"All right, class dismissed." Anthony clipped the statistics into his lesson plan. "Oh, Davies, do you have class after this?"
"No, Professor," Roger Davies answered somewhat bewildered.
Anthony nodded. "Then please stay a moment... Well, there's something."
"Okay," Roger said knowingly and indicated his waiting friend should go first.
The friend looked at him worriedly and said quietly, "I'll wait outside the classroom. Did you fail the last quiz?"
Anthony smiled. "No need to worry, just discussing something unrelated. I promise Davies will appear at the Ravenclaw table completely intact."
The friend smiled embarrassedly, reached out to take Roger's textbook and notebook, and helped carry them back to the dormitory early.
Anthony watched them with a smile. Unlike his sister, it seemed Roger had gained mutually supportive good companions at Hogwarts.
His friend walked out of the classroom and considerately closed the door. Sunset flashed golden through the clouds and illuminated this third-year Ravenclaw's hair with a golden glow, rarely looked warm.
As soon as his friend left the classroom, Roger keenly asked, "It's about Tracey, right?" He volunteered, "I recently asked her to watch Quidditch practice several times. At first she'd agree, but seemed to get annoyed quickly."
Perhaps because of losing his mother young, Roger was quite a responsible brother. He not only begged Anthony to continue paying attention to this matter but also repeatedly tried to get Tracey to talk with him.
After chatting with him in the library last time, Roger started frequently visiting the Slytherin dungeons, so frequently Anthony even heard about it.
Professor Flitwick even thought his house's player was cornering Slytherin's captain—Ravenclaw and Slytherin's last match wasn't pleasant—while Professor McGonagall thought Roger was pursuing some girl. Anthony learned for the first time his colleagues were so imaginative.
The truth was he was trying to show concern by calling his sister to the Quidditch pitch.
"Quidditch practice?" Anthony asked amused.
Roger nodded distressedly. "She used to be quite interested. Professor, did something happen to Tracey again?"
Anthony shook his head and didn't plan to tell him Tracey seemed to be taking large doses of Calming Draught—besides adding some worry for Roger, he couldn't see what meaning this would have.
"I talked with Professor Snape before," he said.
Roger looked at him nervously.
Anthony said frankly, "Then I realized I might've thought things too simply. You don't have to tell me specifics, Mr. Davies. I just want to remind you, Miss Davies might have a completely different view of the whole matter from us."
If Slytherin's Head of House had that attitude, Anthony suspected Miss Davies would have some similar considerations. That was her house after all.
He didn't want his interference to distance the Davies siblings instead.
"You're right, Professor," Roger nodded and said confidently, "But I understand Tracey—at least I understand her as a child. As long as she knows I'm concerned about her, no matter how annoyed she is, she won't really ignore me."
He said full of confidence, "After this zoo trip, if all goes well, I want to take her once too. Unlike her other classmates, our father didn't require us to definitely stand out in the magical world... In fact, I think he doesn't much care what we do in the future.
"I'm very interested in the natural history you taught, Professor—in the future I'll very likely travel the world and be a scholar who knows much but masters nothing. I want to become the magical world's naturalist. If I can't do that, at least my magic can guarantee one more layer of safety when exploring the Muggle world than others. I believe I can do quite well. Really can't... I mean, my Quidditch is actually quite good too.
"Of course, I believe Tracey can also have more choices... But she seems uninterested in this proposal. She told me her goal is very clear—to live in the magical world without relying on Father, best to get an enviable job. To achieve this goal, she doesn't care what she experiences."
Anthony asked gently, "She's already made it very clear. What do you think?"
Roger said optimistically, "If she doesn't want to rely on Father, I'll work hard to let her discover she can rely on me. I think she just lacks some sense of security... I can't blame her at all for thinking this way. Professor, you know how our father treats us."
Anthony looked at him. Even mentioning his father's indifference, Roger's eyes still shone with confidence and hope.
He couldn't help thinking of the Sorting criteria Professor McGonagall told him. He once curiously asked during tea break how exactly the Sorting Hat decided students' lifestyle for the next seven years in just a few minutes or even seconds—as far as he knew, unlike Muggle universities, Hogwarts had no possibility of transferring houses.
"Generally speaking, through their hidden aspirations," Professor McGonagall told him. "Ravenclaw students respect knowledge and wisdom, full of curiosity. Gryffindor values inner courage. Slytherin values cunning and power. And Hufflepuff..." She looked to Professor Sprout for help.
Professor Sprout supplemented with implicit pride, "And Hufflepuff is a tolerant and kind house. We accept all bewildered young wizards. The only hope is to make them good people."
Watching Roger's confident appearance about the future, Anthony understood in this moment why he was in Ravenclaw while Tracey went to Slytherin.
Roger, through love of knowledge and wisdom, believed he could find work he liked in either magical or Muggle world and believed satisfaction from knowledge was enough to support his future happiness.
But Tracey wasn't like that.
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