Following a burst of space fluctuations, Maka and the windbreaker wizard both appeared in the woods outside the gate of Hogwarts.
The moment the two of them appeared, the bushes not far away suddenly trembled, and then a black dog half as tall as a man emerged from it.
"Sirius," Maka nodded to the black dog as a greeting, and then said, "Your feeling should be correct... The owner of the Hanged Man Tavern does have a problem."
Before he finished speaking, the big black dog suddenly began to expand and deform, and soon it turned into Sirius Black wrapped in a black robe.
"Really?"
I saw Sirius casually leaning against the tree trunk beside him, frowning slightly and saying:
"That boy Grayman... I thought that with his timid temperament back then, he was the type who was least likely to join the side of the dark wizard! If there hadn't been a precedent, I probably wouldn't have noticed. …”
Obviously, the "precedent" he was referring to was Peter Pettigrew, who framed him and was imprisoned.
But to be honest, no matter in terms of identity or personality, the two people really have a lot in common. For example, although Ted Gleiman, the owner of the Hanged Man Tavern, was two years behind Sirius, they were both classmates who studied at Hogwarts.
However, when she heard Sirius muttering like this, Maka shook her head.
"I remember you said before that you sensed something was wrong from his character, so you thought there was a possibility that he was affected by black magic, right?"
"Well," Sirius couldn't help turning his head to look at Maka after hearing this, "Yeah, what's the matter?"
"But I have just confirmed that the owner of the Hanged Man Tavern is still just a normal wizard, and he does not have any aura of black magic in his body." Just as he said that, Maka said to the windbreaker wizard standing next to him, "You didn't notice anything unusual, right?"
"Yes, Mr. McClain." The windbreaker wizard nodded immediately.
Hearing what Maka said, Sirius was stunned for a moment.
"But you just said-"
"Yes," Maka shrugged, "But even so, I still think there is something wrong with him."
After repeating this sentence, Maka continued:
"But the problem isn't his character. You and he were old acquaintances, but I'm not—I don't know nearly as much about Ted Gleiman as you do."
"But I still remember you once told me that Greiman wanted to be a chef since he was a child, and then inherit the Hanged Man Tavern that his parents failed to inherit from his grandmother. But unfortunately, his craftsmanship He has never been very good. As a Hufflepuff, he is somewhat unqualified..."
Having said this, Maka suddenly spread her hands and said:
"However, today we tasted it ourselves. The food he made is not bad at all! You think it's delicious too, don't you?"
"Well," the windbreaker wizard saw that he was being asked again, and nodded quickly again, "It is indeed delicious—except for what I tasted at Hogwarts these past few days, I have never eaten such delicious food."
When Maka heard this, she immediately laughed and said:
"That's just because you haven't tasted the real thing yet."
On the other side, Sirius was stunned as he listened.
"You mean-"
"Well, although the tavern owner is now an ordinary wizard, he is no longer Ted Grayman." Macca nodded slightly and said, "Although we are not sure who it is yet - maybe someone named 'Martin' Maybe something similar, but that’s not that important to us.”
"What I'm more concerned about now is how many people like him are hiding in the British magical world..."
When Maka finished speaking, the small forest suddenly fell silent. The three of them were secretly thinking about their own thoughts and imagining how they should act next.
After a while, Maka said again:
"In short, your investigation work will continue - as we agreed before, don't act rashly after discovering anomalies, just notify me directly."
"Okay," after giving an immediate response, Sirius turned around and said, "What about the African magical community? Over in Wagadu, are we really just waiting and watching?"
"That's all we need for now," Maka said. "As long as the federation doesn't take the initiative to contact me, it proves that things haven't reached the worst point yet - don't worry! Mr. Ajinbad is not a confused person. Since Right now, he knows the situation in Wagadu better than we do, so we might as well trust his judgment."
After watching Sirius apparate away from here, Maka signaled to the windbreaker wizard and walked out of the woods towards the school gate.
Turning back slightly, the hillside not far away was bathed in the afternoon sun, and even the Muggles busy there were cast in a dazzling light.
…
"Maka!"
"Well, what's wrong?"
As soon as she entered the front lawn of Hogwarts, Maka spotted Ginny standing on the side of the road with an anxious look on her face.
"Why are you standing here? Are you waiting for me?"
As soon as Ginny saw Maka appear, she immediately ran over, took his arm and ran towards the castle.
"Maka," she said as she ran, "it's Harry - it's been almost three hours since he entered the training room. But because Hermione insisted on not letting any of us open the door to check, this time Everyone will still be waiting there..."
Following Ginny all the way to the door of the Room of Requirement, he saw Hermione, Luna, Ron, and Neville squatting or standing in the corridor, obviously not in the mood to attend afternoon classes. .
Seeing Ginny arriving with Maka, everyone gathered around.
Upon seeing this, Maka immediately said:
"Ginny already told me the specific situation on the way. Hermione, you made the right decision - don't worry, just go and wait at the corner of the corridor. I can go in alone."
On the way, he turned his head and said to the windbreaker wizard:
"You should go there with them too! If there's anything-"
Before she finished speaking, Maka shook her head.
"Forget it, it's nothing... Just go and wait over there!"
After everyone left the corridor closest to the door of the Room of Requirement, Maka stretched out her left hand and put it on the door handle. At the same time, there was already a staff in his right hand.
"Crack."
He turned the doorknob and opened the door. He raised his feet and stepped into the door. He did not suffer any attack during the entire movement.
When he entered the Room of Requirement and stepped onto the smooth floor, a figure standing in the center of the room suddenly caught his eye.
There was no doubt that it was Harry!
But he saw him holding the hilt of Gryffindor's sword tightly with both hands, holding the shiny sword straight in front of him. And his right eye was staring at the other person in the sword body, his whole body motionless.
At Harry's feet, the Sorting Hat was lying limply on the floor, looking a little bored.
"Maka, are you here?"
"If I don't come, the sun will set outside in a while!"
Maka replied angrily, then turned around and closed the door of the Room of Requirement.
Then, he was about to walk towards Harry, but in the next moment he stopped moving forward with a subtle expression.
"Don't bother him! Hey, maybe Harry actually has some hope this time!"
Maka suddenly realized that this familiar voice was not the feeble Sorting Hat.
Turning around again and looking up, he immediately saw this time a slightly hazy figure sitting comfortably on the bench next to the wall.
The figure was holding a thick book, looking down at it casually, while a faint white light shimmered on his body.
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Maca discovered that the book was a relic left by Dumbledore to Harry. It was a storybook that recorded several stories about Gryffindor - "The Golden Gryphon from the Wilderness".
But after Maka called out the name subtly, the figure slowly shook his head.
"Albus Dumbledore has left. Even Fawkes knows this - why, didn't Severus give you 'the key'? Or did you not put it in the pensieve?" Take a look inside?"
Maka naturally knew that the "key" he was talking about was referring to that special piece of memory, but at this moment Maka curled her lips and said:
"No, is there anything interesting to see?"
"Oh, forget it..." The other party immediately shrugged decisively and said with a smile, "At least you should try that Bibi multi-flavored beans! The smell of dragon dung, vomit and booger has been taken away. Yes, I think you should try it."
"Yeah?"
After hearing what he said, Maka didn't bother to complain about some of the shortcomings, so she simply waved her hand and said:
"I see you don't have much time, so don't talk about whether you have these things or not... If you want to help Harry, why not do it now!"
"Oh, you feel it too?"
When "Dumbledore" looked at Harry, Maka also stepped forward, stretched her neck and looked left and right between Harry and the Sword of Gryffindor.
But after that, he whispered:
"Unfortunately, there is some hope, but the rules of the soul are not so easy to understand... What I hope is that this time he can get the recognition of the will of Gryffindor left in the sword, which at least allows him to I won’t grab this sword and go around killing people again!”
But on the other side, Dumbledore said nothing.
He gently closed the book in his hand, then stood up and walked to Harry's side. And then, Maka saw him bend down to pick up the Sorting Hat, and put it on Harry's head.