Dudley was furious, looking extremely displeased.
After seeing him abandon the dreadful idea of going to Hogwarts, Petunia and Vernon went back to their own business, but Dudley still sneaked glances at Harry from time to time.
Especially at the letter in Harry's hand.
Harry's eyes darted, and he waved the letter in front of him again: "Although you can't go to Hogwarts, before school starts, I need to go to Diagon Alley to buy the things I need."
He said with a grin, "I can take you with me then, as long as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon agree."
Dudley's eyes lit up, then he hesitated: "What is Diagon Alley?"
Harry said, "You can think of it as the shopping street in the magical world."
Dudley grew more hesitant: "There won't be… Dark Wizards there, will there?"
Look how scared the kid was.
"No, Diagon Alley is quite respectable," Harry said earnestly, then muttered under his breath, "Knockturn Alley is where Dark Wizards gather."
"Hmm…" Harry muttered and then paused thoughtfully, "I haven't really explored Diagon Alley properly myself, but I've heard there are quite a few interesting things there."
"Like candy shops where you can buy Chocolate Frogs; I heard they move around."
Harry added casually, "But I don't like chocolate."
Especially moving chocolate.
Dudley's eyes started to gleam, and Harry paused, raising an eyebrow: "Hey, don't look at me like that. If your parents don't agree, there's nothing I can do."
Dudley immediately found his target, took a deep breath, and yelled, "Mum—I want to go to Diagon Alley with Harry!!!"
"Crash, bang—"
A cacophony of sounds erupted, and Aunt Petunia didn't even bother to pick up the knocked-over items; she rushed over from the kitchen with a horrified expression: "Diddy, what did you say?"
"I want to go to Diagon Alley, I want to play!" Dudley demanded loudly.
Petunia's fiery gaze immediately shot toward Harry, and she roared, "What did you do to Duddy?!"
"Oh dear," Harry said in a light tone, bouncing off the sofa and darting up the stairs before Aunt Petunia could smack the back of his head. "Aunt, what could I possibly do to your precious Diddy?"
He leaned over the railing and said with a grin, "Who's to blame that your darling Duddy loves to play?"
Ugh—
Harry felt a wave of nausea at Dudley's nickname.
He turned calmly under Petunia's furious glare and strolled back to his room with ease.
Downstairs, the commotion of Dudley throwing a tantrum was earth-shattering, and Harry even had the illusion that the house was trembling.
Petunia and Vernon hadn't relented, and Harry didn't expect them to.
He had just been teasing Dudley on purpose and never really intended to take him along, because if he did, Petunia and Vernon would surely come too.
Harry's real intention was just to enjoy the spectacle of Petunia and Vernon being driven mad by Dudley's antics; it was quite amusing.
Even though Harry got along with them reasonably well now, the truth was they were still displeased with each other, and Harry knew all too well how troublesome the Dursleys could be.
But Harry underestimated how much magic appealed to a child; to get Petunia and Vernon to agree, Dudley even threatened to go on a hunger strike, fully revealing his bratty nature.
Petunia and Vernon looked grim; they were determined to let Dudley go hungry for a few meals, but they caved after just half a day without him eating.
When Petunia called Harry down to scold him, she was distraught: "Oh my poor Duddy, I've never seen him so depressed—he hasn't eaten all afternoon! He won't even eat his favorite snacks!"
"And it's all because of you!" Petunia screamed at Harry furiously. "If you hadn't tempted Dudley with those dreadful tricks, would he ever act like this?"
"Oh—" Harry drawled, offering sincere advice, "In that case, Aunt, I think you really need to teach my cousin a lesson."
He continued sarcastically, "It's just me today; if he's this easily tempted, what happens when he runs into a real villain later?"
Petunia's expression froze for a moment, then she erupted like a volcano: "Harry Potter!!"
Harry ducked, avoiding her slap aimed at the back of his head, vaulted over the sofa to the other side, and sincerely tried to soothe her: "Aunt, don't be angry; anger gives you wrinkles."
Petunia was absolutely livid.
No matter how the situation unfolded, Petunia and Vernon eventually relented, agreeing to let Dudley go with Harry for a look, though of course, they would go too.
On the way to the Leaky Cauldron, Vernon grumbled as he drove, "Listen here, boy, we're not going to spoil you; whatever you need, you'd better watch your spending."
"Don't worry about that," Harry shot back without even blinking, leaning against the window. "I do have some assets in the magical world."
Vernon's face started to redden again.
Harry pondered to himself: Speaking of which, it seemed my parents left quite a bit of money too? The Gringotts key is probably with Dumbledore; I wonder when I'll get it back.
Dudley was thrilled and started poking Harry, who promptly slapped his hand away.
"Harry, what are wizards like?"
Harry blinked, thought for a moment, and said, "Hmm… I suppose they're both advanced and backward at the same time?"
Dudley didn't understand.
"They hardly develop technology," Harry said lazily. "Everyday tools that ordinary people need, wizards can easily solve with magic."
"Things ordinary people can't do, wizards can easily do with magic too."
"But because of that, wizards' aesthetics and architecture remain quite old-fashioned; from what I know, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a historic castle."
"Besides that, their backwardness also shows in their arguments about blood status."
"Some long-established wizarding families believe pure-bloods are superior, and they naturally look down on half-blood wizards and those from Muggle backgrounds; they call these wizards 'Muggle-borns,' and there's another more insulting term, 'Mudblood.'"
Although, in Harry's view, this was just an outward expression of shared interests; ultimately, these "pure-blood" wizards cared more about tangible things, like power.
But there was no need to tell the Dursleys about these wizards' conflicts and power struggles.
Petunia listened, seeming to want to say something but stopping.
She thought of Lily.
Harry noticed Petunia's mood and shrugged, trying to sound casual: "But I think this behavior is ridiculous."
"Bringing up blood status is like—"
Harry cleverly gave an example: "Dudley, if you wanted to get a puppy, would you want a purebred Labrador or a mixed-breed Samoyed?"
This time Dudley understood, but his expression grew more confused: "…Isn't that just classifying yourself like an animal?"
He curled his lip and said loudly, "I don't want to be a dog!"
Petunia was speechless.
Harry was speechless.
Seeing no one responded, Dudley thought for a moment and quickly added, "I don't want to be any other animal either!"
Harry nearly died laughing.