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0835 Troubles
🕑 Added 2025-09-11 10:30:06 +0000 UTCNewt Scamander looked at the young wizard in front of him with eyes that held the clarity of decades spent observing both magical creatures and human nature in their purest forms.
In recent years, this young man's name had begun appearing in Newt's conversations and communication with increasing frequency—more often, in fact, than even the Minister of Magic's name.
Tina and her circle of friends and colleagues seemed to draw endless entertainment from discussing this extraordinarily powerful young wizard. Their conversations would inevitably settle toward tales of his latest feats, his unconventional teaching methods, or simply speculation about his personal life and mysterious background.
When The Daily Prophet found itself facing the constant problem of filling column inches during slow news cycles—those tedious periods when even the most creative journalists struggled to manufacture controversy from the dull activities of Ministry officials or the predictable squabblings of Quidditch teams—
The editorial staff had discovered that they could always rely on their readership's apparently insatiable fascination with Bryan Watson's adventures, life and unconventional approaches to magical education.
The newspaper's management had quickly recognized the commercial value of this public interest, and articles bearing headlines such as "Watson's Life" or "The Mystery of the Most Powerful Youngest Wizard" could be counted upon to sell copies even during the most lackluster news weeks.
These pieces, while often padded with speculation and anonymous quotes from "sources close to Watson or Hogwarts," never failed to capture the public's imagination and generate discussions in wizard households across Britain.
Even when his grandson came home for summer vacation, chattering endlessly about what happened at school, at least half of it was related to Professor Watson.
Most significantly, Rolf had made a solemn declaration that when he entered his third year the next September, he would absolutely, without question, join the physical education class that Bryan Watson had established.
However, on this particular point, Newt found himself harboring serious reservations.
Perhaps those who didn't know the truth might be curious about this newly established course, but Newt could see the danger behind it.
Bryan Watson wasn't simply teaching young wizards how to maintain physical fitness or even how to defend themselves in the abstract sense that most parents might find acceptable.
He was steadily instructing vulnerable children in genuine dueling techniques—not the dramatic, highly regulated dueling that might be taught as a historical curiosity or academic exercise, but real combat magic designed with one primary purpose: killing human beings as efficiently as possible.
Upon learning the disturbing truth about the nature of Watson's curriculum, Newt had felt compelled to take immediate action. He had written a long letter to Dumbledore, expressing his deep concerns about why he would permit Hogwarts School to offer such a dangerous course of study.
But Dumbledore hadn't given a clear answer to this question. He only said that Bryan believed some ancient techniques were far from ready to be discarded, and as the professor in charge of student safety, Bryan had the right to make this decision.
Whenever war broke out, the blade generally wouldn't fall upon defenseless ordinary people. But if you received strict training and were a qualified soldier—or rather, possessed the combat qualities that a qualified soldier should have, even if you were just a child, whether slaughter would come knocking at your door was completely another matter.
Newt felt certain that Albus understood these grim principles as well as anyone. Yet despite this understanding, Dumbledore continued to place extraordinary trust in Bryan Watson.
Newt trusted Albus's judgment, so he also trusted Bryan. But when he saw Bryan shake his head and refuse his request, he felt quite surprised.
"I'm afraid I can't help, Newt—"
After a moment of contemplation, Bryan shook his head. Seeing Newt's astonished expression, he explained before Newt could ask, "If it were writing a letter of support or recommendation to anyone else, I certainly wouldn't begrudge even a drop of ink, Newt. But Trask Graves..."
Bryan's tone faltered slightly, and he paused as if carefully considering how much of the truth he should reveal.
"I'm worried that my letter wouldn't just fail to help, but might actually have the opposite effect."
Newt continued to blink in bewilderment without speaking.
"I'm quite certain that this Director of Magical Security at MACUSA doesn't like me and doesn't welcome my arrival. Perhaps you don't know, but the condition for allowing me entry was that I had to surrender my wand, and throughout my stay, remain under constant security surveillance."
This matter wasn't exactly top secret, but Newt, who paid no attention to worldly affairs, was unaware of it. He asked in surprise, "But a few days ago, when you stopped that Nundu..."
"The wand I used during that confrontation," Bryan interrupted gently, "belonged to the Ministry security officer who had been assigned to monitor my activities. You don't see her here now because she sustained some injuries during the encounter with the Nundu that evening. She is currently receiving treatment and recovering at St. Josiah's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, which has temporarily left me without a designated guardian."
Bryan delivered this information with a calmness that somehow made the situation seem even more surreal and troubling.
"Well then," Newt looked around the small cabin he was staying in and smiled bitterly.
"It would appear that we are both unwelcome guests in this country. The Department of Magical Security also showed similar high-handedness in my own case—they flatly refused to allow me to bring all of my friends across the border with me."
His voice took on a tone of exasperation as he continued, "They were only willing to permit Hoppy, Milo, and Mauler to accompany me on this journey. Oh, and Wright as well—that's the Basilisk. Originally, they refused Wright entry as well, claiming that the security risks were simply too great to justify."
Newt's expression softened slightly as he recalled the lengthy negotiations that had been required to resolve that crisis.
"I was forced to write a detailed letter to Director Graves explaining that besides myself, not even Tina could properly care for Wright's needs. Only after presenting a compelling case about the potential dangers of separating a Basilisk from its longtime caretaker did Graves reluctantly agree to allow Wright's entry."
Bryan took another sip of his scalding hot tea, using the brief pause to organize his thoughts before steering the conversation toward what he hoped might be more productive topics.
"Have you managed to make any significant progress in your investigation, Newt?" he inquired with interest and concern. "I'm referring specifically to your efforts to track down those missing magical creatures."
At the mention of this particular subject, Newt's expression immediately transformed, the brief moment of bitter humor fading rapidly as his face took on an even more deeply troubled look.
"Those responsible for stealing magnificent creatures from this nature reserve are an extremely cunning and well-organized group," Newt replied, his voice heavy with professional frustration and personal concern.
"They managed to avoid detection by all of the MACUSA security personnel who had been specifically stationed here to prevent exactly this type of incident. Even more impressively, they somehow prevented the other magical creatures residing in the reserve from discovering their presence and left without a single trace of their presence—there were no clues left at all."
"No clues left at all?" Bryan pressed, his purple eyes narrowing with an expression of growing concern.
"Oh, you clearly understand the difficulty and danger that this situation represents," Newt responded, his voice taking on an even more solemn tone.
"Consider the creatures that were taken: a Chimaera, a Nundu, a Quintaped, a Manticore... Honestly, for any group of ordinary wizards, none of these creatures would be any easier to subdue and transport than the Nundu you recently encountered."
Newt's voice dropped to a whisper as he continued.
"Yet the wizards who captured these creatures seemed to experience no difficulty at all in their operations. They subdued and removed each beast as effortlessly as if they were collecting docile house cats. You've fought a Nundu yourself, Bryan, in close and under pressure. You should understand exactly what this level of casual competence implies."
Bryan nodded slowly, his expression growing increasingly thoughtful as he considered what Newt had described.
If Bryan had his own wand, forcing even these Class XXXXX dangerous magical creatures to submit to his will wouldn't represent a particularly insurmountable challenge.
However, even with all of his skills and experience, he couldn't honestly claim that he could guarantee completing such operations without creating any detectable disturbance or being discovered by the various security measures that protected the nature reserve.
The fact that unknown individuals had managed to accomplish exactly this feat not once, but multiple times, showed a level of magical sophistication and operational planning that was deeply concerning.
The theft of these dangerous magical creatures had been among the first pieces of information that Bryan had encountered upon his arrival in New York. The case had been ongoing for over two months at that point.
Despite the fact that Aurors from the Department of Magical Security had been stationed at the reserve specifically to prevent further incidents, the perpetrators had shown their contempt for these security measures by conducting a second successful operation, during which they had managed to capture and take the Quintaped like in their first raid.
The various operational details and security implications behind these successful thefts created a complex puzzle that was definitely worth careful analysis and consideration from multiple angles.
"Poaching magical creatures—honestly, this sort of thing isn't uncommon," Bryan thought aloud.
"This is especially true when dealing with rare or exotic species that get premium prices from wealthy collectors. Creatures with unique magical properties can always fetch large sums on the various black markets that operate in major magical cities around the world. But I am indeed puzzled about what could be worth taking such enormous risks to poach dangerous magical creatures on such a large scale."
Bryan paused to consider, his mind working through the various possibilities and finding most of them inadequate to explain the current situation.
"Surely, it cannot be simple financial gain through traditional sales channels. I'm quite certain that the Department of Magical Security has already placed every known black-market operation in New York and the surrounding regions under the most intensive surveillance possible."
"This pattern of behavior is indeed highly unusual," Newt agreed, his expression reflecting deep concern.
As someone who had lived for nearly a century and experienced many of the most bizarre and dangerous events in recent magical history, Newt had a perspective that few others could match when it came to evaluating threats and understanding criminal motivations.
"What exactly are these people trying to accomplish with such a collection of dangerous creatures?" He asked, though the question was clearly rhetorical.
"The economic argument becomes even weaker when you consider that not all Class XXXXX dangerous magical creatures have large commercial value in traditional markets. Take the Quintaped, for example—wizards have historically found no practical use for any part of its body in potion-making, spell components, or magical crafting. Yet, those people still made a specific effort to capture and take it from the reserve.
I sincerely hope that whoever took them isn't planning to tame them and then launch terrorist attacks. Speaking of which, I suspect they also wanted to target the Antipodean Opaleye, but its recent bad temper might have made those people feel that approaching it would be too risky. Its bad mood might have saved its life."
Bryan wanted to remind him that since those people dared to launch a second attack, there might be a third, and that the dragon wasn't necessarily completely safe—it needed strict surveillance.
But on second thought, this concern was so obvious that Both Newt and MACUSA would certainly have considered this point, so he didn't comment further.
Newt sat there, looking worried and troubled.
He had spent most of his life finally making people realize that magical creatures weren't purely dangerous and impossible to communicate with. They could also communicate with wizards and share the magical world with them. Now, more and more knowledgeable people recognized that magical creatures' usefulness to wizards wasn't limited to providing their hair, scales, or organs and glands.
Now, however, Newt found himself confronted with the terrifying possibility that all of this progress might be swept away in an instant if his worst fears were proved accurate. He was desperately worried that the mysterious thieves had acquired these dangerous creatures specifically to exploit their natural aggressive capabilities for coordinated attacks against human targets.
He dared not imagine what terrible consequences would result if those dangerous creatures simultaneously went on a killing spree in the bustling Muggle areas of New York.
Needless to say, the magical world would certainly be exposed. Today's Muggle communication methods weren't like those of seventy years ago—within half an hour, news of strange creatures slaughtering civilians in New York could spread throughout the entire Muggle world.
But perhaps even more devastating to Newt personally would be the impact such an incident would have on public attitudes toward magical creatures. If these magnificent beings were perceived as having been responsible for mass casualties among innocent civilians, the cultivated progress in human-creature relations that represented his life's work would be completely destroyed.
Public opinion regarding magical creatures would almost certainly regress to the levels of fear, hatred, and aggressive persecution that had branded wizarding attitudes a century ago, when the default response to any dangerous creature was immediate extermination without consideration of alternative approaches.
All of his patient efforts to promote understanding, compassion, and coexistence would be swept away by a tide of fear and revenge that would likely persist for generations to come.
"Hmm," Bryan murmured thoughtfully.
Like Newt, Bryan also knew the serious consequences this matter could lead to. He pondered and said, "I can help you go find Gnarlak, Newt."
This suggestion seemed to break through Newt's absorption in his troubled thoughts, and he looked up and nodded towards Bryan.
"Thank you. But actually, I don't hold much hope. I know Gnarlak—if that goblin had any clues about this matter, he would unhesitatingly put them up for sale. Bryan—"
Newt stood up and beckoned to Bryan.
"Let me take you to see Wright. There's something I need you to know."
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