"What is this?"
Inside the study room, everyone stared at the small silver disks Rock had just handed out, curiosity plain on their faces.
"A miniature sensing device," Rock said, flipping one of the coin-sized silver disks between his fingers. "It can tell if there's danger near you."
He'd almost forgotten about them until he'd run into Ginny earlier. The second it clicked, he'd gone straight back to the dorm, grabbed a handful of the finished ones, and brought them over for the group.
"They also work as short-range communicators inside Hogwarts. Just pour a little of your magic into one, then press the quartz cat's-eye."
He demonstrated once. That was all it took. The others immediately dropped their questions and started testing the disks for themselves.
Only Hermione looked strange. The same uneasy feeling she'd had back in first year settled over her again.
So what's going to happen this year?
The thought barely formed before she shook her head hard and shoved it away.
Impossible. Hogwarts was supposed to be the safest place in the magical world.
"Cool! These things are actually useful!" Theo raised an eyebrow. "But why silver disks?"
"Hogwarts restrictions," Rock explained. "Ordinary materials can't hold the runes properly."
"Runes?" Hermione immediately leaned in for a closer look and confirmed the delicate lines carved into the metal really were runic script.
"Rock… you're already working on this stuff?"
She stared at him like she couldn't quite believe it.
"Yeah. I started poking around last year. Summer break was when I made the real progress."
Rock nodded.
"Interesting." Luna was studying her disk the way no one else did. While the others focused on its practical uses, she simply hung it around her neck and turned to Padma for a second opinion.
Life settled into something almost ordinary—at least, that was how Rock saw it.
After the Cornish pixie disaster in Lockhart's first lesson, the man had switched to pure storytelling. Every class was just him reading dramatic excerpts from his own books. He never cast a single real spell.
Whispers about Lockhart were already circulating through Hogwarts.
The man himself didn't seem to notice. Either the rumors hadn't reached him yet, or students were too polite—or too scared—to talk about him to his face. Every time Rock saw him, Lockhart was still flashing that same eight-tooth smile.
Thursday night, Rock rubbed the space between his eyebrows as he left Snape's office.
Ever since they'd brewed the immortality potion, Snape had gotten even stricter with him.
The sarcasm had sharper edges now, and every step of the brewing process was held to an almost painful standard.
Because Rock could see the magical lines, Snape had flat-out banned him from using that ability during lessons.
"Potions are not refined by cheating," Snape had said, always adding the same final cut: "That is precisely why you still need someone else's help to succeed."
Rock accepted it without complaint. When Snape was teaching, he forced himself to keep the spell-sight eyes closed.
It dragged him back to the way he'd studied before the eyes changed—and he had to admit, the restriction was making him better.
"Whoa! What is that? Carrot-shaped earrings?"
Rock was cutting through a corridor when Peeves's voice floated over.
Carrot earrings? That was what Luna always wore.
He turned the corner without thinking and found Peeves circling Luna, her bag clutched in one of his hands while her belongings lay scattered across the floor.
"Your malice today is sticky purple," Luna said in that calm, dreamy voice. "It burns a lot of energy."
"Oh! A little witch trying to understand the great Peeves—"
"Waddiwasi!"
Rock raised his wand without expression. The spell cracked out, slammed into Peeves, and sent the poltergeist ricocheting off every surface as it vanished down the corridor in a howling tangle.
"You rotten—Rock—!"
Peeves's voice trailed off. He didn't reappear.
Rock walked over and picked up the abandoned bag. Luna was already crouching to gather her things, so he knelt and helped.
"Peeves loves messing with younger students," Rock said once everything was back in the bag. He held it out to her. "Tomorrow in the study room I'll teach you a spell that'll handle him."
"Thank you. The wrackspurts around you are still as thick as ever," Luna said softly. "And some of them have turned darker." She started digging through her bag again.
Rock glanced at the glasses she was holding out, then at the ones currently on her face. "What are these?"
"I made another pair," Luna answered like it was the most ordinary thing in the world. "They do a good job of chasing away some of the wrackspurts. You seem to have a lot on your mind. I see them around you often."
"A clearer head thinks more freely."
Rock took the glasses without using his spell-sight eyes to check whether they really worked the way she claimed.
"Thanks. I'll take good care of them."
Luna just smiled and started bouncing lightly down the corridor.
Rock lengthened his stride to catch up. "It's pretty late. What are you doing out here?"
"I thought Hogwarts at night might feel different, so I decided to wander a little."
Rock checked his pocket watch. Curfew still hadn't hit yet.
"Find anything interesting?"
He hadn't done a nighttime walk in a while himself. There was still time. He'd walk her back to Ravenclaw Tower first.
"Very interesting."
Luna kept her odd little bounce. "The library at night is full and content. It's still digesting all the thoughts people left behind during the day."
"The dungeons feel wary. The portraits on the Slytherin side keep whispering plans to each other."
"And I saw a few things that still need confirming!"
She turned to look at Rock. "The castle really does have ancient protective charms. Just now, when the moonlight hit the wall at the right angle, I saw them. They flickered across the stones like spiderwebs for a few seconds."
"And here in the corridor—there's faint, glowing dust everywhere. Pink-gold."
Rock said nothing. He opened his spell-sight eyes and looked down the corridor. All he saw were the same ancient magical lines that always filled Hogwarts. He checked the corner she'd mentioned.
Nothing the color she described.
Hmm?
Just as he was about to look away, a faint thread of light flickered in that exact corner.
Pink-gold.
"You can see them?"
Rock turned to Luna, genuinely puzzled. Even with his spell-sight eyes fully open he'd almost missed it. How had she caught it so clearly?