The Butcher of Hogsmeade

"I did nothing. From beginning to end, it was a group of young people like you who were in charge." Dumbledore looked at his former student, not trying to hide his slightly contemptuous gaze. "Your master and his accomplices launched a series of attacks on the McKinnon and Burns families, which provoked Sirius. He knew that the Death Eaters were looking for the Secret Keeper, so he decided to expose his identity to prevent more people from dying for him."

Snape said angrily, "You should stop this foolish behavior. He's not only courting death, but he'll also drag Lily down with him..."

"That's what sets them apart from you, Severus," Dumbledore said, his voice calm yet powerful and resolute. "James, Lily, and Sirius—they made this decision together; they cared not only about themselves and their closest friends, but also about protecting many more lives—any one of them was far kinder than you."

Snape's face twitched, his anger barely contained, as he spoke with scorn: "Lily is the kindest girl I've ever met, but the other two... Hmph, don't act like I don't know them, and don't act like you don't know what happened in those seven years. Remember, if James Potter hadn't backed down at the last minute out of fear, they would have been thrown into Azkaban as accomplices in the murder."

"You are blinded by prejudice, Severus," Dumbledore said with a hint of regret. "From different perspectives, the same scene can be interpreted in entirely different ways."

"Stop with the pointless nonsense, Professor. I can get you the information you need, but you have to let me know your plans." Snape abruptly changed the subject.

Dumbledore sighed silently but said nothing more. Instead, he complied with Snape's request and briefly explained the plan he, Shen Hou, Sirius, and the others had devised: "We have leaked the information through a limited number of channels. If you can determine when and through which Voldemort received the information, it will be of great help to us."

Snape immediately understood the old wizard's implication: "You suspect there's a Voldemort spy among you, and you're trying to find out this way?"

"Given Tom's eagerness to have that child, they could indeed make a mistake on this issue, couldn't they? This is our chance."

Shortly after, the job seeker was seen out by the headmaster; perhaps by coincidence, Snape was seen leaving by the current Potions Professor Slughorn, who happily said to him, "I may have found your successor, Horace; he should be your best student in recent years."

"Hmm, yes, at least one of them." Slughorn's expression was meaningful, both enthusiastic and somewhat cautious. "Albus, since you've gone to Severus, why don't you think about bringing Miss Evans back?"

"Who says she doesn't? But she said she has to take care of the children," Dumbledore said with a smile.

Feeling like he'd been stabbed in the back for no reason, Snape wished he could fly out of the castle gates immediately.

In fact, Lily did not take care of the children that day. Instead, she and her husband rode the same flying broomstick to a remote coastline on the border of Somerset and Devon in western England.

"Doesn't Harry need anyone to take care of him?" Fabian was quite surprised by Lily's appearance.

"I haven't been out properly for weeks because of taking care of that little guy," Lily complained, half-jokingly. "Today I had Marlene look after him. I don't know why, but Harry is always happy whenever he sees Marlene; he never cries when he's in her arms."

"Shouldn't you two be enjoying yourselves some time alone? Why are you here with us?" Fabian teased. "And you, Sirius, what are you doing here? Marlene is taking care of Harry; maybe she needs some help."

Sirius Black, with a stern face, said, "We heard that the Auror Office had discovered new leads about pure-blood families trafficking Muggles, so our sense of justice kicked in and we wanted to volunteer to help. But some Aurors didn't appreciate it."

"What clues? You must have misheard." Fabian waved his hand dismissively. "The Malfoys are too clean-cut. What looks like an account book is full of coded messages. Scrimgeour called people to the Auror office to assist with the investigation, but it's obvious they won't be able to help at all. If it weren't for the testimony of the tainted witnesses that pinned those companies on their hands, they probably wouldn't even have been asked to assist with the investigation."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"The smugglers responsible for transporting Muggles have sent several batches of people, and each time they were asked to deliver them to this area, so we suspect that this is where the Death Eaters are building their army of Infernals; now we're using a clumsy, inefficient method: searching along the coastline section by section."

"How long will this take? Just the few of you?"

Sirius lost most of his enthusiasm upon hearing this. He looked around and saw only sparsely populated coastal cliffs and mudflats stretching to the horizon; a few isolated islands and reefs stood scattered on the sea not far away, the largest of which was only the size of a Quidditch stadium.

"That's right, it's only slightly better than finding a needle in a haystack. It might take two or three months to complete the journey, and we might even end up wasting our time," Fabian said. "As for manpower... the Auror office is never short-staffed. Scrimgeour sent us here probably with the intention of getting you 'volunteers' to do the work from the very beginning."

"Um?"

"Surprised? Yes, he's just as cunning as Barty the Elder." Fabian couldn't resist the urge to complain about his boss. "He knows about our 'little circle'—that's his exact words; so when assigning tasks, he included you guys in the Auror office from the very beginning. I dare say, if necessary, he'd even use Dumbledore as an Auror."

"He really dares to dream big. Why doesn't he treat the Minister's wife like an Auror too?"

"Because the minister might deduct his salary?"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

After listening to the two rambling fellows getting further and further off-topic, James had to steer the conversation back on track: "What exactly are we looking for around here?"

Gideon immediately replied, "A sufficiently large and secluded space can serve as a place for creating or storing Infernals; for example, a cave on a cliff edge or a dense forest, which may have been magically hidden and would require the use of a revealing spell."

Lily shook her head, not optimistic about this method: "If the mysterious person has hidden the place himself, the revealing charm alone won't be enough."

"So it's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Gideon sighed, but he was a little better off than Fabian and Sirius. "The safest way is to walk every place, every inch of ground, to find any hidden magic that might exist—provided that there really is such a hidden place."

"Are you sure it's around here?" James asked.

Gideon nodded: "As long as those two tainted witnesses aren't lying. The most difficult smuggled goods to transport are live magical creatures, and living people... are also living beings. If the Death Eaters' purpose in buying and selling people is truly to create Infernals, the best way is to send living people directly to the creation site."