With Kingsley, the "head Auror", assisting without leaving a trace, passing through the security check channel was no longer difficult. Even though Martin brought Muriel with him this time, who had difficulty moving, they quickly passed by quietly without anyone noticing.
"Miss Parkinson, because there is still a trial and you can't miss it, I can only send you here. But please remember to go to Mr. McClain's place first after returning to Hogwarts. He should still be there." I want to talk to you."
Kingsley naturally said this last sentence to Martin who was hiding in the dark.
After all, according to what Pansy said before, Maka should still doubt her now. And since it is suspicion, it is natural to show some sense of surveillance and observation.
Standing in front of a fireplace in the foyer of the Ministry of Magic, Pansy nodded immediately.
"Of course, I'll go."
Watching Kingsley turn around and walk back, Pansy paused for a moment and waited for him to go away, then grabbed a handful of Floo powder and entered the fireplace.
"… to the Leaky Cauldron."
She heard Martin's voice suddenly coming from behind her. Her hand that was about to drop the floo powder paused for a moment, and then she whispered softly:
"The Leaky Cauldron—"
"Bang!"
With a burst of bright green magic flames, she was immediately swallowed up by tongues of flame and disappeared into the fireplace.
But almost no one noticed that the green flame seemed to beat a little more closely.
…
"No, it's not over there. We can't go to Knockturn Alley anymore—get out first! I still have a place in the black market."
After coming out of the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron, Martin's voice came again and stopped Pansy who was about to walk towards the backyard.
And when Pansy left the Leaky Cauldron and came to the Muggle streets outside, she saw Martin, whom she had not seen directly during the whole trip today.
In the opponent's hands, Muriel's condition was obviously not very good, and she could barely stand firm with the help of Martin.
"Miss Muriel? You...what happened?"
It can be said that Pansy and Muriel are not very familiar with each other, but at least she has a deep impression on each other, so it cannot be said that they are strangers.
But Martin obviously didn't have the time to say hello to the two of them.
"Let's wait until we get there to chat. This place is no safer than the Leaky Cauldron... Let's go!" He lowered his voice and said quickly, "Here, help me!"
Martin obviously knew very well that during this period, even the Ministry of Magic in the Muggle world was paying attention, in order to detect some changes worthy of attention as early as possible.
"Um."
Taking Muriel's arm from the other party's hand, Pansy immediately felt her body sink, because almost all of Muriel's body suddenly leaned against her.
Of course, compared to the stench that still lingers to this day, the weight really seems a bit insignificant.
Pansy, half dragging and half supporting Muriel, followed Martin for a short distance, then followed him and turned into an alley. After the three of them apparated, they appeared near the entrance to the black market.
After that, it was natural to enter the black market through the passage of Darkling Pavilion. After many detours, the three of them walked around the slightly lonely black market town for a long time before they arrived at a rather inconspicuous little shabby house.
There was insufficient light in this black market, and with the lack of many pedestrians coming and going, it became obviously more and more gloomy. Not to mention, such an old house seems to have not been used for a long time, and it looks like a haunted house where ghosts only live.
"Come in and help Muriel to the second floor. I have already cleaned it."
After Pansy helped the other person enter the house, Martin poked his head and looked out into the dark alley for a few times. He checked to make sure there was no one before closing the door tightly.
Accompanied by a slightly harsh squeaking sound, Pansy took Muriel to a bedroom on the second floor - it could be seen that the place had indeed been cleaned. Apart from the fact that all the furnishings and arrangements are already very old, this is still a pretty good home.
Seeing that the bedding on the bed was also clean, Pansy was about to help Muriel lie down directly, but she heard another voice from the door behind her.
"Wait! Don't let her fall asleep yet..."
Martin walked in quickly from the outside, waved his wand and opened the cabinet against the wall, and then a velvet blanket floated from inside.
After he replaced the thin sheets on the bed with a blanket and the quilt with a thicker one, he and Pansy put Muriel into bed together.
"Parkinson, can you cook? I think she must need something to eat-"
"ah?"
Pansy was stunned when she heard this.
"Oh, sorry, I... I haven't been in the kitchen."
"Well, I should have thought of it earlier. How could a lady from the Parkinson family cook by herself?" Martin shook his head, "Light the fireplace, it's not warm day or night in the black market - light a fire, cook something hot Water Club, right? Take care of Muriel for me, I’ll go down and get some food.”
Watching Martin in a daze as he went about his business, Pansy, who had never had a good impression of this man, suddenly felt that she had no right to look down on him.
"How great would it be if Draco could be so gentle to me?" She murmured softly, took out her wand and pointed at the fireplace, "The flames are blazing... In the end, it seems that MacLean is the only boy I know. Only occasionally will she make me a cup of tea and warm myself up..."
"...Well, no wonder the know-it-all lady targeted him and didn't want to let him go."
Of course, she wouldn't dare to want a boy like Maka - although he seemed to be good at everything, it was already completely beyond what she could bear.
While putting the kettle filled with water on the shelf of the fireplace to boil, Pansy turned back and glanced at Muriel, who was huddled in the bed in a daze, feeling a bit of envy in her heart. a feeling of.
Not long after, amidst the creak of the old stairs, Martin walked in from the outside with a plate of corn biscuits and a large pot of steaming cream stew.
After placing all the plates and cutlery on the small round table in the bedroom, while serving Muriel the stew, he turned slightly to look at Pansy by the fireplace.
"You must be hungry too, right? Come over and eat something together! Today... it's really thanks to you."
Martin has never been a man good at saying thank you. After just saying this, he said nothing again, took a spoon and a bowl and went to the bedside to find Muriel.
Pansy pursed her lips, went to the round table to serve some for herself, put some shortbread in it, and then retreated to the fireplace to eat silently.
The orange firelight swayed gently in front of her, and occasionally a few sparks exploded and splashed around her feet.
"...Muriel, come and have something to eat...Muriel?"
Martin at the head of the bed looked at the girl on the bed and softly called her name, but in fact, he didn't know what he was feeling at the moment.
Maybe it's love for this girl? Or is it just an inexplicable sense of responsibility that comes from the heart of a man
he does not know.
All he knew was that the rage in his heart was genuine, the kind of rage that almost made him want to go back to the Ministry of Magic and cast a Cruciatus Curse on everyone who might have done this to Muriel.
However, he knew better than to do that.
A moment of venting his anger can only lead to more regrets - Muriel obviously needs someone to take care of her now, and he simply can't leave the job of taking care of her to others.
Well, the only Parkinson's who seems to be suitable is a little girl who probably can't even take care of her own life.
"Muriel? How are you feeling? Can you hear me?"
To be honest, this suddenly reminded Martin of the time when he and his mother took care of his grandmother when he was a child. That was the case with the old man at that time. When others spoke in front of her, she seemed not to understand them at all and could only keep lost in thought.
Picking up the wooden spoon and scooping up some stew from the bowl, he blew it gently before bringing it to the other person's mouth.
It was probably the warmth and aroma coming from her mouth that aroused Muriel's subconscious reaction. She slowly opened her mouth and took the spoon into her mouth.
Seeing this, Martin quickly raised his hand and carefully pulled out the spoon to prevent Muriel from chewing the spoon together.
"Well?"
After a few seconds, Muriel, whose thoughts were almost frozen, seemed to finally come back to her senses. She rolled her eyes and blinked at Martin.
"dad?"
Martin looked at her and couldn't help blinking, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Naturally, he still remembered that Muriel told him about her desire to resurrect his father. Perhaps, her father, who had passed away long ago, was the man she loved and missed the most in her life.
"Dad, don't put sugar in the stew... Mom has said it many times."
"...I didn't put any sugar."
Although he is not Muriel's "father", he made this cream stew - and it seems that Muriel is not so satisfied.
"Muriel? Do you still remember the 'shadow' you talked about? If you still remember, tell me about the situation at that time!"
The other party's condition has obviously been deteriorating since he woke up. She could at least recognize Martin in the Ministry of Magic at that time, but now she can't even tell who is in front of her.
If this continues, it will be almost impossible to figure out the situation.
"Shadow?" Muriel was stunned for a long time. After a while, she said slowly, "Oh... that is the shadow? He rushed towards me with a hula... hula..."
It seemed that she really didn't know what she had encountered.
"Then... let's eat first anyway! You won't be able to eat it if it's cold."
After finishing spoonful after spoonful of the hot stew in the bowl, Martin put down the bowl and took out his wand again - he decided to see with his own eyes what was going on.
"Muriel... come on, look at me!"