A Certain Scientific Harry Potter

That person... how could she possibly be Harry Potter's girlfriend?

She isn't, he didn't, would you all please stop talking nonsense?!

The Weasley family... those on Harry's side actually saw the family gathered in the corner of the crowd, but only Mr. Longbottom nodded to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley; no one stepped forward to greet them.

This wasn't because they weren't close; on the contrary, Molly Weasley's two older brothers, the Prewett brothers, were both heroic members of the Order of the Phoenix who died in battle, and they were close comrades-in-arms with both the Potters and the Longbottoms.

But this was Diagon Alley, and many in the British wizarding world knew that if you ran into the Weasleys at Diagon Alley during the start of the school term, it was best not to take the initiative to greet them...

Because you might end up causing them embarrassment.

However, not everyone followed this unwritten rule, such as Lucius Malfoy.

"Heh, isn't this Arthur Weasley?" The head of the Malfoy family strolled out from the crowd, one hand pressing on his son's shoulder to forcibly pull him away from Harry, turning toward the Weasleys at the edge of the crowd.

He was very disappointed in his son right now, because Draco Malfoy not only failed to achieve top marks in last year's exams, but he had just acted like a brainless fool.

The Potter family's reputation in the wizarding world was currently resounding, and Harry Potter was practically being touted as the leader of the next generation of the Order of the Phoenix... Lucius never expected his son to mindlessly provoke the other party!

As a noble, platinum-blonde pure-blood aristocrat, there was nothing wrong with showing off in front of a bunch of poor people, but at least one had to pick a soft target...

Let it be stated beforehand, this wasn't the Malfoy family's inherent vice of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, but rather the situational awareness that a Slytherin should possess.

Therefore, the Weasley family was very suitable.

As the disgrace of the pure-blood families, the poorest of the poor, the Weasleys not only had many children, but they were also impulsive, and more importantly, they were all holding a pile of broken second-hand goods.

A situation like theirs was simply perfect for hiding that thing, and he could incidentally frame Arthur Weasley—the bastard who was always causing him trouble.

Thus, Lucius decisively made his move.

"I hear you've been very busy with official business, old friend. With so many raids, I'm sure they must be paying you overtime?"

He reached into the youngest Weasley daughter's cauldron and, from a brand-new set of Lockhart's works, pulled out a tattered A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Heh, it seems not. My goodness, if you can't even earn a decent reward, what is the benefit of being a disgrace among wizards?"

With a string of acerbic and mean-spirited taunts, Lucius viciously insulted almost everyone in the Weasley family from the adults to the children, finally succeeding in igniting Mr. Weasley's fury, who ignored everything and started a brawl with him at the entrance of the bookstore!

The scene instantly became extremely chaotic; Ginny Weasley's cauldron flew out, the men of the two families rolled into a ball amidst a pile of Lockhart's books, the Weasley children kept cheering and shouting, while Draco Malfoy stood there in a daze, panicked and at a loss.

As for Mrs. Weasley, she was trying to break up the fight with the shop assistant, but the men, blinded by rage, paid no attention to them at all.

"Alright, can you two stop now?" Finally, it was James who stepped forward to put an end to the incident.

As a top-tier Quidditch player, James had a very strong build and easily separated the two men who were wrestling together.

By this time, Mr. Weasley's lip had been split, and Lucius had a bruised eye, still holding Ginny's old textbook in his hand.

"Here, little girl, take your book. This is the best thing your father can give you!" He struggled to shake off James's grip while reaching out to stuff the old textbook back into Ginny's hands.

But just then, another hand suddenly grabbed his suspended wrist!

"Frank Longbottom?" Lucius's expression froze. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Just curious about what exactly you stuffed into this book."

Frank said calmly, reaching out to grab the textbook in Lucius's hand. The latter became incredibly nervous, but with both his hands restrained, he could only let Frank pull the old textbook away.

"Mr. Malfoy, I think you need to explain why you are planting this kind of thing in a child's textbook?" Very quickly, Frank searched out an old diary from the book, which had a clear bulge, and his expression turned extremely serious!

"Based on my experience as an Auror, this is undoubtedly a Dark Magic object! Mr. Malfoy, I recall the Ministry previously searched your home; can I assume that you are still deliberately concealing dangerous items explicitly prohibited by the Ministry of Magic?!"

"Longbottom, how dare you frame me like this?!" Lucius tried his best to hide his panic, shouting incessantly in denial. "Not to mention whether it is a Dark Magic object, even if it were, how can you prove that I was the one who stuffed this thing into this tattered textbook?!"

"Proving that is very easy; we just need to provide the memory." Alice Longbottom, also an Auror, smiled with confidence. "When you had the conflict with the Weasley family, you were holding the textbook in your hand, and the thickness of the book was normal then; Lily and I were watching that closely. But just now, when you wanted to return it to the little girl, it suddenly became much thicker... and you're still saying you didn't stuff it in there?!"

"You... this is purely baseless speculation, you are slandering me!"

"But this is the rule for Auror investigations. As long as there is this bit of suspicion, I already have the right to use Veritaserum on you." Alice was the type of witch with a rounder face, but she wasn't smiling kindly at all now. "To prove your innocence, Mr. Malfoy, you'd better come back to the Ministry with us. It's said that the new Veritaserum Lily improved tastes quite good; you can have a taste~"

"Damn it! I won't..."

"And you might not know this yet..." Just as Lucius wanted to quibble, Alice continued relentlessly. "You were just seen coming out of Knockturn Alley with your son; I saw it clearly. Do you want me to guess where you went? Perhaps... Borgin and Burkes?"

"Ugh..."

At this moment, Lucius Malfoy felt as if someone had grabbed him by the throat, his eyes filled with terror and panic...

He was finished!!

Eight: Harry Potter, one glance for two or three years~

It was only because Alice Longbottom took one extra look at Lucius Malfoy in the crowd that Harry's life for the next two years became calm and uneventful... although it sounds absurd, this is indeed the internal causal logic that wizards cannot fathom.

Lucius Malfoy's premonition was not wrong; he was truly finished this time.

As elite Aurors with the backing of the Order of the Phoenix, the Longbottoms had significant influence in the Ministry of Magic, so the process of convicting Lucius could only be described as lightning-fast.

After saying goodbye to the Grangers, the Potter and Longbottom couples worked together to escort Lucius to the Ministry of Magic and immediately sought out Amelia Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, requesting that she have the Wizengamot convene immediately!

And as it happened, Amelia's brother, Edgar Bones, was also one of the victims of the Order of the Phoenix, so she was more than happy to help with this small favor.

After all, the wizarding world is all about human connections~

At the ad-hoc Wizengamot session, Alice and Lily submitted their memories from Diagon Alley, which on the spot confirmed the charges against Lucius for concealing Dark Magic objects and deliberately framing Arthur Weasley.

And by the time Narcissa Malfoy—that is, Lucius's wife—rushed to the Ministry of Magic with a large sum of gold, hoping to bribe the Minister for Magic, Lucius's six-month sentence in Azkaban had already been set.

By that time, the Potter and Longbottom families had already finished their business and left the Ministry of Magic, which just goes to show how incredibly efficient they were.

Of course, the Potters didn't forget to have Harry send a letter to the Granger family, inviting them to grab a meal or play a game together when they had some free time during the holidays.

"We're all parents of classmates, so it's good to build some rapport. Besides, we can discuss the children's lifelong... no, I mean, I just want to make friends with their family," James said when Harry asked about the contents of the letter.

"Mhm, just making friends," Lily agreed with a nod. "Adults make their own friends, and children make theirs. James is absolutely right."

Hearing his parents put it that way, Harry felt it made perfect sense, so he skipped off happily to write a love... er, to write a letter to Hermione.

And so, the final days of the summer holiday after his first year came to an end, marked by Hedwig's constant flights between London and Godric's Hollow.

Harry's second year was equally peaceful; no one was petrified, and no one had their arm broken by a Bludger...

There was only one flashy, empty-headed fool who insisted on starting a Dueling Club, only to be blasted off the stage by Harry in a single move during a practice bout.

Successfully exposing Gilderoy Lockhart right in front of Hermione was probably the only bit of "excitement" Harry had during his second year.

Relatively speaking, Harry's life was quite dull, while others were on a rollercoaster, such as Lucius Malfoy.

He had been sentenced to six months in Azkaban, and logically, he should have been released once the Easter holidays ended...

Then, his sentence was extended.

It's often said that the Malfoy family is never short on money, so for them, bribery might be late, but it is never absent.

Narcissa had decisively bribed the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, secretly asking him to retry her husband's case. Fudge, having taken the money, naturally agreed and actually went through with it.

The problem was that Lucius's crimes of receiving stolen goods and framing Ministry officials were already established, so when he was re-interrogated as a convict, he could legally be forced to take Veritaserum.

Consequently, he spilled even more secrets...

Then, the entire Wizengamot learned that the diary was no ordinary piece of Dark magic, but the Dark Lord's Diary belonging to You-Know-Who, and Lucius's crimes were compounded.

Beyond that, they unearthed a treasure trove of unexpected findings.

For instance, the Malfoy family had been bribing Ministry officials, including Fudge, for a long time; other pure-blood families were hiding artifacts from the Voldemort era; and most importantly... many members of pure-blood families hadn't been under the Imperius Curse as they claimed, but had joined the Death Eaters willingly and remained Death Eaters to this day!

And so, with multiple crimes added together... thanks to Narcissa's powerful monetary offensive, Lucius's sentence was successfully increased from six months to...

Six years.

Theoretically, by the time Draco Malfoy graduated from school, he could just stop by Azkaban to pick up his father... though he might not actually find him there.

However, the Wizengamot ultimately did not accept the confessions Lucius made regarding Fudge and others, because Fudge kept arguing his way out of it during his own testimony.

"Veritaserum is not infallible! Lucius Malfoy could potentially resist its effects. Aside from his own crimes, everything he said about others—especially the accusations against me—is nothing but despicable slander!"

Regarding this statement, the famous British magical publication, the Daily Prophet, gave the following headline:

Cornelius Fudge, A Dog in a Corner

Additionally, after this Wizengamot retrial, the diary that had caused such a stir was finally delivered to Dumbledore.

Since it was once a possession of Voldemort, it was certainly best to let the greatest white wizard investigate and keep it safe.

Harry's second year ended right then. Leading the team to win the Quidditch Cup and retaining the House Cup were just routine matters. Of course, what made him happiest was that his "friendship" with Hermione had grown even deeper.

During the following summer, nothing special happened around Harry. It was just normal magic practice, birthday parties, and exchanging letters with Hermione via owl—a picture of peaceful, quiet days.

As for Hogwarts, it was rumored that they had completely renovated the plumbing system. No one knew why Dumbledore had suddenly decided to undertake such a project.

But the school didn't seem to have changed much. When they returned for the new term, Harry and the others discovered that the so-called "pipe renovation" was just redecorating the haunted bathroom at the end of the third floor, and cementing those overly gaudy faucets into the wall...

Er... don't ask Harry how he knew that; he certainly didn't sneak into the girls' bathroom with Neville.

"That guy is really too much. I'm seriously going to consider my dad's advice on whether or not to cut ties with him!" After being sprayed with... water by Myrtle in the bathroom, Neville roared out his declaration of breaking ties, which he had made more than once this school year.

Unfortunately, he never once followed through on it.

"Be content, Neville... Harry is already much better than his father. At least he didn't take you to pull someone's pants down on the spot," said Remus Lupin—the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, one of the Marauders, and a werewolf.

"Uncle Lupin, were you all that bored back then?" Neville took a fearful step to the side, suddenly feeling that this school was truly dangerous.

And the Headmaster wasn't even here...

"By the way... where exactly did Professor Dumbledore go?" Thinking about how long the Headmaster had been away, Neville asked curiously.

"He went to the Ministry of Magic," Lupin whispered, his expression serious. "That diary seems to have issues. Dumbledore is going to use Legilimency on someone to investigate the details further. Also..."

"Someone's sentence might be changed from six years to life imprisonment~"

Chapter 1: Cousins Are Meant to be Beaten

1989, a small alley in Little Whinging, Surrey. The weather wasn't very bright, just after Christmas.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

The thin boy panted heavily as he ran forward urgently. His messy, jet-black hair swayed with the rhythm of his body, and his bright, emerald-green eyes darted nimbly, constantly checking his direction.

His footsteps were agile, allowing him to easily dodge the few pedestrians on the road before slipping into an unexpected side street, as nimble as a darting monkey.

Behind him, furious curses and the sound of chaotic, heavy footsteps echoed from afar; someone was in hot pursuit.

However, the boy wasn't worried. After all these years, he knew every road and path in Little Whinging like the back of his hand. With a light turn, four of the five sets of footsteps chasing him immediately fell behind.

The only one left grew closer as the boy deliberately slowed his pace.

"Harry, stop! I'm warning you to stop, do you hear me?!"

Dudley Dursley felt as if his lungs were about to explode; his cousin, who never seemed like a normal person anyway, must have had a screw loose today to openly defy him and make him look like a fool in front of his friends!

Therefore, Dudley swore that he would catch that monkey jumping around ahead of him and let him know exactly who was the boss in the Dursley household!

However, his pig-like, clumsy physique was clearly lacking in speed, and although he kept trying his hardest to catch up to the boy in front of him, he always fell just a little bit short.

"Damn it! You'd better pray you don't get caught by me, or it won't be as simple as just getting a beating!"

Dudley kept cursing, yet the boy running ahead didn't want to pay him any mind at all, merely turning his head back with a provocative look while flashing a classic, internationally recognized gesture.

"You bastard... you're finished, Harry! I swear, I am absolutely going to pull every tooth out of your mouth!!"

Another string of Dudley's sanity snapped; he certainly didn't understand the true meaning of that gesture, but from Harry's expression, he read a string of unprintable expletives.

Furthermore, in the process of chasing and fleeing, Dudley also failed to notice that he had gradually ventured deep into a secluded, deserted alleyway.

"Hey!"

Just as Dudley was hopping mad, calculating exactly how he would torture Harry, a sharp shout suddenly came from ahead.

Looking up instinctively, Dudley only saw a cloud of earthy-yellow shadow rushing toward his face, and before he could even distinguish what it was, he felt a sharp pain in his eyes and fell into a state of temporary blindness.

"Ah! Harry, you damn bastard!"

Dudley cursed viciously; that guy Harry actually dared to throw sand in his face!

Double it! The torture he had just decided upon must be doubled, tripled, and quadrupled!!

But just as he was thinking this, Dudley suddenly felt a pain in his feet, followed immediately by a dizzying, Armstrong-style spinning throw.

He had been tripped by a wooden stick, and the sudden fall made Dudley feel as if his back were about to fall apart; yet, just as he tried to struggle to his feet, he realized the other person was pinning his arm down with a hard knee, leaving both his arms feeling so sore and numb that he couldn't muster any strength at all!