"Hermione, it's lunch time. I just went down to get some mashed potatoes and sausages, here -"
In fact, St. Mungo's food reserves are quite sufficient so far. But after all, the magic spell cannot produce real food, so he will inevitably eat less and less. Coupled with the arrival of the support team from the International Federation of Wizards, the daily food consumption has naturally increased a lot.
Therefore, in order to prevent food shortages from arriving prematurely, the hospital decided to implement planned rationing as soon as possible.
Ron took out a bag of lunch boxes that he had just picked up, handed it to Hermione, and said casually:
"... Starting from this meal, as a standard meal for the sick and injured, the members of the federation's support team were rationed three-quarters, while the refugees like us and the medical staff in the hospital were rationed two-quarters. One percent."
"There are only half of the medical staff?" Ginny couldn't help frowning when she heard this, "They work so hard to treat patients, how could they... Who decided this?"
But Ron just shrugged and said:
"It's the rules set by the dean, and I heard that he's only half as good as himself."
"Oh, this-"
When Ginny showed an expression that she couldn't let go of, Ron continued:
"In a word, that's it... Moreover, except for the patients, everyone has to collect their meals by themselves. But when I went there, I found that our portions had been prepared in advance—"
"…Ron."
Just as he finished speaking, Hermione, who had already opened the lunch box, called him.
After Ron heard this, he immediately turned his head to take a look.
"What's wrong?"
"Is this half the amount?"
"It's unlikely no matter how you look at it, right?" Fred leaned aside and looked at half of the box of mashed potatoes and two grilled sausages inside.
"It looks like a full meal anyway." George added.
After the two said this, everyone present couldn't help but look at each other.
There is no doubt that this is definitely because Maka, Harry and Neville are all fighting outside... No, it should be mainly because they have a very close relationship with Maka that they get such "preferential treatment".
"Ron, go back half way," Ginny couldn't help but shook her head, "If Maka and the others are here, it's okay to give them a full meal... or even more, but we definitely don't deserve such special treatment. "
"Ah, um!" Ron nodded when he heard this, "Okay, I'll go right now -"
As he spoke, he was about to put down his pocket and take out half of it, but at this moment, Hermione, who had been silent since just now, suddenly said again:
"No, I think we have to accept this favor."
"Hermione?"
Ginny was visibly confused. But she also knew that Hermione would never make any selfish decisions, so she still planned to listen to the other party's explanation first.
As expected, Hermione quickly continued:
"I know you may be confused, but we really have to accept them... because only in this way can Mr. Bernthal, the dean of St. Mungo's, feel more at ease."
"You mean..." Ron pondered, "to tie Maka up?"
"Well... I don't think I can say that completely," Hermione said. "I know Dean Bernthal. Generally speaking, he should still be a respectable therapist. However, he is now a Saint. Dean of Mungo, he needs to be responsible for all the asylum seekers and staff here."
"Remember? Haierbo has been to St. Mungo's more than once - Mr. Bernser must have seen Haierbo's terrifying strength. So he must also understand that if Haierbo comes back next time, If it comes and Maka is not there, the Federation’s support team alone will not be able to withstand it.”
At this point, Hermione paused briefly, and then continued:
"I think Mr. Bernser actually hopes to give Maca a favor directly, but Maca obviously doesn't need any benefits. Therefore, he would settle for the next best thing and choose us."
Hearing this, Ginny finally nodded slightly in understanding.
"So..." she thought for a while and said, "If we also refuse, he will not feel at ease?"
Bernthal was originally just a very good therapist. He became the director of St. Mungo's Hospital of Witchcraft and Wizardry entirely because of his high popularity.
If everything goes well on weekdays, although managing the hospital every day is hard work, he is still barely competent. But now, one disaster after another has turned St. Mungo's into a temporary refuge, and his burden is getting bigger and bigger.
To be honest, these catastrophes had made him feel a little exhausted.
Therefore, Bernser is careful in everything he does now. Not only does he often do it himself and resume his duties as a therapist to check and treat the injured in person, but he also arranges all matters of St. Mungo's as carefully as possible.
Including the new rules for food distribution, he had researched them in advance to prepare for a rainy day.
Obviously, he was afraid that due to some of his negligence, everyone in St. Mungo would be in danger - he really couldn't afford such a major sin!
"Hmm... So, I'm afraid we have to accept this 'goodwill', even if it just makes Dean Bernthal feel more at ease."
Hermione also nodded and said:
"To be honest, if it hadn't been for... if Luna hadn't made me understand that sometimes it's important to accept gifts from others honestly, I might not have thought of this today."
As she spoke, she picked up her fork, scooped out some mashed potatoes, stuffed it into her mouth, and tasted it carefully - she felt the faint salty taste spread gently on her tongue, and somehow there was an extra hint. heavy.
"But..." Hermione paused and suddenly added, "I never thought it would be easy to accept a gift silently like this!"
Although she has thought through the reasons very thoroughly, this is after all a special treatment equivalent to that of an injured patient.
While other evacuees and even medical staff who are busy all day can only eat half of their meals, I can enjoy twice as much food while doing nothing... This is undoubtedly a burden.
"Eat!" Hermione looked at Luna on the bed. "After we are full, we will help the therapists at St. Mungo's take care of the patients just like last time... I think this should make Bo Mr. Unse feels more at ease."
"OK!"
"That's it!"
As Fred and George spoke, they also took the lunch boxes from Ron's pocket and ate quickly with their wives.
Unexpectedly, before everyone finished eating, there was a knock on the door of the ward.
"Here we go...I'll open the door."
Ron motioned for everyone to continue, and he ran to open the door with the lunch box and found that the person standing outside the door happened to be the Dean Bernthal they just talked about.
Oh, thinking about it, maybe it’s not a big surprise that he would choose to come here for a visit.
"Dean? Please, please come in—"
"Are you all having a meal? Sorry, I may have disturbed you a little by coming here at this time!"
Bernser, who has some gray hair on his temples, is wearing the same green uniform robe as other therapists. The hem and sleeves are stained with permanent stains left by special chemicals. But except for the spots that couldn't be cleaned off, his robe still looked very clean.
When he walked in from the outside, he had a kind smile on his face and seemed to be in good spirits. But the fatigue hidden in his eyes was so strong that he could no longer hide it.
Needless to say, he must have taken some energy-boosting potion, and probably hadn't slept at all in the past two days.
"No, why bother?" Seeing how polite he was when he opened his mouth, Percy, who was dining by the window, immediately said, "Mr. Bernthal, if you have anything, just say it... In fact, we are planning to finish our meal I’ll go outside to help after I’m gone!”
"Oh, how can this be done... No, no need to bother you all!" Bernser immediately waved his hands, "The manpower in the hospital is actually enough. After all, the injured patients who have come to seek refuge so far are mainly traumatic injuries, and it is difficult to treat them. It’s not complicated. Everyone has worked hard in the past two days, and most of the injured have recovered!”
While talking, he pretended to casually look at the lunch boxes in everyone's hands one after another. Seeing that everyone was eating full lunches, the smiles on his faces became obviously more serious than at the beginning.
"By the way, I heard that someone was injured outside before, and Mr. McClain personally brought the person up... It was Miss Lovegood, right?" Bernthal said at this moment, "Of course, there is McClain. Sir, the patient’s treatment will definitely be fine, so I’m just here to visit her this time!”
Bernthal's words were actually more of an excuse, because he mainly came to see if Hermione and others had accepted the "favor" arranged by him personally.
But when they heard what he said, everyone's mood suddenly became a little depressed - especially Hermione. Compared to other friends who only knew that Luna was seriously injured and not awake, her mood was naturally more obvious as she knew more. heavy.
And when everyone couldn't help but stop their movements one by one, Bernser turned his eyes to the hospital bed, his expression gradually changed from relaxed to confused, and then from confused to stunned.
Soon, I saw that his mouth was half open. He hesitated for a moment and then said with a slight frown:
"Miss Lovegood this is—"
Bernser was really shocked, because he gradually discovered that although Luna on the hospital bed seemed unharmed, it was obvious that she had stopped breathing.
But even so, she was still lying on the hospital bed, and no one touched her.
Is he dead? Still not dead... For a moment, Bernser, a senior therapist, was a little unsure. After all, he knew about Maca's superb healing skills.
"Don't worry," Hermione suddenly whispered at this moment, "Luna just can't wake up for the time being... This is what Maka said."