Scarlet politely bid Professor Sprout goodbye, promising to report whi she’d chosen during dinner when they’d meet at the Great Hall. She then made a few cheerful hops before expl the empty nearby.

  She noted down several empty rooms but couldn’t quite decide which to choose. However, during her exploration, she iently found all the s she’d be using this year, saving her some future trouble iing lost. Though she had to admit, the moving staircase could be quite frustrating – it was almost as if they could sense when she was in a hurry and purposely shifted just to tease her.

  She hurried to the Great Hall for lund joined her cssmates at the long table.

  “Scarlet, where have you been?” Amelia asked.

  Scarlet preferred not to publicise her bat training, so she simply said, “I asked Professor Sprout if I could sponsor a few school owls for my letter deliveries. I’m expeg daily letters, and it would be a burden for my owl alone.”

  The others looked puzzled, but she didn’t go into detail. “You’ll see. By the way, I took a look around the s, and I think I found where all our csses will be. We should be safe from being te.”

  “Oh, Scarlet, you’re too thoughtful!” one of her cssmates thanked her, to which she responded with a polite smile.

  was Transfiguration with Professonagall, a css they’d be sharing with Slytherins.

  “Ravencws seemed clever, Gryffindors are eic, I wonder what the Slytherins will be like,” Maya said as she ate her roasted chi.

  “Well, I suppose we’ll be fine,” Scarlet said, gng over at the Slytherin table. Just now, she thought of another way to describe them: old-money.

  A noble, old-money mix - wealthy families who value status and carefully measure bes, proud of preserving their traditions. She was fident they’re no challeo her, but she wasn’t so sure about the others, especially the Muggle-borns.

  The Hufflepuffs arrived early to the , thanks to Scarlet. The Slytherins came in ter, some politely nodding in their dire, while others arrogantly raised their , ign them.

  Draco passed by Scarlet’s table as he strolled toward a seat and smirked wheiced her book, “Redhead and a sed-hand book. You’re looking more like a Weasley every day!”

  Scarlet lifted her head and spotted the pale boy again, looking like a proud peacock funting his shiher. Resting her on her hand, she replied, “And what’s wrong with being a Weasley?”

  “They’ve got more children than they afford, just a bunch of poor blood traitors,” Draeered, his expression dripping with disdain.

  Scarlet waited for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. “Is that all you’ve got to say?”

  “To be ho, that’s more than enough,” Drairked again, “I’ve heard you’re a notable author. Here’s some advice – learn to make friends with the right sort.”

  Scarlet houghtfully. “Indeed, as an author, I always do my research before drafting a story, and I’ve e across some rather iing information. I’m not sure if you’re aware.”

  Without waiting for a response, she tinued, “Marriages between cousins ofteo higher rates of birth defects and a greater risk of geic disorders.” She observed Draco’s face growing paler as she went on, “This means that if, say, one day you decided to marry your cousin, you’d have a higher ce of a miscarriage. Your child might be born with a weak body, perhaps with an issues or even blood problems, and they could suffer from mental illness, like insanity. Often, marriages between cousins - or even worse, between siblings – result in desdants who, though they might have ‘pure’ bloodlines in their view, are quite unfortuhey may die young from various diseases they’re destio suffer from since birth, or they might go mad. The royal families of a Egypt could certainly attest to that.”

  Draco was stunned, but Scarlet wasn’t finished. “These are all Muggle studies. If you’re ied, you could look up some biology and medical journals, perhaps textbooks from medical school or uies. I’m sure Mr. Malfoy, ing from a pureblood family, would grasp the true significe of this.”

  Draco gritted his teeth and lowered his voice, making sure Scarlet could hear him, “This must be a fraud, my father will know about this!”

  “Be my guest,” Scarlet replied, motioning for him to go ahead. He did move off, though, as the css was about to start.

  Their versation wasn’t loud, but Amelia and Maya, who sat beside her, definitely heard what she said. Both were stunned until Draco left.

  Maya was the first to recover, tugging on Scarlet’s sleeve and whispering, “Is it true? The birth defects and all that?”

  “Yes, it’s true. Stifidings don’t lie.” Scarlet nodded.

  Amelia leaned in, whispering as well, “I thought you wrote children’s book about imaginary magical worlds. Why are you reading journals and all that?”

  “To keep up with the test iment trends?” Scarlet fudged, a random expnation. Only now did she realize that she had iently chosen twood identities to cover up her oddities, “Now, open your book. Css is about to start.”

  As expected, Professonagall was strid serious, but excellent at guiding students onto the right path. And, shapeshifting an object was much easier with a wand - perhaps that’s why wizards nowadays rely so heavily on them, with some rendered helpless when their wands are missing or broken.

  Oh, wait - it’s not shapeshifting, but Transfiguration. So... does Ron’s rat with an adult soul have anything to do with Transfiguration?

  Scarlet pleted her css activity by turning a matto a needle on her first try.

  Professonagall was very pleased – impressed, in fact - and she showed the css the needle Scarlet had transformed. She praised Scarlet, awarded Hufflepuff 10 points, and remarked on her apparent talent for Transfiguration. But in truth, Scarlet had been practig this ever since she was grahe runic stohe css felt like a beginner’s level for her, and she was quite embarrassed by the public praise.

  She quickly turo her friends to help them with their css activity. This a won even more of Professonagall’s favour, earning Hufflepuff another point.

  Scarlet ehe appreciative stares of her housemates throughout the entire period, until they hurried off to their css with the Slytherins. Their subject was Charms, and Scarlet had unwittingly taken the lead in guiding the students to the .

  The Slytherins didn’t seemed pleased. One of the boys deliberately bumped into Scarlet’s shoulder as they rushed into the , now knowing whie to enter. “Show-off!”

  The Hufflepuffs gred at that boy and quickly gathered around Scarlet, f a protective circle to fort her.

  “It’s alright, let’s get ready for css.” Scarlet brushed it off, and in fact, she fot about it entirely ohe css started.

  Professor Flitwick, who was clearly of mixed race, emphasized the importance of pronunciation and wand movement. The Latin intatio Scarlet feeling more fused. They were so different from how a runic magic of the Queen worked. Although she could achieve simir results, the underlying theories seemed different...

  Today’s lesson urely a lecture with no practical activities. They learhe basid movements, the spells they would o master in their first year, and – of course – were given homework. Every css today had homework, mostly essays. Scarlet found it amusing, as she had only written essays during her uy years in her previous life and never in high school or middle school.

  Sihe professor didn’t mention a citation format, does that mean I freestyle it? Or maybe it’s iextbook?Scarlet mused as the css ended and they all exited into the corridor.

  “Scarlet, we’re heading to the library to finish our homework, while the others are going back to the on room.” Justin said, “Want to joiher group?”

  Scarlet thought for a moment, “I’ll join the group heading back to the on room, but I have things to do, so I’ll leave halfway.” She still hadn’t found a suitable training spot.

  After biding her friends goodbye, she began expl the empty rooms around the dorm building.

  She noticed the Gryffindathered near a tower, the Ravenear another, and the Slytherins heading downstairs, likely to a level below the Hufflepuffs. Hogwarts was massive, with high ceilings, numerous corridors, and tless rooms. But it seemed that every house wao keep entrances secret, and soon she found herself lost in the building.

  Scarlet, “...”

  She wasn’t worried at all. In the worst-case sario, she could jump out of a window, aer the castle through the mairance, but that would attrauch attention - best to avoid it. She recalled that magic wasn’t allowed in the corridors, so...should I go left ht?

  “Oh, our honorary adopted sister! What a pleasure to meet you here.”

  “You look lost, but are you actually lost?”

  Scarlet chuckled as she turned around. “Oh, it’s you two. o see you here.”

  “I don’t suppose the Hufflepuff entrance is around this area.”

  “Are you expl the castle? Looking for hidden passages?”

  “Nope,” Scarlet shook her head, then g the Weasley twins, “Say, you two know the castle pretty well, don’t you?”

  “Indeed we do!”

  “No one in this school knows it better than us!”

  The twins spoke proudly.

  “ you help me find a rge room within this building?” Scarlet asked.

  One of the twins raised an eyebrow, “He are we talking?”

  “Well, about the size of a ?” All the s she had seen were spacious enough for her to practice with her spear.

  The Weasley twins thought for a moment, then sheir fingers in unison.

  “There’s one room - quite huge, if you ask me.”

  “Even a Quidditch team could practiside it!”

  They led her to the lower levels, below the Hufflepuff dorm but likely above Slytherin quarters. After rounding a er, they came across a few doors leading to various rooms. The entered one of the doors to find a deserted room - vast but dusty, with broken chairs and ragged curtains, discarded cauldrons and herbs, suggesting that some students had once used it for something. The lighting wasn’t particur good, but Scarlet didn’t mind. The room was just the right size for her needs.

  “Perfect!” Scarlet cheered, “Thanks for the help. I owe you two one.”

  “Nah, it’s just a small favour.”

  “You’ve been looking after our baby brother; we should be thanking you.”

  “...Huh?”

  “The ten Galleons deal.” one of the twins expined, “He seemed a lot happier, knowing he’ll soon be earning some pocket money.”

  “Said he’s going to save his first bit of gold.”

  “For his very own broomstick!”

  Scarlet asked, “How much does a flying broomstick cost, anyway?”

  “Hundreds of Galleons,” the twins replied.

  “Well...” She thought for a moment, “If Ron does a great job with my questionnaire and I have more tasks to assign, he might actually be able to save up that much...Wait, what are you two doing?”

  “Begging.”

  “For funding.”

  The twins bowed their heads, took her hands, and stared into her eyes with exaggerated siy.

  “We’re much better wizards than our baby brother.”

  “With good grades and plenty of skills.”

  “We could be yuards--”

  “--your assistants--”

  “--your followers--”

  “--your en.”

  “So, sider hiring us instead of our brother.”

  “And we promise you’ll get your money’s worth!”

  Scarlet blinked, “...Are you sure?”

  The twins chorused, “Absolutely sure!”

  Scarlet checked the time on her pocket watch. She had po spend a few days ing this room, but sihe twins offered their help, she could save some time. She pulled out her poud dug out six gold s, “I his room ed. Will this be enough?”

  They wiped imaginary tears from the ers of their eyes.

  “More than enough!”

  “Don’t you worry, we’ll definitely get it done.”

  “Spid span!”

  “...Okay. Just, don’t overdo it. I’ll e back ter to help as well.” Scarlet silehem with a finger pointing in their dire. “It’s diime now. I suppose you haven’t had yours? I’ll bring you something. Sandwiches? Roasted potatoes? Beef steaks?”

  “Sandwiches will be fine.”

  “Thank you, Scarlet!”

  “Well, I’m the one who should be thanking you.” She smiled at them before leaving. The boys fist-pumped the air and bumping each other with joy, clearly delighted at the prospect of earning pocket money.

  I wonder why they’re so eager to earn money. Ron wants a broomstick, so...what are they after? Scarlet mused as she hurried toward the Great Hall.