The Butcher of Hogsmeade

As everyone feared, the search quickly became lengthy and tedious, each step filled with frustration. In this work that required searching step by step, inch by inch, the wizards' pride in their high mobility and efficiency vanished, making it even more difficult than for Muggles.

Muggles at least have the advantage of population; if they really get serious, they can use people to cover any field in a carpet search.

Soon, Sirius was the first to slack off; he first went to bother James, but seeing that James and Lily were more focused on the search, he turned back to bother Shen Hou. Somehow, the topic turned to Apparition; upon hearing Shen Hou say he admired Apparition's high mobility, Sirius immediately offered to teach him on the spot.

"Stop fooling around, this isn't a school," Gideon sternly stopped the two of them. "None of us have professional therapists."

Shen Hou was always timid when it came to learning and using magic, especially after the "Black Lake Burning" incident a few days ago. He became even more cautious and careful, like a studious but honest good boy. Now that Gideon had expressed his opposition, Shen Hou ignored Sirius's disappointed look.

That said, no one knows whether Sirius's disappointment stemmed from the loss of a teaching opportunity or from the loss of a readily available guinea pig.

The day's search ended in exhaustion and with nothing to show for it.

"I'm not coming no matter what. Let Stodgi come instead, or call Peter." Sirius was still muttering as he left with James and Lily.

Not only on the first day, but for the next few days, every day was a wasted effort. For Shen Hou, these days were not entirely without gains. For example, the number of spells he mastered increased by leaps and bounds; he learned several spells for investigating hidden magical traps and evil curses, such as "Manifest Human Form," "Quickly Reveal Form," and "Reveal True Form."

However, some trouble arose when learning spells. The root cause was Shen Hou's overly volatile and uncontrollable magical power. When learning the "Super Sense Charm" to enhance his perception, he accidentally turned a spell meant to buff himself into a debuff. With the Super Sense Charm on him, a gust of wind felt like being cut with a knife, and coughing felt like a thunderclap inside his skull. To make matters worse, there were strong winds and waves at the beach...

In Fabian's words, Shen Hou's use of the Extrasensory Charm completely changed the history of the Auror Office's lack of "legal interrogation magic." Having Shen Hou use this spell on a suspect, then even a casual poke with his finger would become torture, and afterwards, a Flashback Charm would only show an Extrasensory Charm, making it impossible for Wizengamo to convict you.

Shen Hou could only hide in a sheltered place for several hours until the effect of the spell wore off before he dared to move around again, thus wasting an entire morning.

Fortunately, it wasn't all bad news. Dumbledore sent an owl with a letter, using a code to inform Shen Hou and the Prewitt brothers that it had been basically confirmed that Barty Crouch Jr. was Voldemort's man.

"Good heavens!" Fabian exclaimed. "If this news were told to Scrimgeour, he would be so happy that he would do a Tarantella dance without even needing the Dance Charm."

Dumbledore suggested that Barty Jr.'s true identity should not be revealed for the time being, and that he should remain at the Hogsmeade Post Office.

Fabian asked, puzzled, "Why, to protect Old Barty? That guy's always getting on our nerves."

"Dumbledore thinks a spy whose identity has been exposed will be very useful in the future. Barty the Younger will be a reliable mouthpiece, and perhaps one day he can 'help' us mislead the Mysterio. He has already had someone keep an eye on that young man. As long as he is in the post office, he will be under Dumbledore's control." Gideon casually burned the letter.

Without much explanation, the Pwitt brothers and Shen Hou both thought of Pig Head Bar; that dilapidated two-story building was only one street away from the post office, and if the owner just kept the windows on the wall facing the post office shiny, he could monitor the activities across the street without even going out.

Strangely, for the remainder of February, the British magical community fell into a long-awaited state of "calm".

The Death Eaters seemed to have become cowards, with no new terrorist attacks reported for two or three weeks. The Ministry of Magic's investigation into the smuggling activities of the pure-blood families fizzled out; although they had gathered a lot of evidence, none of it was enough to throw them in Azkaban, at most resulting in fines.

The Death Eaters arrested for attacking the McKinley farm were convicted, but the Wizengamor inquisitors were unable to detect any signs of the use of the Unforgivable Curse on their wands. Although the charges of trespassing and violently restricting personal freedom were serious, they were ultimately considered attempted crimes, and the maximum penalty was only a few years in prison.

Even an organization like the Order of the Phoenix, which is relatively less constrained by procedures, was at a loss. Faced with the Death Eaters who had retreated into their shells, they were indeed like a mouse trying to pull a turtle, with nowhere to start.

During an after-get off work gathering, Sirius couldn't help but complain, "That's weird. Why have those disgusting guys suddenly gone quiet? I've been on high alert every day for weeks, and it's all for nothing. Hey, Shen, are you still being hunted down by gamblers from underground casinos?"

"I haven't seen a strange wizard for weeks," Shen Hou said. "I've been wandering around the beach, and I haven't even seen many of my colleagues from the Auror office, let alone a dark wizard."

"Has the one-month betting period ended yet?"

"Two weeks have passed, and quite a few dark wizards have lost everything this time." Shen Hou laughed with malice towards gamblers. "I ran into Mundungus on my way back to the safe house yesterday. He said the underground gambling dens stopped accepting new bets a long time ago, and this time the bookmakers almost wiped them all out; the number of people who bet that I would live for a month could be counted on one hand. Mundungus was almost crying when he said that."

"Don't pity that guy. He'll always find some crooked way to make back the money he lost."

"I won't pity a gambler, but this gambler can be useful sometimes," Shen Hou said. "He seems to know some inside information, and he knows why the Death Eaters and the dark wizards have behaved themselves."

"What did he say?" Sirius's dejected expression vanished.

"He said that not long ago... about a month before the gambling deadline, Lucius Malfoy, after changing his appearance, frequently appeared in several black markets, but this time he was turned away by the gamblers and no one paid him any attention."

"They won't even take the money? That's not like the behavior of those desperados."

"It's said that gamblers all thought Malfoy was sent by the Ministry of Magic to 'fish' for them, deliberately encouraging people to jump into the trap. After all, the first wave of dark wizards who came with him to kill me were almost completely wiped out, but he, the organizer, managed to escape unscathed."

"That makes sense, but it's only because ordinary dark wizards don't dare to come. What does that have to do with Death Eaters?" Sirius asked, puzzled.

"The dark wizards are afraid of repeating the same mistakes, but aren't the Death Eaters afraid?" Shen Hou retorted. "The Death Eaters have probably realized by now that I was just bait deliberately thrown out by the Order of the Phoenix. My affairs had just calmed down a bit, and now you've been exposed to the Death Eaters again because of your identity as the Secret Keeper. What do you think they'll think?"