Parkinson is missing
After Snape received the news and hurried back to Hogwarts, and heard Amycus Carrow talk about Parkinson's disappearance, the face became even gloomier.
"When was the last time you saw Parkinson?" Snape asked with a frown.
"On Friday afternoon, he was teaching the fifth-year students as usual, but no one has seen him since then." Amycus called Vincent Crabbe, the captain of the special operations team, over and asked him to report the information he had just collected to Snape.
No one, whether it is the portraits in the castle, the ghosts or the students, has seen Parkinson after Friday, so it is impossible to determine whether the professor of dark arts disappeared in the school or outside the school.
The main reason is that Parkinson often leaves school on weekends. Except for black magic gatherings, Parkinson basically does not appear in front of students on weekends. Unfortunately, the black magic gathering this weekend was cancelled.
"Continue investigating."
After Snape asked the members of the special operations team to leave, he turned his head and said to Amycus, "I will contact Yacosley and send someone from the Ministry of Magic to substitute for the students."
"You seem to be sure that something has happened to Professor Parkinson?" Amycus was quite surprised.
"I'm just preparing for the worst."
Snape looked expressionlessly at the stirred dark clouds outside the window. It seemed that it was going to rain again.
"Worst case scenario?"
"You should have heard some bad rumors about the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"What rumors?"
"That position is cursed. Every year when he serves as the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, something happens and he cannot be re-elected." Snape said expressionlessly, "In fact, this is not a rumor, because this kind of thing does happen every year, but no one knows the reason. I..."
"So, you think Parkinson's disappearance is related to that ridiculous curse?"
Amycus interrupted impatiently, thinking that Snape's statement was quite ridiculous.
"No, I'm just in case."
Snape explained, "Because there was a similar case before, and the person disappeared and never showed up again."
"Could it be someone from the Order of the Phoenix?"
Amycus's meaning was self-evident, he was just short of saying directly that he suspected Professor McGonagall and her gang.
"We don't have any evidence, and Parkinson just disappeared," Snape seemed to see the uneasiness of the woman in front of him.
"When did you need evidence?" Amycus said grimly. "Use Veritaserum."
"Because from what I have known for many years, they would not do such a stupid thing, but if you insist." Snape did not refute, but took out a bottle of truth serum from the drawer and placed it on the table.
"This is the last bottle. I don't have time to brew this stuff recently."
"We can ask Horace Slughorn to help brew it!" Amycus said without hesitation.
"That will take at least another month." Snape said impatiently, "Go do what you have to do. Remember, it only takes three drops. I don't want to have to find a new Transfiguration professor when I come back."
"Where are you going?"
"To find out if Parkinson is really missing."
All the evidence pointed to a grim result. It was obviously not done by Professor McGonagall, so Amycus's "interrogation" was just a process.
"It's probably a curse because there have been similar cases before."
After Professor McGonagall drank the tea mixed with truth serum, she said something that made Amycus extremely angry.
In just one afternoon, all the students in Hogwarts knew about Parkinson's disappearance, and many students believed that their dark magic professor Parkinson disappeared because of the curse.
As if to celebrate Parkinson's disappearance, some students set off fireworks late at night.
There was nothing either Filch or the task force could do about it.
Where did Parkinson go? This has become another mystery at Hogwarts.
However, no one expected that their Dark Arts professor was actually at Hogwarts, but was locked up.
Yes, Parkinson was turned into a mouse.
Now he was put into an iron cage and taken into the Room of Requirement, and finally he had entered the gathering place of Dumbledore's Army as he wished.
"It's better not to let more people know about this!" Ernie said, looking at the mouse cage covered with black cloth.
"Or, give it to me!" Michael said suddenly.
"You're not going to kill it!" Seamus suddenly turned his head and looked at Michael with horror.
"No, no, I just want to continue raising it. Letting it continue to live as a mouse is the biggest punishment for it." Michael was in a very good mood.
"Maybe we should turn those Death Eaters into rats. They are not fit to continue living as human beings."
Ernie and Seamus both saw the uneasiness in each other's eyes, and both felt that Michael seemed to have changed.
…
“So, you turned Parkinson into a mouse?”
Albert raised his eyebrows and looked at Fred, who was a little embarrassed, and asked, "There shouldn't be any evidence left!"
"No, Parkinson is often not at school on weekends. I drank the Polyjuice Potion and showed up at the Leaky Cauldron. I believe no one would suspect that the Hogwarts professor murdered him. They would only think that Parkinson disappeared outside."
Fred was a little proud when talking about this, and he suggested to Albert: "In the future, if we defeat those dark wizards, we can actually turn them into mice and raise them. This way, we can not only avoid killing people, but also prevent those vicious dark wizards from continuing to do bad things, killing two birds with one stone."
"What? You don't want to be a joke shop owner anymore. You want to be a pet shop owner instead?" Albert teased with a smile.
"Isn't this a bad idea?" Fred asked doubtfully.
"Some things can be done secretly, but you can't do them openly. What do you think will happen if the Death Eaters know what you have done?" Albert asked back.
“They’ll definitely say I did a great job!”
Fred winked mischievously, knowing that Albert didn't blame him for that.
"It will definitely cause a new round of turmoil. You probably don't want a case like Hagrid to happen again!" Albert glared at Fred. "The bottom line of the Death Eaters is much lower than ours, so there is no need to compete with them to see whose bottom line is lower. We can't beat them."
"Don't publicize this matter anymore. Remember to remind the three of them. As for Parkinson, let him become a mouse to spend the rest of his life as a punishment for hurting the students of Hogwarts. I think this should be able to eliminate the anger in the students' hearts."
Albert had also had similar thoughts when Fred mentioned turning the defeated Death Eaters and dark wizards into mice. This was actually no different from his plan to turn people into homeless people, but this kind of thing was not suitable for too many people to know because most people's level of confidentiality was really poor.
If they were allowed to act so recklessly, the British wizarding world would surely be in chaos.
Both sides will retaliate against each other.
For Albert, doing so would not only be of no benefit, but would also attract firepower to himself, which would be completely not worth the loss.
Therefore, pretending that you know nothing is the best option right now.
…
"I heard about Parkinson's."
After Snape came out of the roaring fire, he looked directly at the man on the sofa and asked straight to the point.
"Old Tom saw Parkinson at the Leaky Cauldron over the weekend. He seemed to go to Knockturn Alley, and there has been no news of him since then." Yaxley pushed a folder in front of Snape. "There are five people on the list you want who are willing to take the job, but as you know, the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor cannot be removed even if the name is changed, so they are unwilling to accept this job for a long time."
"Parkinson's case has nothing to do with the Order of the Phoenix?" Snape opened the folder and took out a piece of parchment from it.
"Did you hear anything?" Yaxley asked, looking up.
"No, I thought it was done by the Order of the Phoenix or the Defense Association. Although similar cases have occurred before, Parkinson's disappearance is indeed very unusual." Snape tapped the table with his fingers and said, "You don't mind if I use your people!"
"You plan to continue investigating?" Yaxley was a little surprised.
"Yes, I think it is necessary. Just give me a small team and I will pay them enough."
Yaxley didn't object, which was considered as tacit agreement. He was just a little surprised that Snape didn't have any helpers around him, but when he thought about it carefully, it was indeed the case.
"Aurors?"
Snape finished reading the document in his hand, raised his eyebrows and said, "No Death Eaters?"
"The treatment you offer is not as good as that of the Ministry of Magic." Yaxley shrugged and said, "It's not attractive to most people. They would rather take advantage of the moment to make more money. The guys you have are simply unwilling to work for the Ministry of Magic, so they plan to try their luck with you."
"I need to meet with them to determine who is more suitable for the job."
Since the Auror was the one substituting for the students, Snape naturally chose one with a higher level.
After finishing Snape's substitute teaching job, Yaxley kept him to discuss the next private gathering.
Since the Dark Lord is not in Britain recently, the private gatherings of the Death Eaters are decided by Yaxley and Snape, the Dark Lord's right-hand men.
This is also the main reason why Yaxley is willing to give Snape convenience. The interests of both parties are not actually conflicting.
"Are you planning to mobilize the Death Eaters to suppress the unrest in Hogsmeade?" Snape had certainly heard about what happened in Hogsmeade.
"Yes, it's not a suitable place to continue the chaos there," Yaxley said seriously.
"That's fine with me, but will it really work?" Snape was not optimistic about Yaxley's decision. "I mean, this is probably only a temporary solution to the problem."
"There will always be problems, and I never expect to be able to solve them completely."
Yaxley knew very well that he had to solve the problem in Hogsmeade before the Dark Lord returned to England, especially since four or five Death Eaters died in one go. He had to give a reasonable explanation, otherwise he would be in trouble.