Hermione, who had been silently reading all this time, gently closed her copy of Advanced Rune Translation.
Unlike Ron, she was not agitated. She simply looked calmly at Harry.
"Harry, you have to submit an observation report to Professor Moody every day, don't you?"
Harry froze for a moment and looked at her somewhat warily, but still nodded.
Hermione's gaze fell on the parchment he was shielding, and she continued:
"The reports cover the new magical structure and safety risk analysis after that shield's iteration, right?"
Harry's pupils contracted.
His silence was the best answer.
"My God!"
Ron cried out. He stopped pacing and pointed at Harry.
"He actually made you... made you, a fourth-year student, analyze the kind of Magic Array that made even Ministry of Magic experts embarrass themselves? Is he mad?"
"He's training me!"
Harry practically shouted, instinctively defending Moody.
"Headmaster Moody said a true Sentinel has to see the core danger beneath complicated appearances! You don't understand anything!"
"No, we don't!"
Ron grew agitated too.
"All we know is that you're about to wear yourself out! You're not some Sentinel, Harry, you're just a student! Besides, he's only the deputy. Black is the actual headmaster."
"That doesn't matter!"
Harry stood and quickly gathered the parchment on the table, a sense of distance in his movements.
"Deputy Director Moody trusts me. I can't let him down."
"What about us, then?"
Ron's voice dropped, full of helplessness and hurt.
"Don't we matter anymore? What happened to your trust in us? Or have we become people you need to watch out for now, too?"
At his words, Harry stopped what he was doing. Seeing the concern and worry on Ron's and Hermione's faces, he felt a stab of pain.
He desperately wanted to tell them everything.
To tell them