Chương 33: 033 Letting Go
In Bryan's office, Fred is explaining why they broke into his office. George, lying on Bryan's bed, moaned softly in a daze but had finally stopped bleeding after taking the recovery potion mixed with poisonous tentacle seeds prepared by Bryan.
"Professor McGonagall did remind me to beware of you two—"
Bryan sat on his office chair, showing a dumbfounding expression in the face of Fred's explanation "but she didn't mention the possibility of you breaking into my office. You two are lucky. If my office room had been broke open, it's likely that the intruder would have been caught, especially it may be an underage wizard so, The magic I keep in this office is mainly for confinement. If I had followed my usual practice when working outside..."
Bryan looked at the Weasley brothers sternly and continued, "Perhaps at this point, Headmaster Dumbledore should be writing a letter of condolences to your parents!"
Fred and George suddenly snapped back to reality. They realized that their actions this time were indeed too reckless. They shouldn't have underestimated Bryan Watson, especially since they had no prior information about him or his temperament. Breaking into his office was a grave mistake, and they now understood the consequences of their actions.
George, looking haggard and on the verge of collapsing due to excessive bleeding, mustered the strength to sit up from the bed. He pleaded, "Please, Mr. Watson, for the lessons we've learned, could you refrain from mentioning this to Professor McGonagall? We promise it will be the last time." Fred nodded in agreement.
"Please, Mr. Watson, George and I have discussed it while we were trapped here," Fred chimed in, his eyes filled with sincerity. "We plan to turn over a new leaf, become young wizards who love learning and follow the rules. Can you let us go?"
Bryan rolled his eyes, finding the twins' antics amusing. Did he really appear that gullible?
"For now, I'll let it go," Bryan replied, not giving them an immediate affirmative answer. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his fingers on his knees, and looked at them with a half-smile.
"You two have figured out my secret, haven't you?"
George, no longer on the verge of death, and Fred, no longer pretending to change his mind, both looked at Bryan with admiration. They couldn't wait to praise him.
"You're the most talented wizard we've ever seen, Mr. Watson," Fred exclaimed loudly. "Even Headmaster Dumbledore can't compare to you. The way you monitor the school is beyond our wildest dreams!"
"We just want a deeper understanding of your greatness!" George added respectfully. "Could you please enlighten us on the details? How does it work?"
Bryan rolled his eyes even more, wondering what had happened to the Weasley family with the exception of Bill's good character and Charlie's exceptional Quidditch talent. But he had to admit that Fred and George, despite their flaws, were quite interesting.
"Don't even think about it!" Bryan responded, rejecting their request. He thought of Bill and Charlie once again. "Just the two of you... Well, you're quite amusing, I must admit."
When Bryan rejected their request, George lay back on the bed with a loud thud, looking deeply hurt. He weakly extended his hand to Fred and said in a feeble voice, "It seems my last wish won't be fulfilled, Fred. If you ever figure it out, come to my grave and tell me."
In the end, Bryan decided not to disclose the production principle of the monitoring system to the twins. It wasn't because he wanted to keep it to himself, but explaining it would require much more than a few sentences. The principles involved complex transformation magic and alchemy, and even if he explained, the twins wouldn't fully comprehend or be able to reproduce it.
However, Bryan showed generosity by not punishing Fred and George for breaking into his office since they had no involvement with the Chamber of Secrets.
"Remember to keep what you saw a secret, you two!" Bryan warned them with a coldness in his voice before driving them out of his office. Fred and George were taken aback by his warning.
"If I find out that you've leaked the secret or if I discover that you've tampered with the monitoring equipments I've set up in the castle, Mr. Weasley, if I decide to take action against anyone, not even Headmaster Dumbledore will be able to stop me!"
"We swear on Percy's prefect badge, sir, that we'll never breathe a word to anyone else," the twins assured him in unison.
"I hope you keep your promises," Bryan thought to himself before lying on the bed, closing his eyes to rest.
Bryan knew deep down that it was unlikely for the Weasley brothers to keep the secret completely. They would most likely tell Harry, who would never forget to share the kindness shown to his friends, but beyond that, the young wizard monitoring system was unlikely to be widely spread.
The trio of the main group could be trusted, and the Weasleys were also trustworthy. It was Bryan's preconceived notions that led him to spend more time than necessary to discover what he could have found quickly. It took a lot of effort.
That night, as Harry and Ron returned from the school hospital, Fred and George pulled them into the lounge. Fred dragged Harry near the stairs of the girls' dormitory, where there were fewer people, allowing them to have a private conversation.
As they spoke, Harry's expression grew serious, while Ron's mouth hung open wider and wider, his face displaying an unbelievably shocked expression.
Unnoticed by anyone, a pale figure stood silently on the stairway of the girls' dormitory, observing for a while before retreating into the shadows.
"Wait for me here, Ron," Harry said, his mind made up. He quickly ran to the dormitory without looking back, intending to retrieve his invisibility cloak. He knew they would need to spend a little longer in the school hospital that night.
With curfew time yet to arrive, there were still a few young wizards wandering around the castle. However, Harry and Ron had already donned the invisibility cloak. As they walked, their eyes occasionally glanced up at the ceiling, as if sensing hidden eyes watching them.
"What do you think about this, Harry?"
Strangely, Hermione was not in a hurry to express her opinion after hearing about this shocking incident, she sat on the bed with her arms folded, talking Her tone sounded cautious.
Harry lowered his head and remained silent, his emerald green eyes flickering hesitantly. After a while, he spoke in an uncertain tone, "I don't find it too hard to accept."
"Are you crazy, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, surprised by Harry's response. "Didn't you hear what Fred and George said? Bryan was secretly monitoring everyone without prior notice. If such a violation of our privacy isn't stopped, I don't understand what's more despicable than this is. And besides, I think it's very likely that Fred and George might have been manipulated or under some sort of control, they actually think this kind of behavior is funny and interesting?"
"You can't figure everything out, Ron," Hermione admonished without holding back. "Why can't you try to see it from Harry's perspective?"
Ron's eyes showed a strange dumbfoundedness. He looked at the furious Hermione for a moment, then at Harry, and suddenly felt that his intelligence level couldn't keep up with the average of the group. "Could someone please be kind enough to explain it to me?"
After a while, Ron muttered unhappily, still waiting for someone to express their opinion.
"Do we really need to spell it out for you, Ron?" Hermione asked, absentmindedly playing with her black hair—a new hobby of hers recently. "Monitoring the daily activities of all the young wizards without prior notice is undeniably an unkind act, and it even violates the law. But, Ron, you can't deny that it is an effective way, isn't it? As long as they can catch the heir of Slytherin, all the rumors surrounding Harry will be debunked, and he won't have to face those baseless accusations anymore. And besides, without the permission of Headmaster Dumbledore and the Heads of Houses, do you really think Mr. Watson would employ such a method?"
"At least," Harry muttered, feeling ashamed of his selfishness, "the next time someone gets attacked, something like this would prove my innocence. I really don't want anything to do with it anymore."
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