The Butcher of Hogsmeade

From a third-party perspective, Shen Hou could understand Mr. Piastrelli's anger: it was the Aurors and a few civilian volunteers who stopped the Death Eaters' atrocities in time and protected the civilian wizards; if the captured prisoners could be interrogated to obtain valuable confessions, there might be other gains as well.

The crackdown on Death Eaters has garnered all the attention from the Law Enforcement Division, but what about the Accident and Disaster Division?

You put in a lot of effort and resources to quell the risks exposed to the magical world, and you work hard to clean up the mess for the Aurors. When you finally get to shine, will people remember to include you?

What a sucker!

Therefore, it was to be expected that the two directors would part on bad terms.

However, upon returning to his office on the second floor where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was located, Barty the Elder immediately changed his demeanor; his previous protection of the Aurors involved and the so-called "civilian volunteers" was thrown to the winds, and he began to vehemently question the legality and rationality of the Auror's actions, with every word questioning Scrimgeour's on-site command.

"We discovered suspicious signs of an attack on civilian wizards at the scene of the search operation. After reporting to Director Scrimgeour, we were permitted to take preventative protective measures. As for the delay in reporting to higher authorities, it was partly due to time constraints and insufficient manpower, and partly because the evidence at the time was not yet sufficient. Only a small number of people could be deployed for preventative protection, and it was not appropriate to report it rashly. As for the civilian volunteers who helped, they did not want to reveal their identities to avoid retaliation from the dark wizards, and I think their request should be respected."

Gideon, in turn, refuted Barty's questions point by point, word by word, in a clear and logical manner.

Just as Barty had previously defended the position of the Enforcement Division, back within the Enforcement Division, Gideon also demonstrated an attitude of protecting the overall interests of the Auror Office.

This kind of thing is boring and frustrating, but it's unavoidable.

Barty was rendered speechless by Gideon's reasoned and well-founded rebuttals, and in his anger, he issued a warning: "Don't think I don't know about your little clique, Mr. Prewitt. Your little dealings with Dumbledore aren't unknown to anyone."

"Professor Dumbledore? I remember he was the chief wizard of Wizengamor and served as an advisor to the Ministry of Magic on many technical matters?" Gideon said calmly, defusing Barty's final accusation.

When Scrimgeour, the head of the Auror office, returned with three search teams, neither of the two bigwigs wanted to argue in front of their subordinates, and the dispute within the Department of Law Enforcement was dropped.

Scrimgeour was deeply disappointed that he hadn't captured Lucius Malfoy, but among the five Death Eaters he had captured was Travers, one of the Twenty-Eight pure-bloods, as well as Old Goyle, the youngest of the Malfoys, which somewhat made up for the Master's disappointment.

After a brief questioning, Marlene and her parents were allowed to leave. Shen Hou personally escorted her out of the Ministry of Magic, but saw a figure loitering at the exit. It was already night, and the sky was dark. Shen Hou even took out his wand, but Marlene took the initiative to run towards the figure.

Shen Hou looked again and realized that it could only be Sirius Black.

"I don't think this is a good time or a good place." Shen Hou looked at the two who couldn't help but hug each other, still behaving in his usual spoilsport manner. "You should find a safe place where no one can overhear your whispers. Of course, I don't recommend going to Marlene's house; it's not safe there anymore."

Sirius started his "strategic cough" again, and after a while, he remembered his purpose and said to Shen Hou, "Dumbledore has found a safe house for the McKinnon family. In addition, he wants to hold a meeting for the participants of today's operation, so he asked me to inform them. The meeting place is in Hogsmeade, the Shrieking Shack—the place where you first met me; the time is tomorrow night."

"That dilapidated house? I understand. I'll pass it on to Gideon and Fabian." Shen Hou waved goodbye.

The next day after get off work, Shen Hou revisited the place and, as promised, arrived at the Scream Shack with the Pwitt brothers. The damage caused by "Werewolf Night" had been largely repaired, but the shack still looked more dilapidated than before.

Sirius Black was already waiting in the shed. Upon seeing the Pewter brothers and Shen Hou, his first question was, "Have the Death Eaters we captured confessed?"

"They admitted to the home invasion, but claimed they only wanted to scare the McKinnon family because they had an 'unreasonably friendly attitude' towards Muggle-born wizards and had lived in the Muggle community for generations, so they might be able to betray wizarding secrets. In short, they admitted to disturbing the peace and that the dispute was caused by political stances, but evaded all serious crimes."

"Shameless!" Sirius's face darkened. "Nine out of ten Death Eaters use this excuse to argue their case, and the last one is only silenced because the evidence is irrefutable."

Just then, James arrived at the Screaming Shack, along with Marlene.

"Giddyon, Fabian, Shen, Lily asked me to thank you. You saved her best friend." James hugged the three people who deserved the most credit as soon as he saw them. "She wanted to come in person, but Harry woke up from his nap and started crying."

Soon after, Stogee, Emilyne, and Dumbledore arrived.

"Time is of the essence, so I will try to keep it brief," Dumbledore said, standing in the middle of the crowd. He glanced at Marlene and then looked around at everyone. "You were all involved in what happened yesterday, and you all heard about the Death Eaters' purpose from Miss McKinnon, but there are certainly many of you who do not yet understand the reasons behind it. Therefore, I think it is necessary to gather everyone here to explain the situation."

Everyone listened quietly; the shed was as quiet as a Hogwarts classroom.

"I have received credible intelligence that Voldemort..." Dumbledore paused deliberately when mentioning the name, giving everyone present time to compose themselves, "is currently taking action against the Potter family. The attack on Miss McKinnon was merely to extract information about the Potter family from her; since receiving the news, the Potters have been protected by the Faithful Charm, and the Death Eaters cannot find the three of them."

Emily suddenly realized: "They think Marlene might be the Potter family's secret clerk? Just because she's Lily's best friend?"

"Perhaps so, but even if Marlene isn't, they'll try to find out from her who the real Secret Keeper is." Dumbledore's expression was calm, but his tone was serious. "In other words, anyone close to the Potters could be a potential target of the Death Eaters, regardless of whether he or she is involved in the fight against the Death Eaters."

"So who is the secret agent?" Stogee asked James.

"It's me," Sirius said in a deep voice.

Stogi understood immediately: "Yes, I don't need to ask, it must be you."

Sirius's eyes flickered, as if he were engaged in a fierce internal struggle, which he quickly resolved; he looked at Dumbledore and suddenly asked a startling question: "Professor, do you have a way to spread the word as quickly as possible that I am a Secret Agent?"