A Direct Clash with the Adult World!

"Don't worry, Harry! There were still nearly two months until school started. Maybe something would change!"

Dudley held the owl and smiled confidently, using his words to dispel Harry's disappointment.

Harry brightened up again. "I know. You said it, Cousin—until the very last moment, anything is possible, right?"

"That's right!" Dudley stopped smiling and freed one hand to take the letter from Harry. He gave it a quick read. "But before we look for a change in our future, we need a stable rear base.

Are you ready to convince those stubborn, ignorant adults, Harry?"

Hearing that, Harry realized something. His emerald-green eyes fixed on Dudley, bursting with shock and admiration.

"Cousin, you're going to..."

"Shh! Pick up my Smeting Wand and that bag of beef jerky, then go open the door!" Dudley's voice remained calm and firm.

"Yes, Cousin!"

Harry felt a flicker of excitement in his heart, though there was even more unease. But no matter what, he would firmly support anything his cousin decided to do.

Picking up the Smeting Wand and the beef jerky snacks that had fallen to the floor, Harry walked with slightly heavy steps. He turned the lock on the white wooden door, then stood to one side and held it open for his cousin.

With an owl in his left hand and the acceptance letter in his right, Dudley stepped steadily into the Household first. Harry immediately followed.

"Oh, my precious Duddikins, you're finally back! Are you hungry? Mummy made pan-fried bacon for you, but it's gone a little cold. I'll have to heat it up first!"

"Ahahaha! My little treasure really is amazing! Look at that! He caught an owl! Darling Dudley, are you going to fry it or roast it? I'd suggest roasting it—the color would be more appetizing, and the smell even better!"

The moment Dudley entered, he received an enthusiastic welcome from his parents in this life—The Dursleys.

Petunia tied on her apron, and Vernon put down his newspaper. They immediately showered Dudley with heartfelt concern, praise, and flattery, filling his emotional needs to the brim.

They simply ignored Harry behind Dudley as usual. There was no mockery, but neither was there any extra concern.

Surrounded by such overwhelming indulgence, Dudley, living his second life, knew this was not entirely right, yet he could not help feeling a little intoxicated by it.

However, he had important business today. What needed to be said still had to be said.

"Mum, Harry and I ate beef jerky on the way, so there's no need to fry anything yet. Dad, this owl wasn't caught for eating. It delivers letters—letters for the wizards at Hogwarts!"

Clang—

The Dursley Household, rarely ever at a loss for words, fell into an unusual silence.

Petunia Dursley and Vernon Dursley widened their eyes. With remarkable coordination, they stared in shock at Dudley, then at the owl in Dudley's hand, and finally at the somewhat uneasy Harry standing beside him.

"No—"

A piercing scream rang through the entire house.

"No, darling Dudley, throw that freakish bird out at once! There are no wizards in this world, no magic, and no owls that deliver letters!"

Petunia remembered a past too painful to revisit and cried out hysterically.

Her voice was shrill. Rarely had she spoken so harshly to Dudley. Her eyes glistened with tears, concealing an immensely complicated grief.

Meanwhile, Vernon, who had been sitting on the sofa reading the paper, turned his hostility toward Harry, who had not said a word from beginning to end.

He pushed up his round, bloated body and rose to his feet, striding toward Dudley and Harry. As he walked, he shouted viciously at Harry:

"You brought this freakish thing here, didn't you, Harry? I told you long ago not to disturb our lives with this strange rubbish!"

"Uncle Vernon, I... I..." Harry grew frightened and shrank behind Dudley's broad back, seeking shelter.

"Don't be afraid, Harry!" Dudley said firmly. "There's no time. We can't let them keep muddling through and deceiving themselves! Go calm them down!"

As he spoke, Dudley unhesitatingly used his right hand, still holding the letter, to block Vernon's thick, pudgy hand reaching for Harry. Then, beneath Vernon's astonished gaze, he followed up with a close-body strike, exploding forward with a burst of deft force.

The next second, Vernon felt his nearly spherical body caught by an irresistible, ingenious force. He spun and staggered backward before collapsing onto the sofa again.

"As expected of my son, little Duddikins..."

Sprawled across the sofa, Vernon Dursley instinctively praised his son.

At that moment, Harry, having received his cousin's order, overcame his fear of adults. He stood firmly beside Dudley and stretched out both hands, aiming them through the air at the Dursleys.

"Harry, what are you doing?!!"

"Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, calm down... calm down..."

The scene repeated itself!

As Harry muttered under his breath, magic stirred with his earnest, excited hopes and transformed into a soothing, miraculous force that rapidly spread through the room.

The anger on the Dursleys' faces visibly melted away.

"Mum, Dad, let's sit down and have a proper talk!" Dudley urged, his feelings utterly sincere.

"All right..."

A moment later, the owl messenger took up residence in the large birdcage Harry had found in his cupboard under the stairs. Everyone sat around the coffee table in the first-floor sitting room.

After the Dursleys had read it, the Hogwarts acceptance letter lay crumpled on the coffee table between them.

"Mum, Dad, first of all, I have to make one thing clear—a fact you've both known all along."

Dudley was the first to break the silence. "Magic and wizards are real! What Harry just did is living proof!"

"Dudley, so what if these bizarre things exist? Our lives shouldn't have anything to do with those damned wizards! Stay away from them—just stay away from them! Now that they've found us, perhaps we should move..."

Even now, Vernon Dursley still wanted to bury his head in the sand and flee with his family from the strange things he could not understand.

"When we encounter something closely tied to us that we cannot understand, what we should do is not run away from it or resist it. We should understand it, accept it, and ultimately master it—turn it into our own strength!"

Dudley patiently reasoned with the family who loved him. "Dad, let me ask you this: if Grunnings Drill Company faced a competitor with new drilling technology and machines, one that wanted to steal your company's orders, what would you do as a manager?"

Vernon immediately put his big head to work. Although he was pleased that his son was more capable than him, he also wanted to prove his own strengths and earn a look of admiration from his son.

"Maybe we could start a price war to hold on to our existing clients, while upgrading our technology and machines. Or we could just acquire that competitor with the new technology!"

"You're a qualified manager, Dad!" Dudley gave Vernon an approving look. "But since you understand the importance of embracing new things, why do you resist magic?"