Chapter 188: Chap.185 - Snowballs

Rigel looked at Harry, speechless for a moment. 'So I'm your Hermione? Well, Hermione is available, why didn't you ask her?'

Although Rigel knew exactly who Nicholas Flamel was, it only took him a moment to conclude that he didn't need to tell Harry right now.

Whether it was to avoid spoiling the plot even more, or because letting Harry figure it out on his own would be better for improving the boy's self-esteem, which would prove useful in the following years, Rigel had no interest in handing everything to Harry on a silver platter, so he only took a moment, pretending to think, to decide that he wouldn't talk about it.

He finally feigned to come to his senses and speak. "Well, the name isn't unfamiliar, but I can't remember where I heard it, sorry." Rigel opened his hands, Harry looked visibly disappointed by this, but Rigel added. "You could try asking Hermione, she reads far more books than I do."

Harry nodded, thanking him, before leaving with Ron. He was still a little disappointed that Rigel didn't know, but in truth, he had already thought about Hermione, and had even suggested her to Ron.

The conversation was basically:

Harry: "Why don't we ask Rigel?"

Ron: "That's not a good idea, for all we know, he might even have been the one who broke into Gringotts!"

Harry: "...okay, then why don't we ask Hermione?"

Ron: "...okay, let's ask Rigel."

Apparently, Ron's prejudices against Hermione were even greater than those against Rigel. It wasn't hard to understand, Rigel might be a dark wizard seeking to take Voldemort's place, but Hermione was incredibly annoying!

In Ron's mind, this made perfect sense.

//-//

The days continued to pass while Rigel practiced his transformations in the Dragon's Dream. The weather grew colder and colder, and Rigel often saw Hagrid with a huge shovel clearing snow from the outside areas. He also scraped ice off brooms, and Rigel even saw him grumbling about finding the perfect tree to hang it on, but the one he found was the home of a family of Bowtruckles, so he had to make a change.

Meanwhile, while walking down the corridors with Neville and Hermione one day, the Twins appeared out of nowhere, with Jack perched on Fred's shoulder, and pulled Rigel away.

Rigel had an exasperated look on his face.

Not because of Jack, the monkey simply loved chaos, so he spent most of his time having fun with the twins. What exasperated Rigel was that every now and then, those two wanted Rigel to join in on their pranks.

Seeing Rigel being dragged away by Fred and George, Neville and Hermione weren't at all surprised, although Hermione made a disapproving face that would have made McGonagall proud.

Neville, on the other hand, was a little sad not to participate. Although he didn't particularly like causing chaos, he enjoyed the feeling of having fun with his friends. Unfortunately, when the twins took Neville along once, Peeves appeared out of nowhere and hit Neville on the head with a snowball, causing Filch to find them, and they all ended up in front of an angry McGonagall who was deducting points from them.

The twins didn't dislike Neville, but the boy was simply the target of the world, even if Peeves didn't show up, he would always find a way to get into trouble. The other day, Neville fell out of the second floor window right onto the pile of snow that Hagrid had gathered.

Rigel didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky in that respect.

When they were far enough away, Rigel sighed and asked. "What was it this time?"

"Rigel, we had a Good idea." said George.

"A great idea!" added Fred.

"The best idea!" George continued.

Rigel's face was completely expressionless, they always started like this, praising their brilliant minds, so he just waited while they finished and finally said what they would do this time, or at least that's what Rigel thought.

"You know, there's a very deep mystery at Hogwarts this year." Fred explained, seeing Rigel's disinterested look.

"Yes, we just want to bring the truth to Hogwarts, nothing more." George continued.

"We are clearly good Samaritans!" Fred smiled.

Before George could speak, Rigel rubbed his eyebrows and said. "Can you all just say what you want already?"

George smiled and said. "Always impatient, my little friend."

"But you're right, this time we'll find out what Quirrell is hiding!" Fred explained.

"Hiding?" Rigel asked, intrigued. 'Have they discovered something about Voldemort? Or perhaps they've found out about the Philosopher's Stone?'

"Yes! What is he hiding under that turban?" George nodded.

Rigel's eyes quickly lost interest, so this was the moment. He was so focused on studying that he forgot these two guys wanted to lift Quirrell's turban with snowballs.

"Just wondering." He asked. "And how exactly do you intend to do that?"

"Of course, with snowballs!" Fred grinned from ear to ear, clearly full of mischief.

"Yes, let's enchant some snowballs and have them hit the back of Quirrell's head, that'll definitely rip that turban off!" George explained.

'As expected.' Rigel thought, sighing inwardly. He hadn't even asked how he got involved in this, by this point, the twins simply dragged him along. Most of the time he just watched, but sometimes Rigel's ideas improved the pranks, so that was probably why these guys liked to drag him along with them.

Rigel had to admit that it sounded fun, he even had some ideas, but he quickly gave up on giving his opinion, he didn't want to cause a butterfly effect where the twins actually managed to rip Quirrell's turban off and ended up dead at the hands of a furious Voldemort.

After explaining, the twins didn't even wait for Rigel to say anything, they simply grabbed his arms, one on each side, and dragged him away.

Rigel didn't mind, although he didn't want to make the situation worse, he had to admit that throwing snowballs at his dear dad's face seemed really... stimulating.

Hehehehe.

The twins had already memorized Quirrell's movements. At that moment, Quirrell was almost leaving school. To do so, he usually passed through the main gate, so the three boys and a monkey camped not far from the entrance, hidden by a large column, with a pile of snowballs nearby.

They waited patiently for over half an hour. Rigel had to admit that when it came to chaos, these guys could put aside their hyperactivity, they were even quieter than Rigel, waiting for the right moment.

It was Sunday, so people were passing by from time to time, going to and from Hogsmeade, but it wasn't until Quirrell's figure appeared that the twins became energized.

"Now's the time, prepare the spell, George." Fred said hurriedly, keeping his voice low.

"Leave it to me!" George replied, pointing his wand at the pile of snowballs. "Oppugno!"

The snowballs rose rapidly, and soon, before their animated eyes, dozens of snowballs flew away at high speed, all pointing directly at George's focal point: Quirrell's turban.

At some point, Rigel pulled a camera from the King's Treasure, and with an excited smile, as soon as the first snowball hit, he took a picture. He didn't stop, taking photos continuously.

The twins realized Rigel was a really great helper! They didn't even think about taking pictures! At that moment, Fred gave Rigel an enthusiastic thumbs-up, thankfully, he remembered to turn off the flash.

The first hit left Quirrell disoriented, his turban almost fell off, but he quickly regained his composure, when he turned to look, he instantly paled with fear.

He screamed and clutched his turban, trying to escape, but the snowballs seemed guided straight for the back of his head. Although he managed to stop the turban from falling, snowball after snowball struck his head.

Quirrell was already trembling with fear, he had finished this time. He couldn't imagine the torture he would have to endure afterward, his master would surely punish him fiercely.

He could already sense Voldemort's extreme rage, which meant that he, Quirrell, would be truly unlucky this time.

He almost wanted to go back and find the bastards who did this, using the worst curses he knew to torture them, but he still needed the philosopher's stone, he had to pretend to be the simple, harmless stutterer, Quirrell.

Between anger and fear, Quirrell continued to run away, being hit time and again, until finally, when he was out of sight, Rigel lowered the camera.

He was truly happy this time, he was going to develop the film, take the best photo, frame it, and keep it close to him like a treasure.

The twins, of course, also wanted copies. Although they didn't manage to rip off Quirrell's turban this time, at least it was fun enough.

The boys laughed as they ran away quickly, after all, if they were caught and taken to McGonagall, they were sure they would spend the rest of the school term in detention. Attacking a professor, even jokingly, would make McGonagall so furious she would tremble.

Rigel knew this too, so he quickly hid the camera, he couldn't let McGonagall find evidence, he could reveal those photos when the incident was over.

Rigel felt his mood had improved, spending time with the twins was really 'relaxing'.