This moment, Harry thought his overweight uncle was incredibly cool, and a bit of warmth bloomed in his heart.
A terrible thought also rose to the surface, unbidden: 'Did that place, Hogwarts, kill my parents? Did they have a car crash there?'
"You don't understand, Dursleys, you just don't get it!" Vernon's words enraged Hagrid. He paced the room like a furious black bear. "Protect him? With what? That tiny iron stick?"
"Dursley! You listen to me! This boy isn't like you! He belongs to our world, and he's destined for it!"
"Destined for that world?" Vernon's voice was even more furious. At this point, he'd completely lost his composure. He shouted, "How dare you even say he belongs to that world?!"
"If you're so certain he belongs there, then why didn't you and the others just let him stay there? Why didn't you look after him? You dumped this child on our doorstep for eleven years without a word, leaving nothing but a letter!"
"We've taken him in as one of our own, as part of our family, and now you come here saying he belongs to your world and try to take him away from us!"
His pent-up frustrations spilled out. He pointed at Hagrid, his hand shaking with emotion, and his voice cracking. "Don't... don't you think that's cruel?"
"I'll say it again. Petunia and I are Harry's legal guardians, protected by the laws of England. We absolutely will not allow Harry to go to that dreadful place."
For the first time, Vernon didn't call Harry a freak; he called him by his name.
At that moment, Petunia clutched Harry tightly, as if afraid someone would snatch him away. Harry, stiff as a board, was held by Petunia in a way he'd never experienced before. He heard her whisper, "I won't let them take you from me."
In that moment, Harry's heart felt warm, and his eyes welled up with tears.
Held in her arms, Harry took a deep, greedy breath, inhaling her scent, trying to burn it into his memory.
It was the feeling of a mother... the smell of a mother.
Harry had never known a mother's love, but he felt like he had it now.
It was true, just as Dudley had said. His aunt and uncle loved him. This moment solidified his conviction.
"Laws? What good are Muggle laws?" Hagrid scoffed, completely ignoring the laws of the British Empire. "What are you going to do if I take him now? Professor Dumbledore gave me a task: to take him to Hogwarts."
"I won't let you take him! And I won't let that crazy old coot teach another lunatic who ends up dying for no reason!"
Hagrid flew into a rage at Vernon's words. He grabbed Vernon by the collar like a tiny chicken, lifting him completely off the ground. His huge mouth opened and closed as if he was about to eat Vernon whole. "Don't! You! Ever! Insult! Albus! Dumbledore! In! Front! Of! Me!"
For Hagrid, Dumbledore was his savior, the man he respected more than anyone.
Vernon's feet dangled, his face turning a deep crimson. He couldn't breathe. He struggled, but his strength was nothing against Hagrid's.
Just as Hagrid was about to teach Vernon a lesson he'd never forget, his body stiffened. A strong arm gripped his wrist.
"What do you think you're doing, big guy?"
Dudley had stepped in.
With a firm downward push, he forced Hagrid's hand, still clutching Vernon's collar, down a good bit, allowing Vernon's feet to touch the floor.
The suffocating feeling finally eased.
"You're more interesting than you look, you big oaf." Feeling the strength in Dudley's arm, Hagrid gave a sound of approval and let go of Vernon, turning his attention to Dudley with a look of interest. "So, what are you going to do now, you big oaf?"
Even though Hagrid called him a big oaf, Dudley, at six feet tall, looked like a child next to him.
"Breaking and entering (entering the hut without permission), malicious destruction of property (breaking the door), menacing behavior (threatening the Dursleys multiple times), and even assault (attacking Vernon)."
"Do you know? If my father had shot you from the beginning, you'd be lying on the floor right now."
Hagrid laughed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "Don't be silly, you big oaf. A Muggle's iron stick can't even scratch me."
'That's the fifth time he's called Dudley a big oaf.'
Harry inwardly gave Hagrid a thumbs-up for his courage. He'd seen everyone who'd ever insulted Dudley end up in the hospital.
Just as Dudley always used to say:
'You study so you can talk calmly to a moron, and you work out so the moron can talk calmly to you.'
Any morons who didn't talk calmly were now lying down.
Dudley shook his head.
Wizards were far too arrogant. Even Hagrid, a half-giant who'd been expelled, had a natural sense of superiority over Muggles.
He longed for magic, but he detested that arrogance.
As a spellcaster, shouldn't you be respectful of anything you don't understand the principles of?
Besides, the power of a gun was nothing to scoff at.
Dudley put every last one of his energy points, 996 in total, into upgrading his skill.
Gunmanship LV2.
'Even if you have a spell to instantly heal any wound, if I blow your head off with a single shot, I doubt you can put it back together.'
Take the world of Fate, for example. Being a "magus killer" isn't a rare profession, and countless magi are killed every year.
After all, as our great Lu Xun once said: 'A person who is killed will die.'
"When a guest comes, we treat you with honor. When an unwelcome guest comes, we have a club ready for you!"
Hagrid looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
Dudley's words carried a Chinese idiom, and it was normal for Hagrid, who wasn't exactly a scholar, to not understand.
"Quest: Defeat the half-giant. Reward: A random magic skill."
The system notification chimed at just the right moment.
Dudley couldn't be bothered to explain things to Hagrid. He picked up the rifle that Hagrid had thrown into the corner and weighed it in his hand. "Want to give it a try?"
A golden electric arc flashed across his palm—the power of Hamon. The rifle, which had been tied into a tight knot, was miraculously straightened.
It was restored to its original state.
This was the first time he'd shown his parents a supernatural power, but there was no time to care about that now.
The black barrel of the rifle was aimed at Hagrid.
'Eat sh*t, you big oaf!'
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