A group of them stared at Harry in shock, their minds seemingly frozen. Harry suddenly grabbed Dudley by the collar and slammed him against the alley wall.
"Dudley Dursley!!"
A suppressed growl came from Harry's throat, like the final warning of a furious beast before it attacked.
Dudley looked into Harry's green eyes and, for some reason, found himself unable to resist. The fat on his face trembled along with his lips.
"Don't ever talk about my parents in that tone again!"
Dudley was terrified. He nodded repeatedly and apologized through a tearful voice:
"I... I didn't mean it, Harry. I was just so angry... I-I-I... I'll never do it again... I'm sorry. No matter what... I never should have said something like that..."
Harry released Dudley's collar and glanced back at the others. They were all sprawled on the ground, and the shockwave had clearly hurt them badly.
There was no pity in Harry's eyes. On the contrary, if Dudley had not beaten him until his entire body ached earlier, he would not have minded giving each of them a kick right then.
"Don't come looking for trouble with me again," Harry said calmly before turning and leaving.
Dudley still had not quite processed what had happened. He could only turn his head and watch Harry limp out of the alley.
However, Harry did not return to Privet Drive. He went to the community park on Gorse Street, next to Privet Drive, and sat alone on a swing with his head in his hands, filled with self-reproach.
He was waiting for someone from the Ministry of Magic to come for him.
Uncle Mu En had said that the Ministry had special magical detection methods that could locate wizards who performed magic in front of Muggles and take them away.
All he had to do was wait here for the Ministry's people to come.
With that in mind, he took off the ring and buried it in the dirt. That way, when they came to arrest him, the Ministry would not discover that he had a Casting Implement.
He would not cause them even the slightest trouble.
With such unease in his heart, Harry waited until the sky grew dim, yet no one came looking for him.
He looked up at the purplish-red sky and murmured to himself, Did the Ministry not notice me...?
"Hey!!"
The sudden shout made Harry jump, but he quickly realized who it was.
When he turned around, he saw Uncle Mu En standing at the park entrance, dressed in formal attire beneath a brown overcoat and wearing a linen newsboy cap.
He raised his hand, took a pocket watch from the breast pocket on the left side of his coat, checked the time, then looked at Harry. "What are you doing? Contemplating life?"
Harry hurriedly stood up and shook his head. "N-No."
Mu En looked somewhat disappointed. "You are not even contemplating life? Are you planning to wait until you're eleven, when you're old, before you start?"
"Uh... what?!"
"I'm marking you absent once and cancelling one month of weekends." Mu En put the pocket watch away, then added, "Tomorrow doesn't count, of course. We already made plans."
Harry nodded quickly, dug the ring he had buried out of the ground, and hurried toward the park entrance.
Mu En glanced at the dirt-covered ring, then led the way toward Privet Drive. Harry lowered his head, seeming as though he wanted to say something but could not bring himself to do so.
"So why were you sitting here like an idiot?" Mu En looked at Harry. "Waiting for the Ministry to come arrest you?"
Harry froze for a moment, then nodded.
"A magical outburst is unlikely to attract the Ministry's attention," Mu En explained.
Then he pulled out his wand, which resembled a small wooden stick. "The Ministry can only detect whether you have used magic after you possess a wand and it has been marked with the Trace."
"What is the Trace?" Harry looked up.
"For now, you can think of it as a safeguard. It can detect whether an underage wizard has carelessly used magic outside Magic School. It is derived from the 1875 Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizards."
Mu En put his wand away again. "That law applies solely to underage wizards."
"Another matter falls under the International Confederation of Wizards' Secrecy Law: any magical activity that could draw the attention of non-magical people is a serious violation."
"This rule applies to wizards of all ages. As long as it attracts the attention of ordinary people, it is against the law, regardless of whether you used magic."
Harry thought back on it, then asked in confusion, "Then I should have violated the latter—the International Confederation of Wizards' Secrecy Law!"
Mu En nodded in confirmation. "That's right. You broke the law."
Then Mu En looked ahead. "But so what? How would the Ministry monitor it?"
"Is... that how it is?"
Mu En nodded, then looked at Harry seriously. "But one thing must be made clear: that does not mean we can do whatever we please."
Harry shuddered and shook his head. "No, I won't."
As he spoke, he remembered what had happened after school. He raised his head and stared resolutely ahead. "Wouldn't that make me just like Dudley? I would never stoop to becoming someone like that."
"Dudley? So that was why you lost control of your magic?" Mu En raised an eyebrow, finally understanding part of the reason.
Harry nodded dejectedly. "Yeah... he said some things... and I couldn't hold it in..."
Then he added, "I'm sorry, Uncle Mu En. I failed to control my emotions..."
Mu En shook his head. Harry had already learned to control his magic on his own, yet he had still caused a magical outburst.
Although Mu En did not know what Dudley had said, it was certain that the words had been vicious.
Mu En did not blame Harry. He shook his head.
"Controlling your emotions and staying rational is meant to help you keep a clear mind at all times, not to turn you into a cold and indifferent person.
"You did nothing wrong. You do not need to apologize."
As he spoke, Mu En turned back and carefully examined Harry from head to toe: blood that had not been fully wiped from the tip of his nose, rumpled clothes, bruises on his cheeks...
"Still... your next step was supposed to be mental development training. But after thinking it over, perhaps we should change direction," Mu En said.
"Change direction?" Harry looked at Mu En in confusion.
Mu En turned around, faced the fading light of the setting sun, and slowly raised both arms. His right hand formed a bent fist while his left hand pointed skyward.
The sunset shone down from behind Mu En, making him seem as though he had been draped in holy light.
Within the shadows, Harry seemed to glimpse a body as perfect as an Ancient Greek sculpture.
"An outstanding wizard should naturally possess a body of gold!" Mu En's voice fell together with the sunset.
Then...
With a puff, Mu En's belly bulged out.
"Uh... I couldn't hold it in!" Mu En deflated like a punctured balloon. He rubbed the newly appeared paunch and said helplessly, "I've put on so much weight lately..."
Before you continue