Reinhardt: I would have stored the needles as close to the compass as possible. The compass needle should swivel and align with the magnetic field. I don't see any risk that the compass needle would become demagnetized.

Obviously when you use the compass, you would want to move it away from any magnetic or electromagnetic field; but when you're storing it, I think storing it next to another magnet would only make it stronger.

Am I missing something?