Rigel left the classroom alongside Neville and Harry while Dean, Ron, and Seamus chatted about Quidditch walking ahead, but as they walked, Rigel felt a pair of straight eyes on him.
Sighing, he knew perfectly well who it was, Hermione. She had been staring at him ever since he managed to transfigure the needle and she hadn't. Everyone was heading towards the Great Hall for lunch, so he couldn't simply get rid of her.
So, he can only endure it.
Instead, he went to talk to Harry and Neville.
"Hey, are you guys going to try out for the Quidditch team?" Rigel asked.
Even Dean, Seamus, and Ron turned to Rigel with wide eyes.
"Are you crazy?" Seamus spoke first.
"Yeah! We're in our first year, we'd never get in." Ron added, with Dean nodding in agreement.
Neville shrank back, feeling uneasy at the abrupt change in mood. Harry, on the other hand, seemed half understanding and half confused. He knew it was difficult to play Quidditch because Ron had told him so, but he didn't know exactly how difficult.
"Hey, it's not like first-year students can't play, besides, it's just a tryout, so what if you don't pass? Are you going to lose an arm?" Rigel rolled his eyes.
"Actually, Fred already told me about a player who lost a leg once." Ron said nervously, afraid of losing his own leg.
Neville turned white and Harry swallowed hard, thinking: 'on second thought, Quidditch is really dangerous, never mind.'
Rigel rolled his eyes at him. It was true that there were many dangers in Quidditch, but it had improved over the years. For example, the bottom of the pitch looked hard, but it was affected by a cushioning spell. Although you might still break a few bones if you fall, you're unlikely to die.
"Well, I'll take the test for Chaser." Rigel shrugged.
The group stared at him, shocked and amazed. Ron pursed his lips, clearly thinking Rigel was getting a little too big for his britches.
Harry just wanted to wish Rigel good luck.
Neville shrank even further, as if he were the one who was going to play.
Dean seemed thoughtful, and Seamus smiled. "Alright, then I'll go with you. Anyway, you're right, if we fail, we all fail."
Dean thought for a moment and nodded, nervous and excited.
Behind them, Hermione walked with the other girls, clearly barely listening to what they were saying. The girl wasn't completely excluded from the group yet, but it wouldn't be long. Hermione used knowledge as a shield and facts as weapons, she loved being right, and in her opinion, everyone should be like her.
Of course, that was a childish thought, if everyone were as diligent as she was, she would stop being proud of it and in the end would just be a normal student. Hermione thought she was doing good for others, but in reality, she was feeding her own ego, even if unconsciously.
She took pleasure in being right and pride in knowing more than others.
Sure, she wasn't a truly bad girl, her attempt to connect with others using knowledge isn't unlike those boys talking about Quidditch, but while they share a common interest, none of the Gryffindors can identify with Hermione.
She would have done much better in Ravenclaw, although she might not have been very popular, at least she would have had a common language with the other students.
If it weren't for the situations they had been through together, Harry and Ron would hardly have gotten close to Hermione, she probably would have remained alone and isolated.
Thinking about it, maybe she would end up exactly like Myrtle, but in her second year, crying in the bathroom and killed by a Basilisk.
Rigel wasn't particularly interested in getting close to her, she was intelligent and talented in magic, yes, but that was all.
Of course, he wouldn't mind becoming friends with her, his knowledge is not inferior to hers, and in terms of magic, he is ahead of her. At the very least, he wouldn't find her annoying for constantly throwing facts in his face.
Ultimately, it would depend on the circumstances.
The boys continued talking about Quidditch until they entered the Great Hall, which was clearly much more crowded than during breakfast. While Rigel was still walking around, looking for a place to sit, he saw the twins looking excited in the distance.
Rigel looked over curiously, but for a moment wished he didn't.
Jack sat at the table stuffing grapes into his mouth, the twins cheering loudly for him, not only them, but several older students seemed excited to see how many grapes Jack could put in his mouth.
"Hey, Rigel, isn't that your monkey?" Dean asked, bewildered.
"No, I've never seen it before." Rigel looked away, pretending not to have seen anything.
Jack, on the other hand, saw Rigel, spat the grapes in the twins' faces, and ran off towards Rigel.
The Twins were stunned for a moment while the Gryffindors burst into laughter.
Jack squealed at Rigel as he jumped onto his shoulder. Rigel rolled his eyes at him, asking. "You didn't do anything wrong, did you?"
"Nothing! I didn't do anything wrong! Jack behaved perfectly well!" Jack replied hastily, patting his chest.
Rigel rolled his eyes, the Twins had already approached.
"Hey, Jack! You were almost getting your sixteenth!" George complained.
"Yeah, what a waste! We bet Lee you could get at least 15! You made us lose 5 Knuts!" Fred continued.
Jack not only didn't get angry, but laughed in their faces.
The twins wanted to be angry, but they burst out laughing soon after.
"Man, I really like this little guy." Fred said after wiping his eyes.
"Yeah, monkeys are so cool, who knows, maybe we'll get a gorilla." George agreed.
Rigel raised an eyebrow at George's idea, picturing a gorilla tossing Fred and George around like nunchucks.
Shaking their heads, the group sat down, the twins sat with them, they soon discovered that these were Ron's older brothers, so none of them minded, but they went back to talking about Dean, Seamus and Rigel taking the test.
Fred and George openly mocked them for it, especially Seamus, who wanted to be a Beater.
Seamus turned so red he wanted to grab his wand, which only made the twins laugh harder, Rigel wouldn't laugh that much.
If the Hogwarts curriculum started by teaching Bombarda, he bets Seamus would be the first to learn it.