In fact, things weren't that bad. Although Merlin didn't know who the occupant was, that person knew just as much about him as he did about them.
Aside from the fact that both of them were aware of the Room of Requirement's existence, almost nothing.
So, for all his worries, he could simply forget everything related to the Room of Requirement for now, lie low for a while, and the other party might eventually forget the whole thing ever happened.
At least that was what Merlin kept telling himself as he sat at the Gryffindor table with a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and sausages in front of him.
"Hey, mate. Are you alright?"
Lee's voice cut through his thoughts.
Merlin blinked and looked up. His friend's brow was creased with mild concern.
"Yup," he said with a small shrug. "As good as one can be."
Lee tilted his head. "Are you, though?" He gestured at Merlin's plate with his fork. "You've been staring at your food for more than five minutes now."
Merlin glanced down at the plate.
"…Have I?"
"Yeah. I was starting to think you were trying to set it on fire with your mind."
Merlin let out a short, genuine chuckle and finally picked up his fork properly. "Just thinking. Though jokes on you. Someday I might actually be able to set it on fire with just my mind."
He wasn't talking in the air. In his mother's own words, there were exercises for every branch of magic there was. Fire magic should be no exception.
Lee snorted. "Haha, nice joke. Mind telling me what you were thinking about?"
Merlin glanced at Lee as he replied, "About how I woke up way earlier than I wanted because someone in our dorm was snoring like a drunk troll trying to sing opera."
Lee blinked once.
Then he barked out a loud laugh that made a sleepy third-year two seats down shoot them an annoyed look.
"Must've been Fred," Lee said immediately. "That guy looks like he could snore."
Merlin just looked at him.
Lee's grin slowly faded. He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning faintly pink.
"Alright… guilty as charged." He gave an awkward chuckle. "Mum always said I could wake the dead with snores. Sorry you had to deal with that on the first proper morning. It's an old habit and not something in my control. She dragged me to so many doctors when I was little, but no one could ever figure out why it happens."
Merlin raised an eyebrow. "Is it that bad?"
"Really bad," Lee admitted, stabbing a sausage with unnecessary force. "Doctors couldn't even figure out the exact cause. It's just unique to me, apparently."
A brief silence stretched between them.
"Well," Merlin said after a moment, "you're in luck, then. I was planning to hit the library after breakfast. Got a couple of things I need to look up. We could check if there's anything in the books about fixing loud snoring while we're there."
Merlin took a sip of pumpkin juice before adding casually, "What do you say? Want to tag along?"
Lee hesitated as he looked up. "Well… I did promise Fred and George last night that we'd explore the castle together today."
Merlin shrugged. "Didn't I promise them the same thing? Is it our fault they're still sleeping in?"
Lee thought about it for a second. "…Alright. Let's go, then."
He leaned back slightly, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice. "I'm curious about the Hogwarts library too. They say it's the biggest collection of magical books in the world."
Merlin smiled and finally cut into one of the sausages on his plate. "Alright, that's the spirit. Let's finish this up first."
For the first time that morning, Merlin actually focused on eating.
He took a bite of the sausage and paused for a moment, once again surprised by how good the food at Hogwarts tasted. It was juicy, well-seasoned, and perfectly cooked.
Which made his thoughts wander.
To be honest, he had never dared to push his body too hard in this world. The food at the orphanage had been barely enough to sustain basic health, let alone support intense training. Just recovering would have been a nightmare.
So he had limited himself mostly to practicing his sword forms, which also provided some assistance to his other self in mastering swordsmanship.
But now things were different. Here at Hogwarts, he had access to warm, plentiful, and nutritious food every day. The difference in quality alone was staggering.
Merlin chewed thoughtfully.
Perhaps it was time to start training properly again. Although doing so would reduce the time he already spent practicing unstructured magic in his free hours, a strong physique would benefit him in the long run.
The wizarding world was bound to be chaotic in a few years once the savior started attending Hogwarts, especially for Muggle-borns like him. In circumstances where he had to defend himself, a good physique would give him faster movement, stamina to last longer, or simply the option to run when his magical reserves ran dry. It was worth every effort he put into it.
Merlin took another bite of sausage.
Well, it's decided, then. He'd start from tomorrow morning.
As he continued eating, his gaze drifted across the Great Hall, which felt unusually quiet compared to the chaos of the previous evening.
Since it was still early—barely past eight—and there were no classes today, very few students had bothered to wake up for breakfast yet. Even at the Gryffindor table, aside from Merlin and Lee, only a handful of older students were eating.
Most of the castle would probably start trickling in closer to nine.
...
The Hogwarts library was on the first floor of the castle, just down a wide corridor to the left after climbing the marble staircase, which made it pretty easy to find. The staircase being still for once also helped.
Not even five minutes after slipping out of the Great Hall, Merlin and Lee stood in front of dark, tall double doors carved with intricate swirling patterns that looked like runes. A small brass plaque beside them read Hogwarts Library in neat, gilded letters.
As they entered, a faint musty scent of old paper and ink hit Merlin's nose.
"Bloody hell," Lee whispered, eyes wide as he stepped in behind him. "It's massive."
Merlin completely agreed with him. The library that unfolded before him could give the giant libraries he had seen in metropolitan cities in his previous life a run for their money. The aesthetic was even somewhat better.
Rows upon rows of towering bookshelves stretched into the distance, packed so tightly that the aisles between them felt like narrow canyons. Sunlight filtered through tall, arched windows high above, catching dust motes in lazy golden beams. Brass reading lamps sat on long wooden tables.
The ceiling was vaulted and painted with constellations that seemed to shimmer faintly. At the far end, a corded-off section loomed in shadow, probably the Restricted Section, if the warning signs were anything to go by.
As it was a holiday and so early in the morning, the idea of hitting the library was probably the last thing on most people's minds, so it was mostly empty, but Merlin could still see a few figures in blue and bronze robes sitting at the reddish-brown desks that sat between the rows of bookshelves, with their books out in front of them.
Should he say, as expected of Ravenclaw?
"First-years, I presume?"
Before either of them could take another step, a sharp voice cut through the silence.
Without them realising, Madam Pince, the librarian, materialized from behind a nearby shelf like she'd been waiting for them.
She was quite a thin woman with a stern face, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her eyes narrowed behind wire-rimmed spectacles as she took in their Gryffindor robes and bewildered faces.
They both straightened instinctively before answering in unison, "Yes, ma'am."
Madam Pince's stern gaze flicked between them as she continued, "And what exactly are two first-year Gryffindors doing in my library at this hour?"
"We're looking for something on snoring remedies, ma'am," Merlin replied in a polite tone. "My friend here has a… rather loud case of it. Thought the library might have a book or two that could help before it drives me and our other two roommates crazy."
Lee shifted beside him, cheeks already tinting pink, but he kept quiet.
Madam Pince stared at them for a long moment, as if looking for a hint of deceit, but Merlin met her gaze steadily, letting the simple honesty of the request hang in the air. After a moment, Merlin saw her expression soften a bit.
"Remedies," she began, breaking the silence. "The medical and potions sections are three aisles down on the left, past the history section. You can look for "Brewing for Bodily Afflictions" by Libatius Borage. Third shelf from the bottom, green cover. It has a chapter on nocturnal respiratory draughts that might help. Return it to the exact spot when you're done. And keep your voices to a whisper, or I'll have you both shelving overdue tomes until Christmas."
After giving a stern warning, she turned on her heel and disappeared back into the maze of shelves.
Merlin let out a slow breath.
"Merlin's beard," Lee whispered. "She's every bit as terrifying as Percy said. He told me she once banned a prefect for sneezing too loudly. I first thought he was exaggerating. Now it sounds genuine."
Merlin shot him a look and pressed a finger to his lips. "Keep it down. We're already on her radar."
Lee mimed locking his mouth and throwing away the key, then followed as Merlin led them down the indicated aisle.
They found the potions section without trouble. Merlin ran a finger along the spines until he spotted the green volume Madam Pince had named. He slid it free carefully and carried it to the nearest table.
Lee hovered for a moment, then plucked another book at random from the same shelf—something on common household charms—and dropped into the chair opposite him, eliciting a strange look from Merlin.
They were here for his problem, so why was he the one doing the reading while Lee was the one killing time?
"Ah, whatever." Shaking his head, Merlin flipped to the index, found the section on snoring and sleep disturbances, and started reading.
Minutes passed.
Merlin closed the book with a soft thud, careful not to crease the pages. There was indeed a potion to cure snoring in the book. The process to brew it was also quite simple, or so the author said. They would have to attend a few Potions classes to find out for sure. He guessed he would have to endure Lee's snores for a bit longer.
"What a pain." Letting out a quiet sigh, Merlin glanced across the table. Lee was still completely immersed in his random household-charms book. Shaking his head once, he stood and slid the green volume back into its exact slot on the shelf. The spine clicked neatly into place.
He made his way toward Madam Pince's counter.
The guessing game Lee had shown him on the train was still fresh in his memory. In fact, ever since then, it had been living in his mind rent-free.
There was no way he was going to let such a good opportunity to earn a fortune in the wizarding world slip by.
He already had a solid idea. He just needed a bit more information to improvise it.
Hopefully, the library had what he was looking for.