The Butcher of Hogsmeade

Walking through the black door, you enter a small circular hall. In the center of the hall, an old man in a black robe stands quietly, welcoming guests. Apart from him, there is no other person or object, and no sound can be heard except for footsteps.

The entire rotunda, from the floor and ceiling to the surrounding walls, including the many doors embedded in the walls, was black, with only a few faint candlelights serving as the light source.

Apart from his face and two hands, the old man was completely shrouded in a black robe, the brim of his hood reaching all the way to his forehead, and his face was pale; although his face was old, he still looked much younger than Dumbledore, yet his eyes revealed a kind of murky and calm old age, as if those eyes had witnessed the passage of a long time.

"Hello, Professor Crock," Dumbledore greeted him. Shen Hou lagged a step behind, unable to resist looking around curiously; the empty, deathly silent, and dark space brought a strange sense of oppression, causing him to instinctively begin to observe his surroundings. Black covered everything, making it impossible to see any decorations—if there were any; every so often, a black door was embedded in the surrounding walls, exactly the same as the entrance door, and after some effort, he counted a total of twelve.

Just then, the wall and the door began to spin rapidly. In no time, Shen Hou could no longer distinguish between the entrance he had come in and the other doors, and his heart grew increasingly apprehensive.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore, you've brought him?" The old man in the black robes responded more directly, his gaze immediately falling on Shen Hou. His calm demeanor betrayed urgency, along with a hint of doubt and worry. "Are you sure he's a time traveler?"

Dumbledore also looked at Shen Hou, not answering the question directly, but saying, "It's immoral, but I see no trace of lies or deceit in him. Perhaps he's a time traveler, or perhaps his mind has been influenced, making him believe he is; we can't take that risk, can we?"

Kroc nodded slightly. "Of course, uncontrolled time travel is dangerous. As for the immoral aspects, I don't care."

Shen Hou overheard their conversation. He couldn't help but care about things others didn't, and quietly asked, "What's the immoral part?"

"Please allow me to keep this a secret for now," Dumbledore replied. "If all goes well, I will be willing to publicly apologize to you after this is all over, but please forgive me for not being able to answer your questions for the time being."

Shen Hou felt a little annoyed and asked again, "Then what are we doing standing here?"

Krock replied, "Wait for someone. The Minister will be here soon, and there may be others as well."

"The Minister of Magic?" Shen Hou pressed. "Shouldn't she be considered the highest leader in the wizarding world?"

"The head of the government department, yes; regardless of whether your situation is true or false, it is necessary to inform her."

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, a door on the circular wall to Shen Hou's right front opened, and two people walked in one after the other. The one in front was a middle-aged woman with short hair past her ears, plain-looking, but with a sharp and imposing air in her eyes; following behind her was a middle-aged man with a gentleman's mustache, his hair disheveled, looking travel-worn, as if he had just traveled a long way.

From the moment the middle-aged woman saw Dumbledore, she began shouting from a distance, "Professor Dumbledore, I've received enough bad news since last night; I desperately want you to tell me this is a misunderstanding, and I'd rather waste a few minutes than face a magical accident that will go down in history." She spoke as she walked, and when she reached the crowd, she suddenly looked at Shen Hou, her sharp gaze making him instinctively want to look away.

"Professor Crocker hasn't made a judgment yet; things might not be as bad as they seem," Dumbledore said gently before greeting the newcomer, "Hello, Madam Secretary, it's a pleasure to meet you, Director Piastricht."

The middle-aged man with a gentleman's mustache nodded, smiling, and said jokingly, "My thoughts are the same as Minister Bagno's; I don't feel happy at all right now."

"I sent Mr. Barty Crouch to Hogsmeade, where the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is most needed, as there is a bunch of prisoners waiting to be sent to Azkaban; as for Mr. Piastri, as the Director of the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, he has the right to know about this matter, as well as the responsibility and obligation to do so."

"You handled it very well," Dumbledore said approvingly.

After the Minister and the Director entered, Kroc remained silent, his black robe blending almost seamlessly with the surrounding darkness. Only after the greetings were finished did he speak: "Please follow me." He then turned and walked slowly toward a black door to Shen Hou's left.

The crowd followed in silence, with Shen Hou keeping pace with them.

As the black door opened, a torrent of faint sounds surged forth from within; everyone present, except for Kroc, involuntarily frowned—a natural human aversion to noise. However, no one stopped and followed Kroc into the room.

Upon entering, everyone finally understood the source of the sound: countless clocks scattered throughout the room. They varied in size, from grandfather clocks to travel clocks, hanging between bookshelves or standing on tables as long as the entire room. Countless hands and pendulums ticked and swung at the same frequency, like the orderly footsteps of a marching army; each tiny, rapid ticking sound merged together into an endless torrent.

The entire room was bathed in a beautiful, sparkling light, like diamonds. Kroc led the group through the clockwork, until they reached the other end of the room, where they saw the source of the light: a towering, bell-shaped crystal dome, nearly the height of an adult, standing on a table at the far end of the room.

The glass dome was filled with a swirling, shimmering stream of air; it was from this air that the light shone through the glass dome and spread throughout the room.

Inside the enclosure, a small, jewel-like object (an egg) floats up and down. This object is a hummingbird, but it isn't always a bird. At the very bottom of its cycle, it is just an egg, and as it rises within the glass enclosure, it cracks open with a snap, and a hummingbird emerges from the shell, rising straight to the very top of the enclosure; but it doesn't linger there, immediately falling back down with the airflow, its feathers becoming dirty and wet, until it lands at the very bottom of the enclosure, where it is once again trapped inside the egg.

This cyclical process repeats endlessly inside the enclosure.

Behind the glass dome and the table stood a closet with glass doors, and on the wall where the closet was located, all kinds of hourglasses were hung.

Shen Hou did not understand what he was seeing, but he was dazzled.