[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]

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  Harry was surprised to discover that he could talk to snakes.

  This wasn't like speaking to dogs or cats, where you could use simple ands to make them perform as or respond in limited ways. With snakes, he could actually unicate. The snake could uand what he said, and he could uand what the snake said iurn. It was truly magical.

  He had almost mao separate the memories and fragments of knowledge that beloo Neil from the Aegean world. There was a lot of ong them, most of the information was fragmented and couldn't form a coherent system.

  This robably because Neil’s soul had been severely damaged. Harry had already e to terms with the fact that someone from another world had somehow ended up inside his mind, once even trying to fight him for trol of his body, but ultimately failing.

  Although most of Neil’s knowledge was scattered and disanized, making it rgely unusable, there were still many valuable bits. Harry had used them to signifitly improve his family’s financial status. And, of course, he had no iion of letting anyone know that he had mastered magic.

  First, because his aunt and uncle despised anythied to magid Harry had no desire to get into unnecessary flict with them, especially now that his life was retively stable.

  Sed, because he had watched plenty of TV shows and movies where people with special abilities were eventually captured by secret gover ageaken to bs, and experimented on. The st thing he wanted was to end up strapped to aing table under blinding lights while some stist in a white coat dissected him to see if he was different from an ordinary person.

  Even though he had mastered several stratle spells, Harry was certain that none of them would allow him to uand what other animals were saying.

  Then, earlier today, something ued happened.

  It was the day before summer vacation, the st day of elementary school. In just a few months, both Harry and Dudley would be starting middle school.

  Si was Dudley’s birthday, the Dursleys had taken him, Harry, and one of Dudley’s best friends to the zoo. he end of their visit, they arrived at the reptile house, where Harry and Dudley became fasated by a massive Brazilian python.

  As Dudley tried to provoke the zy, unbothered snake, Harry suddenly realized that he could uand what it was saying. More than that, the python could uand him, too.

  The snake kept repeating, "I want to get out. I want to get out."

  Harry stared at the thick, reinforced gss. He k least a dozen ways to break it silently, ensuring that no one would ever suspect he was involved. Although the magic he had accumuted over the years wasn’t yet powerful enough to perform the spells he truly wanted, he had still mastered a few useful tricks.

  But why would he help a giant python escape?

  What if it decided to eat him?

  Harry wasly rge, his small body would make for an easy meal. In parison, Dudley was much safer. With his size, even the massive python in front of them would have trouble swallowing him ie.

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  When Harry got home, he was still thinking about the enormous snake from the zoo. It occupied his mind so much that when Dudley asked him to py o game on the Nintendo, he refused. Normally, he would have joined happily, thhly beaten his older cousin, and then ughed at Dudley’s frustrated, unwilling expression.

  Even though Dudley was ht, he was surprisingly athletic. Apart from running and football, where a lighter body had an advantage, Harry wasn’t a match for Dudley in most sports. What frustrated Harry the most was that he couldn’t eve him in basketball.

  "A big, nimble guy uhe basket" that erfect description of Dudley!

  But when it came to video games, Harry could pletely crush Dudley, no matter what kind of game they pyed.

  Although Dudley’s arms and legs were quite strong, his fingers didn’t seem flexible enough, at least not when using the troller. Harry, oher hand, had quiimble fingers, capable of pying the piano. In fact, he had practiced piano for a while, but since he didn’t progress much, he eventually gave up.

  Lying in bed, Harry was lost in thought about the Brazilian python when Auunia’s voice suddenly interrupted him, calling him down for dinner. He got up, ran his fihrough his slightly messy hair, and tied it back.

  Yes, Harry had long hair, down to his waist.

  It was one of his little quirks, something he used to mislead people.

  Before the age of six, Harry had been an adorable little boy, just cute, nothing more. But after turning six, everything ged drastically.

  His facial features became softer, his eyes grew rger, his became more pointed, his nose slightly upturned, his lips smaller, and his skin noticeably paler. But the most remarkable ge was his eyes. Once a bright emerald green, they gradually shifted to a light brown.

  All of these ges happened in just one year, between the ages of six and seven. If you pared a photo of Harry before six to oaken after seven, almost no one would believe it was the same person.

  The transformation was se that Harry sometimes wondered if it had something to do with the magic he had learned from Neil.

  Then, one day, Auunia actally remarked, “Harry, you look so much like your mother when she was a child, except for the eyes.”

  That was when it hit him, he really did resemble his mother as a child.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single photo of his mother or father anywhere in Auunia’s house, so he had no way to see for himself just how much he looked like her.

  And this is where things got iing.Although Harry had a boy’s body and was pletely normal in every way, his face looked remarkably like that of a girl, a very pretty girl.

  In the UK, students often ged schools or transferred frequently, with more than half of the cssmates being repced every couple of months. Because of this, maudents were fused about Harry’s gender.

  Many girls assumed he was one of them and would invite him to py.

  Many boys also approached him, thinking the same thing.

  However, while his face resembled a girl’s, his voice was unmistakably that of a boy. To make things even funnier, his voice had started ging early, being rough and deep. Whenever he spoke, he would often startle new cssmates. Harry found this incredibly amusing, so he simply decided to keep growing his hair out.

  His hair was in excellent dition, eveer than that of most girls, casg down his back like a waterfall. And since his body was still small and hadn’t ged much yet, people tinued mistaking him firl, only to be shocked when he spoke.

  Harry thought the whole situation was hirious. And it wasn’t just him, Dudley and the others found it amusing too.

  Eveudents who had been tricked ended up enjoying the joke. In fact, many of them eagerly watched to see others fall into the same misuanding. Of course, how much of their amusement came from wanting others to be fooled so they wouldn’t feel as stupid themselves was another questioirely.

  Uncle Vernon and Auunia werely pleased with Harry growing his hair out, but in the end, they allowed it. And in doing so, Harry’s status in the family became clear.

  He casually smoothed his hair, put on his gsses, he had been slightly nearsighted for a while now, though not severely. It robably due to all the time he spent reading ic books and pying video games.

  During dinner, Auunia annouhat both Harry and Dudley would be attending her and Uncle Vernon’s old school, Smeltings Academy. It restigious institution with strict admission requirements. If Dudley had tried to get in without Harry’s help, Uncle Vernon would likely have had to pay thousands of pounds in tuition and schorships.

  But with Harry’s assistance, Dudley passed all the entrance exams effortlessly. Getting accepted was easy, and for Harry, it was no challe all. Even without using magic, his memory was sharp enough to handle almost a.

  Smeltings Academy uniforms were elegant and of excellent quality, but they were also quite expeudents could either order them directly from the school or purchase them indepely. The former was costly, but the tter could be signifitly cheaper if they found the right supplier.

  During dinner, Auunia discussed where to get tailored uniforms. She was clearly relut to let the sake extra money off her, especially after they had already profited from her once.

  Uncle Vernon, however, saw o rush. Both Harry and Dudley were growing fast, and if they bought the uniforms now, they might not fit properly by the time school started in two months.

  Auunia admitted that his reasoning made sense, but Dudley insisted that, for now, they at least get him a Smeltings stick. His parents didn’t object. In fact, ever since Dudley’s academic performance had drastically improved with Harry’s help, Auunia and Uncle Vernon rarely denied him anything.

  So, ihird week of summer vacation, on the first day of July, Dudley got his e.

  Harry wasn’t particurly ied, it wasn’t a y. And since he never brought it up, Auunia and Uncle Vernon simply prete wasn’t an issue, saving themselves a siderable amount of money.

  Harry didn’t mind in the slightest. He and Dudley had a great retionship. At first, it was because Harry had helped Dudley improve his grades before the entrance exams, but over time, they had simply bee close cousins who had grown up together.

  And, if Harry ever wao mess around with it, Dudley’s e could easily end up in his hands.

  As it turned out, Dudley was only ied in his e for about a m. By the afternoon, he had already tossed it into some er of the house.

  Instead, he eagerly dragged Harry back to py video games. Though the oute redictable, a crushi, he refused to give up, swearing that ime, he would beat Harry.

  The two of them pyed until te at night, and as a result, they stumbled downstairs for breakfast the m, yawning and half-asleep.

  Harry went to the front door to collect the neer and check for any mail.

  Ever sincle Vernon’s promotion, the amount of mail arriving at the house had increased signifitly. Many were letters from his business colleagues or partners wanting to stay in touch. There were also several bills, mostly from Auunia’s credit card purchases, which had noticeably increased sincle Vernon became a regional manager.

  Sure enough, when Harry picked up the neer, he found four or five envelopes along with it.

  Three were from the bank, addressed to Auunia, and one was for Uncle Vernon. But the st one.

  The st letter was addressed to him.

  This wasn’t the first time Harry had received a letter.

  He often got notes from his cssmates, both boys and girls, though mostly from girls.

  Harry was, undeniably, very handsome. Though he had grown older and no longer looked like a girl as he had in previous years, he was still strikingly attractive. Because of this, many girls wao spend time with him. But Harry, having no particur i in girls yet, never really saw the appeal.

  Even though receiviers wasn’t unusual, this one made him instantly more alert, shaking off his drowsiness.

  Because the address on the envelope was unusually precise:

  Surrey, Little Whinging, 4 Privet Drive, 2nd Floor, Sed Room on the Left – For Mr. Harry Potter.

  This was the first time Harry had ever seen a letter addressed so specifically to his exact bedroom.

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