Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 259 A woman’s heart is like a needle under the sea

Although they had decided to sever all ties with the magical world, the two sisters still met one last time when Vernon and Petunia were preparing to get married.

It just so happened that Lily had a boyfriend at that time, so James also showed up at the event.

Unfortunately, the meeting between the two parties was very unpleasant.

Vernon initially took the meeting very seriously, and in order to make James remember him, he even tried to show him his new car.

Of course, there was also a hint of showing off to his brother-in-law.

But when he asked James what kind of car he drove, James introduced his flying broomstick, which naturally puzzled Vernon.

During the ensuing conversation, upon learning that James did not need to work, Vernon immediately assumed that James must be living on unemployment benefits.

He even kindly offered to help James find a job.

As a result, James arrogantly told Vernon that he had inherited his parents' fortune, a large sum of gold in Gringotts, enough to ensure that the Potter family would live comfortably for generations.

The two had different values ​​and personalities, and coupled with various problems in communication, Vernon became increasingly angry and eventually stormed out of the room.

The meeting ended badly, and Penny chased Vernon out of the restaurant. As she was leaving, she glanced back and saw that Lily was already crying her eyes out.

“Um… Uncle Vernon, I think you might have misunderstood…” Harry explained earnestly, “Wizards do use brooms as a means of transportation, and Gringotts gold is real… but those are magical currencies, which can only be used in the magical world.”

While explaining, Harry couldn't help but have a question in his mind.

Perhaps my father isn't as perfect as I imagined?

Having spent a considerable amount of time with Sherlock, he did learn some skills.

For example, at this moment, he could tell that Aunt Penny was not lying.

Of course, having already decided to tell herself these past events, she had no need to lie—otherwise, she could have simply avoided the topic as before.

It was Uncle Vernon who looked down on people first.

Harry silently defended his father in his mind, arguing that his father's retaliation stemmed from his perception of his father as someone who relied on unemployment benefits.

That's what he thought, but Harry asked himself honestly, if it were him, he would never use a reason like "I have a lot of gold" to retaliate.

He's still my brother-in-law, why be so mean?

Shortly after that unpleasant meeting, Penny married Vernon.

“Lily offered to be my bridesmaid,” Penny said quietly, “but I refused, and she was very sad.”

"Why? Why did you reject your sister?"

Upon hearing this, Harry finally couldn't help but question them for the first time.

"Kid, watch your mouth!"

Vernon glared at Harry.

"Because I was worried that your mother's appearance would overshadow me. I know very well that I am far inferior to her."

“No, Penny, you’re the best. No one in the world can compare to you!” Vernon quickly said.

Harry: (╯▽╰)
"Kid, you're much more pleasing to the eye than your father."

At this moment, Uncle Vernon suddenly chimed in, as if deliberately trying to provoke hatred, saying:

“I didn’t speak to James at the wedding reception. When people asked, I said he was a magician.”

Harry didn't say anything this time. To Muggles, magic and sorcery weren't that different.

“Let me do it, darling,” Penny said, pressing Vernon’s hand down.

“Okay, I’ll do as you say,” Vernon said, gazing lovingly at Penny.

Harry:

After Penny and Vernon got married, they moved to 4 Privet Drive in Little Huigkin, Surrey, which is where Harry has been living all these years.

After starting their own families, Penny and Lily rarely kept in touch.

Neither she nor Vernon attended James and Lily's wedding.

On June 23, 1980, Penny and Vernon's son, Dudley, was born.

Just a month later, Petunia received the last letter Lily had sent her before her death. From this letter, Petunia learned that Harry was born on July 31, 1980.

Upon hearing his wife's words, Vernon opened his mouth, but ultimately remained silent.

He remembered clearly that Penny only glanced at the letter before throwing it away.

It seems that deep down she still cares about Lily.

A woman's heart, a needle under the sea.

She had completely fooled herself.

As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together," and both Penny and Vernon, who married Vernon, are very proud to be from an ordinary family.

At any time, they would always proudly tell others that they were a very well-behaved family.

Because they never get involved in mysterious or strange things, and they don't believe in those evil or crooked ways at all.

Penny was determined to be a Dursley and avoid discussing anything related to her sister.

However, deep down, Penny knew that Lily had always loved her, so she always felt a little guilty about ending her relationship with Lily.

However, this guilt is often quickly overshadowed by jealousy and resentment.

She didn't tell Vernon that long ago she had also hoped to build a school like Lily and Snape, to demonstrate her magical talent, and to be sent to Hogwarts.

She originally thought that such days would last forever.

Everything changed in 1981, when Dudley and Harry were both one year old.

On the morning of November 1st, Penny screamed in surprise when she opened the door to put out the baby bottle.

She found a baby on the doorstep and a letter in the blanket.

This letter was left by Dumbledore for Petunia. From it, Petunia learned that Harry's parents, Lily and James, had been murdered and hoped that the Dursleys would adopt him.

Dumbledore further explained that because Lily sacrificed her life to protect her son, Harry would be safe from Voldemort and the Death Eaters as long as he lived in a place where her bloodline existed and could be considered home. Since Petunia and Lily's parents had died young, Petunia became Lily's only surviving blood relative, and 4 Privet Drive became Harry's only refuge.

“I don’t want to accept you because every time I see you, I’ll think of Lily. You’ll constantly remind me that I have a sister who is better than me, and she’s joined the magical world that I once longed for.”

Petunia looked at Harry and said, word by word, "But I had no choice—I couldn't just stand by and watch you be killed by Voldemort and his minions."

Over the years, I have never treated you as my second son, nor have I told you the real cause of your parents' death. I made you live in the storage room under the stairs for ten years, made you do most of the housework, and never celebrated your birthday...

All my punishment and abuse of you stemmed from jealousy.

Upon hearing this, Harry clenched his fists tightly.

It's easy to imagine how shocked and angry he was upon hearing these words.

"But I didn't expect that Dali would be the first to accept you."

Penny wiped away her tears. "As long as he's happy, everything is fine. I mean... I don't expect you to forgive me, but I still have to say—Harry, I'm sorry."

After saying that, Penny could no longer control her emotions and ran crying towards her bedroom.

Vernon glared at Harry again before chasing after him.

Unlike Penny, he didn't think he had done anything wrong.

However, he doesn't care as long as his wife is willing to accept Harry.

Harry, left behind, was overwhelmed with mixed feelings.

This long, heart-to-heart talk reminded him of something Sherlock had once said.

Many misunderstandings begin with a lack of communication.

Once things are out in the open, many things become much easier to handle.

In essence, the Dursleys were indeed selfish and bullied the weak.

Aunt Penny envied those who were more talented and capable than herself, even if that person was her own sister.

But they weren't exactly bad people.

So when he learned from Dumbledore's letter that he needed the strength of blood relatives to protect himself from harm, he still adopted him, even though he was unwilling.

As Penny herself said, Penny's bullying and neglect of her stemmed from jealousy of her sister.

"However, she might just be willing to keep me alive."

Harry laughed self-deprecatingly.

But thinking of Penny's "I'm sorry" just now, Harry felt relieved.

He thought he would never hear Aunt Penny say those words in his life!
If she could forgive Snape on behalf of her parents, then forgiving Aunt Petunia on their behalf would be even easier.

"I am the kind person."

Harry couldn't help but mutter to himself.

In the days that followed, Harry's time on Privet Drive became increasingly interesting.

Aside from homework time, Harry still takes the initiative to do chores, but neither Petunia nor Vernon ignores him as they used to.

Harry could sense that both Vernon and Petunia were trying to adjust to this new relationship.

However, habits formed over ten years cannot be changed overnight, and even Petunia's way of addressing Harry sounds stiff.

On the contrary, Dali was much more natural than them.

He even introduced Harry to his cronies, telling them that he would be Harry's protector from now on, and that anyone who dared to treat Harry the way they used to should watch out.

This made Harry secretly chuckle.

Even if he didn't do that, these kids wouldn't be able to bully him now.

However, he still accepted his cousin's kindness.

On the other hand, ever since Petunia had a heart-to-heart talk with Vernon and Harry, she inadvertently helped Vernon clear up his misunderstanding of Professor Snape and his wife.

However, this did not stop him from continuing to hate that person.

I don't like that guy.

Uncle Vernon said bluntly.

"He had a bitter and resentful face, as if our family owed him money."

Vernon was referring to the incident last summer when Snape came to Privet Drive to help resolve the issue with the house-elf Dobby.

It was that meeting that made him begin to doubt Snape's identity.

Of course, now that the doubts have been completely dispelled, he will not tell his wife about it.

“Not many people at school liked him either,” Harry said, no longer as cautiously as before when speaking to his Uncle Vernon: “So everyone called him Old Bat.”

"Hey, which kid came up with that? It's actually a very fitting nickname!"

Finding common ground was a rare treat, so Harry immediately skipped the part about magic at school and just talked about how Snape usually targeted Gryffindor, especially him.

After hearing Harry's words, Petunia sighed deeply and looked at him with a complicated expression:

"He still can't forget Lily after all..."

"If that's the case, shouldn't he be nicer to this kid?" Vernon asked, puzzled. "Why is he targeting him?"

"Vernon, Harry is Lily's child with another man."

"Uh...I understand."

No, my dear, you don't understand.

Petunia looked into Harry's green eyes and slowly said:

“Every time he sees Harry’s eyes, he thinks of Lily—I think he’s probably regretting it just like me…”

　The third day of the holiday
　　
　
(End of this chapter)