About before the bell rang for the first class, while Harry and the others were still searching for Umbridge in the History of Magic classroom, Maka had already left her office.
To be precise, he happened to be walking on the third floor of the main castle, in the corridor in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.
The wind outside the window kept howling, the sky was getting darker and darker, and it seemed that there would be a violent shower at some point.
Looking out from the window opening, the sky with thick clouds seems to be within reach.
"With this weather, I feel like I can't live up to the atmosphere created by nature..." Maka mumbled casually as she walked forward, looking at the gray outside.
Suddenly, a door in front opened with a creak, and a figure quickly walked out of the room, turned around and walked this way.
It looks like he has something important to do and is in a hurry!
"Oh—Professor MacLean?"
The man paused, and although he was obviously in a hurry, he still nodded politely to Maka. But when he first met Maka, his eyes looked a little weird.
"Good morning... Well, I'm sorry, Professor... I have to go to class quickly, otherwise I will be late."
Maka nodded towards him and responded accordingly, then looked back at the other person and left quickly.
After the other party's back disappeared around the corner, Maka turned back and glanced at the door he came out of - the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.
"...Sokaldis." He thought for a moment, then shook his head, "It doesn't matter, it's just a matter of asking more and asking less..."
While thinking secretly, Maka had already walked to the door and knocked twice without hesitation.
"Tuk Tuk"
"...Please come in."
There was no response immediately in the room, but there was a pause for a few seconds before the sound could be heard.
Before the words were settled, Maka twisted the door handle and walked directly in. The next moment, with a "bang" sound, the door closed tightly again.
"Good morning, Senior Inquisitor Umbridge."
"You want to fuck-"
Umbridge was startled by Maka who suddenly appeared in front of her, but the next moment, she suppressed her heart that almost jumped out of her body, and a stiff smile appeared on her face.
"Ahem... Well, I mean... Good morning, Professor MacLean," she said dryly, "Do you have any business with me when you come here so early?"
"Of course," Maka smiled and nodded, "It's a little something..."
As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced towards the side wall. Then he took steps, as if walking in the garden, and came to the wall.
"You - ahem -" Umbridge sat behind the desk and moved her butt uncontrollably, "Do you also like the decorative plates of the 'Playful Cat Series'? They look cute, right?"
"Cat?" Maka turned her head and said with a smile, "Yes, that's right... I like these little animals very much, but I prefer real cats rather than these decorative plates."
He reached out and tapped the plate with the black Bombay cat as if casually. The black cat at the bottom of the plate lazily moved to the side. Coincidentally, Umbridge also moved her sitting posture again, looking a little restless.
She found that using this as an excuse was a stupid decision.
"Uh... I said..." Umbridge hurriedly said, "Professor Maclean, why did you come to me? Why don't you just talk about it first?"
"Oh—of course, if you wish." Maka shrugged, "But before that—"
"Click—"
Before he finished speaking, he saw a crack suddenly appear on the edge of the decorative plate, and it quickly spread to the entire plate. The next moment, with a crisp sound, the plate was completely shattered into pieces.
"you-"
While Umbridge was horrified, Maka looked at the porcelain pieces at her feet and frowned.
"But let's talk about it first, I'm not planning to break it yet..." He shook his head and said, "But... forget it, it's just one of those two..."
"What exactly do you want to do?" Umbridge clenched her wand under her desk and said in a sharp voice, "I am a senior investigator and I represent the Ministry of Magic! You can't do anything to me!"
"Well, what happens next?" Maka looked at her and asked.
"Then? Don't you understand? If you don't want to be invited to tea by the Ministry of Magic, if you don't want Hogwarts to be closed and subject to investigation, then you-"
"Okay," Maka interrupted Umbridge, who was becoming hysterical, and said calmly, "I understand what you said. In fact, I don't want to make any more noise at this time..."
"Then you still-"
"Shut up," Maka walked towards Umbridge expressionlessly, "If there weren't so many things going on recently, I wouldn't mind playing with you about fighting for power, but the situation is different now. .”
"You, don't come over—"
The fake smile on Umbridge's face has long since disappeared. As Maka got closer step by step, fine beads of sweat oozed out on her forehead, making the thick foundation start to become a little sticky.
Her hand holding the wand was shaking slightly under the table, and all she could think about was how she raised her right hand and waved the wand with all her strength.
Then…
No, no then! She couldn't imagine what it would be like after that!
"Don't go any further, don't come any closer—"
There was no hesitation in Maka's steps. The moment he was almost only a few steps away from Umbridge, the string in Umbridge's mind broke.
"Heart-"
Before she finished reciting the spell, Umbridge felt her palm slip and the wand fell into Maka's hand.
"The last person who dared to cast a spell on me at such a close distance was not as lucky as you." Maka weighed the wand in her hand and said softly, "Birchwood, Dragon Heartstring... Well, it's just eight inch?"
He casually placed Umbridge's wand on the table in front of him and looked directly at the other person with cold eyes.
"Let me ask you something -" Maka said with a chuckle, "If I tell you now that your brother has been living in a Muggle prison in the past few years... what do you think?"
"What on earth do you want to say? Where did my brother come from?" Umbridge leaned tightly on the back of the chair, trying her best to stay away from Maka, "Don't come any closer! You can't touch me, you have to think Know what you're doing—"
Her face was contorted with fear, which made her makeup-covered face look even more hideous.
"Is this your answer?" Maka nodded understandingly, "If that's the case, then forget it..."
The woman in front of him is very "famous" in the Ministry of Magic, although she is always thinking of endless sinister methods and is ruthless in excluding dissidents.
She is obviously a mixed-race, her father is a wizard and her mother is a Muggle. After the couple gave birth to her, they also gave birth to a son.
However, her biological brother was a squib that was insulated from magic.
For this reason, both Umbridge and her father blamed the Muggle mother, and even forced her Muggle mother and her brother out of her family when she was fifteen.
After that, Umbridge, the eldest daughter, lived with her father in the magical world, while her younger brother returned to the Muggle world with his mother.
As far as Maka knew, Umbridge had been trying to prevent her family situation from being leaked when she was working in the Ministry of Magic. For this reason, she did not hesitate to persuade her father to retire early, and then tampered with her origins with outright lies.
But there is no airtight wall in this world, and most of her colleagues know this very well. After all, her father also worked in the Ministry of Magic before!
Maka saw that when she heard about her brother's current situation, her first reaction was to deny his existence, and she couldn't help but laugh at her behavior.
"Since when did I start caring about this..." He raised his eyebrows and thought to himself, "Is it because of Luna?"
Putting her thoughts aside for the moment, Maka took out a bottle of potion and placed it in front of Umbridge.
"Veritaserum or Legilimency, choose one yourself!" He pointed to the potion bottle and wand on the table, leaving it to her to choose this multiple-choice question, which was almost indistinguishable.
Umbridge couldn't help clenching her hands, and her eyes wandered back and forth between the table and Maka's face. The invisible pressure made it difficult for her to breathe.
In the face of real power, her little tricks seemed ridiculous. The blue-white light beam in the magic text class, and the chill that penetrated into the bone marrow at that time, seemed to have transcended time and space, freezing her whole body.
Although the flames in the fireplace were still beating constantly, she felt as if she was in an ice cellar.
"Well, since you don't know how to choose, let me help you choose..." Maka said calmly, "Personally, I still recommend that you choose Legilimency - Veritaserum is not cheap. Woolen cloth!"
He gently picked up the wand, and Umbridge subconsciously wanted to run away, but her joints were stiff due to tension, as if they were rusty, and she couldn't move.
She didn't even hear the incantation, but a huge mental shock penetrated directly into her mind; the next moment, her consciousness went blank.
After a moment, Maka threw the wand on the table, picked up the veritaserum and walked towards the door.
"boom!"
The door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office was closed again. In the pink office, only a short and fat figure was left slumped on the armchair.
The old face with wide eyes still showed fear and confusion.