From that day on, Dudley's parents began to raise him more strictly, while Harry Potter's life took a different turn.
Harry was over the moon with happiness. His aunt and uncle did not become kinder to him; rather, they adopted an air of indifference and tried not to scold the boy unnecessarily. Harry was burdened with less housework, and Dudley even joined him in cleaning and tending the garden.
A couple of times his cousin tried to take it out on Harry, but he was severely punished for it, and the attacks on Potter quickly came to an end.
Harry moved into his own bedroom—small, yes, but it had a window, a bed, a wardrobe, and a writing desk. What more could one ask for? On top of that, the boy was given pocket money; he was dressed well and fed better.
It wasn't that Harry had been poorly fed before—it was just that Dudley always received a much larger portion. Now, however, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley tried to dress both boys the same, give them identical portions of food, and treat them equally in public. If Dudley was bought ice cream, Harry received the exact same serving. If Dudley wanted cake and cocoa at a café, Harry was ordered the same. After all, two inspections were now arriving at Number Four, Privet Drive every week, which, naturally, the Dursleys were not happy about.
On the other hand, Vernon found certain advantages in his new situation. For some reason, no payments had previously been made for "the boy," despite the fact that the Dursleys had officially taken guardianship. Now, however, four hundred pounds were deposited monthly into Harry's account—an account that the guardians were allowed to manage within reasonable limits. Two hundred came from the state, and another two hundred from a charitable foundation. Vernon was also pleased that the scandal had not affected his career in any way, though he had been terribly frightened that the news would reach upper management and he would be fired.
Petunia and Vernon now shuddered whenever the royal family was mentioned on television. Wizards and all things abnormal had frightened them before; now they had realized that the normal world was far more terrifying. Wizards might ruin your mood with a tasteless joke—or a china set, if they enchanted it. But an influential Lord could destroy a life. They understood perfectly well that the "little bastard"—that is, the young Lord—could easily have both of them thrown behind bars and deprive them of what was most precious to them: their son Dudley, by sending him to an orphanage. And ruining Vernon's career—the sole breadwinner of the family—for the godson of Prince Charles would be even easier. All it would take was to start a rumor among the business elite, after which Mr. Dursley would never again be hired in the United Kingdom for any position higher than a night watchman or a loader. Normal income and a managerial career could be forgotten entirely.
A new fear for Mr. and Mrs. Dursley was the attention of the aristocracy toward their simple family. God forbid they should draw their gaze.
And somewhere in London, officials in the child welfare services quietly breathed a sigh of relief and crossed themselves (even those who were not baptized), grateful that the young Lord had not decided to dig into the question of "where the money that was never transferred to the orphan went, and at whose expense the mistake should be corrected."
***
After meeting Harry Potter, Richard finally understood which universe he had ended up in—and that realization forced him to think very seriously.
It was now absolutely clear to the transmigrator that he was not a mutant, but a wizard. And that immediately raised several questions before him.
First: how was he supposed to live from now on? After all, if the series hadn't lied, then at the age of eleven Richard would be forced to study at a school of magic and wizardry. However, he had hoped that by that age he would finally be free of the obligation to attend school. Naturally, this realization could not help but upset him.
To that, one had to add the fact that, according to the series, the wizarding world was considerably more dangerous—meaning that one still had to manage to survive there.
On top of everything else, the wizards in the films had an unspoken hierarchy and a racist division into pure-bloods, half-bloods, and Muggle-borns. In the ordinary world, Richard enjoyed a very high status, but in the magical one he would find himself at the very bottom of the hierarchy—something that did not suit the young boy at all.
Still, there were undeniable advantages. Being a wizard was far better than being some incomprehensible mutant.
Second, Richie—knowing that he was a wizard and that in a couple of years this fact would become known at least to his father—began to understand that he would not be able to keep his supernatural abilities secret. And if that was the case, perhaps it would be worth confessing to his father, telling him about his magical gift?
The available information led to another conclusion: most likely, Richard was a half-blood. His mother had probably not been a foreign spy, but a witch. And she hadn't drugged Gerald with pheromone-based substances, but with a love potion. And what was he supposed to do with that information? If he told his father about his abilities and the magical world, then Gerald—being an intelligent man—would inevitably deduce that Richard's mother was a witch. And who knew whether his father's attitude toward his son might change after that? But then again, sooner or later Gerald would learn Richard's secret anyway. In that case, the sooner he learned the truth, the better it would be… probably.
(End of Chapter)
Hey! Don't forget, your support is very important.
Please donate power stones, write reviews, and leave comments. It will be a huge help!
🎁 Bonus chapter at 50 power stones!