Someone Was Waiting

She first picked up the Feather Earrings and handed them to Lucretia.

"These earrings have a mild Confundus Charm on them. They won't cause harm, but they can briefly disorient the wearer. Items like this were often used for interference during wartime."

Lucretia took the earrings and immediately felt a faint wave of dizziness.

She closed her eyes and focused.

The earrings' magic felt like a tangled thread in her senses, trying to disrupt her sense of direction.

"I feel something... spinning? Like my sense of direction is being gently pulled," she said uncertainly.

Professor Sheffield nodded, took back the earrings, and handed them to Sophia.

"Very good, Miss Crouch. That is what a Confundus Charm feels like. Miss Vera, give it a try."

Sophia hesitated before taking the earrings, but her expression immediately became focused.

Her reaction was more pronounced than Lucretia's. After a brief pause, she said, "It feels like I'm spinning, but not exactly physically... The magic has a kind of... unclear texture."

The professor took back the earrings and returned them to the wooden box before picking up the Silver Pocket Watch. "An accurate observation. This item is different. It contains protective magic."

Lucretia took the Pocket Watch and felt a warm, comforting flow of energy.

This magic was easier to identify, as though a soft barrier had unfolded around her.

"It feels very safe... like someone is specifically protecting you?"

"Indeed. It is an old Guardian Charm that can ward off minor malicious spells. It was made by a colleague of mine who has since retired... He was very skilled with this kind of magic."

When the Pocket Watch was passed to Sophia, her furrowed brow relaxed slightly. This item seemed to make her far more comfortable than the earrings had.

"It feels peaceful. Like a hug."

Professor Sheffield took the Pocket Watch from Sophia, her gaze moving between the two girls as though assessing something.

At last, she picked up the oldest-looking item.

The Silver Compass.

"This is the final item, and also the most complicated. The compass contains several layers of ancient magic, like layers of history. Sensing them requires deeper concentration."

She handed it to Lucretia first.

The compass felt heavy in her hand, its surface engraved with mysterious runes.

Magical ripples emanated from it, intricate and layered, like an ancient book that had been turned through for centuries, every page filled with a different story.

Lucretia gently closed her eyes, filtering out the most superficial sensations and describing only the most obvious parts.

"It's like many voices speaking at once. The clearest feeling is one of guidance, but beneath that, there's something else..."

The professor nodded, seeming unsurprised by her cautious description.

When she handed the compass to Sophia, their fingers briefly touched.

The moment Sophia's fingers brushed the compass, her entire body went rigid.

Her face instantly turned pale. Her eyes lost focus, her pupils dilated, and she entered that state again, where she could see things only she could see.

Her fingers began to tremble. The compass slipped from her palm and struck the cushion with a dull thud.

"Someone is waiting..."

Her voice became hollow, as though it came from a great distance.

"In the snow... It's so cold... They've been waiting for a long time..."

Lucretia could see Sophia's body swaying slightly.

She instinctively took a step back, but her eyes remained fixed on that nonexistent place.

Then, as though an invisible force had violently severed the connection, she suddenly stopped, and her eyes refocused.

When Professor Sheffield heard that someone was waiting in the snow, the parchment in her hand crumpled.

Her movements became a little stiff, but her trained professionalism made her step forward at once.

She picked up the compass quickly, so quickly that it was as though she had touched something scalding.

As she placed the compass back in the wooden box, her hand paused for a moment before she sharply shut the lid.

Professor Sheffield's hand trembled slightly as she held Sophia by the shoulder, but her voice remained steady. "Have some water, Miss Vera. Some items can cause strange sensations, especially those that have existed for a long time. That is normal, particularly in the early stages of sensory training."

Sophia accepted the cup and slowly took a sip.

As Professor Sheffield adjusted her collar, a pendant slipped out from inside it.

It was a silver pendant set with a Deep Blue Crystal, glimmering darkly beneath the Magical Light.

That blue was exactly the same as the color of one of the runes on the compass.

Lucretia had only glanced at it once before the professor noticed and swiftly tucked the pendant back inside her collar.

After that small disturbance, the lesson continued.

"Let us continue with another exercise. Miss Crouch, try to sense the magical traces on these markings."

She took several stones engraved with different runes from another small box.

Sophia gradually regained her composure as well, though she deliberately kept her distance from the wooden box that had already been shut.

During the following exercises, Lucretia carefully controlled her reactions. She could neither appear overly sensitive nor pretend to know nothing at all.

She answered the professor's questions and instructions like a gifted but still-learning first-year student.

Sophia also rejoined the exercises, focusing on more modern Magical Markings and simple sensory training.

As the lesson drew to a close, Professor Sheffield summarized, "Today's basic training ends here. Developing sensory abilities requires time and patience, but it can give you valuable warning before danger arrives."

She handed each of them several sheets of parchment.

"These contain detailed explanations and practice methods for the Magic Sensing Charm. Spend five minutes practicing every day, and build up gradually."

Professor Sheffield handed them another simple chart.

"You can record the different sensations and reactions you experience. It will help you analyze your own progress."

She glanced at the time and continued.

"We will continue next Thursday at the same time and place. Curfew is approaching, so you should return quickly. I heard Filch is in a particularly bad mood tonight."

The two girls left the practice room and returned by a relatively safe route.

The corridors were empty, with only the figures in the portraits occasionally letting out faint snores.

They walked for a long time without speaking.

"That compass..."

Sophia stopped and leaned against the wall.

Moonlight streamed through the high windows, making her face appear even paler.

She wrapped her arms around herself. "It felt like opening a door that should never have been opened. I saw a girl... lying in the snow, waiting for a very long time. She was cold, lonely." Her voice dropped further. "That feeling is still in my head."

Lucretia walked over to her. "Are you all right?"

Sophia shook her head, then nodded.

The corridor was not a safe place to discuss such things.

As they approached Ravenclaw Tower, a Student Council President on patrol spotted them.

Lucretia explained that they had just returned from Professor Sheffield's special lesson and showed the professor's note.

The Student Council President nodded in understanding, but reminded them to plan their route in advance next time and avoid wandering around during curfew.

Back in the nearly deserted Common Room, Sophia sat by the window in a corner, lowering her voice even further.

"I noticed the pendant around the professor's neck."

Lucretia replied, "I saw it too. That blue crystal didn't look very common."

Sophia clutched her sketchbook. "That compass... it is connected to the pendant. I don't know how, but the feeling is very strong."

Lucretia considered it. "The lesson was useful, certainly. But we need to be careful."

Sophia agreed, then checked the time. "Yes. We should keep attending, but not show too much. It's already late, and we still have to finish our Transfiguration homework tomorrow morning. Let's sleep."

After the girls left, Professor Sheffield remained alone in the practice room and slowly opened the Silver Compass she had put away earlier.

After confirming that the door was locked, she cast a stronger Muffling Charm.

The compass lay quietly on the table, gleaming silver beneath the Magical Light.

Her hand reached toward it, then stopped in midair for a long time.

At last, her fingers brushed over the surface of the runes.

The cold touch of metal reminded her of another pair of hands, and the last time another person had touched this compass.

"Someone is waiting..."

Miss Vera's words were like a dull knife, cutting open the memories she had carefully sealed away inch by inch.

She closed her eyes, but the images still surged forth.

Snowflakes, a waiting figure, the Promised Return, and the person who had never come back.

Her fingers began to tremble, then her whole hand, and finally her entire body.

Professor Sheffield touched the pendant at her neck. It was the only keepsake her student had left her.

The compass had once belonged to the person waiting in the snow, the person who had never been able to return after protecting others.

The students saw only a teaching aid, but to her, it was a wound that could never heal.

She wiped at the corner of her eye, forced herself to stand straight again, put away the compass, and locked the wooden box.

But she became even more certain that her judgment had been correct.

These two girls possessed extraordinary sensory abilities.

What Miss Vera had seen just now might have been her final moments.

That frightened her, but it also strengthened her resolve.

In these increasingly dark times, she had a responsibility to protect them, teach them how to control their abilities, and teach them how to protect themselves when danger came.

She could not allow history to repeat itself.

No one else could lose their life because of their talent, and no one else could wait in the snow for someone who would never return.

Professor Sheffield extinguished the lights in the practice room and left in silence.

In the corridor, her shadow stretched long beneath the moonlight, cast across the ancient stone walls.

Not far away, an owl's cry pierced the night sky, like an echo from a distant memory.