Charlotte's request was actually very embarrassing for Maka, because even if she had to make up lessons again, it was already too late. And his learning style is really not suitable for other students - this can be seen from the way Harry and the others listened to him explaining the theory of the Patronus Charm.
In the end, he couldn't bear Charlotte's pestering, so he lent his notes - no matter whether she could understand it or not, at least Maka had studied some of the knowledge in the upper grades.
A few days later…
Buckbeak's appeal date was set for the 6th, which coincidentally coincided with the end date of the exam.
However, unfortunate things also happened.
Just when Maka learned the appeal date from Hermione, his owl Marfa sent him a letter—signed by Brand, his partner.
"... I have urgent matters that require me to travel far away recently, so I hope I can take the time to visit the store to discuss consignment sales during the store closure."
Maka finished reading the letter, and after thinking about it for a while, she decided to go at night.
After all, the exam starts tomorrow, and I won’t be able to run around by then. Because whenever Hogwarts enters the examination period, the inspections in the castle will be much more detailed. Even if you are invisible, you may not be able to easily avoid the rotating inspections of several professors.
What's more, the exam only lasts for a week, so there is no need to mess around.
That night, Maka took advantage of the silence of the night to avoid Filch's search route and quickly got into the secret passage under the Whomping Willow.
The secret passage was as dark as ever. Even if Maka had something in his hand to illuminate it, the light still couldn't travel very far. When he looked ahead, he couldn't see anything in the darkness.
But based on the number of times Maka had walked through this secret passage, he could successfully reach the Shrieking Shack even with his eyes closed, which was something he was accustomed to.
Maka kept walking, bent over and trotted, and soon ran through three-quarters of the secret passage.
However, at that moment, he saw an unusual thing standing in the middle of the secret passage, blocking his way!
Maka immediately stopped and subconsciously pulled out the wand with her right hand.
The thing was still hidden beyond the reach of the light. From his point of view, he could only see a vague outline.
"... Corpse?" Maka hesitated for a moment, then slowly approached.
The wand in his hand was pointed forward steadily, as if as soon as there was any movement, the curse that was waiting to be unleashed would be released immediately.
But until he saw clearly what that thing was, the expected attack did not appear.
"Black?" Maka frowned, then quickly walked forward, "Uncle Black, wake up—"
The person leaning against the stone wall of the secret passage was Sirius Black. To be more precise, it was Sirius Black who was completely in a coma.
His wand fell not far away, and his breathing was already quite weak.
After a rough inspection, Maka immediately discovered that the front of Blake's clothes had been torn in half, and on his half-exposed chest, there was a bruise as big as a fist that was slightly collapsed.
"...The ribs are broken." Maka reached out and touched it, and then said to herself with confirmation.
And when he simply pulled off Blake's shirt to take a closer look, he discovered another bruise on Blake's waist. That might be less serious than the chest injury, but it might have hurt the internal organs...
Maka immediately took out a bottle of potion, then raised Blake's neck and poured the entire bottle of potion into it.
While waiting for the medicine to take effect, Maka fell into deep thought.
The situation this time was really beyond his expectation, and what happened could only be found out after Blake woke up.
Fortunately, Blake only suffered physical damage. If there was any difficult magical damage, it would most likely not be able to get better in a short while.
After waiting quietly for a moment, Blake suddenly opened his eyes.
"Well..." He seemed to be frightened, and suddenly he stood on the ground and wanted to get up, but the injuries on his body did not allow him to do so.
Blake groaned in pain and fell back onto the cold ground.
"Uncle Black, there is no danger here," Maka, who was also leaning against the stone wall, said, "What happened? How did you get hurt like this?"
Blake glanced at him confusedly, and it took a while before he finally recovered.
"... Peter," he murmured vaguely, his voice hoarse and low, "That must be Peter... but... why..."
He seemed to want to say something, but the next moment he fainted again.
"Peter Pettigrew?" Maka frowned even more tightly, "He attacked Black? What does this mean?"
Peter Pettigrew is undoubtedly synonymous with cowardice. It is almost impossible for him to fight Black - he has been on the run from beginning to end, even after he successfully deceived everyone back then, he is still on the run.
How could such a coward attack Sirius Black, whom he had always envied and envied
Not to mention, with Peter's strength, even a sneak attack would be difficult to beat Black into this state. Maka has personally experienced Sirius's fighting skills.
However, the facts were right in front of him, but he couldn't tolerate disbelief.
"Maybe... Peter Pettigrew invited some help?"
At this point, Maka can only guess this way.
Seeing that Blake seemed to have fallen into a deeper coma and recovered, Maka understood that the effect of the medicine had been fully exerted. Blake shouldn't wake up again anytime soon.
After thinking about it for a moment, he simply took Black with him and rushed to Tyrande's store.
But when he arrived at the Shrieking Shack, he found a messy scene outside.
Just on the street, a large number of dementors were wandering back and forth, and there were still vague figures searching around with wands. Maka guessed that it must be a group of Aurors - the Ministry of Magic has already taken action!
Most of the houses on both sides of the street had their doors closed, but the light coming from the windows showed that the wizards were still awake.
And in a room not far from the screaming shack, someone was arguing loudly about something. The volume was so loud that even Maka could faintly hear it.
He couldn't help but lay Blake flat on the floor, then leaned behind the wooden wall and listened carefully...
"... You absolutely can't stay here any longer! Just tell me, are you willing to stay with me?"
"Oh, dear... this is the ancestral home of my family for generations. I can't just-"
"Say these words to those dementors outside!"
"But-"
"But what? Oh - by the way, there is also that evil weirdo. He must be a very dangerous dark wizard! If you care about your house so much, then discuss it with him and see if he can let you stay longer. How many weeks?”
"Don't be like this, honey..."
"Let go of my hand! You want to die, but my child and I have to live! Let go..."
In the Screaming Shack, Maka was calmly thinking and speculating while sorting out the information he obtained during the conversation. But this incident was so sudden that the blind man's guess was of little value.
In this situation, taking Black with him would definitely hinder his movement. For safety reasons, he decided to go to Hogwarts first.
As for the matter here, let’s let the people from the Ministry of Magic investigate first!
However, if there is a possibility that things will go bad, no matter how small the possibility is, it will appear in front of you unexpectedly and catch you off guard.
Just as Maka was taking Blake back to the secret passage, right behind him, a figure covered in black smoke burst through the wall.
Almost at the same time, a hand wrapped in black energy grabbed the back of Maka's head very quickly!
For a moment, the strong wind ruffled Maka's black hair, and the strong evil aura was still almost substantial.
At that critical moment, Maka bent forward and at the same time, she waved her wand and sent Black to the corner.
The moment he lowered his head and leaned over, the sudden hand passed over Maka's hair, and a chill immediately spread throughout his body.
This was the first time since Maka entered Hogwarts that he had felt a real death threat.
The moment the hand brushed against the back of his head, the strong wind caused by the other person's wave directly sent him a message - if he was hit by that blow, his brain would definitely be ripped open.
The next second, Maka fell heavily to the floor, making a dull landing sound.
In such a crisis, the advantage of losing his emotions was completely revealed.
Regardless of the severe pain caused by his whole body hitting the floor, Maka immediately turned over and rolled to the side - and sure enough, just as he left the place, a foot also wrapped in black energy suddenly stepped on there; power It was so big that even the floor was crushed.
"The Divine Edge is Shadowless!"
Maka turned over and chose the highly damaging spell invented by Snape without hesitation. The tip of his wand was pointed directly at the opponent's face. It can be said that the current crisis has forced him to have few scruples left in his heart.
The originally invisible and traceless cutting spell caused the black energy that filled the opponent's face to surge. However, it only made the other party raise his head. The next moment, the other party stretched his legs again.
Is it because Maka's own strength is too weak, or is the opponent's magic defense extremely high
"There are many obstacles!"
This time, Maka didn't believe too much in the effect of the spell. While he released the obstacle spell, he ignored his embarrassment and rolled to the side again.
"Is it the effect of the black energy?" Maka calmly thought about countermeasures as she fled the place.
The rich black energy completely enveloped the other party, and in a hurry, it was impossible to confirm the other party's identity. However, at this time, whether it was Peter Pettigrew or not was no longer so important.