Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

Chapter 143: Your Nephew is Harry Potter?! (Happy Children's Day)

As expected, Dursley succumbed, momentarily losing himself in the chilled beer and the cheers of the crowd, failing to maintain his initial guarded stance for even ten minutes.

His suit jacket, which had been tightly constricting his belly and hindering his performance, was carelessly tossed aside.

After removing his tie, carefully folding it, and placing it back in his pants pocket, he picked up his glass and, like everyone else, began to indulge unrestrainedly in the revelry that Charlie Black had prepared for them, unable to extricate himself.

His original stereotypes and prejudices gradually shifted in the hazy smoke and alcohol fumes of the Leaky Cauldron.

Perhaps since Dudley had been transformed into that state by magic, his repressed inner self was finally being released; Dursley appeared particularly happy, drinking three large glasses of beer in a row under the encouragement of everyone.

His cheeks were now flushed red, and he was laughing heartily while chatting and draping his arm around the shoulder of a wizard beside him who had also drunk quite a bit.

The wizard was telling him about his various experiences in the wizarding world after graduating from Hogwarts, while he, in turn, was telling the other about his days at Smeltings Academy, and how he met and married his wife.

Although they were each speaking vaguely and incoherently, the high spirits of the two men made everything seem so harmonious.

“Hic… Oh, right.”

Just as he was speaking, the wizard seemed to remember something, hiccuped, drunkenly squinted, looked at the brother he had just recognized, and asked.

“Vernon… You, why did you come here? I mean… the wizard in your family, which one is it, your son?”

Dursley, who had been in a good mood and unprecedentedly relaxed, couldn't help but snap back to reality upon hearing the other's words.

In an instant, that little rascal he loathed surfaced in his mind again.

At this, the smile on his face inevitably faded somewhat.

Dursley clearly didn't want that little rascal's image to ruin his happy mood at this moment.

So, he first shook his head, driving the hateful figure with glasses out of his mind, and then waved his hand, answering dismissively with an indifferent attitude.

“My nephew… has been fostered in our house since his parents died. I just sent him away this year, sent him to that… Hogwarts to study.”

“Is that so?”

Hearing this, the wizard, who had been squinting, looked somewhat surprised and couldn't help but open his eyes a little wider.

As if he hadn't detected the hint of evasion in Dursley's words, he continued.

“My son is also studying at Hogwarts, but he's in his second year this year. Which house is your nephew in? If he's in Gryffindor, I can ask my son to help him out.”

Hearing this, Dursley couldn't help but let out a contemptuous chuckle. He lowered his eyelids slightly and took another large gulp of the wine in his glass.

“No need to bother with that little rascal, he's a born bad seed!”

Mimicking the actions of those wizards, after taking a sip of wine, spitting a few mouthfuls of wine dregs on the ground, he continued.

“Our whole family has suffered because of him. If it weren't for him, my son wouldn't have turned into that state, I wouldn't have had to resign specifically for this, and I wouldn't have run to this place!”

“Haha… You, you're a bit drunk.”

The wizard just laughed, assuming that the other party was talking nonsense and not taking it too seriously.

Although he didn't understand what twists and turns had happened to their family, he still offered comfort.

“It's not all bad… At least you came here. You know, ordinary Muggles can't even find the door to the wizarding world. And ordinary wizards can't even touch the door to Mr. Charlie Black's factory… Only you lucky guys have the opportunity to receive a job advertisement.”

The wizard paused, smacked his lips, and then continued with a sigh of admiration.

“Do you know how many people envy you despicable guys? Being able to become Mr. Black's employee, you can hold your heads high even when you go outside and face others in the future!”

“Really!?”

Dursley was stunned for a moment, the glass he had just raised paused in mid-air for a moment, and then he quietly put it down.

His eyes widened a bit, and he said with some doubt, “Is this job really as good as you say? Working for Charlie Black, becoming a member of his factory?”

“Of course!!”

The wizard exclaimed with heartache, his voice seemingly resentfully scolding Dursley for not knowing good fortune, and continued to say to himself.

“Do you think it's easy to survive in the wizarding world? After working hard all day, you can only take home a few silver Sickles, and you still have to worry about all kinds of sudden events and the impact they cause. As long as there's a little problem, if you're unlucky, you'll lose your job directly.”

The wizard sighed and continued to complain about the various injustices in the wizarding world today, taking advantage of the alcohol. Even Dursley couldn't help but be taken aback by his words.

“Is it really that bad? But you, aren't you a wizard?”

He couldn't help but think of the first wizard he had met many years ago, who was also the father of the little rascal he was talking about, James Potter.

The bright clothes, the arrogant temperament, and the occasional disdainful gaze gave him a preconceived notion that all wizards were such bastards.

And this is the main reason why the Dursley family had always held great antipathy towards this special group in the following decades.

“Can't you… like in the TV shows… snatch something from unarmed ordinary people like me, or something like that, get something for nothing?”

This time, it was the other party's turn to be stunned, his dark face filled with inexplicable weirdness and astonishment.

He frowned, sizing Dursley up and down for a long time before finally saying.

“What are you talking about!? I really don't know where you got such a big prejudice against wizards…

But, just like you said about ordinary people, I'm just an ordinary person in the wizarding world.

I usually work as a magic broom salesman. If it weren't for Mr. Black's job advertisement, I probably wouldn't have any contact with Muggles in my life.”

“Is that so…”

Dursley opened his mouth, widened his eyes, and looked at the other party, then nodded thoughtfully, without saying anything else.

After a long time, the smile on his face finally reappeared, and he picked up his beer glass and clinked it heavily against the wizard beside him.

"According to what you're saying, working for Charlie Black can indeed be considered a good thing. This is probably the only contribution that little scoundrel Harry Potter has made to this family. Cheers!"

With that, he gestured, intending to drain the remaining beer in his glass. However, as he was planning to get another, he suddenly noticed that the wizard friend had frozen on the spot after hearing his words.

"Drink up, what are you waiting for?"

After finishing his drink, he looked at the wizard beside him. Seeing that the other person wasn't moving or raising his glass, he assumed he hadn't reacted and urged him again.

"You… what did you just say?"

The wizard ignored Dursley's question, his mind completely focused on the name he had unintentionally uttered.

"I said working for Mr. Black is indeed…"

Although feeling somewhat inexplicable, Dursley had no choice but to answer, slowly repeating what he had just said.

But this time, before he could finish, the wizard interrupted him, standing up and urging,

"The, the next sentence!"

"Gulp…" Dursley swallowed, a strange feeling inexplicably arising in his heart.

Looking up at the wizard who was standing and staring intently at him, he dryly continued,

"This is finally that Harry Potter…"

"Harry Potter!!!!"

The wizard completely lost his composure, uttering the name, then incredulously reached out, his hand trembling as he pointed at Dursley.

"Your nephew is Harry Potter!!!"

At this point, his voice was out of control, without any restraint. Even in the already chaotic and noisy atmosphere, everyone could hear this loud exclamation.

As the name reached the ears of everyone present, the wizards instantly stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes towards the direction of the sound.

For a moment, except for the oblivious and drunken Muggles, countless gazes converged on Dursley.

The alcohol-induced haze instantly vanished from Dursley's mind, his eyes regaining clarity.

Facing the unified gazes, goosebumps rose all over his back, and sweat dripped from his forehead.

His expression was stiff, but he forced a somewhat awkward smile as he turned to look around.

"I… is something wrong? Did my little scoundrel nephew offend you in some way? If so, I'll definitely teach him a lesson when I get back…"

While speaking weakly, Dursley cursed Harry Potter hundreds of times in his heart.

He knew it! That little brat would never bring any good luck!! Even in the wizarding world, he's still incorrigibly bad! Making everyone hate him.

Now, although he didn't know what serious mistake the boy had made, he could only hope that these wizards would be understanding and not vent their anger towards Harry Potter on him…

Just as he was about to continue scolding Harry to show that although they were relatives, their relationship wasn't that good.

The wizard who had been sitting next to him, the one who had shouted Harry Potter's name, suddenly leaned down, his rough hands grabbing Dursley's right hand and shaking it vigorously.

His face became serious and solemn as he looked into Dursley's eyes and sincerely said,

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet, Mr. Dursley… I'm Wilson Jordan. I really didn't expect that you would be Mr. Potter's uncle! I'm sorry, I'm just too excited… I'm honored that you could come to the wizarding world, and I'm grateful that you raised this child and sent him to Hogwarts to study."

As he spoke, Wilson Jordan's voice trembled more and more with excitement, until finally, it faintly carried a hint of emotional sobbing.

"??????"

The words Dursley had prepared to denounce Harry Potter's misdeeds in his home were all choked back.

He sat there dumbfounded, letting Wilson shake his right hand vigorously.

Following closely behind, the remaining wizards at a distance or at nearby round tables all moved at once, swarming towards Dursley.

"Hello, I'm Scott…"

"I'm Cheers. If possible, after Mr. Black's factory selection is over, I hope I can personally invite you to the Leaky Cauldron for another drink."

"A toast to Harry Potter's uncle! Thank you for raising our savior!!"

"A toast to you!!!"

…………

…………

Dursley sat there dumbfounded, like a puppet without strings.

Listening to everyone's enthusiastic greetings and words of gratitude, his CPU crashed for a moment, unable to react.

He could only watch all of this happen, subconsciously raising his glass, accepting their tributes, and watching as one wizard after another excitedly poured the wine from their cups into his empty glass. In just over ten seconds, the beer glass, which had been empty, was once again full.

Even old Tom, the bartender standing behind the counter, silently lowered his head, took out a bottle of his long-treasured wine from under the counter, filled a glass, and personally walked out of the counter to hand it to Dursley.

You should know that Charlie Black's so-called bearing of the expenses only meant that ordinary beer was unlimited at the Leaky Cauldron, and would not include this kind of treasured fine wine.

After all, although Charlie was rich, he wasn't a fool. The wine they drank that day would definitely be repaid in future work.

And this bottle of wine was completely given to Dursley by old Tom out of goodwill, which was enough to show his respect for Dursley, or rather, for Harry Potter behind him.

After a long time, after subconsciously drinking three or four more glasses, he finally managed to accept this fact.

It turned out that Harry Potter had such a high profile in this wizarding world, that even he would be respected because of his name… Speaking of which, it was truly ironic.