“You know… even if you wear the invisibility cloak, I can still find you,” Sol confessed.

“No way!” Ron and Harry exclaim.

“Yes way. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and wear it. I’ll play hide-and-seek with you guys whilst you're wearing it.”

“But what’s in it for us? If we don’t do anything, you won’t have any evidence,” Harry said mischievously.

Sol sighed, “You know at times like this, I really wish you had half of Hermione's brains.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it. She’s much smarter than us.” Ron said sarcastically.

“How the hell do you suppose I found you in front of the mirror?”

“T-That’s…”

Sol massaged his temples, “Jesus… I swear to God I’m going to tell Hermione to make you both read some books even if she has to petrify you two.”

“No, please!” Ron folded his hands with a pleading expression.

“D-Dude, she really won’t do it,” Sol was appalled.

“No, she probably will if you ask her,” Harry said with an expression that seemed to say ‘believe-it-or-not'.

“…Anyway, everyone’s coming back tonight. If you guys want to do anything, you should do it now.” Sol changed the topic as he really didn’t want to think what would happen if he requested Hermione to do as he said.

Harry closed his eyes and started thinking. Ron however had his priorities straight, “Let’s build a massive snowman.”

“Okay… that's a rather mild suggestion.”

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” Harry agreed.

“Fine… let’s do it. However, it lacks spice. How about this? Let's have a race.” Sol didn’t want to do something with no thrill in it.

“What does the loser have to do?” Ron asked Sol in a quiet voice. Fear flashed through his eyes. To be honest, having spent time with Sol ever since he was born, he knew that he always set outrageous conditions on the loser. He and his brothers have fallen prey to his traps one too many times. On the other hand, Harry looked at Ron and was puzzled. He didn’t need to be that scared, right?

“Oh, nothing much. Umm... The loser has to have his hairstyle changed until bedtime.”

“N-“, Ron wanted to refuse but was cut short by Harry. “Fine by me.”

Harry was thinking that the loser would get pigtails or have braids. Sadly, he was still thinking in muggle ways. However, Ron knew...that Sol wouldn’t just do something as small as giving you pigtails.

“Haha! That's the spirit! Come on then, let’s go. On to the courtyard!” Sol laughed and led the other two out of the common room. Ron sighed heavily and followed him, knowing that there was no way out of this. Harry, however, was oblivious to Ron's inner turmoil.

Courtyard

The courtyard in front of the castle was covered with a thick layer of snow as was the entire castle. Snow was still falling and would continue to fall for a week or so at this rate. Three figures could be seen making their way out of the castle and into the courtyard. These were Sol, Ron, and Harry who came outside to make snowmen.

Having reached the middle of the courtyard, Sol turned around to face the other two and asked, “So, how are we going to determine the winner?”

“Let's say the biggest,” suggested Harry.

“Fine,” agreed Ron though he didn’t think he had a choice.

“Okay! The time limit is half an hour and magic is allowed,” Sol added.

Ron immediately looked at him as if he has said something absurd, “Hey, wait! You know more magic than us. You obviously have the advantage!”

“Yeah!” Harry protested.

“Fine, fine, I’ll only use two spells. Happy? Oh yeah! The snowman has to at least look like a man. No stacking small balls on it to make it longer.” Sol reluctantly handicapped himself.

“That's better,” Harry relented.

Ron sighed, “Let’s get on with it...” Even though Sol handicapped himself, Ron knew that there was no way Sol would do anything that'd place him at a disadvantage. He only hoped that he wasn’t the one to lose.

Sorry, Harry. When it comes to Sol's games it’s every man for himself.

And wouldn’t you know it, Ron had hit the nail on the head. Sol who had his back turned towards them, smiled mischievously.

Hehe, trying to battle with snow against a Cryomancer. How fooli-

...Shit. I call myself a Cryomancer but I haven’t even expanded my ice magic repertoire. Well, that’s one more thing on my to-do list. Right below, becoming an Animagus.

Clap!

Sol clapped to get everyone’s attention, “Get to your spots!”

Soon the three separated and took to a corner of the rectangular courtyard.

Each corner took out their wands and was ready to begin. Sol raised his wand in the air and a black spark flew out of it. The spark flew to the air and exploded into black fireworks.

“BEGIN!!” With the signal from Sol, the match had begun as the players began to work on their snowman.

On the left corner away from the castle, Ron had started rolling a snowball. It seems he was working on the lower half of his snowman.

On the right corner closer to the castle, Harry was doing the same thing as Ron. But he was running at a fast pace.

On the left corner closest to the castle, Sol was running at the speed of light while rolling his snowball. It had grown to almost half his height! He was using Body Reinforcement on his legs. It would be his first spell...if they knew about it that is. He was an ardent follower of the belief that ‘it was not cheating if you could get away with it'. And wouldn’t you know it, the others had no idea. Both of them had their jaws on the ground, mouth agape

“Oi! Sol, that's your first spell!” screamed Ron.

“Have you seen me chant the spell?” Sol retorted.

“No, but-“

Sol beamed at them, “This is my normal running speed. Normally, you guys are so slow that I have to slow myself down as well.” Ron knew Sol was lying through his teeth but he had nothing to back his accusations up. All he could do is grit his teeth and double his efforts. In the other corner, Harry did the same.

Very soon, the lower body of Sol's snowman had grown to twice Sol's height whereas both Ron and Harry had only made a snowball of 2/3 their height. At this point, Ron had stopped competing against Sol and redirected his focus on not coming last. Harry just had a look of awe as saw Sol's efficiency.

After Sol felt satisfied at the first snowball's size, he kept it at a side and started to work on the second one. He quickly rolled it to the same size as the first one as both Ron and Harry had started making theirs. Wherever Sol rolled his snowballs, there was a visible track where there was significantly less snow. He then used Body Reinforcement on his arms and started compacting it. Ron saw what he was doing and asked, “Why are you making it smaller?”

“Have you seen how big it is?! If I tried to lift it up and put it on top, wouldn’t it just fall apart? I'm squeezing it together and rolling it again,” Sol explained.

“Wouldn't that make it heavier?” this time it was Hardy who asked.

“Good question. It will.”

“Then-“

“You worry about yourself, look Ron's still going.”

“Right...” Harry stopped talking and started rolling after shooting a glance at Ron who was the ‘closest' to the completion of his snowman as he had started on its head. That would be the case had this race not been comparing size.

Only ten minutes left, and Sol had already lifted his second snowball on top of the first one. They looked like a peanut. Ron had already finished with a snowman at least 1.3 times his height.

“There’s only ten minutes left! You still haven’t finished the head, Sol!” Ron warned.

“Right. I’m about to use my ‘first” spell.”

Sol pointed his wand towards his snowman which was already four times his height.

Frigidus Ignus!

Pale-blue flames started to come out from his wand and quickly covered his snowman. The flames soon molded themselves to the peanut shape of the snowman and solidified themselves, turning into a peanut-shaped ice sculpture. The other two had their jaws on the ground and their eyes about to pop out. Sol just chuckled at their reaction. He then shouted, “This is my next spell!”

Ventus Cogo!

With every swipe of his wand, a blade made out of wind would fly out. These blades would cut and slice the ice. With every slice, a portion of the ice sculpture would shave off. Chunks of ice fell to the ground. Ron and Harry would’ve penetrated the ground with their jaws if they were strong enough. Harry still hadn’t finished his snowman and was standing around, watching Sol work. Soon, after enough slicing and dicing, the peanut started looking more and more like a snowman with three parts. With 2 minutes left, Sol finished his face-less and accessory-less snowman.

“Done!” Sol had a huge grin on his face as he marveled at his creation.

“You’re winning this for sure...” Ron wasn’t surprised. “Oi, Harry! What are you sitting around for?”

“Huh? Oh yeah...” Harry broke out of his daze and started rolling again. But there was a noticeable decrease in his speed. It seems he had given up as e wouldn’t be able to win.

Looking at him, Sol was laughing and even though Ron wanted him to lose, he still warned Harry, “Move faster, Harry! It’s the loser who gets punished. There’s nothing to get even if you win.”

“Huh? Oh shit, you’re right! We should’ve wagered some sickles.” Sol stopped laughing.

“Yeah, too late for that!” Ron denied him.

“Aww...” Sol sulked. This was a fine chance to earn some sickles.

Shit...I actually need to earn money. I need a constant source of ingredients for potion brewing. Can’t depend on my mom to buy me herbs every time now, can I? But how?

As Sol was off to his own world, Harry had finished his snowman with just 13 seconds on the clock.

“Let’s see who won!” Sol laughed.

“Oh, bugger off...” Ron tried to shoo him off.

All three of their snowman looked identical. In the way that all three of them didn’t have any features or accessories, not in size. In one glance it was obvious who won. The real competition was between Ron and Harry. They had similar-sized snowmen. However, upon further observation, it was Ron's snowman which was slightly bigger.

“Ah...” Harry stomped on the ground and sulked.

“Ah come on, don’t be a sore loser. I was even handicapped.” Sol tried to comfort him but threw more fuel in the fire.

“Hah! You cheated! You clearly used three spells!” Harry pointed at him threateningly.

“Don't make up excuses.” Sol waves him off.

“I'm not! There’s no way you can run that fast!” Harry insisted that Sol cheated. Ron just looked at him and shook his head. There was no way in hell he’ll get Sol to admit he cheated.

“Then at least tell me what I cast.”

“Y-You!” Harry didn’t know so he stormed off.

“Haha! Don’t forget your punishment!” Sol shouted from behind. He took his wand and pointed it at the fleeing Harry.

Crinus Muto!

Instantly, Harry's hairline started receding. Soon, Harry became bald with two tufts of red hair on both sides of his hair. Sol seemed to have turned him into a clown.

Harry witnessed his change with wide eyes and let out a scream when it finished. “H-Hey, don't do this!”

“You lost, didn’t you?” Sol shrugged.

“Harry, give up...” Ron parted his shoulder.

“W-What?” Harry felt like he was going to lose his mind. But then he came to a sudden realization, he had to keep this hairstyle until bedtime.

“You set this challenge knowing that everyone’s coming back tonight, didn’t you?” Harry looked at Sol.

Sol mischievously grinned, “Unfortunately, it took you too long to realize.”

Ron just went wide-eyed but stayed silent. It seems he was right.

Sol looked at the despairing Harry, “You know, maybe the library has the cure to this. If you fix it yourself, I won’t say anything.”

Harry ran off without saying a word, presumably to the library. Ron came beside Sol, “You did all that just to make us read some books, didn’t you?”

“You know if you didn’t understand this even after spending more than ten years with me, I would have done the same thing to you.”

“No thanks! Well, that was just a guess on my part. Though it’s surprising you went about it in such a roundabout way. You could have just forced us, no? You’re really scary when you want to be.”

Sol laughed, “I’ll take that as a compliment. And I just wanted to have a bit of fun.”

“...”

“Let's go inside.” Sol lifted his feet and started to leave.

“Wait! What about the huge snowman?”

“I’ll take care of it after lunch.” Sol entered the castle with Ron following him.

Night, In the Great Hall

“HAHA!! Y-You actually blew all of your hair off!” Sol clutched his side as he laughed hard.

Harry who was currently bald did not let out a peep. He was wallowing in despair. It was already bad enough when he looked like a clown and now he lost all his hair improperly casting the spell. He had stayed in the library, searching for a way to revert his hair back to normal. Now, all his efforts went down the drain. If people learned of this, won’t he become a laughingstock? Especially Malfoy, who he butted heads with almost every day.

Harry lifted his head and looked at Sol with large, watery eyes. “Please return me to normal...”

“Ho? Didn’t you lose? I even said that if you fixed your hair, I wouldn’t say a thing. Now that you have ‘fixed' your hair, I’m not doing anything.” Sol spoke seriously at first but couldn’t hold back his laugh during the last half.

“Please...” Harry looked at Sol with his puppy eyes, intensely.

Sol's face scrunched up as if he was falling to Harry's trick, “Eh...fine. Only on one condition.”

“Yes! Thank you! I’ll do anything!” Harry held Sol's hand within his own. Ron who was beside them, his mouth agape from shock. He certainly never expected Sol to relent so easily. He once made bats come out of George's nose. Sol let him be like that for almost a whole day because he lost a wager. After that day, both the twins knew not to bet against Sol with anything except money.

Sol whipped his hand back, “Oi! Don’t say that willy-nilly. You never know when a woman's going to-“ He abruptly stopped it hit him that he was currently talking to 11-year-olds.

Sol coughed, “Ahem! I’ll only fix you if you learn spells from the library. I’ll ask Hermione to petrify to if you don’t learn anything.”

“F-Fine!” Harry didn’t even care about the condition, he just wanted to return back to normal. Any second now, the other students are going to return.

Sol let out a sigh and waved his wand at Harry.

Crinus Muto!

Soon Harry's hair started growing. However, this time his hairstyle changed. He no longer had that pseudo bowl cut. His hair at the sides and back was cut evenly and short. His hair on the top was a bit longer.

Sol holstered his wand, “There! Perfect! You look much better. Doesn’t he, Ron?”

Ron looked at Harry, “Yeah, it really does!” He had to admit, Sol really did pick out the best hairstyle for him.

After a while of chatting, the doors to the great hall opened and the students who returned from their vacation poured in.

Ron and Harry looked at the crowd, “Oh look! They’re back!”

“Calm down. It’s not like they left for decades. You met them not ten days ago.” Sol waved his hand in front of them. He didn’t spare a look at the crowd. Although he missed his friends, he was too lazy to turn his head to look at them and search for them amidst the huge crowd.

“We know, but you know...”

Sol sighed at them and started drinking water from his glass.

At this moment, amidst the crowd, two ruby-red eyes surveyed the great hall. When they finally found Sol, he was talking merrily talking to Ron and Harry! The owner of these eyes was overjoyed. This meant Sol had returned to normal. They hastily pushed themselves out of the crowd. They went to where Sol and the others were sitting.

“Hey there, Sol!” they greeted Sol who had his back facing them.

Ron and Harry looked up to see the owner of the voice only to be shocked as their eyes looked like they were about pop out.

When Sol had heard this voice, he felt pleasant. He nonchalantly turned around as he kept on drinking water. When he looked at the voice's owner, he choked on the water and started coughing, “Keuk! *Cough* *Cough*...”

He looked up again I check if he wasn’t dreaming. His mouth was open enough to stuff an entire orange in it.

“K-Kate...?”