Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

0625 The Conversation

A pungent smell of blood mixed with a faint trace of rotten decay permeated the stale, musty air of the dimly lit room. Even without lifting the sleeve of Barty's worn, tattered robes, Bryan could easily guess the dire state of the gruesome burns inflicted by the Hungarian Horntail on Barty's arm. He gazed at Barty, his eyes filled with the concern and empathy for an old friend.

"I absolutely refuse to go to St Mungo's, Bryan—" Barty looked truly weak and fragile, his face was thin and haggard, and even speaking seemed to be an immense struggle for him, but he still maintained his signature icy, aloof tone that kept people at a cold distance. "The meddlesome Healers at St Mungo's will only needlessly exaggerate the severity of my condition. If I were to be admitted, it would cause far more trouble and complications for me than it's worth, surely you must understand that?"

Bryan pursed his thin lips, falling into a pensive silence for a brief moment. For an ambitious politician with the strong potential to one day become the Minister of Magic, maintaining a healthy physical condition was of the utmost importance. If unpleasant rumors were to spread that Barty had serious health issues, it could greatly impact his supporters' confidence and belief in him.

"I've personally concocted some highly potent, restorative potions for myself, which should be more than enough to effectively deal with any lingering troubles caused by that vicious, foul beast. But of course, as you can plainly see, Bryan, what I need most right now is uninterrupted rest and recuperation—" Barty glanced at Bryan, a distinct hint of dissatisfaction and irritation in his weary tone, as if subtly blaming him for rudely insisting on disturbing his peaceful recovery with this unwanted visit.

"But no matter what you say, Barty—" Bryan looked at him with deep worry etched on his face. "You absolutely need someone here to properly take care of your daily life and basic needs. Just look at the sorry state of this messy house! There's not a single log burning in the cold, empty fireplace, the water in the kettle is freezing ice cold, the kitchen counters are piled high with unhealthy Muggle junk food... I'd bet my wand there's still a big pile of laundry in your laundry room. This kind of living environment certainly won't help you recover quickly or fully. Seriously, you should at the very least find someone competent to take care of your fundamental needs and chores. Oh—"

Bryan suddenly raised his thick, bushy eyebrows, as if he had just remembered something important. His expression caused a barely noticeable flash of wary suspicion to flicker in Barty's sunken, shadowed eyes as he sat stiffly across from him.

"I just thought of something—" Bryan said slowly and thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "That house-elf you dismissed is currently working in the kitchens at Hogwarts."

Bryan's unexpected words caught even Barty off guard. He reflexively blurted out, "You mean Winky?"

"Yes, Winky," Bryan narrowed his sharp eyes. "After leaving you, this poor house-elf fell on hard times and had a bleak period of miserable vagrancy. Later, by chance, it stumbled into the kitchens at Hogwarts and began working there. Oh, but to be perfectly honest, it's not at all happy with its new situation.

It still deeply misses serving the Crouch family, misses the working for you. Seriously, would you consider showing mercy and taking the poor creature back into your service? I believe before that unfortunate incident at the World Cup, it took exceptionally good care of all your personal needs—"

"How very surprising, Bryan—" Bryan's intriguing proposal did indeed tempt Barty, but still he did not immediately agree to it. Instead, he looked at Bryan with undisguised wariness. "A wizard like you actually cares about whether a lowly house-elf that was kicked out is happy or not. This uncharacteristic sentiment from you really does surprise me, Bryan. If it were coming from Dumbledore, I certainly wouldn't find it so strange!"

"It's just a coincidence—" With a quick wit, Bryan showed a pleasant smile. "You see, a few young wizards from Gryffindor were attempting to sneak into the school kitchen in the middle of the night to find some petty excitement, but I managed to catch the troublemakers red-handed.

There's another house-elf there named Dobby who previously served the Malfoy family, but like Winky, it too made a mistake and was kicked out. Interestingly, this house-elf named Dobby knows Harry Potter quite well. Oh, it was him and his little friends who cooked up this plan to sneak into the kitchen. And Dobby and Winky are also friends. They joined Hogwarts together, so—"

Bryan shrugged nonchalantly. "When I heard Harry Potter and his friends confess to their silly 'crime,' I accidentally learned all about this curious situation with the two kicked out house elves."

'Let Winky come back—' Admittedly, Bryan Watson had indeed unintentionally made an extremely tempting offer. His earnest expression and casual tone did not seem to be an act or a lie crafted for some ulterior motive. After all, how would a wizard like him ever deliberately pay attention to or care about the plight of a lowly house-elf like Winky?

Yes, let Winky come back into his service. Winky was probably the only thing in this house that wouldn't utterly disgust him on a daily basis.

"All right, Bryan, let's do as you suggest—" After a long, pensive hesitation, Barty finally said in a low voice, "I must admit, it is indeed proving to be quite difficult for me to deal with my current situation entirely alone. If Winky is still loyal to the noble Crouch family and deeply, truly realizes its past mistakes, I can give it a chance. Of course!"

Barty glared at Bryan with sharp eyes, as if trying to use Legilimency to see through the very depths of his mind. "I agree to accept your proposal, Bryan. At the same time, I also hope you can keep this matter strictly secret. You know, if word got out that I've taken Winky back into my personal service, with your insight and political acumen, you must surely realize how much potential damage this would do to my reputation!"

"Barty, we're friends, are we not? —" Bryan smiled warmly but sincerely. "We've worked closely together for months and jointly made the revival of the Triwizard Tournament happen in the first place. I won't do anything against you. Oh, I'm sure your house-elf will be overjoyed at this second chance. But I'm afraid you'll have to wait a couple of days before I can secure its release, Barty. You see, only Dumbledore himself has the authority to dismiss Hogwarts house-elves from their contracts, and he's out on business for the next two days."

Bryan seemed genuinely happy that Barty accepted his proposal, but his heart suddenly sank. The guess he had made when he first saw Barty had been confirmed.

At that moment, the forgotten kettle on the dusty mantelpiece began to emit a gurgling, hissing sound as the neglected water finally came to a boil. Bryan walked over and carefully picked up the kettle, then rummaged around on the cluttered shelf above the fireplace. After a thorough search, he could only find a few stale, faded bags of plain black tea in an old, cracked jar.@@novelbin@@

"With the diligent care of a proper house-elf, I truly believe you'll recover much faster than you expect, Barty. I'm sure Percy will be thrilled to hear this wonderful news as well. You know, in order to keep the Department of International Magical Cooperation from falling into utter chaos in your absence, the poor boy has been under a crushing amount of stress and pressure these past few days—"

After swallowing his personal distaste enough to emit a politely dissatisfied click of his tongue, Bryan threw the sub-par tea bags into two chipped cups and brought the disappointing beverages over to Barty.

"Percy?" Barty looked a little startled at the name, his muddled mind taking a moment to place it. After a few seconds of confused silence, the light of recognition appeared in his eyes. "Oh yes, you mean young Weasley. Ah, that boy ... he's certainly very passionate about the work—"

There was a distinct trace of dissatisfaction in Barty's dismissive assessment. "Yes, very passionate indeed, but unfortunately he lacks experience and competence in dealing with many complex issues!"

Bryan smiled knowingly as he listened to Barty's opinion of his assistant. Then he straightened up and looked around the room with feigned nonchalance, as if suddenly seeing the place with fresh eyes. "May I use your bathroom, Barty?"

"Yes, yes of course. Down the hallway, second door on the left—"

Watching Bryan's retreating figure stroll away and disappear around the corner, Barty forced his lips into a polite smile, but once Bryan was out of sight, his left cheek twitched irregularly and a terrifying spark of madness flashed deep within his darting eyes.

Click— The moment the bathroom door closed behind him, the lighthearted smile plastered on Bryan's face vanished, replaced instantly by a grim expression of intense concentration. His eyes carefully swept every inch of the room, carefully examining and assessing every detail.

After ensuring that the bathroom held no surprises, he "saw" Barty sitting on the sofa sipping his tea, patiently waiting for his return.

With that, Bryan withdrew his focus from maintaining the image of the living room and fixed his eyes on the tiles beneath his feet, staring deeply into the floor with narrowed eyes as if he could see right through to the foundations of the house itself.

A tense moment later, his physical body suddenly took on a hazy, indistinct quality, then seemed to collapse in on itself, transforming into a writhing wisp of shadow that silently seeped down into the floor and vanished from sight.

The vast range of anti-intrusion spells and other devices intertwined into the stones of the underground room immediately reacted to the intruder attempting to bypass them. But before these protectives magics could fully trigger and lash out at the trespasser, a fierce glint of raw power flashed in Bryan's eyes.

With a swift wave of his wand, a pulse of immense disruptive magic burst from its tip, instantly freezing all magical surveillance flows in the room and temporarily paralyzing the defensive facilities guarding this secret space.

As Bryan resumed physical form in the hidden chamber, his eyes quickly took it in at a glance - as large as a Hogwarts classroom, but lined with more than a dozen shelves in the style of fine, museum-quality bookcases. Each shelf was filled with a collection of rare artifacts and antiques from across the wizarding world. Bryan even saw a golden gem the size of a goblin's skull displayed on an ashen-bank wood base.

Most of the items on the shelves were antiques from various magical civilizations, with a long history and extremely high research value. On one wall of the chamber hung many cold weapons that gave off a chilly light, with designs that were both elegant and beautiful, clearly crafted by the skilled hands of goblins.

Bryan only paused for two seconds in front of a shield that glowed with a silvery light, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. If he remembered correctly, this thing had flowed out from his hands. After that, he ignored the room full of collections that would drive most people crazy. He quickly walked to a dusty wooden box leaning against the corner of the wall. After a brief stare with narrowed eyes, Bryan raised his hand and slowly reached for the box's clasp.

*******************************
For More /FicFrenzy