“Ahem.”
A dry cough interrupted the conversation in the office. Snape turned his head to the left and saw a figure breaking into the previously empty picture frame.
Phineas hurried back to his portrait and reported to Snape, "Headmaster, Yaxley asked me to tell you that he will come to visit you after ten o'clock tonight."
"About Hogsmeade?"
"About Hogsmeade," Phineas said with certainty. "Yaxley seems to have just received some bad news. He looks very angry."
"I see."
Snape glanced at the clock on the wall, and after confirming that there was still nearly half an hour left until the time they had agreed on, he continued to talk to Dumbledore about recent events.
When he talked about his suspicion that Professor McGonagall and others stayed in Hogwarts for other purposes, Dumbledore in the frame also fell into a brief silence.
"Are you worried that Minerva will cause something bad to happen?" Dumbledore guessed what Snape was worried about.
"You know, I'm actually not interested in being the headmaster." Snape's voice was filled with resentment.
Ever since he became the headmaster of Hogwarts, he has been in constant trouble.
Especially after Hogwarts was asked to expel Muggle students, they have never been able to enjoy a moment of peace.
Moreover, in order to abide by the agreement with Dumbledore, he has almost become a professional person who helps those students who like to cause trouble for him to clean up the mess.
Dumbledore obviously knew how difficult it was for Snape, and quickly comforted him, "They don't actually have any plans."
Seeing that Snape didn't believe him, he continued, "Mr. Anderson used prophecy a long time ago to see that the final battle of this wizarding war would be at Hogwarts, so Minerva and the others stayed in school waiting for that day to come, and by the way, protected the students in the school from being harmed by the Death Eaters."
"Parkinson's disappearance has nothing to do with them."
"Apart from the Defense Society and the Order of the Phoenix, I really can't think of anyone else who would do that." Snape looked at the clock again, then looked at Dumbledore and said, "Besides, so many strange things have happened recently."
"Oh, what's weird?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The Dark Lord has been looking for the wandmaker Gregorovitch abroad for several months, and he is not going to give up yet."
"I remember we talked about this earlier," said Dumbledore.
Snape felt that Dumbledore was not telling the truth. Anyone who was not a fool should have realized that there was something wrong with this matter.
What exactly is Voldemort looking for
"Parkinson's disappearance without warning is very strange. The situation in Hogsmeade has also become unpredictable. Yaxley is actually planning to go to war with the foreign dark wizards who occupy Hogsmeade."
"I dare say you know why?"
"I don't know more than you, Severus." Dumbledore reminded with a smile, "I'm already dead. It's hard for a dead person to get information on his own. Without sufficient intelligence to support it, how can you make an accurate judgment?"
Snape said nothing, but it was clear he didn't believe it.
If things hadn't become inexplicable, he wouldn't have tried to get some useful information from Dumbledore.
"Sometimes if you change your way of thinking, you will find that many strange things are actually very simple," Dumbledore guided.
"Change your thinking?"
"Why is Voldemort looking for the Elder Wand?"
"Because he feels threatened by Anderson's rise." Snape murmured.
"Yes, Voldemort has even given up on killing Harry himself." Dumbledore nodded and said, "I remember you told me this yourself."
"Professor McGonagall's strange behavior is related to Anderson, so... Parkinson's disappearance is also caused by him, but why did Anderson do that? What benefit does it bring to him to make Parkinson disappear?" Snape raised his doubts.
"I don't know, but it might be related to him."
Of course, Dumbledore couldn't know everything.
"If Anderson intends to take back control of Hogwarts by controlling the Death Eaters, I suggest you talk to him first."
"I think you guys are taking the Dark Lord for a complete fool," Phineas interjected.
Dumbledore ignored Phineas and continued, "As for the matter of Hogsmeade, if you think about it carefully, don't you think it is very familiar?"
"Very familiar?"
"Back then, Scrimgeour's Ministry of Magic caused huge casualties to the Death Eaters. It can even be said that it directly dealt a heavy blow to the Death Eaters." Dumbledore reminded.
"You think Anderson is behind this dispute?" Snape couldn't believe his ears.
"He intends to destroy both the Dark wizards and the Death Eaters?"
"This is indeed something Mr. Anderson would do." Dumbledore sighed softly, "There is no such thing as coincidence in this world."
"How on earth did he do that?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask him yourself."
evidence
Sometimes there is no need for so-called evidence, just suspicion is enough.
The conversation was interrupted by the sound of green flames rising from the fireplace.
Snape was behind his desk, attending to the headmaster's business, when Yaxley emerged from the fireplace.
"Good evening, I hope I didn't disturb you."
Yaxley reached out to brush off the ashes on his body, took out his wand, pulled up an armchair for himself, and sat down opposite Snape.
"What do you need me to do?" Snape asked directly.
"According to the latest intelligence I received, those guys in Hogsmeade are planning to unite and rebel against us." Yaxley's face was extremely grim. "I plan to teach them an unforgettable lesson."
"Tell me about your plan," Snape said expressionlessly.
"I have gathered our people, along with the Dementors, and are heading towards Hogsmeade..." Yaxley told Snape his next plan, but the latter frowned after listening.
Yaxley's method is nothing more than to use force to intimidate the other party into surrendering, but will this really succeed
Snape could see Yaxley's true mood. He didn't want to fight the dark wizards who occupied Hogsmeade just to fight for it. If a lot of Death Eaters were killed or injured, it would be difficult to explain to the Dark Lord.
But Hogsmeade couldn't ignore it, otherwise the Dark Lord might think he was a loser who couldn't even do the smallest thing.
"I understand your concerns, but is this really possible?"
Snape felt that Yaxley had been in the Ministry of Magic for so long that even the way he handled things had become political.
"What's the meaning?"
"If it's the Dark Lord, it would be no problem for him to make those dark wizards bow their heads, but I'm afraid that's not the case for us, especially when it comes to their interests. They won't give in easily." Snape said meaningfully, "Don't forget, they are dark wizards from various European countries, not residents of the UK. If you want them to make concessions on their own initiative, you may have to rely on this. Also, don't forget that several Death Eaters have died before."
"So, you think only..."
"No, I just want to remind you to give up unrealistic fantasies and don't hold on to any luck."
Yaxley finally realized how ridiculous his previous plan was.
Their dark wizards are Death Eaters, not those hypocritical politicians.
"If all the dark wizards in Hogsmeade are against us."
Yaxley's face looked even uglier. Even if he added up all the dead Death Eaters, there might not be as many as the dark wizards on the opposite side. The fighting level of many newly joined Death Eaters was really mediocre, just like the Death Eaters who accidentally lost their lives before.
"If we don't have enough people, we can only use force to force the other party to surrender." Snape's lips trembled.
"We can also wait until the Dark Lord returns to deal with it. He might be happy to have another group of followers."
"No, absolutely not."
Yaxley would never allow himself to be labeled incompetent.
"I admit that the enemy is strong, but... it's hard for them to unite. With just a little bit of external pressure, they will easily collapse. No one is willing to risk their lives to fight against us."
Having finally tasted the power, how could Yaxley let it go easily? He decided to go all out and put all his weight on it, betting that the dark wizards of Hogsmeade were vulnerable.