Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Archmage

Time passed steadily.

By now, nearly twenty days had passed since the Dursleys opened their hearts.

As early as July 8, Dumbledore had replied to Harry, stating that on July 31, Harry's birthday, Mr. Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, would be sent to Number 4 Privet Drive to lead Harry and Dudley to purchase the items needed for school enrollment.

In addition, during this period, the attitude of the Dursleys towards Harry had changed significantly.

Previously, at Dudley's strong request, Harry could receive material support similar to Dudley's. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley would also suppress their tempers and ignore Harry as much as possible, not subjecting him to excessive mental abuse.

However, all of this was not out of the Dursleys' true intentions. They did this only because they didn't want to disappoint Dudley.

Now, Dudley had forcefully opened up most of Aunt Petunia Dursley's emotional knot, and she could clearly recognize her feelings towards Lily and Harry.

Although she still couldn't express these feelings verbally, in her daily actions, it was obvious that she had a lot more affection for Harry.

For example, she would specifically invite Harry when going out for an outing, and would also actively let Harry and Dudley stand in the center position when taking pictures at scenic spots.

Estimating, Aunt Petunia now dotes on Harry about four or five-tenths as much as she does on Dudley, and it's genuinely from the bottom of her heart.

Uncle Vernon, who loves his wife unconditionally, seeing this situation, also loves Harry by association, and his attitude towards Harry has become much more enthusiastic.

This made Harry feel extremely flattered. Almost every day, he would secretly pinch himself twice to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Dudley was also extremely satisfied with this family atmosphere. He had been longing for such an atmosphere for more than just a day or two.

Of course, he didn't get indulged in it. He always used his free time to constantly simulate and rehearse the action plan for Harry's birthday in his mind, thinking about possible changes and coping strategies.

According to the System's measurement criteria, the eleventh birthday marks the end of the childhood stage and the beginning of the teenage stage.

So, on July 31, 1991, which is Harry's eleventh birthday, the S-level regret event - The Dark Childhood of the Savior, will be rewarded and settled.

This reward is quite important for Dudley's action plan.

This is also the reason why Dudley asked Harry to agree in his reply to Dumbledore that someone would come early in the morning on that day.

In addition, this time is also when Harry was taken into Diagon Alley by Hagrid in the original story line. Appropriately following the original plot might make his actions easier and smoother.

...

On the evening of July 28, just over two days before Harry's birthday.

Something happened that made Dudley extremely surprised and gratified.

[Congratulations to the host for successfully resolving the D-rank regret event - Complicated and Unspeakable Love!]

[The host has influenced Aunt Petunia Dursley's personality and emotional perception through nearly a decade of subtle influence. And through a heartfelt family conversation, Aunt Petunia has seen clearly her inner feelings.

At the same time, under the guidance of the host, Harry Potter has understood Aunt Petunia's feelings for him.

Influenced by the recent change in Aunt Petunia's attitude, before his birthday, Harry took the initiative to find Aunt Petunia for a heart-to-heart talk, expressing his desire to understand his uncle and aunt and integrate truly into the Dursleys.

Aunt Petunia was touched by Harry. She completely let go of her inner entanglement and expressed her apology to Harry implicitly, as well as her longing for a wonderful family life in the future.

[This Regret Has Been Perfectly Resolved.]

[Specially issued, fixed reward: 1 opportunity to fuse d-level magic items.]

[Extra reward: 1 opportunity to fuse d-level magic items.]

[Currently owned: 2 opportunities to fuse d-level magic items.]

Dudley was lying on the big bed in his bedroom, reading the System prompts that came to his mind, with a beaming smile on his face.

Originally, he had planned to give Harry a hint on the night before Harry's birthday, taking the excuse of "wanting to draw a perfect end to his childhood as his birthday is approaching" to give his mother a way out and make the stubborn Aunt Petunia personally voice her apology and wishes to Harry.

Unexpectedly, Harry seemed to have a flash of inspiration and completed this matter actively and spontaneously.

It really gave him a pleasant surprise!

Excitedly, Dudley turned on the light, got out of bed and walked to the refrigerator in his bedroom.

Inside the fridge's refrigerated compartment, there were three packages of dark red blood neatly stacked.

As Dudley focused his attention on one of the packages of blood, the System's identification information immediately appeared on the semi-transparent panel in front of him.

[Harry Potter's Magic Blood (E-level)]

[Item description: Venous blood drawn from the veins of wizard Harry Potter, containing weak magic power and mysterious protective magic traits.

After fusion, the host can obtain an extremely weak and non-growing wizard bloodline.

In addition, due to the blood relationship between the host, Lily and Harry Potter, after fusion, the host can also obtain a weakened version of the ancient magic - the magic trait of "Love Protection".

It can partially resist and rebound instant death attacks. Touching an object full of killing intent towards the host can cause it to suffer partial backlash damage.]

Looking at the familiar introduction of the magic item, Dudley thought for a while and finally closed the refrigerator door. He didn't fuse it for the time being.

The three packages of Harry's blood had the same capacity. One package of blood was an E-level magic item, and the three packages together were equivalent to a d-level magic item.

After fusion, Dudley could obtain a weak and unpromising wizard bloodline, as well as the confidence to withstand a Killing Curse.

This would be a good guarantee for Dudley's actions on Harry's birthday.

But Dudley guessed that after he fused the three packages of Harry's blood and became a wizard, his name would appear on the Entrance Book of Hogwarts.

The Entrance Book and the Quill of Acceptance were powerful magic items left by the four founders of Hogwarts.

The Quill of Acceptance would automatically sense whether all babies born in the UK and Ireland had magical talent. If so, it would write the corresponding baby's name on the Entrance Book.

This would make it convenient for the person in charge of Hogwarts to send an admission letter by owl when the baby turned eleven years old.

Meanwhile, the Entrance Book also serves a supervisory role. It will investigate whether the children whose names the Quill of Acceptance is going to write down possess sufficient magical talent to prevent Hogwarts from admitting squib students.

There is a saying in the wizarding world: Whether a person can attend Hogwarts is decided on the day they are born.

This is the credit of the Entrance Book and the Quill of Acceptance.

Dudley is now a genuine Muggle. It's impossible for his name to appear in the Entrance Book. But if he fuses with three packets of Harry's blood, things become uncertain.

If that old bee Dumbledore sees Dudley's name in the Entrance Book and gets the idea of paying a visit to Number 4 Privet Drive in person, it will surely affect Dudley's action plan.

He has confidence in fooling that big, simple-minded half-giant, but he doesn't have the confidence to cause trouble under the nose of the greatest wizard of the 20th century.

So, the best time for the fusion is on Harry's birthday, after seeing Hagrid with his own eyes.