“You're searching for information on Nicholas Flamel, aren’t you?”

“N-No...” Hermione hastily replied.

Sol narrowed his eyes at her. She let out a sigh. There was no hope hiding from him. She admitted that she was looking for a book on Nicholas Flamel.

“Well, it certainly won’t be in the Restricted Section. Also, I have to hand it to you. You made Harry go into a forbidden place in your place. Very clever.” Sol was in the library reading some books on jewels and gems. Apparently, they had the ability to transfer and store magic.

“Hey! Don’t say that! You’re saying it like I pushed him into danger willingly. I had to go home for Christmas and I thought that it would be the perfect time for someone to get information. Since Harry stayed behind, I...you know...” her voice became quieter and quieter.

Sol laughed and shook his head, “Alright, I’ll stop teasing. If you want to know, I can tell you myself.”

“Really?!” Hermione's eyes sparkled but dimmed suddenly as she thought of something else. “Will you attach some conditions to it?”

Sol had an amazed expression on his face, “Wow...you still remember that.” He let out a sigh, “No, there are no conditions.”

“Then, please tell me,” her eyes started sparkling as she had an expectant expression.

Sol shook his head.

Opportunist.

“Nicholas Flamel is the oldest wizard right now. He should be in his 60s right now if I remember right now...” Sol started spacing out.

“60s? That’s not too old, is it? I’m pretty sure Professor Dumbledore's older.”

Sol came back to reality, “Huh? Oh right, I meant 660s.”

“Oh...wait! He's over 600 years old!” she exclaimed.

At her loud voice, many others in the area turned to look at her. Madam Pince looked at her and lifted her index finger to her lips, “Shush!”

“Sorry...” she apologized in a quiet voice.

“Anyway, yeah, he's over 660 years old. It’s because of the reason he's famous. He is the first wizard and alchemist to create the Philosopher's Stone.”

“Huh? What's that? Alchemy?”

“In muggle terms, alchemy is just chemistry with magic mixed into it. Though I actually like chemistry a b-“ he abruptly stopped as he noticed her weird gaze. “*coughs* Right, the Philosopher's Stone is an alchemical product. It does two things: one is producing the Elixir Of Life and the other is to turn all metals into gold.”

“Huh?!” She looked around before asking again in a low voice, “Isn't that like, really dangerous?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then...” she pondered with a worried expression.

“Exactly, it isn’t something you should store in a school.” He winked at her. Having understood his meaning, Hermione nodded and turned around to leave.

“Oh yeah, Hermione.” He called for behind.

She turned around to look at him, “Yes?”

Sol turned serious, “You’re the smarter one among you three. Don’t do anything dumb.”

“Relax, will you?” She smiled and left.

Sol bitterly smiled and shook his head.

They're definitely going to do something stupid.

Late at night, Sol sat on the sofa in the common room. Whilst everyone was sleeping, he was thinking. He leaned back on the sofa and put an arm over his eyes. The room was darkened so if anyone comes, they would have to turn the lights on to notice him. After a while, he let out a long exhale.

It would be better if I could know when those three are going to head over for the stone. They know what Fluffy is guarding but don’t know how to get past him. Logically speaking, the only person who should know how to bypass Fluffy should be me, Hagrid, the Headmaster, and that mysterious man who I presume is Quirrell.

I can use the sleep potion, Hagrid having raised Fluffy should know and he told the Headmaster because...well, he’s the Headmaster. Now, the only variable is Quirrell. If I assume Quirrel to be the antagonist those three are going to face, then using plot stereotypes- it can be deduced that they should have a final confrontation with Quirrell. Now, I don’t know where they'll fight or when. This is the main problem. When. The where doesn’t matter. If I follow the three, I’ll naturally find myself in midst of the plot- which I don’t want to do. But I have to because I require the stone. Haah~ looks like my sleep is going to hell for this year.

As Sol kept on thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of two doors opening and closing. He quickly whipped out his wand and cast the Disillusionment charm on himself. As he silently waited, three figures came downstairs. They were precisely Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Sol looked at the three and started panicking.

Oh shit! Are they going to confront Quirrell today? No wait...they still suspect Snape so they shouldn’t just jump to conclusions, right?

And Sol hit the nail on the head. Hermione turned to Ron and Harry. She warned, “Don't let us get caught by the professors, or else we’ll get detention.”

“Relax, Hermione. We won’t get caught, we’re going to be extra sneaky. They won’t even see us.” Ron waved her off.

She scoffed, “Still, I don’t want to get caught. Unlike you two, I don’t want to get caught breaking the rules.”

“Then, just don’t come. If you don’t like to break the rules, then we’ll go to Hagrid ourselves,” Ron retorted.

“Please, without me there- you wouldn’t even know what to ask.”

“Fine, fine, come on. Stop arguing, we need to go.” Harry pacified the two and the three of them then left the common room. Sol activated Mana Eyes and followed closely behind them.

Sol was quite relieved when he heard that they were going to Hagrid's hut. If not, he would be going in totally unprepared. As he followed them through the halls, he noticed that Professor McGonagall was checking the students' homework in one of the classrooms. The trio and Sol pass by the classroom and out of the castle.

The sky was black and littered with stars. Sol noticed that there was no moon. It must be a night with the new moon. It was a shame that Hogwarts didn’t let students sleep outside or else Sol would’ve absolutely loved sleeping beneath the stars for a night or two. In the darkness of the night, the only source of light was coming from Hagrid's hut. The trio quickly came in front of his door and knocked on it.

Hagrid opened the door and Harry spoke, “Hagrid-“

But he got interrupted by Hagrid who hurriedly said, “Oh, hello. Sorry, don’t wish to be rude but I’m in no fit state to entertain today.” He tried to close the door but the three said in unison, “We know about the Philosopher's stone.”

Hagrid opened the door and gave them a disgruntled ‘oh’ before inviting them in. Sol couldn’t get inside without using force and so he stood outside the door. He deactivated Mana Eyes and sent mana up to his ear which increased his hearing.

Inside the room, Harry's voice sounded out, “We think Snape's trying to steal it.”

“Blimey. You’re still not on about him, are ya?”

“Hagrid! We know he’s after the stone, we just don’t know why!” Harry replied stubbornly.

“Snape is one of the teachers protecting the stone. He's not about to steal it.”

“What?”

“You heard. Come on now, I’m a bit preoccupied today-“

“Wait a minute.”

As they're talking about the stone inside, Sol has his mind on other things.

Why the hell is Hagrid so fidgety today? Is there somethi- is the dragon egg hatching today?

Inside the house, Harry asked, “One of the teachers?”

“Of course!” Hermione exclaimed as if she just realized something. “There are other things defending the stone, aren’t there? Spells, enchantments!”

“That’s right. Waste of bloody time if you ask me,” Hagrid's disgruntled voice sounded out.

“Ain’t no one gonna get past Fluffy-“ Hagrid snickered, “-Ain’t a soul knows how, except for me and Dumbledore... I shouldn’t have told you that, I should not have told you that.”

Sol was a bit happy that his deductions were on point.

At this moment, something started making noise from inside the hut. It was like a pot was tumbling around. Sounds of shuffling were heard next and Hagrid going ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’. Sol was a bit confused. He activated Mana Eyes again and looked through the hut. Mana Eyes doesn’t let you see through walls perfectly. You can only see the outline of mana within things through walls. He could see an outline of three people and a tall person. They were surrounding something. It looked a bit like an egg but was the size of a show box.

Must be the four surrounding the dragon egg. Just as I thought, it really is hatching.

As he kept on watching, he suddenly heard the sounds of hurried footsteps behind him. He snapped his head back to look at the source only to see Draco Malfoy sneaking his way to the hut.

The fuck is he doing here?

He had a somewhat sinister look on his face. No, sinister isn’t the right word. It's the face a child makes when he’s about to do something he was told not to. Right, mischievous but with a hint of malice. He sneaked his way to one of the windows and started to peer through it.

I-Is he trying to eavesdrop like me? What's his role in this? No, I shouldn’t just assume the worst. I know he has conflicts with Harry. It might also be just a case of him trying to make trouble for Harry and his friends. Let’s wait and see.

Sol resumed eavesdropping but kept an eye on Draco.

“I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one?” Ron's excited voice sounded out.

“I won it, off a stranger I met down at the pub. He seemed quite glad to get rid of it. As a matter of fact.”

Sol clicked his tongue.

A sudden popping and cracking sound came out from inside the hut and everything went silent except for a sound that sounded quite like squealing.

Sol used Mana Eyes and saw that the dragon had just hatched. All the people inside were fascinated and stared at the dragon.

That's a good hatchling. Decent amount of mana, strong bones, healthy eyes, and oh! It’s a female.

“Is that...a dragon?” Hermione asked.

“That's not just any dragon. That’s a Norwegian Ridgeback, my brother Charlie works with those in Romania.” Ron excitedly replied.

“Isn't he beautiful?” Hagrid marveled in a voice that sounded as though he was going to cry. “Oh! Bless him, he knows his mummy! Sol would love to see this.”

“Sol? He knew about this?” Hermione asked.

“Of course. He’s a good lad, he is. Always comes and chats with me. He likes beasties too, ya know? He even eats my rock cakes.”

“Is that right?” Harry wondered.

“Hello, Norbert,” Hagrid affectionately called. Sol guessed he was referring to the dragon.

Wait, Norbert?

“Norbert?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, well, he’s got to have a name, don’t he?

Sol was flabbergasted as he stood there with his eyes wide.

Man, I’m not even inside the house and I know the dragon's a female. What the fuck?! Why are you certain it’s a boy? Just lift the tail up and check its dic-... vag- fuck! I mean, check its genitals!

“Oh you, Norbert~ tidididi~” Hagrid must be playing with the dragon.

Then a sudden squeaky voice let out a hiccup and a zwoosh sounded out. Then something sizzled alongside Hagrid making ‘ooh’ sounds.

“He’ll have to be trained up a bit of course hehe.”

Sol only saw a sudden burst of mana front the dragon's mouth onto Hagrid's outline.

It must’ve breathed fire on him.

“Who's that?” Hagrid asked.

With that, Sol saw Draco hurriedly leaving the hut towards the castle.

Guess he got caught.

Soon after, the three left Hagrid's hut and went inside the castle. Of course, Sol was following them to see what happened. As they went inside the castle, they were heading towards Professor McGonagall's classroom.

Sol automatically understood what was going to happen next.

“Hagrid always wanted a dragon. Told me so the first time I ever met him.” Harry reminisced.

“That's crazy.” Ron then put on a worried expression, “Worse, Malfoy knows.”

“I don’t understand, is that bad?”

“It’s bad.” As Ron said this, Professor McGonagall appeared in front of them. She looked at the three of them, “Good evening.”

From behind her Draco appeared and looked at them with a shit-eating grin. Sol clasped his mouth shut as he had to resist laughing out loud.

Look at him! He looks so satisfied. Just look at his face, haha! What the fuck is his plan exactly? To get the three in trouble for being out of bed? Then what the fuck are you doing right now, Draco? Sleeping?

Professor McGonagall took the four into her classroom to presumably mete out their punishment. The professor stood behind her desk while Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in front of it. Draco stood to a side and glanced at them from time to time, happy at their misfortune.

“Nothing. I repeat, nothing, gives a student the right to walk about the school at night. Therefore as punishment, 50 points will be taken.” The professor looked very cross as she looked at the three of them.

Hearing this the three looked at each other with their mouths agape.

“50?!” Harry asked again clearly not accepting this.

“Each.” The professor said again and the three's jaws went even lower. “And to ensure it doesn’t happen again, all four of you will receive detention.”

Draco looked at the three with a pleased expression. However, his grin vanished as he looked at the professor with a stupefied expression, not sure if he correctly heard what she said.

He then stepped up to her desk, “Excuse me, professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong, I thought you said the four of us?”

“No, you heard me correctly, Mr. Malfoy. As honorable as your intentions were, you too we’re out of bed after hours.”

As the professor was speaking, Harry's lipped curled up and fully turned into a shit-eating grin, reveling in Draco's misfortune. Oh, how the turntables tables have turned.

Professor McGonagall continued, “As such, you will join your classmates in detention.”

Having heard this, Draco knew that he had no choice but to comply. All he could do was look at Harry and his friend with an expression that was half-contempt and half-angry.

All this time, Sol was shuddering and shaking furiously. He was holding back his laughter with all his might.

W-What exactly was your plan there?