The Daily Prophet. Okay. West figured there'd be an article soon then, and if it didn't answer the questions he had, he'd write to Basil and see if he could convince him to give him more information as it came, and vice versa. Maybe his internship from a few summers ago would pay off in that sense.

... and yeah he was definitely suspicious. Slytherin here and all.

West was sorta surprised at Mo's reaction. Like yeah obviously he was bothered, obviously they all were to different degrees, but the way Mo was back-chatting the Headmistress made him feel a little uncomfortable, even if he could understand where it was coming from.

When Truebridge snapped like that, West shot an uneasy look toward Kaiden and kept his own mouth shut, not mentioning his own particular circumstances or that he had been scouted the previous year. Bitter taste, that. Knowing he'd turned things down to come back to his team and then found there wasn't going to be a team to be back for. But he'd reassure Mo later, that he COULD definitely go to an open tryout, and that he'd cane it, and that West would help him train if he wanted to.

And then his oldest friend was gone without even a look and West wasn't completely sure how he should react to that, but figured it would be best to let Mo cool down before going to talk to him alone and all.

He gave the headmistress a startled look when she muttered at him and Kaiden. "He is." West disagreed, quietly but loyally. "He is that good." But she was leaving...

...and how exactly was the train ride supposed to be nice now?

Once they were alone he turned his attention to Kaiden, staying quiet for a moment and noting that the other boy hadn't put his new badge on yet.

"Hey." He said softly, and nudged his friend's shoulder, giving him a sincere look. "You put that on, okay? You wear that proudly." Pause. "And when you go back in there," As in the prefects compartment, "Can you... can you tell Theo to come out, tell him to meet me in the luggage car?"

Yeah. His best mate NEEDED to know this. Definitely. Merlin.