That night, Maka slept in Xenophilius's workshop.
He had built Maka a makeshift bed out of old, discarded door panels. It was layered with two blankets and a quilt as a mattress, and he was covered with another blanket. Though the setup seemed a bit spartan, it was actually quite comfortable.
Maka slept well.
The next morning, Luna came to wake him. To be honest, Maka was used to sleeping late and getting up late, and it was difficult to change that habit all at once.
"Get up, the sun's already up," Luna said, reaching out to tug at Maka's blanket, but Maka remained nestled inside, unmoved.
"The sun is up!" Seeing no reaction from the blanket, Luna tried harder to increase the volume of her voice.
"The sun will never rise again," Maka mumbled dreamily.
Luna stared silently at Maka, who was curled up in bed, for a moment. Then, she reached out and tugged at the covers again – she thought that was all she could do.
But Maka obviously wasn't going to react.
After waiting for a few more minutes, Luna turned and ran downstairs, her footsteps thumping. She seemed to have thought of a good idea.
A short while later, Luna, who had just gone down, came running back up, this time with a soft basket woven from thin vines. The basket swayed slightly in Luna's hands, as if there were many small things moving around inside. It seemed this was the reason Luna had rushed downstairs; the things inside could probably wake Maka up very effectively, at least Luna thought so.
The girl blinked, then carefully lifted a corner of the blanket, and quickly dumped everything from the soft basket inside.
Seeing the little things burrow into the bed, Luna seemed to nod in satisfaction, and even tucked the lifted blanket back in.
Before long, there seemed to be some movement in the bed, and it sounded like someone was humming softly.
"Mmm... Hmm?" Maka seemed to be awake, but the voice didn't sound right, as if he had a cold, with a heavy nasal tone. "Mmm, ah! What is it? Don't..."
The covers began to stir restlessly, trembling all over, and even the old door panel propped up on the floor as a bed frame started to shake.
As expected, the hastily assembled wooden bed wasn't very sturdy. With a loud "crash," the whole room seemed to tremble. Then, Maka struggled to throw off the covers, groaning in pain.
Of course, his nasal voice hadn't improved because of the accident.
The little fellows that caused all this were now all over Maka, especially on his face and neck. They hummed happily, crowding onto Maka's face, neck, chest, and other places. A few even stuck their soft tongues into Maka's nostrils.
"Ugh… Ah, ah-choo!" Maka shook his head, shaking off the little things on his face, and then he saw Miss Luna standing to the side, carefully observing this rare scene.
"Flobberworms," Luna said, pointing at the furry little things on Maka, as if sleepwalking. "They're very friendly to people, and they hum when they're happy."
"And, they're very easy to feed. They eat everything from leftovers to spiders and mosquitoes. They also especially like to stick their tongues out and go into the noses of sleeping wizards to eat their dry boogers."
Maka quickly pinched his nose when he heard this because he noticed that several of the little things were sticking out their long tongues and were eager to try!
"Alright, alright! That certainly makes for an effective alarm clock. Let's get these things put away quickly!" Maka pinched his nose and waved his other hand dismissively, then got up from the ground. "Oh, and good morning, Luna!"
Breakfast passed quickly, or rather, there wasn't much to mention. British food has always been terrible, and that was the case even in the wizarding world. Not to mention, the Xenophilius's financial situation had never been great. Magazine sales directly resulted in most of their profits being used for the next issue's expenses, leaving pitifully few Galleons for actual living costs.
Luna's father quickly finished his breakfast and then apparated away to gather material. Before leaving, he specifically instructed Luna, probably to go around with Maka or something. Maka, who was busy figuring out how to make Gordigan Tea taste better, didn't listen too carefully.
Luna and her father both loved the drink, but Maka found it hard to accept. Compared to the rainbow fish soup from last night, which had its own obvious pros and cons, this Gordigan Tea, also bearing the distinct air of the Lovegood family, only made one feel pain.
"Truly a drink with impact," Maka sighed, tilting his head back and pouring the liquid from his cup down his throat. "Well then, where are we going?"
Luna stared blankly at where her father had disappeared, and after a moment, she replied, "I don't know."
Maka tilted his head and thought for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "Are there any neighbors around here? I mean, wizards."
"Well, the closest is the Fawcett Family," Luna said, turning back, gazing out the window. "Further away is Ottery St. Catchpole. Mr. Weasley from the Ministry of Magic and Mr. Diggory both have homes nearby."
Maka nodded, thinking about whether he should visit other wizarding families to build relationships, when he suddenly reacted to the name mentioned in passing.
"Weasley?" He looked up at Luna. "Is that… the wizarding family with all the red hair?"
"Mrs. Molly isn't." Luna shook her head, looking dazed. "Her hair is brown."
Maka couldn't help but laugh at this.
"It really is brown," Luna repeated seriously.
"Okay, okay," Maka said, looking at Luna, laughing harder. "Of course, of course. What I mean is, how about we go visit the Weasleys?"
Luna nodded indifferently, as if she didn't care where they went.
BANG!
Not long after the two of them had cleaned up the table and kitchen, Maka watched as Luna disappeared into the somewhat dirty fireplace with a burst of green flames.
"Hmm, grab a handful, say the location, and scatter it," Maka muttered to himself as he walked towards the fireplace, but suddenly stopped as if he'd remembered something.
"Right, you have to say it clearly," he seemed to be thinking of Harry's trip to Knockturn Alley.
"The Weasley Family." BANG!
For some reason, the green flames Maka produced were much more abundant than Luna's. Fortunately, this special magical flame reaction didn't have the ability to transport inanimate objects, otherwise, judging by the magical fire that surged to the ceiling, it could have moved the entire fireplace to the Weasley Family's house.
When Maka emerged from the fireplace at the Weasley Family's, Luna was already talking to Molly.
"Oh! You must be Maka, then? Miss Lovegood was just telling me about you," Molly turned to greet him as she saw Maka walk out, "Welcome to our home."
Speaking of which, Mrs. Weasley suddenly walked over and opened the window. "Fred, George, Ron! Come inside, we have guests!"
Maka craned his neck to take a look and saw a big, freckled boy holding a large, hairless rat upside down. It seemed another, slightly shorter boy was following behind.
"Fred, give me Scabbers back! Percy gave him to me."
"Hey, Ron, wait a minute! I just think he needs a little hair tonic."
"Stop bickering! Can't you see we have guests? Can't you be quiet for a moment!" Mrs. Weasley immediately shouted. "Where's George?"
Fred shrugged and said, "Mum, I am George."
"Alright, then where's Fred?" Mrs. Weasley was taken aback.
Suddenly, someone pushed both boys aside and stepped inside, constantly saying, "Hey, Mum! I'm George, you got us mixed up again."
Molly's face immediately fell, and she launched into another round of scolding, while Luna laughed like a lunatic, unable to stop.
Maka looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but sigh, rubbing his forehead.
"Sorry, uh... Mr. Maka?" A weak voice suddenly sounded from the other side of the fireplace, not far behind Maka. "It's always noisy at home."
Maka heard the voice and turned around to see a girl with fiery red hair, who looked younger than the other children.
"Ah, it's nothing, I'm just not used to such a lively scene." He guessed that the girl in front of him was probably Ginny, the youngest of the Weasley family.
Maka looked at her and then glanced back at the three boys being lectured by Molly, and couldn't help but sigh again. He really couldn't understand how the same family could raise siblings with such extreme and diverse personalities.
The eldest son, Bill, always had a rock-and-roll vibe; Percy was wild and loved to save face; the twin brothers just liked to play pranks; even Ron tended to be a bit self-deprecating.
Only the second son, Charlie, and the youngest, Ginny, were relatively normal.
Of course, he wasn't even sure if the memories in his mind were correct. After all, it had been so long that he couldn't really remember clearly.
"Anyway, thank you. Thank you for your concern, Miss Ginny."
Ginny looked at Maka's smile and felt a little strange. Had someone mentioned her to him? At least she hadn't had time to introduce herself.
"Alright, alright, come and meet the guests." Mrs. Weasley finally finished her long scolding and beckoned to her children to come over.
The Burrow became a little quieter, only Luna was still laughing non-stop, her embarrassing laughter echoing through the house.