"...So, where did Maka go?"
In St. Mungo's Hall, Ron was looking at Ginny in front of him with confusion. Although he had just listened to Ginny's explanation, he still didn't seem to fully understand it.
But it didn't matter, because Ron quickly nodded to himself again.
"Okay! In fact, it's normal for Maka to sneak away for a while... Didn't we often find him where he was before?" He waved his hands gently and said, "It doesn't matter, because every time when it comes to the most critical moment, he They will all reappear in front of us on time."
Naturally, Ginny never mentioned Hermione's analysis of Maka's departure and the "trap" statement to anyone else. According to Hermione, this matter can actually be left to its own devices.
Otherwise, if Haierbo sees the flaw, he may not be able to be "fooled".
However, it is a pity that Hermione did not completely guess Maka's plan this time - the guy is indeed far away in France at the moment, and what he wants is to prevent Herbo from being fooled.
"Oh no, um... I heard from Maka that the place he is going to this time seems to be a bit far away, and he may not be able to come back for a while."
According to Hermione's thinking, Ginny deliberately added a sentence that Maka had never said at all, trying to create a feeling that "in case of an emergency, Maka may not be able to return in time."
As the saying goes, "the speaker is intentional and the listener is unintentional." In this way, if Haierbo is indeed lurking in St. Mungo's, then he will definitely feel that this is a "good opportunity to take action."
At least that's what Ginny thought.
"Really?" Ron exchanged a look with Harry who was sorting out the name list, and he immediately said, "Then should we make some preparations? You see, although this St. Mungo's is very safe, it may not be safe. To be able to stay safe... Now that Maka is not here, we have to protect the injured here on his behalf!"
"Huh? Uh... yes!"
Ginny was still thinking about Haierbo, and she almost couldn't react at this moment. On the contrary, Harry nodded cheerfully and agreed:
"Ron, you are right - thanks to Hermione, we are now able to protect everyone. Since Maka has something to do temporarily, of course we are duty-bound!"
"Okay," Ron immediately shook his fist at Harry, "After we deliver medicine to the patients on the list later, we will go to the sixth floor to practice... Have you sorted out the list?"
"Okay, okay, let's go..."
Watching Ron lift up the basket containing the potion bottles and walk to the other end of the hall with Harry carrying the name book, Ginny couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
She originally wanted to continue to "accidentally" bring up some news about Maka's departure! Who would have thought that these buddies were talking to each other so righteously that she didn't even find a space to interrupt.
"Ginny, come quickly! There will be three female patients who need to change their dressings soon, and we two men can't do that job!"
When she heard Harry calling her, Ginny had no choice but to put aside her thoughts for the time being and hurriedly walked in the direction of the two people.
"coming!"
…
At about the same time, Hermione was in the ward on the fifth floor, talking quietly with Sirius and Kingsley.
"Anyway, if Ginny remembers correctly, Maka did leave after just a few words. Although I'm not sure yet, Maka wants to-"
"Ahem."
Kingsley's cough interrupted Hermione's narration.
"Maka is very busy, and the sudden departure just shows this," he said solemnly, "I believe he will be back soon, and before that, everyone should be careful. Well! As for his leaving..."
"Just do what Maka says," said Sirius, who was sitting at the end of the bed. "Don't take the initiative to say anything until others ask."
"Well, that's good." Kingsley agreed.
Seeing that both of them seemed to have understood a similar meaning to hers from Maka's words, Hermione couldn't help but nod in agreement.
After receiving the approval of these two people, Hermione suddenly felt a little more relaxed. She paused, then said "see you later" to Kingsley and Sirius, then turned around and walked towards the door of the room.
"Good morning, Hermione!"
"Oh, good morning... Neville, you awake?"
As she passed Mrs. Longbottom's bed, a good morning made Hermione stop again. When they came in, Neville was still dozing on the edge of grandma's bed. Unexpectedly, after just chatting with Kingsley and the others, Neville had already woken up.
"Well, I just woke up."
After Maka's reminder last time and the accumulation after that, he already looked more determined and confident than Gryffindor, and even his expression became more energetic than before.
When he was a child, Neville was short and chubby, and often felt timid. However, during his developmental period in recent years, his physique has surpassed that of most of his classmates without even realizing it.
Perhaps it was only because the timidity in his bones was still there that even his tall body could not change his impression in everyone's mind.
But now, when he finally took hold of the courage that only belonged to him under the encouragement of his grandma, everything seemed to be different.
"I thought I heard you talking about Maka just now? What happened to him? Did something big happen again?"
If it were put in the past, even if Neville could say so many words, he must have said them intermittently. How could he ask three questions in one breath
Hermione felt very fresh about this.
"No, it's nothing serious."
She first answered Neville's question casually, and then took a good look at him.
"Seriously, Neville... you have changed so much from before."
"Well... I actually don't think it's that big." Neville subconsciously glanced at Grandma on the hospital bed, "And even if the change is really big, everyone seems to think that I'm stronger now - just Even Maka has praised me! If I had done this before, I would never have believed it... "
As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand and rubbed his face, and then said in a deep voice:
"But if all these compliments require grandma to be seriously injured, so many injuries, and even deaths... I would rather not have these damn changes!"
This was undoubtedly the first time Neville had used such a rude word as "damn" since he was born. One can imagine how drastically his state of mind changed after experiencing this drastic change.
Hermione even noticed that when he said this, Neville's hands suddenly started to tremble slightly.
"Hermione, do you know?" He pressed his trembling right hand with his left hand and said softly, "Later, when Sirius took me out to rescue people everywhere, I did save many innocent Muggle residents. … However, I also missed many opportunities to save more people!”
"When I watched their lives taken away by those monsters, I felt... I felt that the whole world turned gray."
"And it wasn't until then that I realized that the so-called 'courage' can actually appear at the same time as 'fear'. I was really scared at the time... No, I'm probably still scared to this day!"
After saying this, Neville fell into silence for a moment.
Standing in front of him, Hermione didn't know what to say for a moment - in fact, she could understand Neville's feelings. After all, in the disaster at that time, who would really not be afraid
Not long after, Neville finally spoke again:
"So, I don't think I have changed much... I am still the timid Neville Longbottom. So, I have been looking forward to grandma waking up early. Only she can tell me... Am I right now?" He is truly worthy of being a father and mother’s son.”
In fact, these words have been held in Neville's heart for several days. Maybe if it hadn't been for Maka's wake-up call last time, he wouldn't have been able to say it out until now, right
As for Hermione, as Neville's good friend, she just happened to hit the opportunity when he wanted to talk.
"Don't worry! Your grandma will wake up," Hermione comforted, "Maka said there is hope... What's more, we can also think of a solution ourselves! You are good at herbal medicine, why not think about it first? Are there any herbal ingredients that could help?”
"All in all, we can't just sit around and find something to do for ourselves—"
"boom!"
She was about to tell Neville to cheer up, but before she could finish her words, she heard the door behind her suddenly open.
"Sirius? Oh! You are indeed here—"
When Hermione heard the sound, she knew without turning around that it was Harry who had suddenly run up to her. Hearing that the voice was mixed with breathing, I'm afraid that climbing the stairs took a lot of energy from him.
"Sirius, your spell skills are high. Go down and see if you can think of a way..."
Probably seeing Harry speaking anxiously, Sirius, who was sitting next to Kingsley, got up and walked to the door without saying a word, and soon rushed downstairs with Harry.
That's because St. Mungory is so chaotic. It would be much faster if he could use Apparition!
After a slight hesitation, Hermione heard Harry's voice explaining the situation to Sirius as he went downstairs.
Although she only listened roughly to the beginning, and then she was too far away to hear clearly, Hermione still managed to catch a series of dangerous-sounding words such as "out of control", "explosion", "injured", etc. .
What happened? Could it be that... Haierbo couldn't help but show up so quickly
Just as Hermione was thinking about it secretly, her movements were actually not slow at all, and she ran out while thinking about it. When Neville saw this, he hesitated and looked at grandma on the hospital bed, then gritted his teeth and ran out of the room.
Kingsley looked at the door, covering his shoulders with a helpless expression.