章 11: 011 The Hidden Edge
In the evaluations of Snape and Hagrid, Bryan Watson was seen as a low-key and withdrawn person, and even he himself did not deny that this was an appropriate evaluation.
However, this was not because Bryan himself was a wizard who rejected people from thousands of miles away.
You see, Bryan is an 'outsider.' Before coming to Hogwarts, he always thought that he had crossed over to a parallel world called Earth.
In the previous 11 years of his life, he spent a lot of time adapting to a country with completely different living habits and cultural customs from his previous life. He expended a lot of energy to pick up the knowledge he had mastered in his student days to actively prepare for the future.
However, the admission notice from Hogwarts disrupted all his plans, rendering his previous efforts almost in vain.
Why did he behave so out of tune with the surrounding environment in the first few years after entering Hogwarts? This problem is easy to explain.
First of all, the existence of magic directly overturned the worldview and values that Bryan had gathered for nearly 30 years. In those years, he was in a state of confusion. On one hand, he had to admit that magic really existed and worked hard to learn magical knowledge. On the other hand, he always wanted to use a 'scientific way' to explain the rationality of the existence of magic, which created a split personality within him.
Secondly, the plausible plot memories left in his mind also caused him pain.
Bryan knows that he is in an extremely real magical world, not in a juvenile book. Here, there are dangerous and vicious magical creatures, evil curses that cannot be guarded against, cruel and bloody dark wizards, and unscrupulous methods. There are conspiratorial schemers, base and shameless hypocrites.
Although Bryan remembered some names, he could no longer recall the plots derived from the characters in the story. Therefore, he couldn't directly judge whether they were 'good guys' or not.
Especially when he entered the Wizarding world, he realized his own weakness and powerlessness, and being vigilant towards anyone became his way to ensure his own safety.
To Bryan, the indifference and isolation of the Slytherin students were of little significance to him.
After all, his young body contained a mature soul.
Severus Snape was the only wizard he recognized in this school back then. The reason for this was inseparable from Bryan's embarrassing background.
At that time, Bryan was poor, and the small stipend from the school could not support his advanced learning progress, except to ensure that he could afford second-hand books and teaching aids.
To improve his financial situation, Bryan had to find a way to make some money himself. Since the second year, he began brewing potions privately for sale.
Initially, he could only use the cheap raw materials in the student storage cabinet to brew some simple potions, earning a meager profit over time.
It wasn't until the second term of the third year hat he received a big order worth 80 Galleons for brewing a long-lasting invisibility potion.
To be safe, he used the Disillusionment Charm many times to sneak into the restricted area in the middle of the night to search for information and asked Snape about the key to brewing this potion.
Bryan couldn't be careless about this. The person who bought the potion didn't provide the raw materials, and one tail feather of the invisible beast, the most expensive ingredient for the invisibility potion, was worth six Galleons. Five Galleons were needed to make this potion's tail feather, which would almost deplete Bryan's savings.
Unfortunately, things in the world often don't go as expected. No matter how well-laid plans may be, Murphy's Law always prevails.
Due to his inexperience, Bryan made a mistake in the dosage of powdered moonstone, causing the potion to fail.
Because of this, Bryan felt depressed for several days.
But just before the Potions class a week later, Bryan went to retrieve the materials used in the class and found a bundle of ten unicorn horns in his usual storage cabinet. This was a precious material that rarely appeared in a student's storage cabinet!
Furthermore, during the class where the Elixir of Euphoria was being explained, the nonchalant Professor Snape casually mentioned the invisibility potion to everyone.
This made Bryan realize that he was afraid that his brewing and selling of potions in private would be discovered by the always cold-faced professor.
Such situations happened several times later, but both sides maintained a high level of tacit understanding, and no one tried to break it.
Because of this, Bryan gradually began to trust Severus Snape. Before that, he had always been wary of Snape because he had learned from chatting with students in the same hospital wing that Snape seemed to be a follower of the Dark Lord in the past. When the Dark Lord fell, he escaped the trial of the Wizengamot due to the asylum granted by Headmaster Dumbledore.
However, the close relationship with the headmaster did not change Bryan's idea of keeping a low profile. He continued to remain silent in school, trying not to conflict with others or be too outstanding to avoid causing jealousy. This situation lasted until his fifth year before being disrupted by an accident.
It happened at the end of November 1986.
That winter was particularly cold, and 84-year-old Grandma Felena did not survive until the coming of New Year's Christmas.
For the grandmother who had taken good care of his growth and dedicated her life to charity, she was Bryan's most beloved elder. Her death caused Bryan a lot of grief.
But because that year was the OWLs year, schoolwork was quite intense, and there was not much time left for Bryan to grieve. Therefore, after attending the funeral of his grandmother in a hurry, Bryan had to return to school without stopping to continue his studies.
Back to the late night of early December 1986.
The pitch-black night was like a huge curtain tightly covering the earth. The biting cold wind swept over the black lake that had begun to freeze, and the colliding ice fragments made a crackling sound like chewing bones.
After confirming that all his roommates were fast asleep, Bryan sat up with a blank expression. He quietly got dressed and took out a framed black and white photo from the dark compartment next to the bed.
The common room was quiet, and the long, low room looked more like a burial chamber with its pale green lights, rough stone walls, and many empty carved soft chairs.
The students of Slytherin House were not as keen on exploring the castle in the middle of the night as the Gryffindors, so Bryan didn't encounter a single student while navigating the dizzying corridors.
And even if he did, there was nothing to worry about.
Bryan had great confidence in his mastery of the Disillusionment Charm. He could completely conceal his body while moving, and even Filch's malnourished cat wouldn't notice anything unusual.
"Hey, little guy, I think you must be lost!"
When passing through the hallway, the voice from above the marble stairs caught Bryan's attention. He took a few steps closer and looked up, only to find that it was Gryffindor prefect, Bill Weasley talking to a Hufflepuff student.
"Go back to sleep, little guy, or I'll send you to see Professor Sprout."
"Okay, okay, Prefect Weasley, I'm going back to the common room now!"
Relieved that he wouldn't lose any house points or be sent to a professor for punishment, the young wizard caught by Bill expressed his gratitude. He quickly bowed to Bill to apologize and then hurriedly ran off.
After dealing with the unruly little wizard, Bill stroked his long hair that was loose on the back of his head, hummed a tune, and continued up the marble stairs to carry out his prefect duties.
Bryan stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching Bill's figure disappear from sight. The eldest son of the Weasley family, trusted by Dumbledore and highly regarded by teachers and students alike, possessed not only outstanding academic achievements but also an extraordinary charm.
But among the senior Slytherins, Bill Weasley had a very bad reputation.
They believed that Bill, who spent his days with a group of Muggle-born wizards, had betrayed the honor of ancient wizarding families. In secret, they harbored plans to teach him a lesson.
However, every time they tried, they were beaten badly by Bill Weasley and his skilled Quidditch-playing brothers, no matter how many of them joined forces.
As a result, Bill Weasley had become almost a public enemy to the Slytherin students in the upper years. Rumors even circulated that Headmaster Dumbledore intended to hand over the position of Head Boy to Bill when he reached seventh year, which only intensified the targeting.
Bryan silently smiled, turned, and made his way toward the entrance hall and the Forbidden Forest.
None of these troubles concerned him. After all, no one would foolishly expect an invisible figure like him in Slytherin, someone who had no sense of existence, to defeat the proud son of Gryffindor.
Author's Note : In the Harry Potter series, the long-lasting invisibility potion is made using a variety of ingredients, including powdered moonstone, unicorn horn, and dittany. The specific recipe and ingredients for the potion are not explicitly mentioned in the books.
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