Sol sat at the shores of the Black Lake, peering toward the horizon. The sun was setting behind the mountains, dyeing the sky and the water in a calm orange. It was surprisingly tranquil. Classes had ended for the day and the students had already eaten their lunch.

Sol inhaled and exhaled deeply. He was contemplating recent events. “So, uh… she’s interested in me, right? Like interested interested? Like romantically interested, right?” Inhaling deeply, he recalled her giving him a bouquet of orchids two days ago. And suddenly, some of her actions these past two or three years certainly make sense to him now.

He grabbed a nearby pebble and skipped it on the water. After five skips, it sunk into the water. Sol inhaled again and exhaled. He had never faced such problems before and certainly didn’t know how to face them now. Sol pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn’t know how to respond to these events.

“What do I even do?” Sol skipped another pebble.

Plop, plop, plop!

The rock skipped the water thrice before sinking. “What do I do if she confesses? Do I accept? Do I reject? What happens after I accept? What happens if I reject? Nah, rejecting might be a bad option. She won’t like it, and it might ruin what we have now. However, accepting? What do I do after I accept? Am I expected to love her? Do I have to love to accept, or can that happen after I accept? Fuck!”

Sol clutched a clump of his hair in frustration. This entire situation was like a labyrinth. Everywhere he turned, it was a dead end. Suddenly, Sol began to laugh out of frustration and from the irony of his situation. “Someone like me is worried about something as trivial as teenage love. No, I should be troubled by teenage love since I am a teenager.”

Sol sighed again. He couldn’t even find anyone to turn to other than his mother. But that meant he had to wait till Christmas Holidays, which was in December. “I can already tell mom’s going to laugh at my face about this and run off to tell my father afterward.”

Just as Sol was about to pick up another pebble to skip, he heard someone call him from before.

“What are you doing here, Sol?”

He didn’t even have to turn around to tell it was Katie. He continued to pick up the rock and skip it. He replied, “Better question would be: what are you doing here, Kate?”

“Uh… I was feeling bored in the Common Room all alone, so I came over to talk with you,” she said skittishly.

Sol turned around and looked at her with a smile. She was wearing a cardigan and some jeans with her brown hair tied in a ponytail. He wondered aloud, “All alone in the common room, huh? Well then-” he patted the ground next to him, “-sit down.”

“Oh, okay,” she walked forward and folded her legs to sit down next to him. In silence, she watched him skipping rocks for a few minutes. After the third rock, she asked, “So, what are you thinking about?”

“Thinking?” Sol went to pick up another rock. There were no other rocks. So he dusted his hands and continued, “Just wondering how magic is so…well, magical.”

“Huh?” she looked at him in confusion.

Sol smiled in response and said, “Well, you can do so much with it. Heal, entertain, travel, grow, and so much more.”

She seemed to ponder his words for a while. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she replied, “Well, I haven’t really thought like that for a while, maybe ever since first year.”

“Most pure-blood wizards never think about how wondrous magic is. They’ve been around it their entire lives, unlike us, who learned how to do magic when we were eleven.”

“Now that you say it, yeah! It’s made our lives bloody easy!”

Sol nodded in agreement, “From traveling to work to just daily household chores, and even…” Sol paused.

“And even?” Katie looked at him with an inquisitive smile.

“And even… just making life more fun, I suppose.”

“Yeah, that’s right! Life’s just more interesting with magic. Sure beats my days as a muggle.”

Sol stared at her with a smile that said nothing. It looked as though he was simply agreeing with him.

She continued, “I can guess why you’re out here just for this.”

“Nothing to guess,” Sol said, “I’m just here for-”

She cut him off, “For some peace and quiet.”

Sol didn’t look much surprised. He simply raised his eyebrows and said, “You know me well.”

She laughed, “I’ve been with you since we were eleven; of course, I would. And-” she swallowed gingerly and continued, “-I hope I get to stay with you fore- for the days to come as well.”

Sol wanted to turn away so that she wouldn’t see his expression, but in the end, he just said, “Yeah, so do I.” Sol smiled at her; for the first time in this conversation, he genuinely did so.

Katie looked at him with wide eyes and then turned her head away. Sol’s expression once again became neutral as he stared out into the horizon. “What am I doing? What should I do?”

“Let’s go, Sol,” Katie stood up and dusted her pants off.

“Hmm, where?”

“Back to the common room? Where else? Come on, it’s getting dark. And we don’t want to be out when it’s dark.”

Sol stared at her. Exhaling deeply, he got up and dusted his pants. “Sure, let’s go, Kate.”

They walked on the trail back to the castle. In the calming silence, only the leaves rustled and the grass swayed underneath their feet as the wind softly howled. Suddenly, she asked, “What do you want to be after you graduate, Sol?”

“Never thought about it, honestly,” his response was instantaneous. But he continued, feeling that she might be unsatisfied with what he had said, “Well, really, it depends. Depends on how the world is when I graduate, depends on my mindset, and depends on who I marry.”

“On who you m-marry?” Katie stuttered, but as the sky was getting darker, he couldn’t quite see her expression.

“If I marry a muggle, then it’ll have to be a muggle job; if it’s a witch, then something in the Wizarding World or a Ministry Job. Like I said, I haven’t given much thought to it.”

“Then…” Katie seemed to be twirling her hair, “would you rather marry a muggle or a witch?”

Sol laughed hearing that question.

“W-What’s so funny?” Katie yelled at him.

“No-ha-ha-thing,” Sol denied it while laughing, so it wasn’t very convincing. “No, it’s nothing. Just that, I’ve never really thought about this either.” He lied. “But since you asked, I’ll answer right away.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Sol nodded. He thought for a while and decided to answer her question, “Well, from a logical standpoint, I’ll probably be well integrated into the Wizarding lifestyle. It doesn’t make sense to purposefully take myself out of that and marry a muggle. So, I suppose I’ll marry a witch.” These were his honest thoughts.

Even though he didn’t turn around to see her face and even though he couldn’t see her face in the dark, he knew she was happy. She was radiating joy.

Katie said in an upbeat tone, “That’s good to know!”

“Good to know?” Sol questioned with a smile, “Why?”

“N-No reason.”

Sol laughed inwardly at her hurried reply. Soon, they entered the castle through the large front gate. As they made their way to the shifting staircases, they heard a gravelly and grouchy voice call out to them, “Students out of the castle after dark? Looks like someone wants detention.” The voice laughed gruffly.

They didn’t even need to turn around to know that it was Argus Filch, the caretaker of the school.

“Oh, bloody hell…” Katie muttered under her breath.

“Well, nothing we can do now,” Sol whispered to her. He then looked at Filch and said, “Let’s go then. Make it quick.”

“Right this way,” Filch gestured to follow him. Filch walked with a limp with his cat, Mrs. Norris, right beside him. Sometimes, the cat would stare at them with its blood-red eyes, mocking them.

As they walked, Katie leaned close to him and whispered to him, “You left the castle before too. How did you come back without being caught by Filch?”

Sol shook his head, “I have my ways, but I kind of forgot because I was with you.”

Katie inhaled sharply at his words. He didn’t understand what elicited this response from her.

Filch led them to a classroom and gestured them to head inside. The two of them walked inside and found Professor McGonagall checking some papers. Sol guessed that they were students’ homework.

When they stepped in front of her, the Professor stopped writing and looked up. She tilted her head down to look at them without her glasses. When she looked at Filch, the latter said, “Caught the two of them entering the castle now.”

“I see….” Professor McGonagall nodded. “You may leave now, Argus. I’ll take care of it.”

“Yes, madam,” Filch left, but not before flashing the two students a mocking grin.

As he watched Filch leave, Sol remarked, “He’s probably like that because of Fred and George.”

“Yeah, no doubt,” Katie agreed.

“No, Mr. Balor and Ms. Bell, Argus has been like that since long ago. However, I am very disappointed in you two. Five points from Gryffindor for each of you!”

Hearing the point deduction, Katie looked visibly sad, while Sol had no particular reaction. The Professor continued, “As per school rules, both of you are liable for detention. And your detention will be to help me tomorrow as teaching assistants for tomorrow’s first-year Transfiguration classes.”

Sol raised his eyebrows and said in surprise, “C-Can you even do that, Professor? Make no mistake, I’m not challenging your authority. I just find it off seeing how we never had any of our seniors be teaching assistants before.”

“Well, we usually don’t use them for first-year students. And it’s strictly a detention-only task. We can’t just have teaching assistants since that wouldn’t be in line with the impartial stance of the professors.”

“Makes sense,” Sol nodded.

“If it does, then I will see you tomorrow. Please return to your common room, Mr. Balor and Ms. Bell.”

“Yes, ma’am.”