The girl probably hadn't expected Scott to be watching the door before she opened it, so the moment she did, she met his gaze.
Under Scott's gaze, she pressed her lips together a little awkwardly. Bracing one hand against the door, she straightened up.
"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley?"
Scott spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice somewhat low.
He was still going through puberty, and to keep his voice from cracking and embarrassing him, he instinctively spoke more slowly and kept his voice down.
"Sorry, I haven't seen those two gentlemen, Miss Granger." He shook his head at Hermione Granger and answered politely.
Of course, he actually knew those two boys were probably flying through the sky in a car.
"Oh, thank you."
After quickly thanking him, Hermione glanced at the book in his hand—Vacation with a Hag.
On its cover, Gilderoy Lockhart's photo gave her a foolishly "charming" smile.
Seeing that she hadn't left, Scott looked a little surprised. "May I ask if there's anything else, Miss Granger?"
The little witch raised her eyebrows and spoke at breakneck speed. "Were you reading Vacation with a Hag just now? I need to apologize for rudely interrupting your lovely reading time, but I don't know your name yet. Oh, right—you know who I am?"
Scott chuckled softly. "Of course I know you. You're Miss Granger, who helped Mr. Potter, the 'Chosen One,' protect the Philosopher's Stone last school year and earned Gryffindor fifty points at the end-of-year feast. By the way, I'm Scott Trollope, from Ravenclaw, and I'm about to enter my fourth year."
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Trollope. And I really am sorry for interrupting your reading..."
Hermione Granger still spoke at breakneck speed.
Scott was about to say goodbye, but he hadn't expected her to keep going...
"...Of course, I've already read that book, and it was really good. I mean, Professor Lockhart's books are all amazing, absolutely wonderful. This year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class is something to look forward to, isn't it? Well, see you at Hogwarts."
After rapidly rattling off that long string of words, she backed out of the compartment, shut the door, and hurried away.
What a whirlwind of a girl.
Scott shook his head, then fell into thought.
He reviewed the broad strokes of this year's "plot" in his mind—the diary, one of Voldemort's seven Horcruxes, would control Ginny Weasley, the youngest daughter of the Weasley family, and make her open the Chamber of Secrets, releasing the Basilisk inside to attack Muggle-born students.
This plot was extremely unfriendly to him, a Muggle-born wizard. He couldn't guarantee that he'd never run into a deadly Basilisk in a school corridor one day.
It looks like I can't just lie low this school year, Scott thought, after having kept his head down for three years already.
Over the summer, he had turned this "plot" over and over in his mind and come up with many plans. In the end, he had settled on a broadly safe and practical one.
Taking risks was out of the question. He would make sure he was safe while nipping the danger in the bud.
He went over his plan once more, then relaxed and pulled a pocket watch from his robe pocket to check the time.
It was 12:43 p.m., more than an hour since the train had set off.
He was about to take out the lunch he'd brought and fill his stomach.
But just as he opened his backpack, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at the compartment door.
Five seconds later, the compartment door opened again.
"So this is where you are, Scott."
A tall, well-built boy poked his head in, then strode into the compartment and sat across from Scott.
"Hey, Roger."
Scott took a paper bag containing a hamburger from his backpack and asked in surprise, "What brings you here? I thought you'd be with your current girlfriend... that... the Hufflepuff... Miss Mill?"
"Mill?" Roger grinned at Scott. "We've already broken up."
At the news, Scott's hands paused for only a second—he silently mourned the effort he'd spent trying to remember Miss Mill—then casually asked, "When did that happen?"
Roger said with a grin, "In the days after our final exams last school year."
Scott gave Roger a calm look and said nothing.
Another page had been added to Roger's extensive romantic history, but Scott had no interest in commenting.
"You're not even curious about why we broke up?"
Roger snatched a hamburger from the paper bag as Scott opened it.
"Believe me, Roger."
Scott handed Roger a bottle of Coke.
"If you had an exceptionally womanizing roommate like I do, you'd get used to all this after three years too, and completely lose interest in his love life. I bet even Eddie's lost interest in spreading these far too frequent 'romance stories.'"
Eddie Carmichael, their other roommate, had started school a year after them and was always keen to spread gossip.
Roger shrugged, chewing his hamburger as he mumbled, "From the way you put it, your womanizing roommate sounds like a terrible guy."
Scott gave Roger an exaggerated, fake smile. "He's a pretty good roommate as far as I'm concerned. His womanizing has nothing to do with me. After all... I'm not close to the girls he's dumped, and besides... I'm not going to date him."
"Fine."
Roger took those words as a compliment. He happily opened his Coke, then raised the bottle toward Scott.
"To good roommates."
"To good roommates."
Scott raised his unopened Coke bottle and clinked it against Roger's.
Roger didn't seem to mind. He just watched Scott with a strange smile, waggling his eyebrows as he asked, "That girl who just left this compartment was 'Miss Know-It-All,' the Gryffindor buddy of that 'Chosen One,' Potter, right? How do you know each other?"
Scott gave him an annoyed look and swallowed his food. "We just met. She asked if I'd seen her buddies, Potter and Weasley. Those two boys might have missed the train. What, didn't she ask you?"
"Maybe I missed her while I was in the bathroom?"
Roger found the news very amusing and chuckled. "Trouble on the first day of the new school year? That's the 'Chosen One' for you."
Scott thought, It's only just begun. The 'Chosen One' always has to endure hardship before defeating the big bad and saving the world, doesn't he?
Just then, Roger spotted Vacation with a Hag on the seat beside Scott. He asked curiously, "You actually read this kind of novel?"
"A novel?" Scott raised his eyebrows and gave him a questioning look. "This is the textbook for Defense Against the Dark Arts this school year."
Before you continue