Macnair looked at the furious crowd and shook his head, both exasperated and amused.
"What are you all doing? Who told you I betrayed the Dark Lord?"
Seeing Macnair's calm expression and natural demeanor, the fierce arrogance that had swelled under Dusko's lead suddenly stalled.
"Then why have you been staying at the Ministry of Magic all this time?" Amycus asked curiously.
Macnair pointed at himself in irritation. "Because I'm an undercover agent, one planted inside the Ministry of Magic specifically to provide you with intelligence!"
The Carrow siblings and the Death Eaters immediately understood. That did explain why Macnair had never returned to the Death Eater fold.
But this was not the result Marvolio wanted.
"Then why did you stand by and watch the Carrow siblings, and so many more of your companions, get locked up in prison?" Marvolio asked, feigning innocence from the perspective of a complete outsider.
"What?"
Seeing everyone's attitude shift again with just a few words, Macnair was both shocked and furious.
Was he supposed to say outright that he had followed the Dark Lord's orders and abandoned these Death Eaters as expendable pawns?!
It was not impossible to explain, but once he did, the relationship between the Dark Lord and his followers would be damaged. Even if he survived this ordeal, the Dark Lord would never spare him!
"I… I'm an undercover agent. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to do something like that!"
That made sense too!
The Death Eaters turned their eyes back to Marvolio.
As for whether "Dusko" was deliberately misleading them…
Please. If Dusko had really been hostile, he could have simply let them burn to death last time. Why would he bother bringing them out to vent their anger?
Marvolio, of course, would not disappoint his new underlings. He gave an "Oh," playfully drawing out the sound.
Then he said in a mocking tone, "So you gave no help at all to your former comrades and simply watched them suffer in prison?"
"Besides, as far as I know, everyone was hiding in that house the whole time and never saw a single piece of intelligence."
"So tell me, Mr. Macnair, where were you then? And what intelligence did you provide?"
"Or," he said, the corners of his mouth curling in amusement, "were you enjoying the security brought by the Ministry's Hunt, lying comfortably at home while watching everyone else suffer?"
The Death Eaters were instantly led astray by Marvolio's words.
That was right. They had nearly gone mad being cooped up in that house, and if not for Dusko, they would already have been burned to ash!
And you, Macnair, had just been strutting around Hogsmeade as if nothing had happened!
In an instant, all the rage the Death Eaters had been holding back exploded.
"Exactly! Macnair, what help have you ever given us?!"
"I say the undercover-agent business is fake. The truth is that you betrayed us!"
"Hah, this shameless traitor is still trying to fool us even now. Do you take us for idiots?!"
Facing his furious companions, Macnair had a mouth but no way to explain. All he could do was stand there, frantic and helpless.
Could these people not have slightly firmer opinions?!
"No, can't you use your brains for once? If I were really a traitor, would I still be standing here explaining myself to you?!"
"Fine, so you really do think we're idiots!"
Amycus flew into a rage and immediately pointed his wand at him. Macnair sensed that things were going badly and raised his empty hands, still trying to explain.
But Amycus had long since been itching to vent!
"Crucio!"
"Aaargh!"
Macnair let out a howl of agony and collapsed weakly to the ground, as though every ounce of strength in his body had gone into resisting that heart-piercing pain.
"I… really… am… an… undercover… agent… ah…!"
"What's he shouting?"
Alecto asked her brother curiously, but Amycus's face was already twisted with excitement.
"Who cares? A traitor deserves to die!"
When the surrounding Death Eaters heard that, they hesitated no longer and scrambled to join this trial of a traitor.
All at once, amid the Death Eaters' crazed laughter, the pain Macnair endured multiplied dozens of times over.
His voice had gone hoarse almost immediately, leaving him able to produce only silent whimpers. His sweat-soaked face was caked with dust from the ground, making him look as though he had crawled out of a pit of sand and gravel.
He no longer had the strength to wipe his face. Only the muscles in his body twitched from time to time under the extreme pain.
Watching this mad scene, Marvolio lingered at the back, his expression somewhat complicated.
"What? Feeling sorry for him?"
Tver's figure slowly appeared beside Marvolio. Unlike him, however, Tver's expression was far colder.
"Walden Macnair was, aside from the core group I formed at Hogwarts, among the first Death Eaters to follow me," Marvolio said, his voice a little hoarse.
If he were Voldemort, he certainly would not mind letting his subordinates be tortured in exchange for achieving his goal.
"But he tortured quite a few people during the First Wizarding War, even more than the number of Death Eaters tormenting him here now."
Tver mercilessly finished what Marvolio had left unsaid. His indifferent voice sounded unusually clear amid the Death Eaters' wild laughter.
"And the moment Voldemort fell, Macnair publicly claimed he had been under the Imperius Curse. Not only did he escape trial, but with his pure-blood connections, he even found himself a decent job at the Ministry of Magic."
"They really are judging a traitor. Only, he's a traitor to the Ministry of Magic. Come to think of it, if not for these Death Eaters, I would have had a hard time dealing with this dear companion of theirs…"
"I understand…"
Marvolio did not argue. To pity Macnair now would be disrespectful to the victims he had tortured.
He was merely feeling somewhat rueful. A subordinate who had once been so loyal to him was now being suspected by companions who should have watched over and helped him, and was even being driven to mutual slaughter by Tver's scheme.
But Death Eaters were Death Eaters after all. Brutality would always be the deepest desire in their hearts, and death was the fate they deserved.
"Enough about him. What about you? I thought I sensed Voldemort's aura just now."
"That's right."
At this, Tver's expression grew much more serious.
"At first, I only wanted to confirm Macnair's identity and see whether I could follow the trail to drag out the Death Eaters hiding in Britain."
"But then," he exhaled, as if only now easing the heavy tension from moments ago, "Voldemort had actually been nearby all along. In fact…"
"He's hiding in Hogwarts!"
It was not that they had never guessed at Voldemort's whereabouts. It was just that, all this time, Voldemort had paid very little attention to those Death Eaters, making everyone think he did not often remain in Britain.
But judging from Voldemort's conversation with Macnair just now, whatever he had arranged at Hogwarts was already worth him staying hidden there all this time, even at the cost of so much time and effort.
"Voldemort?" Marvolio's expression also turned grave. Even though Macnair had nearly been tortured to death, it could not draw the slightest interest from him now.
"What is he hiding in Hogwarts for? To attack Dumbledore? But would that old man really not notice?"
"I don't know." Tver shook his head.
"If Voldemort is determined to hide, even Dumbledore may not detect anything unusual. After all, there are still many places in the castle that even Dumbledore has never noticed."
Places like the Chamber of Secrets and the Room of Requirement were also unknown to Dumbledore before. In fact, busy people like Dumbledore and Tver simply did not have that much time or energy to explore the castle.
Only students like Sirius, the Weasley twins, and Voldemort, who were exceptionally curious about the castle, would have the leisure to go adventuring through it.
So it was perfectly normal for them to know places others did not.
After thinking for a while, Marvolio, based on his understanding of Voldemort, also felt this was highly possible.
One could even say that if he and Voldemort played hide-and-seek in the castle, neither of them would ever be found.
"Forget it. Leave troublesome matters like that to big shots like you to think about," he said, shaking his head with a headache. "What about me?"
He pointed at the Death Eaters roaring with laughter and said, "Today's game seems to have gone pretty well. Who's the next target? Those traitors again?"
A cruel, wicked smile curled at the corner of Tver's mouth. This was a perfect opportunity to clear out undercover agents. How could he possibly let it pass?
"That depends on which little mouse gets caught next…"