harry potter book of crimes

"Mr. McClain, I'm going back right now."

As the closed door was opened from the inside, the thin Mrs. Pierce walked out. When she came to the corridor, she squeezed out a gentle greeting to Harry and Ron who were waiting outside.

smile.

Immediately afterwards, Maka also walked out behind her.

"Well, because there are other patients, I won't send you there," he nodded naturally, and then added, "Ah, by the way! I think little Cathy still needs to know the truth.

If it’s hard for you to say it, madam, then let me do it——”

"No, thank you... no need."

Mrs. Pierce, who always had a hint of bitterness and embarrassment on her face, decisively rejected Maka's suggestion. From the two consecutive "stills" Maka said, it can be heard that this is probably not their first time.

This topic was brought up for the first time.

After declining Maka's proposal, she fell into silence for a while. It wasn't until a moment passed that she spoke again:

"Let me go talk to Cathy! After all, I am the mother of that child..."

Seeing the brilliance of motherly love faintly appearing on Mrs. Pierce's nearly boneless face, Maka stopped insisting and just smiled to show that she understood.

Watching each other say goodbye again and leave, the two people who had been standing next to each other since just now finally couldn't bear it anymore.

"Maka, is there really nothing we can do?" Harry asked impatiently.

In front of him, Maka did not turn her head, but looked at the figure returning to the ward from a distance and shook her head.

"There is nothing I can do... All I can do is suppress the burning pain coming from my soul." He said calmly, "The damage to my soul is too serious and cannot be repaired with my current ability.

"

"Alas..." Ron said angrily, "It's all that hateful Haierbo!"

It was only then that Maka glanced at them.

"Okay, just scolding won't cause him any damage -" he said as he raised his legs and walked forward, and continued, "Follow me! There are still several wards to check, don't

I’m just standing here thinking too much.”

Seeing that Maka had already taken several steps, Harry and the others had no choice but to suppress the heavy feeling in their hearts and hurriedly followed.

About an hour later, Maka came out of the last ward on the fifth floor amidst the farewells of several patients, and signaled Harry and Ron to finish the rest of the work.

After the two of them pushed the trolley downstairs, he opened a ward door again and walked in.

This is the "Janus Sitch Ward", and its door is usually locked because there are some "special" patients living there.

Generally speaking, this ward only accepts long-term patients, and the therapist Ms. Straw takes care of them here like a mother.

However, due to the recent special situation, two injured patients have now been transferred here.

"Kingsley, how are you feeling today?"

As the current Head of the Auror Office of the Ministry of Magic, he moved here after St. Mungo's reopened to the outside world. Of course, apart from his special status, he was actually sent here by the way.

After chatting casually with Kingsley, who was gradually recovering, Maca walked around his hospital bed and came to the bed further inside, and nodded to the patient's family members who were accompanying the bedside.

"Neville, I suddenly want to give you a little suggestion."

Obviously, the patient lying on this bed is the one who needs to be transferred to this ward the most, and that is Neville's grandmother, Mrs. Longbottom.

More than ten years have passed since Neville's parents were placed here.

In order to prevent Neville from having to rush back and forth when he wanted to visit them, Maka took the initiative to suggest that St. Mungo's help the old lady change the ward, and also sent Kingsley over to accompany Neville.

After all, if Neville is left alone here to accompany three relatives who cannot talk to each other, over time, people will really worry that he will not be able to survive.

"What?"

Seeing Maka suddenly mention some "little suggestion", Neville suddenly felt a little confused.

But Maka didn't explain much. Instead, she pointed directly in the direction of the door, and then said:

"I saw Hannah when I came in just now. Why don't you invite her to come in and sit with me?"

"Hannah?"

Only in this situation, Neville, who had awakened his courage, would unconsciously reveal the timidity he had in the past. However, his face suddenly turned red, but he still explained dryly while dragging his feet.

and walked over there.

"Maka, maybe... maybe you misunderstood something, I haven't..."

To be honest, it would be more satisfying to admit it readily if his explanation contained the truth.

Maka shrugged at Kingsley, and then took advantage of Neville's departure to lean over and conduct a detailed inspection of Mrs. Longbottom.

It didn't take much time just to check. When Neville led Hannah in from the outside, he had already taken back the hand hanging above the old lady's body.

"Hannah, what did you see me hiding from just now? Do you really think I didn't see it?"

He looked at Hannah, who was as coy as Neville, and teased her, and then said to Neville:

"Your grandma's condition has completely stabilized, and the possibility of waking up has increased a lot... Of course, I have told you about the problems after waking up, so you have to be mentally prepared."

"Well, no matter what happens to grandma, she will still be the grandma who raised me."

As Neville spoke, he subconsciously glanced at the two hospital beds inside. There, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were sitting on the hospital beds, their eyes empty and dull.

"Even if she becomes like her parents, I will take good care of her for the rest of her life."

While speaking, Hannah, who was standing behind Neville, suddenly reached out and grabbed the corner of his clothes, making Neville's whole body tense up.

"It seems Hannah will help you too."

Maka teased again, then lowered her head, leaned over and said to the old lady who was still sleeping on the hospital bed:

"Wake up early, your Neville has even found his wife!"

"What about yourself?"

Suddenly, Maka heard Kingsley's teasing from the bed next door. His words not only relieved Neville's embarrassment, but even made Hannah chuckle twice.

When Maka heard this, she immediately turned around and glared at him angrily, secretly scolding this guy for not opening or lifting the pot.

"Compared to me, I'm afraid you are the only one here who needs a girlfriend the most, right? Let me do the math, how old are you this year?"

As soon as he said these words, even Neville couldn't help laughing, and Hannah naturally laughed even more.

During this period, not even Maka noticed that Mrs. Longbottom's little finger suddenly twitched slightly on the hospital bed.

…

When people are busy, the passage of time is often easier to ignore. Before you know it, lunch time is almost here.

During this period when there are a lot of patients, St. Mungo's staff eat in batches some time in advance.

At this moment, the first batch of diners of the day had already gathered in the canteen located on the east side of the second floor, and the place quickly became lively.

Right now, Hermione was sitting in a corner, poking at the food on her plate with her fork a little absentmindedly. Her eyes were wandering back and forth on the ceiling aimlessly, and she didn't know what she was looking at.

Not long after, a familiar figure suddenly came in from the door, took lunch from the window, looked around for a while, and then walked straight towards Hermione.

It wasn't until the figure was very close that Hermione, who was late to notice it, withdrew her eyes that were still wandering in the air and looked in the direction of the person.

She was not surprised because she was waiting for someone here.

"Good afternoon, Luna."

"Oh...good afternoon, Hermione!"

Compared to her slightly sluggish spirit, Luna's response was obviously more energetic, still retaining the same lightness and vibrancy as before.

After saying hello to Hermione, Luna put down her plate and sat down happily, looking at Hermione curiously.

"Hermione, what is that? It looks a bit like... a crushed Flobber caterpillar?"

"This is dragon fruit!"

Hermione glanced down as she spoke, and realized that she seemed to have dug them into a puddle of white mud with countless black spots.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it for now." She pushed the dinner plate aside and said directly, "Luna, you were also asked by Maka to wait for him here, right? Do you think...he plans to meet him this time?

What do we say?"

Seeing that Luna was listening to her but had a lot of food in her mouth, Hermione asked again: "Is it really because of what happened the night before?"

"Probably!" Luna chewed heavily and said vaguely.

Maybe she realized that telling her this didn't seem to make much sense. No matter what she thought now, she would have to wait until Maka came to find out, so Hermione simply stopped talking.

She pursed her lips, dragged the plate back in front of her, then picked up a spoon and scooped the broken dragon fruit into her mouth one by one.

However, after she and Luna finished their lunch, Maka still didn't show up.

"Where has he been?" Hermione couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Isn't he just running away quietly to do errands?"

At this moment, Luna across from her pointed behind her and said loudly:

"Hermione, look! Maka is coming out of the kitchen - is he planning to give up his training as a healer and become a chef instead?"

Hermione turned around in shock, only to find Maka walking towards their table carrying a large tray.

"Ladies, are you done with lunch?" Maka said with a smile, "How about some more desserts!" (To be continued)