"Harley was right after all."
You do look very much like it.
"If we had a son."
The two people Harry cared about—the Peverell (James and Lily in this world)—were close to him, almost within reach.
Before he could respond, the Mr. and Mrs. Weasley began to greet him.
"We entrust our daughter to you."
"Roan has always been carefree, I never expected her to be the first to get married."
"Jinli was extremely curious. What kind of man could make Roan, who only knew how to eat, drink, and sleep, fall for him?"
("What do you mean by 'all you know is eating, drinking, and sleeping'?" Ron asked Mrs. Weasley, feeling a sense of shared experience. "Mother, is that how you see me?")
(Mrs. Weasley shakes her head. "You're also good at Wizard's Chess.")
Harry's body stiffened.
He already knew that Ginny was a man in this world.
But I still couldn't help but overreact when I heard it.
"Oh dear— Arthur Weasley." It was Lucius Malfoy who spoke, his hand already on Harry's shoulder.
"Lucius." Mr. Weasley's smile faded.
It seems that even without the concept of Pure-blood, the two still don't get along.
"Don't forget," Mr. Malfoy said, "Harry is a wizard, and he's at a disadvantage in that respect."
"'Our daughter is in your hands,'" he mimicked Mr. Weasley's tone, "But don't make it sound like he's getting the better deal."
"What's this about taking advantage of a family? You're being too mercenary," Mr. Weasley said, but his face still flushed as he realized what he was thinking. Harry was such a frail child; could he really hold up three witches?
Mr. Malfoy narrowed his eyes.
Just as the two were about to fight, Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Malfoy intervened and stopped them.
Just moments ago they were like bulls, but now they've turned into harmless quails.
"Don't frighten the child." Mr. Peverell looked at Harry looked very much like him, again.
"From now on, we're family." Mrs. Peverell blinked.
At this moment, the two of them seemed more like parents standing up for their son.
Harry's eyes welled up with tears.
(Snape's expression froze; he simply couldn't stand seeing James Potter and Lily so intimate. Even though this James's last name Peverell, and he was far more handsome.)
Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley shook hands reluctantly.
However, it was as if the other person's hand was burning hot, and the two separated as soon as they touched.
"I'm so glad we can be family, dear Harry." Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a quick hug.
Mrs. Malfoy, on the other hand, was more reserved and simply shook his hand.
Next, Mr. Peverell led Harry and Percy and the other women's families onto the ship, while Mrs. Peverell stayed ashore to chat with the professors.
However, Harry suspected that his father was doing this because he was afraid that Sirius would wake up and demand to see him.
Of the guests, only Hagrid, Phoebe, and Cho Chang boarded the ship.
Sif Snape, of course, was there to linger on the shore with Mrs. Peverell (Lily).
Cedric and Krum, on the other hand, wanted to find some free time to chat.
The occurrence of such a major event filled them with a strong urge to vent and communicate.
"It's unbelievable that Harry would get married in this world." Cedric then gave a wry smile. "But this has caused me a lot of trouble, as it has given Cho Chang the idea to do the same."
(Amos Diggory expressed his great anticipation for his son's wedding and such.)
(Cho Chang's expression darkened, and he gripped Ginny's hand tightly.)
Harry's marriage provokes a large number of libertine witches who were just looking for fun.
After all, male witches are a scarce resource, so it would be wise to marry one and keep her at home.
Once married, male witches cannot be touched; they are protected by a vow of chastity, and even a fleeting pleasure is forbidden.
The Hunger Platform, a prison brothel, isn't always a place where you can get a seat.
And needless to say, temperate witches like Cho Chang, who didn't indulge in pleasure in prisons and brothels.
"Can't you use your studies as an excuse?" Krum, looking like a complete jerk.
And indeed, during those three months, he relied on his magic to avoid being sucked in and had fun with those libertine witches.
(Basil just wants to laugh; in the real world, libertine witches are actually female versions of male witches.)
(Krum's performance has already been revealed to wizarding audiences worldwide, so it's fair to say he has completely lost the right to choose a partner.)
(At most, only those who are snobbish and only choose him because he's Champion would.)
"Have you forgotten? My secret of not being able to have my magic absorbed has already been revealed to her," Cedric sighed.
If only I could use my studies as an excuse.
In fact, very few students at Hogwarts have ever gotten married before graduation, precisely because of this consideration.
After all, some sixth graders are already adults, let alone ninth graders.
Cedric could not use that as an excuse.
This is the best choice for marriage; it's the best protection for the male witch.
After all, even if they break up or divorce, male wizards, who are already a scarce resource, will not have trouble finding someone to marry them.
While male witches may face discrimination in job hunting and employment, they have an advantage in the marriage market. Even if they demand a dowry of one thousand Galleons, many female witches will grit their teeth and agree.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that." Krum shrugged.
"I wonder when this mission will end." Cedric sighed again. "Do you think everything's really alright at the farm (where the fake Sorting Hat is hidden)? If it's not related to it, when will the Demon Man realize his mistake?"
"Yeah, it's been too long. It's almost June over there, isn't it?" Krum couldn't help feeling a little lonely, which was the biggest reason he chose to indulge himself and enjoy himself.
(Ron, who had just finished his final exams, couldn't help but nod.)
(This is how his fourth-grade school life ended.)
(In fact, he already suspected that the mission would continue until the start of the school year in September.)
"If I'm not mistaken, it should be June 8, 1995 over there," Cedric said. "They should have finished their exams by now. Hopefully, we can still make it to the final dinner."
("Today really is June 8th," Neville exclaimed in surprise.)
(However, he thought it was unlikely he could make it to the end-of-term dinner.)
(The final dinner was on the last day of the second full week—the night before the Hogwarts Express departed for London Station, which was June 18, 1995.)
(Returning to the end of the mission within 10 days is simply impossible.)
(The prevailing opinion in the Wizarding World now is that they will linger in this mission world for several more decades until the Demon Man gets old and gives up.)
(Perhaps the reason the Champion became an immortal fairy in the first world was because the second world would take up a lot of time.)
And Krum thought so too.
"I'm prepared to stay in this world for a hundred years." He stretched. "Our world has the records of the [path], and our parents have enough time to wait for us."
"Look, Harry is married and has kids. He must have noticed."
"Is that so?" Cedric looked up at the deck. Cho Chang was talking to Phoebe, smiling broadly.
Suddenly, his resolve began to waver.
"Perhaps I should say yes to her."
(Cho Chang was so angry she was numb; she just took a big gulp of Pumpkin Juice.)
(At the same time, she told herself, "I'm already doing pretty well. That's another version of me. Ginny is even worse off than me. In that world, she's a man.")
Before Krum could even make fun of Cedric, he heard Hagrid yelling that it was time to get on the ship.
Then, everyone boarded the boat one by one.
It's worth mentioning that Sirius was awakened by Hagrid's shout.
She struggled, calling out "James"James repeatedly, trying to get on the ship.
As if sensing Sirius's awakening, Mr. Peverell's ship, which had been moored by the Black Lake, sank into the lake almost instantly, disappearing into the whirlpool without even taking in the planks or anchor.
Sirius was left helplessly diving to the bottom of the lake, only to find nothing.
(Through Phoebe's perspective on the ship's deck, Sirius witnessed this scene and his eyes welled up with tears.)
(He felt that the female version of himself was more worthy of James than Lily, at least she didn't have an entanglement with Sif.)
Phoebe, on the other hand, didn't pay attention to Sirius's performance.
She was completely absorbed in the strange sights around her; the large ship had created an invisible protective shield in the water, and they were in a fantastical underwater world.
Aquatic plants swayed, and the ugly, cold-water Merpeople dragged Grindylow along, observing from the shadows, while a swarm of Plimpy swam past at breakneck speed.
Then, a whirlpool appeared out of nowhere, plunging the entire ship into darkness.
Hagrid's voice rang out, "Everyone, stay calm. This is a spatial transfer. Because the ship is quite large, it will be much slower than Apparition or Floo Network travel."
Harry, who was assigned to the room, didn't understand at first what "much slower" meant.
But it wasn't until he started to doze off that he understood what slow meant.
("It's been black for almost an hour, how much longer is this?" Ron asked a Durmstrang student, walking up to him with an air of familiarity.)
("It doesn't take us this long to get from the northernmost part of Europe to Hogwarts, does it?" the student asked, puzzled. "It's not that far from the southwest of England to the Scottish Highlands [referring to Godric's Hollow to Hogwarts].")
(Ron speculated, "Godric's Hollow is named that way because Gryffindor was born here, but maybe he was born somewhere else in this world. Like the New World, and then some valley in the New World [referring to the Americas and the nearby islands] is called Godric's Hollow.")
("Perhaps it's because of the quality of magic," another Durmstrang student said. "This kind of group spatial movement requires consideration not only of the physical mass of the wizards and objects being transported, but also the quality of their magic.")
("Leaving aside Harry and his three friends, the wizards of this world, due to their optimized bloodlines, possess magic of far greater quality and quantity than those of our world.")
("I see." Ron nodded. "No wonder they put Harry in a room so he could rest and recharge.")
Harry wasn't sleepy at the moment.
Perhaps at first, but the darkness here was completely different from the darkness of a real night, which quickly brought him back to his senses.
In this spatial shift within the gaps of reality, the Lumos and other means of illumination were ineffective; even though he could see in the night, he couldn't see anything around him.
He could only grope his way to the door, listening to the conversations in the hallway and other rooms.
"How much longer?"
"You forgot that we can't see anything here."
"It usually takes 3 hours, and about an hour has already passed?"
"However, the fact that such a conservative family as the Malfoy would agree shows that Lucius really dotes on his daughter."
"Are you confused? They insisted on monogamy before because the one with the surname Malfoy was the husband, but the Malfoy of this generation are witches."
"That makes sense. No wonder Weasley and Peverell agreed; their daughters are wives in their husbands' marriages."
Harry found it quite interesting at first and became quite engrossed in it.
But after repeating the same boring mutterings over and over, he got bored and left the doorway, groped his way to the sofa on the left, and leaned his head against the wall to doze off.
"Finally, it's quiet," Harry thought.
Quiet down?
He suddenly remembered that the innermost room to his left was occupied.
It was a male wizard whose face was half covered by a silver mask.
With his keen senses, he should be able to detect any movement unless the person next door is a lifeless, motionless corpse.
Of course, it's also possible that some kind of soundproofing spell was cast in the next room.
But that makes it even more suspicious.
In this world, only witches cover their faces, while the person next to him is only a male witch, coupled with soundproofing spells.
Could this guy be one of the escaped members of the Knights of Faith?
It's not impossible.
Pure-blood are already related to each other, and their relationships are complex.
Even in their world, if we're talking about kinship, Ron is Draco Malfoy's uncle, and Malfoy is his nephew.
Rumble~
The slight rocking of the ship interrupted Harry's thoughts.
What appeared to be darkness to other passengers was, to Harry, a faint outline, like the first light of dawn.
"We've arrived?" As Harry stood up, dawn turned into midday—dawn in the eyes of the other passengers.
The passengers immediately realized that they had escaped the cracks of reality.
The lights in the room and hallway turned on instantly.
Harry walked out of the room.
The same applies to passengers in other rooms.
The whole ship became lively again.
Before heading towards the deck, Harry glanced out of the corner of his eye at the room in the corner; its door remained closed, and the mysterious passenger seemed to be nowhere to be seen.
Splash!
A large ship, painted in gold and white, emerged from the water.
Harry looked around; it was already dark, and the stars Dotty in the sky.
In the distance, a brightly lit town echoes the stars in the sky.
However, what caught his attention the most were the three figures on the shore.
Even though it's only been a day since we last met, it feels like we've been apart for a century.
Just as he spotted them at a glance on the dimly lit dock, they found him on the crowded deck.
"Harry!" x3
The three waved, their voices drowning out all the surrounding noise.