"... His name is 'Asaph', and he is a companion with Miriam."
"Is this the Miriam who was taken to Hogwarts by Maka?"
"That's right."
In this temporary ward that had gone through many hardships, Kingsley, who was leaning on Sirius's shoulders to support his body, was looking at the man on the ground with a thoughtful look.
And the information about this man gradually came out from his mouth.
"Actually, there is not much information about these two people," Kingsley whispered weakly, "At least many places in their files are blank... Judging from some hints from Maka, they seem to have some similarities. It’s a special identity, so probably only Maka himself knows about it at the moment.”
"Perhaps it's not that special?" Sirius thought for a moment, then said, "Look, Maka has sent that Miriam to Hogwarts - if you want me to see it, now it's more of a secret than a secret. Is it 'protection'?"
Kingsley listened to Sirius's words, then nodded slightly and said:
"It's also possible... things have changed too frequently recently. Maybe things that are still being kept secret today will need to be made public tomorrow... "
Just like before, Sirius mentioned to him "whether the existence of Haierbo needs to be announced to the public", the situation will always change according to changes in the status quo.
To be honest, Kingsley, the head of the Auror Office, also feels very stressed about the current wizarding world.
"Anyway—"
He temporarily put aside other thoughts in his mind and corrected the slightly deviated topic.
"St. Mungo's has been temporarily closed now. Even if we know that this is Miss Miriam's companion, we can't invite her over immediately. All we can do now is to hold on to this place and try our best to Protect more injured patients.”
As he spoke, Kingsley glanced over his shoulder subconsciously, and then couldn't help but shake his head.
"Well, now that we are talking about 'we'..." he said helplessly, "Sirius, Miss Sinistra, and Miss Granger - I'll leave it to you here."
"You don't have to be like this," Sirius said with a smile, "Also, it's not just us - the students at Hogwarts in recent years have become much better than in the past! Everyone is working hard!"
"yes!"
Not far away, Hermione, who was still lowering her head and writing something, also echoed.
…
However, when it comes to working hard, there is one person who seems to be teetering on the edge of the wrong direction.
At this moment, in the underground corridor of St. Mungo's, two boys were standing face to face. One of them had a puzzled look on his face, as if he was still a little confused as to why the other person brought him here, while the other's face showed more of hesitation.
"Harry, what happened? If there is anything you need my help with, just ask..."
Obviously, it was Harry who hesitated repeatedly even though he was the one who called them down. And the one he called down was undoubtedly Neville.
"Harry," Neville saw that he didn't speak, so he had to continue, "you know - I used to be very introverted, and I was often bullied and laughed at by the Slytherins. But it's because of you that I am here I feel the warmth of friends in my life at Hogwarts..."
"You, Maka, Hermione, Ron... there are many, many people who are good to me. I remember every one of them! It can be said that without you, I would be even more cowardly than I usually show. In that case, Probably I won’t have the chance to become what I am now.”
"So, if you have any difficulties and need me, please tell me! Just because you are my forever friend!"
Yes, Neville has really changed, at least Harry has never seen him look so reliable. In the past, Harry would never have believed that a person could change so dramatically.
But it was precisely because of the other party's heartfelt words of a "friend" that Harry felt even heavier.
He brought Neville to the corridor of the underground warehouse, naturally to let Neville try the Sword of Gryffindor. As long as he seals this place up, Neville will not cause any terrible accidents even if he loses control.
However, when Harry brought Neville to the corridor, he became worried again.
This was obviously a very inappropriate behavior - after all, he was just trying to pick up the sword, and he didn't even really succeed. He knew too little about the sword.
Even Maka once said that to practice it you have to be alone and it has to be done in the Room of Requirement. It was extremely irresponsible for him to want to give it to Neville as soon as he was hot-headed.
"...Well, we are friends forever."
Harry rubbed the brim of the Sorting Hat in his right hand, responded softly, and then said:
"Neville, I... did encounter a problem. You know it, right? I am practicing how to use the sword of Gryffindor..."
"Ah, yes." Neville nodded and said, "Have you encountered a bottleneck? Like when you are practicing the Patronus Charm, you can't summon the Patronus no matter how you wave your wand?"
This is the biggest bottleneck that Neville has ever experienced personally, so when he mentioned the "bottleneck", he immediately thought of his troubles of practicing continuously over the past few years but not being able to get the hang of it.
But in Harry's ears, the word "Patron Saint" was a big wound for him now. When this sentence came out of Neville's mouth, it obviously stimulated him even more.
After taking a breath, Harry leaned against the wall of the corridor again and continued:
"Yes, the bottleneck... In fact, I can hold the hilt of the sword tightly to maintain my consciousness much longer than at the beginning. But I found that the longer I can maintain it, the less I dare to use it again. Pick it up…”
"Do you know? The first time the accident happened, I almost killed Luna... The second time, I stabbed Hermione without hesitation! And in all this, I was the only one responsible. Unknown.”
"I know I'm afraid. I'm worried that one day when I have to pick it up, my blade will fall on every friend!"
"But... Even so, I want to pick up this sword like Gryffindor and fight to protect it. I don't want to hide behind others anymore. That's not me at all..."
"... Harry." Neville blinked, and after a while he said seriously, "So, since you asked me to come here, it means that I must be of some use, right? Tell me what you want me to do. !”
"That's right..."
Although Harry had never considered anything other than letting Neville test the sword at first, but now, another idea came to his mind.
"Neville, tell me—how did you summon a lion patronus?"
Upon hearing this, Neville hesitated and said:
"Do you also want to summon the Lion Guardian... Although I want to help you, I don't understand such profound magic principles! Maybe Maka can do it, but I really can't do it..."
All RA members, including Neville, also studied according to the analysis materials given by Maca.
If there is any difference in the learning process between Neville and Harry, in fact, Harry, who has been taught by Maka himself, has more experience in casting spells.
Of course, Harry knew this very well.
"No, I... To tell you the truth, I did think about summoning a lion as a patron saint," he said frankly, "but we all know that it is difficult to change the image of a patron saint by one's own will."
"So, I don't want you to tell me if there is any trick to summon a lion... I want to know, what are you thinking about when you summon the patron saint? I... I need more courage and confidence. !”
"Oh, this! No problem, I can tell you everything I know. But you have to wait a moment and let me think about how I felt at that time... At that time, everything was very confusing... "
Neville seemed a little tired from standing, so he followed Harry and leaned against the wall. He frowned and began to recall the crisis-ridden scene at that time.
And then, when one of them was telling and the other was listening, they were so focused that they didn't notice an inaudible movement from deep in the corridor.
The sound... was like something cracking.
…
Like the big guys in St. Mungo's, Maka, who is still at Blois Castle, is also working tirelessly.
Mechanized work always causes a lot of fatigue, not only physically, but also mentally. Even with his strong will, after repeating a nearly identical action thousands of times without stopping, it was difficult for him to concentrate as much as he did at the beginning.
Maka's breathing seemed to gradually become a little heavier.
But fortunately, he has been doing boring research of this kind over the years. Although there was no time like this that would last for more than ten hours without interruption, if he had to endure it forcefully, he felt that he could still hold on.
And more importantly, although repetitive tasks are extremely monotonous, the speed will gradually increase accordingly after getting used to it.
Judging based on the current progress, he feels that the end time of this first phase may be earlier than originally estimated.
But at a certain moment, he felt a sudden heat somewhere on his arm, causing him to immediately stop what he was doing.
When he rolled up his sleeves and looked at his forearm again, a strange and weird pattern appeared in the middle of the blue symbol circle.
"Have you finally gone in? In that case, then... "
Just when Maka raised her hand as if she wanted to do something, he raised his eyebrows slightly and suddenly paused again.