Bedroom Talk: Stay Alert

That night, Scott sat in a blue velvet armchair by the window, dressed in his pajamas and turning a block of silver-gray metal over in his hands.

"Scott."

Roger came over and sat directly on the windowsill.

"You definitely noticed something at noon," he said firmly. "I have to say, you didn't look too good."

Scott knew he meant the two Ravenclaw first-years, Jacob Kent and Caitlin Rowle.

The two of them, who had been at odds for a long time, seemed to have made up. At noon, they had even been spotted hanging out with Jasmine Travers of Slytherin.

He was about to speak when Eddie, who had already been lying in bed on the other side of the room, suddenly sat up and asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

Milton, the other member of their dormitory, also pulled open his bed curtains, which he had already drawn shut.

He had been brooding over embarrassing himself in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but now he poked his head out and asked the two of them, "At noon? Did something happen after I left? But when you came back to the dormitory at noon, you didn't say anything."

Of course, unlike Eddie, whose face was alight with curiosity about the gossip, Milton's tired face showed only concern for his friends.

Faced with questions from their two roommates, Roger first hesitated, then glanced at Scott.

Scott looked helpless and nodded to him.

"Well, you see..."

Roger immediately stood up and went to the middle of the dormitory, then vividly described the strange scene he had witnessed at noon to Eddie and Milton.

As Roger told the story, Milton gradually furrowed his brow, while Eddie let out several gasps of surprise.

When Roger had finished, all three turned to look at Scott.

"..."

Facing three pairs of eyes, each with a different expression, Scott didn't feel like saying anything.

"..."

But his three roommates kept staring at him, undeterred.

Scott sighed inwardly and said, "This seems complicated, and it could cause a lot of trouble. Are you sure you want to get involved?"

"No." Eddie was the first to shake his head. "This has to do with that 'Poison Doll' girl. You already warned me about her."

Scott couldn't help laughing. Ever since Scott had given him a stern warning, Eddie had started calling Jasmine Travers "Poison Doll" so he wouldn't accidentally let anything slip.

"And besides... Travers and Rowle. Just listen to those surnames."

Eddie shrugged, wearing a comical expression.

"Two of the great Sacred Twenty-Eight? Merlin, I'm just a Muggle-born wizard. I can't afford to get mixed up in pure-blood trouble."

Roger smiled and said, "And there's Morgan Avery, Jasmine Travers's Slytherin companion."

He shrugged just like Eddie. "Also one of the great Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"But..."

Milton climbed out of bed, put on his slippers, and sat on the edge, idly running his fingers through his long hair.

He said worriedly, "Kent and Rowle are first-years in our Ravenclaw House, after all. What if... what if Slytherin is bullying them?"

"Especially Kent. He's Muggle-born too," Eddie added, as the dorm's best source of gossip, then looked at Scott again.

"Kent..."

Scott thought of Jacob Kent, whom he had seen at noon.

Compared to the pitiful boy he had met in the Common Room on the first morning of the new term, that boy had changed remarkably.

Even the magic Scott sensed from him was very different.

If not for a few things that had stayed the same, Scott might have thought the boy he saw was someone else, impersonating him after drinking Polyjuice Potion.

"That boy had a chance to ask for help. I gave it to him," Scott told Roger. "If he was being forced into this, he should have taken me up on it and come to the Great Hall with us right away."

Scott wasn't some particularly warmhearted person. Helping out when the opportunity arose was about as far as he was willing to go.

"But I remember you also said that boy had changed," Roger said. "We don't know what happened, but maybe his change has something to do with Miss 'Poison Doll.'"

"That's certainly possible," Scott said, making no attempt to deny it.

He knew that if a wizard's magic changed drastically in a short time, the most likely reason was that they had taken up some form of the Dark Arts.

But he didn't say so.

Jacob Kent had only just started school. He was a Muggle-born first-year. No one would believe he could have learned the Dark Arts so soon after arriving.

Roger went on, "Ravenclaw has generally stayed neutral in the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor. But if Miss 'Poison Doll' from Slytherin has already reached her poisonous hands into Ravenclaw, we have to respond as soon as possible."

As he spoke, he sidled up to Scott and shamelessly perched on the arm of the sofa, pretending to massage his shoulders.

"So what should we do? Please make a decision quickly! Mr. Trollope, the uncrowned king of Ravenclaw boys' dormitory, Room 16!"

"When did I get such a long, uncool title?" Scott said, half laughing. He felt like smashing the metal block in his hand over Roger's head.

"I just came up with it!" Roger's hands pressed into his shoulders with even more enthusiasm. "To counter the poisonous hand Slytherin is secretly extending, I've decided to nominate you as commander of this operation. Lead us to victory!"

"Get off."

Scott freed himself from Roger's hands, then looked seriously at his three roommates.

"So... what do you actually want to do?"

"Of course, we'll do whatever you decide, Mr. Trollope," Roger said, still putting on an act.

Eddie and Milton nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. I'll go along with you, Scott."

"Me too."

"Ha, you sneaky lot." Scott couldn't help laughing as he chided them.

After thinking for a moment, he told his roommates, "I don't know what role Travers played in what happened on the night of the first day of term, but she was probably involved somehow."

He tossed the metal block in his hand.

"But we don't need to do anything special for now. Just keep an eye on those first-years, Eddie. To be honest, I'm curious too... what exactly Miss Travers is going to do."

Scott remembered the girl's gaze when their eyes had met twice. In those silver-gray eyes, there had been a glimpse of cruelty and malice, buried deep beneath the surface.

"Got it!"

Eddie excitedly climbed out of bed and thumped his chest with confidence.

"Leave gathering information to me!"