Harry felt utterly drained. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he had only taken a short afternoon nap, but his body had already quietly shrunk back down.
It seemed that Snape's potion hadn't strictly adhered to the promised 24-hour effect.
Harry pulled off the oversized robes and changed back into his regular clothes.
Looking at a photo of his grown-up self, he couldn't help but mutter, "You always grow up eventually…"
Summer vacation had ended, and all the students were looking forward to returning to Hogwarts.
Harry, carrying his little cat, the majestic eagle, and a single suitcase, passed through the barrier at King's Cross Station and arrived at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
He didn't have to come so early, but Hermione and Cho Chang had written him beforehand and arranged to meet.
Since there wasn't anything particularly important to do before school started, Harry agreed.
He had arrived early and now watched the platform grow increasingly crowded. Parents accompanied their children, helping them board the train.
It was easy to tell which kids were first-years.
Not just by their small size—but by the look in their eyes, which was entirely different from the others. Some looked nervous, their heads turning this way and that, clinging tightly to their parents.
Even second-years didn't act like that.
Harry had already spotted several of his classmates, who were shouting, whistling, and calling out greetings while boisterously reassuring their parents that they'd take care of themselves—then hoisting their luggage and hopping onto the train in one leap.
At this moment, all parents—whether Muggle or pure-blood wizard—tended to look the same: fussing over their children and offering endless reminders.
Harry noticed that Lucius Malfoy was doing the same.
The three members of the Malfoy family stood together, though it was mostly Narcissa speaking. Lucius had a stony face and didn't say a word. Draco hung his head, clearly impatient.
A few parents—probably also working at the Ministry—were gathered around Lucius with flattering smiles, trying to strike up a conversation.
As they prepared to part ways, Draco exhaled with relief, his face relaxing a bit.
At the last moment, his mother hugged him tightly and kissed both of his cheeks.
Draco pulled away, visibly annoyed, and glanced around nervously to see if anyone had witnessed it.
When he looked up, he saw Harry sitting by the train window, smiling at him.
Draco's face instantly turned red. He spun around and slipped away into the crowd.
"Tsk, tsk. Kids… they think being loved by their parents is something to be embarrassed about." Harry sighed.
Time was running out, and more students were boarding. The train carriages filled with a cacophony of voices.
Harry could hear suitcases thumping into compartment doors and someone shouting about seeing his cat, though their voice was quickly lost in the growing noise. It reminded him of last year when he first met Hermione—she had been helping Neville look for his toad.
Soon, a prefect began walking through the carriages, maintaining order: "Don't push, upper years please move further down. Each year has its own designated carriage, check the number above the door…"
Harry's compartment door slid open.
Ron entered, struggling to drag his suitcase in. "Any seats left?" he asked.
Seeing Harry inside, his face lit up. "Long time no see, Potter!"
Harry was just considering whether to discreetly switch compartments when a voice called from the doorway: "Hey, move aside."
A girl with chestnut-brown hair pushed her way in. She glanced at Harry and gave a cold snort.
Harry was puzzled by Hermione's attitude—why was she angry?
Then came a gentle and soft voice at the door: "Hi… may I come in?"
A black-haired, black-eyed girl stood there, holding a small suitcase in both hands and peeking inside.
Ron, already flustered by Hermione's presence, turned bright red upon seeing a pretty Asian girl. He scrambled to pull his suitcase back out of the doorway.
"Ah! I just remembered—Geraint's up front, he asked me to join him earlier—" Ron nearly tripped over himself fleeing.
Clang!
The door closed.
What are the odds they both showed up at the same time…?
After that, any Gryffindor student who opened the door was met with a strange sight.
The legendary Harry Potter stared at the ceiling, motionless, as if life had lost all meaning.
Two beautiful girls turned their heads at the same time—one gritting her teeth, eyes wide, the other smiling sweetly—both gazing toward the doorway.
No matter who it was, their heart would skip a beat. They'd quickly shut the door and flee.
A den of dragons and tigers.
The noise outside gradually faded—it seemed everyone had found their seats.
Two long whistles sounded, and the train began to move.
It rumbled gently forward, heading toward Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Not long after, there was a knock at the door.
A little girl wearing first-year black Hogwarts robes stepped nervously inside.
"Um… may I sit here?" she asked, her voice trembling.
She snuck a glance at the three inside, visibly anxious.
"Mom lied," she thought. "She said everyone at school would be friendly, but they all ignored me and wouldn't even let me sit with them."
But when she saw Harry, her eyes lit up like sparkling stars.
She was clearly a sweet and adorable little girl. Seeing her flustered face, both Cho and Hermione's hearts melted. They decided to take her to the first-year carriage and help her find her future classmates.
But then the girl's nervousness vanished. She smiled and walked straight over to Harry.
Harry found her familiar. After a moment's thought, he remembered seeing her at the Malfoy manor. She was from a pure-blood family.
"Do you remember me?" Harry asked.
She nodded rapidly, a bright and innocent smile on her face. "I remember! I saw you at Draco brother's house."
Draco… brother?
That stuck-up Malfoy, being called "big brother" by such an adorable girl? No way—that had to be corrected.
Harry's expression darkened for a second, then he smiled and asked, "Are you related by blood?"
The girl tilted her head. "What's blood-related?"
"Um… I mean, is he your parents' son too?"
She shook her head vigorously, clutching Harry's sleeve in a panic. "No, no, my mom only has me!"
She looked like someone was about to steal her parents.
Harry continued gently, "Then you shouldn't call Draco 'brother.'"
"But… my dad told me to call him that…"
"Well… that's just a formality, to make the families seem closer. But if you keep calling him that, he might start calling your mom and dad his parents. And if your parents have other children, maybe they'll stop loving you…"
Harry was making things up completely.
"I don't want that! I don't want that!" The little girl burst into tears. To her, this was the end of the world.
Harry hadn't expected her to take it so seriously. "Okay, okay," he hurried to console her. "Draco won't take your mom away. Your parents will always love you."
She sniffled and looked at him with teary eyes. "Really?"
Harry looked her straight in the eye. "Of course. If he dares try, I'll beat him until he cries."
Several compartments away, Draco suddenly sneezed.
"Is Potter talking about me behind my back? It must be!" He recalled the earlier embarrassing scene that Harry had witnessed.
Back in the compartment—
"What's your name?" Harry asked, slightly embarrassed. He felt like she'd told him before, but he only remembered it sounding like the name of a goddess.
"My name is Astoria Greengrass."
"I'm Harry Potter."
"Then should I call you Brother Harry?" she asked, blinking her long lashes.
Those two words—Brother Harry—hit Harry like a truck. No one had ever called him that before. And coming from such a sweet little angel, it was overwhelming.
Before he could even respond, Astoria gasped, "Wait—I can't call you that! My parents won't love me anymore!"
Pffft.
It was like being stabbed with a knife—and he'd done it to himself.
He forced a smile. "It's fine. You can call me that… just don't tell your parents."
Astoria was so naïve.
Her eyes lit up. Harry's explanation made perfect sense to her.
This way, I get a big brother—and my parents won't be taken away!
She was delighted, already making little plans in her heart.
So this is what it feels like to have a little sister, Harry thought, watching the adorably silly Astoria with a smile.
Then two dangerous glares turned to him.
Hermione mouthed something, but didn't say it aloud. Harry heard it anyway: "Lolicon."
Cho said, "So you're a big brother now~" with a knowing smile.
Harry: "…"
-
-
-
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE REBIRTH OF HARRY POTTER
⚡🦉 THE REBIRTH OF HARRY POTTER 🦉⚡
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📢 MAGIC REBORN! 📢
The Rebirth of Harry Potter has 100+ chapters ahead available on Patreon! ⚡📚
The wizarding world is changing.
Old destinies twist, familiar names return under new shadows, and magic itself may follow a different path this time.
🪄 A second chance.🌙 A different fate.⚡ A wizarding world reborn.
Discover the new path before public readers catch up.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛑 ALSO AVAILABLE ON PATREON:
🌃 Cyberpunk: Dogtown Legend🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless👩👦 Cyberpunk: Lucy Adopted Me and I Got a System🧠 My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator🤖 My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew?🛡️ Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past🏰 Game of Thrones: Secrets Beneath the Dreadfort🌹 R18: Reincarnated in Her World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus👤 Patreon Name: SrMagnus🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnusBook
⚠️ Vote with Power Stones for faster updates!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━