They had failed! After the Death Eaters withdrew from Hogsmeade, the atmosphere in the group was oppressively grim. Many of them secretly glanced at Yaxley from the corners of their eyes. Though no one said anything, that eerie silence seemed to be silently blaming Yaxley.
Death Eaters found it hard to tolerate failure, especially when it came to major matters.
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've all realized something is wrong. This was very likely Albert Anderson's conspiracy!" Yaxley knew he had to find a reasonable excuse to convince them and, incidentally, shake off the label of incompetence that might otherwise be pinned on him.
"That Dark wizard named Bochival was highly unusual. Many of you knew Morag, so you should know perfectly well that he wasn't weak. Perhaps some among you could defeat him, but there certainly aren't many Dark wizards who could beat him as easily as Bochival did."
"And then there were those Patronuses. I've never seen a Dark wizard who could still use a Patronus. Of course, perhaps such people exist, but they must be exceedingly rare. Yet we just saw quite a few Patronuses. There were..."
"Seven Patronuses 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 secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued spinning his tale. "No, right? Seven Patronuses appeared in Hogsmeade. Don't forget, everyone doing business there now is a Dark wizard. It's highly abnormal for that many Patronuses to appear, so I dare say it was that Mudblood's doing.