Hermione was startled, but she immediately remembered what Rhys had told her—this was her domain, her territory.
Within her domain, she was the strongest. There was no need to be afraid.
So she gathered her courage and called out loudly, "Who's there?"
The figure did not respond, merely sitting there and quietly flipping through a book. Hermione frowned, tightened her grip on her wand, and took two steps forward. Only then did she clearly see the figure's face.
"Rhys? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked in surprise.
The person sitting there reading calmly was indeed Rhys. She had no idea how he had gotten in.
"Rhys" did not respond to her question. He simply sat there, completely absorbed in the book in his hands.
Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the book he was holding. Sure enough, it was still The Encyclopedia Britannica. Rhys had seemed especially obsessed with that set lately, carrying it with him everywhere.
"Huh?" An illustration in the book caught Hermione's attention. She remembered it clearly, because Rhys had previously shown her that very illustration and asked her about it.
A hint of understanding dawned on Hermione. She stood to the side and quietly waited for two minutes.
"Rhys" suddenly spread the book flat and pushed it forward, as if asking someone a question.
Hermione reached out and pressed her hand toward the open book—only for her hand to pass straight through the pages and press against the cold tabletop beneath.
At that moment, Hermione fully understood.
The Rhys in front of her was a "shadow" he had left behind earlier—an imprint, so to speak.
"Interesting," Hermione murmured, her eyes continuously examining Rhys's phantom.
She thought to herself that the illusion was incredibly lifelike; even standing this close, she had not been able to tell.
"Having a shadow like this around isn't bad either. At least the library won't feel so empty anymore," Hermione said softly to herself with her head lowered.
Everything about this domain was good, except that it was a bit too quiet. The emptiness made it feel faintly eerie. Having a "Rhys" here to improve the atmosphere was actually quite nice.
Hermione more or less treated Rhys's phantom as a decoration.
Just then, "Rhys" glanced in the direction where Hermione was standing, but the girl noticed nothing, and "Rhys" simply went back to reading the book in his hands.
"Rhys's shadow appeared here because he stayed here for a while before…" Hermione reasoned along that line of thought and came to the conclusion that other people who entered her domain to study might also leave behind shadows.
"Then if Rhys enters again, what will happen to the phantom here? Will his shadow appear again? Will his new actions overwrite the previous phantom?" A whole string of questions surfaced in Hermione's mind.
There was no way to get answers to these questions except by having Rhys come in again.
So Hermione hurriedly closed her domain, left the dormitory, and went out to look for Rhys.
But at that moment, Rhys was in Helga's office. In her haste, there was no way Hermione could possibly find him.
In the end, she had no choice but to resort to a rather clumsy method.
She went straight to the dungeon area and waited there, lying in wait.
Hermione's plan was to ask the first Slytherin student she saw to go into the common room and help her look for Rhys.
To her surprise, however, several younger Slytherin students had clearly already entered the dungeons, yet the moment they saw her from afar, they turned around without hesitation and left, not giving her any chance to speak to them at all.
Hermione: ???
She really could not understand the thought process of these Slytherins.
Just then, the wall beside her rippled and twisted, and an ornate, imposing serpentine archway appeared. Astoria stepped out from it.
When she saw Hermione standing right in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room, she froze on the spot.
Astoria: ???
Why was Hermione here? Had she come to challenge them at their door? Astoria could not help but think so.
It was no wonder Astoria and the other Slytherin students reacted this way. Hermione's position was simply far too coincidental.
She was standing directly in front of the Slytherin common room entrance, which looked exactly like someone showing up to pick a fight.
"Miss Granger, why are you here?" Astoria raised her guard slightly and questioned Hermione.
"Astoria? Perfect timing. I'm looking for Rhys about something. Is he inside?" Hermione had not thought that far ahead. Upon seeing a familiar face, she immediately stated her purpose.
"Looking for Rhys?" Astoria narrowed her eyes slightly. "May I ask what you need him for?"
"I have something to discuss with him," Hermione replied vaguely. After all, she could hardly say that she wanted to talk to Rhys about domains.
"He's not in the common room," Astoria suppressed the curiosity surging in her heart and politely told Hermione that she did not know where Rhys was. Perhaps he had gone to Hogsmeade Village.
"He'll be here any moment," Rhys's voice came from behind the two of them. "Hehe~ What's up?"
Hermione and Astoria both turned around at the same time and saw Rhys standing at the end of the corridor, watching the two of them.
He had just finished discussing the content of the end-of-term trial with Helga. When he returned to the entrance of the common room, he happened to see Hermione and Astoria there.
"Rhys," Hermione waved happily, "I've got something to talk to you about!"
Astoria's gaze grew even deeper at the side. What exactly had Granger come to Rhys for?
Rhys had already more or less guessed her purpose.
"Why don't we go inside and talk?" He intended to invite Hermione into the common room directly and discuss it there.
Astoria: !!!
"Th-that's not appropriate, is it?" she blurted out instinctively, trying to stop him.
"What's inappropriate about it? We're not like Hufflepuff, unwelcoming to outsiders. Come on." Rhys took the lead and walked into the common room.
Hermione hesitated for two seconds, then followed behind him into this place that had always been shrouded in mystery.
Seeing Rhys insist on it, Astoria had no choice but to tacitly allow his "nonsense." In fact, in this era, students from the four Houses rarely visited one another's common rooms. Everyone generally kept to themselves.
A student from a Muggle family like Hermione entering the Slytherin common room was even less likely, as it would usually mean nothing but trouble for herself.
"I know you don't really visit other common rooms much, but Hogwarts wasn't this distant between Houses in the past. Back then, it was normal for students to spend the night in another House's common room. The reason the Gryffindor girls' dormitory passage forbids boys is precisely because of that." Rhys's gaze flicked subtly across Astoria's face.
Hermione nodded absent-mindedly while looking around at the layout of the common room.
Her attention was quickly drawn to the floor-to-ceiling window. Outside it was the scenery of the Black Lake's depths beneath Hogwarts.
"I'd heard before that the Slytherin common room is beneath the Black Lake, but I didn't expect it to actually be true," Hermione said as she walked over to the window, clicking her tongue in amazement.
"This was the work of Lord Salazar Slytherin himself. The powerful protective enchantments he placed here have remained effective even after a thousand years," Astoria replied proudly, lifting her chin.
Being praised so directly by Astoria put Rhys in a very good mood.
With reverence, Hermione reached out and touched the window, then suddenly realised something.
"Doesn't that mean this place never sees daylight? The Black Lake blocks all natural sunlight."
Astoria: "..."
Hermione's remark instantly left her at a loss for words.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI