The Quidditch match today went exactly as Roger had predicted.
Not long after the game started, Harry caught the Golden Snitch, ending the match.
One could say the spectators hadn't even gotten comfortable in their seats before it was over. Compared to the usual matches that could last for hours, it was absurd! Seeing Harry surrounded by jubilant Gryffindor players, the stunned Slytherin team members, and the Gryffindor students who took nearly ten seconds to remember to celebrate, Roger knew he had come at the right time.
Roger did end up coming to the Quidditch match, but not because he was worried about Harry's potential disappointment.
Roger wasn't that sentimental.
He had suddenly remembered that there was a bit of "after-sales service" regarding the neurological modifications he'd done for Harry that he hadn't explained.
As the saying goes, you can't teach people by teaching them; experience teaches them deeply. A little over a month ago, the timing wasn't right to bring this up.
But now... perhaps the time was right.
...
...
...
Some time had passed since the Quidditch match ended, and the enthusiastic crowd surrounding the "hero" Harry had slowly dispersed.
This match held significant meaning for Gryffindor. Not only did they win, but they also set the record for the fastest Quidditch match in Hogwarts history.
Moments that made school history naturally deserved a grand celebration.
Once the excitement died down and the crowds receded, Roger quietly approached Harry.
But he noticed something off about Harry's expression. He didn't look like a spirited youth at the peak of his life.
Instead, he seemed a bit dejected.
"...Roger, why are you here?" Seeing Roger, Harry rubbed his face, composed himself, and asked with a smile.
Having been classmates with Roger for over two months, Harry didn't know him intimately, but he had a general understanding of Roger's way of doing things.
Roger rarely did anything unnecessary.
If you sought his help, he would help; if you asked him questions, he would answer; if he saw something he disliked, he would intervene. But he would never seek out anyone for idle chatter or games without a reason.
He seemed to want to spend all his time buried in books.
If Roger approached you proactively, there was no doubt he had something to discuss, and it was usually not trivial matters.
"It's nothing. I originally wanted to give you some advice, but..." Roger noticed Harry's recent unusual behavior.
Had fate thrown another curveball?
"What advice?" Harry asked eagerly, as if trying to cover something up.
Seeing that Harry wanted to discuss this first, Roger readily agreed.
Roger beckoned with a finger, pulling a small pebble from a corner of the ground.
"Harry, you should already know that I can perform Wandless Spellcasting and the Levitation Charm."
Harry nodded.
Roger was exceptionally skilled in the Levitation Charm and Transfiguration; this was well-known among those who paid attention to him.
"So, are you interested in a contest with me to see whose Levitation Charm skills are more refined?" Roger asked.
Harry immediately waved his hand, "Wouldn't I be guaranteed to lose such a contest?"
"Then do you think anyone would be interested in watching if we actually had a competition?"
"...Perhaps some would." Even though it was a contest he was sure to lose, with his reputation as the Seer and the Savior, some people might want to watch for novelty.
"And if we competed every day, after a few months, how many people would still be interested? Wouldn't you find these predictable matches, devoid of suspense, to be torture?"
Harry fell silent. He was an intelligent child, and with Roger's words, he had grasped the gist of Roger's point.
"Harry, your skill level is vastly different from other players, and Quidditch is a sport where the Seeker can end the game quickly," Roger clarified, not speaking in riddles.
"If you continue to play matches like today..."
At this point, it was enough.
"However, your life path is ultimately yours to walk. I'm just explaining the situation to you in case you haven't realized it. If you prefer it this way, that's your freedom," Roger said in a relaxed tone.
In truth, Quidditch was, at its core, just a wizarding sport. Roger didn't care much about its development within Hogwarts or whether Harry's presence would cause Hogwarts students to lose interest in Quidditch.
What Roger genuinely worried about was the potential public pressure Harry might face if he went from being a Quidditch prodigy to someone that Hogwarts Quidditch enthusiasts actively avoided. After all, Roger was the one who had performed the neurological modifications on Harry.
Roger didn't want to be the cause of any significant psychological trauma for Harry due to his actions.
That's why he came to provide this "after-sales service." If Harry insisted on this path, then whatever happened in the future, good or bad, would be Harry's chosen road, and Roger wouldn't interfere.
...Roger would help others, but not with everything. If it was a situation of their own making, Roger had no interest in cleaning up the mess.
"Alright, the advice is given. Let's talk about something else." While he said "talk," Roger didn't ask anything, merely fixing his gaze on Harry's eyes.
He was simply curious about where fate had presented a new divergence.
If Harry explicitly refused, Roger wouldn't forcibly interfere in someone's private affairs.
Sensing Roger's gaze, Harry pursed his lips, hesitating for a few seconds.
Finally, he spoke, "...I miss my family a little."
The family Harry spoke of was, of course, not the Dursley family, his aunt and uncle. What he missed were his parents.
Although Dumbledore had taken away the Mirror of Erised, and he had resolved to abandon the illusory reflection and choose reality.
But the illusion of 'being loved' that the Mirror of Erised brought had stirred his longing for his parents. Whenever his friends left and the silence of being alone settled in, it always made him feel a bit melancholic.
"So that's how it is." Roger had thought something else about a change in destiny had happened.
Having received his answer, Roger looked at Harry's dejected expression, thought for a moment, and then said, "Harry."
"Death is not the end of everything."
Harry Potter gazed at Roger, not understanding the meaning of his words.
"The power of magic can be so strong as to reverse time!" Roger thought of how Harry and his friends had 'fooled time' in Prisoner of Azkaban to save a Hippogriff that was about to be executed.
"The dead may not truly be dead. If you become powerful enough, perhaps you will have the ability to change everything."
"Of course, this is an extremely dangerous and forbidden matter. If you truly decide to do it, you must be prepared to risk everything, not just your life, but also the possibility that all traces of your past existence might be erased."
"If you have this resolve, I can briefly tell you about the mysteries of this path..."
"If not, then just pretend I said nothing."
Under Roger's gaze, Harry's eyes widened: "I..."
Having been deprived of parental love, he had lived under the roof of others since childhood, enduring the disgust of his aunt and uncle's family.
The Mirror of Erised reflected his life's greatest desire: to be with his family.
His answer, of course, could only be one!
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