Lucas suddenly felt absurdly busy.
During the day, he had spent hours shopping through Diagon Alley with the Grangers.
Then he returned to the Muggle world afterward to buy ingredients, cookware, seasonings, and supplies.
By the time he finally returned to the Leaky Cauldron, cooked hot pot, ate dinner, and lay down to rest—
It was already very late.
And now midnight was approaching.
Which meant tomorrow was July 31st.
Harry Potter's birthday.
Lucas should already be leaving.
Still, before heading out, he first opened Cassandra's reply.
Naturally, most of the letter consisted of extremely Slytherin-style complaints accusing him of lacking conscience.
After mentally filtering through all the sarcastic phrasing and reverse psychology, however, the actual meaning became fairly simple.
She liked Snowball.
She thought the name was cute.
She missed Lucas already.
She hoped Hogwarts term would begin sooner.
And she wanted him to continue writing regularly.
Lucas nodded thoughtfully.
As expected of Cassandra.
Even simple emotional honesty became buried beneath layers of sarcasm and indirect wording.
Honestly, decoding her letters required effort.
Unfortunately, Lucas did not have time to write back tonight.
Instead, he quickly left the Leaky Cauldron again before purchasing several additional items from Diagon Alley.
Then—
Inside a hidden alleyway where nobody could see him, Lucas crouched beside Snowball and handed the owl a piece of enchanted parchment.
"Go find Harry Potter."
Snowball chirped happily.
Clearly, the tiny owl loved flying freely through the sky.
The moment the owl launched upward into the night—
A mass of black mist silently followed behind it.
Snowball nearly screamed in terror immediately.
The little owl spun around frantically after sensing the horrifying dark presence shadowing it through the stormy sky.
Then Lucas's voice echoed from within the mist.
"Relax. It's just me."
"You keep flying."
"I'll follow behind."
Snowball gave several deeply offended hoots afterward.
Still, despite its complaints, the owl continued flying forward obediently.
Although now it flew with noticeably greater psychological pressure than before.
Not long afterward, a violent storm began raging across the sea.
Rain poured heavily from the dark sky.
However, Lucas's silent form remained completely unaffected.
The owl continued guiding him rapidly forward.
Eventually—
A lonely rocky reef appeared ahead.
And atop the reef stood a miserable broken shack battered endlessly by wind and rain.
Lucas smiled faintly.
It seemed Vernon Dursley still dragged Harry here after all.
…
Inside the shack, Harry Potter lay curled beneath an old torn blanket spread across the hard wooden floor.
He felt cold.
Hungry.
And utterly miserable.
The storm outside made sleeping impossible.
Harry tossed restlessly while listening to the crashing thunder overhead.
At this point, even Uncle Vernon's cruel words earlier seemed increasingly believable.
Perhaps nobody really would brave this weather just to deliver a letter.
That thought only worsened Harry's mood further.
Silently, he stared toward the glowing watch strapped around Dudley's fat wrist nearby.
Only a few minutes remained until midnight.
His eleventh birthday.
But nobody remembered.
Nobody cared.
Harry quietly wondered again about the mysterious person who kept sending him letters.
Why were they trying so desperately to contact him?
What exactly did the letters contain?
Why did Uncle Vernon react so violently every single time he saw one?
Harry's mind filled endlessly with questions.
Unfortunately, nobody could answer them.
Maybe after returning to Privet Drive, he might somehow manage stealing one of the letters secretly.
Twenty seconds remained now.
Harry silently began counting down in his head.
Perhaps once midnight arrived, he could at least whisper happy birthday to himself.
Maybe he should even wake Dudley just to annoy him.
The seconds ticked slowly away.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One—
Harry opened his mouth quietly.
Then suddenly—
The sound of the storm outside stopped completely.
Immediately afterward, a calm boy's voice echoed clearly through the darkness beyond the door.
"Alohomora."
BOOM!
The rotten wooden door exploded inward violently.
Uncle Vernon instantly jumped upright while clutching his rifle desperately.
"What the hell?!"
"I warn you—I'm armed!"
He stared fearfully toward the shattered doorway as though expecting some terrible monster to emerge.
Harry also looked over nervously.
Then—
A black-haired Chinese boy around Harry's age calmly stepped through the broken entrance while brushing rainwater from his expensive-looking clothes.
The boy frowned slightly.
"Oh no."
"Kassandra's definitely going to kill me."
"She personally picked these clothes."
The strange boy muttered the complaint to himself while examining the rainwater stains.
Uncle Vernon immediately regained some confidence after realizing the intruder appeared to be merely another child.
"You!"
"This is trespassing!"
"Get out immediately!"
Dudley and Aunt Petunia also stared strangely at the newcomer.
Meanwhile, Lucas calmly examined the room itself before sighing internally.
As expected…
His intimidation factor really could not compare to Hagrid's giant half-human physique.
In the original story, Hagrid terrified the Dursleys instantly upon arrival.
Unfortunately, Lucas looked far too harmless.
His gaze eventually landed on the thin black-haired boy standing nervously nearby.
Then Lucas smiled gently.
"So…"
"You're Harry Potter?"
His eyes briefly lingered on the lightning-shaped scar across Harry's forehead.
Meanwhile, Uncle Vernon had already stomped forward angrily.
"Boy!"
"Are you deaf?"
"Where are your parents?!"
Vernon reached out immediately, clearly intending to grab Lucas and physically throw him outside.
....
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