Chapter 80: Let's Have a Talk
"Your family!" The realization dawned on Ryan, and a sense of relief washed over him. If it was Vaisey's family, then surely they would remember the debt they owed him. Though his intervention had been primarily to help Vaisey, it had also given the Selwyn family the breathing room they needed to stabilize their crumbling finances. They were still losing ground, but he had saved them from a complete and total collapse. With that history between them, any wizard in the Selwyn family with a functioning brain would know not to make an enemy of him.
"And you think that settles it? That my so-called uncles and cousins will remember your little favor?" Vaisey's voice was laced with scorn, as if he had read Ryan's mind.
"Are you saying," Ryan replied, "that your esteemed relatives are all idiots?"
"If they had any sense, they wouldn't have been so slow to grasp the political situation after Voldemort's fall," Vaisey said, his lips pressed into a thin, hard line. He was clearly holding back a tirade of insults against his own kin; after all, their ancestors were his ancestors.
He took a calming breath. "Not only will they not feel any gratitude, but they will also see your past assistance as a mark of shame. Your intervention tore away the last of their pride. In their minds, the very idea of a mere schoolboy coming to the aid of the great House of Selwyn is an unbearable humiliation. It's an admission that their name has been dragged through the mud."
"Just think of it," he continued with a cold laugh. "One of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the so-called nobility of our world, unable to protect its own assets or its own people. Reduced to being bullied by common merchants, forced to accept a handout from an underage wizard to save themselves."
His eyes glinted. "Those men dream of nothing more than to see you, Ryan Welles, tortured to death in the most gruesome way imaginable."
"It seems," Ryan said with a thoughtful nod and a calm smile, "that I will need someone I can trust to manage the communicator business." He reacted as if Vaisey had just extended a dinner invitation, not described a death threat.
"Did you not hear a word I said?" Vaisey asked, his expression grave.
"Of course, I heard every word," Ryan said, raising an eyebrow and meeting his gaze with a smile of his own.
Behind them, the other club members, having chosen their communicators, were whispering amongst themselves, wondering what new scheme the two of them were plotting. Suddenly, under the watchful eyes of the group, Vaisey's tense expression broke. An irrepressible grin spread across his face, and he grabbed Ryan's shoulder, clapping him firmly on the back.
"Heh heh heh!"
They both burst into laughter, much to the confusion of the onlookers.
After a moment, Vaisey caught his breath. "Need any help?"
"I'll do my part, you do yours," Ryan replied.
"And the timing?"
"Tonight. I should be able to make it in time for the banquet."
Their cryptic conversation ended. Vaisey stepped aside and began scribbling a note with a quill, while Ryan rejoined the main group, chatting for a while before they all headed to the Great Hall for lunch.
The large, multi-house group from the Adventurers' Club drew envious stares from the other students, especially when they all sat together, breaking the unspoken rules of house segregation. During the meal, Penelope noticed Vaisey discreetly pass a small slip of paper to Ryan. Ryan glanced at it, smiled, and then casually crumpled the note in his fingertips until it turned to dust.
The power in that simple gesture was immense. It was as if he had cast a contained Fire-Making Spell in the palm of his hand. But how could that spell be controlled with such minute precision? It wasn't the roaring flame she knew, but a tiny, controlled spark. His progress is astonishing, she thought. He's already surpassed what he described to us as 'mastery'.
After lunch, Ryan waved goodbye to the group, announcing he had an errand to run and wouldn't see them again until the evening. They peppered him with curious questions, but he skillfully deflected them all.
After he had gone, Vaisey addressed the remaining members, his words only adding to the mystery. "There will be a gathering this evening. I hope you can all attend. If you have dress robes, feel free to wear them, but don't feel you need to acquire any specially. The only requirement is that you wear the black and gold cufflink of the Adventurers' Club. We will coordinate using our new communicators. As for getting leave from the castle, don't worry. I will speak with the professors."
Without waiting for a response, he too made a swift exit.
"Those two are being so secretive," Penelope said with a frown. "What do you think they're up to?"
"Hard to say," said Pablo Pierce, the Ravenclaw prefect. "But it's clearly not a school matter. Something this clandestine has to be bigger than that." As a keen observer of them both, he had a suspicion, but he kept it to himself.
"I agree, it must be something outside of Hogwarts."
"I think it's about the communicators. Didn't Ryan say he wanted to roll them out to the entire wizarding world?"
"So you're saying Vaisey's family has the connections, and Ryan has gone to ask for their help? And tonight's party is a celebration of his success?"
"It makes perfect sense!"
Draco Malfoy, who had been listening to the speculation, was suddenly addressed by an unexpected source. "You're close with Vaisey. Do you know what's going on?"
He turned to see Harry Potter looking at him expectantly. Harry Potter is asking me for information! This clearly means I have bested him! Feeling magnanimous in his victory, Malfoy deigned to reply. "As it happens, one of the Selwyn family's primary business interests is the Owl Post in Diagon Alley."
He puffed out his chest. "And you've all seen what our Adventurers' Club communicator can do. It's going to decimate their profits! So, obviously, Ryan has gone to deal with the matter."
"So... Ryan has gone to have a talk with Vaisey's family," Harry concluded, feeling he now understood everything.
The exchange was overheard by the rest of the group, and a consensus was quickly reached. Ryan had gone to negotiate a business deal, a simple exchange of interests. Only Penelope seemed unconvinced.
"A talk?" she murmured with a wry, knowing smile.
"Ryan Welles!" a wolfish-looking middle-aged wizard roared. "I believe we need to have a talk!" At his feet, two other wizards lay unconscious.
The grand drawing-room of the Selwyn family estate was in utter chaos. It looked as if a band of rampaging trolls had torn through it. Crystal vases were shattered, gold platters were bent and scattered, and the elegant mahogany furniture was reduced to splintered firewood.
Of the three remaining adult wizards of the House of Selwyn, two were already down for the count.
~~~
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