Suddenly, the creaking of a wooden door came from upstairs, followed by heavy footsteps thudding down the hallway, and a somewhat excited voice asked, "What happened?"
"Oh, Penny!" Penny immediately reacted.
She held her hands out, fearing Howl would harm her child, and at the same time, she urgently shouted upstairs, "Go back, Dudley."
Howl looked up and saw the shirtless, chubby boy in the hallway.
"Long time no see," Howl greeted with a smile.
Dudley looked annoyed and unhappily said to Howl, "Why are you coming to our house?"
"Oh, no! Dudley, go back, go back!!" Vernon also let out an anxious growl at this moment.
Howl felt a bit helpless; their posture and tone completely treated him like a wanted criminal.
"Don't worry, I won't bear any ill will towards the child." Howl nodded and walked straight towards the living room under Vernon's gunpoint. He first noticed a single-seater sofa and comfortably sat down.
"Shall we talk?"
"Mom, what happened?" Dudley wanted to come downstairs.
The two mustaches on Vernon's lips wiggled like caterpillars, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Go back and play your video games, Dudley. It's nothing, just adult talk."
"Alright." Dudley's voice sounded bored, and then he thumped back to his room.
With that, the entire living room finally quieted down for a while.
Vernon's gun barrel still didn't leave Howl, and he threatened fiercely, "If you dare to make any rash moves, don't blame me."
Howl waved his hand, "Suit yourself. If you don't mind getting tired, just keep holding it."
Seeing that the two had no intention of sitting down, Howl spoke directly, "Initially, I wondered whether to approach you in a more polite manner, but then I found that your prejudices against Wizards were already deeply ingrained, so I decided not to waste my efforts.
My purpose in coming is mainly to talk about Harry. I just heard Mr. Dursley say that he refused Harry from going out again. I'm wondering if this violates our initial agreement."
At this, Vernon's face flushed again, "I don't need to talk about agreements with a Wizard living in a stinking garbage heap. We will never allow this little bastard to have any further involvement with any Wizard or magic."
"Sorry, your objection is invalid," Howl said indifferently. He didn't understand why the Dursley Family family had such strong malice towards Wizards, but he didn't care either.
"What I mean is, he is currently my handyman, and I must ensure his obligation to continue working for me. If you don't agree, I will…"
Vernon suddenly raised his gun again, fiercely saying, "Otherwise what?"
"Otherwise, I will report you to the court for child abuse. I remember there are relevant provisions in the 'Children and Young Persons Act' regarding this." Howl finished speaking and looked at Vernon with a smile:
"You wouldn't think I'd use some magic, would you? You're thinking too much; your actions are enough to make a judge lose his wig in anger."
Vernon and Penny were clearly more afraid of the law than of magic. For so many years, the reason Harry was often sent to Mrs. Figg's when their family went out to play was because there were relevant laws prohibiting children from being locked at home.
Moreover, in their opinion, magic could be resisted with a gun, but if they really got a case against them, their family would be ruined!
Vernon kept taking deep breaths, furious, and exchanged glances with Penny.
"And Mrs. Dursley, your sister is a Wizard; surely you know that Harry will go to a magic school sooner or later.
Or do you think you can, by your own power, turn Harry into an ordinary person? Can you make him not go to school?"
Penny suddenly felt as if invisible hands were choking her neck, making her unable to breathe.
magic school, yes, of course she knew. Her damned sister went to a magic school and ruined everything for her.
Just as she had written to Dumbledore wanting to go to a magic school as a child and was rejected, could… could she really stop this little bastard from learning magic? Could she, by herself, make him an ordinary person?
Penny slumped onto the side sofa as if her spine had been pulled out, lowering her head weakly.
"Any other questions?" After a long while, Howl checked, but no one answered him.
Seeing this, he also stood up and instructed, "Don't let him be late tomorrow."
With that, he walked towards the entrance. At the door, he put on his overcoat, picked up his hat, and turned back.
"Luckily, your house doesn't have any cats or dogs," Howl said with a hint of mockery in his calm tone, "Otherwise, the neighbors would immediately see that he lives worse than a dog in your house.
To be honest, I initially didn't intend to interfere in your family matters; that would make me seem like I'm talking without understanding the difficulty, especially since you were forced to adopt him.
But as his only relatives in this world, at least treat him like a person."
With that, Howl pushed the door open and left.
Back at Moonlight Fortress, Howl lay on the red sofa, and Lucifer scurried out, curious where Howl had gone.
Actually, it was a coincidence; ever since Harry crushed the flowers outside his door, he had set up a monitoring array outside.
Then, not long ago, he sensed a magic fluctuation, came out to look, and found it was at the Dursley Family family's house, so he decided to make a trip.
At that time, Harry was on the verge of a magic riot.
"It's nothing, just a couple taking out the hatred and prejudice accumulated by the previous generation on an innocent child." Howl smiled and said no more.
Lucifer naturally understood roughly what was going on. He wasn't very good at understanding human thoughts, only finding it boring, and lazily curled back into the fireplace.
Howl picked up the book again, meticulously reading it word by word.
From Grindelwald and Dumbledore to Lord Voldemort, the history of the Wizarding World over the past century gradually unfolded before his eyes, and a vivid Wizarding World gradually took shape in his mind.
On the other side, Harry lay tossing and turning in his cramped room. Vernon's words kept echoing in his mind: could he still go to Moonlight Fortress? Could he still learn magic?
He knew in his heart that Uncle Howl should be able to handle Vernon, but he couldn't help but think the worst.
In a daze, he didn't know how long it took him to fall asleep. In any case, early the next morning, he was once again woken by a banging on the door.
Only when he opened the door, for the first time, he saw a smile on Vernon's face, though it was very forced, squeezed out, but it was indeed a smile.
"Get up, Harry… Speaking of this cupboard, your aunt and I have considered… you've grown up, and this place is indeed a bit small.
So we thought about it last night. You might as well move into Dudley's other bedroom."
"Why?" Harry was very confused. A smiling face, a bedroom—this was all too unusual.
"Don't ask questions!" Vernon roared:
"Go to number thirteen yourself and ask that damned Wi… your boss for leave, then come back and move all your things upstairs, go now!!"
Harry was overjoyed. Well, although this was very unusual, as long as it was a good thing, what was there to refuse?
Harry quickly put on his shoes, then, while running, pulled his unusually large shirt over himself, ran to Moonlight Fortress, and told Uncle Howl about it.
Howl merely raised his eyelids from the sofa, then, through the door Harry had opened, noticed that it was already daylight.
He yawned and said expressionlessly, "Suit yourself, go."