"I've been teaching at Hogwarts for many years, and even I've rarely encountered something like this," Professor Flitwick said with a sigh.
He shook his head and said to the students, "Miss Turpin, Mr. Kent, I'll tell Headmaster Dumbledore and each of your parents everything that happened."
"Oh, right." He looked at Turpin, who still seemed stunned. "Is there anything you'd like to say, Miss Turpin?"
"P-Professor..." Turpin trembled and raised her tearful eyes. "C-could you really tell whether everything Jacob said was true?"
"Yes, I can."
Professor Flitwick answered with certainty.
"You young wizards don't have complete control over your magic. Someone who can control their own magic, like Mr. Trollope, is extremely rare."
Scott, the person being mentioned, smiled. He hadn't expected Professor Flitwick to remember to praise him in passing even at a time like this.
Professor Flitwick went on to explain, "Experienced wizards can infer a young wizard's most genuine emotional response from their obvious fluctuations in magic."
At that point, Jacob shakily stood up again and said, "Th-then I lied to you this morning..."
"Of course I could tell, Jacob." Professor Flitwick gave him a reassuring smile. "In all my years teaching at Hogwarts, I generally haven't made a habit of calling students out when they lie."
Jacob gave him a shy smile in return.
But Scott noticed that Lisa Turpin had completely lost her bearings.
She seemed to have no idea who to believe. In a daze, she tousled her golden hair until it looked like a bird's nest.
"Impossible... No, impossible..."
She muttered the words over and over, unable to accept that her perfect image of Miss Travers had fallen apart.
"Miss Turpin, there are two things you still haven't explained." Scott wasn't about to let her off the hook.
He leaned forward on the sofa and fixed her with a pressing stare.
"As everyone knows, Roger has always been a womanizer..."
"Hey!" Roger protested.
Scott ignored him and continued questioning Turpin. "You've always known Roger was unfaithful, so why have you suddenly decided to take revenge on him? And where did you get the Dark Arts object you used to curse Roger's broom?"
Turpin only wept and avoided his gaze.
A trace of sympathy crossed Professor Flitwick's face, but he still said nothing.
Scott didn't waver. He simply kept watching Turpin.
"I don't know! I don't know!"
Turpin finally couldn't take it anymore and burst into loud sobs.
"It was them! They laughed at me when I told them about it! And... and... I got angry when I saw Roger with another girl!"
"The Dark Arts object," Scott pressed again.
Th-That was..." Turpin began hiccupping as she cried. "Morgan Avery gave it to me."
Scott leaned back against the sofa and interlaced his fingers. "Miss Avery? So, did you know that the Dark Arts object would make Roger's broom explode?"
"I didn't know! Really! I only wanted to teach Roger a lesson. Morgan said it would just make his broom malfunction."
She hiccupped again.
"And... and... she said the broom would start smoking as a warning first. Morgan also said... she said... if Roger was a competent Quidditch player, nothing serious would happen..."
She looked at Roger pitifully and pleaded with him. "I'm sorry, Roger. I'm sorry. I'll buy you a new broom!"
"That's the least you should do," Scott said mercilessly.
Turpin immediately started crying even louder.
Despairing, she said, "What am I going to do? My parents will be so disappointed when they find out... They were so happy when they heard I'd become friends with Miss Travers. They even wrote to encourage me... Maybe the only place they'll be able to visit me from now on is Azkaban..."
"Poor thing, isn't she?" Roger murmured in Scott's ear, feeling sorry for the young witch's pitiful state.
Scott didn't comment.
Still, he'd come to understand even more clearly how ridiculous these so-called "new wizarding families" were.
It was hard to say that Lisa Turpin's admiration for Jasmine Travers hadn't been influenced by her family's yearning for pure-blood families.
They were all ordinary wizards. The arrogance of pure-blood families could at least be attributed to their history and heritage. But these people had gone out of their way to invent a "class" just to make themselves seem superior.
In the end, they pleased neither side. Didn't they find that ridiculous?
At that moment, Professor Flitwick came out from behind his desk and said, "I'm going to announce the consequences of this incident."
"Mr. Kent," he said to Jacob, "although you acted because your family was threatened, you did take part in sabotaging Mr. Davis's broom."
"I'm sorry, Professor." Jacob lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Mr. Davis."
Professor Flitwick continued, "Your punishment is two months of detention after class."
Jacob nodded without protest.
"As for Miss Turpin..." Professor Flitwick looked at Turpin, who was still crying uncontrollably. "I'll decide on your punishment after meeting with your parents and the headmaster."
"Am I really going to Azkaban?" Turpin shrank into a ball in fright.
Professor Flitwick shook his head. "As Mr. Brown said earlier, it depends on whether your parents are willing to pay a large ransom for you."
Turpin shrank even smaller.
"Now, Mr. Trollope and Mr. Davis, you two may go back."
Professor Flitwick said to Scott and Roger.
"I'll take Miss Turpin and Mr. Kent to the Headmaster's Office."
"All right, Professor."
Scott and Roger stood up from the sofa and left Professor Flitwick's office.
They walked through several corridors and arrived at the foot of the staircase in Hogwarts Castle's main building, where the stairs were constantly shifting in irregular patterns.
"I forgot something," Scott suddenly said.
"What?" Roger asked.
"I heard from the Weasley Twins a couple of days ago that someone gave me a nasty nickname." Scott's expression darkened as soon as he brought it up.
Roger looked intrigued. "What kind of nickname?"
"You don't need to know." Scott stared at him expressionlessly. "The Weasley Twins only told me that the nickname started circulating in Ravenclaw."
Roger gave him a peculiar look. "So now you suspect Travers had Ravenclaw students spread the nickname to get back at you?"
He clearly didn't think a nickname was worth worrying about.
"Forget it." Scott started down the stairs. "I'll ask Jacob when he gets back to Ravenclaw Tower. For now, I've decided to ask Eddie first."
Before you continue