On the outskirts of Hogsmeade, near the Forbidden Forest, seven dark figures abruptly appeared.
"Here again. I really don't like coming here at all. What if that fellow in the Castle notices us?" The instant a tall, blond-haired wizard wearing a silver mask appeared, he began complaining without pause:
"Was provoking him really a smart choice? He's certainly very old now, but I'm sure killing me wouldn't be much harder for him than squashing a bug."
"Allen, you're exaggerating. You would still be a tiny bit harder to deal with than a bug," a handsome, middle-aged man with White Hair beside him said mildly. His blood-red eyes gleamed with a chilling light in the darkness.
"Toreador, easy for you to say. Of course you can swagger around at night. Taking a couple of hits won't kill you. But for all your swagger, would you dare go into the Castle to find him? Would you even dare say his name here?"
The Silver-Masked Man looked very displeased with the white-haired man's teasing.
"No," the man called Toreador said calmly.
Had Harry been there, he would certainly have recognized them as the two men who had clearly held the highest positions on the winning side of the battle he had witnessed in the Forbidden Forest several months earlier.
Red King and Club King.
The other five wizards accompanying them were accustomed to the pair's attitude and did not say another word.
"You wouldn't dare, yet you're mocking me? If even you wouldn't dare, what about me? Just imagining that I might provoke him makes me panic!" Club King said irritably.
"We're not here to attack Hogwarts, just to try to provide a little backup. How can someone who works with the dead be so afraid of dying?" Red King said dismissively.
"It's