"Maka?"
When Ron had been in the ward for a long time and was about to take a few steps out to relax his tense mood, he saw a familiar figure in the visitor's rest area on the sixth floor.
To be honest, Maka's back itself is not conspicuous, just like his appearance, he has never been the type to attract others' attention at a glance.
Therefore, the reason why everyone feels particularly down-to-earth and reliable when they see him now is entirely because he has brought tangible help to many, many people so far.
Sometimes just thinking about it for a moment, Ron couldn't help but feel a little incredible - without Maka, he couldn't imagine what everyone would be like now.
But... Of course, Maka has always been aware of things that Ron could not imagine. Without him, maybe some things would not be so good, but maybe there would be more bad things that would never happen again.
Therefore, Maka has actually begun to believe that his "accidental encounter" with Hogwarts, these friends, and even the entire magical world is probably not a good thing.
Maybe... just "meeting Maka McClain in life" is a mistake for many people, right
"Um?"
Maka had already felt Ron's magic wave, but he still waited for the other person to speak, then turned slightly and smiled at the other person.
"Maka, why are you here?" Ron saw that it was really Maka and walked over quickly. "When did you come back? Why didn't you go to the ward?"
"Oh, sorry," Maka shrugged slightly, "I was thinking about something here."
"Yeah?"
Ron, who was about to sit down here, straightened up immediately after hearing this.
"Then just keep thinking and I won't bother you anymore -"
Obviously, Maka's time is absolutely precious compared to me sitting idle. If he delayed Maka's thinking because he was wandering around, maybe he would become a sinner in London... and even the entire British magical world!
"No, no need." Seeing Ron wanting to leave, Maka immediately waved her hand and said, "Since everyone is here, just sit down! There is nothing to disturb."
"Uh... doesn't it really matter?"
"If I tell you to sit down, just sit down!"
Maka shook his head, and when he saw Ron finally sitting down across the table with some hesitation, he picked up the cup in front of him and took a sip.
"that-"
Ron looked at the teapot and teacups on the table, and he suddenly discovered that the slightly sloshing tea in the cup did not seem to be the color commonly seen on British afternoon tea tables.
It looks like... it's a little gray there
"Is it Ge...Gordig root tea?" He recalled briefly, "I remember you seemed to have given it to us."
"Well, yes, Gordig root tea." Maka nodded, "But this is not the kind I cooked for you before. How about it, do you want to try it?"
Ron heard this and said happily:
"Oh, why not?"
Maka nodded again in understanding, then waved her hand casually, letting the other teacup that was upside down on the porcelain plate float to Ron's face. Then, the teapot started to move, and after pouring him a full cup, it fell back to the center of the table.
"Huh? What does this smell like..."
Ron picked up the tea cup and smelled it, looking a little confused. But when he saw Maka drinking sip after sip, there seemed to be no problem, and he immediately felt no worries.
Because he knew that Maka had always had a pretty good taste in eating and drinking, and even the last "potion ingredient feast" was not bad at all in terms of taste.
However, as soon as the tea was in his mouth, Ron's expression changed instantly.
"puff-"
Maka had quick eyesight and quick hands. When Ron subconsciously spit out the tea, he immediately raised his hand and let the tea mixed with saliva float in the air.
Then, he pointed down again and let them form a bunch and poured them into Ron's teacup again.
"How is the taste?"
Maka raised her eyebrows, with a smile on her face after a successful prank, and looked at the grimace on Ron's face opposite her with interest.
"Oh, Maka..." Ron stuck out his tongue and frowned, "What is this?"
"Didn't I just say that? Gordig root tea!" Maka spread her hands and said with a chuckle, "And it's the most original version. Not many people in the world can drink it!"
"This," Ron said helplessly after hearing this, "even if everyone can drink it, there won't be many people who like it, right? Maka, do you really think this tastes good?"
Before she finished speaking, Maka put away her smile and looked into her cup, then slowly shook her head.
"do not think so."
"and you-"
Before he could finish saying "Then why did you drink it?", Ron saw Macca slightly lowering his head and said:
"Although I don't like it either, there are two people who think it's pretty good. But I think there may only be one person who really likes it... because the other one may only like the person who cooked it. .”
"W-what?"
Ron felt like he understood, but he didn't seem to understand. After thinking about it for a while, he could only scratch his head slightly depressedly.
"Well, anyway, I don't want to drink it... I'm sorry for wasting your cup of tea."
"fine."
Maka waved her hand nonchalantly and emptied the tea cup in front of Ron, then turned it over and returned it to the porcelain plate on the side.
But after that, he picked up his cup again and drank it all in one gulp. Then Ron watched him put the cup on the table, sighed with relief and said:
"Oh, it is indeed a powerful drink!"
Seeing that he actually wanted to add more to the cup after saying this, Ron finally couldn't help but said:
"Maka, did...what happened?"
Ron is not a person who is very sensitive to other people's inner thoughts. Even with Maka's reminder in the past, he has become much stronger than his immature self.
But what he is not good at is what he is not good at. It is impossible to turn Ron's shortcomings into strengths just because of a few words from Maka.
So in other words, there are some abnormalities in Maka's current behavior that even Ron can detect.
"Huh?" When Maka heard this, she just shook her head and said, "No, nothing happened, I just suddenly recalled some past events - you know, I am an orphan like Harry. And As an orphan, there will always be some regrettable past events."
Hearing Maka's words, Ron wanted to say that he didn't know, especially compared to Harry, Maka's story before enrolling in Hogwarts was completely blank to their friends.
No one knows what Maka has experienced in the past; let alone what kind of childhood it was that gave birth to an outstanding wizard like Maka.
Ron remembered that someone at school had speculated that Maka, who had always been courteous and courteous like a true gentleman, was most likely from a privileged and outstanding family. It was only because of some unknown reasons that he became an orphan.
And based on time calculation, many people think that Maka's parents and family may also have died at the hands of Voldemort.
Yes, although Maka has long said that she is a Muggle, there are still a lot of people who don't believe it, especially the "young masters and ladies" in Slytherin College.
But on this point, Ron didn't think so.
Yes, Maka's words and deeds always carry a sense of confidence and humility that ordinary people don't have, and that kind of temperament often gives people a well-educated feeling. But Ron felt that Maka's confidence and humility were fundamentally different from the so-called "pure-blood education" in those pure-blood wizard families.
Just like now, some kind of bad emotion was surging in Maka's heart, and even Ron could feel it. But on the surface, he remained calm and friendly, as if he didn't want others to feel uneasy because of his mood at the moment.
Maka McClain is a person who is born with a soft heart. On the contrary, the strength he usually displays may be a disguise for himself and others.
At this moment, Maka didn't know that his disguise was rarely seen through by anyone, but today Ron accidentally guessed it as if by coincidence.
"Okay, I've almost finished drinking the tea and thought about things, so I should continue to go out to do errands... Oh, I won't go to the ward yet. You will go back later. You can mention it to everyone by the way. , just say that I may not come back to have dinner with everyone today."
"Uh, okay-"
Watching Maka stand up, Ron nodded habitually, but then he stretched out his hand and said:
"Ah! Wait a minute, I have something else to tell you."
"What's up?"
After Maka heard this, she couldn't help but pause, looked back at him and asked.
"It's Harry," Ron reported immediately. "He went to Diagon Alley - with his Sword of Gryffindor. Oh, and Neville may be with him too. I went to see him before. Family ward, Hannah told me.”
"Harry and Neville?" Macca nodded slightly, thought for a while and then asked, "Is there anyone else?"
Ron shook his head.
"Probably no more."
"Well, I understand. I'll keep an eye on it on the way."
Having said that, Maka turned around again and walked towards the stairs step by step. Here Ron was watching his leaving figure. Although he was a little worried, he still didn't know what he should say until he couldn't see the other person.
All he knew was that there seemed to be an indescribable feeling of oppression in his chest, which made him feel very uncomfortable.
After a moment, Ron withdrew his eyes and let them fall back on the teacup left by Maka opposite, staring at it with some concern for a long time.
It's a pity that he couldn't understand what Maka was thinking just now and what the previous words meant.
"oh!"
Ron scratched his scalp again with some distress, and doubts piled up in his heart.