Becoming a Hairdresser Is Absolutely Out of the Question / You Must Support the Official Release

"Your Royal Highness, you're far too kind! I'm the one who should be thanking you. I'm truly grateful for the care you and your family have shown me!"

As he spoke, Harry kept his head bowed, not daring to meet Prince Charles's eyes.

He felt guilty. Because of what had happened that night, he had ultimately chosen to keep it from the prince.

After all, if the Royal Family found out that Aurors from the Ministry of Magic had dared to go after Prince Charles's family, it would cause a huge uproar throughout Britain!

Now that everything was about to settle down, Harry truly didn't want to find himself at the center of things again. He could only apologize to the prince's family in his heart.

However, he had secretly made up his mind.

That bastard Auror, John Dawlish—Harry wasn't going to let him off lightly!

One day, Harry would personally drag that guy in front of the prince's family and make him kneel and apologize to them!

And at the same time, he would make him repent to all those ordinary people whom wizards looked down on and thought they could deceive and manipulate at will!

"It's getting late. You should get going." After checking the time, Prince Charles gave Harry one last pat on the shoulder. "Harry, even though you'll have a new home of your own now, remember to come visit us often. Our family would be delighted to have you over~"

"I definitely will!" Through the car window, Harry nodded earnestly to Prince Charles.

Whatever the prince's true motives were, Harry had received the greatest kindness and help from him during this time. So, if circumstances allowed, he would gladly maintain his friendship with the prince's family for the long term.

The car slowly pulled away, and the scenery rushed past outside. Before long, Harry arrived at his destination—the Granger family's home on the outskirts of London.

When he got out, Harry saw that Mr. and Mrs. Granger were already waiting outside.

"Oh, you must be Harry! We're so glad you could come!" Mrs. Granger exclaimed, hurrying forward to take his hand. "You know, we've been hoping you'd come over soon~"

"From now on, you can think of this as your own home." Mr. Granger was every inch the gentleman. "I promise you, son, we're going to have a wonderful time together as a family."

"I'm sure we will! Thank you both so much for taking me in... Uncle Granger, and Aunt Granger." Harry nodded gratefully, but after a moment's hesitation, he didn't address them differently.

The Grangers didn't seem to mind. After warmly helping Harry put away his luggage, they began discussing the details of the adoption with the prince's aide.

Taking the opportunity, Harry began to carefully look over the new family he was about to join.

The Grangers were typical members of Britain's professional middle class. They were poised and well-spoken, and everything they did reflected good manners and elegance. They didn't quite have the superior air of blue-blooded aristocrats, but they were certainly a cut above the rest.

Their house was a little bigger than the Dursleys', and it also had two floors. The decor wasn't especially luxurious, but it was tasteful and cozy throughout, showing how carefully the owners looked after it.

The room they'd prepared for Harry was on the second floor, directly opposite the couple's own bedroom. Their daughter, who was the same age as Harry, lived on the ground floor.

"So... you're the Harry Potter everyone's been talking about?"

A proud, almost overbearing voice came from behind him. Harry, who was unpacking in his room, turned around and saw the last member of the Granger family.

She had a thick head of unruly brown hair, and her slightly prominent front teeth, paired with her haughty, appraising expression, made her look like a little lion baring its teeth.

"Ever since they saw the news, Mum and Dad have been praising you nonstop. But I think if I'd been in that situation, I would've done even better!"

"Maybe..." Harry shrugged indifferently. He didn't want to start competing with his adoptive parents' daughter the moment they met.

But the girl wouldn't let it go.

"Not maybe. Definitely! And I've looked into your situation. I'm almost ten months older than you, so you have to call me 'big sister'!"

Her large, bright brown eyes shone with confidence. Harry could read a hint of challenge in them.

"Sorry... but there's no way I'm doing that!"

As if! Harry had the mind of an adult. He had no intention of pretending to be younger and calling some girl his own age "big sister"~

"Hmph. No way? We'll see about that~" When she didn't get the answer she wanted, the girl glared at Harry in displeasure, tossed down a declaration of war, and ran downstairs.

She's an interesting girl, Harry thought.

Hermione Jean Granger...

Perhaps life after his adoption wouldn't be all that peaceful~

### The One Thing Tony the Hairdresser Would Never Do

"Little brother, come over here and wash your big sister's hair!!" One sunny morning, a loud, bossy voice suddenly shattered the Granger family's usual peace.

"..." But the boy reading upstairs didn't move at all, as if he couldn't hear a thing.

"Little brother! Come on, your big sister needs her hair washed!!"

"..."

"Harry, you little brat!!!" After her calls went unanswered twice in a row, the person standing outside Harry's room finally lost her temper.

"Hermione, I've been here for over a year. Do you still not get it?" Harry casually picked at his ear and lazily set down his book. "If you keep calling me things like 'big sister' and 'little brother,' I'm never going to answer."

"You! Harry, come wash my hair, then! Is that better?" Hermione quickly changed her wording. She clearly knew how Harry was; she'd only been saying it to get a rise out of him.

"One week's worth of homework, or no deal~" Seeing a chance to make a bargain, Harry sat up a little straighter and held up one finger.

"Impossible. One day, maximum!" Hermione immediately tried to push the price as low as possible.

She'd learned that from Harry. When bargaining over anything, you always started by asking for the lowest possible price. Maybe the other person would agree~

And even if they didn't, that was fine. She could always raise her offer little by little.

As someone once put it, this was the art of haggling.

"Nice try. At least four days!"

See? He'd budged~

But even though she'd already cut the price by nearly half, greedy Miss Granger still wanted to try her luck one more time.

"Could you knock off a little more? Say, three days..."

"Door's closed. Thanks!"

"Four days! Four days, all right? I'll wait for you in the bathroom!" Seeing the deal was about to fall through, Hermione hurriedly accepted Harry's previous price, then ran toward the stairs as if she were afraid he'd change his mind.

Before she left, though, she stuck out her tongue at him defiantly.

"Whatever, Harry. You're such a brat!"

"Heh~" Harry, who was getting up to go downstairs, wore an amused expression.

Hermione was in too much of a hurry. She thought her haggling had cut nearly half the homework from the price, but she didn't realize that homework wasn't assigned on six days of the week. Harry had only given her one day off~

Of course, he understood why she was so impatient. Her hair really was difficult to manage.

When Harry reached the bathroom downstairs, he used a thermometer to keep the shower water between 37 and 40 degrees. After thoroughly wetting Hermione's hair, he carefully massaged in shampoo... and that was only the first step.

Next, Harry had to use olive oil to condition Hermione's scalp and roots. He also had to apply homemade egg conditioner to her hair, and only then could he rinse it all out completely.

The whole routine took at least two hours!

Hermione, however, quite enjoyed the process.

As far as she was concerned, knowing how to wash hair was one of the few things this somewhat "annoying" boy was good at.

Even though they'd been living together for more than a year, Hermione still felt that she didn't like Harry—or at least, that she didn't like him nearly as much as her parents did.

Harry had drawn the attention of all Britain by himself. Hermione had expected him to be an aggressive, showy child, but later she discovered that he wasn't.

His grades were average: neither outstanding nor terrible. He was always happy to scrape by with a passing mark and never tried to get a single point more.

He wasn't much of a talker and rarely made friends. He didn't like going out with people, even after school or on weekends. Apart from occasionally visiting the prince's family, the thing he did most often—besides reading—was exercise in ways Hermione considered completely pointless.

Running, push-ups, sit-ups, and all sorts of other exercises... As far as Hermione was concerned, they only made people strong in body and weak in mind.

But before long, Hermione realized she was wrong.

Harry wasn't stupid at all. He was just lazy!

For example, he often scored sixty percent on tests, but that wasn't because he couldn't do better. It was because he only wanted to get sixty percent!

He hated doing homework and was constantly threatened by his teachers with expulsion, yet his grades remained consistently stable.

Hermione also discovered that when it came to certain maths and science problems, Harry seemed to know all sorts of unusual methods!

For example, just a few days ago, Hermione had been stuck on a problem asking her to calculate the area of a triangle given the lengths of its three sides. Harry glanced at it for less than a minute before giving her the answer—and he was completely right!

(Harry: Hmph. You don't even know Heron's formula, and you call yourself a top student~)

In short, once Hermione discovered Harry's hidden "secret," she began competing with him in all sorts of ways, both openly and behind the scenes.

Hermione kept finding ways to provoke Harry, hoping he'd show his true "ability" at school. Unfortunately, Harry never took the bait. He carried on being a lazy couch potato, as laid-back as ever.

Hermione also discovered that Harry was really good at winning over her parents.

He could cook, do all sorts of chores, understand nearly every book in the house, and keep all the flowers and plants in the garden in perfect order by himself. He could even help Dad organize instruments and medicines at the clinic!

The competitive Hermione had once been struck by an impulse to imitate him. And then... well, that was that~

What made her angriest was that the little brat Harry had actually said something about how "everyone has their own strengths." That was obviously his way of looking down on her and saying she wasn't good at any of those things, wasn't it?

As if!

She was Hermione Granger, a genius girl everyone praised. Was there really anything she couldn't handle...

Well, as it turned out, there was~

Hermione's hair was the "enemy" she'd never once beaten, not since the day she was born.

Her hair was too dry and much too thick. No matter how hard she tried to manage it, it always ended up looking like a lion's mane... and not just any lion's mane, but a male lion's~

So, just as Hermione was at her wits' end with her hair, Harry—unable to stand watching any longer—stepped in...

Of course, he wasn't doing it because he felt sorry for Hermione. He was using it as leverage to get her to help with the wretched homework he was supposed to do~

Harry hadn't studied hairdressing in his previous life, but his job had required him to know a great deal about the human body. So he did know a few ways to improve hair, and he used them all on Hermione.

After more than a year of looking after it, Hermione's hair hadn't improved all that much, but at least she could tie it back when she needed to.

"Harry, with skills like yours, you could make a fortune opening a hair salon someday~" As Harry gave her a professional scalp massage, Hermione felt so relaxed she was about to fall asleep.

So, all it took was paying him a little homework-writing fee to enjoy a professional head treatment that rivaled Tony the Hairdresser's work on the corner, making her feel comfortable while significantly improving her hair. It was an incredible deal~

"I'd rather take over your dad's dental clinic~" Harry shook his head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and draped a towel over Hermione's head. "All done. Dry it yourself."

As if! He'd never become Tony the Hairdresser. That would be a complete waste of the knowledge he'd brought with him when he transmigrated.

Besides, his hands were precious. Did she really think he'd be willing to touch just anyone's hair?

### Supporting the Official Release Is a Must

"By the way, Prince William has some personal matters to attend to. He's asked me to stay at Highgrove House for a few days. I'm leaving later, and I've already told Uncle and Auntie."

Hermione was already letting her hair dry by the window. Harry turned and went to pack the things he'd need for the trip.

"You've already told Mum and Dad. Why are you telling me?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows indifferently. Harry had been going to see the prince for the past year or so, and the Grangers had even had the good fortune to visit with him. She was used to it by now.

Still...

"Personal matters? What kind?" Hermione was obviously curious about royal gossip.

"Something you'd better hope you never have to deal with~" Harry shook his head but didn't explain.

Harry got along well with William, and he was on good terms with the young Prince Harry, who shared his name. William was feeling down because of family troubles, and Harry couldn't just leave him alone.

As for those family troubles, Harry didn't think Hermione would ever have to face anything like them. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had always been devoted to each other.

"Whatever. If you won't tell me, I don't care~" Hermione pretended not to be interested as she played with the ends of her hair. "If you're leaving, hurry up! And... remember to come back soon~"

"Got it~" Harry smiled and nodded before turning to pack his things.

He was enjoying things just as they were. Hermione was always fierce and overbearing, but she had a kind heart and genuinely cared about Harry like family.

Having a clever, proud little sister like her was really nice~

(Hermione: Nonsense! I'm the big sister!)

Hermione continued to bask in the sun by the window while Harry finished packing and got ready to leave... Neither of them had any idea how much the next few days without Harry would affect their future!

That afternoon, a special letter quietly arrived at the Granger family home; and that evening, a mysterious figure cloaked from head to toe gently knocked on the Grangers' door.

A few days later, Harry was walking home alone, thinking about Prince William's troubles. He couldn't help feeling a little moved himself.