The Cause of His Parents' Death

"Hey! Were you talking about me?"

A bright, enthusiastic voice reached their ears.

Harry turned around again. It was the blond boy.

He was pushing his cart toward them.

The boy's owl was also a snowy owl, just like Hedwig.

That small similarity made Harry relax without realizing it.

He noticed that the station had grown empty. Most people had already boarded the train.

And the newcomer was Basil.

His smile was especially radiant now, his eyes narrowed into slits.

He felt as refreshed as if he had put on new underwear on New Year's morning!

Not because the two boys before him might be Harry and Ron.

But because his now-bulging money pouch, along with his gems reaching the ten-thousand mark.

He was only two-thirds of the way away from activating the world-travel function and recovering the key components.

What was more, he had really made a lot of "friends."

As long as they didn't object, they were his "friends"!

Thanks to that, he had discovered a new function—viewing his "friends'" data.

Most importantly, he hadn't spotted any original game characters in the crowd.

That further confirmed that this world leaned toward the original novel setting.

After all, with things this lively, Robin would definitely have shown up.

That meant Voldemort still only knew how to play electrician.

He hadn't received some epic enhancement that let him unleash dense, instant-death chains of Avada lightning.

Meanwhile, faced with Basil's smiling question.

The red-haired boy, Ron, stammered.

"I wasn't."

Harry lowered his head as well.

Basil raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Harry and Ron to be so introverted and shy.

"Hello, I'm Basil Granger!"

He held out his hand directly.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron's ears turned red as he briefly touched Basil's hand.

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry followed right after, also letting go at once.

The two of them looked like bashful young girls, timid and hesitant to speak.

Smack! Ron suddenly slapped his thigh and widened his eyes.

The moment he heard Harry's name, he transformed from a shy mimosa into a cheerful sunflower.

"What!"

"Harry Potter!"

"You're Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded.

"I-I mean, could I..." Ron stammered, pointing at the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Ron Weasley!"

"How dare you!"

A shrill female voice rang out, and Harry's hand, which had been reaching for his fringe, withdrew again.

"Mum!" Ron seemed to shrink several inches all at once.

Basil watched the amusing scene with a smile.

Mrs. Weasley said, "Running around everywhere is bad enough!"

Ron looked aggrieved. "I stayed right where I was!"

Mrs. Weasley said, "And you dare talk back!"

Beside them, a cute little girl bounced up and down. "Mum, Harry Potter!"

Mrs. Weasley's voice suddenly softened from its shrill pitch, like a roller coaster plunging downhill.

She treated Harry and Ginny with exceptional gentleness.

"Oh, Ginny. Harry isn't some zoo animal!"

"And Harry, I've finally met you! You may not know this, but I was friends with your father and mother."

Ten minutes later, Basil, Harry, and Ron had boarded the train.

Since departure time was near, Mrs. Weasley did not chat with them for long.

But in those ten minutes, Mrs. Weasley gave all her tenderness to Harry and Ginny.

Even Basil received a little of it.

Ahem, how should he put it?

Though Mrs. Weasley's figure had gone out of shape, she was truly beautiful.

Especially that bosom...

Movies and reality really were different!

Ginny's features were clearly delicate, and she had a captivating charm.

Yet in the movies, she had a square face and looked utterly ordinary.

He was getting off track.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Weasley had poured all her negative emotions onto Ron.

She said he hadn't set a good example for his sister.

That he was clumsy, inferior to his brothers, and only slightly better than George and Fred.

So even now, Ron looked like an eggplant beaten by frost.

He muttered things like, "Just my luck," and, "Why aren't Fred and George here?"

Harry wanted to say something to Ron, but he never got a response.

So he started talking to Basil instead.

"You're asking whether my recommended extracurricular reading list for Years One through Seven is reliable?"

"Hmm, how should I put it?"

"Over this period, I previewed the first-year textbooks, skimmed the textbooks for the other years, and found these related books in my family library."

"Of course, they would definitely help little wizards from Muggle families."

Basil's words immediately dampened Harry's spirits.

"Previewed them? I must be terrible!"

"I only flipped through all the books once!"

"I'm definitely going to be the worst student in the class!"

Harry's worried expression made Ron perk up.

"Not at all!"

"I humbly admit that I haven't opened a single book!"

Ron puffed out his chest.

"People like Basil are rare!"

"Think about it! Who else could earn a pouch full of magic coins in such a short time?"

"I'd wager even the most diligent Ravenclaws wouldn't be able to prepare for class and put together an extracurricular reading list at the same time!"

"Besides, you're Harry Potter!"

Ron's certainty brought the color back to Harry's pale face.

Seeing that Harry was all right, Ron smiled.

He said gleefully, "That chart showing the distribution of influential Ministry of Magic figures was made up too, right? Just thinking about Percy falling for it makes me laugh."

He cleared his throat and imitated Percy. "I'm Percy, a Hogwarts prefect and the future Minister for Magic!"

Basil coughed. "Sorry. That one's legitimate."

"My ancestors were all Hufflepuffs. Knowing whom not to offend is our way of survival."

"Of course, that was their way, not mine. In the wizarding world, profound magic matters more than power."

"Like Dumbledore. He isn't the Minister, but he might as well be."

Harry hurriedly nodded. "I know that! Hagrid said the Minister for Magic often writes to Dumbledore just to ask for his opinion."

Ron slumped back into his seat in disappointment.

He had heard about Dumbledore's greatness all his life. He knew it perfectly well.

What he cared more about was whether Percy had failed to fall for it.

The thought of Percy not being fooled hurt worse than death.

Basil noticed that and added, "That chart may be real, but it might be outdated. My father wrote it, but both my parents died before I was even a year old. They were supposedly killed by a passing Death Eater."

"Great!" Ron blurted out, then hurriedly put on a sorrowful expression. "I mean, my condolences. But... was he really just passing by? He didn't come looking for them specifically?"

"My parents too! We're the same!" Harry's voice carried an inexplicable hint of joy.

What devoted sons.

"Enough, you two!" Basil rolled his eyes.

"My grandmother said—"

Harry said, "You still have a grandmother?"

Basil said, "Hey!"

Ron said, "Harry! Basil, go on."

Basil said, "My grandmother said that Death Eater really was passing through. Supposedly, he was planning to cross Holbein Forest on his way to London."

"But then he saw my parents playing Aerial Collision."

"His hands itched to try it, so he used the Killing Curse he had just learned and killed them."

Harry and Ron said, "Our condolences!"

Basil said, "It's nothing. I have no memory of them. Honestly, I've only ever grieved for my grandmother's death."

Harry said, "You're an orphan too? Then we really are the same!"

Basil and Ron said, "Hey!"

Harry's eyes shifted away.

At that moment, loud clattering came from the corridor. A smiling, dimpled woman pushed open the compartment door and asked, "Dear, would you like to buy anything from the trolley?"

Harry looked as though he had seen a savior. With a grand wave of his hand, he said, "Three of everything!"