"Hermione, the situation on the front line... doesn't seem to be good!"
I don’t know if Lupine gave up the idea of hiding the war situation from the children after he acquiesced to Harry going to the battlefield, and Ron easily brought back the information he overheard in the hall of the new Ministry of Magic.
But think about it, now that things have happened, there is obviously no point in being secretive in front of the children. Rather, if Hermione and the others had any misunderstanding, it would be more likely to cause more trouble.
"Is the situation bad? Where is Harry? Is Harry okay?"
As soon as she heard Ron's words, Ginny couldn't help but ask before Hermione could speak. However, Ron could only shake his head and said:
"I don't know, no one has mentioned Harry's condition... But if it is him, he should be fine! However, leaving aside Harry's condition, the overall situation on the frontline battlefield seems to be very bad... The suppression team repeatedly The ground was forced back, and before I came back, I heard that the zombie army had broken through Dartford City!"
"Dartford... In other words, one-third of the distance has been traveled so quickly?" Hermione heard this and said in a serious tone, "Then... where are the teams responsible for evacuating people? And the army. … Where are they again?”
"Uh," Ron paused after hearing Hermione ask this, "Dartford, and along the Watling Highway between Dartford and Rochester..."
"Already caught up?"
Seeing Hermione's wide-eyed look of surprise, Ron couldn't help but sigh.
"To be precise, when the group of living corpses completely broke through the defense line of the extermination team and arrived in the city of Dartford, our evacuation team, in cooperation with the Muggle military, was only halfway through the evacuation of the people. Because the evacuation team regardless of The number and strength are far inferior to the frontline cleanup team, so we can only withdraw from the city and go to subsequent cities where the zombie swarm has not yet reached."
"Half the residents of Dartford... were abandoned?"
If it were only the sacrifices that occurred in the clearing team, even though it would be deeply saddening, Hermione and the others could barely accept the reality that people kept dying. But now, even half of the city's innocent Muggles have lost their lives. This kind of thing can never be called a "sacrifice".
"...Hermione?"
Seeing that something was wrong with her state, Ron quickly called her, but saw that she finally shook her head slightly after taking a deep breath.
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
After saying this, Hermione lowered her eyes and said softly:
"Harry has gone to the front line on our behalf, and all we can do is seize the time to contribute more to the defense of Spiral Town."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw that she finally pursed her lips, picked up the magic tablet that she had just put aside because of Ron's return, and continued to carve.
In fact, everyone present could feel that what Hermione wanted to do most at the moment was to go out and help like Harry.
Whether she is blocking the enemy group on the front line or assisting in the evacuation from the rear, it will definitely make her feel more at ease than huddled here and burying her head in the carved stone slabs. But if you calm down and think about it more, even if you count all of them, it will only be a drop in the bucket for the collapsed front line.
Although staying here to silently strengthen the defense of Spiral Town is inconspicuous and annoying, what they do may actually play a greater role in the future.
Judging from the current situation, Spiral Town will probably soon become the last line of defense against the zombie army.
However, Hermione might be able to suppress her uneasiness and tell herself that she must not act emotionally. Because of her various experiences during this period, she fully understood the disadvantages of being hot-headed.
However, Ginny, who was purely worried about her boyfriend Harry, could no longer bear it after hearing Ron mention the situation on the front line.
It must be said that she actually tried her best not to be impulsive. It's just a pity that when she thought that Harry was very likely to be in danger, she couldn't calm down anymore.
"I'm going-"
"Ginny!"
Just when Ginny stood up suddenly and seemed to want to say something, Neville, who was still staring at the long parchment in a daze, suddenly threw the quill in his hand back into the ink bottle.
"Ginny, let me go! I'll go check on Harry for you—"
"Neville?"
Ginny couldn't help but be startled when she heard Neville suddenly say that he wanted to see Harry on his behalf. And just when she had not come back to her senses, she saw Neville looking towards Hannah who was hesitant to speak not far away.
"...Hannah, is that okay?"
"Well."
Hannah, who had never had any ideas, was immediately stopped by Neville's question.
Needless to say, she naturally didn't want Neville to go out on adventures, but with her gentle nature, she seemed to not want to become a girl who would hinder her boyfriend from doing things.
"Then... um."
Seeing Hannah slowly nodding her head, Neville immediately threw the parchment roll in his hand aside, and in a blink of an eye, he passed by the hesitating Ginny and headed towards the stairs.
"Neville!"
When Ginny saw this, she couldn't help but call him. But she also understood that if one more person had to rush to the front line, Neville would definitely be much more suitable than her.
"Hermione?"
She stood there hesitating, subconsciously looking back at Hermione who was carving the stone slab silently, but the other person just lowered her eyes and shook her head.
That meaning was of course very clear - it didn't matter whether Neville went or not, she, Ginny Weasley, could never go to the front line to cause trouble.
Yes, although it sounds ugly to say it, it is "adding chaos".
"... Neville? You are in such a hurry, where are you going?"
Just when all the remaining friends in the underground corridor had shut their mouths, and the corridor was only filled with the sound of Neville's distant footsteps, a familiar voice suddenly came from the stairs.
Immediately, everyone hurriedly turned their attention to the other end of the corridor.
"Maka? You... you're here!"
Yes, you can see that it is Maka's slightly thin, but extremely reassuring figure that stops in front of Neville, who is about to step onto the stone steps.
"Well," Maka, who had just come down, looked at Neville for a moment, then raised her eyebrows and said, "Why, have you finished writing about Five Feet? Then take a look!"
Having said that, Macadamia passed by Neville and walked straight to the observation room.
"What's wrong? Come here!"
Seemingly seeing Neville standing there and not knowing which way to go, Maka immediately turned around and tilted her head to signal. Immediately, Neville, who did not dare to disobey Maka's words, had no choice but to lift his legs and follow him.
"What's going on? Everyone has a sad face... Oh, are you making slates..." Maka said with a chuckle as she walked inside.