They had failed!
After the Death Eaters withdrew from Hogsmeade, the atmosphere in the group was terrifyingly oppressive. Many of them secretly glanced at Yaxley from the corners of their eyes. Though none of them said anything, that eerie silence seemed to silently blame Yaxley.
Death Eaters found it hard to tolerate failure, especially in matters of great importance.
Yaxley had long noticed the strange looks the others were giving him. He knew he had to say something.
"I regret the deaths of Morag and the other two, but... perhaps you have all realized that something was wrong. This was very likely Albert Anderson's conspiracy!" Yaxley knew he had to find a reasonable excuse to convince them, while also shaking off the label of incompetence that might be pinned on him.
"That dark wizard named Borsival was highly unusual. Many of you knew Morag, so you should know very well that she was no weakling. Perhaps some of you could defeat her, but there definitely aren't many dark wizards who could defeat her as easily as Borsival did."
"And then there were those Patronuses. I've never seen a dark wizard who could use a Patronus. Of course, perhaps such people exist, but they would be extremely rare. Yet we just saw quite a few Patronuses. There were..."
"Seven Patronuses appeared in total."
Noticing Yaxley's pleading look, Snape added expressionlessly.
"Yes, seven. Is anyone among you skilled at using a Patronus?" Yaxley looked around. Seeing that he had temporarily persuaded the other Death Eaters, he could not help sighing in relief before continuing his deception. "No, right? Seven Patronuses appeared in Hogsmeade. Don't forget, everyone going there to do business now is a dark wizard. It is highly abnormal for that many Patronuses to appear, so I dare say that Mudblood