"Ah! I did it! I did it!" Katie jumped into Cormac and Sol's embrace in the common room.

"Yeah, congratulations!" Cormac returned her hug.

"Fuc- yeah, good job getting into the Quidditch team!" Sol patted her head then went off to pour himself a glass of water. "All you have to do now is win some games and the Quidditch Cup is in the bag," Sol remarked as he drank.

"Yep!" she replied excitedly.

Similar scenes were happening all throughout Hogwarts as students got celebrated getting into the Quidditch team of their respective houses. Inside the Gryffindor common room, Katie and some others kept on jumping around in excitement while others looked at them with happy smiles on their faces and congratulated them. As this was going on, Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team spoke, "Now, I know you guys are very happy but I hope you know what our goal for this year is."

The Gryffindor team as well as normal students shouted in unison, "To win the Quidditch Cup!"

"Yes! That's the spirit! Quidditch team, we will begin training from next week. The games will begin two weeks later. Are we clear?!"

"Yes!" The quidditch team replied in unison.

"Okay, that's all!" Wood stopped talking and left the room, presumably to talk to Professor McGonagall, the headteacher of Gryffindor.

Katie turned around and say, "Finally! All that practice has paid- huh? Where's Sol?"

Cormac was caught off-guard with that question, "Huh? What do you mean? He's right he-" He extended his finger to point at Sol only to find no one there. "Where is he?-" he looked at Katie,"-maybe he's gone to the loo."

And Sol really was in the loo. He washed his face with water and looked at the mirror in front of him. Beads of water dropped off his face like small pearls. He had a look of disgust on his face.

"Ugh!" he rubbed his face. His face tugged downwards as his skin stretched revealing the inner red parts of his eyes. "It feels like there's something wriggling in his mind." He dried his face with a towel before leaving it to dry. "I have no idea why I chose to do this."

He thought back to the time before he came to Hogwarts. Specifically two days after he got Tom Riddle's diary. He tried to take notes of some Dark spells. When he noticed something invading his mind. It was extremely minuscule yet it wasn't something that could escape Sol's mind. He instantly understood what was happening. The diary was casting the Imperius curse on him though it was extremely weak. But why was it weak? Sol decided to let it remain in his mind to see what the diary was going to do. After using the diary for a few more days, he finally understood. Every time he used the diary it would cast weak amounts of Imperius curse on him. These would pile up and eventually cause him to be controlled. Sol didn't feel impressed though. This kind of scheme should be expected from someone renowned as the Dark Lord. Otherwise, he should just kill himself. Sol felt curious. Why was it given to Ginny specifically? Lucius and by extension, Voldemort could've really given it to anyone. But why was it given to Ginny Weasley?

After a lot of thinking, Sol concluded that whatever their plan was, it revolved around the diary being in Hogwarts. Otherwise, there would be no reason for it to be given to a first-year student. Moreover, if the diary operated similarly as it did with Sol, then an eleven-year-old would very likely take advice from Tom Riddle who stated he was 16 years old in this diary as they would see Tom Riddle be someone more experienced than them. And seeing as how the diary was slowly trying to take control of Sol, there's no doubt it would do the same for an eleven-year-old, albeit a bit faster. The second question, why the diary was given to Ginny, was also solved. Sol supposed that it was Lucius' own decision that the diary was given to Ginny as opposed to literally any other first-year. In Flourish and Blotts, it became increasingly apparent that Lucius despises the Weasley family as he views them to be a disgrace to the Wizard name. So, he gave the book to Ginny due to his grudge with the Weasleys. Sol shook his head as he thought about how Lucius' grudge paid off as Ginny was a perfect candidate to be manipulated. Going through unknown feelings such as love, studying in a new school and a new environment with strangers are bound to cause some emotional turmoil. Making it even easier to control her. In a way, it was better that Sol took the diary away from Ginny.

Sol also willingly let the Imperius curse invade him. Though doing so brought about more problems. It seems his thoughts are being influenced as well and his personality is becoming more erratic. He is suppressing it to a minimum but it is more likely that it'll become harder to control as time goes on. But it's only hard for anyone else but Sol. This is still child's play as far as he is concerned.

Sol came out of the loo and rejoined everyone in the common room. Katie ran up to him, "Where did you go?"

"Was in the loo. Do you want to accompany me next time?" Sol joked but was instantly met with a punch to the gut.

"Ugh!" Sol bent over. It really didn't hurt him that much but he knew from experience that if he didn't show her a reaction, she'll keep on hitting him.

"Hmph!" she snorted and stomped away. Cormac came up to him and patted him on the back, "She's gone."

Sol instantly straightened up, "Really?"

"Yep!" He looked at Sol, "Woah, man! Are you alright? You look a bit pale."

"Just a bit tired."

"What's up with you? You've been 'tired' really often this year. Guess I have to get you a lot of Butterbeer to energize you!"

Sol chuckled, "I'll hold you to that promise."

"Go ahead, stingy bastard," Cormac laughed as well.

A Few Days Later, Influence of Imperius Curse: 15%

"Come on! Come on! Lockhart's classes are starting!" Katie dashed in front of them.

"Damn! Why are you so excited? The dude seems really incompetent!" Sol remarked grumpily.

"Hmph! What do you know? He's just had some setbacks."

"No, I agree with Sol." Cormac took Sol's side and said, "He set a murtlap loose in our room on his first class. Had Sol not stopped it, that one Slytherin girl would still be shooting flames out of her arse!"

"Yeah! Let's not talk about our class. He couldn't even control a bunch of Cornish Pixies on Ron's first class. Neville got hanged by his collar on the chandelier."

"Like I said," Katie said a bit forcefully, "Just some setbacks." This made Cormac shut his mouth.

Sol scoffed, "What a reta-" He cut himself off. The other two looked at him, "Did you say something?"

"I did not."

"Then let's go!" Katie urged as she dashed forward.

The three entered Lockhart's class and after a while, the classroom became packed. There was a cloth covering a large box-like object in front of the room. There's an extra room inside every classroom where teachers prepare for their lessons. Lockhart came out of the room. With his usual shit-eating smile, he spoke, "Welcome, students! Let's start my, Gilderoy Lockhart's class. Hehe~"

"No..." the boys groaned. The girls looked at him with affection in their eyes. Though their affection had lessened compared to what it was during Lockhart's first class.

"You may be wondering what's under this cloth. But I must warn you. The creatures under this cloth are sometimes even more dangerous than the murtlaps we've seen."

Sol massaged his brows upon hearing this. Good lord, he said 'creatures'...

Lockhart looked at the crowd. "I present to you-" he vigorously addressed the crowd as he pulled the cloth from the box, "-Plague Rats!"

Squeak! Squeak!

"Kyaa~!"

"Eeek!"

"Oh, God!"

"Ah Damn!"

Various screams rang out, mostly from the girls and a few from some cowardly boys. Cormac cringed and Sol rubbed his face when they saw what was under the cloth. A huge cage filled with a mass of grey and furry monsters. They squirmed inside the cage. There were over 50 of them. Their glowing red eyes sometimes staring at the students. The more squeamish students directly fainted. But that wasn't the end of it. With Sol's sharp eyes, he saw a larger mass of sickly-green fur inside.

"There's Giant Plague Rats as well?" Sol's tone came off as an observation at first but sounded like whining at the end.

"Astute observation, Mr. Balor!" Lockhart praised. "These Plague Rats can usually be found in sewage systems and are very dangerous-"

Rattle! Clank!

The cage rattled as the rats inside it. Lockhart continued, "The grey Plague Rats follow the orders of the larger and green Giant Plague Rat. Their venom is concentrated in their fangs and causes diseases if bitten by one of them. These diseases are highly infectious and can proliferate at an incredible rate, infecting thousands in half a day. Today, I'll be showing you how to deal with them."

Lockhart got his wand out. Sol could feel something bad about to happen so he got his wand out as well followed by Cormac. Some other students also got their wand out.

Lockhart grinned at them, "To subdue Plague Rats, you must first subdue their leaders, the Giant Plague rats. Like so, Stupefy!"

A light green colored bolt flew out of Lockhart's wand. The entire process made the students inside feel like their hearts were inside a vice. Some students were also ready to bolt out of the room if something were to happen. What happened next would be etched deeply inside the mind of every student there, scarring them.

Lockhart's spell missed and hit the latch locking the cage in, unlocking the door to the cage.