Lys watched the scattered Death Eaters on Hogsmeade's streets as she walked toward Honeydukes, but they were closed.
The shop that used to be so packed you couldn't squeeze in was now cold and deserted. Dirt and dust that could be solved with a simple Scourgify had begun accumulating on the doors and windows.
Even the neighboring Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop was closed, with a notice on the door stating they only accepted owl orders from Hogwarts.
Lys raised her head, scanning from left to right—everywhere she could see in Hogsmeade was cold and empty, with barely any shops open.
Stunned for two seconds, she spun around and slipped into an alley, entering the Hog's Head.
Pushing open the door stained with grime and oil, Lys glanced around. Someone was dealing in poisons and clearly illegal potions.
The wizard gesturing prices with his hands noticed the strange witch staring at them and actually rolled up his left sleeve, trying to intimidate Lys with the exposed Dark Mark...
Lys looked away, rolling her eyes behind her hood as she walked to the counter. She mused that anyone could be a Death Eater these days—wonderful. If only there were more idiots like this.
That way Potter would be caught even later, or maybe never at all.
Lys had finished her alcohol and needed to restock. She looked toward the barkeeper, ready to order what she needed, when she inadvertently noticed his eyes.
Staring at the barkeeper's eyes, Lys drew a breath. She'd never noticed before—with glasses on, this barkeeper looked... somewhat like Dumbledore.
She shook her head with amusement. She was really getting stumped by her own questions lately, actually thinking for a moment that Dumbledore hadn't died but had come to sell drinks...
Looking at the bottles the barkeeper impatiently threw on the bar, Lys wondered if she was going mad...
Lys cast cleaning charms on the bottles before packing them into her bag.
She'd originally planned to buy them in Diagon Alley, but after the Dark Lord's personal visit to Gringotts—slaughtering most of the goblins who'd lost his things and tightening control over wizarding gathering places—Diagon Alley had been desolate as an abandoned village ever since.
She wondered what they'd lost to provoke such a reaction from the Dark Lord.
Surely not one of his Horcruxes?
Lys thought about it and decided that was impossible. The Dark Lord so despised and looked down on those goblins, those non-wizard magical creatures—how could he possibly entrust something so important to goblin safekeeping!
When Lys returned to the reading room, she found someone lurking outside. Frowning, she stood behind the person and glanced at the reading room's shabby sign—didn't look wealthy enough to be worth extorting.
"What are you looking at?"
Lys's voice startled the person, but they quickly flared with arrogance, demanding to search.
The reason: preventing anyone from harboring the "Undesirable Number One."
Lys took a moment to realize they meant the Savior.
Recently, everywhere wizards gathered—every street and alley—had posters of little Potter with "UNDESIRABLE NO. 1" written on them.
Lys glanced around and indeed recognized one of them as a Death Eater she'd seen at Malfoy Manor.
Given that her arm was too distinctive and shouldn't be seen, she couldn't use it as proof to avoid inspection. There were too many of them, and Confundus or Imperius Curses might leave flaws...
Lys simply opened the door and let them look.
Watching the leader's unique detection magic, that very night Lys went out with a bottle of Veritaserum and returned swinging a pocket watch to toss into her drawer.
A talent at breaking residential defensive magic and war magic, who'd broken the protective spells on many Muggle-born wizards' homes, causing countless wizarding families to be destroyed—being hunted for revenge was... very normal.
Surveying her reading room, Lys shouldered Gabon, sealed it up, and moved into a guest room at Malfoy Manor.
This way she could more conveniently overhear Death Eaters bragging about their missions and collect more 'pocket watches.'
Even while taking her soul-stabilizing potion on schedule, Lys still found herself somewhat addicted to this feeling of provoking the Dark Lord...
Even after meeting Grindelwald, Lys was no longer urgent to the point of losing reason.
Even knowing it was dangerous, she couldn't quite control herself. Secretly, Lys even hoped the Dark Lord would discover what she was doing.
As half of Lys's wish came true, the continuous loss of personnel enraged the Dark Lord, but he seemed to have more important matters to attend to. Beyond these affairs, he still had to find Harry Potter and the remaining Order of the Phoenix.
Why the Order of the Phoenix? Because when Lys eliminated a certain 'clever person' who'd targeted her, the message she left was:
"Support Harry Potter—the Order of the Phoenix has your back..." along with several pictures of Potter's head cut from the "Undesirable No. 1" posters...
According to nearby witnesses, two fireworks had even appeared in the sky—orange sparks lighting up above, forming the image of Harry Potter laughing and the words:
"Harry Potter! The true champion of the Triwizard Tournament..."
Even though the remaining Order members were being hunted more fiercely because of this, they still claimed responsibility.
Saying this was their member's work, shouting in leaflets and radio broadcasts: "Well done!"
They were even internally speculating which of them had done it, because they recognized those fireworks—they were the Weasley twins' private work.
But when they asked around, none of them admitted to it. Finally everyone agreed this hero was probably afraid of internal traitors and didn't dare come forward.
This made them even more vocal across various channels, supporting this hero in killing more Death Eaters... then drawing another wave of persecution.
Here, Lys gnawed on another of Fred's burnt cookies while grinding her teeth, looking at a leaflet on Lucius's desk—yellow and purple, with Harry Potter's big head particularly eye-catching.
This made Lys wonder if her brother had done this. The color scheme, the aesthetic—why did it look more and more familiar?!
She wondered how Fred was doing at school. Since he'd mentioned that Draco had fought with him over Harry Potter, she hadn't heard him mention Draco again.
Even when Draco's wand was taken by little Potter at Malfoy Manor last time, Fred hadn't offered to give Draco the custom wand he'd originally made.
Even now, Lucius hadn't had his house arrest lifted by the Dark Lord. He could only cower beside the Dark Lord, not allowed to leave for a single step, not even permitted to carry his own wand. In this situation, Lys thought Draco's excessive focus on Harry Potter was quite normal.
But then she remembered the equally yellow-and-purple "Constipation Pills" advertisement in the now-closed Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes shop window.
If not for another Death Eater seriously arranging Hogsmeade curfew patrol assignments nearby, Lys would have nearly laughed out loud despite her pursed lips.
"You—guard the Hogwarts gates when the time comes. Report immediately if you see anyone suspicious." While Lys was distracted chewing her cookie, that Death Eater helplessly assigned her a very easy job.
After all, why would a wanted person choose to walk boldly through the front gate! This task was truly quite relaxed.
Mainly, they really couldn't afford to provoke this Starlys Black. Who would want to mess with someone the Dark Lord couldn't be bothered to manage, someone who didn't distinguish between friend and foe in battle?
After the meeting, Lys went to find Lucius. She didn't understand why, after implementing curfews in all wizarding gathering places, they were now deploying around Hogwarts.
"The Dark Lord firmly believes Harry Potter will return to the wizarding world very soon, so you'd better be careful. The Dark Lord's punishments..."
Lucius had intended to warn Lys but shuddered first. "You know."
Lys looked at the exhausted expressions on Lucius and Narcissa's faces and nodded.
Yes, the Dark Lord firmly believed that very soon he would have news of Harry Potter. He could hardly wait...
Lys sat in a tree far from Hogwarts, holding Gabon. She raised her eyes toward Hogsmeade's direction, where cold, despairing mist hung in the air.
It seemed the Dark Lord was truly anxious, deploying Dementors scattered here instead of letting them ravage Muggle villages.
She was somewhat worried—did the Dark Lord really have some certainty and information?
Why was he so confident little Potter would return here?
"So frustrating," Lys said, stroking Gabon's chin. "I'd dare face him in combat, but he can come back—that's really disgusting."
"Absolutely disgusting." Lys picked up Gabon and complained while standing in the tree, gazing at the castle before her.
Half a minute later, Lys warned Gabon never to say she'd said this...
She was just one Dark Lord away from freedom, but now she was actually pinning her hopes on someone not yet of age...
No wait—the Savior boy was a year older than Fred. According to wizarding world rules, he was of age.
Lys flicked Gabon's tail tip, watching it bounce back and forth while thinking that he was still just a barely-adult brat.
Little brat, don't go poking your head out carelessly...
The threads of clues aren't so easy to grasp.
The bottom line of madness isn't so easily explored.
Give her a little more time...
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