"...You mean, are there really so many independent elves there? Really? Really?"
When Maka told Hermione about the situation on Rowena's Secret Island, three "trues" popped out of her mouth, and the excitement from her heart was immediately revealed.
There is no doubt that Hermione is a kind girl.
After learning about the abnormal situation of contemporary house elves, she would often think about how to improve their unreasonable life.
No, even if it is difficult, at least their working conditions should be made more common sense - every worker has the right to receive the most basic salary and holidays!
However, those poor house elves have to understand this first. Otherwise, no matter how hard others try, they may not be able to achieve the best results.
Thus, SEES (Society for the Spiritual Emancipation of House Elves) came into being.
"There is indeed a large group on that island. From what I have seen, there should be hundreds of them... No, I think there are probably more than that!"
Maka vaguely remembered that when he first left the island, he saw a large area on the island beach. Putting aside everything else, in terms of combat power alone, it is very impressive.
"It's definitely too late these days... Next week! I'll send you over to meet them next week..." He thought for a moment and said, "Those elves don't speak English. I will definitely have to be a translator then. But I heard the elf elder say that regardless of the type of language, they can understand the general meaning of our words... Maybe that is a talent of theirs!"
"The elves are so powerful!" Hermione exclaimed immediately.
"Oh - with Maka's help this time, her activities will probably get bigger and bigger!" Ron leaned next to Harry and muttered quietly, "Speaking of which, her 'sees' badge 'How many have you made?"
"Who knows?" Harry shrugged, "I just remember that her Honeydukes candy jar was almost full last time..."
"Candy jar? The kind of sizzling honey candy?" Ron asked curiously.
Harry shook his head vigorously, rolled his eyes and said, "No, it's a strawberry custard-filled chocolate ball jar - remember last Christmas? It was the extra-large value jar that Honeydukes launched... "
"Oh - Merlin's stinky socks!" Ron slapped his forehead sharply.
"... But I must remind you not to negotiate salary with the elves. They help humans because of their interest. If you don't want them to refuse to talk to you, you must keep their principles in mind - when talking to them By that time, I had deeply understood this!”
…
After dinner, Maka said goodbye to Hermione and the others, and walked straight up the stairs to the campus hospital on the second floor. He really wanted to know more about the situations Joshua had encountered before.
“Tuk tuk tuk”
After he knocked politely and gently on the door of the school hospital, the door opened from the inside soon.
"McLean, I asked Minerva to inform you at noon. Why are you here now?" Madam Pomfrey said with some dissatisfaction, "Visiting patients at night is not conducive to their rest..."
"Didn't I just come back not long ago?" Maka smiled apologetically, "By the way, how is Miss Schon doing? Has Professor Snape's antidote been prepared?"
"It should be soon, probably within the next two days!" Madam Pomfrey obviously knew these work matters very well, and she answered without thinking.
"Oh, really?" Maka nodded clearly, "If that's the case, then I'll take a look later..."
"You can think about it yourself! Aren't you going to visit a doctor? Now, come in quickly!" Madam Pomfrey no longer cared about what he said and immediately urged, "I'll give you fifteen minutes, one second. No more."
"Oh - please, can't we have more?" Maka spread her hands and started bargaining.
However, Madam Pomfrey did not accept this. She took out a pocket watch, opened the cover and took a quick look.
"Are you sure you don't want to go in? There are still fourteen minutes and forty-nine seconds left..."
"Okay, okay! I understand—"
Maka immediately raised her hands to show surrender, and then walked to the ward with a look of helplessness.
The ward was as quiet as ever. Apart from Helen, who was still lying on the bed separated by a curtain, there was only Joshua, who looked stiff and looked like a corpse.
Of course, this is a ward after all, so having fewer people is a good thing.
When Maca passed by Helen's hospital bed, he opened the curtain and took a look. Inside, Helen was still lying on the bed with a haggard look on her face, her breathing was a little weak, but she was quite stable.
"Joshua?"
Maka came to another hospital bed not far away and called out.
"McLean..." Joshua, who was a little dazed in his sleep, suddenly opened his eyes, and then hurriedly turned over and sat up, "McLean! I... I have something... No, it's not me, it's Zoe... Zoe has something. …”
"Don't be nervous, just speak slowly." Maka sat down on the high stool next to the hospital bed, waved her hand casually and said, "Also, who is Zoe?"
"It's me who is the master..." Joshua said, and suddenly he paused again, "No, he is no longer my master... Lenny, his name is Lenny - I met Zoe in his manor, a The woman captured by Lennie.”
"Lenny?"
Maka thought about it carefully and found that she had no special impression of this name. This wizard named Lenny should be Grindelwald's old henchman, but he obviously wasn't exposed to the public eye much at the time.
"Then what? Zoe...what happened to her?" Maka motioned for him to continue.
"I... I wanted to save her at that time. I felt that I could activate my own power... But, I seemed to lose control on the spot..." Joshua said regretfully, "I don't know what happened next, but she must have been Zoe. Still in that manor! I think... I want..."
At the end of the sentence, the timid boy began to hesitate again, obviously not daring to casually say what he asked Maka to do.
Maka looked at him for a while, then smiled thoughtfully to herself, and asked abruptly: "Isn't that woman named Zoe beautiful?"
"Yes, I have never seen someone like her - oh, no, it's not like that -" Joshua, who was confused, subconsciously told the truth in his heart when he asked him casually.
"Okay," Maka gestured with her hand, "You want me to rescue her, right? Of course that's no problem, because I was originally going to go there, and it's not a big deal to rescue her by the way. But I have to remind you, it’s hard to say what condition she is in right now, so you have to be mentally prepared.”
"...Is...is it too late?" Upon hearing this, Joshua's face immediately turned pale.
"Whether it will be later or not, I can't say. But since your old master will take her back and not dispose of her immediately, it means that it is still necessary to save her life." Maka thought for a moment. , and quickly speculated on some possibilities, "Maybe Legilimency is not very effective, or maybe it has other uses... In short, as long as the woman named Zoe is smart enough, there may be hope."
After Maka's casual analysis, Joshua's face finally looked better. He still has a great affection for Zoe, but judging from his character, it's really hard to say how much weight this affection occupies in his heart.
"That-"
"I'll get there as soon as I'm ready," Maka said, "but before that, you have to tell me the location of the manor and the defensive layout in the manor. Although the Obscurials under his hands can't pose a threat to me. It’s too big a threat, but this is the United States after all, and it’s not convenient for me to make too much noise there.”
That's what I say, but the United States itself is already in chaos right now, and adding him is not much.
"Okay, I'll..."
After Joshua told everything he knew, Maka thought about it in her heart for a while.
To be honest, it is not difficult to formulate a targeted plan. The difficulty lies in taking into account the reaction from the MACUSA.
You can find from your own position that sometimes the so-called "good" forces will inevitably have more scruples. Creation and maintenance are always more difficult than destruction.
Maka sat on the stool and pondered for a moment before continuing to speak.
"... I generally understand what you said." He nodded and said, "I will go there tonight, and I will probably be back tomorrow... In the meantime, just lie in bed and wait! "
Speaking of this, Maka seemed to think of something and suddenly smiled.
"...You are Madam Pomfrey's patient now! No one here dares to tell you what to do," he joked, "including yourself!"
After that, he stood up, dusted off his outer robe and headed towards the door of the ward.
But at the moment before leaving the ward, his sleeves inadvertently trembled, and a small black shadow quietly fell from the sleeves. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared under the bed beside the door and disappeared.
"...the time is quite accurate."
Just as Maka walked out naturally, Madam Pomfrey at the other end of the corridor opened her pocket watch and glanced at the time, muttering a little.
Before he finished speaking, with a "bang bang" sound, the torches in the corridor began to go out one by one - the lights-out time of the school hospital had just arrived.
Not long after, another oil lamp lit up in the corridor, which was gradually getting dark. Madam Pomfrey gently took it off from the end of the corridor and walked slowly towards her office with it.
Night has fallen again.