The Butcher of Hogsmeade

The capture of the Carol siblings and Avery father and son in a single day, along with the arrest and killing of dozens of werewolves and dark wizards, drew the attention of the entire British magical community with the Ministry of Magic's public display of brilliant achievements. The new hot topic completely overshadowed the previous news of the Battle of Diagon Alley, and Shen Hou's "combat hero" title seemed to be gradually being forgotten.

Shen Hou himself was happy to see this happen. After leaving the cabin, he longed to have a few more peaceful days. Every day, he would go to the Pighead Bar to "poke" the bar owner, forcing him to stay closed for rectification indefinitely. Then he would wander around Hogsmeade for a bit before returning to the safe house to lie down and read, thus passing the rest of the day.

How peaceful and wonderful!

At least until his enthusiasm for magical books like "A History of Magic" and "Hogwarts: A History of the School" faded, Shen Hou was happy to maintain this pace of life. It even gave him the illusion that he was still in 2026, living a lazy, monotonous life of going back and forth between two points and waiting to die.

The problem is that while Gen Z kids like to "lie down," there's someone else, a guy from the 1950s generation, who can't stand it. That guy is Sirius Black.

On the first day of protecting Shen Hou, Sirius was very dutiful. He accompanied Shen Hou to Pig Head Bar early in the morning and even cheered him on when he saw Shen Hou arguing with the bar owner through the door. However, this "dutiful" attitude only lasted for less than half a day. When they returned to the safe house at noon, the situation changed.

Sirius, who was guarding the safe house, became restless and paced around in the confined space, like a big dog that was lively and active but was tied up. First, he mumbled, then he started to throw a tantrum, and finally he found fault with everything in the house.

He began to mock Shen Hou for carrying a huge history book, saying it was a pity he wasn't a student at Hogwarts, otherwise he would definitely be Professor Binns' favorite student. But what was even more regrettable was that Professor Binns never showed any "liking" for him.

When James dragged him to play Wizard's Chess, he became impatient after two games, making one bad move after another. He even argued with the pieces, threatening to throw his own bishop into the fireplace and burn him, and to use an amplifying spell to fix the knight to the doorway as a statue, to be exposed to the sun and rain forever.

It wasn't until after dark and dinner that James offered to stay at the safe house to keep watch so Sirius could go back. This cheered Sirius up, and all the negative emotions he had accumulated throughout the day vanished in just a few seconds. His expression was like a dog's face, changing in an instant.

However, the trouble returned the following day, as if it were a time loop, and the situation was even worse. Sirius's patience was completely exhausted before he could even return to the safe house.

Unlike the Prewitt brothers, Sirius and James did not go out together, but divided their tasks: Sirius was the only one responsible for Shen Hou's safety when he went out, while James followed as a lookout.

The next day, as noon approached, Sirius started causing trouble. First, he complained that the daily "outdoor activity time" was too short. Then, he urged Shen Hou to go on an adventure in the Forbidden Forest. Even when James couldn't help but reveal himself from his sentry post to pull him back, Sirius was still encouraging the two of them to go to the northern swamps to cause trouble for poachers and smugglers. He argued that these people were potential henchmen who could be bribed by the Death Eaters and should be eliminated in advance.

In short, the various excuses reminded Shen Hou of some short videos he had seen before. Then, when he saw Sirius squatting on the ground arguing with James, he felt that Sirius was more and more like a big dog that had been led out by its owner but did not want to go home, lying on the ground pretending to be dead and acting spoiled.

Yesterday I was stuck at home, today I'm out and haven't had enough fun.

Finally, James was forced to use his trump card: "Our lunches are delivered from the Hogwarts kitchens to the safe house by house-elves. If they get there and find we haven't shown up on time, do you think they might misunderstand something, like something happened to us outside?"

Thinking that the house-elves might misunderstand and send an alarm back to the castle, Sirius finally "gave in" and returned to the safe house with a lot of reluctance, resulting in a low-pressure atmosphere throughout the house after lunch.

Seeing his best friend's anxiety, James had a sudden inspiration and came up with a way to distract him: "How about we teach Shen some magic?"

"Come on, he doesn't even have a wand."

"You can use mine first, or try yours and see which one you're more comfortable with. It's just practice, not actual combat, so the requirements for the wand aren't that high. When we have money in the future, it's not hard to buy one in Diagon Alley; Antonin Dolohov's bounty can't be withheld forever, can it? If the 'procedural issue' drags on for too long, wouldn't it make the Department of Magical Law Enforcement look incompetent? Besides, if nothing unexpected happens, Shen will definitely be fighting alongside us for a long time in the future, so we need to let him understand more about spells, right?"

James laid out all sorts of reasons, but his core purpose was only one thing: Dude, stop going around in circles, I'll find you something to do.

Unsure which "reason" had worked, Sirius finally nodded in agreement with James's suggestion.

"But where do we begin? He knows almost nothing about spells, he's like a first-grader, or even less than many children from wizarding families."

"Start from scratch?" James said, not very confidently.

"Why not send him to Hogwarts and apply for an over-age first-year spot so the professors can teach him? A first-year student in his twenties would probably be a first in Hogwarts' history, and that could be written into the school's history!"

James sighed inwardly, seeing that his hard-won plan to distract himself was about to fail. Just then, Shen Hou raised his hand and made a suggestion.

"Why don't you put in a little more effort and pick a few spells that best synergize with the effects of signs for me to practice with? Right now, a bunch of Death Eaters and dark wizards are itching to kill me. If I have to learn everything from scratch, not only can you not teach me, but even if you did, it wouldn't be up to the actual needs!"

"That's more like it. What we need most right now is practical combat ability. Shen needs it, and we... need it too." Sirius Black agreed wholeheartedly. "What kinds of hand seals do you have? I've only seen two or three before, it can't be all of them, right?"

"There are six mudras in total, but in actual application, some mudras can be further divided into two or three different technical details..." Shen Hou said halfway through, feeling that it was difficult to explain with words alone, "Let me demonstrate them to you one by one!"

"That would be great, but wait a minute, I need to make some changes to this place." James couldn't wait, and immediately jumped up, raised his wand high, and waved it around his head in a 360-degree circle.

The cramped interior space suddenly expanded, with the walls and roof simultaneously receding by at least five meters; in the blink of an eye, the small room transformed into a small auditorium.