[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]

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  "Is This a Prank from a Cssmate?"

  Harry found it quite iing. None of his cssmates had ever pyed a prank like this before,it was really creative.

  The envelope of this letter was made of thick part, a material rarely used nowadays. After all, it was heavy and not the easiest to write on. The only advantage was its durability, it wouldn’t tear easily. Still, modern postal services were reliable. It wasn’t like turies ago wheers had to be buogether and tossed onto the back of a carriage, left to rattle around during the journey.

  The address was written in an unusual green ink, which immediately caught Harry’s attention. However, what intrigued him the most was the absence of a postage stamp.

  Turning the envelope over, he noticed that it was sealed with wax. This was the first time Harry had ever seen something like that. There was a design imprinted in the wax, a capital letter "H"

  Handing the neer to Uncle Vernon, Harry sat at the table and carefully cut the wax seal with his dinner knife. He didn’t want to damage such a delicate and intriguing envelope.

  Pulling out the letter, he read through it quickly and then broke into a pyful grin. Laughing, he turo Dudley and said, "Dudley, I just got a very iier. I wonder who sent it, it's really creative!"

  It was a letter g to be an acceptater from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

  Harry found it amusing that something like this had arrived on April 1st, rather than during the summer holidays. But he had to admit, it was a well-crafted prank. The letter and envelope were impressively made.

  "Hogwarts? What a ridiculous name!" Dudley scoffed, gng at the letter and ughing.

  Harry was about to reply when he heard a sharp crash. His Auunia had dropped a pte, which shattered upon hitting the kit floor. There was no carpet to cushion the fall, so the ceramic broke instantly.

  "You scared me!" Dudley pined, annoyed.

  "Oh, oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…" Auunia stammered, looking flustered. Strangely, she didn’t even call Dudley “darling” as she usually did. Instead, she quickly grabbed a broom to sweep up the broken pieces before pulling Uncle Vernon, who had lowered his neer, his fausually tense, into the other room. They left their breakfast unfinished.

  Harry watched them disappear behind the closed door, puzzled. Their rea was odd.

  After a moment of thought, his expression shifted. Auunia had dropped the pte right after Dudley mentioned Hogwarts. Could it be that they had heard of this supposed magic school before?

  That didn’t seem likely. Auunia and Uncle Vernon had no sense of humor whatsoever. They weren’t the type to py along with pranks like this.

  Harry frowned, deep in thought. The Dursleys didn’t look like they were reag to a joke, on the trary.

  A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes as he sidered their behavior. Uncle Vernon and Auunia were almost paranoid in their aversion to anythiely reted to magic. That was unusual, most old-fashioned school teachers wouldn’t mind if a student casually said, "That’s just magic!" when surprised by something.

  But the Dursleys? They reacted with strong disgust and hostility whenever magic was eveioned.

  Harry had always found that strange. And now, for the first time, a thought crossed his mind: "Could magic actually be real? Was Hogwarts truly a real school of magid did Auunia and Uncle Vernon know about it?"

  Most people wouldn’t eveertain such a wild idea. But Harry was different, because, deep down, he knew he could do things that others couldn’t.

  If he could use magic, then it wasn’t too hard to believe that others could as well.

  And if there were people who could do magic, then it only made sehat there would be a school to teach them.

  Harry grabbed the letter from Dudley and unfolded the sed page. It tained a list of required school supplies and some additional instrus. The more he read, the stronger his suspi became.

  Maybe, just maybe, his guess was right.

  Returning to the First Page of the LetterHarry's eyes fell o sentence: "We await your owl to deliver your response by July 31st."

  "Well, that's awkward. Where am I supposed to find an owl?" Harry muttered.

  Bang, bang, bang!

  A sharp tapping sound came from the window. Harry turoward the noise, and his eyes suddenly widened.

  A dark gray oerched on the windowsill, staring at him with round, unblinking eyes. As soon as it noticed him looking, it tapped on the gss twice.

  Up until now, Harry had only thought there was a small ce that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry might actually exist. But at this moment, his certainty shot up to 70, no, maybe even 80 pert.

  Just as he stood up to open the window ahe owl in, Auunia’s bedroom door suddenly swung open. Auunia and Uncle Vernon stepped out. The momeunia spotted the owl, she shrieked, rushed toward the window, and smmed it shut, sg the bird away.

  Harry raised an eyebrow, sensing a wave of emotions radiating from her.

  His ability to perceive others' emotions wasn’t very strong, at least, not yet. He figured that if his mental prew, he might be able to read people's emotions more easily. But at this stage, he could only detect stroional fluctuations.

  And right now, Auunia wasn’t just furious, she was also jealous.

  That was strange. Auunia etty woman, but she rarely harbored sutered. In fact, Harry had only sehis kind of emotion from her once before, when the wealthy wife of an important t had visited their home.

  That woman had been dripping in jewelry, and Auunia had beehing with envy. But despite her rese, she had forced a smile and worked alongside Uncle Vernon to ftter their guest.

  Aside from that occasion, there was only oher time Petunia had felt such jealousy, when she looked at him.

  In the past, Harry had thought his aunt envied his good looks. After all, he was quite handsome, the kind of boy who could charm both boys and girls into giving him sweets. But ter, he realized it wasn’t him she envied, it was his mother.

  And that made sense. Since Harry was handsome, and Auunia had mentiohat he resembled his mother, it stood to reason that his mother must have beeiful.

  But right noetunia radiated that same jealous fury, a hought crept into Harry’s mind, one he had never sidered before.

  What if magic truly existed in this world?

  What if Auunia and Uncle Vernon knew about Hogwarts?

  And what if Harry could use magiot just because of Neil, but for another reason, something io him?

  Somethiic?

  Then a possibility he had never even imagined before suddenly took shape in his mind.

  "Could My Mother, or Maybe My Father, Have Been a Wizard?"

  Was it possible that his mother, or perhaps his father, was a wizard? And Auunia, clearly not having bee a witch herself, had felt jealousy, which had then turned into rese. After his mother passed away, that rese had been redirected toward him, because he resembled her.

  It made sense.

  When Auunia turned around, she noticed Harry staring at her strangely. F a smile, she said, “Let’s eat, let’s eat. The grilled fish is quite good today…”

  “Mum, you’re ag weird today.”

  Dudley had finally looked up from his pte. He had been too focused on his food to notiything before. All the noise around him had barely registered.

  “Not at all, Dudley dear,” Auunia replied quickly. “After dinner, go py with Pierre and Danny. I o have a word with Harry…” Her voice had a distant quality to it.

  “Oh.” Dudley didn’t think much of it. He simply nodded and tinued eating. His appetite was just as rge as he was.

  Dudley left early after dinner, and before Uncle Vernon headed out to work, he gave Harry and Auunia a strange look, but in the end, he said nothing.

  Ohey were alone, Auunia motioned for Harry to sit on the living room sofa. She sat across from him, her expression serious.

  “Harry, you’ve always been clever. Strahings have happened around you. I assume you’ve already figured something out?”

  Her face was unreadable, but Harry reized that expression. Four or five years ago, she used to look at him that way all the time. However, ever since he had helped bring good fortuo Vernon and improved Dudley’s school performahereby increasing his standing in the household, she had stopped looking at him like that.

  Harry didn’t overthink it. He simply nodded. “It seems that magic really does exist in this world.”

  For a brief moment, Petunia’s face twisted in disgust and jealousy, but she nodded in the end.

  “Yes, magic… Haha.” Her ugh was bitter. “Your mother, your father, that Potter, they were all wizards. Graduates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…”

  She paused, her voice trembling slightly. “ I see the letter?”

  Harry didn’t hesitate. He ha to her.

  Petunia’s hands shook slightly as she took the letter, but as she flipped through the two pages, her expression became strahen, she let out a ugh, self-depreg, almost hollow.

  “Dumbledore… After all these years, it’s still the same name? I suppose wizards have quite long lifespans…”

  Then, she tossed the letter back to Harry and leaned bato the sofa, her face returning to its previous stoic silence.

  “Harry, are you going? To Hogwarts?”

  “Yes, I really want to go,” Harry answered holy.

  “Then go.” Petunia waved a hand dismissively as she stood up. “But let me make ohing clear, I’m not paying a single penny for you to attend Hogwarts!”

  Harry wasn’t surprised. The Dursleys had always despised anythiely ected to magid based on Auunia’s rea, Harry was 80% sure that she had once wao go to Hogwarts, but clearly, she had never received a letter.

  From admiration to hatred?

  It wasn’t the perfect phrase, but Harry couldn’t shake the thought.

  Still, if what she said was true, she wouldn’t pay a t for his tuition.

  Then how was he supposed to afford school fees and supplies?

  Harry suddenly felt a twinge of ay. Surely, magical schools weren’t free?

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