Chapter 166: Harry's Aspiration
"Stay at school?"
Dumbledore knew that Vernon and Petunia didn't treat Harry well. According to Hagrid, Vernon was a hopeless fool who didn't believe in magic. Anytime something magical happened around him, he would get flustered, puff himself up in anger, and pretend to be powerful to force the other person to back down.
And Petunia, she was jealous that her sister, Evans, had been a witch. Dumbledore had known this from the very beginning. After Lily had started at Hogwarts, he had received a letter from Petunia that revealed the deteriorating psychological state of a young girl. He knew she was unlikely to show much affection for Evans's son, but she also wouldn't let him fall into any mortal danger.
If Harry Potter were just an ordinary first-year student, Dumbledore would have insisted on sending him back to Vernon and Petunia's, no matter what.
But Harry Potter was not an ordinary first-year student.
He was a "godly" student with a power-up. He was a student Jinchuriki.
Among the entire student body of Hogwarts, besides Ryan, there was no one who could guarantee a win against him.
"I have the ability to take care of myself," Harry pressed, "and living at Hogwarts Castle is definitely safer than at my Uncle Vernon's house."
"Headmaster, Mr. Gellert," Ryan interjected, "given the current situation we're facing, flowers raised in a greenhouse are not the cornerstones we need. Personally, I believe Harry Potter is fully capable of residing at Hogwarts permanently. Tomorrow, I can accompany him to make a clean break with his aunt and uncle. He belongs to the magical world."
A clean break? Harry's mouth opened, then closed. He had never imagined what it would feel like to be completely free of Vernon and Petunia. The most rebellious thing he had ever considered was just not going back for the holidays.
Dumbledore lowered his head slightly, peering over the frame of his glasses, scrutinizing Ryan.
Gellert, who was sitting nearby, relaxed back into the velvet chair, looking every bit the roguish charmer in his well-fitted suit. His eyes lit up, and he gave a thumbs-up. "An excellent idea."
Harry's heart leaped. He didn't know what title Mr. Gellert held, but from his close contact with him and Dumbledore over the past few days, he knew that Mr. Gellert's opinion held enormous weight with the Headmaster. During his "Jinchuriki training," Dumbledore rarely refuted Gellert's suggestions. Their interactions were so in sync that, despite the large size of the room, Harry often felt like a third wheel.
Well... there were four people in the room, and three of them had agreed with Harry's idea. Dumbledore considered the current security level of Hogwarts—figuring that even if Voldemort managed to return using his other Horcruxes, he wouldn't be foolish enough to attack a fortress protected by Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Nicolas Flamel—and finally consented.
"Thank you, Headmaster! Thank you, Mr. Gellert! Thank you, Senior Ryan!" Harry reacted as if he'd just won an award, bowing and thanking them profusely.
"Go get some rest," Dumbledore said. "Tomorrow, Ryan will go with you to sort things out with Vernon and Petunia."
"Yes, sir!"
The moonlight peeked through the Headmaster's window, watching a child's face lit with pure joy. Tonight, the moon was bright, the stars were few, and the air was clear.
"You're saying the Headmaster agreed? You can stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, just like Senior Ryan?"
In a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry sat with the three Weasleys, telling them what had happened.
George and Fred were fine with it; as the family's main source of income, they had the freedom to come and go from The Burrow and Diagon Alley as they pleased.
But Ron couldn't. He didn't have that privilege. He could only look at Harry with envy, as if a thick wall had suddenly appeared between them.
Ron had been injured during the Voldemort intrusion. By the time he got out of the hospital wing, he found the castle was full of things he didn't understand. For example, the golems he'd only heard George and Fred talk about. Or Harry, who had started mysteriously disappearing for "special lessons" at night. Or the fact that Harry Potter was somehow ahead of Hermione in their magic lessons. Not to mention George and Fred, who were suddenly rich, top-tier merchants.
But none of this had been enough to break Ron's spirit, having grown up with several exceptionally talented older brothers. He had just assumed those things were too far out of his reach.
But Harry... Harry getting to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays... that freedom, which wasn't even a huge privilege, was what truly made Ron's composure crack.
"I can only stay near home," he said, dejected. "I've heard Senior Ryan likes to go adventuring during the holidays. I wonder if he'll take you."
Just then, the compartment door slid open, and Ryan's voice came from the doorway. "I'll consider it, I'll consider it."
People who knew Ryan might have heard the subtext: Maybe next time, maybe next time.
"Senior Ryan!" Harry shot to his feet, overjoyed. "What are you doing here?"
"I haven't ridden the Hogwarts Express in a long time," Ryan said. "Since I'm going to your house today anyway, I thought I'd come and see. What are you planning to do for the holidays?"
"Me?" Harry asked, pointing to himself. When Ryan nodded, he blurted out, "I want... to go out and see the magical world."
"When I received my Hogwarts acceptance letter, I saw Hagrid, who's like a giant. Besides feeling saved, I also felt curious."
"At Hogwarts, I've seen so many ghosts... Professor Binns also left a deep impression. And then going to the Ministry with the Headmaster—I saw so many wizards, good and bad, capable and useless... But this is Hogwarts, and that was the Ministry. It's not the magical world."
After hearing Harry's words, even George and Fred fell silent. They realized that what they had experienced was also just wizarding society, not the wider magical world.
Ryan was also surprised. He hadn't expected Harry, at his age, to already have the "the world is so big, I want to see it" mindset. Perhaps Voldemort's power had given him the confidence that bordered on recklessness.
"After we sort out your... former... living situation," Ryan said, "when you get back to Hogwarts, you can submit a request to the Headmaster."
~~~
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