Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

0641 The Venue

"I'm warning you, Ludo," Bryan said yanking his hand out of Ludo's grasp. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes which made Ludo Bagman freeze in place.

"I've warned you about this before, but it seems I need to make myself clear again. If you continue to obsess over using the Triwizard Tournament as a means to line your own pockets, I can assure you that a cell in Azkaban will be the least of your worries."

Ludo opened his mouth as if to argue, his face was flushed with indignation. But before he could utter a single word, a sharp voice rang out from the stairs leading down from the third floor, cutting through there tense silence.

"Who's there?!" the voice said, causing both men to freeze in their places.

Ludo's eyes widened in panic, and he snapped his mouth shut, his earlier boldness disappeared like mist in the morning sun.

Bryan, on the other hand, simply narrowed his eyes, his expression shifted to composed disinterest in the span of a heartbeat. With a final, warning glare at Ludo, he adjusted his robes and stepped out from behind the tapestry, coming face to face with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they walked down the stairs.

"Ah, fancy meeting you three here," Bryan said smoothly, his lips curved into a warm, genuine smile as he took in the sight of the trio. "What a pleasant surprise."

The one who had shouted was Hermione. Seeing the radiant looking young girl on the stairs, even Bryan couldn't help but look at her with surprise.

Hermione looked entirely different from this morning and all her previous time at Hogwarts. She seemed to have done something to her hair - it was no longer bushy, but had become sleek and shiny, twisted up into an elegant bun at the back of her head. She wore robes made of floaty, pale periwinkle-blue material. Her overall air had also transformed dramatically, perhaps due to shedding her usual crammed bookbag and heavy wizard's robes.

Standing beside Hermione, Harry was equally tall and spirited. Perhaps due to his training, the teenage boy was sharp while also exuding fitness and composure.

In comparison, Ron's styling was indeed, uh-- mainly due to his vintage-style dress robes.

Very clearly, Ron likely knew his lackluster image himself. As the three walked down the stairs, he subconsciously distanced himself from Harry and Hermione, and his gaze kept darting away from Hermione, as if he didn't quite dare to look at her.

Seeing the three young wizards before him who were now not much shorter than himself, Bryan was in a moment of trance.

Two years ago, when he had just returned to Hogwarts, these three young wizards were only 'little ones' as tall as his chest. Time flew by in a blink. And before he knew it, these little ones had already grown so much!

Lost in his ponderings, Bryan almost didn't notice the way Harry and his friends were studying him in return, their eyes widened in surprise as they took in his own 'transformed' appearance.

Gone were the worn, dull robes he usually wore, replaced by a set of impeccably tailored dress robes in midnight blue. His hair had also been combed and styled into a neat, sophisticated coif that gave him an air of youthful vitality and charm.

In their usual school days, Professor Watson mostly only wore some worn-out robes. Perhaps because of Professor Watson's transcendent magical abilities and his typically calm demeanor, he always gave the young wizards the false impression that he was very old.

However, with his hair tidied up and changed into a youthfully styled set of dress robes, Professor Watson looked like a dazzling celebrity of some muggle films.

For perhaps the first time, the trio seemed to realize that the age gap between themselves and their professor was not as huge as they had always assumed. Beneath the calm face and the aura of power that clung to him like a second skin, Professor Watson was still a young man himself in his 20s.

"Oh, Professor, I... I'm so sorry," Hermione stammered, her earlier boldness faltering as she realized who she had just shouted at. "I didn't realize it was you."

After seeing Professor Watson walk out from behind the tapestry, Hermione's imposing manner instantly weakened. She lightly pursed her lips, then said softly, intending to lower her head, but her gaze couldn't break away from Professor Watson.

Before Bryan could respond, however, Ludo Bagman came leaping out from behind the tapestry, his face was split in a wide, beaming grin as he caught sight of Hermione.

"Aha! If it isn't our youngest champion!" he exclaimed, as his voice was booming in the silence of the corridor. "And don't you look absolutely stunning tonight, my dear!"

It was clear that Ludo hadn't noticed the change in Hermione's demeanor, the way she seemed to exude a newfound confidence that had been absent during the first task of the tournament. In his view, the Hermione appearing before his eyes was glowing with an enchanting golden radiance!

Ludo's sudden appearance left the trio a bit startled. Before they could react, Ludo had skirted around Bryan, creeping up with his beaming grin.

"So, Miss Granger," he said, his voice dripping with false friendliness, "how goes the research?"

"I... what?" Hermione blinked, caught off guard by the sudden change in topic.

"The golden egg, that golden egg!" Ludo prompted, his eyes glinting with a predatory eagerness. "The clue for the second task of the tournament. Have you managed to crack it yet? Any leads on what you might be facing next?"

"Oh, um..." Hermione struggled to voice a response as her face seemed to flush a bit red in embarrassment. But before she could come up with a suitable answer, Bryan stepped in, his voice was crisp and imposing as he gave Ludo a sharp look.

"I hardly think this is the time or place for such discussions, Ludo, It's Christmas, after all. Surely we have more pressing matters to attend to than pressing our champion about the next tournament task."

Bryan gave Ludo a threatening glance, then waved Harry and the others over. "Come along, you three. Let's head down to the entrance hall and give your classmates a chance to admire your fine attire, shall we?"

With that, he set off down the stairs, Ludo was trailing reluctantly in his path as Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also a few steps beside him.

By the time they reached the entrance hall, it was already packed to the brim, and the air was flooded with the scent of perfume and the hum of excited chatter.

Even though the vast majority of students below fourth year were not in the Great Hall, the number of people here seemed to have multiplied several times over. The students were no longer uniformly in black robes, but were all wearing dress robes of various colors and styles. This also left Bryan's gaze sweeping over face after face, feeling wave after wave of emotion.

"Hey, Harry, over here!"

Seeing them come down, Fleur, waiting in the crowd, waved her arm.

Fleur was indeed wearing that silk gown from Gladrags wizardwear. Set off by her innately exquisite facial features and the sparkling light of the diamonds adorning her gown, She was, without a doubt, the most breathtakingly beautiful girl in the room, her delicate facial features and silvery-blonde hair also gave her an almost otherworldly superiority that left the boys in the crowd gaping and the girls seething with envy.

When she took an elegant step forward, the crowd parted automatically. The boys' gazes simply couldn't leave her.

As she passed by Bryan, Fleur lifted her chin, exposing the column of her neck in a gesture that was both coquettish and bold. She fought the urge to glance in his direction, as she focused all her attention on Harry, who looked like he wanted nothing more than to sink through the floor and disappear.

"You look very 'andsome tonight, 'Arry," she hummed linking her arm through his, ignoring his feeble attempts to remove himself from her grasp.

Harry's face flushed with discomfort, and he opened his mouth to protest, only to catch sight of Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang looking his way from across the room. All of a sudden, he no longer wanted to struggle.

"Yeah, uh... you look nice too," he mumbled, his eyes darting away from Fleur's dazzling smile.

Fleur of course also noticed Hermione. She hadn't expected this plain little girl to look quite well after properly dressing up. She commented in surprise. "Oh, you don't look bad yourself--"

As for Ron, he was completely ignored by her.

Meanwhile, Bryan and Ludo had made their way to the front of the Great Hall, where the rest of the faculty had gathered in a loose semicircle. Dumbledore was deep in conversation with Karkaroff and Madame Maxime, their heads were bent close together as they spoke in low, urgent tones.

After leaving Dumbledore and Madame Maxime and exchanging greetings with the Ministry officials, Karkaroff immediately frowned at Bryan.

"What is the meaning of this, Bryan?" he said, his voice sharp with accusation. "Did I misread the date on my invitation? Is this really where we're meant to be celebrating Christmas?"

Karkaroff bared his yellow teeth, feigning surprise as he surveyed the dimly lit Great Hall and the restless young wizards.

Bryan, however, simply smiled, his expression was calm as he nodded his head towards Dumbledore and Madame Maxime, putting a polite kiss across her opal-encrusted knuckles before turning to address the assembled crowd.

"If you'll all follow me," he said, his voice magically amplified to carry across the vast space of the entrance hall, "please form a line and follow behind the professors. we'll now be making our way to the true venue for tonight's festivities."

The noise was instantly magnified tenfold. The students saw Professor Watson and Professor Dumbledore walking side-by-side toward the entrance hall, with Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff following beside them and their faces also showed puzzled expression. They walked out of the castle together.

Outside, the world was still a silent stretch of ice and snow, the chilly wind whipped through their hair and stung their cheeks as they trekked across the grounds. Many of the girls shivered in their flimsy gowns, huddling close to their dates for warmth as the boys courteously draped their cloaks and robes around their shoulders.

Fleur, in particular, seemed to be struggling with the cold, her teeth were chattering audibly as she clung to Harry's arm, her earlier composure and grace were all forgotten in the face of the bone-chilling temperature.

"What on earth are zey thinking, dragging us out into zis miserable weather?" she grumbled, "I swear, if I end up with frostbite…."

"No idea--"

Harry could only shrug helplessly; his own teeth were clenched tight against the cold as he tried to ignore the way Fleur's icy fingers were digging into his arm.

Harry saw Ron taking off his dress robes to drape over Hermione. He was hesitating over whether he should do the same, when the leading Professor Watson suddenly stopped and turned around, and said to them cheerfully,

"We're here,"

The young wizards, wishing they could tuck their heads into their clothes, all looked up. When they discovered that they were now at the shore of the Black Lake, frozen solid, they all had expressions of shock and confusion.

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