Marcus blinks at the sheets of paper with interest. "That is bloody interesting," he says with a reassuring smile. He reaches out to take the stack of papers, though he does it slowly enough that she can pull them back if she wants. "How long does it take to make one of these? How much oomph can you put into one? I work a bit with diagrammatical spells, myself, so I'm a tad familiar with written magics."

When Merlin mentions foci that are powerful in their own right, Marcus has to physically keep himself from reaching for the Blackstaff. No way is he going to offer that up as a class example. He can almost hear the distrust and whispers behind his back that would come from it, and he is not eager to begin them. So he keeps quiet, and follows with his classmates to the Vault.

"What decides whether an item gets put in the Vault, teach?" he asks, genuinely curious but choosing deliberately to avoid any honorifics.

Spoiler: Dodgeson
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Do the Vault doors register as magic?