That night in the dormitory, Scott sat in a blue velvet armchair by the window in his pyjamas, playing with a silver-grey block of metal in his hand.
“Scott.”
Roger walked over and sat directly on the windowsill.
“You definitely noticed something at noon,” he said with certainty, “I have to say, you didn’t look too good at the time.”
Scott understood that he was talking about the two Ravenclaw first-years, Jacob Kent and Caitlin Rowle.
The two, who had previously fallen into a serious conflict, seemed to have completely made up.
At noon, Scott and Roger had even seen them together with Jasmine Travers of Slytherin.
Scott was about to speak when Eddie, who was already lying in bed on the other side of the room, suddenly sat up and asked, “What is it?
What happened?”
Milton, the fourth member of the dormitory, also pulled open his bed curtains, which he had already drawn shut.
He had still been feeling dejected over embarrassing himself in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but now he stuck his head out and asked, “At noon?
Did something else happen after I left?
But neither of you said anything when you returned to the dormitory.”
Unlike Eddie, whose face was filled with a thirst for gossip, Milton’s tired face only showed concern for his friends.
Faced with questions from his other two roommates, Roger hesitated, then looked at Scott.
Scott nodded helplessly.
“It was like this…”
Roger immediately stood and walked to the centre of the dormitory, then began vividly describing the strange scene they had witnessed at noon.
As Roger spoke, Milton gradually frowned, while Eddie repeatedly let out cries of surprise.
When Roger finished, all three turned to look at Scott.
“…”
Faced with three pairs of eyes showing different expressions, Scott suddenly did not feel like speaking.
“…”
But his three roommates continued staring at him without giving up.
Scott sighed inwardly and said, “This seems rather complicated, and it will also be troublesome.
Are you sure you want to involve yourselves?”
“No.” Eddie was the first to shake his head.
“This has something to do with Miss ‘Poison Doll’.
You already warned me.”
Scott laughed.
Ever since Scott had warned him sternly, Eddie had started calling Jasmine Travers “Poison Doll” to avoid accidentally letting her name slip.
“Besides, Travers and Rowle.
Eddie shrugged with a comical expression.
“Two of the great Sacred Twenty-Eight?
Merlin, I’m only a Muggle-born young wizard.
I cannot afford to provoke trouble involving pure-blood families.”
Roger smiled and said, “There’s also Morgan Avery, Jasmine Travers’s Slytherin companion.”
He copied Eddie’s shrug.
“Another member of the great Sacred Twenty-Eight.”
“But…”
Milton climbed out of bed, put on his slippers, and sat on the edge while casually smoothing his long hair.
He said worriedly, “Kent and Rowle are still Ravenclaw first-years.
What if they are being bullied by Slytherins?”
“Especially Kent.
He’s also Muggle-born,” Eddie, who knew the most gossip, added before looking at Scott again.
“Kent…”
Scott thought about the Jacob Kent he had seen at noon.
Compared with the pitiful boy Scott had met in the common room early on the first morning of term, he had clearly changed a great deal.
Even the magic Scott sensed from him had become quite different.
If some parts of it had not remained unchanged, Scott might have thought he was looking at someone impersonating the boy with Polyjuice Potion.
“I gave that boy a chance to ask for help,” Scott said to Roger.
“If he was being forced, he should have followed my lead and come to the Great Hall with us immediately.”
Scott was not a warm-hearted person who went out of his way to help others.
Offering that much help in passing was already his limit.
“But I remember you also said that the boy had changed,” Roger said.
“Although we don’t know what happened, perhaps that change also has something to do with Miss ‘Poison Doll’.”
“That is possible,” Scott admitted.
He knew that if a wizard’s magic changed greatly within a short period, the most likely explanation was that they had begun practising some form of Dark magic.
But he did not say this aloud.
Jacob Kent was a Muggle-born young wizard who had only just started school.
Roger continued, “Ravenclaw has always remained mostly neutral in the conflict between Slytherin and Gryffindor, but if Slytherin’s Miss ‘Poison Doll’ has already extended her poisonous hand into Ravenclaw, then we need to respond quickly.”
As he spoke, he moved beside Scott, shamelessly perched on the arm of the chair, and pretended to massage Scott’s shoulders.
“So what should we do?
Please make your decision quickly, Lord Trollope, uncrowned king of Ravenclaw boys’ dormitory number sixteen!”
“When did I get such a long and uncool title?” Scott did not know whether to laugh or cry, and felt tempted to smash Roger’s head with the metal block in his hand.
“I came up with it just now!” Roger pressed Scott’s shoulders even more enthusiastically.
“To deal with the poisonous hand reaching out from Slytherin in secret, I have decided to appoint you as the commander of this operation and have you lead us to victory.”
“Go away.”
Scott shook off Roger’s hands, then looked seriously at his three roommates.
“So what exactly do you want to do?”
“Of course, we will follow your decision in everything, my lord,” Roger continued pretentiously.
Eddie and Milton nodded in agreement.
“That’s right.
I’ll listen to you too, Scott.”
“So will I.”
“Tch, you cunning bastards.” Scott could not help laughing as he cursed them.
After thinking for a moment, he said to his roommates, “I don’t know what role Travers played in the incident on the first night of term, but there is a good chance she was involved.”
He tossed the metal block in his hand.
“But we don’t need to do anything special for now.
Keep an eye on those first-years, Eddie.
To be honest, I’m also curious about what Miss Travers intends to do.”
Scott remembered the girl’s gaze when their eyes had met twice.
Her silver-grey eyes had briefly revealed a deeply hidden cruelty and malice.
“I understand!”
Eddie climbed excitedly out of bed and confidently patted his chest.
“Leave gathering information to me!”
(End of Chapter)
…
T/N :
Feed me Power Stones to keep me motivated.
This translation is pure volunteer work, so every bit of support helps me continue.