"A perfectly placed Severing Charm."
Professor Flitwick crouched down and reached out to touch the broken part of the lock on the wooden chest.
"Although the magical object that damaged the broom would be difficult to trace," he said, withdrawing his hand, "fortunately, it left a clear clue behind."
He turned to Roger. "Did you cast the Anti-Alohomora Charm on your chest?"
Roger nodded. "Yes. I added it while I was practicing the spell."
Captain Bruce, who was even taller than Roger, stood beside him, leaning over to look at the chest. At this, he couldn't help saying, "You take much better precautions to protect your broom than I do, Roger."
"But clearly, it didn't do any good. Though I didn't cast the spell on purpose," Roger said with a helpless expression.
"I just want to know how you got caught out, Roger." Bruce looked at the broken lock on the chest again. "When you took out your equipment, didn't you notice someone had tampered with your chest?"
"No. I was probably in too much of a hurry," Roger said ruefully. "I opened the chest with a spell while putting away my books, then used Accio to summon my broom and equipment."
Bruce said disapprovingly, "So this clumsy crime succeeded because you were careless."
"You didn't use this spell on your dormitory door." At that moment, Professor Flitwick looked back at the undamaged door.
"Oh, yes. We thought the dormitory was safe," Eddie replied. "You know, this is Ravenclaw House territory..."
Milton nudged Eddie to make him stop.
Professor Flitwick's expression grew a little grim. "That's true. It's always been safe here. No outsider has ever broken in."
He said sadly, "I never thought something like this would happen. What will the professors and students from the other houses think of us?"
Seeing Professor Flitwick's dismay, Eddie hurriedly began to apologize. "I'm sorry, Professor. I... I meant..."
"No, you didn't say anything wrong, Mr. Carmichael." Professor Flitwick shook his head.
He looked up at Scott.
"Scott, take a look," he said. "There's still some magic here, left behind by the Severing Charm."
He stood and straightened his robes. "The magic is very faint. If it were me, I'd need to go through some complicated steps to confirm who cast the spell. We might even have to gather all the students and test them."
At that, he shook his head, unconvinced by the idea.
"We can't treat every student as a suspect."
He said to Scott, "But you, Scott—I'm sure you can tell who it was just from the magic residue."
Scott nodded silently. He could tell—or rather, he already knew the answer.
Still, he crouched down to sense it up close.
At that moment, Bruce asked in utter shock, "Professor! Do you mean Scott's ability to sense magic is even stronger than yours?"
Scott's three roommates were all astonished.
They knew, of course, that Scott could sense magic, but they had never known his ability surpassed Professor Flitwick's.
There were rumors outside the school that Professor Flitwick had some goblin blood, but all the Ravenclaw students knew it was true.
Professor Flitwick had never tried to hide it. He had even brought it up with his students himself.
Goblins were magical creatures highly sensitive to magic. That was also why they were especially skilled at making magical objects.
And Professor Flitwick not only had goblin blood, but was also a powerful master of Charms.
It was easy to see why the idea that Scott could sense magic better than Professor Flitwick seemed so unbelievable.
"That's right, Scott can do it! Though when Scott gave me that painting, I didn't explain it to the students in such detail."
Professor Flitwick never begrudged his students a compliment.
"I only said that Scott had done something most adult wizards couldn't. I didn't want the students to lose confidence."
"So you're not worried we'll lose confidence now?" Eddie couldn't help muttering again.
"I know you won't. I know you all," Professor Flitwick said with a smile at last. "You're all good friends of Scott's, aren't you? I think you'll be happy for him."
Just then, Scott stood up and turned around.
"Oh, yes! We're good friends, of course. We're proud of him!" Eddie said quickly.
The others all laughed.
Though he had already known the answer, Scott had still spent quite a while checking.
He said to Professor Flitwick, "Professor, I think I've identified who did it."
After saying that, he couldn't help giving Roger a strange look.
Roger felt a chill at the look and asked nervously, "Who?"
"Who?" Bruce asked too.
He was very concerned about an incident that had nearly injured one of his players.
Scott didn't answer. Instead, he went to the bookshelf beside Roger's bed and took down a transparent Divination Crystal Ball.
"I remember this crystal ball was a gift from Miss Turpin, wasn't it?" He toyed with it, smiling teasingly.
Roger's expression immediately turned complicated.
"It was Lisa Turpin, a second-year," Eddie whispered to Professor Flitwick, who didn't know what was going on. He seemed to be holding back a laugh. "Roger's ex—ex—ex-girlfriend."
Bruce, standing nearby, couldn't help snickering, while Roger covered his face.
"Mr. Davis!" Professor Flitwick immediately shrieked at Roger. "I remember Miss Turpin started school last year. She's only twelve!"
"Oh, when they were dating last year, Miss Turpin was only eleven," Eddie said, twisting the knife.
"This is outrageous!" Professor Flitwick was clearly even angrier.
"No, Professor, I didn't do anything." Roger hurriedly tried to explain. "She was just a little girl. I was only playing at being in love with her."
Professor Flitwick asked angrily, "What else were you planning to do?"
"No, I wasn't planning anything." Roger shook his head frantically.
Scott and the others looked at him with scorn.
"No! You all know!" Roger hurriedly turned to them. "Scott! Milton! Eddie! You know what really happened! I'm not that kind of person!"
Scott and the other two could barely hold back their laughter.
"What exactly happened?" Professor Flitwick continued to glare at Roger.
"I'll explain! I can explain!" Roger cried.
"Very well. I'll hear your explanation here, Mr. Davis." Professor Flitwick stepped onto Roger's chest, then turned and sat on his bed, watching him.
Scott and the others knew what had happened, but none of them stepped in to explain for him.
The three of them, along with Bruce, sat down on the other beds, content to wait for Roger's explanation.
Scott also heard Bruce mutter under his breath, "Whatever the story is, at least it'll be an entertaining one."
Roger swallowed and began telling them about how he had "dated" an eleven-year-old girl last year.
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This book will be featured in a trial recommendation slot tomorrow afternoon. I hope readers who enjoy it will keep reading. Many thanks!
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