My Heart Is Icy Cold

Dudley lay on the sofa, his face pale, his eyes lifeless, looking sickly.

Vernon narrowed his small eyes and glared fiercely at Harry.

In my memory, Dudley only looked like this once:

On my twelfth birthday, we went to an amusement park, and I insisted on riding the Ferris wheel.

Halfway through the turn, the screws on the seat under the Dudley's rear end slid out.

He spun like a top for fifteen minutes before being rescued by staff.

In mid-air, Dudley let out a pig-like scream, but after landing, he remained silent, just like this.

It's as if they're wearing a mask of pain.

Oh, poor little Dudley!

Vernon whirled around and roared angrily:

"What did you do to my son?!"

"I didn't do anything." Harry stood in the corner, a letter in his hand. "It has nothing to do with me!"

"None of your business?" Vernon moved closer to his nephew and whispered:

"You must have used that deceptive trick again to hurt Dudley, right?"

"What did he do to you, Dudders?" Aunt Petunia asked in a trembling voice, wiping the dirt off Dudley's leather jacket with a damp sponge.

"Is... is that it, baby? He used... his thing?"

Dudley trembled, slowly nodded, and said in fear:

"Harry used his thin stick to aim at me... and then..."

Dudley covered his face and cried; the two lumps of twenty-pound fat on his chest were trembling.

"The light has left me, darkness has enveloped me, and pain is assaulting my body..."

Dudley described in detail the pain he had just endured.

I felt something enter my body.

So cold

rough.

It forcefully stretched me open...

Dudley cried out, "I wanted to scream, but I couldn't make a sound. It felt like it was blocking my mouth, and something was gushing out of my body."

Snap! The happiness is gone!

Harry knew that "happiness is gone" was an utterly blatant statement of reality, since Dementor could indeed suck away happiness.

But in the eyes of his aunt and uncle, it was a rhetorical device, expressing Dudley's pain.

Especially his older cousin, who burst into heart-wrenching sobs, his expression twisted and ferocious.

Petunia cried too, heartbroken.

In her memory, Dudley only looked like this once:

When I was thirteen, I was fighting with a classmate from the next class when I accidentally punched the wall and broke my own arm.

Oh, poor little Dudley!

Vernon raised two fists the size of steamed buns.

"Boy, you eat my family's rice, and you still dare to do such a heinous thing to Dudley!"

Do you have any humanity at all?!

"I didn't! I didn't do it!" Harry protested weakly.

An owl flew in, landed on the table, and stretched out one of its long legs, with a small roll of parchment attached to it.

Harry rushed over, grabbed the letter, and it flew away.

Harry's hands trembled as he unfolded the second letter, on which were written a few lines in beautiful cursive script.

Harry:

Ignore any letters the Ministry of Magic may write to you, and never hand over your wand.

Don't leave your aunt and uncle's house, and definitely don't cast any more spells... Don't worry, you'll be fine.

William Stark.

Does William already know about this?

Wasn't he going to Austria with Hermione for the International Confederation of Wizards Conference?

Has the meeting already ended?

Harry grew increasingly annoyed, towards Ron and the others.

He's been trapped here for a month, without any news. He's completely isolated!

However, William said he would be fine—what did that mean?

Is it still possible to return to Hogwarts?

Harry gripped the letter tightly.

The hope that seemed to have been extinguished by urine was rekindled in my heart.

Harry doubted whether William could change the Ministry of Magic's mind... but he was William, after all.

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There's a saying that's always been circulating among the girls at Hogwarts:

You can be Stark forever.

Not long ago, William single-handedly confronted Voldemort and rescued himself... He can definitely do it this time too!

Vernon looked at Harry, whose purplish-red temples were throbbing wildly, like two large tumors.

"Who sent this owl this time?" he roared fiercely.

"It's William... William Stark," Harry said calmly.

He assured me I would be safe and sound.

"He swears... he's from your Ministry of Magic?!" Vernon said gruffly.

"No, he's a Ravenclaw student, a year ahead of me."

"A student... ha, a student..." Vernon chuckled, but then asked doubtfully:

"I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before... isn't it, Petunia?"

Petunia thought for a moment and said, "It's news... we were discussing it this morning."

Vernon immediately turned on the television and tuned to the news channel.

A female presenter dressed in riotous clothing was seen connecting with a reporter on the scene, reporting on the disaster situation in Vienna.

The female reporter, holding the microphone, said:

"As you can see, Vienna's recovery is progressing well, and the government has launched a global fundraising campaign."

However, France claims it will donate a maximum of one franc.

According to experts, the massive flood was caused by continuous rainfall upstream, which led to the overflow of the Danube River.

Among them was a young United Kingdom named William Stark, who bravely rescued a boatload of people when the flood came.

The Austria government has decided to award the teenager the Vienna Good Citizen Award.

However, it is reported that Stark has returned home, leaving only one sentence before he left:

Seeing the devastation in Vienna, my heart is ice-cold!

The BBC presenter thanked them and began reporting on the next news story:

The aftermath of the unexplained collapse of the Jungfrau in Switzerland.

Vernon remembered that he had been complaining that morning:

While other countries around the world are in dire straits, United Kingdom remains peaceful and serene.

Harry was stunned; he never expected to see William's name on Muggle television news.

This is so un-magical.

Wait... what did he go do? Vienna could be flooded?!

Uncle Vernon glared angrily at Harry and demanded sharply, "Young United Kingdom... is that Stark your classmate?"

"Yes!" Harry quickly replied, "William is going to Vienna for a conference this summer!"

He saved Paris that year too! It was even reported in the news!

"No wonder Notre-Dame de Paris collapsed; it was people like you who did it!"

Vernon huffed, "However, you can occasionally find a useful stone or two in a pile of rubble."

He roared again, "Look at them, and then look at you... You're always idling around, doing nothing productive, just loafing around!"

They're all students from the same school, how come there's such a big difference between them!

Harry was taken aback.

He never imagined that one day he would encounter such a lecture as "the neighbor's child".

Seeing that his uncle's attitude had softened, Harry quickly explained:

"It wasn't me who attacked Dudley, it was Dementor, two of them!"

"What kind of weird thing is a Dementor?"

"They guard the wizarding prison in Azkaban," Petunia suddenly interjected.

After she spoke, there was a few seconds of dead silence. Petunia suddenly covered her mouth with her hand, as if she had accidentally said something terrible.

Uncle Vernon stared at her, wide-eyed in disbelief.

How did you know?

Aunt Petunia glanced nervously at her husband:

"Many years ago... I overheard... that black-haired boy... when they were swinging together, they talked about Dementor."

"If you mean my mom and dad, why don't you say their names?" Harry asked loudly.

Petunia couldn't help but whisper, "It's not your father..."

To be honest, Petunia was also puzzled.

She had assumed that Lily would be with that horrible dark-haired boy.

During those summers, the two of them were inseparable, studying and doing homework together... But unexpectedly, years later, Lily brought home James Potter!

She never mentioned Snape again.

Uncle Vernon opened his mouth, then closed it again, then opened it again, and said in a hoarse voice:

"So... they... um... they really exist, those undead monsters?"

Petunia nodded.

Just then, a third owl Accio, like a cannonball, and whooshed through the open window.

Harry tore off the second official letter-like envelope and opened the seal.

"What is it this time?" Vernon said, annoyed.

Harry said with some delight, "It's the Ministry of Magic. They won't expel me for now, nor will they confiscate my wand."

But I will still be put on trial.

Harry was both happy and annoyed, never expecting to be interrogated.

Vernon was also disappointed; he was disappointed that the kid hadn't been fired.

That way, I can legitimately throw him into St Brutus's.

It is said that they use electroshock therapy to deal with disobedient students there.

Ding-dong,

The doorbell rang suddenly.

Harry jumped to his feet.

Vernon muttered something, went to open the door. After a moment, he suddenly turned around, grinned, and said:

"They're looking for you... The Ministry of Magic is here to arrest you and take you for trial!"

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