Night: A Conversation in a Dark Corner

On the way forward, the stimulated Scott had already cast the matter of preparing gifts to the back of his mind, his head filled with thoughts on how to quickly find a girlfriend and have a sweet romance.

Consequently, he carefully recalled all the girls he knew, only to find that his current situation was somewhat awkward.

Come to think of it, if he combined his past life and his current one, he was already over thirty years old. Yet, in reality, he was only fourteen.

The mismatch between his physiological age and his psychological age created an awkward status quo.

He couldn't bring himself to like girls his own age or younger, just like a normal boy would.

But if it were girls older than him... they most likely wouldn't like him back. He even felt that the way those sixth or seventh-year female students looked at lower-year boys was the same way one looked at monkeys.

Forget it, let nature take its course.

Scott thought with a bitter heart, soon arriving near Ravenclaw Tower.

A gust of evening wind blew, and the chaotic thoughts in Scott's mind dissipated quite a bit. He remembered that he still had two more important things to attend to right now.

One was to find Eddie as soon as possible to settle the score and find out the culprit behind the nickname he had been given.

The other was to prepare Professor McGonagall's birthday gift as soon as possible.

Scott walked into Ravenclaw Tower without stopping, but he paused again as he stepped onto the spiral staircase.

He sensed the magic of two students; they were hiding outside Ravenclaw Tower, in the 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 somewhat wary, as she was very good at disguise. The other was a first-year Ravenclaw girl who had once clashed with Jacob Kent and was far too close to Travers.

Coupled with the intelligence Eddie had gathered later, Scott and his roommates had been secretly keeping an eye on these two little witches and their group of pure-blood girls recently.

It was already past curfew, yet these two girls were hiding in the shadows; it was clearly suspicious.

Since he had run into them so coincidentally, Scott decided to investigate for himself.

Scott pulled his wand from his robes, and with a flick of his wrist, he whispered a spell, pointing the tip of his wand at himself.

In an instant, the color and texture of his body became exactly the same as the surrounding environment.

After using the Disillusionment Charm to blend himself completely into the environment, Scott waved his wand again, casting a Quietus Charm.

"Quietus."

Having prepared himself, he turned and walked out of Ravenclaw Tower, bypassed the wall outside the tower, and slowly moved toward the dark corner where the two girls were located.

When he was ten paces away from the target, Scott stopped.

At this moment, he was somewhat surprised.

Because he could neither see the figures of his targets nor hear them speaking.

Those two first-year little witches had actually used the Disillusionment Charm and the Quietus Charm, or some similar means.

If it weren't for the fact that Scott's perception of magic exceeded that of ordinary people, he might have passed right by them without easily discovering them.

Scott didn't know whether to marvel at how cautious they were at such a young age, or to marvel at the fact that the family education of these ancient pure-blood families was somewhat advanced.

But he knew this couldn't be blamed solely on pure-blood family education, because although there weren't many students from pure-blood families at Hogwarts, they weren't exactly rare either. Other students were nowhere near having the ability Travers displayed in their first year.

Although he couldn't see the targets with his eyes, at this distance, Scott could clearly sense that it was Travers who was using the magic.

At this point, Scott could no longer move forward.

Because sensing magic within ten paces was something many wizards could do, and Scott even judged that Travers had this ability as well.

But Scott would not give up because of this.

He stood against the stone wall of the tower, letting his body merge with the stone, and then pulled a small piece of ebony from the Moke Skin Pouch at his waist.

He placed the piece of ebony in the palm of his left hand and gently waved his wand with his right hand, tapping the wood.

The piece of ebony immediately began to transform. Soon, a small black wooden bat appeared in his palm.

Scott could already perform this level of basic Transfiguration silently, without the need for incantations.

It was just that the black bat he had transformed was still just a normal wood carving, entirely an inanimate object.

Scott did not stop his movements; he first pressed the tip of his wand from his right hand against the back of the wooden bat carving and gently drew a few symbols. The ebony wand acted like a carving knife, engraving a few simple symbols onto the back of the bat carving.

Then, Scott waved his wand again with a small motion, and the wood grain on the bat carving immediately faded away, replaced by black fur.

Scott lifted his hand gently, and this transformed object, now identical to a real bat, flew out silently.

What Scott had done seemed very simple, but if Professor McGonagall were to see this scene, she would surely be greatly astonished.

Because what he had done was surprisingly similar to the conjecture in the paper by Bill Weasley that was discussed at the Transfiguration Club today.

This conjecture, which everyone in the club claimed was impossible to achieve, seemed to be playing out in Scott's hands.

Although he had divided this conjectural Transfiguration into several steps, with the effects achieved by Transfiguration and Ancient Runes being realized in separate stages, and without even utilizing the content of Charms.

But this was still an achievement that could be shocking.

If Scott were to demonstrate this in front of the editor-in-chief of Transfiguration Today, the other party would surely award him the Most Potential Newcomer Award with the greatest enthusiasm!

But unfortunately, neither Professor McGonagall nor the editor-in-chief of Transfiguration Today would have the chance to see this scene. Scott would not rashly show off this achievement of his, which he felt was only just beginning.

He didn't even feel proud of what he had done. This was merely the reward for his persistent, in-depth research and practice of the basic Transfiguration curriculum.

Right now, Scott was looking up as the bat flew away.

The bat, almost blending into the night, flew silently to the corner where the two girls were, hanging upside down from a crack in the masonry above their heads.

At such close range, even with the Quietus Charm in effect, the voices of the two girls inevitably carried clearly to the ears of the bat.

Almost simultaneously, the sound of their conversation reached Scott's ears.

"Jasmine, I... I'm not sure if doing this will drag you into it."

Caitlin Rowle said with some concern.

"And... besides, you know, I've asked the older Ravenclaw students, and Scott Trollope is not someone to be trifled with, plus... he's friends with Roger Davies..."

Wow!

Scott raised his eyebrows high and widened his eyes.

What a coincidence! Were they actually talking about him?

"Don't worry, Caitlin."

Jasmine Travers spoke in a soft, gentle tone, her voice possessing a soothing quality that seemed capable of calming the heart.

But that pleasant voice was saying something entirely unpleasant, "Scott Trollope is nothing but a Mudblood, and this is the wizarding world. I just want to teach that arrogant Mudblood a lesson. He should fully understand that our business is not something for his kind to meddle in."

Tsk.

Hearing this, Scott had already furrowed his brows.

He hadn't expected this Miss Travers to be so arrogant in private.

"But... he hasn't really done anything... has he?" Caitlin Rowle's voice became somewhat timid.

"No, he has tried to speak to Jacob more than once when we were with him. That is his offense, a Mudblood offending us."

Jasmine Travers's voice grew softer and softer.

"You said you would always help me, didn't you? Caitlin."