Uncle Vernon was very trustworthy, perhaps also fearing that breaking his promise would lead to the neighbors discovering that there was a freak in the family, so the five hundred British pounds were delivered to Harry's room that very night.
"Kid, hope you keep your promise!" Uncle Vernon looked quite displeased.
"Rest assured," Harry replied with a sincere smile.
For the sake of the five hundred pounds, Harry was willing to keep his word.
Lying in bed, Harry still felt a sense of unreality.
Clearly, he was at Hogwarts just yesterday, chatting with Sebastian about his sister's illness.
Villatia mentioned that they had found a clue.
Harry wondered how Annie's condition was progressing, and thought he should find an opportunity to visit the Salu family.
Wizards are long-lived, and it's only been over a hundred years, so unless something unexpected has happened, the Salu siblings should still be around.
As for Sebastian, one of his best friends, Harry still trusted him deeply.
After all, he was the man who could trust Sebastian unreservedly enough to teach him the Three Unforgivable Curses.
Of course, during this period, it's best to remain low-key before the school starts again.
While Harry was lost in thought, the door suddenly opened.
Without even looking up, Harry could tell the person entering was Dudley.
Knowing it was Dudley, he didn't bother to open his eyes, choosing instead to continue resting and see what Dudley was up to.
Unexpectedly, Dudley just walked to his side and plopped down on the floor.
After a while, Harry heard a sobbing sound.
Harry picked up his magic wand, and a beam of light from the wand's tip illuminated Dudley's quite considerable chubby face.
"What's wrong?" Harry's heart softened as he asked gently.
The response was an even greater sobbing sound, though Dudley tried to suppress it—Harry knew that if Dudley really let loose, his cries would be as deafening as a Mandrake's.
"Don't cry, or Uncle Vernon will suspect I'm using magic to bully you again." Harry said helplessly.
"This… this is obviously my room…" Dudley continued to sob.
"Didn't Uncle Vernon buy it for two hundred and fifty pounds?" Harry retorted.
Hearing this, Dudley was clearly choked up.
Harry shook his head in resignation, and then, suddenly struck by inspiration, got an idea.
He retrieved a box of Chocolate Frogs from the cabinet and handed it to Dudley.
"Here, this is a snack from the Magic World—you've definitely never tried it."
"What is this?" At the mention of food, Dudley was instantly interested, forgetting all about crying and his room.
"Chocolate Frogs, with collectible cards that young wizards love." Harry explained: "The cards feature famous wizards."
"Wizards?" Dudley opened the Chocolate Frog box and was amazed to see the frog looking just like a real one: "This… this can't be a real frog, can it?"
"Of course not? It's made of chocolate, imbued with magic." Harry said with a smile, but he didn't tell Dudley that the Chocolate Frog would jump once.
However, Harry didn't expect that the Chocolate Frog would just leap and be caught by Dudley with an incredible speed, to be tossed into his mouth.
When it comes to food, Dudley always had extraordinary agility.
"Hmm, delicious!" Dudley beamed with joy, savoring the taste, and reached for the card inside the Chocolate Frog.
On the card was the image of an old man with a white beard, his smile was very kind.
The name on the card was Paracelsus.
"There's an introduction on the back." Harry timely reminded him.
Following Harry's advice, Dudley flipped the card over and indeed found the biography written on the back.
"Paracelsus (1493-1541), a wizard contemporary with Copernicus and Leonardo da Vinci, a medical prodigy, whose daring theories challenged medieval thought, and who discovered Serpent Tongue… Wow."
After reading the description, Dudley flipped the card back.
"He's gone!" Dudley exclaimed.
"You can't expect him to stay here all day; he'll be back later." Harry explained: "Magic World portraits are not quite like ours—want to try some other stuff? I have plenty of snacks."
"Certainly!"
Dudley nodded eagerly, his face jiggling with joy.
He showed no interest in getting to the bottom of the card's mysteries; in fact, he didn't care. He was far more interested in eating more Chocolate Frogs.
"Okay, I can give you snacks, but you have to help me with something."
Harry picked up a stack of Chocolate Frogs, and Dudley's eyes remained glued to them.
"Just say it." Dudley kept staring at the Chocolate Frogs intently.
Then he mindlessly took two hundred and fifty pounds from his pocket and put it on Harry's desk.
After some thought, he retrieved four fifty-pound notes.
"Here you go, this money should be enough to buy all these snacks for you; you'll need some pocket money for school too, right? It's all yours."
Even fifty pounds is quite a considerable sum.
Harry was aware that Gringotts' exchange rate between pounds and Golden Galleons was five to one, therefore this amount was more than enough to buy these snacks, even twice over.
Even though it's not like the Victorian Era with the gold standard, the purchasing power of pounds remains quite strong.
"These are snacks from the Magic World, Dudley." Harry raised an eyebrow, "You don't think fifty pounds will buy all these snacks, do you?"
To Harry's surprise, Dudley sincerely nodded, evidently convinced by Harry's words.
Movable Chocolate Frogs are quite rare, after all.
To know, his remote-controlled car costs 49.99 pounds; let alone a Chocolate Frog that you can actually eat?
Even with 49.99 pounds in hand, searching British department stores wouldn't necessarily allow you to buy a Chocolate Frog that hops.
So Dudley readily handed over the two hundred pounds to Harry, saying: "All of this is yours, and if it's not enough—"
"Don't worry, you can have them all." Harry casually replied, slipping the two hundred and fifty pounds into his pocket.
Dudley cheered loudly and didn't forget to thank Harry: "Thank you, Harry, you're such a good person."
Harry shrugged.
Look at that, he has to thank me.
"I thought you'd remember the times I bullied you and would seek revenge—" Dudley said, while tucking the Chocolate Frogs into his arms.
"Oh, right, I had forgotten about that." Harry chuckled, picking up a pillow.
Dudley noticed Harry's movement, and instinctively swallowed hard.
"What are you doing?!"
The answer was a pillow attack from Harry, aimed straight at Dudley.