harry potter book of crimes

"No, that doesn't make sense at all—"

"Why doesn't it make sense?"

"It's impossible for my parents to get back together, let alone have another child? You don't understand, my bastard father... He has always hated children, and he has long lost interest in my mother..."

In the potion preparation room, Maka was sitting on the hospital bed leaning against the wall, her forehead was covered with sweat, but her face was calm.

On the contrary, Snape, who was usually gloomy, seemed quite irritable.

"Now that things have happened, how could a sister suddenly appear? There must be something wrong here... I remember Kingsley mentioned that that woman was very suspicious in the first place."

"So, when did your parents leave?" Maka said calmly.

Snape frowned and sighed: "I know what you mean... Yes, if you just look at the time, it's not completely impossible... That bastard Muggle also wanted to go to the United States before he left...

"

"So, after your father left, your mother also chased him... right?" Maka continued to ask.

"It's all in vain to chase after him. That guy... doesn't like people or things related to magic at all..." Snape said dullly, "No, he doesn't like anything very much. He has always been a boring guy."

"Anyway... I still suggest you take a look at that photo." Maka raised her head, her voice was small but surprisingly firm, "At least what I saw was a couple smiling at each other."

"Smile?"

Snape's hand clenched slightly, but as if aware of his own thoughts, he immediately relaxed it.

"...How is that possible? I've never seen him smile before."

He said these words, then suddenly turned around and strode towards the crucible. His walking posture was as fast and furious as ever, and he had the momentum to leave all his worries behind.

But if you look carefully, you will find that his steps are no longer as precise as usual.

Maka didn't say anything more, not only because he understood that what he should say and do had been done, and it would depend on what Snape would choose next.

In any case, at least Maka knows that even if there is only one relative, it is much better than having no one at all.

After that, neither of them said anything more. As time passed slowly, the "gurgling" sound in the crucible gradually calmed down.

"McLean, drink it...McLean?"

When Snape called for the third time, Maka's eyes moved, as if she had just heard it.

"Well..." He said hoarsely, "Give me a hand."

"Can you swallow by yourself?" Snape pulled him up and looked at him.

"It's okay...it's just that I've been lying down for too long...my body is numb...that's all."

Maka spoke vaguely while moving her eyes, but the pupils clearly had no focus.

"Don't talk nonsense at this time." Snape casually blocked his raised hand, and then directly brought the test tube containing the medicinal solution to his mouth.

After all the potion was poured into Maka's mouth, Snape tidied up the test table and then walked neatly to the door of the potion preparation room.

But when he walked to the door, he suddenly stopped and looked back.

"After the medicine takes effect, you can sleep...and then..." Snape thought for a moment and said, "Well, by the way...before I come over, Dumbledore asked me to bring you a message."

"Dumbledore? What are you talking about?" Maka asked softly with her eyelids drooping.

"He said he wanted to give you something... Of course, now... I have to wait until you recover."

Before he finished speaking, Snape stopped staying and turned around to leave.

In fact, it was only a few hours before dawn. When the medicine began to take effect and Maka felt a fever all over his body, he finally relaxed his tense nerves and soon fell asleep...

At noon the next day, Maka woke up from the hospital bed. As soon as he opened his eyes, he vaguely caught a glimpse of someone sitting on the edge of the bed.

"...Lena?"

Lena, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, immediately stood up after hearing this.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Maclean," she said quietly.

"Um."

Maka covered her forehead and rubbed her temples. She was trying to prop up her still heavy body, but unexpectedly her arms weakened. Lena quickly supported him with quick eyes and hands.

"Thanks."

Lena shook her head slightly.

"Are you feeling better?" she suddenly asked, "How long will it take to recover?"

The elder sister of the werewolf sisters usually does not take the initiative to ask questions. Although her behavior is very gentle, due to the habit of keeping a distance from others, most of them will not ask the same question continuously like this.

But there seemed to be some subtle changes in her today.

"Well, it's actually fine. I just spent too much energy yesterday..." Maka leaned on the pillow and looked at her doubtfully, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"

"Leni, I don't want anything to happen to you."

Is that really the case?

Lena, the older sister, puts all her heart into her crazy girl-like younger sister. Everything her younger sister expects will become the direction and motivation in her life.

"By the way, where is Miss Tia?" Maka suddenly remembered the conversation with Snape last night.

"Miss Tia is over there in the greenhouse, watering the sap grass."

"Oh, it's almost the full moon again..." Maka nodded, "Then... has Snape gone to find her?"

"No."

Hearing Lena's answer, Maka couldn't help but sigh.

…

Around the same time, the North Tower of Hogwarts Castle.

The divination classroom is at the top of the tower, but if you have to say it, it's more like a windowless attic.

In fact, there are windows in the Divination classroom, but Trelawney, the Divination professor, always likes to seal the windows tightly with thick curtains, so that not even a little light can come in.

The lighting inside basically relies on candles.

Although if you do this, this classroom will indeed have a mysterious feeling, and it will be quite warm in winter. But in summer, it will be like a big oven.

In the middle of the last row of the classroom, Harry and Ron were sitting together, looking through Harry's diary boredly.

They jokingly call this kind of diary "dream diary" because it is full of records of their dreams. This is actually one of the homeworks in the divination class, but... not everyone can remember every dream clearly!

Most of this diary was created by the two of them together. Just write more about death, disasters, etc., in short, things related to bad things.

Professor Trelawney liked that tone.

To be honest, this course is really a bit confusing. They felt that way from the beginning.

"Tell me, what happened to Maka this time? It's only been one day of class, and he disappeared again..." Ron leaned next to Harry and whispered while looking at the diary.

"Alas...he is too busy," Harry shook his head, "It would be great if we could help him..."

"Who says it isn't?" Ron agreed.

At this moment, there was a soft "crunch" in their ears. They both turned their heads and saw Umbridge walking up from the trap door on the floor.

"Oh, it's that old woman again!" Ron complained in the smallest voice.

"At least she never went to the Ancient Runes classroom after Maka came back to give her first lesson." Harry said, grinning slightly.

Not to mention the two of them muttering to each other, when Umbridge got out of the trap door, the little wizards who were joking immediately fell silent.

Probably because the voices in the classroom suddenly dropped when they heard it, Professor Trelawney's head popped up behind the desk filled with all kinds of messy divination tools.

"Good afternoon, Professor Trelawney," Umbridge still had a smile on her face, "As for my last question, do you have a solution ready?"

"Okay……"

Professor Trelawney nodded with a dull face, just perfunctorily, and then retracted her head.

Umbridge didn't pay attention. She grabbed the armchair closest to her and dragged it to the front of the classroom, deliberately placing it next to the desk.

But there were too many things around the desk, so she simply moved some away with her feet before sitting down.

"Hmm...isn't it a bit boring?"

Umbridge paused. She put aside the gaudy bag in her hand, then took out her wand and flicked it towards the heavy curtains.

In an instant, the curtains were suddenly parted, and the dazzling sunlight shone straight in, making everyone squint their eyes.

After doing this, Umbridge picked up her beloved bag again, took out her writing pad, and waited for the bell to ring with her chin raised in contentment.

Professor Trelawney slammed the quilt in her hand on the table, and even the divination props piled on the lecture table trembled slightly.

She pulled the shawl on her body with hands trembling with anger, and glanced at Umbridge through her eyes as thick as the bottom of a cauldron.

"What's wrong, Professor Trelawney?"

Umbridge's sweet smile made Trelawney feel uncomfortable. She took a deep breath and still didn't answer. She just turned her head and looked at the little wizards in the classroom.

"Jingle Bell--"

The school bell finally rang.

"Today, we continue to study prophetic dreams," Professor Trelawney said in her usual erratic tone, but the classroom did not have the dim atmosphere of the past, and her expression seemed even more deliberate.

Silly.

"...Then, please divide into groups of two, and with the help of the "Dream Interpretation Guide", interpret each other's recent dream information."

After saying what needed to be said, Trelawney was just about to sit down when she suddenly realized that if she had nothing to do here now, Umbridge would definitely come up to haunt her.

So, she immediately turned to the left, bypassed the divination tools around the desk, and walked towards the students.

"Quickly, think of a dream!" Harry urged Ron quickly.