London was always gloomy, even in summer, and in the second week of the holidays, Mrs. Dursley of Number Four, Privet Drive, came downstairs to check on her nephew's chores after tidying up her precious son Dudley's room.
The dishes were washed! The floor was swept and mopped! The dining table was wiped clean…
He was quite a hard worker, and it wasn't for nothing that her family had provided him with food and clothing for so many years, Mrs. Dursley thought to herself.
If this fellow hadn't broken Dudley's toy before, leading Dudley to forbid him from entering his room, then I wouldn't have had to clean up Dudley's room for him.
After sighing with a hint of regret, Mrs. Dursley went out to the yard. Their yard wasn't big, but she spent a lot of effort every day tending to the flowerbeds there.
To be precise, she used her neck, twice as long as an ordinary person's, to crane over the hedge and peer into her neighbors' affairs.
And what she spied often became the seasoning for the Dursleys family's dinner table.
Today, her target was a family living diagonally opposite at Number Thirteen, Privet Drive. If she hadn't overheard her neighbors talking yesterday, she would have still thought the house was empty.
It was said that the owner of that house was very reclusive; few people saw him go out on the street, except for occasionally seeing him come out to water his flowers. Other times, he was nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, sometimes he would wear long robes, paired with accessories that looked like they were from the last century. It was even said that some people had seen him using a steaming cauldron, pouring something out of it to water his flowers, and muttering indistinct words to those flowers at night.
He was a very strange person.
Such rumors immediately brought back some unpleasant memories for Mrs. Dursley, so she intended to see today what kind of person that fellow really was.
However, things didn't go as planned. Even after Mrs. Dursley had pruned the front yard bushes until they were bald, she still didn't see her new neighbor.
But to be fair, even through the hedge, she could see those flowers; they were truly beautiful, silver-blue blossoms with petals that seemed to layer thousands deep, absolutely exquisite.
Even she, someone not interested in flowers, couldn't help but be captivated.
At the same time, she also saw her precious son and nephew wrestling.
Seeing that the children were fine, she could only reluctantly return home and begin preparing lunch.
Outside, a scrawny Harry was suddenly grabbed by the large Dudley, and he felt only despair.
"Run, go on, run!" Dudley sneered, the fat on his face twisting into a terrifying knot.
Harry had messy black hair and wore broken glasses held together by countless pieces of tape. At this moment, he stared at Dudley with his green eyes beneath those glasses, feeling only disgust.
Bang—
Dudley punched him on the nose: "Oh, still looking at me like that?"
Nosebleed immediately gushed out, but Dudley didn't care. He held Harry by the collar of his oversized old clothes, wondering how to have some fun with him.
"Hey, Dudley!" To the side, a buck-toothed boy with many freckles on his face walked over. This was Piers, Dudley's good friend. He motioned Dudley with ill intent to look towards Number Thirteen, Privet Drive.
"Oh~ yes." Dudley suddenly laughed.
Number Thirteen, Privet Drive, this place had recently been the subject of many rumors among the children in the area. Everyone said an evil Wizard lived inside, who liked to eat children and watered his flowers with human blood.
Look, those flowers in the flowerbed, how beautiful they were, supposedly watered with human fresh blood.
Apparently, Dudley knew more about the rumors of Number Thirteen, Privet Drive than his parents, but Dudley knew his father didn't like these mystical stories about Wizards, so he, being smart, never mentioned them at home.
"No! Dudley, you can't do that!" Harry waved his hands repeatedly, trying to break free from Dudley's grasp, but it was useless. Having lived in a cupboard for years, he was too thin, a complete opposite to Dudley.
"That's someone's carefully nurtured garden," Harry quickly said.
"You're going to ruin it, aren't you?" Hearing such words, Dudley seemed even more excited.
Saying that, they arrived outside the fence of Number Thirteen, Privet Drive. Dudley first scouted around, and after making sure no one was there, he lifted Harry high and threw him inside.
"No!"
Amidst Harry's cry of alarm, there were Dudley and Piers's triumphant laughter and fleeing footsteps, as well as the sound of the flowerbed being crushed.
How fragile those stems were, the crisp sounds they made represented the passing of individual lives. Yes, lives. He didn't know why he felt this way about two flowers, as if they were truly wailing in his ears.
Harry quickly scrambled up and saw that he had already crushed several silver-blue flowers that resembled thousand-layered roses.
These flowers looked very expensive, and at the same time, Harry also noticed the blood-colored soil.
Immediately, his breath hitched, and those rumors flooded into his mind.
Harry wanted to run away, yet he felt guilty. The two feelings intertwined, making him feel unable to move a single step.
Coincidentally, just at this moment, with a creak, the large gate of Number Thirteen, Privet Drive slowly opened.
Harry turned his head, and the first thing that met his eyes were exquisite Oxford brogues, followed by well-fitted, slim trousers, and further up, a white shirt and a cowhide vest.
Then, Harry saw a face that was extremely stern, like a runway model, with golden hair combed back, and a lifeless expression. He was carrying a watering can, and on his fingers were two ancient silver rings that had already oxidized a bit.
Mu En pushed open the door and immediately noticed the thin child who had inexplicably appeared in his flowerbed, as well as his carefully cultivated precious Potion, the Moon Spirit Flower, which was crucial to his Curse—
?!
Flowers! My flowers, how did you die?!
Then he noticed Harry, who still had flower leaves on him…
No, I built an anti-barb electric shock array on the fence and preset a no-entry formation at the front entrance.
I was just afraid someone would be blind and damage the Potion.
Did you fly in??
"Hey, kid!" Mu En looked at him, with some anger: "Do you know how precious a Moon Spirit Flower is?"
Harry was already flustered with fright at this point.
"So… sorry…" He felt his mouth wasn't obeying him, and his legs were trembling.
"I… I'll restore them!"
"Restore?!" Mu En was exasperated and laughed, somewhat helplessly.
However, the next second, an action he couldn't understand occurred.
Harry suddenly knelt on the ground and covered the damaged flowers with both hands.
Harry was a bit bewildered at this moment too; he didn't know why he was doing this, it was just… a feeling?! Yes, he felt he should do this, that he could do this.
Mu En sighed and walked over to grab Harry's hand. He could tell that this kid had crushed his flowerbed due to special circumstances, unless the other party wanted to use his fence for a high jump.
"Alright, you can go. Even if you destroyed the Moon Spirit Flower, what can I do…"
Mid-sentence, Mu En stopped abruptly, looking in surprise at the blooming flowers in the palms of this thin boy's hands.
"This…" Mu En's voice hitched, and at the same time, he saw that the other flowers on the bush also began to regain vitality. With this spot as the center, and the flower stems as the Context, a surge of life force began to spread out.
Harry was also very surprised. He looked in disbelief at the Moon… Moon Spirit Flower, which had regained vitality in his hands!
He quickly looked up at the man, with some timidity in his eyes. On one hand, he was afraid that this man was an evil Wizard, as rumored. On the other hand, whenever he displayed such abnormal abilities, he would invariably be punished.
One time, Aunt Petunia couldn't stand his perpetually messy hair anymore and cut it all off with scissors, but the next day, his hair had all grown back. This resulted in him being grounded for a week.
Another time was at school, Dudley and his friends wanted to chase and bully him again, but in a blink of an eye, he had run up onto the chimney of the kitchen. This resulted in him being grounded for a month. That month, he was either at school or in the cupboard, not even allowed out for meals.
Then, in Harry's emerald green eyes, he saw a large hand, wearing a silver ring, with many calluses, seemingly having experienced much, reaching out.
What was he going to do? Was he going to grab me and tell Aunt Petunia? How long would I be grounded, for the entire holiday?
Or, was he truly an evil Wizard as rumored, was he going to abduct me? Was he going to eat me?
Harry was terrified and didn't dare to move. He even thought that if the other party killed him, it would be fine anyway, since no one cared about him, and there was nothing to cherish about such a life…
The large hand covered Harry's messy hair, and then, in Harry's disbelieving gaze, a trace of a smile appeared on that lifeless face.
"Well done, kid."