The Butcher of Hogsmeade

The next day, before Shen Hou even entered his office, he realized something was wrong. The second floor, where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was located, was packed with personnel from the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, and the corridors were almost completely blocked.

After finally squeezing into the Auror office, I saw that all the Aurors were ready to go. Barty Crouch was personally in charge, and Piastral was also there. Even Scrimgeour, whose wounds had not yet healed, had rushed back from St. Mungo's with a cane and was loudly discussing something with two directors.

"Aurors will be divided into pairs, each paired with four strikers, and will guard one passageway; each Auror team will be equipped with one memory eraser and one stealth operative. Once all teams are in place, we will gradually advance into the mountains to tighten the encirclement."

"Won't this lead to an excessive dispersion of manpower?"

"The Minister has recruited all the players from the Wells Caffili Flying Crossbow Team and the Holyhead Harpy Team. They will patrol the skies; any Auror group that encounters a troll must immediately launch a signal spell. The players can see more clearly from high above, which will help us deploy manpower in a timely manner."

"Can we ensure that at least one person in each group knows the Patronus Charm, one that can materialize the Patronus for transmitting information?"

"It's very difficult! There are quite a few people who know the Guardian Charm, but those who can materialize the Guardian and also know how to use the Guardian to communicate are rare in any department."

Listening to the heated discussion among the leaders, Shen Hou approached the Puwitt brothers and asked, "What happened that caused the two divisions to act together?"

“It’s not just two departments; even the Minister has been alerted,” Fabian said. “Didn’t you hear what Old Barty just said? The Minister personally mobilized all the current players from the two Quidditch clubs in Wells to assist the Ministry of Magic in its operation.”

"So something happened to Wells?"

Gideon chimed in, "You should have heard that there are several troll tribes in the mountains over there in Wales that have unclear ties with the Death Eaters and have received supplies from some pure-blood families."

"I know, the case briefing last week mentioned that the trolls might join the Death Eaters as henchmen; so, have they actually made any moves today?"

"There has been some action, but the situation is much worse than them becoming henchmen for the Death Eaters," Fabian said. "Early this morning, the Aurors in charge of the investigation intercepted a large shipment of supplies destined for the troll tribe, supposedly enough to feed all the trolls in the mountains until summer; they can also replace each troll with an iron bar reinforced with magic, much stronger than the wooden clubs they used to have."

Shen Hou was greatly puzzled upon hearing this: "Intercepting it in advance, isn't that a good thing?"

"If the troll tribe doesn't riot because of this, then it's definitely a good thing."

"A mass uprising? All the tribes?"

"All the tribes, all the giants; male and female, big and small, all came out, at least more than a hundred."

Now Shen Hou finally understood why the directors and chiefs were so on high alert.

According to intelligence gathered by the Auror Office, the number of trolls living in the Wells Mountains is enormous, with more than two-thirds being adults, and half of them being the most dangerous mountain trolls: averaging twelve feet tall and weighing nearly a ton. Even more terrifying is that while trolls are smaller and weaker than giants, they are also less intelligent; most individuals cannot understand human language. This means that trolls are even more difficult to communicate with than giants, and once they riot, they are difficult to quell.

"Have they already come out of the mountains?" Shen Hou pressed.

"The message that came back half an hour ago said that they had all left the settlement, but were wandering aimlessly in the mountains, and it was impossible to determine which direction they would eventually go." Fabian shrugged, indicating that he had limited information.

Gideon, his expression grave, analyzed: "The ministry is most worried about two directions: one is the mountain trolls that originally lived in the southern part of the Cumbria Mountains. If they choose to go south, they will crash into Godric's Valley; the other is the forest trolls that live near Snowdonia. If they go northeast, they will be in a Muggle mountain park not far away. These two tribes are closest to the edge of the mountains and are the most likely to cause unrest."

"Great, then the newspapers and television will be full of 'rumors' about mountain savages again." Shen Hou showed no concern whatsoever. How to conceal the existence of the magical world from Muggles was a problem for the big shots to worry about, not for a lowly striker like him. "You mentioned Godric's Hollow earlier, isn't that James's hometown?"

"That's not only James's hometown, but also Dumbledore's hometown."

While the group chatted, the leaders' meeting had already concluded, and the mission was assigned. The Prewitt brothers, as a natural choice, were assigned to the southern exit of the Cumbria Mountains—the front line to prevent the trolls from entering Godric's Valley. Shen Hou and three other strikers accompanied the Prewitt brothers, along with a memory eraser and an invisible special agent.

The Memory Eraser is responsible for erasing and reconstructing the memories of Muggle witnesses, while the Invisible Special Agent is responsible for handling all magical traces at the scene, excluding personnel.

"As everyone knows, the trolls' uprising is no isolated incident." Scrimgeour, leaning on his crutch, still exuded the imposing aura of a lion. "Even with my lame leg, I can tell that Death Eaters are stirring things up behind the scenes; and those sneaky fellows won't stay hidden forever. Be careful they don't suddenly jump out and give us a hard time. Each group must maintain seamless communication, no unauthorized incursions, and absolutely no solo adventures. I don't want to hear any unnecessary reports of casualties. Move out!"

With a command from their superior, Shen Hou and his group of seven or eight people arrived at Godric's Hollow with the main force. They didn't have time to take a second look at this wizarding community, which was second only to Hogsmeade, nor did they have a chance to find Dumbledore and Potter's old house. They immediately separated from the main force and went to the sections that each group was responsible for.

At times like these, Apparition is not an option, because very few wizards in the entire Ministry of Magic have ever ventured deep into these remote mountainous areas. In gaming terms, they haven't explored the map, so they can't teleport and can only get there on flying broomsticks.

Shen Hou, a novice who had only recently learned to ride a broom, suffered greatly because of this, especially when landing. Due to improper handling, he almost fell headfirst. Fortunately, Fei Bian reacted quickly and reached out to pull him up, helping him straighten the broom handle.

"Honestly, Arthur's twins fly better than you, even though they won't be four until next month," Fabian complained after landing.

"How the hell can you blame me for this?" Shen Hou was very indignant and argued vehemently, "Even the slowest broom on the market can easily reach speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour, and that's while flying in the sky; I learned to drive in Muggle society, and even after I learned, I had to wait a year before I could drive on the highway alone."

"Practice makes perfect! Haha, I finally have a chance to get my revenge." Fabian's Chinese pronunciation was extremely poor, but he laughed nonchalantly. "Do you know how much it hurts me to be completely outmatched by a former Muggle in terms of spell power?"

Shen Hou directly gave him two middle fingers in return.