Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

0579 Apologies

When Bryan stepped into the dimly lit interior of Hagrid's cozy hut, he immediately sensed that the atmosphere in the room was not as pleasant as he had imagined.

The first thing that caught his eye was Hermione, who had made quite a name for herself earlier during the day by getting the highest score among all the champions in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.

As soon as she noticed Bryan enter, she hastily rose to her feet from where she had been on the edge of Hagrid's oversized bed. Her fingers were twisting and untwisting anxiously as she seemed unable to meet Bryan's gaze directly, as her brown eyes darted nervously to the floorboards.

Hagrid too had an unusually serious expression on his face as he solemnly stared at Freodom shrinking in the corner, her tennis ball-sized eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Professor Watson—"

The person who opened the door for him was Ron. When he saw that it was Professor Watson, a trace of unease appeared on Ron's face.

Unlike Harry and Hermione, he had given up on physical education classes and now rarely had the opportunity to meet Professor Watson face to face. The place they saw each other the most was the Great Hall of the school.

Bryan instantly picked up on the subtle unease in Ron's body language and tone. Seeking to put the boy at ease, he gave Ron a gentle, reassuring smile and gave his shoulder a light, friendly pat as he strode past him into the room.

Ron, however, was left standing in a daze and perplexed by the door, unsure quite how to process that casual, familiar gesture.

"And how are you faring, Sirius?" Bryan inquired as he completed his visual sweep of the space, quickly taking note of everyone's emotional states. Having assessed the situation, he made his way directly to the side of Hagrid's bed where Sirius was resting. Hermione, flustered, swiftly stepped aside to allow the professor through.

Sirius's eyes were wrapped in gauze bandages. Though his vision was obstructed, he had discerned Bryan's identity from hearing Ron greet him moments before.

"Not too bad—"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Sirius said with a wry smile,

"But I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to ask Madam Bones for a leave of absence. I'll probably need to rest for a few days. That move from Hermione was for helping you, Bryan—"

Bryan laughed out loud upon hearing this, but Hermione, for her part, looked absolutely troubled by guilt, as if she might burst into tears at any instant.

"Professor, I'm so terribly sorry, I didn't mean—" Hermione lowered her head, wanting to express her apologies, but there seemed to be too many things to apologize for, and she didn't know where to start.

"Your performance today was very good, worthy of my teaching—"

Bryan said, somehow both congratulating and comforting at once. Still, rather than being consoled, his praise only seemed to further fuel Hermione's sadness. Bryan naturally grasped the reason behind her sadness and said gently,

"I guess you must be thinking that if the Chinese Fireball today hadn't been Sirius in disguise, you definitely wouldn't have been able to pass the test. But what I want to tell you is that the situation is not like that, but rather the opposite."

This was indeed the one question Hermione cared about the most after learning everything from Harry. She looked up at Professor Watson, her face full of astonishment.

"I...I'm afraid I don't fully understand your meaning, Professor Watson..." Hermione stammered, clearly at a loss.

"Unless I'm much mistaken, I believe Sirius has already told you that I went out of my way to introduce some additional challenges for you to contend with during your task today," Bryan explained patiently. "If you were facing a real Fireball, in my opinion the Summoning Charm you used at the start would have been more than sufficient to resolve the situation in your favor. So, don't overthink it, Hermione, there's a reason you earned the top score."

"Then."

Next, Bryan shifted his focus from Hermione, who looked extremely touched by his words, to the trembling house-elf in the corner.

"I take it Freodom has already confessed to her role in all this?" Bryan asked, raising an eyebrow at Hagrid.

"Aye, quite readily too," Hagrid sighed, slapping a palm to his forehead in annoyance. "But that's the trouble with house-elves, innit? Tricky to make 'em understand that helpin' their master by puttin' others in danger ain't right."

Bryan nodded and then fell silent.

He thought of the scene he had seen in the secret lair of Herpo the Foul under the island of Azkaban, where thousands of house-elves had their heads and hands chopped off to make steps for people to trample on. Even the well-traveled Bryan felt a chill in his heart when he first saw that scene.

Hogwarts: A History clearly records that the first person to let house-elves work at Hogwarts was Helga Hufflepuff. But even a witch as formidable and compassionate as her was ultimately powerless to fully eliminate the mindset of blind, devoted servitude that had been ruthlessly imprinted into the very souls of house-elves.

Bryan shuddered to contemplate just how indescribably strong and cruel the magic of Herpo the Foul must have been when he first gave life to these pitiable, eternally subjugated beings.

"Come here for a moment, little one," Bryan called to Freodom with a kind wave, settling himself down on a stool.

Professor Watson's silence made Hermione's heart tremble. Freodom's self-willed behavior had almost ruined the Triwizard Tournament and made Hogwarts a laughingstock. If Professor Watson didn't get angry, that would be perplexing. So, when Professor Watson spoke up and called Freodom over, Hermione's face turned pale in an instant. She rushed out to block Freodom,

"Please, Professor Watson, I'm begging you - please don't be angry with Freodom, this wasn't her fault!" Hermione pleaded desperately. "The blame for all of this falls on me! I'm the one who told Freodom to cheer me on during the first task, but she misunderstood my meaning. It's not fair to punish her for a mistake I made! If you need to punish someone, punish me!"

Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances as they watched the emotional Hermione defend Freodom. In fact, neither of them actually believed that the kindhearted Professor Watson would punish or make things difficult for a house-elf for her well-intentioned blunder. Rather, it was Hermione's stubbornness and dullness on this matter that gave them a headache.

She had previously started an organization (which was widely unpopular) dedicated to the 'House-elf Rights' and mobilized everyone around her to join S.P.E.W. If she hadn't been selected as a champion which had been consuming so much of her time and focus, Merlin only knew how much further she'd have escalated her rabble-rousing efforts by now.

"Freodom is being the one at fault, not Mistress Hermione!" The distraught house-elf wailed as she peeked out from behind Hermione's robes with tears leaking from her eyes as she took a glance at Bryan. "Freodom caused great problems for Mistress Hermione, Freodom will accept whatever punishment the great and wise Professor Watson gives. Freodom only hopes, Mr. Watson won't kick Freodom out of Hogwarts!"

"Bryan,"

Upon hearing Freodom's words, Hagrid felt a sharp pang of pity and protectiveness pierce his gentle heart. Over the past few months, Freodom had become more than a helper to him – they became friends. He couldn't bear seeing him being kicked out of Hogwarts. It brought painful memories.

"Freodom meant no real harm, when yeh get right down to it. Maybe yeh could see yer way to lettin' the poor thing off with a wee bit o' detention? Seein' as how there weren't no lastin' damage from her little stunt when all was said and done..."

"I don't intend to punish you for the time being, Freodom, as long as you don't plan to give me another 'surprise' like today's in the next task. After all—" Bryan's tone was gentle, "when it comes down to it...I'm the one who brought you into this world in the first place."

Freodom's teary eyes trembled violently, and a sense of bewilderment welled up from the bottom of her heart. 

Hermione was already in tears. She looked at Professor Watson with immense excitement, and the scene of the two of them rescuing Reega and Freodom flashed before her eyes.

"Come on, little one, lie down on the bed. I want to give you a checkup—"

Bryan stood up and gave his place to Freodom.

'A checkup?'

The people in the room all looked puzzled. Freodom hadn't suffered any injuries, so what kind of checkup was needed?

Freodom instinctively refused in awe and nervousness. She was just a house-elf. The only opportunity for her to get on a wizard's bed was to make the bed and fold the sheets. How could she lie on a wizard's bed? This was simply outrageous. However, she had to obey Mr. Watson's orders. So, the apprehensive Freodom hesitantly climbed onto Hagrid's bed and lay down as instructed.

"What exactly are you aiming to do here, Bryan?" Sirius asked quietly as he shifted closer to the wall to allow the elf more room. Though the bandages wrapping his eyes prevented him from witnessing the scene firsthand, his keen ears had picked up every word.

"I'm going to check—"

Bryan leaned over. He told Freodom to relax, and then extended a finger to press against her brow.

"The soul of a house-elf—" 

The moment the words fell, a breeze spontaneously surged in the cozy room. No one noticed that the illusion magic shrouding Bryan's eyes had shattered. Only Freodom saw the great Mr. Watson's peculiar pale purple eyes suddenly turn a gem-like clear purple. Then, her consciousness drifted and sank into those deep, infinitely attractive purple eyes.

Late at night.

No one knew when it started, but the candlelight in Bryan's office had become one of the last to be extinguished among the hundreds of rooms in Hogwarts.

Most of the guests who attended the banquet tonight had left through the temporarily opened Floo Network. Only a few guests stayed overnight, and they all hoped to take this rare opportunity to communicate with Bryan.

By the time he returned to his office, a new day had arrived.

The powerful magic and mental strength endowed Bryan with energy that ordinary wizards did not possess. He pulled out a spellbook from the bookshelf and quietly flipped through it under the silent candlelight.

And yet, Bryan knew he was fast approaching the limit of what he could achieve through study and practice alone. To truly shatter the chains of his current potential and ascend to the next level of power, he would need far more than the books could provide.

As he turned the pages, Bryan recalled what he had seen in Freodom's soul. It was a curse that existed in her soul from the moment of her birth, when her life first sprouted.

The core of this curse was still—

Knock, knock—

Bryan, who was deep in thought about this issue, suddenly came to his senses and looked towards the door. After raising his eyebrows in surprise, Bryan's eyes flashed with contemplation. He closed the spellbook and calmly said,

"Come in, Ron—"

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