Sol woke up from his sleep and rubbed his drowsy face. It was the morning of the next day and the classes were starting. He slowly got up from the bed and headed to the washroom attached to the sleeping quarters.

Cupping his hands, he gathered water from the tap and splashed it on his face. He felt fully awake after washing his face. Gazing at his reflection in the mirror, he sighed. He was still worried about what the Law of the World was scheming.

What makes it even worse is that he doesn’t know anything about the plot, making it nigh impossible to guess what the end goal is. Sol wore his school robes and walked out of the washroom after a bath.

The other fourth years were also starting to wake up one by one.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Cormac yawned.

“Yeah, I’m going to get breakfast now,” Sol walked towards the door.

“Oi, wait for me.”

“No, you’ll take too long,” he shook his head and left the room. He walked down the stairs and saw other Gryffindor students in the common room. It seems that the majority of them were second years.

Sol passed all of them and left the common room. As the portrait door close behind him, the Fat Lady looked at him with surprise. “Not rising early anymore, Mr. Balor?”

“Nah, I’ll take it a bit easy this year,” Sol walked down the grand staircase and through the halls. Soon, he was in front of the Grand Hall. The doors were open and he walked right in. Finding a seat, he waited for his breakfast.

Soon, a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast appeared in front of him. With a fork and knife in hand, he dug in. He glanced around as he ate. Hogwarts was as lively as ever. No one would ever think that an 11-year-old died here.

At this point, he can only defend. He can try and guess what will happen but never take the initiative. As long as there are openings, the Law of the World will fully exploit them to remove the anomaly a.k.a. him.

He sliced the bacon with a resigned yet relieved look on his face. It’s better, I suppose, that I’m in Hogwarts. I don’t think I can deal with constant road accidents.

“Oi, why didn’t you wait for me?” Cormac slapped his back and sat beside him.

“See how late you are?” he gave him the side-eye. “I was already hungry; you want me to starve to death?”

“Anyway,” he changed the topic. “What classes do we have today?”

“Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes,” Sol counted on his fingers.

“Oh, you’re taking those this year?” Cormac looked at him.

“Yeah, as much as I think predicting the future is useless, at least Arithmancy has some use in the outside world, unlike Divination,” Sol scoffed. “Speaking of Divination, didn’t you say you’re taking it and Care of Magical Creatures?”

“Yeah, Divination is an easy subject,” Cormac affirmed.

“But why Care of Magical Creatures then? If you wanted easy subjects, should’ve gone for Muggle Studies.”

“As much as I like the easy way out, even I’m not stupid enough to take Muggle Studies especially when my mum’s a muggle!”

“Huh?” Sol looked surprised. “You’re surprisingly not that much of a dumbass.”

“Did you have to say that?” Cormac glared at him.

Suddenly, a voice reached Sol’s ears, “Mr. Balor, would you mind coming with me?”

Both he and Cormac turned around and saw Professor McGonagall looking down at them. Sol’s eyes rippled with unknown emotions. He nodded his head and got up before following the professor out of the great hall.

They did not talk throughout the entire walk. He followed her into her office in the Transfiguration classroom. The professor went behind her desk while he stood in front of it. Opening a drawer, she took out a pendant on a chain. The pendant looked like an hourglass.

“Mr. Balor, do you know what this is?” Professor McGonagall asked him.

“I do,” Sol nodded. “It’s a time turner.”

“Now, Mr. Balor, I believe this-” she placed the time turner on her open palm, “-will be of use to you if you want to take all of the electives.”

“Professor,” he sighed, “with all due respect, the electives I’m taking are actually of use to me. I loathe Divination, tolerate Arithmancy, couldn’t care less for Care of Magical Creatures, and don’t have to take Muggle Studies when I have a muggle father myself.”

“Oh?” she asked in surprise. “I’d thought you’d be interested in Divination just to get good marks in it. That’s why I was surprised that you didn’t take Divination in your previous year.”

“Honestly, Professor. Learning Divination and the act of seeing the future is useless.”

“Why is that, Mr. Balor?”

Sol took out his wand and waved it slowly as small balls of lights emerged from the tip of the wand. These small balls of light were glowing softly to not hurt the viewer’s eyes. The innumerable balls of light danced in the Professor’s office.

He put his wand out and started speaking, “Professor, take these wisps of light as one’s potential future. Each of these futures can be reached by doing specific things.”

“Yes, that’s how it works,” Professor McGonagall agreed.

He reached out and grabbed a ball of light, “However, once we view the future, only the future that we can achieve once we do that specific task will be reachable.” He opened his palm. The professor saw that the ball did not float away but instead rested on his palm.

“For linear decisions, say for example: whether or not eating something will give you food poisoning, it’s okay to try and see the future. However, for vague things, it’s best not to do so. In most cases, numerous actions can lead to the same outcome. So, in 90% of cases, unless you have a clear view of the future, whatever actions you take after viewing only glimpses of the future will have no effect.”

“But wouldn’t knowing the future allow you to avoid danger?”

“Again, that’s only for linear decisions. Also, divining the future only shows you a specific future and one which you most likely achieve based on your current state. It never shows you what to do. And speaking optimistically, the best it can do is show you not to do one specific set of actions. But there is no guarantee that even if you do something else, it will not lead you to the same fate.” Sol waved his hand and the balls of light vanished.

“Mr. Balor, you have thought an awful lot just to avoid Divination,” Professor McGonagall looked at him with a smile.

Sol chuckled, “Professor, are you teasing me?”

“No such thing. So, I take it you don’t want the time-turner?”

“No,” he shook his head. He then looked at her with another thought, “Professor, I don’t think you should give it to Hermione either.”

“Why do you think so?” the Professor failed to hide her shock.

“Of course, you’d only give it to people who have a thirst for knowledge.”

“You still haven’t explained why I shouldn’t give it to her. I believe Ms. Granger would be elated to have the opportunity to learn more.”

“At the cost of her health?” he raised his eyebrows. “Professor, if we were to take the classes that don’t have conflicting times we would have to attend at best three. The lessons we have to review from those classes and their homework, as well as the compulsory subjects, would be a death sentence. I believe if you really are insistent on giving her the time turner, it would be best to reduce the homework given to her.”

“I see…” her voice trailed off as she fell into deep thought. After a while, she looked at him and said, “I understand, you may go now.”

“Very well, I’ll see you later today, professor.” Sol nodded and headed out the door.

As he was about to close the door behind him, Professor McGonagall said, “I’ll recommend you for Prefect next year, Mr. Balor.”

“What?” Sol was stunned. “Wai-” but before he could finish, she waved her hand and the door shut on his face.

“…but I don’t want to be Prefect,” he muttered weakly. Sighing heavily, he left the Transfiguration classroom.

He walked through the halls. First was Potions class, so he had a class with the Slytherins. Having nothing to do, he hummed a song as the lyrics formed in his mind.

“I wanted to learn what I didn’t know, but there was nothing left for me to learn.”