To be honest, Scott did not particularly want to deal with a first-year’s problems.
He was neither a professor nor a prefect, and handling conflicts between students was not his responsibility.
But no one else was awake yet, and he could not simply leave the first-year here without doing anything.
“All right.”
Scott walked over and sat on the sofa opposite the first-year.
“So, first-year, what is your name?”
“Jacob.” The boy sniffed.
“Jacob Kent.”
Scott nodded.
“All right, Jacob.
I’m Scott Trollope, a fourth-year.”
“Hello, Mr Trollope,” Jacob said quietly.
Scott had little interest in the cause of the conflict between the first-years, so he asked directly, “Jacob, why didn’t you ask a prefect for help?
You should know at least two prefects.
As usual, after last night’s feast, the fifth-year male and female prefects were responsible for leading the first-years to Ravenclaw Tower.”
Jacob sniffed loudly again and said indistinctly, “Miss Taylor and Mr Cooper…
but they both hate me…
I didn’t dare go to them.”
“Hate you?”
Scott realised that the matter might be more troublesome than he had expected.
Looking into Jacob’s eyes, he asked, “Will you tell me exactly what happened?
What did you do?
Why are those two prefects…
well, unfriendly towards you?”
“I didn’t do anything!
I really didn’t do it!
None of them believe me!” Jacob suddenly raised his voice and screamed.
“Stop!”
The noise made Scott’s head ache, and he hurriedly shouted at him to stop.
Perhaps because he saw the displeasure on Scott’s face, Jacob immediately apologised in a low voice, his face filled with fear.
“I’m sorry, Mr Trollope, but…
it really wasn’t me.”
“So what exactly happened?”
Scott was about to ask what had happened when he caught sight of Penelope coming down the staircase from the girls’ dormitories out of the corner of his eye.
He immediately stopped what he was about to ask, stood up, and walked over.
“Good morning, Penelope.”
“Oh, good morning, Scott.” Penelope looked somewhat surprised.
“Is something wrong?”
“Over there.” Scott pointed at Jacob, who was still curled up on the sofa.
“Jacob Kent, a first-year.
His roommates threw him out of the dormitory, and he spent the night in the common room.
He could hardly wait to throw the matter into someone else’s hands.
“Oh, Scott.” Penelope smiled and said, “Perhaps you could help this poor boy yourself.
I know you would handle it well.”
“No, I’m not a prefect.
This isn’t my responsibility,” Scott immediately refused.
“All right.” Penelope shrugged slightly.
“Watching coldly from the sidelines.
Very Ravenclaw of you, but…”
She smiled teasingly.
“Perhaps next year, Professor Flitwick might choose you as the new male prefect.”
“We’ll talk about that next year.”
Scott also shrugged, then walked over to Jacob with Penelope.
Jacob had already risen from the sofa and was looking at the two of them nervously.
Scott spoke in as gentle a tone as possible.
“All right, Jacob.
This is Penelope Clearwater, a sixth-year and a Ravenclaw prefect.
Don’t worry, she will help you.”
“Miss Clearwater.” Jacob glanced at Penelope, then quickly lowered his head.
“Hello, Jacob.” Penelope gave him a reassuring smile.
“Come on, take me to your dormitory.”
“But…”
Jacob still looked frightened and turned to Scott with a pleading expression.
Unfortunately, Scott had no intention of continuing to involve himself in the matter.
He only comforted the boy, “Go on, Jacob.
Penelope is a prefect, so her words carry more weight than mine.”
Penelope stood to the side and kept smiling, considerately choosing not to expose Scott’s lie.
After hearing Scott say this, Jacob could only lead Penelope towards the boys’ dormitories with his head hanging dispiritedly.
He could not help looking back several times along the way, but Scott had already sat on the sofa by the window and opened The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, paying no attention to his gaze.
Twenty minutes later, Scott closed the book, but Penelope still had not come out of the boys’ dormitories.
Was the matter truly that troublesome?
Scott merely muttered to himself and still had no intention of getting involved.
He tucked the textbook and notebook under his arm and left the common room.
After descending the tower through the long spiral staircase, Scott saw Percy Weasley pacing below Ravenclaw Tower.
“Good morning, Weasley.” Scott greeted him first.
“Are you waiting for Penelope?”
“Yes.
Good morning, Trollope.”
Percy Weasley immediately stopped pacing and stood a little straighter.
His face, though, was slightly red, making his freckles even more noticeable.
After all, that truly was a prefect’s duty, wasn’t it?
Still…
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer, Weasley.”
He could explain the reason for Penelope’s lateness while he was here.
“Something happened at an inconvenient time…” He did not want to tell a Gryffindor about Ravenclaw’s affairs, so he spoke vaguely.
“In any case, it requires Penelope to deal with it as a prefect, and she is busy right now.”
“Oh, that’s all right.
A prefect naturally needs to fulfil their duties.” Percy Weasley clearly accepted this without complaint.
“Thank you for telling me, Trollope.”
After saying goodbye to Percy Weasley, Scott left Ravenclaw Tower and crossed the long elevated stone bridge towards the Great Hall on the other side of the ravine.
It was already almost time for breakfast.
Students were gradually leaving their respective common rooms, and Hogwarts Castle was slowly awakening in the morning light.
“Good morning, Scott.”
In the entrance hall outside the Great Hall, two overlapping voices suddenly greeted Scott.
“Good morning, Weasleys.”
Faced with the red-haired Weasley twins, Scott smiled more naturally than he had when facing their older brother, Percy Weasley.
“Oh, Merlin’s smelly socks!”
“We’ve known each other for three years!”
“And Scott still calls us ‘Weasleys’!”
“Perhaps he doesn’t know that our mum and dad gave us names too!”
Fred and George each placed an arm over one of Scott’s shoulders and began accusing him, taking turns with each sentence.
“I bet that when he spoke to Percy just now, he also called him Weasley.” Fred raised the monocular telescope in his other hand.
“Clearly, Mr Trollope has placed us and Percy on the same level within his personal relationships!” George said indignantly.
The two of them shouted into Scott’s ears at the same time, “This is an insult to us!”
“All right, I’m sorry.” Scott quickly surrendered.
“Forgive me, Fred and George.
I ran into three Weasleys one after another in such a short time.”
“Unfortunately, Mr Trollope,” George said.
Fred winked, “Our little sister has also started school this year.”
George raised his eyebrows.
“And then there’s our stupid little brother.”
The two finally concluded in unison, “There are now five Weasleys in Gryffindor.”
Scott could not help laughing a few times.
“Then I’m certainly glad I’m not in Gryffindor.”
“How heartbreaking to hear that from Professor McGonagall’s favourite student.” Fred let out a loud, false sob.
George also wiped away false tears.
“Merlin, Professor McGonagall clearly likes him so much.”
(End of Chapter)
Power Stones?