0832 The Past
Both Mr. and Mrs. Depp were making desperate attempts to conceal and suppress the overwhelming tsunami of emotions, but their hastily constructed emotional disguise was pitifully inadequate when faced with the perceptive scrutiny of Bryan. Their facades couldn't begin to fool him, and certainly couldn't escape the notice of Remus.
Remus had quickly noticed that this apparently hospitable elderly couple seemed to be forcing their smiles with tremendous effort whenever they interacted with Bryan.
Only the genuinely unsuspecting Amelia remained completely oblivious to the complex undercurrents of emotional tension that were swirling around her.
"Please, let me handle this for you, ma'am," Bryan said with gentle courtesy and genuine concern when the situation in the kitchen became too distressing to ignore any longer.
After Mrs. Depp had accidentally broken her third plate in less than five minutes—Bryan simply couldn't bear to continue watching her struggle against the overwhelming emotional chaos that was clearly affecting her.
He approached the kitchen area and rolled up his sleeves. With a subtle gesture, he caused the scattered ceramic fragments on the floor to lift themselves gracefully into the air and float with silent precision directly into the nearby trash bin, where they settled with barely a whisper of sound.
With a warm, reassuring smile that radiated both competence and compassion, he gently took the trembling kitchen knife from Mrs. Depp's grip.
"What's wrong, Mother?" Amelia's voice had a tone of alarm and confusion as she quickly abandoned her newspaper and hurried to the kitchen doorway.
She first glanced curiously at Bryan, then looked at her mother with growing puzzlement and concern.
Her mother had always been remarkably skillful with her hands throughout Amelia's entire life. Amelia had literally never witnessed her perform so poorly at such basic tasks before.
"I'm quite certain it's simply the lingering effects of traveling by Floo Network," Bryan explained smoothly and tactfully while continuing to work at the stove.
His hands moved with remarkable skill and coordination as he peeled potatoes with swift, precise strokes. He spoke helping to provide cover for the haggard and emotionally fragile looking Mrs. Depp.
"Whether the mode of magical transportation is Floo Network powder or Apparition, the physiological and psychological effects on non-magical individuals are much more severe and longer-lasting than the relatively mild discomfort experienced by wizards who have spent years becoming accustomed to such methods of travel."
"Really?" Amelia murmured with obvious confusion and a touch of skepticism in her voice.
She had never encountered such claims in any of her magical education or professional training, and the explanation struck her as somewhat unusual. However, recognizing that her knowledge of how magic affected non-magical individuals was admittedly limited, she decided not to challenge Bryan's statement.
Instead, she quickly set aside her doubts and redirected her attention to her mother, her expression transforming into one of tender concern.
Her lips pressed together in a thin line of worry and self-reproach, and her face became filled with heartache and deep apology as she considered her role in causing her parents' current distress.
"I'm perfectly fine, dear—please don't worry yourself," Mrs. Depp managed to say with tremendous effort, though her voice carried a slight tremor.
She reached out her hand that shook subtly to gently brush her daughter's soft cheek with the kind of tender, maternal caress that had comforted Amelia throughout her childhood.
"I'm experiencing just a little dizziness and some residual nausea from our earlier journey," She explained with careful words, each requiring conscious effort to speak clearly and calmly. "I'll feel much better after we have a proper meal and I can rest for a while this afternoon."
Then Mrs. Depp turned her attention toward Bryan, who was demonstrating remarkable culinary skills as he worked smoothly at multiple cooking tasks simultaneously.
She watched with growing amazement as he skillfully sliced potatoes into perfectly uniform pieces while keeping careful watch over the sausages that were sizzling and browning in a large pan, all while maintaining precise awareness of the timing for a fruit pie that was baking in the oven and filling the kitchen with delicious, warming aromas.
Her lips moved slightly, as if she were struggling to find the right words to express her thoughts, before she finally managed to speak with genuine admiration tinged by something deeper and more emotionally complex.
"That's quite remarkable, A..." She began, then caught herself with visible effort and corrected the slip, "Bryan. It's truly extraordinary to encounter a young person who is so good at cooking. I'm curious—who taught you cooking? Was it perhaps your mother?"
Mr. Depp, who had been attempting to maintain a casual conversation with Remus beside his daughter's hospital bed, found himself unable to concentrate fully on their discussion.
Despite his efforts to appear normally social and engaged, he was keeping at least seventy percent of his conscious attention focused on Bryan's every word and movement.
When he heard his wife ask this question, he immediately abandoned any pretense of divided attention and turned his gaze directly toward the kitchen area. His eyes were filled with expectation.
"Actually—" Bryan replied with a gentle smile, though silently he was sighing.
"I learned my cooking skills from a chef who specialized in preparing nutritious and appealing meals for children at the orphanage."
"Or—orphanage?" The words seemed to catch in Amelia's throat, emerging as little more than a strangled whisper.
After a moment of stunned silence during which the only sounds in the room were the gentle sizzling from the stove, Amelia found herself staring wide-eyed at Bryan's busy figure with an expression of complete shock.
She seemed unable to process this fully, her mind struggling to reconcile the successful, powerful wizard she knew with the image of an abandoned child growing up without family.
"You—orphanage," she stammered, her voice barely audible as she tried to form a complete question. "You mean you're—you were—"
"Oh, you've guessed correctly, Amelia," Bryan confirmed with remarkable calmness, continuing his cooking preparations without turning around to face his audience, as if discussing something as ordinary as the weather.
"I did indeed grow up in a Muggle orphanage from my earliest memories until I received my Hogwarts letter and discovered that I had magical abilities. It was the only home I knew for the first eleven years of my life."
His voice remained steady and straightforward.
After another brief period of silence—
CRASH!
The sudden, violent sound shattered the tense atmosphere as Mr. Depp abruptly stood up from his stool with such force that the piece of furniture went flying backward, striking the wall with a resounding impact that made everyone in the room jump with startled surprise.
He looked extremely agitated, his large-knuckled hands trembling slightly as they pressed against the doorframe.
"But Amelia told us—she specifically said that your parents were both Muggles, both non-magical people," He managed to say, though his voice was rough with emotion.
"If you were at an orphanage, how could you possibly know with such certainty what kind of people your parents were? Perhaps they were actually wizards who were forced by circumstances to give you up?"
The desperation in his voice was unmistakable, as if he were grasping at any possible explanation.
"And you said earlier that your name came from your mother?" Mrs. Depp added breathlessly, her own voice strained to the breaking point.
Her question emerged in a rush of words, as if she feared that speaking too slowly might prevent her from getting the words out at all.
Listening to the intensity and specificity of the Depp couple's rapid-fire questions about Bryan's background and family circumstances, Remus frowned with growing concern and puzzlement.
He had quickly noticed that this elderly couple seemed particularly concerned about very specific aspects of Bryan's personal history—details that would normally be of only casual interest to people meeting him for the first time.
Before they had left the hospital room earlier to shop for ingredients, Remus had privately imagined that this hospitable elderly couple might be having hopes of matching Bryan and their daughter.
However, the current line of questioning and the obvious emotional distress it was causing both parents made it clear that his initial assumption had been completely incorrect.
For strangers who were supposedly meeting Bryan for the first time in their lives, such intensive and personal interrogation about his childhood and family circumstances seemed not only inappropriate but almost invasive.
From the moment he entered the hospital room, Bryan knew that Amelia's parents would definitely be able to guess something, because according to the information he had gathered when investigating this series of events years ago, the Depp couple had met the Master of Watson Manor and had seen that man's appearance.
And he looked almost identical to that man, just as Amelia bore at least seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the woman who had brought him into this world.
So, when Bryan had first arrived at America and had his initial encounter with Amelia, then subsequently learned her surname and began to piece together the geographical and temporal connections, he had been able to deduce with reasonable confidence that the relationship between Amelia and himself was definitely not what Remus had been assuming— that he had romantic feelings for Amelia.
Bryan turned sideways from his position at the stove, occasionally glancing at the potatoes and sausages that were frying in the pan to ensure they didn't overcook or burn, while simultaneously giving a peaceful, reassuring smile to the Depp couple and to Amelia, who was displaying equal curiosity about this unexpectedly personal turn in their conversation.
"That's because—" He began, then paused for a moment as he considered how much of the complete truth would be appropriate and helpful to share in this particular context.
The reality was that Amelia probably had no knowledge about the fact that she had once had a sister who had existed in this world. Bryan was aware of what the Depp couple was truly concerned about, what fears and hopes were driving their desperate questions, but—
The truth no longer mattered; what mattered most was preserving hope.
"When my mother left me at the orphanage door, she took the care to leave a piece of paper with the name 'Bryan Watson' written on it, then departed into the winter darkness," He explained.
"One of the staff members at the orphanage who happened to witness her arrival later told me that she had appeared to be a very young woman who looked extremely weak and fragile as she walked away through the heavy snow that was falling that night."
Bryan paused in his words to check on the cooking food. "If she had been a witch, she certainly wouldn't have put herself in such circumstances."
'Heavy snow, weakness.'
Mr. Depp stared blankly at Bryan, clenching his fists tightly to resist the all-pervasive feeling of suffocation, while Mrs. Depp looked as if she was about to faint. Their daughter also wore a heartbroken expression.
For both of the elderly parents, there was no longer any need for further doubt or speculation. The gray-haired young man standing before them, calmly preparing their meal while recounting the most painful chapter of his early life, was unquestionably the child that Melina had carried with her during that visit so many years ago.
All the pieces of the puzzle had finally fallen into place.
Bryan was an orphan abandoned at an orphanage. Amelia was certain that no media had ever reported this story before.
The idea that any woman could be driven to abandon her own child under such harsh circumstances was almost unimaginable to Amelia. She frowned deeply, her eyes showing both anger and sympathy for Bryan.
"What about your father, Mr. Watson?"
Amelia was already absorbed in Bryan's story and asked absent-mindedly, "You mentioned earlier that you know he was a Muggle—does this mean you've met him?"
This question aroused curiosity even from Remus, who had been listening quietly.
Indeed, Bryan always said his parents were both Muggles. In the past, when he and Sirius discussed this matter, they hadn't noticed anything unusual, but as Amelia pointed out, this at least proved that Bryan had met his father.
"Oh, yes, that's correct," Bryan replied, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly with what might have been either amusement or something more complex and difficult to interpret.
"Through certain means, I did indeed find him. Of course, I kept my distance from him."
Amelia blinked several times as she processed this information, then seemed to suddenly understand.
Since Bryan's mother had abandoned him at an orphanage, this act certainly hadn't occurred in isolation or without other causes. The most probable explanation would be that his father had first abandoned or rejected his pregnant mother, leaving her with no resources or support system to help her care for a child.
"He—I mean, your father," Mr. Depp asked in a voice that had become muffled and strained with emotion, "when he eventually learned of your existence and saw you—didn't he make any attempt to take you back from the orphanage?"
When Bryan had been a student at Hogwarts during his teenage years, he had indeed secretly returned to Watson Manor to observe and investigate his biological family, though at the time he had conducted his surveillance so carefully and discreetly that no one had discovered his presence or realized they were being watched.
However, these minor details of his investigative methods didn't seem particularly relevant to the current conversation, and he saw no need to explain the specific techniques he had used to gather information about his family background.
"That was many years later—I mean, when I went to see my father."
Bryan took the fruit pie out of the oven and used magic to make the dishes float onto the dining table.
"He had cancer. I met with him once before he died."
With lunch ready, Bryan looked at the Depp couple, whose gazes were fixed on his face with such sad and guilty expressions, and said with a smile, "Everything is ready. Shall we dine?"
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