The Butcher of Hogsmeade

Chapter 137 A Special Curse of Unwavering Loyalty, Brain in a Vat

"This 'Loyalty Charm' is unlike any we've seen before. It may be a long time before we truly understand the significance of this spell today." Dumbledore did not immediately begin casting the spell, nor did he even draw his wand.

"You mean, what is the significance of that locket to the mysterious man?" James asked. "We don't yet understand its specific purpose."

"You could say that I'm still trying to figure out Voldemort's intentions in creating it, and its effects. But before I cast the spell, I must ask you a serious question: you didn't tell anyone about that night or what happened afterward, did you? Think carefully, whether intentionally or unintentionally, was there any leak of any relevant information?"

The old wizard looked around at everyone, looking directly into their eyes as they answered.

The answer pleased Dumbledore greatly; as core members of the Order of the Phoenix, the young people had not disappointed the old wizard.

Without a doubt, the person who kept the secret of the Faithful Charm was Dumbledore, and no one would disagree with that.

"I recall you saying something like, 'Keeping the secret of an event is much more troublesome than keeping an address or whereabouts secret?'"

Before casting the spell, Shen Hou asked again.

Dumbledore readily admitted, "Yes. Whether it's an address or a person's whereabouts, it's a concrete entity with clearly defined boundaries for its confidentiality; but an event that has occurred may not have a specific and clear scope, especially when the event itself is extremely complex. The spellcaster needs to make a clear definition first, deciding which parts fall within the scope of the spell's confidentiality. That's why we need to gather all those who know tonight..."

"Because the definition I have made must be known and accepted by you."

"So what is your definition?" Shen Hou asked the question that everyone present was concerned about.

Dumbledore lowered his eyelids and remained silent for a moment. His expression was calm, making it unclear whether he was pondering, recalling, or making a final check before casting the spell. After a moment, the old wizard spoke.

"All the actions Regulus has taken to unite all his known and unknown allies in the fight against Voldemort will become a secret, hidden within the soul of the Secret Keeper."

Shen Hou pondered those words repeatedly, and everyone else did the same.

Regulus's actions against Voldemort were secret; the actions of his known allies—the house-elf Kreacher—were secret; and the actions of his unknown allies—the Order of the Phoenix who entered the cave—to fulfill Regulus's last wish were also secret.

From the discovery of the cave to the final destruction of the locket, this sentence encompasses every step of the process.

"If that's the case, then isn't there one missing here—a house-elf?" Sirius was reluctant to mention Kreacher's name.

"I know you don't like house-elves, Sirius," Dumbledore said. "But you should understand their traditions and believe in Kreacher's loyalty to Regulus; at least—at least try to believe. I believe he has done perhaps no less for Regulus than your parents."

Sirius Black chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "You can just say he's done more than his older brother, Professor."

His words still conveyed a sense of disdain for house-elves, but this disdain did not extend to Regulus:

Many people could even tell that he no longer rejected the identity of "Regulus Black's brother" as he used to, even though he still rejected almost all of the Black family's traditions.

Dumbledore smiled, did not respond to Sirius's last words, but instead raised his wand and began to cast a spell.

Shen Hou waited quietly, feeling very relaxed. Having already had the experience once, he thought this time would be no different, and the entire spellcasting process would be completed without him even realizing it. However, he quickly realized that he was wrong.

When Dumbledore waved his wand gently, Shen Hou was surprised to find that the old wizard's movements slowed down, almost to the point of stopping. He then realized that it wasn't that the old wizard's movements had slowed down, but rather that the flow of time had slowed down.

"No, that's not right!" Shen Hou looked at the tip of the staff falling at a snail's pace and denied his own understanding for the second time. "It's not that time has slowed down, but that my senses and thinking have become faster, dozens or even hundreds of times faster than the normal reaction speed of humans."

Two consecutive self-doubts, the birth and transformation of two thoughts, happened in the blink of an eye.

Before a third thought could even form, Shen Hou suddenly felt his consciousness being pulled away by an invisible force. In a strange sense of weightlessness, he felt as if he were falling an unknown distance. When he came to his senses, he saw something very familiar to him that he had just seen and touched during the day.

The brain in the vat in the Department of Mysteries, submerged in a water tank and dragging countless tentacles.

Seemingly sensing that Shen Hou was "watching" it, the brain in the tank suddenly floated to the surface, its tentacles spreading out in the air like a peacock's tail. At this moment, Shen Hou was horrified to discover that those tentacles were much more numerous and longer than the ones he had seen during the day.

Are there a dozen or several dozen? No, they are densely packed, countless, and stretching out infinitely, reaching to the sky and connecting with the earth.

Immediately afterwards, another horrifying sight appeared for Shen Hou. He suddenly realized that he was not standing in the Department of Mysterious Affairs, but in a pitch-black void; there was no solid ground beneath his feet, so how was he able to stand so steadily?

The moment this thought arose, the scene before Shen Hou's eyes changed instantly. He was no longer standing on empty air, but on a tentacle covered with suckers, the root of which was connected to the brain in the jar.

In a daze, Shen Hou felt his legs go weak. He wanted to jump out, but the suction cups on his hands seemed to be firmly attached to the soles of his feet, holding him in place.

Suddenly, countless bright lights appeared in the pitch-black void, twinkling like stars in the night sky; but strangely, each star was attached to the tentacles of the brain in the jar, some at the tips, some at the edges, some on the suction cups, some large and some small, some bright and some dim.

Suddenly, Shen Hou's vision began to blur; he felt himself become a star, clinging to the tentacles like the other stars. Starlight mingled, illuminating the other stars, and being illuminated by them.

Just as his consciousness was completely fading, many sounds began to flood his ears: breathing, heartbeats, swallowing, and the sound of wind whipped up by the waving of his wand.

The next moment, all his senses returned to normal. Shen Hou opened his eyes and found himself still sitting in the chair in the safe house. Dumbledore opposite him had just swung his wand all the way down to complete the Fidelity Charm.