"Merlin's beard!"
Ron was the first to snap out of his petrified state, turning sharply toward Harry.
"What exactly were you talking about just now? What alarm? Why didn't we hear anything? And how did he know I'd written the rune wrong?"
Hermione followed close behind with questions, her brow tightly furrowed, as though she were solving an extremely complicated spell problem.
"Harry, you look strange." She looked at Harry in puzzlement.
"You two..." Ron pointed at Harry, then in the direction the professor had left. "You're definitely hiding something from us!"
Harry opened his mouth, feeling as though his tongue had tied itself in knots. How was he supposed to explain?
Say that the person who had looked exactly like Professor Holmes just now was actually Ron's eldest brother, Bill?
Say that an invisible war had just ended without a sound?
Looking at the genuine, undisguised confusion and concern on Ron's and Hermione's faces, he suddenly felt an intense loneliness.
"I..." Harry rubbed his forehead, trying to organize his words. "That was a... well... a special alarm. Only the professor and I could hear it."
"Only you two could hear it?" Ron's eyebrows shot up, his expression saying, Do you take me for an idiot? "Harry, when did you develop this sort of telepathy with the professor? How come I didn't know?"
"It wasn't telepathy!" Harry grew a little desperate. "It was a... magical agreement! Yes, a magical agreement!"
Hermione's gaze grew even sharper. Like an examiner, she refused to miss even the slightest change in Harry's expression.
"A magical agreement? Harry, are you in some sort of danger? You've seemed so strange these past few days..."
"I haven't been busy with anything!" Harry's voice rose involuntarily. "I've just been... revising! Yes, the professor gave me loads of extra