Harry Potter: The Golden Viper

034 Suspicions

Time always passes by quietly and quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the first month of the second half of the year has come to an end.

Any thrilling topic can't beat the trivial daily life. Bryan, who entered Hogwarts in the name of the special investigator of the school board, did cause some waves at the beginning.

However, because of his extremely low presence and the fact that two months have passed since the last attack, topics about him were quickly abandoned, and some people even forgot that there was a investigator from Slytherin in the school.

Of course, some people believe that the reason why the attacks did not continue is that the hidden investigator played a key deterrent role.

For Harry, this was the best possible situation.

People gradually stopped looking at him suspiciously. Even from the second week of school, Malfoy who had been arranging for Crabbe, Goyle, Daphne, Pansy, and others to go to Bryan's office to report on Harry seemed to realize that his behavior was boring and began to die down.

One more happy thing was that Hermione finally got rid of her embarrassing cat fur on her body, and Madam Pomfrey told them that she was going to release Hermione officially from the hospital at the weekend.

Fred and George haven't been very happy recently. Ever since they learned about Mr. Watson's methods of monitoring the school, the two of them didn't dare to wander around the castle unscrupulously at night, because although Mr. Watson seemed to be a very talkative person, it didn't mean he could endure repeated provocations.

At eight o'clock on Thursday night, Bryan stayed in his office, watching Harry and Ron go back to the Gryffindor common room, disappearing into the pictures on the wall.

Now, nearly three weeks after his announcement, even Bryan himself had to admit that the first-hand attempt had almost officially failed.

What to do next?

Should he release the false news that the student who was attacked has regained his sobriety, or should he continue to wait?

Bryan stared at the photo of him and Grandma Ferrena on the table and hesitated for a while.

The glass mirror reflected a blurry but still recognizable youthful face that was much more haggard than before. Bryan had to admit that he somewhat underestimated the difficulty of this task and underestimated the opponent's patience.

Bryan's eyes moved, and he looked at the notebook spread out on the table, full of complex spell model deductions, and the opened letter paper. This letter was delivered this afternoon, and the person who wrote it was Kakus Fawley.

Dear Mr. Watson,

I am very sorry to disturb you on your way to complete the commission, Mr. Watson, but there is one thing that I think you need to know.

Recently, an unknown force suddenly appeared in the underground world, and they are asking about 'The whereabouts and true identity of the Golden Viper.' Out of curiosity and vigilance, I investigated a little bit and found that their leader is the client who released the mission to explore the magic relics before. At present, I have not yet found out what their goal is.

Also, as far as I know, Lucius Malfoy has been active recently and seems to be planning to expel Albus Dumbledore from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Yours faithfully,

Kakus Fawley

Bryan rubbed his fingers, his expression condensed, and his deep eyes kept traversing the short words on the letter paper.

There's a group of people investigating the "Golden Viper." This was indeed an interesting development!

Who could it be? Bryan thought quietly. He had been active in the underground world under the name 'Golden Viper' for more than three years. To be honest, for various reasons, he had made quite a few enemies.

But if it was someone with a personal vendetta against him, they wouldn't have waited so long to make a move.

Moreover, the letter mentioned Lucius Malfoy. His intuition told him that there might be a connection between the two incidents.

But even if there was a life-and-death enmity with him, it was nothing more than a group of big wolfhounds who relied on their rough fur and hard skin.

But since even Kakus couldn't figure out their identities, the people investigating the Golden Viper must not be those annoying werewolves because those guys never bothered to hide their identities.

This group that appeared out of nowhere might be the hidden force behind the attacks on Hogwarts!

The hidden force and the investigation of the "Golden Viper" seemed to be unrelated, but Bryan couldn't help but connect them together.

If the attack on Hogwarts was their operation, then they should have discovered his undercover identity, right?

But why haven't they made any moves against him yet?

Perhaps they were waiting for an opportunity?

Or maybe they were simply skeptical and couldn't be sure?

Kakus provided too little information, and Bryan couldn't judge who was interested in him. Apart from reminding himself to be more vigilant, there was no good way to deal with it for the time being.

As for the second point mentioned by Kakus, Bryan didn't care too much about Lucius Malfoy's plan to expel Dumbledore. It was unlikely that anyone with a brain would believe that Malfoy is capable of such a thing. The reason why Kakus mentioned this in his letter was nothing more than a vague reminder.

Because Malfoy was firmly opposed to sending investigators before, if Lucius Malfoy really succeeded in driving Dumbledore out of Hogwarts for a short time, then it also meant that he would be driven away immediately. In this case, the task of finding the 'Secret of the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets' would be a complete failure.

After sighing softly, Bryan got up and went to the bookshelf, taking out a copy of the Daily Prophet sent by the owl on Monday morning from the bottom shelf.

Most of the news published in the newspaper's legitimate edition consisted of peaceful and prosperous stories. There was only one article, written by Rita Skeeter, that provided a sharp critique of the "Muggle Protection Act" that was announced during last summer and had been in effect for almost half a year.

However, Bryan's purpose in pulling out this newspaper was not to savor the amusing remarks of the 'renowned' journalist known for her sarcasm, harshness, and nonsense. He turned to the seventh page of the newspaper and stared at the small-sized notice in the bottom right corner, deep in thought.

"Currently, recommended by the Director of St. Mungo's Magical Injury Hospital and approved by the hospital's board of directors, Adele Fawley has been confirmed as the Director of the Department of Strange Bacteria and Infection. It is reported that Ms. Fawley entered St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries and Illness as a therapist in September 1975. As of the date of the report, she has been working in the department for nearly eighteen years."

Is this why Kakus Fawley tried his best to win the commission to find the Slytherin treasure?

Bryan's gaze deepened. At first, he thought that the person who issued this commission was just a school wizard or dark wizard who coveted Slytherin's secret treasures in the underground world, but now it seemed that things were not that simple.

Who would have issued this commission?

Bryan's mind ran through a series of names of powerful officials of the Ministry of Magic, but he still couldn't confirm the answer.

Tuk tuk tuk -

Bryan's contemplation was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. He looked at the monitor and found that it was Professor Snape.

The day and night life was too hard, so in these days, when Snape was free, he would occasionally come over to help Bryan rest for a while, but usually, he would give Bryan a reminder in advance. He had never had a direct visit like this.

After returning to school again, Professor Snape showed a very obvious alienation towards him, which once made Bryan feel very strange, but after thinking about it, he could understand it a little bit.

Professor Snape may be afraid that if his old master returned one day, he would likely fall into the quagmire again and be unable to extricate himself.

At that time, if too many people knew about his intimate relationship with him, then he would also be dragged into the water. Therefore, the real purpose of Professor Snape's deliberate indifference was probably to protect himself.

"Still nothing new?" Snape, who was always in a hurry, strode into Bryan's office. He stared at the young man behind the desk with a sluggish look. Too much poisonous smoke had caused subtle changes to the face that was always yellow and stiff.

"Obviously." Bryan stood up and stretched his waist, saying lazily, "Are you here to help?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore wants to see you," Snape said, moving his lips. He sneered, "Perhaps you should be ready to be fired, Bryan..."