Admit It! Love Is Real!

"This is different, Dudley dear. Magic is a strange thing we can never control, and those freaks waving sticks around are far too dangerous! Staying away from them is the best choice!"

Vernon still clung to his beliefs.

"Then why did you marry a woman with a wizard sister? Before you got married, didn't you know about Mum's family? Didn't you foresee that your future life might be disturbed by forces beyond your control?"

Dudley abruptly changed tack, firing off three questions in a row that struck straight at the heart.

As soon as those questions came out, Petunia, who had been about to interject in support of Vernon, swallowed her words. She could not help looking at Vernon, eagerly awaiting his answer.

She had asked him similar questions a long time ago, before they were married, back when she had still been a young girl.

Even after all these years, recalling it still filled her with happiness.

"Because I love her. I love your mother, Dudley dear!"

Vernon fell silent for a moment, seemingly surprised that his son would ask such a question. But soon, his eyes softened with affection, and he answered Dudley very solemnly.

Then he looked at Petunia—at his wife—with utter adoration.

"Love can overcome every obstacle. Love can make me abandon the principles I have upheld all my life."

As Vernon said this, he sounded like a philosopher expounding on life's truths, nothing like his usual self.

Petunia was overjoyed. Blushing shyly, she threw herself into Vernon's arms and started shamelessly flaunting their affection.

Dudley was not surprised by the sight. He knew his parents in this life very well.

Vernon was broad and stout, hated anything unusual, and had a terrible temper; Petunia had a long neck, loved gossip, and was sharp-tongued.

But they truly loved each other.

They never vented those bad tempers on their family.

Well, except poor Harry.

"Mum, Dad, though I really don't want to interrupt you, I think now is the best time to make things clear."

Dudley spoke somewhat inappropriately. While his parents were wrapped in the warmth of love, he intended to make them fully understand the importance of learning magic.

Hearing Dudley's voice, Vernon and Petunia reluctantly separated and looked at him again, waiting for him to continue.

"Since Dad was willing, long ago, to accept Mum's connection to wizards for love, then now, please let that love continue to have an influence.

Harry must go to Hogwarts to study! Unless you want to see him truly become a monster—a black mist monster that loses all reason and knows only destruction!"

"What?!"

The Dursleys cried out in shock.

Harry, seated beside Dudley, also looked startled and frightened.

Clearly, the entire family had been terrified by Dudley's words.

Dudley reached out and rubbed Harry's hair, calming him down before beginning his magical explanation.

"If young wizards live for a long time in an environment of oppression and denial, suppressing their magical powers without proper guidance, a terrible dark force will be born inside them.

Wizards call this force an 'Obscurus,' and young wizards who develop an 'Obscurus' inside them are called 'Obscurials.'

When an Obscurial's emotions and power are repressed to a certain limit, or when they suddenly receive some kind of shock, they will completely transform into a terrifying mass of black mist, causing enormous destruction and devastation.

Mum, Dad, you have always denied Harry's magic and his special nature. You ignored him and subjected him to cold violence. This is actually an extremely dangerous thing to do.

To put it bluntly, without my guidance and support, Harry might have become an Obscurial before he turned ten.

With Harry's kind nature, before completely losing his mind and causing destruction, he might have left us, gone somewhere secluded and deserted, and willingly sought out the departed Aunt Lily and Uncle James.

Young wizards need proper guidance to better control their magical power and avoid harming themselves or others. That is why all young wizards must attend a magic school when they turn eleven."

Dudley spun this half-true nonsense. To make his stubborn parents truly reflect, he had even invented an extremely terrifying consequence.

Sure enough, the Dursleys' eyes went wide with horror.

"Th-this... they... why didn't they tell me about this!"

Petunia completely lost her composure and shrieked, "If they had told me, I wouldn't have—I absolutely wouldn't have..."

Vernon hurriedly pulled the agitated Petunia into his arms and comforted her.

He was terrified too, and deeply regretful. But there was not much guilt for Harry's safety within that regret. More than anything, he felt lingering fear—fear that his own family had nearly suffered disaster.

In Vernon's heart, the scant affection he had gradually built up for Harry over the years mattered far less than the safety of his wife and son.

"See? You still love Harry after all! Especially you, Mum!"

Dudley smiled and gently pinched Harry's palm.

Harry seemed to wake from a dream. The signal from his cousin meant... there had been exaggerations in what he had just said.

The burden on his heart lifted. Seeing that Aunt Petunia was in poor condition, he quickly stretched out both hands and cast the Calm Mind spell his cousin had guided him to develop once more.

Petunia's complexion improved somewhat. Coming back to herself, she hurriedly denied what Dudley had just said.

"No, I don't! Who loves him?! His mother took most of our parents' attention when we were children, just because she could do that damned magic! I hate Lily—I hate her to death! Her child is no exception!"

Petunia's transparent denial made Harry's face turn deathly pale, but Dudley's smile only grew gentler.

Dudley rubbed Harry's hair again, comforting him as he corrected his mother.

"That's not true, Mum! You love Harry, and you love Aunt Lily too!

"If you didn't love them, you wouldn't have taken Harry in ten years ago.

"If you didn't love them, you wouldn't have carefully stored away the blanket Harry was wrapped in back then, along with the letters you exchanged with Aunt Lily, in the deepest part of your bedroom wardrobe.

"If you didn't love them, after reading the letter Dumbledore left behind and learning that Aunt Lily's family had been persecuted by a powerful Black Wizard, shouldn't the proper thing have been to send Harry to an orphanage?"

"That was because the letter said..." Petunia pressed her lips together, stubbornly still trying to deny those feelings.

But Dudley directly picked up where she left off.

"Because the letter said that the protective magic Aunt Lily created for Harry by sacrificing her life could only remain effective if he lived with a blood relative of Aunt Lily's. It could only protect Harry from the Black Wizard until he came of age at seventeen, right?"

"Dudley, how do you know so much about wizard matters? And you actually sneaked into our bedroom and rummaged through our things?"

Petunia was deeply puzzled and somewhat angry. She deliberately put on a furious expression, trying to change the subject.

"That isn't important, Mum!"

Dudley was not swayed. Better a short pain than a long one. He had spent ten years acting as the mediator between his parents and cousin, and he did not want to keep compromising. Today, he intended to settle everything once and for all and secure the home front.

He continued solemnly.

"What matters is that the letter only said Harry would be protected by Aunt Lily's magic. It never said our family would also be protected by magic. And the person Harry had offended was an extremely powerful Black Wizard, yet you still took Harry in under those circumstances.

"That proves I'm right. Aunt Lily and Harry both have a place in your heart! You just refuse to admit it!"