As Britain's only wizarding village, Hogsmeade still had plenty of wizards wandering about for fun, even after the weekend had passed.
But the appearance of one woman instantly caught the interest of a little girl by the roadside.
"Mum, a Werewolf!"
She tugged at her mother's sleeve, frightened but even more excited and curious as she pointed at the woman walking alone along the main road.
Her mother, an elegant witch, reacted very differently.
Startled, the witch quickly grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and pulled her close before looking in the direction she was pointing.
There stood a woman dressed neatly, even somewhat luxuriously. Her face looked a little worn, but she still gave the mother and daughter a strained smile to show she meant no harm.
The witch quickly recognized her as a Werewolf from her thick hair and the blue glow around her right wrist.
But she was also a Werewolf wearing a Werewolf bracelet.
After Mr. Burke's improvements, the Werewolf bracelet had already reached its fourth generation. In this version, however, the bracelet's color was especially conspicuous. Even on a winter night, its crystalline blue glow could shine through thick sleeves for everyone to see.
It sacrificed concealment of identity, but in exchange it provided powerful Protective Enchantments and control over malicious intent.
It was not only Werewolves who wore the bracelets. Even ordinary wizards wearing them could not use any dark magic at all.
Of course, normal magic could still be used, and the bracelet also came equipped with protective spells such as the Shield Charm. As long as they did not run into a powerful dark wizard, Werewolves could easily escape.
So after several years of subtle promotion in the newspapers, the witch's guard dropped by more than half the moment she saw that blue halo.
To put it bluntly, if a fight really broke out, the ones who ought to be on guard were the Werewolves.
The witch lightly smacked her daughter's outstretched finger in displeasure. "It's rude to point at people! Apologize to the lady."
Then, as her daughter apologized in a small, childish voice, she gave the female Werewolf an apologetic smile as well.
Still, although she did not object to the Werewolf's presence, she instinctively shifted her daughter a little farther inward.
After all, there had been Werewolves who used fake bracelets to gain people's trust and attempted to harm wizards.
Even if the Ministry of Magic had always managed to arrest those Werewolves afterward.
The female Werewolf repeatedly waved her hand at the girl apologizing to her, a smile of helplessness and surprise spreading across her face.
This was the first time someone had apologized for being rude to her.
She had thought she was already used to mockery, sarcasm, and days spent being despised by ordinary people. In the end, though, she still wanted to feel the warmth of the sun.
She pressed her lips together and blinked twice, forcing back the tears in her eyes. After that, her smile grew even brighter, like a sunflower trying to catch the sun's attention.
In truth, she was only a twenty-year-old girl.
"If this had been ten years ago, I never would have believed Werewolves could walk openly through Hogsmeade."
Watching this beautiful scene, Barty, who was sitting by the roadside, said this to Tver, who was drinking a cold beverage beside him.
"What about five years ago?" Tver asked, tilting his head slightly, the joy on his face completely undisguised.
Barty immediately grinned. "I still wouldn't have believed it."
To be honest, even Tver himself had not expected the Werewolf bracelet to achieve such good results so quickly.
The results here did not refer to the bracelet itself, but to the change it had brought to the wizarding world's view of Werewolves.
To make it easier to take advantage of the abundant herb resources Helga had left in the Forbidden Forest, the Potions Workshop and Herb Greenhouse had both been set up on the other side of the forest.
Naturally, that put them relatively close to Hogsmeade.
So after the Werewolf bracelet was improved, Lupin suggested personally leading occasional groups of model Werewolves to Hogsmeade for a stroll after the night of the full moon.
He simply had not expected that in less than a year, Werewolves would already be able to visit Hogsmeade on their own.
Of course, this was also right after the night of the full moon, when Werewolves were at their weakest.
"But I have to say, I'm starting to look forward to the change you talked about. That means I won't concern myself with where the potions from your Potions Workshop are going," Barty said, his expression complicated.
Ever since learning about Tver's plan to overthrow the Secrecy Act, Barty had been somewhat reluctant to meet with him.
He was afraid Tver would say he intended to lead the British Ministry of Magic in ruling the world.
But after learning more, Barty was barely able to breathe a sigh of relief.
The good news was that Tver had no intention of ruling the world. Or rather, he was too lazy to rule the world.
The bad news was that Tver's plan had already begun moving forward, and it was unstoppable. With or without him, the plan would continue.
"But what I care about is this. What happened with Macnair?" Barty said, sounding rather dissatisfied.
He knew about Marvolio's plan to infiltrate the Death Eaters. In fact, he had been pleasantly surprised by the plan and had supported Marvolio's actions almost wholeheartedly.
But a Ministry employee being tortured into madness was not part of it.
Although the official explanation was that Macnair was an undercover agent sent by the Death Eaters, which was indeed true, the other Ministry employees had still inevitably fallen into panic.
When the previous Hunting Plan had been underway, the Aurors had suffered some losses, but the Ministry, and the entire wizarding world, had actually become much more stable than before.
Now the situation seemed to have reversed. The Macnair incident had awakened people's lingering memories of terror from the last war.
Even though there had only been one victim so far, panic had still spread naturally.
Even Barty's image had suffered a little because of it.
"Gulp, gulp."
Hearing Barty's question, Tver first took a sip of his magical version of cola. His confident look left Barty both annoyed and reassured.
"This is the second step of the Hunting Plan. Let the Death Eaters help us hunt Death Eaters."
Funny enough, ever since Macnair had been tortured into madness by the Death Eaters, the first ones who could not sit still were naturally the Death Eaters hidden inside the Ministry of Magic.
To ensure they would not be retaliated against by their companions, some of them had begun quietly revealing their identities to the Death Eaters. Yes, to the Death Eaters now led by Dusko.
However, to avoid arousing Voldemort's suspicion, Marvolio had not acted immediately. He merely compiled those people's information while he was at it, then passed it along to Tver just as casually.
After all, with just one Macnair, Voldemort might swallow the insult for the sake of his relationship with the Death Eaters. But if one undercover agent after another happened to be removed, Dusko's identity would definitely no longer hold up.
"But the Ministry employees…" Barty was still anxious. Unlike Tver, who could simply leave everything to others, he was the one who had to manage the Ministry's affairs.
"Relax. I deliberately chose a time when your prestige is at its height so you'd have enough authority to push back against this kind of negativity," Tver said casually, biting the straw between his teeth.
"And besides, now that the Death Eaters have vented their anger, they won't take any action for the time being."
The greatest beneficiary of the Hunting Plan was, of course, the Minister of Magic standing in the spotlight, Barty Crouch.
So even though Barty had been in office for less than half a year, his prestige in the wizarding world had already surpassed Fudge at his peak.
A setback like this was nothing to him.
What Barty was really worried about was that Tver would keep striking at the momentum the Ministry had worked so hard to build just so Marvolio could integrate into the Death Eaters more quickly.
After receiving Tver's assurance, Barty immediately picked up his cold drink, which had nearly gone warm, with complete satisfaction.
"Gulp, gulp."
"Ah, holidays really are wonderful~" ×2
The two of them sighed in unison.