The Butcher of Hogsmeade

For obvious reasons, the three of them stayed in the safe house for most of the day. Shen Houmei took a nap and slept until the sun was setting. When he went to sleep, Sirius was still hanging on the roof beam like a pendulum. When he woke up, it had been taken down. He didn't know how long it had been hanging there and was too embarrassed to ask.

Sirius seemed completely unaffected. It was unclear whether Shen Hou had been subdued while asleep or was simply used to it. Upon seeing Shen Hou awake, he invited him to go for a stroll at Pig Head Bar, saying it was an annual ritual that couldn't be broken.

Walking down the street, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around and James was keeping watch in the distance and couldn't hear them, Shen Hou quietly asked, "What exactly did you make James do this morning?"

"Didn't you hear that too?" Sirius started to feel guilty, his eyes darting around as if afraid James would suddenly appear.

"But I didn't understand!" Shen Hou couldn't hide his gossipy curiosity. "I only heard you say something about a stag's cry or something. Why did you insist on making him roar like that, and even went so far as to use the Axii sign to ambush him?"

Sirius turned his face away, his eyes darting around, clearly the prelude to making up a lie, but Shen Hou didn't see it.

"You don't know, James really likes stags."

"It's not strange to like an animal, so what?"

"It's not strange that he likes animals, but when he takes it too far, he develops a strange hobby." Sirius Black spoke more and more fluently, clearly making up a lie as quickly as possible. "He would imitate the call of a stag, and all sorts of sounds."

Shen Hou thought he understood: "So you wanted him to learn it for you, but he wasn't willing?"

"It's not that simple. I've heard some of these voices before, but... there are also some that he absolutely refuses to perform."

What was that sound?

Sirius looked around warily, making sure James was still outside the "safe zone," before whispering in Shen Hou's ear, "The sound of a stag in heat."

Shen Hou stared in disbelief, struggling for a long time before finally managing to stammer, "It seems James and you really have a very good relationship—he actually got you off the roof so quickly?"

Sirius Black wasn't ashamed at all; on the contrary, he was quite proud of himself. If he hadn't been walking on the street, he might have even burst out laughing.

The Pig Head Bar remained closed. Shen Hou leaned against the door and knocked intermittently, trying to wake the bar owner, but the inside remained silent, as if the owner had made up their mind and didn't want to talk to him at all.

Just then, a beautiful, silvery-white, semi-transparent bird descended from the sky and hovered above Shen Hou and Sirius. The bird's wings flapped, scattering countless silver specks of light with each flap, which landed on the two of them and disappeared into their clothes.

Shen Hou felt a surge of exhilaration well up within him.

The bird spoke in a calm yet powerful voice: "Call James and return to the safe house immediately. Alastor is waiting for you with important news." After saying this, the bird circled twice above the two men's heads, then suddenly dispersed into thousands of points of light and disappeared.

"It's Professor Dumbledore." Sirius's expression turned serious, his earlier joking and frivolous demeanor gone. "We have to go back immediately."

Shen Hou naturally had no objections, but on the way back, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Was that the Patronus Charm just now? I've heard the Prewitt brothers mention it, and I've seen Gideon use it, but his Patronus is different from Professor Dumbledore's. Gideon conjures a beaver, but what I saw just now was a bird."

"Didn't they tell you that everyone's Patronus is unique? Even if it's the same animal, it will differ in details depending on the wizard who releases it. Dumbledore's Patronus is especially special; it's a phoenix. He may be the only wizard who has a magical creature as his Patronus."

As they were talking, the two returned to the safe house and pushed the door open. Just as Shen Hou was about to ask if James had returned, he heard the door behind him click shut, and then James suddenly appeared in front of him as if he had appeared out of thin air.

"This is an invisibility cloak. I use it to hide and act as sentries." Jaime hung a cloak on his arm. It looked like it was made of water and seemed to shimmer with a silver-gray light at first glance, but upon closer inspection, you would find that there was nothing there—even Jaime's arm had disappeared.

Shen Hou's eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "Optical invisibility? Can it block infrared detection?"

"what?"

"Uh, never mind, never mind."

There were two people in the safe house: Alastor Moody, whom Dumbledore had mentioned, and another old acquaintance, Mundungus Fletcher.

"Why did you bring him here? Haven't you heard that Mr. Fletcher has also placed bets in underground gambling dens?" Sirius made no attempt to hide his distrust of Mundungus.

Alastor replied, "It's precisely because he placed bets that he was able to find out the latest developments in the underground betting market."

"Mr. Fletcher is finally talking? Gideon asked him a lot of questions before, but he wouldn't say a word." Shen Hou glanced at Mundungus's round head, as always distrusting the man who had bet on his death.

Alastor gave Mundungus a cold laugh: "That means the Pwett brothers are all good people."

"Show me some respect! I work for Dumbledore too. Don't think it's dangerous for you to go to the battlefield and risk your lives against the Death Eaters. I'm risking my life to gather information for you," Mundungus retorted loudly.

"You know perfectly well whether you're gathering information for us or to make a better bet," Alastor said bluntly, his patience running out. "Stop talking nonsense and repeat what you just said to those three."

"That's deadly news. You can listen to it, but don't tell anyone where you heard it from," Mundungus muttered.

"Get to the point, we all know the rules." Sirius crossed his arms, looking impatient.

"Alright, alright, listen up!" Mundungus dared not waste any more words. "There's a rumor going around on the black market right now... no, it's not a rumor, it's more like a statement. Someone is deliberately spreading the idea that the underground betting is only about betting on Mr. Shen's death, and there's no requirement that the one who kills Mr. Shen must be a Death Eater or a mysterious figure. No matter how Mr. Shen dies, as long as he's dead, the betting will be settled immediately."

"What do you mean?" Sirius's mouth moved faster than his brain, but James and Shen Hou both understood and their expressions changed almost simultaneously.

"Is someone inciting all the gamblers who placed bets to assassinate Shen?"

"It's an exaggeration to say that everyone is so easily swayed, but..." Mundungus lost confidence halfway through his sentence, "Well, to be honest, most of the people who can place bets in underground casinos are not lacking in the guts to kill. It's just a matter of whether they have the ability and whether it's worth it."

James calmly asked, "Do you know who's spreading these rumors?"

"It must be someone who wants Mr. Shen dead. Who else could it be but a Death Eater?"

"I'm asking about the person who actually did this. Do you have any information?" James pressed sharply.

"I don't have any concrete information, but... let me put it this way, the other day I was drinking with a group of gamblers I know well. Most of them were betting for half a month or a month, and they were the kind of guys who still had a chance to win money; and then I saw Lucius Malfoy among them."

"and then?"

"And then? Then that rumor started circulating," Mundungus said. "You ask me who specifically did it? I have no proof, but I've already told you who the most suspicious guy is."

Sirius asked seriously, "Can you confirm that person is Lucius Malfoy? I don't quite believe he would do something like this with his own face on."

"If you asked me to answer this question from the witness stand in Wizengamor, I would definitely say no; but here... that guy's disguise was indeed very clever, but coincidentally, he had used the same disguise to buy contraband on the black market before, and the seller he found that time was me. Of course, neither of us showed our faces then, but Lord Malfoy wasn't careful enough and I recognized him when he left, but I never told anyone."

"That really is evidence that can't be told to anyone," Sirius sneered. "But thinking about it, my brother-in-law has always been a 'clever man,' and he certainly came up with this kind of method."