Scott Preferred to Strike First

"Y-yes, Jasmine."

Scott heard Caitlin Rowle's voice trembling with obvious fear.

"I... I'll do what you said."

From her tone, Scott could tell she was trying hard to overcome her emotions and appease Jasmine Travers.

"Good, Caitlin." Jasmine Travers spoke gently, offering words of praise. "Thank you. You'll always be my best friend. I'm so lucky to have met you."

Caitlin Rowle's voice immediately brightened. "You don't need to thank me, Jasmine! We really are best friends!"

Listening to her excited voice, Scott felt he'd had quite an eye-opening experience today.

Wasn't this the so-called PUA?

And Travers was really good at it! She already had Caitlin Rowle firmly wrapped around her little finger.

"It's so nice. I feel much more at ease with your help, Caitlin." Jasmine Travers was full of sweet talk. "But it's getting late, so you should get some rest. Let's head back."

"Okay. Be careful on your way back, Jasmine."

"Don't worry..."

Scott knew he had to leave.

He was standing on the path the two girls would have to take. If he stayed too close, they might spot him.

He wasn't afraid of the two little witches, but he liked the feeling of being the mastermind behind the scenes. He didn't want to reveal himself just yet.

As the two girls said goodbye, he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

It was a shame he hadn't heard anything crucial, but knowing that the other side was planning to target him in secret was enough.

Afterward, Scott silently made his way to a corridor near Ravenclaw Tower. He stood in the shadows beneath a pillar, watching the two girls emerge from a dark corner behind the tower.

After they exchanged goodnights again, Caitlin Rowle stood at the tower's entrance, watching eagerly as Jasmine Travers headed toward the Slytherin Common Room.

Only after Jasmine Travers had disappeared from view did Caitlin Rowle turn and enter the tower.

Neither of them noticed the tiny black bat, as light as a feather, clinging tightly to the back of Jasmine Travers's sleeve with its little claws. It swayed gently as she walked.

Scott didn't head back to the Common Room. As soon as Caitlin Rowle entered the tower, he followed her at a careful distance.

His body blended into the tower, and he moved without a sound.

Caitlin Rowle had no idea that the person she and Jasmine Travers wanted to target was following her, only a few flights of stairs behind.

Scott wasn't the type to wait until he was attacked before striking back. On the contrary, he always preferred to strike first.

Walking up the spiral staircase behind Caitlin Rowle, Scott smiled silently.

The best way to deal with danger was, of course, to make it disappear—or to deal with the person trying to put him in danger first.

Of course, he wasn't planning to hurt her outright. In this magical castle, he didn't have the skill to hurt someone and escape an investigation.

Who knew how much control their great headmaster had over the castle?

All he was going to do was make the girl who'd tried to harm him "naturally" fall ill for a while.

He couldn't use Charms or Potions on her, since either might be discovered afterward. He never underestimated the influence Pure-blood families had at Hogwarts.

Of course, the biggest reason was that their great headmaster was a man who followed the rules to the letter. That much was clear from the "original story": the most powerful wizard of the century had been repeatedly hamstrung by a bunch of clowns.

Scott pulled a sealed little glass vial from his Moke Skin Pouch at his waist.

He held the half-finger-length transparent vial up to his eyes, gave it a gentle shake, and examined it up close.

Inside the glass vial lay a single, solitary hypodermic needle.

If he wanted to make someone sick, using Charms or Potions might get him caught. But what if he used a virus wizards had never encountered before?

Scott smiled again. Carefully opening the sealed vial and holding it between his fingers, he drew his wand with his other hand, waved it gently, and pointed it at the vial.

With a faint ripple of magic, the metal needle inside the vial turned into a black mosquito.

The Aedes aegypti beat its transparent wings as it flew out of the vial, heading straight for Caitlin Rowle, who was higher up the spiral staircase.

A few seconds later, Scott heard her give a soft shriek, just as he'd hoped.

He waited quietly until the mosquito flew back and turned into a needle again, dropping into the glass vial.

Listening to Caitlin Rowle's footsteps continue up the stairs, he slipped his wand back into its holster inside his robes, sealed the vial, and turned to head down the stairs.

Next, he made his way to the Black Lake without any trouble. He crouched down, set the vial in his hand on the ground, and waved his wand again.

"Vanishing Spell."

The glass vial containing the needle vanished completely under the magic. Scott stood up.

Then, as he walked along the shore of the Black Lake, he worked out roughly where the Slytherin dormitories would be beneath its waters.

Fifteen minutes later, he stopped again.

He stepped into the lake's shallows, took off one of his shoes, and set it on the water. Before it could sink, he waved his wand and turned it into a small boat.

"It does smell a little like feet."

Scott climbed aboard and muttered softly, then began rowing with the oars made from his shoelaces. Ripples spread across the calm, deep lake as the rather smelly little boat slowly headed forward.

Five minutes later, Scott stopped rowing and let the boat drift across the lake.

By then, he'd re-established his "connection" with the bat that had followed Jasmine Travers back to the Slytherin Common Room.

Without hesitation, he waved his wand and turned his robes into a suit of iron armor that covered him from head to toe. Then he cast a Bubble-Head Charm and flipped into the icy lake water.

Scott sank rapidly at great speed. Before long, he saw the warm light shining through rows of windows in the Slytherin Common Room and dormitories deep beneath the water.

The timing was perfect. Thanks to the complicated routes inside Hogwarts Castle, Jasmine Travers had only just returned to her dormitory.

"Jasmine, you're finally back!"

Scott heard an unfamiliar girl's voice in his ear. He waved his wand again, changing the armor back into robes, and swam toward the dormitory window, hiding among the thick water plants.

"I was worried about you the whole time. What if Professor Snape found out..."

"Don't worry, Morgan. I'm not going to get caught by something as disgusting as Filch." After returning to her dormitory, Jasmine Travers spoke in her normal voice again, without that soothing gentleness.