Jeremy thought he was seeing things.
Not every pair of white pupils was the Byakugan.
But Jeremy leaned in for a closer look and eventually confirmed that the pale silver eyes, slightly larger than ordinary pupils, were indeed the Byakugan.
Like many people, after watching the anime, he had thought the Byakugan's pupils were completely white in real life.
But only after truly becoming a member of the Hyuga clan did he learn that the Byakugan's eyes had a normal physiological structure and also had an iris color; it was just silver, or rather gray, and the color was so light that it was hard to distinguish from a distance.
This distinction was quite obvious between clan members who had awakened the Byakugan and those who had not.
Those who had not awakened the eye had a deeper iris color, closer to the normal gray of his original world, until they awakened, after which the color gradually lightened.
But that was not right; this was the magical world, there was no Chakra, and the Pringle family had always lived in Europe, with no connection to the Land of Hinode. How could he have the Byakugan?
Instinctively, Jeremy formed a hand seal and attempted to refine Chakra.
Holy crap, crap, crap!!!
What is going on!?
You can refine Chakra in the magical world too!?
Feeling the energy flow between the cells in his body, Jeremy was so shocked his hair stood on end.
He was not mistaken; Jeremy truly sensed countless cells within him slowly extracting energy, tempering his body and nourishing his eyes exactly as in his previous life.
But he still did not quite understand; if he could use Chakra, could he still possess magic power?
In other words, if the energy inside his body was Chakra, where was his magic power?
Could it be true, like in those old forum discussion threads, that magic power originated from the soul, and as long as the soul was intact, magic could be used?
That was even more wrong; he was not the original Jeremy, his soul had changed, so logically, his magic power should not exist either. Yet he had just received his Hogwarts letter.
Could it be that when the owl set off, the original owner was not yet dead, but starved to death halfway, allowing me to return from the dead in his body, and since no one at the school informed the owl, it still flew over, meaning this letter was actually invalid?
Or did the magic power exist within the body, making it not so different from Chakra?
Jeremy thought hard for a long time but could not figure it out, and eventually decided to give up.
Whatever, if I can go, I go; if not, then forget it. At least with Chakra, my personal safety is secure. In the worst case, with good skills, I can become a policeman or a mercenary later.
Thinking this, Jeremy decided to let it go and was about to leave, but then his movements suddenly halted.
Wait a minute. I have the Byakugan now, right? And the Chakra just automatically nourished my eyes, right?
So, so!
I don't also have the Caged Bird, do I!
Jeremy whipped his head around, lifted the hair from his forehead, and looked into the mirror.
As expected, Jeremy's heart sank.
The cyan mark on his forehead, with cloud patterns on either side, was unmistakably the Caged Bird.
Jeremy cursed inwardly. What the hell, what kind of terrible fate is this? Giving me the Byakugan is fine, but why does it have to come with the Caged Bird?
But he immediately relaxed. There was no Main House here; no one could activate the cursed seal. Having the Caged Bird was the same as not having it.
He lowered his hair and looked at his face from this life in the mirror.
He had handsome Western features.
An oval face, a slightly pointed chin, a nose that was prominently arched in a Eurasian way, lips that were a bit thin, perhaps cracked in a few places from starvation, slightly bleeding.
His skin was deathly pale, his hair blue-black and, having gone unkempt for a long time, almost reached his neck.
Paired with the Byakugan, he looked a bit like a vampire, Jeremy thought silently.
Not bad, though; he looked like a somewhat handsome guy. It was just that the original owner had not wanted to live, which left him looking a bit gaunt and dried up now.
Jeremy was actually quite satisfied. The Hyuga clan had many handsome men; once upon a time, Hyuga Jeremy was also a good-looking guy. Having become Jeremy Pringle, he was still very easy on the eyes.
Good-looking people always had certain privileges. For example, if he caused trouble in the future, he hoped the Hogwarts professors might, considering his face, be a bit more lenient.
Leaving the bathroom, Jeremy returned to the study to search for information on the original owner.
After searching for a long time, Jeremy sighed, slightly disappointed.
He really should not have held high expectations for a small family, especially one that had fled to the Muggle world for refuge.
Not all Pure-blood wizarding families were as wealthy as the Malfoys, like the Weasleys who had many children.
Another example was the Pringle family, which lacked business acumen.
Jeremy only found one general store under his father Lawrence Pringle's name, located in a small corner of Diagon Alley. It was run reasonably well, earning nearly a hundred Galleons a month on average.
But that was all before the Dark Lord rose to power.
Afterwards, Lawrence, to seek refuge, entrusted the shop to an elderly Pure-blood wizard who had graduated from Ravenclaw. The man was Pure-blood, unmarried, with no children, utterly unremarkable, and the Dark Lord had no interest in him.
In the initial years, the old wizard did quite well, keeping a low profile in business and not drawing attention. However, affected by the situation, the shop's income still sharply declined to sixty Galleons a month.
Lawrence knew the old wizard's environment was highly dangerous and felt somewhat irresponsible just fleeing himself. So, he agreed with the man that 80% of the shop's earnings would go to the old wizard, and the remaining 20% would belong to the Pringle family, temporarily held in the old wizard's care.
Yes, the Pringle family. This was Lawrence's way of leaving a lifeline for Jeremy.
He did not believe the Dark Lord could rule the magical world forever; he firmly believed the Dark Lord would eventually fail, and Jeremy was destined to return to Hogwarts for school.
When Jeremy went to Diagon Alley to buy his school supplies, he would receive the funds kept safe for years by the old wizard, to serve as Jeremy's living expenses.
And, as Lawrence envisioned, he and Anne might not live to see Jeremy start school.
Anne was a Muggle-born witch; the Death Eaters would never tolerate her.
Jeremy was moved by Lawrence's deep paternal love.
He had arranged everything and tried every way to protect his family.
It was just that he died in the darkness before the dawn.
Jeremy put down the bills and the letter of explanation Lawrence had left him, akin to a will, his heart heavy.
He looked around the study; there was not much. After Lawrence fled to the Muggle world, with Anne's help, he found a job and worked diligently to make a living.
Thus, the study still contained many documents from Muggle companies, though this job had been abandoned years ago when the Death Eaters targeted them.
Despite everything, Lawrence had still managed to earn quite a few pounds, which, after daily expenses, he also left for Jeremy.
Looking at the photograph of Lawrence and Anne on the wall behind the study desk, a complex emotion welled up in Jeremy's heart.
It was a remnant of the despair and grief of the original Jeremy.
The Death Eaters' pursuit had come too swiftly; Lawrence and Anne had not even had time to imprint their memories into portraits. What Jeremy now held was just a static photograph: Lawrence holding Anne, Anne holding baby Jeremy, the family of three smiling happily.
Jeremy took down the portrait, planning to ask the professor tomorrow, after he arrived, to help make a copy, reduce it in size, and take it to Hogwarts.
As a son, he should act like a son; he could not take over the original owner's body, take his money, and then fail to honor his parents.
Suddenly, a piece of parchment fell from the back of the portrait.
Jeremy picked it up and looked, his pupils contracting sharply.
[Regarding the Research and Solution for the Caged Bird Curse Seal]
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