The Butcher of Hogsmeade

The sun hung high in the sky, and even at the most intense midday sun, it still couldn't bring much warmth; the cold winds of the Celtic Sea blew away the heat and also extinguished the wizard's enthusiasm for work.

Fabian sat on the edge of the cliff, letting his legs dangle in the air to relieve the muscle soreness caused by a whole morning of trekking, while holding the door key in his hand and looking at it over and over.

"Why does this key feel a bit warm in my hand, like a ball of fire inside a stone core? I remember those smuggled fire ash snake eggs were like that, frozen in ice, but constantly radiating heat and melting the ice."

"Put the key away, Fabian!" Gideon yelled angrily at his brother, while his wand, under the effect of "Clear Water," continuously sprayed water out, which fell into a pot temporarily made of stone.

The stone pot was suspended above a campfire by a levitation spell, with flames roaring below. The water in the pot first steamed, then slowly bubbled, and finally boiled.

Shen Hou tore open several plastic bags with the "Pot Noodle" logo, poured the noodles inside into the pot, and muttered with disdain, "Instant noodles these days are far worse than they would be forty years from now. The ingredients and sauces are no good. We can only make do with them."

“It’s much better than a sandwich, and it’s still warm,” Fabian exclaimed. “Every time I take a sandwich out of my pocket, I can smell the leather on it.”

Shen Hou ignored him and handed two bare branches from a nearby tree to Gideon. The latter skillfully pointed his wand and they turned into two long chopsticks, which Shen Hou used to stir and separate the noodles in the pot.

This was clearly not the first time they had worked together in this way. He vividly recalled the first time Shen Hou made the request; after explaining for a long time, he still couldn't get Gideon to understand what chopsticks were. Finally, he was forced to change his mind: "Just make two straight wands, each about ten inches long, exactly the same length..."

Then Gideon perfectly met Shen Hou's requirements in less than a second.

It wasn't that Shen Hou was unwilling to learn Transfiguration and insisted on troubling others; rather, he simply couldn't learn it. When the Prewitt brothers first taught him Transfiguration, they strictly followed the Hogwarts Transfiguration textbook, starting with turning a match into a needle. However, when Shen Hou poked the match with his staff, it instantly shattered and disappeared, leaving only a pile of wood dust and phosphorus powder at the tip of the staff. Moreover, the phosphorus powder even caught fire due to the violent shattering process.

The flame rose seven or eight feet high, far exceeding the intensity that the phosphorus and wood dust from the match could support. It seemed to be using the heavy magic as fuel, and almost set the entire seaside bushes on fire.

In short, to paraphrase Fabian, "If this happened in a Hogwarts classroom, Professor McGonagall would be in jail for two days straight."

From then on, Shen Hou and the Pwitt brothers all behaved themselves. Although they weren't completely condemned to Transfiguration, all three understood that they couldn't learn Transfiguration through the Pwitt brothers' mediocre teaching or through Shen Hou's self-study.

The three of them used conjured bowls, chopsticks, and forks to divide a pot of noodles, slurping it down like pigs eating swill until the bowls were empty. They dawdled for another two hours before starting their afternoon work. They avoided all man-made roads, focusing instead on finding secluded and treacherous spots along the coast where there was virtually no sign of human activity. They used various revealing spells to detect any possible magical traps while carefully stomping on every inch of the ground to ensure nothing was missed.

Even with the wizard's high mobility, the search area in a day would not exceed ten miles.

Fabian had complained about this search model, only to be dismissed by Gideon's comment, "Even if it's acting, it should be as real as possible."

But Fabian's mouth wouldn't stop after just one sentence. He quickly changed the subject: "What do you think the Mystic and the Death Eaters have been up to lately? Last week, the Auror Office wiped out several troll groups in the Wells Mountains. They were all being fed by the Death Eaters and might be recruited as henchmen. Old Barty even suggested taking action against the giant tribes. I wonder how the Death Eaters will react; they seem completely unresponsive to anything right now?"

"Instead of asking us, why don't you send an owl to deliver a letter to those Death Eaters?" Gideon killed the pointless conversation with a single sentence.

"Yeah, let's get a Death Eater, or even a few; even a fight would be better than wasting time aimlessly." Fabian sighed, his arm that was waving his wand seemed weak, and the Reveal Charm almost hit Shen Hou.

Shen Hou jumped in fright and yelled at Fabian in an annoyed tone, "Would you be even happier if it were Voldemort?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a whistling wind howled overhead, and a dark shadow fell from the sky, crashing into the edge of the bushes. Before the shadow could dissipate, a spell exploded between Shen Hou and the Puwitt brothers.

There was no explosion, no sound; it was like a rapidly expanding cold current that spread quickly throughout their bodies the moment they made contact, as if to freeze their skin, muscles, bones, and even every pore.

Shen Hou instinctively reached for his key, but found that his arm joints had begun to stiffen. What was usually a simple action of reaching into his pocket was now impossible; if this continued, he would turn into a completely frozen statue in just a few seconds.

"Finite!" In this critical moment, Shen Hou instinctively used the spell he paid the most attention to and practiced the most, which was also the spell he knew best for resolving the current crisis. There was no need to examine the casting movements, nor to be demanding about the pronunciation and rhythm of the incantation; only the caster's determination mattered.

The effect of the "All Curses End" spread outwards from Shen Hou himself. At the same time, the three of them felt their bodies relax and the freezing effect on them disappeared.

Only then did they see the tall, gaunt figure that appeared after the dark shadow dissipated; the man turned to look at the three of them, revealing a pair of scarlet, cold vertical pupils. His gaze betrayed his surprise, as if he hadn't expected Shen Hou to react so quickly, and even more surprised that his sneak attack hadn't been able to immediately take down the three henchmen.

"I think I heard someone say they want to see me?" the owner of the crimson vertical pupils said with a cruel smile.

The moment he heard that voice, Shen Hou felt as if the sea breeze had frozen; he recognized the face—he'd seen it in the Pensieve—it was Voldemort! Without any hesitation, Shen Hou reached into his pocket with his left hand and yanked the key, triggering the activation spell as Dumbledore had taught him.

Sirius taught me: If you encounter Voldemort and there isn't a white wizard named Dumbledore around, remember to run immediately—run in any way you can think of and use.

The door key didn't respond, and the sea breeze still howled in my ears.

Shen Hou's mind went blank for a moment, but he quickly realized: the door key's activation magic was still magic. He had been too hasty and hadn't held back when he used the "All Curses End" spell, which affected the activation magic as well.

How long did Dumbledore say the aftereffects of the Curse of Death last? Fifteen seconds, or half a minute?