By the ti Alia returned to the hotel where Bryan Watson and his assistant were staying, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening. Considering that the two had endured a long journey today, she assud they would have already retired for the night. Therefore, she planned to wait until tomorrow morning to inform them that Mr. Watson's request had been approved.
But as she checked into a room at the sa Muggle hotel and was passing through the corridor in front of their room with her luggage, the previously closed door suddenly opened.
Alia looked over cautiously and discovered that neither Mr. Watson nor Mr. Lupin had gone to sleep. Mr. Lupin was holding so docunts and sitting in the small dining area of the presidential suite, saying sothing to Mr. Watson, while Mr. Watson sat in the main chair with his fists supporting his chin, smiling warmly at her.
"All finished?" Bryan asked softly, glancing at the suitcase beside Alia.
Alia nodded instinctively, then her brow furrowed slightly. She quickly looked left and right, confirming no one else was around before entering the room and asking seriously, "You possess other wands, don't you, Mr. Watson?"
"I don't necessarily need a wand to cast magic," Bryan chuckled. He looked toward Remus. "Well then, I think we all need so late-night snacks to appease our rumbling stomachs, Remus?"
"Of course—"
Remus hastily gathered his materials. He nodded friendly at Alia, then quickly walked out of the room.
"What would you like to drink?" Bryan strolled over to the wine rack and inquired politely.
Looking at the young man standing in the soft light and shadow, Alia pressed her lips together, feeling sowhat strange. Technically speaking, she was now the person the MACUSA had arranged to monitor Bryan Watson, but the man before her was surprisingly good-tempered, showing no hostility or resistance toward either her or the MACUSA.
'Perhaps this could only be explained by the magnanimity of a great wizard,' Alia thought.
"Anything is fine, Mr. Watson—" Alia suppressed the uneasiness in her heart and said sowhat stiffly. After all, Bryan Watson was undoubtedly a legend in the contemporary magical world.
"Just call Bryan. Well then, let's have so light, sweet sherry—it will help with sleep."
Bryan smiled. Alia saw him rely crook his finger, and the cork sealing the bottle smoothly slid out.
Wandless magic and silent casting. Although it was just an insignificant little spell, that effortless, flowing gesture was enough to demonstrate Bryan Watson's extraordinary magical prowess.
"So then—" Bryan approached carrying the wine glasses. He glanced again at Alia's suitcase. "The Security Departnt has agreed to my request, yes?"
In just a short while, Bryan had already cast two spells in front of her.
Alia didn't know if this counted as violating the regulations. Although she disagreed with Mr. Graves' viewpoint, since this matter had been settled, Alia would still take her assignnt seriously. If the Security Departnt taking away his wand was ant to make Mr. Watson lose his spellcasting ability...
"Oh, yes." Snapping back to attention, Alia nodded. "Yes, Watson—Bryan. Mr. Graves has agreed to your request. During your ti in New York, I will be responsible for your... well, for your safety, since you've temporarily lost your wand."
Alia said this without ntioning at all that she had tried to help Bryan but had been rejected.
"Thank you very much—" Across the dining table, Bryan raised his glass to Alia in a toast, smiling as he said, "I'm confident my safety will be adequately protected. Well, you see, Alia, for reasons we both understand, we'll probably need to spend so ti together. Since that's the case, perhaps we should introduce ourselves to each other?"
Bryan Watson needed no introduction—the Chocolate Frog cards had already listed in detail the remarkable achievents of Watson, who had burst onto the scene in recent years. Alia knew that the one who should take the initiative to introduce herself was her.
"Well, I'm Alia Depp. I work at the Immigration Office under the Departnt of International Magical Cooperation at the Magical Congress of the United States of Arica—I an, I used to. Now Mr. Graves has transferred to intern at the Security Departnt."
Bryan nodded with a smile. "Did you graduate from Ilvermorny?"
"Yes, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Thunderbird House."
"How is it there?"
"Wonderful," Alia's brown eyes imdiately lit up at the ntion of her school, the corners of her mouth involuntarily turning upward as she said almost instinctively, "Ilvermorny is the best magical school in the world, and Thunderbird House is the best at Ilvermorny!"
But after saying this, she suddenly realized that the Bryan Watson before her was employed at another world-famous magical school, and her words might sound like provocation to Watson's ears.
However, Bryan didn't mind this 'arrogant' statent. He nodded with a smile, then looked at Alia with an appraising gaze for a few monts.
"I think, if I'm not mistaken, you should be Muggle-born like , right?"
"Yes," Alia nodded, and respect flickered again in her eyes as she looked at Bryan.
The distinction between pure-blood, half-blood, and Muggle-born existed in magical civilizations worldwide.
Generally speaking, Muggle-born wizards were always at the greatest disadvantage. Even if they could surpass others through effort and determination while at school, after entering society, lacking the protection and connections of their elders, they would always be a step behind in various fields. Her current situation was already among the best for those of Muggle birth.
Therefore, from a results-oriented perspective, there would always be argunts that Muggle-born wizards were inferior to pure-bloods and half-bloods. But Bryan Watson's ergence gave all Muggle-born wizards a perfect example to refute such absurd claims.
"I don't think you grew up in New York, did you?" Bryan studied Alia. "Maybe it's my imagination, but I think your accent has a bit of a London inflection?"
"Oh, actually I did grow up in New York," Alia explained. "My English accent is due to my parents' influence—they're actually from London."
"Oh, I see." Bryan raised his glass and took a sip, saying with slight regret, "What a pity. We could have been classmates."
"I hope I haven't missed any fascinating conversation." For so reason, Remus took a long ti to return. He ca back with a waiter pushing a cart, and upon entering, he raised his eyebrows at Bryan and said with a smile.
"I thought you'd gotten lost, Remus." Bryan didn't respond to Remus's 'teasing' and said calmly.
With the help of alcohol and good food, the atmosphere of the conversation beca very pleasant, and Alia no longer felt so tense.
She discovered that both Mr. Watson and the older Mr. Lupin were very easy-going wizards to deal with.
Especially Mr. Watson—he was witty, humorous, and completely unpretentious. He seed like just an ordinary wizard, making it impossible to imagine that he was the great wizard who had accomplished such remarkable things.
Moreover, Mr. Watson's attitude toward unfair treatnt was also admirable. In his position, if she had experienced what he had, she honestly couldn't have remained so composed.
At the sa ti, Mr. Watson also frankly revealed the purpose of their visit to New York—to obtain sales permits for a magical alchemical device. It was truly a fascinating instrunt. Recalling her early days at Ilvermorny, she had endured unimaginable hardships to keep up, and if the school had possessed this kind of 'learning machine' at that ti, it would undoubtedly have been much easier.
Of course, the key value of this device wasn't in helping teachers be 'lazy,' but rather its greater significance lay in popularizing magical education and training elites—its value was imasurable.
"I'd be willing to help you write to Professor Leyden, Bryan," said Alia, slightly tipsy after seeing and personally experiencing the prototype that Bryan had shown her.
She spoke indignantly, "He's the head of Thunderbird House, a very wise wizard. I believe he could see the value of making this instrunt widely available, if the joint review next week doesn't pass."
"Thank you for your righteous support, Alia," Bryan said with a smile. "I'm confident I can overco all obstacles and let people enjoy its convenience."
The Next Day:
Bryan had not deliberately publicized his arrival in New York through any channels, but news of the famous Bryan Watson landing in New York still spread like wildfire.
Starting from noon the next day, mysterious wizards began appearing intermittently in the corridor outside Bryan and Remus's door. These people didn't knock on the door but instead pretended to be normal hotel guests, coming and going casually. However, when passing their room, they would prick up their ears to eavesdrop on the activity inside.
The suite where Bryan and Remus were staying, and even Alia's room, as well as the rooms to the left, right, above, and below, had all been booked by others.
These people who reserved the rooms spent lavishly, throwing down thousands, even nearly ten thousand dollars at once, seemingly determined to "stay alongside" them until Bryan left.
Although these people maintained their rationality and restraint, not attempting to use magic to eavesdrop on conversations in the room, this still infuriated Remus.
"Is this the handiwork of the MACUSA Security Departnt?"
He looked toward Bryan, who was sitting at the desk reading letters, his usually gentle deanor now showing a very unpleasant expression.
"I don't think so—"
Vipor Dreghorn had already received recognition from the ministers of magic of several countries that were Durmstrang's main source of students. They would et with Durmstrang's board of directors in the near future to promote his appointnt as Durmstrang's headmaster.
This was undoubtedly good news, but Bryan didn't seem particularly surprised. He knew that with Dreghorn's qualifications and prestige, accomplishing this was inevitable. However, the situation Sirius had inford him about was not optimistic.
Originally, using Hermione's attack as leverage, Bryan had pushed the British Ministry of Magic to expand recruitnt for their Hit Wizard teams, and with both his and Alia's support—one overt, one covert, Sirius had a good chance of gaining leadership of this unit as deputy.
But after the second task, relations between Hogwarts and the Ministry had suddenly deteriorated. That Fudge hadn't imdiately expelled Sirius from the Ministry was already the result of Alia's protection, but Percy had suffered as a consequence.
The Weasley family's close relationship with Dumbledore wasn't much of a secret, and moreover, Sirius, acting on Dumbledore's instructions, had already invited Arthur to join the Order of the Phoenix. With rumors impossible to suppress within the Ministry, Arthur had made so statents warning people to remain vigilant.
This angered Fudge, who used Percy's failure to promptly discover that his imdiate superior had been kidnapped and assassinated as grounds to transfer him to the Centaur Liaison Office—a departnt that, in terms of idleness, could probably only be matched by the Ghoul Task Force.
So now this Hit Wizard team under formation had been handed over to Dawlish, who had repeatedly distinguished himself. This fellow's prominence now rivaled that of his superior, Rufus Scrimgeour.
After writing a letter to Sirius advising him to remain restrained and calm, Bryan inserted his quill into the inkwell and stood up, stretching lazily. "Well, although I haven't dealt directly with this Trask Graves, all signs indicate he's not the type of wizard who likes to engage in unnecessary actions."
"What do you an?" Remus didn't quite understand.
"Since he publicly issued a statent taking away my wand and assigned Alia to follow —" Bryan smiled at Alia, who was sitting on the sofa looking sowhat embarrassed and pretending to read a book. "—it shows he doesn't mind letting people know his thoughts and concerns. Therefore, he wouldn't need to send so many people here without prior notice—"
Remus frowned and thought for a while, then reluctantly nodded.
"Then who are they?"
"I suspect they're sent by wealthy and influential families who learned through various channels that I've co to New York," Bryan said calmly. "Moreover, since they've already found out I'm here, they presumably also know the purpose of our trip, they just don't want to believe it. They don't believe I ca here rely to do business.
They probably want to confirm whether I'll intervene in the heated election campaign. They want to know if I support President Quahog's re-election, or perhaps support this election's dark horse—Dorcas Twelvetrees, a descendant of one of the original twelve who followed Chairman Josiah Jackson in founding the MACUSA."
"Mr. Twelvetrees has no chance," Alia said sullenly, perhaps to compensate for the guilt of the two being monitored. After drinking a bit too much the night before under soone's skilled persuasion, her head was still throbbing with a dull ache.
Bryan shrugged, indicating he didn't care about this issue.
Alia, however, looked displeased. She closed her book and stood up from the sofa, saying solemnly, "They have no right to monitor you, Mr. Watson. This is completely illegal. I can go and expel these people, and if they're unwilling to leave, I'll request backup from Mr. Graves."
"How would you prove they're monitoring ?" Bryan shook his head with a smile. "They could simply say it's just a coincidence. Or they could claim to be my admirers who ca here hoping to get a close look at . That's reasonable, isn't it? After all, they haven't disturbed my peace or attempted to cast spells into this room."
Alia's breath got caught, and she had nothing to say.
"Are we supposed to let our entire New York trip remain under these people's watchful eyes, Bryan?" Remus was sowhat dissatisfied.
Having learned managent from goblins and dealt with so many learning machine supply chain manufacturers, Remus was increasingly bold in expressing his normal emotions.
"I thought we needed to privately visit those wizards who might influence the review results before the joint review committee convenes. But if so, many people are following us, we won't be able to accomplish anything."
"There's only one obstacle standing before us, Remus," Bryan smiled aningfully. "That's this Mr. Graves. You know, he's the one who refused to issue us a sales permit because he believes the device we want to sell isn't safe enough. The Graves family has been deeply rooted in Arican Congressional politics for centuries. Without his approval, we cannot achieve our goal.
Visiting others under the current circumstances would be futile and might even backfire, because the wizards here would be more inclined to believe we're making rounds to garner support for so candidate."
Now it was Remus who had nothing to say. He indeed hadn't considered such complex circumstances and was even beginning to think that his and Bryan's trip to New York was a mistake—they had co at the wrong ti.
Listening to Bryan and Remus discuss Mr. Graves, who would soon beco her imdiate superior, Alia pressed her lips tightly together, not out of anger toward them, but from confusion.
She had already witnessed that marvelous alchemical device last night. Bryan had told her it wasn't completed by him alone, but was the result of combining the wisdom of many Hogwarts School faculty mbers, including Professor Albus Dumbledore.
Alia thought this was already a strong guarantee. She didn't understand why Mr. Graves hadn't agreed to their application earlier.
But it was useless to say anything now, they would have to wait until the joint review committee began.
"Although I think visiting others now isn't appropriate, you're right about one thing, Remus." Seeing the sowhat gloomy atmosphere in the room, Bryan thought for a mont and spoke. He walked to the coat rack, took down his overcoat, and put it on. "Of course, we can still do so groundwork."
"Where are we going?" Seeing this, Remus also imdiately put on his coat, while Alia silently stood up from the sofa.
"I hear there's a good place for gathering information around here," Bryan said with a smile, watching Remus busy casting protective spells on the room. "The Blind Pig. Let's go—hopefully we can successfully shake off our tails."
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