Harry did not answer.
Because he did not know either.
He had signed up to become an Auror at the start of term.
The shadow of war had never truly lifted.
Voldemort was still out there somewhere.
The Ministry of Magic was changing.
Hogwarts was changing.
The whole world was changing.
He was not sure whether he would have to go straight into battle after graduating.
Or whether he would still be able to live a normal life.
Vernon did not seem to have expected an answer from him.
"If things are still a mess out there by then."
He said.
"Whether on your side or ours."
"It's not as though you couldn't come and intern at the factory."
Harry stared at him.
Vernon shifted his gaze to the window.
"At least learn some real skills you can make a living with first."
Dudley stopped turning the pages.
Petunia froze with her cup in her hands.
Harry opened his mouth.
For a moment, he did not know what to say.
Was that sarcasm?
No.
There was no mockery in Vernon's tone.
Was he making plans for him, then?
Not entirely.
He had not used a commanding tone.
What was it, then?
Harry turned it over in his mind.
Absurd.
That was the first word he found.
Vernon Dursley was inviting him to intern at his factory.
Harry Potter.
The Boy Who Lived.
Voldemort's archenemy.
Head of the Charon Detective Agency at Hogwarts.
Interning at a factory.
It was absurd enough to make him want to laugh.
But he could not laugh.
Because right after that sense of absurdity came something heavy.
Vernon had already begun to see himself as someone who could plan other people's futures.
He had not just said it offhand.
He genuinely thought he had the standing