Tidefall celebrated the end of first term by making every first-year perform magic in front of other people.

Professor Elowen called it a showcase.

Harper called it a trap.

"You said assessments weren't public."

"This is not an assessment."

"So if I fail, it doesn't count?"

"You are demonstrating one skill you choose yourself."

Harper thought. "Can I demonstrate eating quickly?"

"No."

"Then this feels targeted."

The showcase took place in the indoor practice hall on the last Friday before break. Parents did not return for it. The audience was mostly first-years, teachers, prefects and older students who had discovered that watching beginners use magic could be entertaining.

Every student chose something simple.

Mia guided three Blinka-lights around a triangle.

Soren levitated four books onto a shelf in the correct order and looked happier about this than Jasper thought anybody should.

Theo built a shield that redirected five beanbags without sending any of them into a teacher.

This earned particularly enthusiastic applause.

Ava arranged twelve small metal discs into a spiral using careful pulses of Essence. One disc stopped slightly out of line.

Jasper expected her to restart.

She looked at it.

Breathed.

Left it there.

Professor Ward clapped first.

Harper's demonstration involved warming four cups of water to four different temperatures.

The exercise had originally been Jasper's suggestion.

Harper had then become determined to prove she could do it.

She held both hands over the cups and worked slowly.

Four degrees above room temperature.

Seven.

Ten.

Twelve.

No boiling.

No smoking socks.

Harper tried very hard not to look pleased.

She failed.

Then Jasper's name was called.

He had chosen shielding.

Not one huge barrier.

Small shields, placed only where they were needed.

Professor Elowen loaded soft balls into a training launcher.

The first came from the left.

Jasper raised one hand and sent a thin layer of Essence into the marked space.

The ball bounced away.

Second, high.

Blocked.

Third, right.

Jasper moved too late.

The ball hit his arm.

A few people laughed kindly.

His face became hot.

Elowen did not reset the whole exercise.

"Continue."

The fourth ball came.

Jasper placed the shield correctly.

Then the fifth.

Then the sixth.

He missed one more.

He still finished.

When Jasper returned to the bench, Harper whispered, "You got hit once."

"Twice."

"I was being supportive."

Ava leaned over. "You recovered correctly after both errors."

"See?" Harper said.

"That was what I meant."

Jasper laughed.

The showcase ended without rankings.

No medals.

No first place.

Professor Ward reminded them that the point was to show what they could now do on purpose that they could not do at the start of term.

Jasper liked that.

Afterward, food appeared in Founders' Courtyard.

Mini pies.

Sandwiches.

Fruit.

Lamingtons.

Fairy bread that vanished so quickly Jasper suspected older students had planned an attack.

Paper birds flew between the arches under a simple charm.

A Brannor student organised a handball challenge against the first-years and nearly lost to Mia.

Harper celebrated as though she had personally won.

Jasper sat on the western steps with a meat pie balanced on one knee.

For the first time, he could see the whole term behind him.

The boat.

Room Fourteen.

The first blue cloth barely moving.

Ocean Studies.

The lower door.

Letters home.

Bad handball calls.

Ordinary breakfasts between the strange things.

Tidefall had stopped feeling like one enormous magical building.

It had become places.

The staircase that smelled like rain.

The third library alcove.

The kitchen corridor where somebody always dropped toast.

Room Fourteen.

Harper sat beside him.

"You look weird."

"Thanks."

"Thinking weird."

Ava joined them with a cup of juice.

"End-of-term reflection."

Harper stared at her. "How did you know?"

"He is looking at buildings."

Jasper laughed. "I was thinking it feels normal now."

Harper looked around.

A paper bird flew directly into a column.

A first-year made lemonade foam over the edge of a cup.

Two older students argued about whether levitating a plate counted as cheating.

"Normal," Harper agreed.

Two low bells sounded from inside.

The courtyard quietened.

A prefect called, "Weather advisory. Coastal paths close at four. Nothing serious."

Harper looked at the mostly clear sky.

Ava looked west.

Far offshore, a dark line had appeared along the horizon.

Jasper felt a faint pressure behind his ribs.

The presence.

Not close.

Not urgent.

Just there.

He found Professor Elowen before she had to ask.

"Sea feeling," he said. "Very faint."

"Anything else?"

"No."

Elowen nodded. "Then we observe."

The dark line became ordinary rain by evening.

Nothing flooded.

No mystery attacked the showcase.

Jasper learned something useful anyway.

A warning did not need to become a disaster to matter.

Sometimes adults closed a path, children went inside, and that was enough.