Fudge looked somewhat bewildered at the boy whose face was filled with panic, scratching his head in confusion.
What's wrong with this child?
Gone silly?
"Oh, no, we... uh, of course, we wouldn't arrest you just for this."
Fudge glanced at the mess in the kitchen, nodding knowingly. He motioned for the Aurors who had just arrived at the scene to step forward, then changed the subject, shaking his head, "But — for using magic to attack Muggles, you do need a little bit of punishment..."
What was meant to come still came —
Harry's face turned serious; he certainly didn't think he could easily escape this situation—heavens, just look at Aunt Marge still lying in the cupboard!
"...you must, under the Ministry of Magic's supervision, stay until the start of the term at Hogwarts School."
Fudge pointed to the sky with his hand, speaking in a grave tone, "In the meantime — um, you can stay at the Leaky Cauldron, and Tom will keep an eye on you for us."
"..."
This is called punishment?
...Well, it really is "a little bit".
Harry, who was prepared to face the "military court," was a bit surprised. He looked up at Fudge with disbelief for a long moment, then nodded somewhat numbly.
"During this time, you can't leave the Leaky Cauldron... uh, scratch that, you can't leave Diagon Alley."
Seeing Harry seemed a bit dazed, Fudge nodded, then added a few more conditions, all of which restricted Harry's upcoming freedom, but... Harry felt this punishment wasn't even stricter than Uncle Vernon's... It was almost like... going on vacation?
"Alright, that's all — promise me, Harry, don't run around."
"Oh, alright."
Thus, watching the Dursleys being subjected to magic, Harry went with Fudge to Diagon Alley and was left at the Leaky Cauldron, where he had his own room, his own bed, his own fireplace, and his own desk —
"Freedom."
Harry had never experienced such a marvelous feeling — he could sleep whenever he wanted, get up whenever he wanted, order whatever he wanted to eat, and he didn't need to complete his summer homework under the covers with a flashlight.
He should have experienced all this if it weren't for that one incident —
Regarding Aunt Marge's ordeal, Fudge and the Aurors all thought he was out of control and accidental — but Harry knew clearly that everything happening now was the result of him being very restrained; if he hadn't restrained himself...
He didn't think Aunt Marge... nor even the Dursleys, would still be lying there breathing.
'Kill them!'
Upon hearing Aunt Marge's insults about his parents, Harry felt a sinister voice suddenly ring out in his mind, and the impulse began to grow stronger, so much so that before he realized it, the magic wand he had hidden in his pocket was already in his hand —
Really, he actually wanted to kill those few people at the time.
But before swinging the wand, the last bit of rationality returned to his mind, and the originally powerful evil curse was forcibly changed into an ordinary spell.
Although the result was still serious, at least it didn't cause any fatalities — it just injured some internal organs, and the effect of the magic potion was very effective; reportedly, Aunt Marge could already get up and walk the next day, and before she started critiquing St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, she was hit with a Memory Charm and thrown out.
As for the Dursleys, they just fainted, and after the kitchen was restored, they had no objections —
Harry had reservations about this; he didn't believe Uncle Vernon would behave as the Aurors said, being so... understanding.
But anyway, the mess he had caused was quickly settled, yet the boy always remembered the voice that echoed in his mind when all these things happened —
'The fusion of souls brings not only benefits, not to mention the opponent's talent is indeed... uh, much stronger than yours.'
In his reply, William used as tactful a manner as possible to help the boy explain this phenomenon, and he sent back a bottle of potion along with the letter to help eliminate soul influence, 'But I only have one bottle left in stock here, so I'm sending you the formula as well. If you can't find what's needed in Diagon Alley, you may have to visit Knockturn Alley.'
Thus, after Harry ran all over Diagon Alley, and with the memory using the Invisibility Cloak went to Knockturn Alley, he finally gathered that string of magic materials.
This isn't a dark magic potion, right?
Looking at the formula with the almost lethal amount of toad eyes, Harry couldn't resist but sent another letter.
'Nonsense, anything involving the soul is dark magic, isn't it? If it heals, it's good magic — how come you don't understand such flexibility at your age?'
William's reply was straightforward.
Of course, I'd be flexible... if I wasn't the one who had to drink it.
Looking at the dark green potion William had included with the letter, Harry felt a bit nauseated — as he had drunk this stuff before.
So, on the night he gathered all the potion ingredients, Harry began not leaving his room — firstly, to concoct the potion, as William mentioned he couldn't free his hands, because this kind of potion requires attention almost twenty-four hours a day, and the extra bottle was just the leftovers from the last batch.
Secondly, because after drinking the potion, Harry unexpectedly found his head once again sprouting green flames, and he really didn't feel like explaining it to everyone he met.
As for the last reason... William knew he had escaped the "hellhole" of the Dursleys, so to celebrate... he assigned him eight essays to write, and Harry worked tirelessly until two and a half days ago to finally finish them all.
The potion was also nearly done, with the final change from deep brown to green — looking at the gradually changing potion, Harry finally sighed in relief, pouring the potion from the cauldron into the bottle, the green was somewhat cloudy and not as pure as the one William had given — but he had mentioned earlier that it should be fine.
The boy turned to look at the mirror, seeing the somewhat droopy green flames on top of his head, he didn't hesitate to pour the potion from the cup into his mouth.
"Ugh —"
So awful... but after brewing it for two weeks, it had to be swallowed.
Stuffing a prepared candy into his mouth, Harry took a long breath — "Knock knock —"
The next moment, a crisp knocking sound rang out, and Harry, who had just collapsed onto the bed, quickly got up, letting Hedwig, who was pecking at the window, inside, "No reply, huh?" Looking at the empty-taloned owl, Harry asked in confusion.
"Chirp."
Hedwig shook her head in a human-like manner.
"Alright."
Letting Hedwig into the room, Harry leaned out to close the window, but then, as if by premonition, he instinctively looked down and suddenly saw a black dog in the dark Diagon Alley below —
"Woof—"
A faint bark sounded, and the next moment, Harry felt his vision blur.
The dog was gone.