Boating on the Lake, an Exchange

Scott rowed the small boat a distance away from the dock before stopping, letting it drift with the ripples.

He said to Jacob, "It's only been a month since school started, yet you've changed so much. Compared to when we first met, you're like a different person."

Jacob gave a faint laugh, "If I remained as naive as I was when I first entered the wizarding world, what kind of end would I have met?"

Scott curled his lips slightly, one hand resting on the gunwale, his fingers tapping rhythmically and unconsciously.

"I'm not blaming you, Jacob," he said softly. "On the contrary, I admire your approach."

Jacob didn't look surprised; he watched Scott calmly. "I know."

He said, "You originally intended to expose me completely, but you changed your mind later, didn't you?"

Scott acknowledged his assessment without hesitation. "You're right."

Just then, he suddenly looked up and waved back at the Weasley twins, who were waving at him from the distant lakeshore.

Afterward, he continued to Jacob, "I chose not to expose you later because it involved a matter of stance."

"Pure-blood wizards versus Muggle-born wizards?" Jacob asked with understanding.

Scott nodded. "At first, I thought you had chosen to stand on the side of Jasmine Travers."

Speaking of this, he laughed again. "I didn't expect that I would be the one to misjudge this time."

To this, Jacob sneered several times. "I know very well how they view Muggle-born wizards. Besides, I didn't come here to learn how to be a House-elf."

Scott brought up what happened the day before. "Thinking about it now, Turpin being exposed so easily must have been partly due to your doing, right? The flaws she left behind while sneaking into our dormitory were too obvious."

He clapped his hands. "You must have been waiting for such an opportunity, and the fact that the three Travers girls were sick just happened to give you your chance."

Jacob didn't hide it. "Yes, at the time I kept urging Turpin, intensifying her nervousness, so in her panic, she chose to use a Severing Charm to open Davis's trunk."

"I thought Davis would notice something was wrong when he saw the trunk, but I didn't expect him to actually get on that broom." He shook his head.

"Regardless, it was you who chose to make Turpin the breakthrough for the professors to understand the whole thing. Well done, Jacob." Scott applauded lightly.

"I originally thought that although you might have been forced at the beginning, you later simply chose to become a follower of Travers. Since you had no intention of saving yourself, I naturally wouldn't go out of my way to save you. That was the reason I stopped paying attention to you."

Having said that, he paused and quickly pulled out his wand.

"Waddiwasi."

The spell hit the stone the twins had skipped across the water with precision, sending it flying back in the opposite direction.

Scott held his wand in his hand and continued to say to Jacob, "Now I understand. You refused my help, didn't seek assistance from the professors, and chose to keep hanging around those pure-blood girls because you wanted to get something from Travers, right?"

He tapped his palm with his wand. "For instance, some Dark Arts."

Jacob nodded and admitted it quite readily.

"Just some minor hexes and a few jinxes, not really what you'd call true Dark Arts. But I think what's more important is some knowledge that is considered common sense for pure-blood wizards," he said.

"Perhaps in your eyes, this is a bad deal, Scott."

Jacob didn't show much expression on his face.

"But I don't have your powerful magical talent. To obtain knowledge that cannot be learned at Hogwarts, I believe these sacrifices are worth it."

At this moment, his eyes were exceptionally bright.

"Even if I've been verbally humiliated and hit by spells every day during this time, I believe it's worth it!"

"That's very Ravenclaw."

Scott offered this evaluation, then raised his hand to cast a spell at another incoming stone.

"I won't judge whether it's worth it," he said to Jacob at the same time. "That's your own choice, and I won't interfere."

"That's also very Ravenclaw," Jacob returned Scott's evaluation.

"Thanks," Scott said, then shifted the topic. "However, you know, although Professor Flitwick said he would expel her, there is a high probability that Travers will still return to Hogwarts."

Jacob didn't feel surprised by this. "I know. The most Travers did was incite others; there is no concrete evidence for the things she did to hurt or intimidate me..."

He shook his head. "...You know, this doesn't constitute a criminal fact. The mistake Avery made by giving Turpin the dark magical object is much more obvious than hers."

Scott gripped the oars again and began to row the boat slowly toward the dock.

"Although the professors will keep a close eye on her after she returns to Hogwarts, you still need to be careful of her secret retaliation," he warned Jacob.

Jacob smiled. "The target of her retaliation might also be you, Scott. I know her well enough; she holds grudges and will never let things go."

His tone was full of hidden meaning.

"It seems you know about Travers's plan for revenge against me," Scott said. "Yet you chose to hide it from Professor Flitwick."

A cunning look appeared on Jacob's face. "My intuition told me not to lie in front of Professor Flitwick, so I only hid part of the facts and told the truth the rest of the time."

"Your intuition is very accurate," Scott complimented him.

Jacob said, "The magic of magic lies in the fact that there are too many methods unknown to us; if we only defend, we will be at a great disadvantage."

"So?" Scott raised an eyebrow slightly.

"So we should make that girl lose the ability to retaliate against us," Jacob said with a cold expression.

He paused, his face softening slightly, and added, "This should also be the reason you called me out here alone, right?"

"No, you're mistaken, Jacob."

Scott's answer was not what he had expected.

"Stripping Travers of her ability to retaliate against us?" He shook his head. "I'm afraid we can't do that, and even if we could, it would carry immense risk. I don't do things when I'm not certain of the outcome."

Although Jacob's proposal sounded reasonable and was quite attractive to Scott, but—

St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was a place Scott knew nothing about, and he would absolutely not take such a risk.

"Then you?" A look of surprise finally appeared on Jacob's face.

"I said it before, I just wanted to exchange ideas with you."

At this moment, the small boat had reached the shore. Scott stood up from the boat and jumped onto the pier.

He turned back to Jacob, who was still sitting in the boat, and said, "We are both Muggle-born wizards, and our positions are often aligned. You're a smart guy, and perhaps we can collaborate many times in the future. Let's count this as a genuine initial acquaintance."

After saying that, he waved his hand and turned to leave.

Before leaving the pier, he heard Jacob's dissatisfied voice, "I don't know you at all!"

"That's a problem with your own capabilities."

Scott turned his head to say that, then lifted his foot to climb the stone steps leading to Hogwarts castle.

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