The Butcher of Hogsmeade

As dawn broke, Shen Hou was escorted by the wizards back to the safe house known as the Screaming Shack. The damaged walls and furniture were mostly repaired by the wizards with a few simple spells. While not exactly restored to their original state, they were at least indistinguishable from their original condition.

"This spell is amazing! It can save so much money! What's it called, the Repairing Spell?" Shen Hou's words revealed his Muggle nature, leaving the Prewitt brothers guarding him looking at each other in bewilderment.

From a wizard's perspective, being able to cast spells without a staff and still deal high damage is truly impressive; Shen Hou's current expression and tone, like a country bumpkin visiting the city, seem to those who don't know the situation to be pretentious and to be seen as making a fool of wizards.

The problem is that the Pwitt brothers witnessed firsthand how badly Aberforth beat this young man, slamming his head against the wall, making him a perfect new signboard for the bar!

Was it all an act back then? Does this young man possess such terrifying acting skills and character?

The two brothers didn't believe it at all; that's why when the awakened Alastor went berserk and tried to kill Shen Hou, they stepped forward to dissuade him, insisting that the young man be handed over to Professor Dumbledore. Fortunately, because Shen Hou had helped in the previous battle and objectively saved the man, this suggestion was also echoed by James and Sirius. The group worked together to stop Mad-Eye, finally preventing a bloodbath.

As for Shen Hou himself, he obediently accepted the arrangement, knowing he had no room for resistance. He had only managed a successful sneak attack by taking advantage of someone's carelessness; he didn't think he was any special skill. In this freezing weather, even the shoes on his feet were fakes that someone had conjured up on the spot. Where could he possibly run off to if he left Hogsmeade?

Even if you could ask the embassy or consulate in the UK for help, do you even know which direction London is in? Do you have enough money to buy a plane ticket or a train ticket? You can't exactly lie on the roof of a train like those Indians, can you? You'd freeze to death in the dead of winter!

The waiting time was boring. Realizing that the Pwitt brothers and others meant him no harm, Shen Hou felt relieved, but his youthful curiosity couldn't help but overflow again, and he started asking around about the battle they had just fought.

What are the Death Eaters? What are the werewolves? Why did Hogsmeade become a battlefield? Who is Dumbledore? And who are you participants in this war? These questions were posed one by one. Except for the question "Who was the one who fought Dumbledore in the end?" which was directly rejected, Shen Hou gained insights from all the other questions.

"A terrorist organization is attempting to challenge the existing order and legal system of the magical world through terrorist activities..." Shen Hou easily made the judgment. "The British magical community is going through a very turbulent time! It's best to leave as soon as possible and stay far away from this mess."

Accustomed to a comfortable life, Shen Hou had no desire for adventure whatsoever. He could satisfy his curiosity about the magical world after returning home; there was no need to risk his life getting involved with British wizards.

As they were talking, Sirius Black walked in from outside and waved the newspaper in his hand at everyone: "The attack on Hogsmeade is on the front page."

"So fast?" Gideon's tone wasn't much of a surprise, more like a grumble. "Does the Ministry of Magic not care? Yesterday's casualties were considerable. If the news gets out, the Death Eaters will be gloating."

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 10 ...

"Perhaps it's because of the casualties that the Ministry of Magic took the initiative to expose it and preemptively control public opinion." Sirius Black opened the newspaper and read the contents aloud in a sarcastic tone, "The Death Eaters' evil plan has suffered a major setback—that's the headline, followed by a subheading and the opening line: The Minister for Magic and the Director of the Department of Law Enforcement express their sincere condolences and heartfelt gratitude to the Aurors and concerned citizens who were injured or killed in the operation, thanking them for their unwavering faith and fearless sacrifice in capturing more than fifty suspects of the attack, severely damaging the core strength of the Death Eaters, an illegal organization... Damn it, when did werewolves become the 'core strength' of the Death Eaters? More than 80% of those captured yesterday were werewolves."

"Official stuff. The truth doesn't matter. What matters is boosting public confidence and letting them know they are still protected. Aren't you used to the Ministry of Magic's style yet?" Fabian took the newspaper from Sirius Black and shook his head as he read it.

Sirius scoffed: "They're making them 'think' they can get protection from the Ministry of Magic. If it weren't for Dumbledore last night, Hogsmeade would have been finished just by the Aurors."

"I believe the gentlemen of the Ministry of Magic also know that they have to rely on Dumbledore, but... the gentlemen also have their pride! They have to rely on him, but they also have to not rely on him that much." Fabian was equally sarcastic.

Shen Hou was very curious about the newspapers in the magical world, peeking over the table. Because he was far away, he couldn't see the text clearly, only the headlines and photos. And as expected, the newspapers in the magical world did have something special about them; for example, the photos on them could move, like a three- to five-second video clip playing on a loop.

"It looks a bit like a GIF!" Shen Hou thought to himself. Before he could look at more content, Sirius Black had already come over and sat down next to him, acting all friendly and eager.

"Tell me, what kind of magic did you use against Alastor yesterday? It looked pretty simple, just a wave of your hand... I felt the effect was a bit like a Confusion Charm. Peter insisted it was an Imperius Charm, but James and I both thought it couldn't be that powerful."

Shen Hou felt a little awkward because Alastor was on the other side of the room, sitting against the wall with a chair pulled up. Both of his eyes, one real and one fake, were staring at him intently without blinking, and one hand was always holding the wand, resting across his intact leg.

"What, can't you say? Don't be so stingy!" Sirius urged repeatedly; perhaps because Shen Hou saved his good friend last night, he treated Shen Hou even better than the Pwett brothers.

Faced with such enthusiasm, Shen Hou couldn't refuse, nor could he be indifferent. He could only bite the bullet and explain while gesturing: "That's called the Yakshi Seal, if I'm not mistaken, that should be the name; your fingers should be like this... like this... yes, bend down here and pinch, straighten out here..."

Sirius's clumsy imitation of the hand gestures was one thing, but Fabian on the other side also became interested, putting down his newspaper and extending his palm to imitate them. The result was obvious: their hand gestures were merely imitations, and the afterimages created by waving their arms had no real effect. Shen Hou "kindly" offered to demonstrate, but someone had to cooperate, which was met with a stern refusal.

"Then I can't help you." Shen Hou said dejectedly, picking up the newspaper on the table. But as soon as he saw the pages and pages of dense English letters, he felt a headache coming on. Suddenly being able to speak English was one thing, but reading it was another. He shifted his gaze from the main text, only glancing briefly at the bolded and blacked-out headlines, quickly skimming through it. But then, he glanced at a corner and his expression suddenly changed drastically.

After confirming several times that he wasn't mistaken, Shen Hou slammed the newspaper on the table, grabbed Sirius Black, pointed to the upper right corner, and asked, "What does this say?"

Sirius was puzzled: "These are the publication date and issue number, is there a problem?"

"There's a big problem... Are you sure the date on this is correct?"

Sirius looked puzzled, and after confirming several times, said, "Of course it's right, December 22, 1980. Christmas is just a few days away. What's going on with you?"

Shen Hou stared in disbelief, speechless for a long time. After a while, he stammered, "If I told you that according to the timeline of 1980, I wouldn't be born for another twenty years or so, would you think I'm crazy?"