As the first ray of sunlight passed through the Great Hall's stained glass, a carefully planned performance began.
This was no longer a simple contest of magic, but a battle of perceptions.
At breakfast, Hermione, Pheobe, and Krum chose seats at the very end of the Gryffindor table.
The spot was quiet, yet just visible enough for plenty of people to see them.
There were no spellbooks in front of them, only a huge sheet of parchment that took up almost half the table.
The parchment was covered in dizzying scrawls.
At first glance, it resembled a complex ancient star chart. On closer inspection, there were also musical notes on staves and some strange shapes that looked like a mixture of ancient runes and alchemical symbols.
This was the product of Hermione's entire night of work.
She had taken apart and recombined the fake runes Krum had brought back, then casually added some impressive-looking but useless symbols she could find.
Malfoy watched from a distance, his brows knotted.
He instinctively felt that these Gryffindors were up to something again, but the parchment's indescribable air of scholarship kept him from approaching.
The performance began.
Frowning, Hermione rapidly calculated something over the scrawls with a quill, muttering under her breath.
Meanwhile, Pheobe elegantly dipped her fingertips in a little water and drew a very complicated flow diagram on the table. The direction of the water actually bore some resemblance to the path of a celestial configuration on the parchment.
Krum was the most absorbed. Eyes closed, he tapped his fingers rhythmically against the table, the beat complex and ever-changing, as though responding to something deep beneath the sea.
This silent performance was already enough to draw attention.
But their real masterstroke was the conversation they deliberately kept quiet, yet just loud enough