Do You Think I'm a Giant Baby?

After school that afternoon, while Mu En tended the flowerbeds, he saw Harry's hairstyle for the first time.

Harry had gone from a bird's nest of hair to combing it back, but the hair at his temples easily stuck out. Still, so as not to hurt the little guy who had taken the initiative to change, Mu En remained strong—he held back his laughter!!

He even brought Harry into the flowerbeds and gave him a thorough lesson on the basics of grooming his hair.

Under Mu En's guidance, Harry learned quickly.

But...

For some reason, Harry felt that Uncle Mu En had been far more serious when teaching him how to manage his hair than when teaching him magic.

He had even thoughtfully pulled out books on clothing to improve Harry's sense of style.

Harry scratched his head, unsure what expression to make. The situation had already gone a little beyond the limits of his ability to manage his expressions.

All he could do was helplessly take the books and return to the study.

After carrying out a routine cleaning of the entire castle, he noticed that Moonlight Castle had begun moving.

As he watched the forests and mountains slowly recede beside him, Harry could only marvel.

The gentle breeze soon made him forget the mockery from his classmates that day, and it also helped him quickly adjust to life after school started.

It even made Harry feel as though life could go on like this forever.

A week passed quickly, and Harry had grown used to showing his scar.

When the people at school realized Harry simply did not care about their mockery, they gradually lost interest and let it go.

Outside the school gates, Dudley stood with his gang of cronies. Piers, who had previously tormented Harry alongside Dudley, was among them. Aside from Piers being rather skinny within this little group, the others were all tall and sturdy.

At least, compared with other children their age, they were.

"D-bro, it's finally the weekend. Where should we go have some fun?" one boy asked Dudley. Everyone followed his lead; he was the biggest and strongest one there.

"Fun my ass." Dudley looked bored, the fat on his face jiggling twice. "I'm out of money."

Ten pounds was not an enormous sum, but it was certainly not a small amount in this day and age.

In just five days, Dudley had spent it all, along with his usual allowance.

More accurately, he had eaten it all.

"Then let's go to your place and play games," someone else suggested.

That only made Dudley more irritated. "I smashed the game console."

"Huh?"

Hearing that, they all looked disappointed. The game console had been Dudley's birthday gift. It had not been long at all, yet he had already broken it.

They had not even had their fill of it yet.

"D-bro, look." Suddenly, someone pointed at a figure near the school gates.

Dudley turned his head and saw Harry walking out of the school.

Honestly, during this time...

No, it should have been for a long time now. Dudley had always found Harry extremely irritating.

Ever since the start, when Harry had been chased by a stray dog just after the holidays began, Dudley had held a grudge against him.

Then Harry had taken over his room. Although it was only a room where he piled up broken toys, for some reason, Mum and Dad had insisted on giving it to Harry.

Later, Harry had actually started helping the neighbors fix things every day, somehow becoming the capable little helper everyone on Privet Drive praised...

In short, Harry's behavior had long since made Dudley deeply unhappy.

Ever since Harry had gone to work as a handyman at Number 13, Privet Drive, Dudley had initially assumed the guy would come home exhausted like a dead dog every day, able to eat only leftovers before being thrown into the cupboard as punishment.

But now, Dudley could visibly see that Harry had grown taller and was no longer so small and thin. Even his spirits had improved by more than a little.

Especially—his guts had gotten bigger!

He actually dared to talk back to Dudley, and with that expression that completely looked down on him!!

A malicious smile spread across Dudley's face as he cracked his knuckles. "I know where to get some money."

From the neighbors' gossip, Dudley had already learned that Harry had saved up a small stash of money by fixing things for people.

Harry walked briskly down the street with a faint smile on his face, clearly in a good mood.

That weekend, Uncle Mu En was going to Diagon Alley to handle some business. After getting Mu En's permission, Harry had borrowed Mrs. Hudson's landline and invited Hermione to go to Diagon Alley with him.

He did not have many friends at school, so naturally, he had been looking forward to the weekend.

As he walked, several figures suddenly stepped forward and surrounded him.

"Oh, look who it is. Isn't this my dear cousin?" Dudley looked at Harry and tried to sling an arm around him, but Harry quickly dodged away.

"Dudley, what do you want?" Harry asked.

"What do I want? I'm just checking in on you, of course." Dudley looked at Harry. "Harry, I've got nowhere to stay now. How about... you pay me some rent for living in my room?"

"You won't get a penny from me." Harry looked at Dudley expressionlessly.

Dudley going after his little stash had long been within Harry's expectations. He had already put the money in the study at Moonlight Castle.

Just then, Piers somehow slipped behind Harry and grabbed his arm.

Dudley took the opportunity to seize Harry by the head. "Fine, whatever. We're bored anyway. Come play some games with us."

"Dudley, let me go!" Harry struggled, but compared with Dudley, his strength was completely insufficient.

Very soon, he was dragged away from the school gates and into an alley.

"No money? Fine. I've seen you wearing that ring for ages. What's it made of? Silver?" As he spoke, Dudley grabbed Harry's hand and tried to pull off his ring.

But no matter how hard Dudley pulled, the ring seemed rooted to Harry's finger. He simply could not pry it off.

"Damn it!" Dudley flung Harry's hand away in frustration.

"Tell them to let me go, Dudley!" Harry shouted. Dudley's friends held him down, but he continued glaring fiercely at Dudley.

"What does that have to do with me? It's not like I told them to hold you down," Dudley said.

"You're always like this—doing whatever you want, so full of yourself. You're like a baby, and even the fat on your face is the same!" Harry snapped.

Bang—

Blood streamed from Harry's nose, and stars burst before his eyes. Before he could react, Dudley's fists and kicks came raining down on him.

Dudley's friends released Harry. They were not going to hit him themselves; if the school caught them, their parents would be told.

But Dudley was different. This was just roughhousing after a quarrel between brothers, and the school could not interfere too much.

"Do you think you're so smart?" Dudley roared. "You're just a parasite."

Harry found it hard to defend himself. He wanted to do something, but then he remembered that it might bring the Ministry of Magic down on them and cause trouble for Uncle Mu En.

Yes, he could not cause Uncle Mu En any more trouble.

At worst, Dudley would bully him again. It was nothing; it had happened before anyway.

Don't let your emotions control you!

He kept telling himself that, while trying to use his body to block Dudley's punches.

"You think I'm some baby who needs looking after? Is that it?" Dudley cursed. He was clearly furious too, and some words burst from him without passing through his brain at all:

"I think you're just jealous because I have a mum and dad. Your parents died in a car crash and only left you behind, along with that ugly scar of yours. That's hilarious. You even showed it off—do you think you're so special—"

Before Dudley could finish, a tremendous impact suddenly erupted from Harry's body. Everyone was slammed against the walls by the invisible force, dizzy and disoriented...