"...Listen, I always feel that something is not right about Maka during this time! He seems to... well, I don't know how to describe it, but something is not right - there is a sense of dissonance!"
On a snowy morning, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Neville, four little lions in the same grade, were rushing down the corridor to the next classroom, each holding a book.
While changing classrooms, Hermione kept trying to explain what she had observed.
But obviously, she was the only one among the four people present who had taken Maka's ancient magic text class, so the other three people didn't have many opportunities to see Maka on weekdays.
"'Disobedience'? What does that mean?" Ron wondered for a moment, but he didn't dwell on it too much. He then continued, "Anyway, where did you find something wrong?"
Harry on the other side shook his head and said with a matter-of-fact expression:
"Isn't Maka often in a state of 'something's not quite right'? I think he may have encountered difficulties in some magic research - yes, I am talking about those researches that we will probably never understand in this life. !”
"No, it's not the same as that! It's completely different!" Hermione said immediately, "I remember I told you that Maka would bring his textbook every time he gave lectures, but he never opened it once - but Just in the past few days, he opened it up in class!”
"Maka is a human being too!" Ron said. "He wrote the magic text textbook, but if he can't remember it clearly, he can of course turn it over and confirm it - to be honest, I really hope he If I can forget it a few more times, it will make me feel that he and we are still the same species!"
"But he didn't open the book to read the specific content!" Hermione frowned, "In fact, he opened it after the bell rang and the homework was announced."
Speaking of this, she paused for a moment before adding emphatically:
"By the way, I still remember that he usually leaves the classroom first after assigning homework, but recently he hasn't done that. A few times, he even waited for us to finish walking before he was the last one to walk out!"
"This... is there anything surprising about this?" Harry asked doubtfully as he walked, "Are you worried that Maka is possessed by that person named 'Helpo'? Hey, relax! Even if all the teachers and students are under control, Maka will be fine too—look, even I was able to resist back then!"
However, even if Harry used himself as an example, it could not comfort Hermione's doubts and uneasiness.
"You can't be so sure," she said seriously, "Last time I mentioned to him that we should pay attention to everyone's abnormalities, including his own, and he agreed with me at that time... That ancient dark wizard The strong cannot be underestimated!"
"Oh, we didn't underestimate it," Ron spread his hands and said, "You know - Harry has been trying to master the Sword of Gryffindor during this period, and Neville and I also practice seriously almost every day, including you. Aren’t you also working hard on research?”
"I know, but I'm not talking about this-"
Hermione was slightly dissatisfied with the reassurance shown by Harry and Ron, feeling that their confidence in Maka seemed a bit too much. But when she wanted to say something, she was interrupted mid-sentence by Neville, who was basically silent the whole way.
"Um...Hermione, the Potions classroom is almost here." He said cautiously, "And if you are worried about Maka, why don't you just go and ask him?"
"Oh, I think that's a good idea too."
When Ron heard this, he immediately gave Neville a thumbs up secretly, causing Neville, who was confused, to scratch the back of his head and reveal a simple smile.
…
It should be said that Hermione is indeed a very observant girl, because even Maka herself did not notice these seemingly meaningless details.
At this time, he hurried back to the office after giving a lecture, and opened the window when he walked behind the desk.
Another ordinary barn owl jumped in and showed him the little mailbox on its leg.
Although there are still people at Blake's old house - at least Lenilena and others have been looking after the house, the original function of the information transfer station has ceased.
The current information all came from Kingsley in the Auror Office, and it was truly "first-hand information."
In fact, since Ajinbad brought the council members of the Federation to visit last time, Scrimgeour's previous mission of sending people to the Israeli magic world was difficult to change.
After that, Kingsley was unable to make the trip because he had to deal with many matters of the head of the Auror Office. But Lupine and Sirius, two "brothers with different surnames", went there together to lurk and investigate.
Maka naturally knew about this, and it didn't take long for her to agree.
Now that the Federation has begun to prepare a plan for a raid, obtaining intelligence has become a top priority. Although Maka felt a little dangerous, she also understood the tempers of Lupine and Sirius... especially Sirius.
Let the two people take care of each other, and as long as they are careful enough, the problem may not be too big.
Of course, just in case, Maka sent a few more alienated Acromantulas to follow them.
Therefore, the secret intelligence documents in his hand now were actually sent to Kingsley by Lupine, and then passed to him by Kingsley.
After unfolding the note, Maka first cast a magnifying spell on it, then unfolded the enlarged paper and deciphered the cipher text written on it.
Judging from the content, Lupine and Sirius acted separately at the beginning. Moreover, they all understood the danger of acting rashly, so the initial exploration and exploration were only superficial.
This time, there were actually only two places they looked at, and that was - the ruins of the Israeli Ministry of Magic, and the Heberhe Magic Academy, which was probably occupied by Haierbo.
As for the distribution of investigation work, Lu Ping, who is more willing to use his brain, is naturally in charge.
Sirius was in charge of the ruins of the Ministry of Magic, where he saw a large area of charred building debris.
Maka could tell from the description alone that the flames that almost enveloped the entire building were very powerful, because even many collapsed and broken brick walls turned into black ash like cinders.
There, Sirius took a few rough turns and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
In other words, there are actually strange things everywhere, right
At the Xibohe Magic Academy, Lupine, who was in charge of the investigation, did not try to enter this time, but chose to monitor the surroundings from a distance 24 hours a day.
So naturally, he easily found the notice posted on the bulletin board at the entrance of the college.
"Teaching students? Charms?" Maka looked at the announcement in the cipher text and was a little confused. "What is he going to do? He can't be trying to 'invest in the future' at this time, right?"
In its current form, Herbo is far from establishing a firm foothold in the Israeli magical community.
The good show he directed and performed may have deceived most ordinary wizards, but it could not deceive some smart people - I believe he knew this very well.
Therefore, in this case, Haierbo's most urgent thing at the moment is to develop its own underground power at full speed.
After quickly silently reading the rather detailed intelligence text, Maka destroyed it and sat down to write a reply with only a few sentences.
He has nothing to ask Lupine and Sirius to do at the moment. Instead of giving random orders here, it is better to remind them to be careful again.
Especially Lupine, who was keeping an eye on Xibohe Magic School. What he was doing was really dangerous, so Maka specially asked him to stay further away and not to monitor him too frequently.
They had just arrived there not long ago, and their most important task was to lurk and integrate themselves into the local society.
After rolling up the quickly written note and stuffing it into the mailbox, Maka pointed out the window, indicating that the little guy could leave. When it delivers the note to Kingsley, the other party will transfer the message to Lupine.
…
At noon, Maka, who had just filled her stomach, was stopped by Hermione.
"What's wrong?"
He saw that Hermione's expression was very serious, which was somewhat strange - had something happened again? Shouldn't it? The recent Hogwarts is so peaceful that it is comparable to the ten years before I enrolled.
"Well... Maka, come with me."
Hermione didn't say much. After pulling on Maka's robe, she walked directly out of the auditorium door. Seeing this, Maka subconsciously looked towards the Gryffindor table, only to see Harry and Ron shrugging at him.
And the moment he followed Hermione's footsteps and walked out, Luna on the Ravenclaw side suddenly raised her head and looked at the door with a spoon in her mouth.
She blinked, her long eyelashes flickering slightly.
After about a few seconds, Luna took the spoon out of her mouth, took another large spoonful of pudding and stuffed it into her mouth. Then, while savoring the smoothness of the egg cream pudding, she stood up excitedly and chased after it.
"Oh, now I'm starting to worry about Maka," Ron noticed this scene, and he whispered, "If it were me, I would have no choice but to run away..."
Harry, who was sitting next to him, glanced at his good friend.
"Speaking of which, where was the girl who danced with you at Slughorn's ball? How come I never saw you and her together?"
"Huh?" Ron was startled when he heard this, "Uh... I don't know."
"Huh?" Harry curled his lips and said, "Stop being so coy, go ask her out quickly! Take a walk, look at the stars, etc. I heard from Ginny that girls like this kind of romantic atmosphere... Of course, it would also be great to play Quidditch together!”
"She doesn't play Quidditch!" Ron said helplessly, "Besides, do you think I didn't invite her?"