"... Read the specific content of the letter yourself! I want to..." Just halfway through speaking, Hermione suddenly paused, "Well... No, it's up to you and Ginny to tell Maka about this!"
"What's up?"
Ron said as he took the letter handed over by Hermione into his hand. But to be honest, just seeing Ginny's worried expression, he immediately had a bad feeling.
———
To Ron and Ginny:
I think you must be together, after all, you are still in school. And now, I have to tell you something very bad:
Fred and George went to Diagon Alley before the fog appeared, saying they wanted to talk to the manager of the Jumping Magic Joke Shop about cooperation. Ashley and Mary also went with them.
However, several of them did not come back after a whole night.
Dad also went to look for them at night, but Mom stayed up all night and always wanted to go out, but before going out, Dad told her that she was not allowed to leave the Burrow...
To be honest, I didn't sleep last night either... Okay! It doesn't matter how everything is fine with me.
Just this morning, after my father continued to go out to look for someone, my mother really couldn't wait at home any longer, so she went out after asking me to stay at home.
…
———
These contents were almost swept away in Ron's eyes, but his expression worsened every time he read a sentence.
Obviously, the content in this letter is really terrible!
After seeing his mother, Mrs. Weasley, also going out to look for someone, Ron couldn't help but take a deep breath before biting the bullet and continuing to look down:
———
…
Ron, Ginny, I know - I've been in bed for too long and I don't have the ability to go to London to find someone. Not to mention that my current magic is very poor, and even my physical strength has not been fully recovered, so it is really not suitable to go out.
But, do you know? I am the only one left at home now.
And I... can't do anything.
So, I wrote to you and to MacLean - yes, I sent him a separate letter just in case MacLean was out there too. And this is probably the only thing I can do well...
So now, I have to go out... If I stay at home any longer, sooner or later I won't be able to stand it!
From your stupid brother,
Percy
———
"Oh! Where's Ginny?"
He read the letter in a hurry and didn't spend much time in total. But when Ron raised his head, he found that his sister Ginny was no longer with him.
"She couldn't wait any longer, so she went to the auxiliary castle first," Hermione said. "I believe you've finished reading it, right? Let's go after reading it!"
"ah!"
Ron paused for a moment, then started running.
"Okay! Let's go-"
It must be said that Ron could very well understand Percy's feeling that he couldn't wait any longer at home.
Because he has been experiencing this feeling repeatedly over the years, knowing that everyone is rushing around anxiously, but yet he can't do anything.
And thinking about it this way, as the youngest child in the family, Ginny should also be constantly feeling this kind of powerlessness, right
Not long after, when Ron, Hermione, and Luna ran quickly down the astronomy tower and rushed to the corridor in front of Maka's room, they found Ginny waiting anxiously in front of the door.
"You're here—"
As soon as she saw Ron and others, Ginny hurriedly said:
"Maka is not in the room!"
"Not here?" Ron covered his head and said, "Oh... Then where will he be now? Could it be that... he went directly to London after receiving the letter?"
"No, he didn't." Luna heard this and suddenly said, "Even if the matter is urgent, Maka will definitely tell us before leaving... You think so, Hermione?"
"Oh... um," Hermione was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Yes, that's right, that's it!"
"Then where did he go?" Ginny asked distressedly, "Is it the place he goes back to regularly but never tells us exactly where it is?"
In fact, everyone still remembers that Maka would often leave the castle alone and go to a place that only he seemed to know. So as soon as Ginny discovered that Maka was not in the room, she immediately remembered this matter.
Hermione frowned when she heard Ginny mention this.
"It's very possible..." she said, "If that's the case, he usually goes there for half a day... I don't know if the owl can find the place he goes to."
As she spoke, Hermione suddenly stopped, as if she was making a decision. But soon, she nodded slightly, and then turned around and said:
"Everyone, pay attention! I have something to say—"
"You want to ask, should we go to London first?" Ron said before Hermione's words, and then said decisively, "Of course! Don't mention it to my parents, at least we have to Find Percy as soon as possible... I can understand his feelings, but it is too dangerous for him to run to London alone!"
Although they still don't know the current situation in London, the suspicious fog alone is enough to remind people of many bad things.
In addition, the last disaster in London still seems like yesterday, which makes people really uneasy.
"Yes!" Ginny on the side also said, "Ron is right, we should go find Percy first!"
"Well, it's decided then."
Seeing that they all knew what they wanted to say, Hermione immediately didn't need to explain any more.
But just when she was about to call everyone to run back, the figure of Luna standing not far away made her quickly retract the right foot she had just stepped out.
"Luna..." she asked hesitantly, "Are you... planning to go with us? Or stay here with Maka... "
In the impression of their friends, Luna is usually more inclined to follow Maka's footsteps. It can even be said that when she encounters certain options, she often subconsciously makes choices from Maka's perspective.
Especially in recent years, as her feelings for Maka have unknowingly increased, her tendency has become more and more obvious.
So at this moment, Hermione couldn't help but feel that Luna might not rush to London with them... Well, no, actually she wasn't sure what Luna's choice would be, she just couldn't help but guess so. .
But this time, Hermione guessed wrong.
"Of course I'll go too!"
Almost as soon as Hermione finished asking, and before her words dropped to the ground, Luna nodded unusually decisively. And then, she added as if:
"Don't worry! If Maka knows about it, she will definitely agree to let us go!"
Luna will indeed take Maka's thoughts into consideration. But this...will Maka agree
To be honest, Hermione really didn't know - she had always felt that Maka would usually not put them in danger; but at the same time, Maka would occasionally respect their choices for some reasons.
And what is the basis for distinguishing between these two reactions, Hermione can't tell... Perhaps, only people like Luna who rely on intuition to make choices can vaguely understand the true meaning of Maka's heart. Got an idea
Of course, now is not the time to ponder these things.
Hermione didn't think much about it. Seeing that Luna also said she wanted to go to London together, she immediately took the letter from Ron's hand, took out a pen from her bag and wrote a message to Maka. message.
"okay!"
After writing a rough outline in a few strokes, Hermione stuffed the letter directly into the crack of the door, put away the pen, turned around and left.
"Let's go! Logically speaking, Percy shouldn't be able to use the Disapparation Spell right now, so he probably went directly from the fireplace to Diagon Alley... Oh, I suddenly realized that we don't even know about Diagon Alley yet. Is there also fog?”
“You’ll find out after you go and see it!”
These were the last words Ron said before leaving Hogwarts.
…
Hermione and the others left without Maka knowing.
But in fact, just when they didn't find Maka in the Vice Castle and decided to go to London on their own, Maka never left the school.
Yes, he didn't even go to the cave in the Forbidden Forest, but stayed in the castle the whole time.
"This magic wave... that's right, it's coming from inside. It looks like it's coming soon..."
When Hermione and others hurried out of the school gate and apparated away, Maka was still standing by a familiar wall upstairs in the castle, carefully feeling the magic that was faintly penetrating through it.
This fluctuation was quite subtle. If Maka's ability to sense magic had not reached a high level, even he might not have been able to detect it.
Therefore, even though Luna now has the ability to perceive magic, she still cannot feel the subtle magic anomaly in the castle.
Yes, if she could feel it too, she might be able to figure out where Maka had gone.
After a moment, Maka nodded to herself, then turned around and walked back. As he walked, he was still thinking secretly in his heart:
"Hermione and the others should be still adjusting the array in the astronomy tower right now, right? Hey, I'll go over now and tell them the good news. I think they will all jump with excitement!"
While thinking this, Maka couldn't help but speed up her pace a little, jogging all the way towards the astronomical tower.
However, as soon as he climbed to the observatory at the top of the tower, he found that there was no one there. Only the magic stone slabs arranged in order on the ground still have some residual magic power that has not been completely dissipated.
"Hasn't it been successfully run once before?" When Maka saw it, she couldn't help but frowned and asked doubtfully, "Since it has been successful, there is no need to move the outer stone slab arrangement... Then where are they running? Already?"
After thinking for a moment, he walked to the edge of the high platform and looked down again, but again he didn't see anyone.
"Could it be that you went to the kitchen to celebrate the completion?"