[Spellbook]

With his robes bought, Harry naturally went back to find Hagrid and buy the rest of his magical supplies and textbooks...

After all, although Malfoy looked rather pretty, he still had to follow the main storyline as usual.

Learning magic was the right path. In this life, he absolutely could not let Ron influence him. He had to study hard and improve every day!

Harry made up his mind. For now, his studies had to come first.

Whatever situations he faced later, if he were stronger, perhaps he would have more control?

Besides, Harry felt that his talent was no worse than anyone else's.

After all, Lily's talent had been widely recognized throughout Hogwarts back in her day.

Though James Potter and Sirius had been mischievous troublemakers, James Potter's strength and talent had been there for all to see. Everyone acknowledged how formidable he was.

In that case, as the child of James Potter and Lily, there was no reason for his magical talent to be poor, was there?

Even Voldemort had managed to become so powerful before graduating.

Why couldn't he?

Just as he set his goal, a wave of pain instantly swept through Harry's head again.

No, I still haven't recovered. That was too much information all at once.

Harry held his aching head, even making Hagrid think his scar was acting up again.

Harry really was struggling to keep it together. He was even a little unsure how to proceed.

Seriously, how did Malfoy turn into a girl...?

Just how crazy was this world's plot going to get?!

More importantly, why couldn't Malfoy have turned out a little uglier? She was actually quite pretty...

Wasn't this shaking his resolve?

Harry did not know, but he did not want to think about it so much right now, either.

Malfoy was not bad-natured, just a little haughty and contrary. All he had to do was humor her. He hoped he could get through these seven years safely, without any mishaps...

Sigh, I just hope Malfoy won't stick to me like glue all the time while I'm at school. That would be really annoying~

Compared with the gender-swapped Malfoy, Harry was currently more concerned about his own head.

What exactly was the [Spellbook] in his mind?

It stayed in his mind without obeying his commands, simply floating there on its own.

When he told it to open, it would not open.

When he wanted to see what functions it had, he couldn't...

Huh? It looks like I actually can?

Sorry, I misjudged this book.

There was clearly a counter in the bottom-left corner of the book, seemingly displaying something.

Harry's expression visibly brightened, but he quickly reined it in.

I'm out in public. I shouldn't look too strange, or I'll damage my image and aura as the Chosen One.

Whatever it was, it could wait until he got back. He could not settle down and explore it while he was out anyway, so there was no point dwelling on it.

What happened next naturally went just as it had in the original story.

He successfully obtained a wand made of holly and phoenix feather at Ollivander's shop, and bought the textbooks he needed at Flourish and Blotts.

All he needed to do next was wait for school to start!

Until then, there was nothing for him to worry about.

No, wait.

Who said there was nothing for me to worry about?

After he had finished shopping, Hagrid took him back to the Dursley family's home on Privet Drive...

"Damn it, what a pain..."

Thinking about his outrageous family in the original story, Harry really found them a bit unbearable.

Never mind whatever reasons they had.

In any case, Harry was Harry now. He had suffered unfair treatment, and from his perspective, he certainly had every right to hate them for it.

Regardless of Petunia's relationship with his mother, and regardless of what their original intentions had been.

In short, living on Privet Drive now really did leave Harry rather unhappy...

And there was no point judging whether they were good or bad from an objective standpoint.

Harry was the person involved now. He had suffered more than anyone else.

Just look at his glasses-why were they held together with tape?

But being unhappy was no use. He had nowhere else to live.

The Dursley family had been frightened by Hagrid earlier, so they probably would not give him much trouble for a while, right?

That was what Harry thought, and that was how he acted.

After returning to Privet Drive, Harry paid no attention to Aunt Petunia's gaze, nor to Dudley clutching his bottom, nor to Uncle Vernon's wide, staring eyes.

He simply went straight back into the cramped cupboard and shut himself inside.

"Vernon, he..."

"Leave him alone, the damned monster. We still have to go to a hospital in London!"

"I told you, freaks like his parents aren't normal people."

Uncle Vernon was still glaring with those big eyes of his, as though he could glare Harry to death.

Unfortunately, there was a door in the way. He would have to glare two holes through it first.

Harry, on the other hand, was different.

After returning to his little cupboard, Harry did not turn his nose up at its darkness or cramped confines.

Small is good. I can stay in this dark corner and properly fiddle with the [Spellbook] in my mind, and see just what's inside...

Perhaps an environment like this would help him concentrate and study it properly?

"[Energy bar]? What's this?"

Only after taking a careful look at the cover of the [Spellbook] did Harry notice something strange.

What was an [Energy bar], and why hadn't he known about it?

However, it currently displayed [0], and Harry had no idea how to fill the energy bar.

"Cursed technique, cursed technique..."

Harry rubbed his chin. In truth, he already had a rough idea.

At present, there were only two possibilities.

One was that pouring his magic into it might generate energy. This was also the possibility Harry considered most likely.

The other was that he might need to learn some spells, which might also generate energy.

Simply put, this energy should serve much the same purpose as points he could allocate.

At any rate, that was basically how all the novels he had read before transmigrating worked.

If neither of those methods worked, Harry would be out of ideas.

At worst, he could just finish the main storyline and enjoy the rest of his life in peace. That was hardly unacceptable.

Still...

"How strange. After I saw the [Energy bar], this book could actually be opened!"

Harry tried turning it with his mind and discovered, to his surprise.

The book that had previously been sealed tight had actually opened!

Still, opening it did not seem to help all that much.

Because the entire book contained only a string of characters that could not have been simpler:

()+()=()