0373 Unexpected

Just as Madam Maxime had said, when Bryan sought out the hotel staff requesting another room, he was informed that all rooms had been booked by the wizards from various countries who came here on official business. Even the staff quarters had been rented out, forcing the hotel employees to squeeze into the laundry room for sleep during this period.

Of course, Bryan would never choose to share a villa with the Beauxbatons delegation.

It was not a matter of room availability, but rather, the fear of rumors. 

If someone inadvertently discovered he had spent a night inside the Beauxbatons delegates's quarters without leaving, who knows what kind of scandalous gossip might spread! In the end, he returned to that messy room, pitching a tent on an undamaged patch of lawn and making do for the night.

"Are you certain?"

Barty Crouch's terrifying expression as he gazed upon the collapsed villa reminded Bryan of his determined attempt to have Peter sentenced to death at the Wizengamot trial.

The head of the International Magical Cooperation Department at the British Ministry of Magic turned ashen, his eyes bulging with fury and his face contorted with a ferocious glare like that of a red-eyed gambler who had risked everything and lost!

"Are you sure Beauxbatons had no involvement in this?"

Bryan could understand why Barty was so furious. First, infiltrating their room, destroying their quarters and the security plans they had prepared was like humiliating the British Ministry in front of the world. As the Ministry's representative, Barty felt the sting of this insult deeply. 

Moreover, the Triwizard Tournament was Barty's "crowning political achievement," the pinnacle of his ambitions. Should this event unfold successfully under his watchful guidance, with Hogwarts serving as the host, his reputation within the British wizarding world would soar to unprecedented heights, an achievement that would instantly add his name in the annals of history.

If fortune truly smiled upon him, and Hogwarts emerged victorious as the champion of the Triwizard Tournament, it would be a moment of immeasurable joy for Barty, a resounding triumph that would wash away the endless humiliation inflicted by his prodigal son, whose actions had decimated Barty's lifelong dedication, and the adverse impact it had caused, could finally be swept away.

Yet now, someone was once again attempting to obstruct his long-awaited path to redemption, Barty glared at the ruins with bloodshot eyes, swearing on the honor of the Crouch family that he would make the culprit pay dearly!

But who was the perpetrator of this act?

Barty pondered this issue as well, his thoughts even more complex than Bryan's.

At the very pinnacle of Barty's list of suspects stood Vipor Dreghorn, whose reputation had suffered a crushing blow the previous night.

This man was already at odds with Dumbledore and it was normal for him to extend his anger and resentment towards Hogwarts. Moreover, the humiliating experience he had endured at the party held the day before had provided him with the most compelling motive, the necessary connections, and the ability to orchestrate such a brazen act.

The second tier of suspects encompassed the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

As their direct competitors, they might do such a thing to undermine Hogwarts's successful bid to host.

Furious as he was, Barty had not entirely lost his senses.

The reason he placed these two schools in the second tier of suspicion was that Maxime and Karkaroff should know that if their involvement in such a wicked plot were to be exposed, the consequences would be far more severe than just losing the right to host the Tournament.

The third tier of suspects, however, was shrouded in a more complex and complicated web of uncertainty.

Could Cornelius have played an underhanded trick? It was certainly possible.

As foolish as the Minister of Magic might appear at times, after so many years in his position, he should possess at least a measure of sense, that if he were to push Hogwarts into the position of the host, he would effectively become his greatest threat.

For this reason, Amelia was also a suspect.

The thought made Barty's heart skip a beat! If Amelia had indeed given the order, could this be a case of the pot calling the kettle black?"

After all, this incident was utterly extraordinary – a group had managed to infiltrate the heavily guarded hotel, demolish their assigned room with liberty, and slip away unnoticed, leaving not a single clue in their wake.

Just how had they accomplished such a feat? Were the hotel's overhyped security measures merely a facade, a charade designed to instill a false sense of confidence, or had the hotel staff itself been collaborating with the perpetrators?

If indeed this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black, Barty's breath caught in his throat, a sensation akin to the constricting grip of an invisible hand. Maintaining an external facade of composure, he moved his gaze to drift sidelong, settling upon the figure of Bryan standing with arms folded. But that one look left Barty visibly shaken, as he realized Bryan was scrutinizing him with the very same suspicious gaze!

"You suspect me, Bryan?" Barty exclaimed, his disbelief evident in the tone of his voice. "That's absurd! Why would I sabotage my own efforts?"

"I did harbor some suspicion earlier, Barty. After all, you left the party first last night and could have justifiably entered this room..."

The words hung in the air, causing Barty's face to contort into an even uglier form, but before he could explode, Bryan, who seemed to have shed the negative emotions that this incident had initially brought, smiled faintly and said, "However, just now, I have ruled out that possibility."

Bryan's words did little to improve the unsightly contortion of Barty's features, and he was about to say something when the door, isolated by the winding stone road, suddenly creaked open, allowing a sneaky head to poke through the narrowing gap.

It was none other than Ludo Bagman, finally making his return after a night of unrestrained debauchery!

"Aha, I knew you wouldn't miss important business, Barty! You're up awfully early!"

Catching sight of Barty Crouch standing outside a tent with a face like a man about to commit murder, Ludo's expression froze, the artificial grin he had plastered upon his features turning into an awkward grimace. Then, his gaze shifted to Bryan's subtly amused smile, and Ludo's heart skipped yet another beat.

"Bryan, you too? What in Merlin's name happened to the Villa?"

After Bryan had briefly summarized the situation, offering a concise yet thorough account of the events that had transpired, Ludo's expression, though noticeably better when compared to the visage of Barty Crouch, remained grim.

"What do we do now?"

Ludo paced back and forth before them, as he actively wracked his brain, seeking countermeasures to this situation. "We...we of course need to find out who did this, right? Since Bryan says he has no leads, the Department probably has no good options either. Oh, Cornelius will absolutely have my head if he finds out this happened while I was away!"

"He won't be the only one, Ludo—" Barty growled through gritted teeth, his words infused with a palpable undercurrent of menace that sent a shiver coursing down Ludo's spine. "I have no intention of letting you off either!"

"Besides Bryan, neither of us can say anything about the other. After all, oh..."

Ludo fumbled, grasping at straws as he concocted a series of feeble excuses, trying to shirk responsibility for the calamity that had unfolded. But, catching sight of Barty's expression that seemed to silently warn "utter another word and I'll curse you into oblivion," Ludo instinctively shrank back, his neck retracting like a turtle seeking refuge within its protective shell as he hurriedly sought to divert the conversation.

"I mean, the security plan!"

Wiping the cold beads of sweat that had formed upon his brow, Ludo hurriedly continued, his words tumbling forth in a torrent of urgency, "The investigation can wait, but our top priority is that plan, Barty. That's what's most important!" 

"Thank you for the reminder, Ludo. I almost forgot!" The sarcasm that dripped from Barty's every word was palpable, his bulging eyes glaring at Ludo with an intensity that caused the latter to instinctively take two steps back, as if seeking to put additional distance between himself and the explosive fury that seemed to radiate from Barty's very being.

"No need to worry too much about the security plan—"

At that moment, Bryan made a startling statement.

Not worry? But this was the most crucial issue at hand!

Counting the present day, they had just three days remaining before the event was set to commence, and they had no time to waste in starting over from scratch!

Barty and Ludo both found themselves staring at Bryan, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and confusion as they tried to make sense of the utter nonsense that had just been uttered. Under their watchful, scrutinizing gazes, Bryan suddenly waved the wand that had been concealed within the folds of his sleeve.

From the half-open tent door, hundreds upon hundreds of blank parchment sheets burst forth with a whooshing sound akin to a volley of cold arrows unleashed from the quivers of a thousand archers. The parchments arrayed themselves before the three wizards, forming an immense screen that rivaled the size of a muggle movie theater in both scale and spectacle.

Immediately after the parchment sheets had assembled themselves into this vast projection screen, a quill, seeming to possess a mind of its own, flew out from the tent, hovering before Bryan with an almost. 

Ding—

"Besides being eloquent, I also have an excellent memory—"

As if responding to his words, dozens upon dozens of quills suddenly took flight, soaring to sky in a whirl of feathers and ink, each one rapidly inscribing the hovering parchments with streaks of text that seemed to materialize like afterimages.

"I can essentially recall anything I've seriously read or written down myself—"

Observing the subtly shifting expressions that appeared across the faces of Barty and Ludo, equal parts bewilderment and dawning understanding, Bryan smiled faintly.

"So, whoever did this was foolish to think they could obstruct me—"

Midway through his sentence, Bryan abruptly paused. Disregarding Barty Crouch, whose features had begun to radiate an unmistakable sense of relief at having narrowly escaped disaster, Bryan focused the full intensity of his narrowed gaze upon Ludo Bagman, whose lips had turned pale.

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