Chinese students at Hogwarts

After setting things up and putting some dried meat in Hedwig's bowl, Harry skillfully found the cleaning tools from his former bedroom in the stairwell.

Thanks to Topenny and Vernon, they learned to clean from an early age.

It's just that he used to do it with anger and resentment, but now Harry found that he actually did it willingly.

First, he put the garbage in large black plastic bags. He endured nausea while picking up the wine bottles and carpets with traces of vomiting.

While driving a errand - it would be nice if I could use magic, Hermione taught me, it just needs to be cleaned up.

But then he thought of Aunt Petunia's state. In the past, this place was always spotless, as clean as a mirror.

Harry had not known how much Vernon's departure had affected Petunia.

But when he saw the mysophobic Petunia making a mess of her life, he realized what that chubby, bearded, and bad-tempered man meant to Petunia.

It was so messy here that even though Harry was sweating profusely from working, he could only clean up the living room and kitchen.

When he wiped his sweat and rubbed his arms, he realized that Penny had been standing at the door carrying a large bag of things.

She looked at the living room, which had become tidy again, and unnaturally stretched out her hand to smooth the hair hanging around her ears.

Putting the things in his hands aside.

“Pretty clean.”

Penny put on her slippers, picked up the mop at hand, and walked upstairs.

"Can you please take care of those dishes?"

She paused, as if she was explaining something:

"I mean, it's a mess upstairs, and I-I'm afraid I don't have time-"

"Okay." Harry agreed simply. In fact, he was more surprised than Petunia because this was the first time in more than ten years that he heard the word "please" from Aunt Petunia's mouth.

The cooking skills he had developed since childhood came in handy once again, and Harry cut carrots skillfully.

"Hedwig - I have actually done these things many times, but today is different."

Hedwig tilted her head and watched her master doing something she had never seen before, her eyes full of curiosity.

Harry put the carrots on the plate and picked up the onions and ribs.

"Do do do do do" the rhythmic chopping sound sounded in the kitchen.

"I used to feel like a servant when I did this kind of thing, but today I feel weird."

Harry's movements stopped, he raised his head and frowned, and suddenly sighed softly:

"I feel like Aunt Petunia treats me as a family member for the first time, but she doesn't know how to show it. She can only use this attitude, as if she can't speak."

Um? Harry suddenly reached out and picked up the food in the bag, looking at the labels on it carefully.

Temporary food?

No, although Aunt Petunia is fussy, petty, and mean, she never buys last-minute things.

Because she feels that the food on the last day of the holiday is ‘bad’ and only people who can’t afford good food will buy it.

Petunia was even more worried that this kind of food would stunt the growth of her 'Baby Dada' - even though the school nurse had long warned them that Dudley was over-nourished.

Why buy food on expiration date?

Harry's heart suddenly jumped out to Ron, because Ron used to complain that he used second-hand cheap goods. It wasn't that Mrs. Weasley didn't love him, but they did have no money.

He also remembered visiting the Weasley family's vault, where there were only some Nats and Sickles.

Could it be that my aunt has no money? The more Harry thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

He thought again of the several job applications he had just found while cleaning up the trash. They were crumpled and had random scribbles on them.

Young Harry was lost in thought.

At this moment, there was a noise at the door. Harry put down what he was holding, wiped his hands on his apron, and prepared to go over and open the door.

Before he could reach the door, he saw Dudley standing at the door dragging a large bag of things. Harry suddenly discovered that Dudley's cheeks, which were originally rounder than Vernon, were gone.

Instead, there was a face that was moderately fat and thin, and actually looked a bit heroic.

"Cousin?"

Dudley looked at him blankly, and Harry wiped his hands unconsciously, not knowing how to communicate with Dudley.

Now he would rather Dudley and Petunia still face him as fiercely as before, so that he can ridicule and ridicule them without any psychological burden.

Rather than like now.

"Um - hello - I mean - Smelting's life is so poor? Oh no - I mean, thin."

Dudley was wearing an unusually baggy-looking T-shirt and trousers that actually had fit him perfectly just a few months ago.

The exposed arms are no longer that white, but have become darker in color, as if they were painted with melanin.

There was a smooth line that Harry was familiar with because he had spent so much time in the Hogwarts gym that his arms had the same line.

That's muscle and strength.

"Alright?" Dudley replied hesitantly, looking at Harry with a strange look, as if he was seeing himself for the first time.

Harry felt a little uncomfortable being looked at, because the look contained a kind of curiosity and scrutiny, but it was not malicious, he could feel it.

He simply pointed at the kitchen with his thumb:

"The kitchen - there's still some work in the kitchen, Auntie went upstairs - it's a bit messy."

"OK."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the kitchen to continue his work, but he kept looking at Dudley out of the corner of his eye, watching him easily dragging a large bag of things in and placing them somewhere out of the way. .

Then he came to the large photo of Vernon and Petunia, stared at it blankly for a while, and carefully wiped the fine dust on it with his hand.

Dudley seemed to have changed a lot too.

Harry thought thoughtfully. He shook his head to drive away the messy thoughts. The next step was to fry the ribs. This could not be a distraction.

But he didn't notice that after Dudley put the photo back to its original place, he sat on the sofa. He didn't watch his favorite TV or yell for snacks, but continued to use that strange With his eyes, he looked at himself.

Dinner was still a strange and uncomfortable atmosphere, and everyone seemed to have lost their interest and ability to talk.

At this time in the past, Aunt Petunia would always announce the latest gossip in a tone similar to that of a newscaster.

But this time, she just lowered her head and fiddled with her plate.

Harry just wanted to finish eating quickly and escape from this suffocating table, but he heard Dudley whisper:

"Mother?"

"Huh? What's wrong, dear?" It seemed that only when she faced Dudley did Petunia come back to life.

"Mom, school—the school has activities during the summer, and I might still go to school every day."

"Activity? But I - I didn't receive a notice from the teacher." Penny was a little surprised.

"Oh, the teacher will inform you soon." Dudley wanted to stay with his mother, but Edward said that now was the most critical time and he could not leave.

Thanks to Dudley's efforts, he got the opportunity to come back every night, but the price was that his daily training volume increased to another level.

"Okay, how much does it cost?" Aunt Petunia's voice suddenly dropped, with a cautious tone.

Harry's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Sure enough, he really had no money. Aunt Petunia would never ask the price for such an activity in the past.

"It doesn't cost anything, it's just that - you may have to come back later."

Dudley answered with the same caution. He kept Vernon's words in mind before he died. He wanted to become his mother's new pillar of support.

Harry clearly felt relieved when he saw Petunia, but he suddenly felt uncomfortable and didn't know how to deal with it.

Reason told him that it was none of his business, but his emotions made him firmly remember the scene of Penny holding a knife in front of him and yelling at him to run.

The suffocating dinner was finally over, and Dudley asked for the first time to wash the dishes.

Just this small movement made Penny cover her face and sob softly.

Harry felt as if his hands and feet had nowhere to rest, so he simply came to the kitchen and helped wash the dishes.

The plates were floating in the pool, covered with a thick layer of white foam.

Harry picked up a square plate, rinsed it and handed it to Dudley, who then wiped the plate dry.

There was only the sound of rushing water in the kitchen, and Penny's sobs floated in from time to time, which was particularly heavy.

“Cousin, let’s—let’s reconcile!”

Harry's hand paused. He raised his head in shock and looked at Dudley, whose face was red, as if he didn't hear what he was saying clearly.

Dudley took a deep breath and said seriously:

"Like real men, let's have a fight and make up!"

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