A Dank Hookah Lounge

A/N: I went through and read through the previous 4 chapters, found that there was like, 4 different plotholes that I needed to fix, and ended up fixing them. Basically, most of the changes were parts that I had written under the delusion that the MC was in the Golden Trio's year (as clarified in the last chapter, he's a year younger than the Golden Trio), and one part where I had said that potions was in the afternoon and not the next day.

Also, MC is a sociopath, but you might catch a lot more emotions from this fic because it is in 1st person. Take COTE for example, the anime shows an emotionless Ayanokouji because we were only shown his outside, but in the light novel and especially the manga, we are able to see his internal thought processes, making him seem a lot more expressive than what he projects to others around him.

--

The sun had risen surprisingly early today, as in using a Tempus spell, I learned that it was only 6:07 in the morning.

This was a good thing though, as I would be able to avoid most of my housemates.

Walking into the Great Hall with this thought in mind, I stopped myself in my tracks after quickly noticing the almost full Slytherin table.

'Sigh... I should have known that this would happen...'

They were all so noble and all, and waking up early was probably something that all of them had been doing for a long time.

'It seems like, if I want to at least eat two meals a day, then I'll need to come even earlier than them.'

I was under no delusion that there would be a single Slytherin that would be nice to me. Most of the upper years would just ignore me, that was a fact, but I wouldn't be able to stand dealing with the likes of Draco and the first year Slytherins with their naive, twisted view of the world.

It would just be an unpleasant waste of time for me, something that that truly agitated my businessman self, who valued time as the most important form of currency, being a devout believer in Cark Muban's words.

Anyways, turning away from the Great Hall, I proceeded to the next best place where I could spend my time, the library.

After all, it would've been extremely suspicious if I knew things I shouldn't without any indications that I did, so all those books that I had been reading from the RoR, well, I needed to "reread" them again after checking them out from the library.

I would also take this time to kickstart my image as a new resident hookah lounge user, switching the lounge for the library and the smokes for books whilst keeping the sleepy, depressed, but worn in homeless man under a bridge vibe the same.

I mean, there was only one other who truly embodied this state, and that was Hermoine, who I could relatively "see" through a few stacks of books, her hair all frizzled and dark circles already apparent under her eyes, even though it was only the third day of school.

'Welp, sucks to be a person who can't even stand not sleeping for several weeks.'

Oh how I wished to be a normal person in that regard.

Transitioning back to the topic at hand, I walked around the library, took down a mountain of books higher and much larger than Hermione's, and then proceeded to sit down at a table relatively close to hers, as if challenging her.

And that I did, as I quickly flipped through the books, having finished almost all of them within an hour.

Thusly, this action elicited the response I wanted in Little Miss Granger, as she annoyedly slammed the book she had been reading shut before stomping over to my table.

"Stop. making. a. show. of. reading. and. get. out.'

'Woah, powerful stuff right there. That'll wake you right up.'

Although, seeing how close her face was to mine as she glared at me, my thoughts started diverging into much more unsavory tangents before I recollected myself.

'She's only 12. Sheesh man.' (You're definitely thinking of something along the lines of this right now. Yeah, you.)

'Oh, shut up. It's not like you're any better, mother fucker.'

Pushing away these unnecessary drama that I was imagining, I replied to her.

"What? It's not my problem that my brain's faster than most people's."

"Just stop being cocky and get out. I'm going easy on you right now, Greenie. You're not impressing anyone with your acting."

"Well, all I need to do is prove it to you, right?"

"Huh?"

She certainly hadn't been expecting this response of mine, as she had been confidant in her assumptions.

But, again, you should always remember that to "assume" it to make and "ass" out of "u" and "me".

"Come on, test me. You should have read all these books since you're a second year, right?"

"Okay..."

She gave herself a few seconds to collect her thoughts, as she actually seemed a little bit invested in testing me.

"On page 44 of..."

...

One Hour Later:

"Why am I not even surprised anymore?"

As she slumped down weakly in the chair she had pulled up after her legs had gotten tired, I, on the other hand, looked refreshed, as I appreciated her detailed cleanser on the subjects I had mastered, at least in theory, over the past two weeks.

I mean, I had actually shown better mastery over first year subject than her, as I was able to accurately glean information from between the lines of the textbooks instead of just memorizing facts that the textbooks told one to memorize.

To put it simply, it was like this. Hermione was a person who was a good student because she memorized line-for-line what each textbook said, whilst I was a star student who could do what she did, whilst also being able to summarize everything in my own words and gaining deeper insights about said subjects that the textbooks didn't explicitly state.

In other words, I was the superior student between me and Hermione.

"What are they feeding kids these days..."

Looking up at her as she muttered this absentmindedly, I couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny, Greenie?"

Snapping these words I me, I didn't honor her question with an answer, instead opting to just smile mysteriously.

"Tempus."

Noticing the time, I got up from my seat and walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Hermione in my wake, as she just blankly stared at me, trying to make sense of my actions.

As for me, I was just excited to be heading over to potions.