The Butcher of Hogsmeade

On January 8, 1981, Shen Hou, who had been "detained" for two weeks, walked out of the secret cell and then seamlessly joined the Ministry of Magic as an employee of the Office for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Items. Considering his unknown background and that he was essentially an "illegal immigrant" in the British magical community, it was clear that a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic had secretly opened a back door for him to get this position.

This was Dumbledore's suggestion: to arrange a job for Shen Hou that required him to come to the Ministry of Magic every day, thus restoring his freedom while keeping him under the Ministry's watchful eye.

The specific location of his post was also carefully selected: he could not go to the core functional departments of the Ministry of Magic, because his background could not withstand scrutiny from those with ulterior motives, especially now that it was wartime, and no one knew how many traitors had been planted in the Ministry of Magic; he could not go to non-core but task-intensive departments either, firstly because Shen Hou was practically a Muggle, with neither knowledge nor work ability, and secondly because Shen Hou was sent to work to be monitored at fixed times and locations, and if he was out on fieldwork every day, how could anyone feel at ease if he was not under their watchful eyes?

After much deliberation, the office that prohibits the misuse of Muggle items was the most suitable; it was known as the least valued department in the entire Ministry of Magic, even less so than the clerical staff, and its office was smaller than the storage room for brooms and buckets.

Although the department was not valued, Shen Hou, an employee, was highly "valued." On his first day of work, he was personally escorted by the Minister of Magic's assistant to the Office for the Prohibition of the Abuse of Muggle Items—a small room located at the end of the second-floor corridor.

Pushing open the door, there were only two desks in the office, one of which was even empty, with only one staff member inside.

"Arthur, this is the manpower to be added to your office, Mr. Shen Hou." The assistant minister was a young woman in her early thirties who did not know Shen Hou's true background, but because the minister personally gave the order, she was in a good mood at the moment and did not feel that accompanying a young newcomer to the least valued department was a condescension—at least she did not show it on the surface.

"Good heavens, you're finally here! I've been working like crazy this past month, doing the work of two people. My application report has been submitted for two weeks already." The only person in the office who looked up from the pile of documents was a male wizard in his thirties, wearing glasses, with red hair that stood out like flames under the light.

"Stop complaining. The situation is tense right now, and it's not easy to find the right person. You'll be even busier from now on, as you'll be training a complete newbie." The assistant minister said, leading Shen Hou into the office. "Come on, Mr. Shen, this is your desk. Now, meet your future boss, Mr. Arthur Weasley, the director of the Office for the Prohibition of Muggle Items."

"A complete newbie, fresh out of school? Don't joke with me." Arthur looked distressed and stood up from behind his desk; only then did Shen Hou notice that he was quite tall, and also appeared rather thin due to his height.

"I'm not kidding. Like I said, in this situation, it's good enough if we can even find someone. You might want to think about how you got your position as director, and why old Perkins took a year-long leave. I'm handing the man over to you; the minister still needs to talk to me."

The assistant minister tossed his head cleanly and left, closing the door behind him.

In the office, Shen Hou and his boss looked at each other, at a loss. He suddenly recalled his embarrassing situation when he first started working in another time and space, and wondered when he could go back. Did he really have to endure forty-six years?

"Okay, please sit down. This is your desk. Check it out, and if you see any of Perkins' personal belongings, put them all in one drawer. Perkins also works here, but he was seriously injured last month and took a year-long leave. Tali introduced you as Shen, and judging from your appearance—are you Chinese?" Arthur went on and on, trying his best to get acquainted with his new colleague, while Shen Hou could only nod repeatedly in response to the other's questions, completely at a loss for words.

Tali is the name of the minister's assistant.

"I knew a student from China when I was at Hogwarts. He was a year ahead of me and moved to London from Hong Kong with his parents. His whole family were wizards. He told me that their tradition was not to buy wands from outside, but to make them by hand, using copper coins to forge short swords. It's unbelievable. Have you ever seen a copper coin wand?" Arthur asked with great interest.

"No... no, I have seen it, but I'm not sure if it was a wand or if the holder was a wizard. I mean, what I saw might have been a fake, something a Muggle would play with." Shen Hou racked his brains to figure out what a "coin wand" was.

"There are too many scammers, right? And there are always people smuggling magical stuff into Muggles. Our job includes combating this kind of illegal activity." Arthur sat back down behind his desk. "By the way, which house are you from? I'm Gryffindor, and so is my wife."

Shen Hou's attempt to keep up with the conversation failed, and he replied somewhat awkwardly, "I've never been to school... I mean, I'm not a student at Hogwarts."

"Oh..." Arthur's enthusiasm subsided slightly. "So, you came to England as an adult?"

"You could say that."

"That's a real shame. You've missed out on the best magic school in the world, and you've also missed out on the best headmaster and professors."

"Are you talking about Professor Dumbledore?" Shen Hou asked.

Arthur said happily, "That's right, you know him too? Of course, who doesn't know him? Have you seen him?"

"I've met him a few times. A while ago, I witnessed him displaying his prowess in Hogsmeade." Having finally found a common topic, Shen Hou tried his best to appear enthusiastic.

"Were you there at the time?" Arthur Weasley's enthusiasm was a bit unexpected. "I heard it was a big event, and the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet downplayed it, but I know what happened."

"Really? You're quite well-informed."

"I have friends in the Auror office. They suffered heavy casualties that night; even Frank Longbottom was injured."

"Hmm, that night was indeed very dangerous. If Professor Dumbledore hadn't come, who knows what might have happened?"

“Yes, you were there, so of course you know how dangerous it was,” Arthur Weasley said. “If I may ask, what did you experience at Hogsmeade? Did you see anyone else besides Professor Dumbledore, like… an Auror or something?”

"Horses of werewolves, spells flying everywhere, and I almost died... I did encounter a few wizards who protected me, but I didn't know them well. I only knew one named Alastor, who should be an Auror."

When talking about Hogsmeade's fate, Shen Hou was very cautious in his words, omitting James and Sirius and the other young people, and not mentioning the Prewitt brothers, only mentioning Alastor, who was undoubtedly an Auror.

This is definitely not because he hates that one-eyed cripple the most.