Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Archmage

"Don't think about it for now, Harry! I feel the same way as you, but just speculating here won't do us any good right now. Hagrid is here, and isn't Dumbledore capable of fighting against Voldemort? The one who knows a person best is their enemy. When we get to Hogwarts, we'll just go and ask Dumbledore directly!"

Dudley comforted Harry. He thought Harry had eaten too much sweet food, which caused a sudden excessive secretion of insulin and led to hypoglycemia. Coupled with the intense emotional fluctuations, that's why he felt dizzy.

"We've learned enough news tonight. Let's go back to the bedroom and sleep! Get some rest. We still have to go buy the things needed for learning magic tomorrow morning!"

Dudley brought tonight's conversation to an end.

"That's right, Harry. Go and rest! There are very few things that Dumbledore can't handle! When you get to Hogwarts, you'll see!"

Like Diggory, Hagrid was an uncritical admirer of Dumbledore. He thought there was nothing wrong with Dudley's words and also chimed in.

Harry went upstairs with a heavy heart.

Aunt Petunia was also a bit absent-minded. Uncle Vernon gave Dudley a few instructions, then helped his wife back to the room to rest.

In the deformedly expanded living room space, soon only Dudley and Hagrid were left.

"There's no other way, Hagrid. With your size, it's hard for you to sleep on our bed without using magic." Dudley said apologetically to Hagrid.

"It's okay. I'll just sleep on the floor! Early tomorrow morning, I'll take you and Harry to Diagon Alley! I promise, you guys are going to be really popular!"

Rarely, there was a bit of emotional intelligence in Hagrid's words.

"I'm really looking forward to it!" Dudley smiled meaningfully with a hint of something deeper.

He pushed the dining table to the side to clear some space, then took out several sofa cushions and made a simple makeshift bed for Hagrid and two dormice.

He also used a chair to block the front door that had lost its lock.

With Hagrid keeping watch in the living room, there was no need to worry about burglars breaking in.

After finishing all this, Dudley casually glanced at the corner of the envelope sticking out from Hagrid's shirt pocket on his chest. Then, he exchanged goodnights with the simple - minded half - giant and went up to the second floor.

When passing by Harry's bedroom door, Dudley knocked on the door a few times loudly: "Stop daydreaming. Listen to your cousin. Cast the Calm Mind spell on yourself and then go to sleep!"

"Okay, cousin!"

Harry was lying on the bed in the bedroom, looking at the ceiling. Suddenly hearing his cousin's instruction, he perked up, turned over, and obediently did as he was told.

...

Secondly, the Unplottable Extension Charm on the first - floor living room expired, which was consistent with the information identified by Dudley using the System.

Hagrid, who was lying on the makeshift bed in the living room, opened his eyes and saw Dudley directing Harry to cast a spell on a coat with his umbrella wand.

"Harry, repeat after me, Engorgio! At the same time, wave your wand like this!"

Dudley demonstrated with the Smelting stick for Harry. In order to better develop Harry's imagination and the power of his mind, he didn't let Harry come into contact with accurate but rigid spell books like Standard Spells too early.

So, Harry couldn't cast the regular spells of wizards yet.

"Engorgio!"

Harry chanted the spell and waved Hagrid's umbrella wand with a specific gesture, casting the Engorgement Charm on an old coat that Uncle Vernon no longer wore.

With a dazzling yellow flash, a ray of light shot out from the tip of the umbrella wand and hit Uncle Vernon's old coat.

The coat immediately swelled up and soon became large enough to fit Hagrid's huge frame. However, the power of the spell didn't dissipate. Instead, it caused another magical transformation to the coat.

The ordinary brown coat turned into a dopamine - colored one with irregular red and yellow patterns.

"Cousin, this wand seems to be resisting me!"

Harry voiced his feelings after casting a regular spell for the first time.

"It seems that Hagrid's wand doesn't quite match you. But hey, we achieved the effect we wanted, didn't we?"

Dudley smiled and then turned to look at the half - giant who had already woken up. "Good morning, Hagrid! Do you like the present Harry and I prepared for you?"

Hagrid looked at the extremely vibrant coat and excitedly stood up. "I love it! Boom! Ouch! You guys are amazing!"

Hagrid's huge head bumped into the ceiling of the living room of the Dursleys' house, yet he still didn't forget to heap praise on Harry and Dudley.

"Your spell wore off, Hagrid. You'd better stoop first!" Dudley kindly reminded him.

"Alright then! Kids, I think it's high time we set off. Dumbledore also asked me to do a real important thing on the way!"

Hagrid bent down laboriously, took the umbrella wand Harry handed him and the colorful striped coat Dudley gave him. With a sweep of his big hand across the low table where his personal belongings were placed, he bundled everything up in the coat.

The two roused dormice also scurried in.

Then, Hagrid lugged his things and, maintaining an uncomfortable hunched - over posture, trudged with great difficulty to the door and forced his way out.

The front door of the Dursleys' house was completely distorted. It was nearly twice its original size and could no longer be shut.

"Oh my gosh! What do I see? Such a massive robber!"

"Run!"

On Privet Drive, two early - rising neighbors were frightened by Hagrid.

"Oh, no! Well! There's nothing we can do about it!" Hagrid took out his umbrella wand. "Obliviate! Muggle - Repelling Charm"

The panicked neighbors had their distressing memories erased and regained their composure.

Inside the Dursleys' living room, Dudley suddenly couldn't see Hagrid at the door and also had a faint urge to stay away from the door.

However, as Dudley firmly decided not to move away, he could see Hagrid again.

The System safeguarded his autonomous thoughts from being tampered with. Leveraging this latent ability, Dudley managed to free himself from the influence of Hagrid's Muggle - Repelling Charm.

The Muggle - Repelling Charm can cause Muggles to disregard the presence of wizards, feel an urge to keep away from the spell - caster or a particular place where the spell was cast, and even cause Muggle technological devices within the spell's range to malfunction.

This is a simple yet fearsome spell. If a war broke out between Muggles and wizards, this spell would put the Muggle community at a significant disadvantage.

But it's not entirely impossible to break. As long as a wizard is captured and a Muggle has physical contact with the wizard, sharing the wizard's mystique, the Muggle can temporarily shake off the influence of this spell.

Some shadowy associations flashed through Dudley's mind, and he naturally reached out to grab Harry, lest the normally careless Hagrid be perceptive just this once and spot something off.

Then, he picked up a dozen or so sandwich bags that Aunt Petunia had prepared early in the morning on the dining table, and stuffed the thousand pounds that Uncle Vernon had specifically left behind, though they weren't of much use, into his pocket.

In the inner pocket of his coat, there were also three packets of refrigerated blood insulated with tinfoil and cotton, and a rough ruby wrapped in kraft paper and tied up with twine.

"Let's go, Harry! We're going to the wizarding world!" Dudley said breezily.

"Oh, okay, cousin!"

Harry replied, a bit puzzled. After walking out of the misshapen entrance door, he couldn't help but ask, "Cousin, aren't you going to say goodbye to Uncle and Aunt?"

"Come on! My dear cousin, we're going shopping, not going to war! There's no need to put on a soppy show of reluctance, right?"

On the surface, Dudley joked in a deliberately relaxed manner, which put Harry at ease.

But deep down, Dudley wasn't as happy as he seemed.

He knew his parents were hiding behind the door of the first-floor master bedroom, listening to the sound of their departure, filled with anxiety.

However, this was something that the the Dursleys had to go through and get used to.

As the relatives of the the Savior, until Voldemort and his followers were completely finished, they either had to keep a low profile and fade into obscurity, or live in constant fear until they acquired formidable power.

There was no third way.