harry potter book of crimes

...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 nowhere in the past?" He waved his hands gently, "It doesn't matter, because every time it's the most critical moment,

, he will reappear in front of us on time."

Regarding Hermione's analysis of Maka's departure and the "trap" theory, Ginny naturally never mentioned it to anyone else. According to Hermione, this matter could actually be allowed to take its course.

Otherwise, if Haierbo sees the flaw, he may not be "fooled".

However, it is a pity that Hermione did not completely guess Maka's plan this time - that 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."

Following Hermione's thinking, Ginny deliberately added a sentence that Maka never said, 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 case, if Halber 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 thinks.

"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!"

"Ah? Uh...yeah!"

Ginny was still thinking about Helbo, and she almost couldn't react at this moment. On the contrary, Harry nodded readily 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 knew that these buddies were talking to each other so righteously that she didn't even find a chance 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 hurried towards 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, but before that, everyone should be careful.

Come on! 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 the same profound meaning as 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?"

When passing Mrs. Longbottom's bed, Hermione stopped again by saying good morning. When she came in just now, Neville was dozing on the edge of her grandmother's bed. Unexpectedly, she only chatted with Kingsley and the others for a few minutes.

By the time Neville woke up.

"Well, I just woke up."

After Maka's advice last time and the accumulation after that, he already seemed to have a firmness and confidence unique to Gryffindor, and even his expression became more energetic than before.

When he was a child, Neville was short and chubby, and often gave people a timid feeling. However, during his growth period in recent years, his physique has surpassed that of most of his classmates without 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...actually, I don't think it's that big." Neville subconsciously glanced at Grandma on the hospital bed, "And even if this change is indeed big, everyone seems to think that I have become stronger now.

——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 these compliments require grandma to be seriously injured, so many injuries, or even death... I would rather not have these damn changes!"

This is undoubtedly the first time Neville has used such rude words as "damn" since he was born. One can imagine how much his mood has 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 whispered, "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 feel like I haven't changed much... I'm still the timid Neville Longbottom. So, I've been looking forward to my grandma waking up soon. Only she can tell me...

Am I really qualified to be my parents' son now?"

In fact, these words have been held in Neville's heart for several days. Maybe if Maka hadn't woken him up last time, he still wouldn't have been able to say them out, right?

As for Hermione, as Neville's good friend, she just happened to have 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, so why not think first?

I wanted to see if there were 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 this voice, she didn't even have to look back to know that it was Harry who suddenly ran up. Listening to the sound of breathing mixed with the voice, I'm afraid that climbing the stairs took a lot of energy from him.

"Sirius, your level of magic is very good. Come 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 I could use Apparition!

After a slight hesitation, Hermione also heard Harry's voice explaining the following 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 on earth happened? Could it be that... Haierbo couldn't help but show up so quickly?

Just as Hermione was secretly thinking about it, her movements were not slow at all. While thinking about it, she also ran away. When Neville saw this, he hesitated and then looked at his grandmother on the hospital bed.

Then he gritted his teeth and ran out of the room.

Kingsley looked at the door, covering his shoulders with a helpless expression. (To be continued)