New Discoveries and Rising Tensions

In the days that followed, Scott saw Jacob Kent hanging around with a few girls several more times.

To confirm his suspicions, Scott went out of his way to greet him twice more.

He was sure the boy understood why Scott was greeting him, but each time, the boy brushed him off rather perfunctorily.

After that, Scott stopped greeting him.

By his count, he had given the boy three chances to ask for help, but the other boy didn't seem interested.

As far as Scott was concerned, that made it clear the boy was choosing to hang around with those girls.

So Scott naturally stopped worrying about it.

Then, one day in late September, Eddie suddenly announced in the dormitory that he'd made further discoveries "about that matter."

For a moment, Scott couldn't even remember which matter Eddie meant.

Then Eddie came over to him, excitedly saying, "Scott, you were right! Miss 'Poison Doll' really is something else."

"Hm?"

Scott finally realized what Eddie was talking about, just in time.

He quickly composed himself and asked calmly, "Excellent, Eddie. Tell us what you found."

"You..." Eddie eyed him suspiciously. "You haven't already forgotten about it, have you, Scott? You were the one who gave me this assignment!"

"Why would you say that?" Scott put on a surprised expression. "I've been waiting to hear how your investigation was going, Eddie."

"No, it's not just you." Eddie sounded unconvinced. "I just realized that none of you have asked me how things were going this whole time!"

At that moment, Roger, standing behind Eddie, exchanged a guilty glance with Scott.

He hurried over and draped an arm affectionately over Eddie's shoulders. "Of course we haven't kept asking how it was going. We knew you were a genius at digging up information, Eddie. We all believe in you."

"Is that so?" Eddie turned and stared at him suspiciously.

"Of course." Roger nodded without batting an eye.

"Milton."

Eddie suddenly turned, looking for the person in the dormitory least likely to lie—or pretend.

Scott and Roger began to panic, too, and hurriedly looked toward Milton's bed.

Whoosh!

Milton, well aware of his own shortcomings, had already drawn his bed curtains shut with lightning speed.

His unsteady voice came through the blue flannel curtains. "S-sorry. I think I'm a little tired."

Scott and Roger were at a loss.

That was Milton for you. His guilty-sounding voice had already given them away.

"Oh, if Milton's tired, we shouldn't disturb his rest."

Roger tried to salvage the situation. He put an arm around Eddie's neck again, firmly steered him over to the window, and made him sit on the sofa.

The slightly chubby Eddie couldn't fight off the tall, burly Roger. He could only sit down with a sour expression, glaring resentfully at Roger and Scott.

"You forgot about it," he said, leaning back on the sofa. "I should have realized sooner."

"Milton!" he suddenly cried, heartbroken. "I thought you were the only one—the only one I could trust! I can't believe you've gone bad, too!"

"S-sorry..." Milton's faint apology drifted out.

"Forget it."

Eddie sounded so frightened that Milton might answer again that he hurriedly shifted his ire toward the other two.

"This is all your fault!"

"It's not my fault!" Roger immediately tried to pass the blame. "You know I spend all my free time at Quidditch practice, Eddie. Captain Bruce wants to win this year's Quidditch Cup before he graduates."

He pointed at Scott. "Besides, Scott was in charge of this whole thing!"

"..."

Scott leaned against the bedpost and set down the small piece of ebony he'd been fiddling with.

"About that..." he said. "I can explain."

"Oh, can you?" Eddie struck an even more triumphant pose on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other. "Then by all means, explain yourself, Mr. Trollope."

"I gave that boy two more chances to ask for help..."

Scott recounted what had happened.

"...So, since he'd given up himself, I stopped worrying about it. After all, everyone has to take responsibility for their choices."

By the time he finished, Scott sounded entirely justified.

"Then did you forget one more thing, Mr. Trollope?" Eddie said through gritted teeth. "You forgot to tell your poor roommate, Eddie Carmichael, that he could give up the assignment!"

"Oh, Eddie! I just didn't want to interrupt the fun of your investigation. I know how much you enjoy that sort of thing."

Scott hurriedly changed the subject.

"Anyway, tell us what you found."

"Right, you said you'd made more discoveries." Roger chimed in. "It must be something incredible."

"Hmph."

At that, Eddie immediately looked pleased with himself, his nose nearly in the air.

"Luckily, you had me, Scott." He was positively smug. "This whole thing has gone far beyond what you expected. What would you have done without me?"

Scott took a deep breath and smiled warmly at Eddie. "I see. Then please, tell us as soon as you can."

"All right."

Eddie immediately settled down.

"As I said before, you were right, Scott. Miss Travers has been up to some astonishing things in secret..."

Eddie shared the information he'd uncovered.

Jasmine Travers, a first-year Slytherin whom Eddie had dubbed "Poison Doll," had somehow gathered a large group of younger girls around her in less than a month since the start of term.

Most of the girls were first- or second-years. The majority were from Slytherin and Ravenclaw, with a few from Hufflepuff.

There were no Gryffindors, of course.

Most of the girls came from ancient Pure-blood families or families with two wizard parents.

"They've secretly formed a clandestine club," Eddie said in a low, affectedly mysterious voice. "It's called the Pure-blood Girls' Afternoon Tea."

"That name obviously came from you," Roger said with a frown. "But that's not important. If the girl has already gathered so many students, surely there should have been some sign of it. How has no one noticed?"

"They contact each other secretly and never gather in large groups," Eddie said confidently. "Those girls Scott saw spending time with Jacob Kent must be the core members of the club!"

"Wait... How did Jacob Kent get involved, when he's a boy and Muggle-born?" Roger asked, astonished. "That kid must be pretty impressive!"

"No." Scott rubbed his temples. "What we need to find out now is what Travers is after, assuming Eddie's information is true. Does she want to become the next Dark Lord?"

"Don't say that."

Roger's face suddenly went pale.

"That kind of joke isn't funny at all."

Scott thought, I'd much rather this turned out to be a joke.

His top priority for the school year involved Voldemort's Diary and the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets! Who knew why things were already getting so tense in parts the "original story" hadn't even covered.