0797 DECISIONS

Harry's retelling had ended, but there was still a crucial point left unspoken.

That unmentioned detail was the fact that Barty Crouch Jr. was permanently finished, eliminated not by Voldemort's hand or by some accident of magical combat, but died in the hands of Professor Watson.

However, if this particular detail were to be revealed in full, it would inevitably require a comprehensive explanation of exactly why and how Professor Watson had managed to appear at that remote graveyard.

Both Remus and Sirius cast meaningful, questioning glances toward Bryan Watson. They knew he had intervened in the tournament disguised as Fleur's sister. Harry had seen everything that Bryan had witnessed, yet throughout the entire narrative, Bryan had done nothing—he had remained passive while Voldemort was resurrected!

There absolutely had to be crucial information, vital strategic considerations, that remained undisclosed. Professor Watson was not a man who would stand idly by while innocent lives were threatened unless he had knowledge or plans that needed such restraint.

Given the extraordinarily delicate and dangerous nature of the current situation, with political tensions running high and the threat of new war looming over them all, none of the gathered adults felt certain whether it would be appropriate or wise to press Watson for immediate answers to these burning questions.

"As you can all clearly see from tonight's events, Minister Fudge and the Ministry's official attitude toward these revelations—"

In the pin-drop silence of the hospital wing, Dumbledore spoke once more.

"Though we had anticipated this reaction, the Ministry's complete inaction and denial has undoubtedly changed the entire strategic situation. We cannot afford to sit idle and wait for them to acknowledge reality—we must take immediate preemptive action to contain and disrupt Voldemort's activities before he can fully establish his power base and begin recruiting followers in earnest. Minerva—"

Dumbledore first directed his piercing gaze toward Professor McGonagall, who had been listening with focused attention.

"Could you please go to Hagrid's hut and ask him to wait for me in my office? I have several urgent tasks to assign him."

Professor McGonagall's face showed her understanding of the seriousness of the situation as she glanced one final time at Harry, Ron, and Hermione lying in their hospital beds. With a brisk nod of acceptance, she departed from the hospital wing with hurried steps.

"Sirius, I need you to depart immediately and begin the process of contacting our old network," Dumbledore continued without pause.

"Go notify Arabella Figg and Mundungus Fletcher—those veterans from our previous campaign against Voldemort. You can bring them initially to your ancestral home at Grimmauld Place, and then I'll come speak with them personally to coordinate our response and assign specific responsibilities."

Sirius's face showed his internal conflict as he glanced at Bryan, clearly hoping to resolve the puzzling questions surrounding Watson's role in the evening's events before departing.

"Go ahead without delay, Sirius," Bryan said calmly, recognizing his hesitation and the source of his concerns. "We'll have ample opportunity to discuss these matters in detail when there's a more suitable time and location."

Sirius nodded reluctantly. He looked with obvious reluctance at Harry, his godson, wishing that he could remain by the boy's side during this critical moment when comfort and protection were desperately needed.

Harry's eyes showed the same sentiment.

"I'll return as soon as possible," Sirius promised.

But the reality of impending war cast its shadow over everything, and both men understood that preparing even one step earlier than their enemies meant potentially saving countless innocent lives and preventing immeasurable suffering. Sirius grasped what mattered most in the larger structure of things.

He moved toward the hospital wing's exit, but just as he stepped forward, he hesitated and drew back with visible uncertainty, another thought suddenly occurring to him that needed immediate attention.

"What about the Longbottoms?" Sirius asked. "Should they be informed of these developments?"

The hospital wing had transformed into something resembling a war command center, with Dumbledore efficiently issuing critical orders to every person present, coordinating the initial stages of what would undoubtedly become a comprehensive resistance campaign.

The tense, solemn atmosphere that permeated every corner of the room infected everyone present, making even the youngest among them deeply aware that their comfortable, peaceful world had just ended forever.

Hermione crouched tensely on her hospital bed with her mind working at maximum capacity, listened with sharp focus to every word of Dumbledore's commands, instinctively attempting to analyze and predict what strategic objectives he intended to accomplish through these initial moves.

However, upon hearing the Longbottoms' names mentioned in this context, she visibly shivered and blinked rapidly.

The Longbottoms had perhaps the most tragically ironic situation—they had spent over a decade trapped in a nightmarish daze, their minds shattered by torture at the hands of Voldemort's most fanatical followers, had only recently and miraculously regained their sanity and cognitive abilities, and now they were confronting the return of the very monster who had destroyed their lives and stolen their son's childhood.

The cruel unfairness of it was almost beyond comprehension.

Hermione initially assumed that Professor Dumbledore would choose to spare the Longbottoms from further involvement in this conflict. They had already made unimaginable sacrifices for the wizarding world, paid prices that no human beings should ever be asked to pay.

Surely, they had earned the right to peaceful retirement from the horrors of war. But as Dumbledore's response came, she realized that the situation was far more complex and morally ambiguous than she had hoped.

"Pass the message to Frank and Alice, let them make their own decision. Additionally, I hope you'll notify Arthur and Kingsley as highest priorities. They have wide knowledge of Ministry operations and maintain valuable contacts.

They will inevitably learn of tonight's events sooner or later, and it's far better that they hear the truth from us first. Any other reliable people you know within the Ministry who can be trusted with such sensitive information should also be carefully approached and potentially brought into our circle."

This assignment was clearly no easy task, and everyone present understood the enormous personal risks that Sirius would face within Ministry circles once his involvement in 'anti-government' activities became known to the wrong people.

Nevertheless, Sirius simply nodded with quiet acceptance, showing no trace of complaint as he turned toward the exit.

Harry found it strange that Dumbledore didn't give Remus any orders as well. Dumbledore had indeed intended to, but when he looked toward Remus, he clearly hesitated for a moment, then his gaze skipped past him to Professor Snape.

"Severus," Dumbledore said softly, "you know what I'm about to ask you to do. If you have no objections... if you're prepared."

"No problem." Snape replied with characteristic shortness.

His face appeared paler than usual, and those cold black eyes flickered with a strange light. Like the others, he didn't linger either, turned his face toward the exit, preparing to follow Sirius. However, someone grabbed his wrist—it was Professor Watson.

Instantly, an icy chill swept through the hospital wing, making Harry, Ron, and Hermione instinctively hold their breath.

Dumbledore didn't seem particularly surprised; he merely moved his beard helplessly, while Snape remained equally composed and unsurprised.

"Already prepared to sacrifice everything and everyone, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Bryan looked toward Dumbledore, and the cold, mocking smile appearing at his lips resembled Snape's expression when he berated Harry.

Dumbledore's gaze dropped. "The only person I hope and have the right to sacrifice is myself, Bryan. Beyond that, I don't wish to see any of our people die."

Bryan was about to say something, but Professor Snape spoke first. He looked at this young man who had once needed his protection as a student but had unknowingly grown into a towering figure, and his lips moved, revealing a trace of gentleness and pride that almost made Harry think he was hallucinating.

"This is my choice, Bryan," Snape said with quiet dignity. "My decision, and mine alone."

"Your choice?" Bryan's gaze was calm yet resolute as he looked at Dumbledore.

"Forgive my bluntness, Headmaster, but I fail completely to see the strategic necessity or wisdom of this particular choice. Your proposed method appears to involve gathering a small group of noble, well-intentioned souls to confront Voldemort and his forces directly through conventional resistance tactics, but I must point out that this approach is essentially competing with our enemy in precisely their area of greatest expertise and advantage.

It represents thankless, ultimately futile work that will accomplish little beyond generating martyrs. In my opinion, we should instead focus our efforts on pushing the Ministry of Magic to the forefront of this conflict—this is, after all, exactly what they should be doing anyway according to their responsibilities to protect wizarding society."

"But you've already witnessed Cornelius Fudge's attitude and response with your own eyes tonight, haven't you, Bryan?" Dumbledore replied with deep weariness. "He has made his position absolutely clear through both words and actions."

"Then we make him step down from office," Bryan said with chilling coldness that made the hospital wing's temperature seem to drop another several degrees.

"War inevitably means sacrifice on multiple levels—political, economic, and human. It's the Ministry and its officials who should bear the primary responsibility for defending our society, not a secret organization like the Order of the Phoenix operating in the shadows without official authorization or resources."

"Attempting to manipulate politics is dangerous, Bryan." Though reluctant to see conflict with Bryan arise, Dumbledore was equally unyielding.

"Especially during times of crisis like these—your proposed ideas would inevitably drag the entire wizarding world into the destructive whirlpool of total warfare even faster than Voldemort's direct actions."

"War is never truly accidental, Dumbledore. The emergence of someone like Tom Riddle, and his subsequent ability to transform into Voldemort and grow so tremendously powerful, is never purely coincidental either. These developments represent symptoms of much deeper systemic problems.

This clearly proves that Britain's current wizarding world desperately needs the transformative shock of warfare to address fundamental inequalities and injustices that have been allowed to fester for far too long.

The contradictions and tensions between established pure-blood families, half-blood wizards, and Muggle-born witches and wizards are becoming increasingly critical and unsustainable with each passing year. The entire social and political system urgently requires comprehensive restructuring from the ground up.

If we choose to ignore this crucial point and focus solely on eliminating Voldemort as an individual threat, then even if we succeed in destroying this particular Dark Lord, sooner or later another charismatic extremist will inevitably appear to exploit the same underlying social fractures and resentments."

Harry listened to this intense philosophical and strategic argument between Dumbledore and Professor Watson with growing fascination and alarm, the tense atmosphere made his heart pound with adrenaline-fueled anxiety.

Hermione gazed at Professor Watson with shining brown eyes full of brilliant light. She could follow and appreciate exactly what Professor Watson was arguing, recognizing the sophisticated political and social analysis. In the depths of her heart, she found herself agreeing far more with Professor Watson's revolutionary perspective.

Ron Weasley's heart was also beating rapidly with nervousness, but unlike Harry's mixture of fear and fascination, Ron experienced a totally different emotional response—a vague but persistent panic that seemed to originate from somewhere deep within his ancestral blood and family identity.

What exactly was happening here? Was Professor Watson actually planning to orchestrate some form of campaign against established pure-blood families like his own?

Although Ron had never taken particular pride in his family's pure-blood status, and indeed often felt embarrassed by their poverty compared to other wizarding families of similar lineage, hearing these ideas discussed so seriously still triggered deep-seated feelings of unease and instinctive fear.

"I must do this, Bryan—" Snape interrupted their argument, gripping Bryan's wrist tightly in return. "You know why... This is my redemption... I'm still alive, and this is the only thing left."

A long silence fell as Bryan and Severus looked at each other. Bryan's expression was grim—he absolutely didn't want Severus to undertake such thankless work that would almost certainly result in his death or capture.

"There's a letter here—" Bryan pulled out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Severus. Upon seeing it, Severus was clearly stunned for several moments, then passed the letter to Dumbledore. Bryan didn't stop him.

Dumbledore also raised his eyebrows, silently returning the letter to Bryan without comment.

"This is indeed surprising, Bryan—" Snape said quietly. "But you know very well you can't completely trust him... he could change sides at any time."

Severus still left, just as he had said—this was his choice.

Just as he hadn't changed Bryan's decision to voluntarily step into the quagmire years ago, Bryan couldn't change Severus's decision now.

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