntering through the corridor.

As he turned around the corner, Hermione advanced. When she peeked out, she saw him get harassed by Poltergeist Peeves though it didn’t seem the mischievous ghost was successful. After his failure, Sol smirked at him which caused Peeves to fly in a rage, no I mean fly around in rage. Soon, Sol started walking again without looking back. Honestly, Hermione didn’t like Peeves all that much. He always stole her books, so seeing him getting one-upped like that did help her vent a bit.

Sol quickly came to the shifting staircase and started ascending. Since the staircase didn’t have a good hiding place, Hermione could only wait until Sol had completed his ascent towards the seventh floor.

Huh, is there anything for second years on the seventh floor?

After Sol got off on the seventh floor, Hermione quickly gave chase. However, when she arrived there, he was gone!

This is a straight corridor and a long one too. He couldn’t have possibly walked that far, right?

As she was wondering where he went, a voice sounded out behind her, “Miss Granger~ why are you here?”

She quickly turned around to see Sol looking at her with a smile on his face.

“I-I'm…”, Hermione was at a loss for words.

How did he get behind me?

As if he had read her mind, Sol clarified, “This is a world with magic, why wouldn’t I be able to get behind you? Also, if you’re thinking about what spell I used, it’s the Disillusionment charm. This is something you'll learn later.” Then his face turned serious, “So let me ask you again, what are you doing here?”

Hermione suddenly became very nervous as if she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar, “N-Nothing. What are doing here?”

“Just roaming about.”, Sol nonchalantly replied.

Upon hearing his reply, she became a bit bolder, “Then that’s what I’m doing as well. What? Are you going to stop me?”

Sol walked by her saying, “No not at all. It’s not like I own the place. Do as you like.” He then walked off and turned around a corner. However, when Hermione followed him, he was already gone.

She stayed there for a bit, hoping to find something. But there was nothing on the seventh floor no matter how much she searched. Having failed she returned to the great hall only to be greeted by Katie, Cormac, and the others who had a grin on their face.

“You couldn’t find anything, could you?”, asked Katie with an expression that said she knew her answer.

“No,” Hermione replied with a downcast expression.

The twins tried to console her, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Even we couldn’t find anything.”

“He's just too slippery,” Cormac added.

“So what did he do?”, Lee asked.

Hermione was taken aback because of the sudden question, “Huh? Was he supposed to do something?”

“He didn’t do anything? That's surprising,” Cormac remarked.

“He used Glisseo on the floor and made us trip,” the twins recounted.

“He doused me with water,” Lee added.

“Wow, guess he doesn’t punish girls,” Cormac said.

At this, Katie raised her eyebrow and menacingly asked, “He came behind me and flicked my forehead. Does that mean I’m not a girl?”

Cormac's face quickly turned fearful, “N-No, I mean…”

As the others laughed and conversed, Hermione made a vow to herself:

I’ll definitely uncover your secrets one day.

Now the man in question just happened to be in the library asking himself one question.

Just why the fuck would I talk to snakes?