HP: I AM SHERLOCK HOLMES

Although he had decided to cut ties completely with the magical world, when Vernon and Petunia were preparing to enter the halls of wedding, the two sisters still met once more.

It happened that Lily also had a boyfriend at the time, so James appeared at that occasion as well.

Unfortunately, the meeting between both parties was quite unpleasant.

Vernon initially placed great importance on this meeting. To make James remember him, he even made an effort to introduce his newly purchased car. Of course, there was also some element of showing off to his future brother-in-law.

However, when he asked James what car he drove, James began talking about his flying broomstick, which naturally left Vernon completely baffled.

In the subsequent conversation, learning that James didn’t need to work, Vernon immediately assumed that James must be living off unemployment benefits. He even kindheartedly offered to introduce James to a job.

James arrogantly told Vernon that he had inherited his parents’ estate—a large sum of gold at Gringotts, enough to keep the Potter family comfortable for several generations.

With their different worldviews, different personalities, and various problems arising from their communication, Vernon became increasingly angry and finally stormed off in a huff.

Thus, this meeting ended on a sour note. Petunia chased after Vernon as he rushed out of the restaurant. At the doorway, she turned back for a glance and saw that Lily was already crying her eyes out.

”Um... Uncle Vernon, I think you might have misunderstood,” Harry explained earnestly. ”Wizards do indeed use broomsticks as transportation, and the gold at Gringotts is real too—though those are magical currencies that can only be used in the wizarding world.”

While explaining, Harry couldn’t help but develop a doubt in his mind.

Perhaps his father wasn’t as perfect as he had imagined?

Having spent so much time with Sherlock, he had learned some skills after all.

For instance, right now, he could tell that Aunt Petunia wasn’t lying.

Of course, having already decided to tell him about these past events, she had no reason to lie—otherwise, she could have just avoided discussing it as she had before.

It was Uncle Vernon who looked down on people first.

Harry silently defended his father in his mind—it was because Vernon had treated his father like someone who lived off unemployment benefits that his father had retaliated.

Though he thought this way, Harry honestly asked himself: if it were him, he would never use ”I have a large sum of gold” as a reason to strike back.

No matter what, this was still his brother-in-law—why did he need to be so harsh?

Shortly after that unpleasant meeting, Petunia married Vernon.

”Lily offered to be my maid of honor at the time,” Petunia said quietly, ”but I refused her. She was very hurt.”

”Why? Why would you refuse your sister?”

At this point, Harry finally couldn’t help but question her for the first time.

”Boy, watch your tone!” Vernon glared fiercely at Harry.

”Because I was worried that your mother’s appearance would overshadow me. I knew very clearly in my heart that compared to her, I fell far short.”

”No, Petunia, you’re the best. No one in this world can compare to you!” Vernon quickly interjected.

Harry: (・・;)

”Boy, compared to your father, you’re much more pleasant to look at.”

At this moment, Uncle Vernon suddenly took over the conversation, as if deliberately trying to attract hatred:

”I didn’t speak to him—James—at the wedding reception. When people asked, I said he was a magician.”

This time Harry said nothing. In the eyes of Muggles, there really wasn’t much difference between magic tricks and actual magic.

”Let me tell this part, dear.” Petunia pressed Vernon’s hand.

”Alright, I’ll listen to you.” Vernon gazed at Petunia affectionately.

Harry: -_-

After Petunia and Vernon married, the two moved to Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey—the place where Harry had been staying all these years.

Having established their own family, Petunia and Lily rarely contacted each other. She and Vernon didn’t even attend James and Lily’s wedding.

On June 23, 1980, Petunia and Vernon’s son Dudley was born.

Just one month later, Petunia received the last letter Lily would ever send her. From this letter, Petunia learned that Harry was born on July 31, 1980.

Hearing his wife mention this, Vernon opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing. He remembered very clearly that at the time, Petunia had only glanced at the letter before throwing it away.

It seemed that deep in her heart, she still cared about Lily.

A woman’s heart is unfathomable. Even he had been deceived by her.

As the saying goes, ”Birds of a feather flock together.” Petunia, who had married Vernon, was just as proud of being an ordinary family as Vernon was.

At any time, they would proudly tell others that they were a very proper household. Because they never got involved with mysterious and strange things, and didn’t believe in those evil practices at all.

Petunia was determined to be a member of the Dursley family, avoiding topics related to her sister. However, deep in Petunia’s heart, she understood that Lily had always loved her, so she always felt somewhat guilty about cutting off her relationship with Lily.

But this guilt was often quickly covered by jealousy and resentment.

She never told Vernon that long ago, she too had hoped to display magical abilities like Lily and Snape, and be sent to Hogwarts.

Originally, she thought such days would continue forever.

Until 1981, when both Dudley and Harry were one year old, everything changed.

On the morning of November 1st, when Petunia opened the door to retrieve the milk bottles, she screamed in shock.

Because she discovered a baby and a letter wrapped in blankets on the front doorstep.

This letter was exactly what Dumbledore had left for Petunia. From this letter, Petunia learned that Harry’s parents, Lily and James, had been killed, and hoped that the Dursleys could adopt him.

Dumbledore also explained that because Lily had sacrificed her life to protect her son, as long as Harry lived in a place that could be called home where her blood existed, he would be protected from Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

Since Petunia and Lily’s parents had died early, Petunia became Lily’s only living blood relative, and Number 4 Privet Drive became Harry’s only sanctuary.

”I didn’t want to accept you, because every time I see you, I’m reminded of Lily. You constantly remind me that I have a sister who is more excellent than me, who joined that magical world I once longed for.”

Petunia looked at Harry, speaking word by word: ”But I had no choice—I couldn’t just stand by and watch you be killed by Voldemort and his minions.

All these years, I’ve never treated you as my second son, never told you the real cause of your parents’ death.

I made you live in the cupboard under the stairs for ten years, made you do most of the household chores, never celebrated your birthday. All of this—my punishment and abuse of you—was purely out of jealousy.”

When he heard this, Harry clenched his fists tightly.

One can imagine how shocked and angry he felt hearing these words.

”But I never expected that it would be Dudley who first accepted you.”

Petunia wiped away her tears. ”As long as he’s happy, everything is fine. I mean—I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I still need to say this to you—Harry, I’m sorry.”

After saying this, Petunia could no longer suppress her emotions and ran crying toward her bedroom.

Vernon glared fiercely at Harry once more, then chased after her.

Compared to Petunia, he didn’t think he had done anything wrong.

However, as long as his wife was willing to accept Harry, he didn’t mind either.

Left alone, Harry couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions.

This heart-to-heart conversation reminded him once again of what Sherlock had said.

Many misunderstandings begin due to lack of communication. Once things are spoken openly, many matters become easier to handle.

Fundamentally, the Dursley family were indeed selfish people who bullied the weak.

Aunt Petunia envied those more talented and capable than herself, even if that person was her own sister. Yet they couldn’t really be called bad people.

So, when they learned from Dumbledore’s letter that he needed the power of blood relatives to avoid harm, despite their reluctance, they still adopted him.

As Petunia herself had said, her bullying and neglect of him fundamentally stemmed from jealousy toward her sister.

”Though perhaps she only needed to ensure I stayed alive,” Harry laughed at himself mockingly.

However, thinking of Petunia’s ”I’m sorry” just now, Harry felt relieved.

He had thought he would never hear Aunt Petunia say those words in his lifetime!

If he could forgive Snape on behalf of his parents, forgiving Aunt Petunia on their behalf was even easier.

”I really am a kind person,” Harry couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

In the days that followed, Harry’s time on Privet Drive became increasingly interesting.

Except for homework time, Harry still voluntarily took on household chores, but neither Petunia nor Vernon ignored him as they had before.

Harry could feel that both Vernon and Petunia were trying hard to adapt to this new relationship.

However, ten years of habit couldn’t be changed overnight. Even Petunia’s way of addressing Harry sounded stiff.

Dudley, on the other hand, was much more natural than them.

He even introduced Harry to his gang of friends, telling them that from now on, Harry was under his protection, and if anyone dared to treat Harry like before, they’d better watch out.

This made Harry feel secretly amused.

Even if Dudley didn’t do this, these kids couldn’t bully him now anyway.

But he still accepted his cousin’s goodwill.

On another note, ever since Petunia had that heart-to-heart conversation with Vernon and Harry, it inadvertently cleared up Vernon’s misunderstanding about Professor Snape and his wife.

Though this didn’t prevent him from continuing to dislike that person.

”I don’t like that fellow,” Uncle Vernon said bluntly.

”He has a face full of bitterness and resentment, as if our family owes him money.”

Vernon was naturally referring to last summer when Snape came to Privet Drive to help deal with the house-elf Dobby.

It was precisely because of that meeting that he had become suspicious of Snape’s identity.

Of course, now the suspicion had been completely cleared, and he wouldn’t mention this matter to his wife.

”Not many people at school like him either,” Harry no longer spoke as carefully around Uncle Vernon as before: ”So everyone calls him the old bat.”

”Hey, which kid came up with that? It’s actually a very fitting nickname!”

Rarely finding common ground, Harry immediately skipped over the parts about casting magic at school and only told him about how Snape usually targeted Gryffindor students, especially himself.

After listening to Harry’s account, Petunia sighed deeply, looking at Harry with complex emotions:

”He really can’t forget Lily—”

”If that’s the case, shouldn’t he treat this boy better?” Vernon asked in confusion. ”Why would he target him?”

”Vernon, Harry is Lily’s child with another man.”

”Oh—I understand now.”

”No, dear, you don’t understand.”

Petunia looked at Harry’s green eyes and said slowly.

”Every time he sees Harry’s eyes, he’s reminded of Lily—I think he’s probably filled with regret, just like me...”

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