"He seems to really like you and maybe consider you the closest thing he has to a friend, here, and I kind of want to figure out what's going on in his head."

"God, does he? I knew that already and it's still sad. Um. I don't think I can tell you so much without betraying his trust - a lot of his secrets are the kind where knowing it's a secret is the secret, you know? And it's not like he ever chose to tell me but I'm the nosiest witch in this place, there's not a chance I wouldn't learn them, but knowing's one thing and telling's another."

"Of course, I'm not asking you to betray his confidence." He hums thoughtfully. "If you're the nosiest witch in this place I don't want to tell you either about the few things I know that maybe qualify as secrets."

"- I'm not a gossip. I'm just... curious. Too curious. Howell always said, before he graduated, that I kept tripping into people's secrets. Nothing is safe from you. If I were to court a girl who lived on an iceberg in the middle of the ocean, sooner or later - probably sooner - I'd look up to see you swooping overhead on a broomstick. By now I'd be disappointed in you if I didn't."

(She recites this in a slight, unconscious Welsh accent.)

"...boyfriend of yours?" he asks, lightly. "Wait, Howell... Jenkins, graduated last year?" Assuming he survived.

"Howell Jenkins, yes. Boyfriend, I suppose. We met at my induction, I had a letter for him and he complimented my hat and tried to flirt and I said he might as well get a hat of his own instead of spending all his alchemy labs making himself conditioner. Which he did, at the time, until I started making it for him instead - I'm better at alchemy than he ever was." She sighs. "He did survive, I think, he had a good alliance and he was very well equipped, but we'll see if I get a letter come induction."

"Rooting for you," he says, grinning. "...mmm, let's see, family situation, fuel for magic, and what kinds of books he has in his room. Those are vague enough, right? Those are the only things I can think of that would be secrets."

She nods. "Family situation is a good one. I got that one because she sent him a letter last induction, pages and pages, and she told the freshman to be quiet about it and gave her a physical description instead but the poor kid did have to confirm and I overheard the dreaded full name. Fuel, I worked that one out because he's always working on his mana, even when he's dead on his feet. And the books... well, I haven't been in his room but I've seen the shite he gets for projects, I'm hardly shocked the Void isn't any better."

"Don't tell me any other secrets, naturally. But. Yeah. I'm actually glad he, uh, pardon me for assuming, but he has you to lean on at least a little bit? I saw that earlier today in alchemy lab. It was... nice of you, nicer than I would have expected most people to be to anyone not in their enclave or alliance."

"Lord knows I try. He won't take the hint that I'd make him clothes that actually fit him in exchange for a snack token or an unsharpened pencil or a rock he found on the ground."

"...want to give me the clothes, I bet I could force him to accept them."

"God, would you? It's shame on my bloody ancestors to watch him walking around like that. Walk me to my room along the way and I'll get them, I'm 196A."

"Sure, can do. Perk of my little golden boy rep is he's not even going to think it's cursed. Is it alright if I tell him it was you or should I just vaguely hint that I have loads and loads of clothes and just want to see him looking prettier?"

"I've no idea what he'd do if he knew I'd resorted to gifting him clothes through a proxy. Probably drive himself mad trying to pay me back for every stitch."

Scorpius sighs. "Yeah, probably."

"It's utterly depressing that people think he's bad. It's worse that he does too. It scares the shit out of me he - what, killed Westing? Because..." She struggles to phrase something.

"He didn't take a drop of malia from Westing. If that helps. And Westing deserved it, the bastard killed Luisa, if Lex hadn't I might have."

"That is not what I mean and you damn well know it. He's taking people's sins on himself. He's thinking 'if somebody has to kill him it might as well be me, I'm bad anyway.' It scares the shit out of me and it should you too, if you care at all."

Scorpius covers his face with a hand, letting out a bitter laugh. "It would be hypocritical of me to say anything about that but maybe if you do it too he'll listen."

"I can't. He thinks I'm a sensible professional, who'd drop him if it weren't in my best interest to have an in with someone desperate. If I said I cared about him he'd combust."

"Well, I think I have a solid in now on 'it is possible for people to care about you at all even though you are trying to test that to its limits', although he might think that's just me being me." Scorpius smiles and looks away. "And he's good. He's been given the world's shittest hand, he could burst out of this school draining us out of our lives and be more terrifying to the enclaves out there than if Patience ate Fortitude," which are just guesses but he's pretty sure whatever affinity Lex has it's at least as heavy duty as Scorpius's, "and here he is not draining a drop of malia from his headboard and wearing threadbare rags and trying to convince himself it's out of spite."

Sophie gives him an odd look.

"This is my room," she says abruptly. "Give me a moment?"

"Sure, take your time."

She goes in and retrieves a bundle of clothing - two outfits' worth, plus a pair of boots identical to Lex's current pair but clean and new. She presses the lot into Scorpius' arms.

"It's cotton. It'll fit him well but not suspiciously well. The enchantments are all inside the seams, so he shouldn't notice anything except that they're a bit more durable than they have a right to be and stains won't stick to them. I'm still hoping I can get him to accept a hat but you don't actually wear hats, no one wears hats anymore but me, so it'd be suspicious."

"He would clock you immediately," nods Scorpius in full seriousness, before cracking a smile again. "Thank you for this. I realize I never offered anything back, but..."