It's still a while before dawn, and it's the darkest time of the day. In addition, the sky has always been covered with a thick layer of dark clouds recently, so that the living room of the Granger family is completely dark.
Maka used magic to silently unlock the door, then transformed into her Animagus form, gliding past the crack in the slightly opened door, and disappeared into the darkness behind the door in the blink of an eye.
In fact, if it goes according to his expectations, he may be able to get some clues from Snape next. But even so, his behavior could not fundamentally change the process of Snape holding Hermione hostage.
The most likely possibility is that Snape used Hermione to coerce him and forcibly held him back until Greenwald opened the floor-to-ceiling round mirror.
Therefore, Maka did not plan to appear in front of Snape and Hermione in a swagger, but prepared to take Hermione by surprise and use the portkey to send Hermione away first. That way, he could negotiate with Snape on an equal footing.
However, the series of accidents that followed clearly told him a truth. The reason why "unknown" is called "unknown" is precisely because when you don't know, even an event that seems to have a small probability will have an absolutely fair chance of happening.
"Meow-"
Maka, who had transformed into a hummingbird, had just flown to the stairs leading to the second floor when he sensed a small source of magic power quickly coming down the stairs.
If it hadn't been for the meow, he might not have been able to guess what it was. But now he understood in an instant that it was Hermione's pet, that smart mixed-race cat, Crookshanks!
Speaking of which, Maka's Animagus form really has an inexplicable fate with this guy. When he transformed for the first time, he was chased all over the room by this guy, almost turning him into a dead bird.
But now Maka is not the stupid bird that can't fly when he first transformed. When he sensed that Crookshanks was coming towards him, he immediately reacted.
He suddenly jumped up, trying to avoid the other party silently, but who knew that this fast jump caused him to hit the bottom of the stairs above.
But when he heard a soft "bang" sound, Maka suddenly felt a pain in his head, followed by a sudden spin.
There is no way, it is too dark in this room, and how can the magic sensor detect dead objects like wooden stairs? It wouldn't be a big problem if they moved forward cautiously, but this sudden jump would be a big problem.
However, just because Maka couldn't see clearly, it didn't mean that Crookshanks couldn't see either. In the darkness, a pair of greens suddenly flashed and rushed towards the hummingbird that fell from the sky with great speed.
"Crack! Boom! Crash—"
Caught off guard, Maka was accurately hit by a cat punch and flew backwards. In the end, he probably bumped into an empty teapot, and there was a crisp sound of cracking porcelain.
…
Meanwhile, upstairs in Hermione's bedroom.
"What's wrong? Is there anyone else down there?" Hermione, who was sitting on the bed, asked in surprise, "Professor Snape, did you bring anyone else with you this time?"
Snape, who was leaning on the armchair beside the desk, turned his face slightly and seemed to be a little concerned about the movement downstairs. He knew in his heart that he did have a so-called "accomplice", but that old guy would never come here now.
Then, there is probably only one person who can break the spell he cast silently and try to sneak in.
Snape just had a second thought and stood up. But he didn't try to open the bedroom door and go down to take a look, but walked directly to Hermione's bed. The wand in his hand never left Hermione's direction from the beginning to the end.
Hermione was certainly not a fool. When she saw Snape's reaction, she quickly understood. Although she was not as sure as Snape about the situation downstairs, she still had corresponding guesses.
"Oh -" Hermione paused, a few thoughts passing through her mind in an instant, and then immediately said, "I know, Crookshanks probably went to the kitchen to eat secretly and accidentally broke the plate! "
Her voice was a little loud, which was particularly obvious in the quiet environment of the night.
"Shut up!" Snape said coldly.
"It's true," Hermione said louder, "Crookshanks does this all the time, it—"
Snape didn't give her another chance, and a silencing spell interrupted Hermione's words. She opened her mouth several times in a row, but she couldn't make any sound, so she had to purse her lips in frustration.
"…McLean."
Snape stared at the closed door, the wand in his hand motionless, and his whole body almost turned into a rock that could not collapse. But there was an undetectable flicker in his eyes.
…
Downstairs, Maka, who was slapped away by Crookshanks, finally got free. He immediately released his Animagus form and returned to his human form.
Crookshanks, who was running towards him very quickly, crashed into his arms. He pinched Crookshanks' neck and gave the guy a helpless look.
As for the commotion just now, Snape's shrewdness was probably enough to make preparations immediately. Now if he still wants to rely on sneak attacks to reverse the situation, he would be looking down on a wizard who is the headmaster of Slytherin.
So, Maka had no choice but to hold Crookshanks in her arms and walk to the stairs openly.
After a while, as the door of Hermione's bedroom opened gently, Macash walked into Snape and Hermione's field of vision. Crookshanks, who was a little restless in his arms, was now quiet again.
Magical creatures like cat nives are actually very smart. They can quickly detect suspicious or untrusted objects. As for hybrids like Crookshanks, they also have this ability.
At this moment, its round eyes were pointed directly at Snape's expressionless face.
"Professor... uh, good evening?"
Before coming here, Maka had a lot of things he wanted to say and questions he wanted to ask, but now that he saw Snape, he found that he didn't know how to start.
"Seeing you here, I don't think I'd necessarily feel 'good' about it." Snape stopped his words very bluntly as soon as he opened his mouth.
Hearing what he said, Maka couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
Logically speaking, Snape is not the kind of person who likes confrontation. Rather than clarifying the topic face to face, he would often choose to avoid such a thankless move and solve the problem in a roundabout way.
For example, right now, he wouldn't be surprised if Snape pointed his wand at Hermione and chatted with him for a while as usual. Because Snape's current mission is just to delay.
Unexpectedly, Snape directly broke the road as soon as he came up.
"Professor, you..." Maka frowned slightly, "Do you really think Grindelwald can let you meet Harry's mother?"
"Don't call her such a dirty name, her name is Lily-Lily Evans." Snape's face had no expression at all, and his eyes were even more misty. It was obvious that he had used Occlumency. To the extreme, "McLean, you seem to know a lot?"
"No, it's actually not much -" Maka shook her head, "Oh... it's really not much."
"At least you still know what Grindelwald promised me!" Snape said calmly, "I thought he and I were the only two people who knew about this matter..."
Maka looked at him noncommittally, but sighed silently in her heart.
The secret work on this matter was indeed done very well, and he was even completely kept in the dark. It was not until he used the time turner that he could learn some of the truth.
"Do you remember the story I told you that day in the basement of the Black family?" Snape said verbatim, "I don't ask you to understand everything I did, nor do I ask you to forgive me... for me To me, none of this is of any value. I just hope that you can sit down and wait peacefully until dawn."
"Do you think that's possible?" Maka asked.
"...I just 'hope'," Snape said, pausing slightly, but the tip of the staff was a few inches closer to Hermione's neck, almost touching her snow-white skin, "I don't know. If I do this, can you give me a chance to 'fulfill my wish'?"
Maka stared blankly at the wand—white birch wood, thirteen to fourteen inches long. Judging from the magic power fluctuations, the core of the wand should be made of unicorn material. Whether it’s birch or unicorn, they are materials that ward off evil, are sacred and beautiful. But its owner is Snape, who has always been ruthless.
Like now, it was being pointed at Hermione by Snape.
Hermione still couldn't speak, but she still shook her head firmly towards Maka, as if to indicate that he didn't need to worry about her own safety.
Hermione probably still doesn't know what will happen after dawn, right? But she didn't care about Maka's purpose at all, because she knew that Maka would never do anything unnecessary.
Since he came all night today, he must have a very clear purpose.
Seeing the situation evolve into this situation, apart from lamenting the power of the binding rules, what else could Maka lament
But before he could implement his original plan, another accident shattered his emotions into pieces.
Hermione suddenly dwarfed and hit Snape in the stomach with all her strength. Snape staggered when she hit him, but since his posture was not very good, the effect didn't seem to be great.
Because it was covered by the quilt just now, Maka didn't notice until now that Hermione's hands were tied by magic ropes.
At this moment, the tip of Snape's staff suddenly lit up.