The Butcher of Hogsmeade

The Butcher of Hogsmeade Chapter 139

Shen Hou suddenly woke up from his dream and sat up abruptly; the mysterious voice from his dream still lingered in his ears: "Do you want to know who sent you to the 21st century? —"

These words echoed Professor Kroc's conjecture during the day, layer upon layer, stirring within Shen Hou's heart: involuntarily, he thought of the Sphinx that had spoken with Voldemort, and then connected it to the Death Eaters' attack and robbery of the Department of Mysteries.

My time travel was manipulated and had a reason. It wasn't like the kind of random, unprovoked time travel often depicted in online novels, where someone is sent to another world to experience life.

Who is the mastermind behind this, and what is their purpose?

The truth of everything may lie with the owner of that mysterious voice—what did she just tell me to find?

The Inverness Weekly, Malcolm Gusley, and — 1906?

Damn, I'm in a wizarding world in 1981, how am I supposed to find a Muggle newspaper published in 1906? What do you mean the time is wrong? And who are those old men she's talking about?

Shen Hou cursed inwardly, greatly dissatisfied with the mysterious voice's act of pretending to be a riddle teller.

In the British wizarding world, only one thing can be called a "newspaper," the Daily Prophet; the so-called Inverness Weekly is merely a Muggle newspaper.

Shen Hou knew Inverness; it was a city in Scotland, probably the capital of some administrative district. The problem was, a newspaper published seventy-five years ago, and a weekly at that, meant its circulation wouldn't have been large. Even with Britain having one of the world's oldest newspaper archiving systems, what were the chances that such a local tabloid would have made it into the archives and survived to this day?

Even assuming the mysterious voice wasn't playing a trick on Shen Hou, and that such a newspaper did exist and contained crucial information, and even if that newspaper was indeed kept in some archive, Shen Hou didn't even have a legal identity. How could he possibly investigate? He was still an unregistered person in the magical world, only able to remain so thanks to the Minister of Magic's personal approval.

Should we use the Axii sign to sneak in? The effect doesn't last long enough!

Or should I use the Confusion Curse or the Imperius Curse? Leaving aside the possibility of being sent to Azkaban, the main problem is that I'd have to learn both spells on the spot!

Shen Hou's head was spinning: he didn't want too many people to know about this, because he didn't want to explain why he went to find a Muggle newspaper, nor did he want people to know that he had such a deep connection with the brain in the vat—the latter being the key point.

If those silent people in the Department of Mysteries, obsessed with studying magic, found out, who knows how they would deal with me.

Shen Hou harbored extreme distrust towards all mysterious people and things. When he was truly at his wit's end, there were only a handful of people he was willing to trust and seek help from, all of whom were members of the Phoenix Society.

Because of a strange dream, countless thoughts arose and disappeared in Shen Hou's mind that night. It wasn't until the middle of the night that he finally succumbed to sleepiness and drifted off to sleep. When he opened his eyes, it was already broad daylight.

With a belly full of worries, Shen Hou slowly went to the Auror's office to clock in. Seeing that there was nothing major happening today, his colleagues were either summarizing yesterday's battle against the trolls or discussing the attack on the Department of Mysteries. He then leisurely went out, took out his money and bought a Floo Powder from an employee of the Department of Magical Transportation, and flew directly to Hogsmeade through the department's fireplace.

Surprisingly, Barty wasn't at the Hogsmeade Owl Post Office; he'd probably been on the night shift and was off work by now. Shen Hou wrote a letter, which was delivered directly to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts by the Owl Post Office, and then returned to the Ministry of Magic.

The next day at work, Shen Hou received a reply from Dumbledore, delivered by an owl in the same manner.

To Mr. Shen Hou:

I have received your letter, and after careful consideration, I am delighted to accept your suggestion to help me receive Professor Kroc's report materials. Your offer is the most generous help for a busy old man, but I humbly request that you ensure the materials are complete. Please still inform me of how to forward the materials via owl mail.

P.S.: I have written to Professor Kroc informing him of this decision; you may contact him at any time.

The letter ends with the Hogwarts headmaster's personal seal and signature for security purposes.

Shen Hou put the letter away, muttering to himself, "No cell phone, no landline, it's so inconvenient. A spoonful of Filo powder costs two sieverts, which is cheap to send to someone, but a bit expensive to send a letter."

"What are you saying?" Fabian suddenly appeared out of nowhere, like a surprise attack, but Shen Hou was already used to it.

Because of the work group assignments, Shen Hou's desk was not far from Fei Bian's, separated only by an aisle and a partition from Gideon's desk.

Shen Hou casually made up a lie: "It's nothing. Professor Dumbledore gave me an errand to run to the Department of Mysteries to find Professor Crocker and retrieve some information for him."

"Oh, then go ahead!" Upon hearing that he was going to find that taciturn old man who hadn't left a good impression, and that he wouldn't encounter any danger in the Ministry of Magic, Fabian immediately lost interest and didn't question why this errand was assigned to Shen Hou.

After all, not everyone is familiar with the Silent Ones of the Bureau of Mysteries.

"I have received Dumbledore's letter. I really don't understand why he asked you to deliver it. I can send an owl to deliver it to him."

"Owls aren't safe." Shen Hou's tone was as calm as a seasoned Auror. "Attacking an owl is much easier than attacking the Department of Mysteries. Professor Dumbledore wants to be absolutely certain, and the best way is to have the entire process carried out by hand, but unfortunately, he can't get away from it."

"That's true." Professor Krock didn't doubt it. "However, the report isn't finished yet. It'll probably be tomorrow morning. I'll let you know by paper airplane then, and you can come up to find me then."

"Actually, I have another personal matter, Professor," Shen Hou called out to the silent man who was about to leave. "I came into contact with that brain at the Department of Mysteries a couple of days ago, do you remember?"

"Of course, I remember. You were entangled by the tentacles, and it was Dumbledore who helped you escape. So, that brain has affected you?" Professor Crocker's tone seemed unsurprised.

Shen Hou remained calm and continued to probe indirectly, "So you already knew that brain could affect people? The Silent Man wasn't on guard against Shen Hou. Perhaps he wasn't aware of this, or perhaps the information wasn't confidential. He simply said, 'That brain is used to study the relationship between consciousness and the soul. Contact with it can indeed have some impact on the level of consciousness. What's your situation?'"

Shen Hou pretended to recall the past, but in reality, his brain was working frantically, trying to come up with a lie that would best suit his current needs, both to fool the honest, taciturn old man in front of him and to get as much information as possible.