In the last days before returning to Hogwarts, Maca didn't go anywhere, so he took Luna to the Three Broomsticks Bar for a while.

For this very popular bar in Hogsmeade, most wizards choose to sit here every time they come.

The owner of the bar, Ms. Rosmerta, is a very sociable woman and a very popular woman. She is always very good at talking, and many wizards like to talk to her.

Well, especially the male wizards - even the professors at Hogwarts mostly know her.

"Speaking of which, there's an interesting little allusion to this bar." Marca sat down at the table and said to Luna, "Before Ms. Rosemerta took over the bar, it was called 'Two Broomsticks.' ”

"Is this interesting?" On the other side, a scruffyly dressed wizard approached, looked at Maca and asked.

"It's not interesting here," Maca said, spreading her hands, "you know, what's going on?" ”

"Hmm......" the wizard thought for a moment, and naturally guessed, "a broom?" ”

"No, earlier, this was a privately owned broomstick workshop." "It was here that the 'occultation' of the late 19th century was born, and it was the source of the idea for Grady Boothby's design of the 'Moon' at the beginning of the 20th century. ”

"It's really unexpected, it's an interesting allusion...... the wizard laughed, "you know a lot, are you young wizards from Hogwarts?" ”

"Yes, you know, the village of Hogsmeade is full of Hogwarts students today."

"That's right, that's right." The wizard smiled, "But there aren't many people as calm as you. ”

At this moment, Lady Rosmerta came over with a tray and placed the glass in front of him while laughing with the wizard.

"Would you like me to treat you to a drink?" The wizard suddenly put his arms around Maka and said, "How about being paid for that funny little allusion you told?" ”

"Hey! Tarino, don't teach bad boys! Ms. Rosmerta slapped him lightly on the back and said in a warning voice.

"Don't do that, Rosmerta, I'm not invited, not invited...... Ha ha! ”

The scruffy wizard whom Lady Rosmerta called "Tarino" pretended to dodge, with a mischievous smile on his face, and a completely oily appearance, as if he had always been so virtuous.

"Ignore him, he's a sloppy ghost." Rosmerta smiled at Maca and headed straight behind the bar.

"Look at that figure...... Ahem, I mean, Ms. Rosmerta is a charismatic witch. ”

It was probably finally aware of Maca's age, and Luna had been watching him curiously from the side, so he finally controlled his mouth and didn't continue to say anything unpleasant.

But Maca stared at Tarino thoughtfully, as if thinking about something.

He paused for a moment, then suddenly spoke, "Mr. Tarino, I think it would be more appropriate for me to invite you." ”

As she spoke, Maca suddenly turned her head and shouted in the direction of the bar, "Ms. Rosmerta, bring Mr. Tarino a glass of Blue Label John, I'm in for a treat." ”

"Oh, of course, but—" Miss Rosmerta hesitated.

"Don't worry, no problem."

Tarino put away his smile and looked at Maca in surprise.

"How can this be—" he said, "I was just joking. ”

Maca squeezed a smile at him and said in a calm tone, "But I'm not...... Enjoy the beautiful bar in peace, sir, I just wanted to ask a few questions in passing. ”

Tarino was stunned, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh, okay! Blue Card John, what reason can I refuse? ”

The wine soon came up, but Maca wasn't interested in touching it, he was only interested in getting useful information.

"Mr. Tarino, you must be familiar with the dark side of the wizarding world, can you talk to me casually?"

"I think so, but ...... There aren't any interesting stories out there, are you sure you want to hear them? Tarino spread his hands and confirmed.

"Of course, otherwise why do you think I'm inviting you to drink for no reason?" Maca naturally said, "This is a bar, and besides the wine, it's the story - now that the wine is there, of course there are some stories." ”

"Hey! I can't really see it, but you know the truth quite well...... Okay, okay, let's tell a story......" Tarino took a careful sip of his wine before adding, "Speaking of which, I haven't been very stable lately—well, seriously, I haven't been ...... yet."

In Tarino's staccato narration, Maca learned for the first time about the mess that lurked in the shadows of the wizarding world.

In fact, it is somewhat scattered to say, after all, Britain has the greatest white wizard of the day - Albus Dumbledore in charge, and there have been basically no major events in recent years.

It's just that there are no big things, but small things are always forbidden and extinguished.

The Aurors of the Ministry of Magic are very dedicated to their duties, and there are dark wizard search teams and strikers who specialize in dealing with dangerous criminals, but no matter how closely guarded, there will always be times when one or the other is lost.

What's more, there are also werewolves and vampires who are naturally prone to crime, and there are more small messes.

Of course, the hottest recent incident is, of course, Sirius Black's prison break. Criminals like the one who can escape from Azkaban are the real headaches.

"So someone saw him recently?" Maca asked.

"Yes! I heard that he was lurking in Hogsmeade! "But he seems to have a little wound in the leg, and if this were true, it would be much less dangerous—"

"You know, a madman like Blake, even those bad dark wizards don't want to provoke."

"That's true...... Although as far as I'm concerned, there were a lot of doubts about that incident at the beginning, and before Blake entered Azkaban, he didn't even go through the trial process. Maca nodded.

"Who knows?" Hearing this, Tarino immediately pursed his lips, "What tricks are in it, no one can say clearly now." ”

After that, Maca chatted about something else along the topic, and after learning about the little things about stealing chickens and dogs, she and Luna left.

It's not too early, it's time to go back to school.

"Take another secret passage when you go back, the common room in Ravenclaw is probably full of people by this time."

Maca led Luna towards the screaming shack not far away.

The secret passage leading to the beating willow was still so narrow, and the two of them finally bent all the way to the other end of the secret passage.

But when Maca had just shown his head, he found a black dog staring at him with its big round eyes.

“…… Good evening. Maca blinked.

He really didn't expect to run into Sirius Black here. Because of the suddenness of the incident, he really didn't know what to say for a while.

But the next moment, Blake, who had taken the form of Animagus, made a forward lunge.

"Maca?"

Just as Maca hesitated to pull her wand out, Luna, who was still hunched over in the secret passage, spoke up.

Suddenly, Maca stopped, and so did Blake.

The other party looked at Maca, then turned around decisively and ran towards the Forbidden Forest not far away, and soon disappeared into the bushes at the edge of the forest.

You know, the wand that Maca is using now is the one that was shot down from Blake's hand.

On that day, Maca still had a disguise on her body, so she didn't let the other party find out her identity today. But if you take out your wand, the other party will definitely recognize it at a glance.

He couldn't reveal his identity so quickly, after all, since he couldn't subdue Blake last time, he would have to take a long detour. There were some things he had to get from Blake.

The stakes are high, and his relationship with Black can't be too stiff at the moment.

"It's okay, come on, the dinner will start soon."

Maca climbed to the ground, then reached out and pulled Luna. Then, the two walked briskly towards the auditorium.

In the shadows at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Blake was looking at the backs of Maca and Luna, a glint of doubt in his eyes.

……

As Ron said to Harry, today's dinner was indeed sumptuous.

The auditorium was filled with hundreds of jack-o'-lanterns, a school of bats flying up and down, and many orange streamers spitting flames—lazily floating beneath the ceiling like a swarm of brilliant water snakes.

The food was extraordinarily beautiful, and even people like Hermione and Ron, who ate Duke Honey's sweets to the point of exploding their stomachs, demanded a second serving of each item.

In the faculty chair not far away, Lupin looked happy, and as funny as usual—he was chatting with Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher.

Looking down the table, you can see where Snape is sitting.

He was still the same cold old look, still so out of place in the festive auditorium.

The dinner ended with entertainment provided by the ghosts of Hogwarts.

Ghosts emerge from walls and tables in a kind of procession—Gryffindor House's "Nick Almost Headless" successfully recreates the moment he was killed.

The night was enjoyable for everyone.

Many of the students were discussing their trip to Hogsmeade today, and the excitement and joy were still lingering in their bodies, as if they couldn't sleep tonight without letting them go.

When the dinner was over, Maca went back to the common room with the rest of the Hufflepuff classmates. But Harry, Ron, and Hermione found that there were many people crowded in front of the common room of Gryffindor, that is, in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

"Why don't you go in?" Ron said curiously.

There were so many people in front of them that they couldn't see what was going on.

Harry struggled to stand on tiptoe and look over the head - the portrait seemed to be closed.