Outside the castle walls, snow was starting to fall, and in the large rolling grounds around Hogwarts Castle, students were enjoying the change of seasons and the first snow of the year. The hallways around the place were rather quiet, with a majority of the students having started to depart for home for the holidays and Christmas, while those who remained were making the most of the soft snow outside, exchanging snowballs with different groups and building snowmen all around the grounds.
Inside the castle, Hermione Granger had been enjoying the snow for a different reason. The quiet hallways were productive for thought as she strolled through them on her way to the library, dressed in her favorite soft lavender sweater and old faded jeans that had seen a few years already. The hallways were decorated in their usual festive decorations but Hermione ignored them as she walked, her mind already in the library and the books she was headed there to find. The quiet of the day just made her favorite place in the castle more appealing, and she knew that despite the slight chill in the hallway from the stone walls, she would find a nice fire somewhere in the warren of books and a comfy chair in which to pursue her research. Rounding the last corner, she looked forward to the warmth of the fire and brushed a stray strand of her wavy hair out of her face and behind her ear absentmindedly as she focused her thoughts on the pathway she needed to take through the shelving units to make her way to where she wanted to go.<|im_end|>
Elsewhere in the castle, the Boy was getting ready to go out and do some studying of his own. He knew with most of the students gone, he could sneak into the Library without any distractions from the students or the teachers really. There were a few books he had heard about in the restricted section that seemed worth reading into. Some books on his heritage and the dark arts the older Slytherins needed to explore and figure out what he could do. He was already learning a lot from some teachers and his family's personal library but he wanted some of the more rare books the school was known for.
Smoothing back his inky black hair, the boy checked himself in the mirror. One of his rules was always be sharp. So he made sure he looked like a hundred galleons before he even left the room. Shoes shined, check. Black jeans which looked brand new with a green vest that was crisp and lighter toned on the back side. His white button-up shirt looked crisp and was tight against his quidditch player's body. He was the backup Seeker after all. If Malfoy didn't have all the money, he may have been the main one. A soft growl given a little about the fact that Pounce who was everything a Slytherin should not be still being Seeker over him.
Turning from the Mirror, he slid on his leather bracelet and put on his violet-tinted glasses as he smiled. His bowler flipped onto his head, and he began down towards the library to get the books he needed. He would turn into the library and saw...the golden girl all alone. He grinned a little and moved towards her now she didn't have that Pouncetweed Weasley hanging all over her trying to shove anyone who was male except Harry away. He thought waited to see where she was going, curious about what she was coming study. She was one of few people in school above him in grades. Her and the Ice Queen Greengrass.<|im_end|>