With Professor Flitwick leading the way, Scott and the others returned to Ravenclaw Tower.
But when they climbed the spiral staircase, they found Lockhart standing fully dressed outside the Common Room.
"Oh, shit!" Roger immediately muttered under his breath.
"You're back, Filius!"
The moment Lockhart saw them, his eyes lit up, and he beamed at Professor Flitwick.
"I felt the call of duty. You needed me here, a Defense Against the Dark Arts expert. You know, nobody is better than I am at handling this sort of thing! So I came to wait here ahead of time!"
He raised his chin proudly, as if waiting for Professor Flitwick to ask for his help.
Professor Flitwick looked as though he'd stepped in a steaming pile of dog shit.
The Ravenclaw students had suffered one mishap after another over the past two days, and the professor was in an extremely foul mood. He could no longer maintain his composure when faced with the irritating Lockhart.
"This is an internal matter for Ravenclaw House, Professor Lockhart." Professor Flitwick spoke to Lockhart coldly. "I believe I'm the Head of this House, and Dumbledore put me in charge of this matter!"
"Don't say that, Filius." Lockhart's expression stiffened for a moment, then he forced a wide grin. "Have you already forgotten? I graduated from Ravenclaw House too."
"Yes, you once did." Professor Flitwick tilted his head back and looked at him coldly. "But you haven't been a member for a long time."
Before Lockhart could say anything else, he continued, "We don't need your help here, Lockhart. No one but Ravenclaw students and the Head of House has ever entered the Ravenclaw Common Room!"
Though the two wizards were worlds apart in height, the imposing Lockhart was cowed by the presence Professor Flitwick exuded.
He changed his mind almost immediately.
"Fine. You're right, Filius. We can't break Ravenclaw tradition."
In the crowd, Eddie muttered gleefully, "Madam Pomfrey went in yesterday."
The students nearby who heard him smirked.
Lockhart was still trying to save face.
"Of course, if you need help, be sure to let me know! Remember, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, and an honorary member of the Defense Against the Dark Arts League is always ready to serve you!"
He made a show of bowing, then left under Professor Flitwick's increasingly annoyed gaze.
But as he passed Scott, he stopped again and spoke quickly.
"Oh, Trollope, you did very well today, didn't you? You really stole the show in front of everyone. But I think there's still room for improvement. Perhaps you could use some guidance from an experienced professional."
"..."
Scott glanced at him in surprise. Lockhart's falsely friendly expression wavered, and he finally turned and left for good.
Scott watched him go with an impassive gaze, unable to help marveling at his shamelessness.
"How dare he!" Roger said furiously. "He actually called himself an expert in front of Professor Flitwick!"
"That's nothing. You should know he did plenty of stupid things to draw attention to himself when he was a student." Eddie was once again showing off the information he'd dug up.
Unfortunately, no one was interested in Lockhart's old stories just then.
Scott nudged him on the shoulder. "Come on, the Common Room door is open now."
"All right, we'll talk about it later." Eddie shrugged regretfully.
After entering the Common Room, Professor Flitwick first went to find the ghost lady who was wandering around the library there.
"Lady Grey!" He greeted her politely.
"Filius?" The Grey Lady, who had been facing the bookshelves, turned around and looked at Professor Flitwick and the gathered students.
Her expression was cold, though there was a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
"Has something happened?" she asked indifferently.
"Oh, yes." Professor Flitwick explained what had happened on the Quidditch Pitch.
"I know what you want to ask." The Grey Lady shook her head. "I can tell you: no. No one from outside the House has entered here."
Roger anxiously asked, "Then have you seen anyone—I mean, has anyone gone into our dormitory?"
"I don't pay attention to the boys' dormitory." The Grey Lady looked at him coldly.
"O-okay," Roger said meekly. "Thank you for answering."
"I'm going back to my book."
The Grey Lady turned back to stare at the bookshelves, apparently unwilling to deal with them any further.
"All right, don't bother the Grey Lady any more."
Professor Flitwick said this, then waved at the other Ravenclaw students who had been following the group.
"The rest of you, go on."
But the students remained where they were.
"All right, all right. You can wait here for the results, but don't all crowd into Davis's dormitory." Professor Flitwick said helplessly.
"Davis, take me to your dormitory." He beckoned to Roger.
"Please follow me, Professor."
Roger led the way up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, with Professor Flitwick following behind him.
Scott and his roommates followed too. As for the Quidditch team, Captain Bruce stopped the others and came along himself.
Scott walked at the back. As he stepped onto the stairs, he looked back and fixed his gaze on Jacob in the crowd in the Common Room.
At that moment, Jacob, standing alone in a corner, was looking at him too.
Their eyes met, and Jacob quickly looked away.
Scott curled his lip, then turned and went up the stairs.
"Actually, I went back to the dormitory before heading to the Quidditch Pitch," he told the others. "But I only hurriedly dropped off my textbooks and left. I didn't notice anything unusual."
"Everyone could have figured that out already, couldn't they?" Eddie muttered, his expression odd. "The only people who could get into our dormitory should be Ravenclaw students."
"Oh no, you can't say that, Eddie."
Milton looked dazed, as if he couldn't accept the possibility at all.
"M-maybe someone else sneaked in and did this without the Grey Lady noticing. After all, the Eagle Door Knocker's riddle... isn't that difficult." His face scrunched up as he spoke, clearly uncomfortable with the possibility too.
"Accept reality, Milton." Eddie sighed, pretending to be worldly.
They entered the dormitory, and at Roger's direction, Professor Flitwick began inspecting the rectangular wooden trunk where he kept his Quidditch gear.
"Here, Professor," Roger said. "I usually keep my Quidditch uniform, gloves, boots, and broomstick in this trunk."
Scott stepped closer too.
He hadn't noticed anything when he'd come back to drop off his textbooks earlier, but now that he examined the area carefully, he immediately sensed something strange.
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