Harry held back for a long time, but in the end, he couldn't help it and burst into laughter while sitting on what could barely be called a "bed," a wooden plank.
By Merlin's bowtie, Principal Black, he's dead!
Phineas Black was the most annoying headmaster in the entire school.
How annoying was he? Two students who didn't even know each other could chat like brothers as long as Principal Black was mentioned.
At that time, there was a popular saying at Hogwarts: As long as you hate Principal Black, we are brothers.
Harry shook his head to interrupt the memory and reread the letter.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(President of the International Wizarding Union, First-level Grand Mage of the Merlin Order, Chief Mage of the Wizengamot)
Dear Mr. Potter:
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find a list of all necessary books and equipment enclosed.
The term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Vice Principal (female)
Sincerely, Minerva McGonagall
Owl reply?
Harry instinctively pinched the letter paper. At this time, he hadn't been in contact with the magic world, so naturally, he didn't have an owl.
If he were to go to Diagon Alley to buy one now, he couldn't afford it, as he was penniless and came from a poor family.
He turned to the appendix, and there were so many textbooks listed that he couldn't afford, not to mention he also needed to buy a magic wand...
A hundred years ago, when he went to school, it was Vice Principal Matilda Weasley who kindly covered the costs for him and helped him apply for a scholarship from Hogwarts.
Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyelids.
Perhaps... borrow some from a dark wizard?
More than a hundred years ago, dark wizards were rampant in the wizarding world. Thanks to them, Harry always managed to borrow quite a few Galleons after practicing magic spells with them.
Then again, Harry thought, he could ask Uncle Vernon to drive him to the Broken Cauldron Bar.
However, dark wizards...
It seemed that his father and mother were killed by a powerful dark wizard.
Harry's hand instinctively clenched tightly.
It seemed Aunt Penny didn't know much. After all, with the Secrecy Act, it was already the limit for Muggles to know about wizards' existence.
He didn't plan to ask about this from Aunt Penny, who knew little about the magic world. This matter needed to be asked of the wizards.
Just then, he heard a knock on the door.
He opened the door to see Aunt Penny's complicated expression.
"What's the matter, Aunt?" Harry remained polite.
"When I just opened the door, I saw an owl on the mailbox outside - I mean, an owl."
Aunt Penny sounded a bit impatient, but Harry keenly felt that she was hiding some emotion behind that impatience.
"I think your letter was delivered by it. Back then Lily - your mother - would send her friends letters by owl. Maybe you'll need it to send a reply."
"Thank you, Aunt, I understand. Could you please prepare some food for it?"
Harry smiled slightly.
Aunt Penny didn't look pleased, but she turned and left.
Seeing his aunt leave, Harry pulled a pen and paper from under the bed and wrote a letter with polite phrasing.
When he walked out of his small cubicle, Harry unexpectedly found a bowl with slices of sausage and another bowl of water at the door.
"Thank you," he softly said to Aunt Penny, who was cleaning the room, then picked up the plate and stuffed two slices of sausage into his mouth.
He thought the owl wouldn't mind, and with that thought, he took the food and left the room.
The owl was standing on the Dursley's mailbox, one leg tucked into the feathers under its belly, looking like a perfect one-legged stance.
"Hello."
Harry walked over, "Are you my mail carrier?"
"Hoot hoot," the owl called twice.
"You've worked hard. If you don't mind, please have some water and something to eat." Harry reached out and patted the owl's head.
The owl put down its foot, peering first at the sausages in Harry's left-hand bowl, its eyes displaying a distinctly human-like expression.
A big 'No, thank you'...
It then drank some water from the other bowl and spread its wings, hooting twice.
Harry understood its meaning and shrugged, "Such good Cumberland sausages, it's a pity not to eat them."
The owl hooted twice, picked up the letter, and flapped its wings, leaving the Dursleys' place, where good food was hard to come by.
"Being picky is not the quality of a good owl." Harry shrugged, holding the plate with one hand and elegantly slipping the sausage pieces meant for the owl into his mouth.
Back in the house, Harry skillfully went to the kitchen, snapped his fingers, and turned an empty basin under the sink into a wooden stool. After stepping on it, he washed and neatly arranged the kitchenware, then returned to his little cubicle.
Harry didn't have to wait long when that afternoon, someone from Hogwarts came to pick him up, just like a hundred years ago when Vice Principal Matilda Weasley introduced him to the magic world.
"Someone's here for you! Freak..."
Aunt Penny harshly beat on the small door of the staircase cubicle. She was about to curse with the word "freak" but remembered her husband's morning experience of being suspended in mid-air.
She almost held back the words, but as the cubicle door opened and she saw Harry's face again,
it was exactly the same as that arrogant and self-important face from ten years ago!
Aunt Penny's anger reignited at that instant.
"Freak!" she spat venomously before storming off to the study without looking back.
Harry was somewhat puzzled, but he knew that's just how his aunt's family was.
Muggles, huh, sigh.
More than a hundred years ago, Muggles were much more averse to contact with wizards than his uncle and aunt.
He walked to the doorway, where he saw a furry head nearly embedded in the doorframe.
"Oh, Harry..."
The furry head got teary-eyed instantly upon seeing Harry, with tears as big as beans rolling down his cheeks.
"Last time I saw you, you were just a baby... Sorry, I'm a bit tall and can't squeeze through this door..."
Even his voice carried a sob as he spoke.
Harry could feel the man's genuine goodwill; this overly large person gave him a pretty good first impression.
"Hello, I'm Harry, Harry Potter. Do you know me?" he politely introduced himself.
"Ah, of course, I know you." The man wiped his clothes with his hand, "I'm Rubeus Hagrid. I was the one who brought you here." He said.
Hagrid looked at Harry's face again, and his nose twitched.
"Oh, you look just like your father, and these eyes of yours, you have your mother's eyes..."