For the rest of the journey, the agitated Scott completely forgot about preparing a gift.
His mind was filled with thoughts of how to find a girlfriend as soon as possible and enjoy a sweet romance.
He carefully thought through all the girls he knew, only to find that his current situation was rather awkward.
If his two lives were added together, he was already over thirty years old.
But physically, he was indeed only fourteen.
The difference between his physical and mental ages had created this awkward situation.
He could not like girls his own age or younger as a normal boy would.
But girls a little older than him were unlikely to like him.
He even felt that the sixth- and seventh-year girls looked at younger boys as though they were monkeys.
Forget it.
He would let things happen naturally.
Scott thought bitterly as he soon reached Ravenclaw Tower.
A night breeze blew past, clearing away many of the confused thoughts in his mind.
He remembered that he still had two more important matters to deal with.
The first was to settle things with Eddie as soon as possible and find the culprit who had secretly given him that nickname.
The second was to prepare Professor McGonagall’s birthday gift as soon as possible.
Scott walked into Ravenclaw Tower without stopping, but paused again when he stepped onto the spiral staircase.
He sensed the magic of two students.
They were hiding outside Ravenclaw Tower, in a corner where the tower connected to the main castle building.
Jasmine Travers and Caitlin Rowle.
One was a first-year Slytherin girl who made Scott wary and was skilled at disguising her true nature.
The other was a first-year Ravenclaw girl who had once been involved in a conflict with Jacob Kent and had become too close to Travers.
Combined with the information Eddie had later gathered, Scott and his roommates had recently been watching these two young witches and their group of pure-blood girls in secret.
Curfew had already begun, yet the two girls were hiding in a dark corner.
They were clearly doing something suspicious.
Since he had encountered them by chance, Scott decided to investigate personally.
Scott took out his wand.
With a turn of his wrist, he murmured an incantation and touched the wand tip to himself.
In an instant, the colour and texture of his body became identical to his surroundings.
After using the Disillusionment Charm to blend completely into the environment, Scott waved his wand again and cast a Quietening Charm.
Quietus!
Once he was prepared, he turned and left Ravenclaw Tower.
He moved around the wall outside the tower and slowly approached the dark corner where the two girls were hiding.
Scott stopped ten paces away from his target.
At that moment, he was somewhat surprised.
He could neither see the two girls nor hear their voices.
The two first-year witches had also used Disillusionment Charms and Quietening Charms, or some similar methods.
For a moment, Scott did not know whether to admire how cautious they were at such a young age or marvel at the advanced family education of these old pure-blood families.
But he knew this could not simply be attributed to pure-blood family education.
Although students from pure-blood families were not the majority at Hogwarts, they were not rare either.
Other students had nowhere near Travers’ abilities during their first year.
Although he could not see his target, Scott clearly sensed at this distance that Travers was the one maintaining the magic.
Scott could not move any closer.
Many wizards could sense magic within ten paces, and Scott judged that Travers possessed this ability as well.
But Scott would not give up because of that.
He stood against the tower’s stone wall, allowing his body to blend into it, then took a small piece of ebony from the Mokeskin pouch at his waist.
He placed the ebony in his left palm and lightly waved his wand with his right hand, tapping the piece of wood.
The block of ebony immediately began to transform.
Soon, a small black wooden bat appeared in his palm.
Scott was already able to perform basic Transfiguration of this level silently, without an incantation.
But the black bat he had created was still only an ordinary wooden carving.
It was completely inanimate.
Scott did not stop.
He first pressed the tip of his wand against the wooden bat’s back and lightly traced several symbols.
The ebony wand acted like a carving knife, engraving several simple symbols into the bat’s back.
Then Scott made another small movement with his wand.
The wood grain on the carving immediately disappeared, and black fur grew across its body.
Scott gently raised his hand.
The transfigured creation, now identical to a real bat, silently flew away.
What Scott had done appeared simple, but Professor McGonagall would have been astonished if she had witnessed it.
His actions were remarkably similar to the conjecture in Bill Weasley’s paper, which they had discussed during the Transfiguration Club meeting that day.
The conjecture that everyone in the club had declared impossible seemed to be taking place in Scott’s hands.
Admittedly, Scott had divided this conjectured form of Transfiguration into several steps.
He had also produced the effects of Transfiguration and Ancient Runes separately, in different stages, without using any Charms.
Even so, this was still a shocking achievement.
If Scott demonstrated it before the editor of Transfiguration Today, the editor would undoubtedly present him with the Most Promising Newcomer Award with the greatest enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, neither Professor McGonagall nor the editor of Transfiguration Today was there to witness it.
Scott would not recklessly display a result that, in his view, had only just begun to take shape.
He did not even feel proud of what he had done.
This was merely the reward for his persistent study and practice of the foundations of Transfiguration.
At that moment, Scott looked up and watched the bat fly away.
It hung upside down from a gap between the stones above their heads.
At such a close distance, even with the Quietening Charm in place, the girls’ voices inevitably reached the bat’s ears clearly.
Almost at the same moment, the sound of their conversation entered Scott’s ears.
“Jasmine, I…
I’m not sure whether doing this will involve you.”
Caitlin Rowle spoke worriedly.
“And…
and you know, I asked some older Ravenclaw students about him.
Scott Trollope isn’t someone to provoke.
And…
and he’s friends with Roger Davies…”
Scott raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes.
What a coincidence!
They happened to be talking about him?
“Don’t worry, Caitlin.”
Jasmine Travers spoke softly.
Her voice had a gentle quality that seemed able to soothe people’s hearts.
But that beautiful voice was saying something thoroughly unpleasant.
“Scott Trollope is only a Mudblood, and this is the magical world.
I only want to teach that arrogant Mudblood a lesson.
He needs to understand that our affairs are no concern of someone like him.”
Tsk.
Scott frowned deeply upon hearing this.
He had not expected Miss Travers to be so arrogant in private.
“But…
he hasn’t done anything…
has he?” Caitlin Rowle’s voice became timid.
“No.
More than once, he has tried to speak to Jacob while he was with us.
That alone is an insult from him, a Mudblood, towards us.”
Jasmine Travers’ voice became even gentler.
“You said you would always help me, didn’t you, Caitlin?”
(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.