Chapter 1. An Unusual Reunion
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, would readily say that they were perfectly normal, but they were not particularly proud of it. Moreover, they believed that certain events of a mysterious, or even strange nature, could add a certain liveliness to their mundane lives. And that very night, on Christmas Eve, something unusual was about to happen: Something you might even describe as peculiar.
Dudley Dursley's big, beefy body moved back and forth with the rocking chair in front of the fireplace. Dudley, now middle-aged, worked for a drill-making company called Grunnings, following in his late father's footsteps, and he also had a thick mustache like Vernon Dursley. And across from him on the long couch sat his son and daughter, discussing something in hushed tones.
The younger of the two, Sherry, was an eight-year-old girl with a plump body and puffy cheeks. Her blonde hair, which she usually wore in a double braid, was pulled back into a single ponytail to look premature for the guests, and her hands were clenched tightly around a broken yo-yo with a dangling string.
Her brother, Jim, was a few years older and as fat as a young killer whale; he usually spent most of his time upstairs in his room watching YouTube or playing video games, so it was actually a rare occasion to find him in the living room like this. But the boy somehow managed to catch on and come running whenever his father mentioned anything about magic, and now he was excited about the Potters' visit and seemed to be working on a secret plan with his sister for who knew what.
Just then, a middle-aged woman in an apron came out of the kitchen and came into the living room. It was Mary Dudley — Dudley's wife, a well-built woman with short blonde hair. "Dessert is finally ready, I hope the guests won't be long now?"
"Quite right," Dudley said cheerfully, lifting his heavy body from the armchair. "We should go over the schedule again. . . . Let's practice at the entrance."
There was a strange scratching sound on the door as Dudley led his family out of the kitchen.
"Have the guests arrived already?" muttered Jim, confused.
"No, that's Caroline!" Sherry ran over to fetch Caroline, their family cat, who was scratching at the front door with her claws. Taking the cat in her arms, Sherry said softly, "Caroline, it's cold outside. Stay!"
Caroline, a black cat with white stripes, gave a grumpy meow. When Sherry left Caroline in front of the fireplace and returned, Dudley lined up the children at the front door while he and Mary stood at the entrance to the living room.
"Well, everyone seems to be in place . . . Mary, you will be —"
"In the lounge, to welcome our visitors."
"Good! What about Jim and Sherry?"
"We'll be waiting to open the door, and say — 'May I take your coat, Uncle Harry? '"
"May I take your coat, Aunt Ginny?"
Dudley smiled with satisfaction as both his son and daughter spoke out almost simultaneously.
"Excellent. Now, Mary, you should get them some drinks after I show the guests into the living room." After measuring the width of the couches, Dudley added, "Harry's kids must be growing up, so it might be a bit cramped for everyone. . . . I suppose they can always magically make it bigger, though."
"That's right, dear. And what should my young gentleman and lady say at our dinner? Should they whine again about wanting to go to Hogwarts like last time?"
"Mum! We're way past that stage," said Jim grumpily.
"Really? Then what will my little gentleman say?" Mary asked, pinching her son's chubby cheek. He grumbled and pulled his mother's hand away.
"I wrote an essay about our hero, and I'd say mine was Uncle Harry!"
"That's my boy! You remember the model answer I gave you, don't you?" laughed Dudley, then straightened his face and asked, "You didn't really write about Harry, did you? I mean, about him and his lot . . ."
Mary answered for him, "Of course not — he was too busy playing video games to do his homework."
"You're just like me, son. . . . We're almost there — after dinner, we'll relax in the living room and get to bed if it's late."
"It's a perfect plan, but only if Jim and Sherry promise me one thing," Mary said, looking sternly at her children. "I'm going to ask you one last time — you won't bother Uncle Harry about getting into Hogwarts, will you?"
Jim and Sherry exchanged glances with meaningful smiles on their faces.
"I promise we won't, Mum," Jim assured his mother.
"He's right. Anyway, the two of us have a plan —" She caught herself and covered her mouth, but couldn't stop her brother from elbowing her in the ribs.
"What plan?" Mary asked suspiciously, but Dudley intervened before their daughter got into any more trouble.
"I think I just saw something," Dudley said, peering into a steamy window. He wiped it clean with his sleeve and looked out again. "Oh dear, the Potters will be here any minute . . . hurry up, Jim — let's get our dinner jackets."
While the Dursleys were busy preparing for their special guests who did not visit very often, a new family suddenly but silently appeared at the far corner of Privet Drive, as if they had just popped out of the ground. A thin, tall man in a gray coat carried a pretty girl with bright red hair on her shoulders, and a woman with similar red hair held the hand of a boy slightly taller than herself. Between them stood another boy, as tall as his father, with disheveled jet-black hair. With their footprints scattered across the snowy pavement, the once quiet street became crowded in an instant.
Harry Potter scanned the familiar but unfriendly area with the sharp eyes of an experienced Auror; he knew only too well that this part of the town was not at all welcoming to his kind of people. Harry's disheveled hair now had a few shades of gray mixed in with the black, and he had a second faint scar on his cheek, in addition to the famous lightning scar on his forehead. Harry motioned for his family to move on when he saw no threat behind his round glasses. Then he lifted his daughter from his shoulder and gently set her down on the street.
"Lily, you've gotten too heavy for me to carry," Harry grumbled, exaggeratedly massaging his shoulder.
"It's just that you're getting older, Dad! Uncle Ron still puts Hugo on his shoulder whenever he wants!" protested Lily.
"He must have several thestrals supporting him from underneath," Harry said with a smile. Lily tried to make another protest, but then she spun around and grabbed her father's cloak in a fit of dizziness.
"Oh, I'll never get used to this Apparition thing. . . . Why couldn't we just use the Floo Network?"
"Lily, that would have destroyed their living room," said Ginny. "For the second time, that is."
James, Harry's eldest son, shook snowflakes from his coat and grinned teasingly at his sister. "Once you're licensed like me, Lily, you'll get used to it."
"Mum, James is saying that again! When he only passed the test on his second try!"
Albus, Harry's second son, watched his brother and sister bicker from behind and walked along with his father slowly, as if he had already outgrown being part of their small talk. Albus, the only Potter in the family who belonged to Slytherin House, had once suffered a period of estrangement from his famous father, but now they were close after an incident last year. Last year, Albus had traveled to the past to save Cedric Diggory, using an illegal time-turner with Scorpius Malfoy, his best friend and Draco Malfoy's only child. As a result of the time travel, the two had created several calamities that could have utterly devastated their world, but with the help of their fathers and Harry's two best friends, Ron and Hermione, they had eventually gotten everything back to normal.
Lily, who seemed a little jealous to see her father, who she thought loved her the most, walking side by side with Albus, stepped between them. "Dad, why didn't we go to the Burrow like every other Christmas Eve?"
Lily's whining made Harry sigh.
"Lily, I've said this a few times. Since we've been visiting the Burrow for ten years, wouldn't it be nice if we could make a difference? Besides, all the Weasleys we know are spending this year's vacation in France. I heard Fleur's parents have invited them."
"What about Granny Tonks? I haven't seen Teddy in ages!"
"We just had dinner with him last weekend, Lily," Albus pointed out.
"I mean, it's been a while since we saw him on Christmas Eve!" Lily glared at her brother, obviously annoyed by his intervention.
"We'll see him tomorrow night when we visit the Tonks," said Harry. "I invited him to the Burrow on Christmas Eve last year, but he said he had an important meeting . . ."
"Yeah, and Victoire didn't show up either," said Albus. "Maybe she and Teddy were too busy snogging."
"Urrrgh," Lily said, blushing a little. Harry thought there might be a boy she liked and smiled to himself.
"Anyway, Teddy must be very busy right now. I gave him an important task," said Harry.
"He has to work on Christmas Eve? That's too harsh!" exclaimed Lily. "Did you make him do something dangerous again?"
Harry grinned as he thought of Teddy Lupin who would be dozing off listening to the boring speech that was supposed to start at midnight. There was to be a secret meeting of Death Eater sympathizers tonight and Teddy had been assigned to infiltrate it.
"No, it will be more tedious than risky. Besides, it's not always easy for an Auror to get to enjoy all the holidays."
"Poor Teddy! If his boss is his godfather, he deserves some benefits, not extra work," said Lily indignantly. "And poor me! It's Christmas Eve, and I have to waste time hearing about the drills."
"I told Dudley in my last letter that you weren't that interested in the drilling business. And you can always play with your second cousins without listening to our conversations."
"Playing with Jim and Sherry is no fun at all. They are such crybabies, gluttons, and thieves."
"While I agree with the first two points, calling them thieves seems a bit harsh," Albus said with a grin.
"If they're not, then how do you explain my missing yo-yo the last time we visited?" said Lily, clutching her large pink bag firmly in her hands.
"That's because you show off too much to these poor kids, Lily. Haven't you spent all your savings on toys again?" Harry teased, tapping Lily's bulging bag.
"Dad's right; don't just brag about your stuff and let them play with it. I'm sure they won't steal anything," said Albus reassuringly.
"As long as they behave this time," Lily said sarcastically, hugging her bag even tighter.
By this time, the Potters had almost reached the entrance to the Dursleys' house. Harry did not show it to any of his family members, but as he stood at the door, he felt a complex and subtle emotion that even he could not fully explain. This house that he had so desperately wanted to escape from as a child was now the only place where his closest living relative lived. The last time Harry had left, he had never imagined that he would one day return of his own free will. But here he was, raising his hand and knocking on the front door of number four, Privet Drive.
The door opened in a split second to reveal Harry's cousin, Dudley Dursley. Fat as ever, he wore a black tailcoat and black bow tie, giving him the appearance of a giant penguin, and he had a large moustache, unlike before.
"Welcome back, Harry!"
"It's been a while, Big D."
After a light hug with his cousin, Harry entered the house with Ginny, and Dudley's son and daughter stepped forward on either side.
"May I take your coat, Uncle Harry?"
"Er — okay. Thanks, Jim."
Harry took off his coat and handed it to Jim. Sherry, however, stopped awkwardly with her arms in the air as she tried to make a similar suggestion to Ginny, who was looking at her feet and not at her.
"What is it, dear?" asked Harry.
"I felt something brush against my feet," Ginny said, looking up at her husband. She turned her attention to Sherry, who was on the verge of crying when Harry gave a nod. "Oh, thank you, Sherry! You've grown so much!"
When Harry's children had finished greeting the Dursleys, they were ushered into the living room. Dudley looked worried as he said, "Isn't the sofa too small for all of you? It's unusual for us to have so many guests in our house . . ."
"No problem," Harry said, pulling his wand from his pocket. "Engorgio!"
As soon as the spell hit the sofa, it expanded to fit all five of them.
"Fantastic, Uncle Harry!"
"Amazing!"
Jim and Sherry exclaimed in unison. Lily, who was in her third year at Hogwarts, sat on the sofa flipping her red hair over her shoulder as if a spell taught to second years could not impress her at all. It brought a smile to Harry's face when he realized that Lily and her second cousins had already begun their battle of nerves. Except for Mary Dursley, who went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, the other three Dursleys sat across from them on a smaller sofa once Harry and his family were seated.
Mary returned to the kitchen after serving tea to the adults and orange juice to the children and said, "Please wait here for a moment — dinner's almost ready!"
There was an awkward silence in the living room as Harry stirred his tea with a teaspoon. Harry finally brought it up, "Dudley, your new mustache looks great."
"Thanks, cousin. Did I tell you both my parents died in the epidemic last year?"
"Yes, you mentioned it in your letter."
"My father had to wear a respirator at the last minute because of lung damage. He had to shave off his beloved mustache and looked so lost and empty without it. That's why I promised to grow one in his place. Unfortunately, he died before I could do it right."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," said Ginny sympathetically. Harry was grateful that she had offered her condolences. Harry, who had only unpleasant memories of his late aunt and uncle, found it difficult to grieve for them, no matter how hard he tried.
"So how was your world last year?" said Dudley. "Like I said, we went crazy with the pandemic . . ."
Harry remembered seeing Muggles wearing masks in the streets. However, Harry had paid little attention to the outbreak in the Muggle world since he had been busy correcting the mistakes Albus had made in time travel.
"I think we were all right," said Harry simply.
"Not without lingering effects," said James darkly, "the Quidditch World Cup was postponed for a year because of the disease — it would have looked odd to have so many people in one place."
Sherry opened her eyes wide and asked, "What's Quidditch?"
"It's like playing football on broomsticks," Albus replied, explaining the general rules of the game. While they had a brief conversation about Quidditch, Lily wiggled her fingers on the pink bag in her arms. She seemed to be considering whether it was appropriate to take out a new magical toy and brag about it.
Then Mary called from the kitchen, "Everyone — dinner is ready! Please come into the dining room."
Harry had acknowledged Aunt Petunia's cooking skills as her only virtue, and Mary Dursley seemed to have inherited them. There were pies, salads, beef and chicken dishes, all centered around a roast pork loin — it almost looked like the finest of the Hogwarts feast had gathered there.
"Uncle Harry! I have something to tell you," Jim said as he hurriedly arranged two pies, pork ribs and chicken legs on his plate. "My teacher once made me write an essay . . ."
With his mouth full, Jim mentioned the word 'hero' several times, but Harry barely understood what was being said and just nodded politely. Albus and James, the two big eaters in Harry's family, were also busy eating pig's legs and pieces of pie. Mary stood up as the entire pig on the plate disappeared into nothingness, leaving only the bones after some rattling and clattering of the dishes.
"Let me get the dessert, then."
An enormous mound of whipped cream sat on the wide tray she had brought, decorated with sugared violets. The pudding looked remarkably similar to the one Harry had been pelted with on his twelfth birthday when Dobby the house-elf had threatened him not to return to Hogwarts.
"This is my husband's favorite," said Mary proudly. "I learned the secret recipe before my mother-in-law died."
While her parents sipped coffee served with the pudding, Lily prepared to wage a silent war with her second cousins. Harry pretended to be absorbed in stirring his coffee, glancing sideways at what Lily, sitting next to him, had prepared for tonight. The first thing she pulled out of her pink bag was a picture of her favorite band, the Weird Sisters, singing and dancing. He watched with interest as Lily placed the wizard picture against a nearby bread basket so that Jim and Sherry, sitting across from her, could see it clearly and waited for them to be impressed.
Harry remembered dining with the Dursleys a few years ago. Aside from playing with the Screaming Yo-yo in the living room to get admiration, Lily had asked her second cousins why their family pictures on the mantelpiece didn't move, much to Jim and Sherry's embarrassment. Today, however, things were different. When Jim and Sherry saw the band members singing and playing their guitars in Lily's picture, they exchanged furtive glances and smiled at each other.
"Is this your favorite band?" asked Sherry.
"They're called the Weird Sisters; they're the most talented band I've ever known," said Lily brightly.
"Really? Then let me hear some of their songs," demanded Jim.
"Huh? You mean, now?"
Despite his calm face, Jim looked like he was enjoying Lily's embarrassment. "Yes, right now! Is there any reason why we can't?"
"I didn't bring a radio, and besides, it's past time for the music channels. . . ."
Lily's answer seemed to be just what her second cousins had been waiting for. Sherry and Jim smiled conspiratorially before placing a small object on the table. Harry knew it was called a smartphone, a device most Muggles would spend all day looking at these days. Jim turned on his smartphone and tapped the red square among the small icons on the screen. The screen darkened briefly from Jim's manipulation, then played an exciting song performed on a stage with colorful lights.
"This is my favorite hip-hop group. This app is called YouTube, where you can listen to all the songs in the world," Jim explained gently, as if he were talking to a younger child.
Lily stared at the handsome men dancing energetically on the screen for a moment with a stunned expression, but then she pulled away and changed her expression to one of stern disapproval. Everyone's attention was already focused on the children's confrontation, except for Dudley, who was busy scooping up the whipped cream on his plate with a large spoon.
"That's not bad," Lily said reluctantly after struggling to find the right words.
"Not bad? It's fantastic!"
Jim excitedly played several more videos on his smartphone. From a children's cartoon, to epic movies with lots of heroes and villains fighting, to a realistic game with soldiers shooting at each other, they all played one after the other with loud sound. Having played only crude computer games on a black and white monitor when he was young, Harry was also shocked by the vivid screen and high-quality audio coming from such a small machine. Lilly pretended to ignore it, but occasionally glanced sideways at the smartphone to see what was playing.
Mary finally intervened when Ginny looked worriedly at her daughter, whose face was growing darker and darker. "Jim, how many times have I told you? Put that thing away when you eat!"
"Okay, Mum," Jim slowly pushed his phone under the table, not forgetting to tease Lily. "I just thought it would amaze her."
Lily quickly retrieved the moving photo of the Weird Sisters, which had obviously become a symbol of her grim defeat, and tucked it back into her bag. Harry thought he had seen enough of the political world to nominate his best friend, Hermione Granger, for Minister of Magic. But the children's politics around the table seemed even more intense than the adults', constantly trying to humiliate each other.
Dudley, who had just finished his pudding, raised his head as the rest of the Potters nibbled on their food and looked at Lily with concern, for she had just been made fun of by her second cousins.
"What's wrong?" asked Dudley.
Lily quickly replied, "Nothing at all, Uncle Dudley. Everything is just fine."
"Everyone must be full by now," Mary said, looking around the table. "Shall we go into the living room then?"
Lily stood up, holding her bag with a determined look on her face, and Jim and Sherry followed her out, clutching their smartphones. Harry had a sinking feeling that the second battle between them would continue in the living room. Sure enough, as soon as Lily sat down on the sofa, she opened her bag and started looking for materials for the counterattack. It seemed to be full of items she had gotten from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, her most generous sponsor. The small victory at dinner must have inspired Jim and Sherry, for they sat in front of Lily and carefully examined what she would brag about this time. Instead of pulling out what she had in her hand, Lily smoothed her hair and increased her second cousins' impatience to the maximum.
Lily muttered a little loudly, "Oh, my hair looks messy . . ."
She finally took her ace in the hole out of her bag: On the wrapper of the new product was a picture of a witch wearing a pointy hat and holding a large comb. Her second cousins focused on the magical comb as she took it out of the box and began to brush her hair. In the area where the comb had touched, her red hair turned pink and curly, and with a few more movements of her hands, the entire style of her hair became the one depicted on the box.
Sherry opened her mouth wide to admire Lily, but Jim grabbed her arm and stopped his sister, saying, "Lily, your new hair looks great!"
"Thanks," Lily said, as if she agreed with his praise a hundred times over.
"But is that the only style you can do with that comb?" asked Jim, a corner of his mouth twisting as he forced a smile.
"Well, you can change it if you buy another comb," Lily replied, a little sheepishly.
"In that case, you'd better carry a lot of combs if you want to change styles and post them on Instagram."
"What's Instagram?"
Just as the question was asked, Lily's face showed a hint of regret. As if waiting for this moment, Jim gave Sherry a signal. She pulled out her smartphone and turned it around so Lily could see it. In contrast to her actual appearance as a blond, Sherry was displayed on the small screen with bushy pink hair.
"With this app, you can change your appearance at any time and take pictures however you like."
Jim deftly touched the screen from side to side, and Sherry's face appeared on the screen, first with a cat-like beard, then with rabbit ears; her appearance changed each time Jim moved his fingers across the screen.
After staring at the phone for a minute in bewilderment, Lily protested, "But you only look different in that little device!"
"True, but what my friends see is the same as what's displayed here," said Jim plainly.
Using her smartphone, Sherry took some pictures of herself, pressed something on the screen, and showed it to Lily. "This is Instagram, the one Jim mentioned earlier. You can take pictures, edit them however you want, and show them to your friends all over the world!"
"With this little thing? I don't believe it. How can you send a picture without an owl?"
Lily's comment drew a loud laugh from Jim, and Sherry, infected by her brother, joined in. The pink in Lily's hair faded and began to turn red, and the color of her face became almost the same. A small ringing sound came from the cell phone, and Jim and Sherry checked the screen together.
"Oi, you've got feedback already! Read it," said Jim.
Sherry read aloud what appeared on the screen: "Sherry, you look wonderful in the picture. I wish you a Merry Christmas!" Sherry didn't forget to show Lily the comment under the picture. "It's from an American pen pal I met on Facebook!"
Lily didn't make the mistake of asking what Facebook was this time and said coldly, "All your friends are fake. Real friends should exchange handwritten letters!"
"Friends you keep in touch with through owl posts every few days? If your owl gets sick, that friendship is doomed, right?"
Jim laughed mockingly, and Sherry followed suit. Hearing this, Harry remembered how disappointed he had been with Ron and Hermione in this very house when Dobby had intercepted their letters.
Jim took out his smartphone and shook it in front of Lily this time. "This way I can always keep in touch with my friends! They came to visit me in ten minutes the last time I was sick."
"Stop bragging, Jim. What's the big deal about phones — everybody's got one." Dudley, who had been dozing off in his rocking chair, woke up and intervened when the children's voices grew louder.
"I thought so too, Dad — until today, that is," sneered Jim.
Lily's face was now almost redder than her hair and she was on the verge of crying. After she calmed herself, Lily took a deep breath and said, "Sherry, I have more of these things at home. Would you like this comb?"
Lily waved the magic comb from side to side on her fingertips like a lure on a fishing line. Sherry's eyes quivered in a struggle between longing and pride. As if asking him to make a decision for her, Sherry looked back at her brother. Jim shook his head, almost invisibly, and Sherry made up her mind and turned back to Lily.
"No, Lily. This will do," Sherry said as she picked up her smartphone.
"Didn't you say you had something for Lily?" said Jim, nudging his sister.
"Oh, yes," she replied, pulling an object out of her pocket: A battered yo-yo with its string dangling. "You left it here the last time you visited, Lily."
Lily seemed to be fighting back tears. The Screaming Yo-yo had stood out among all the wonderful joke items that had made her second cousins weep with unbearable longing for magic at their last meeting. Lily had probably lost it on purpose so that Jim and Sherry could feel Lily's superiority even without her presence. However, the same yo-yo now stood as a symbol of Lily's defeat, worn and faded.
"Let me know if you want another one. I have one in my bag," Lily said, her voice shaking.
After an agonizing moment, Sherry finally picked up her smartphone instead. "I don't need it. This is more fun."
That was the last blow for Lily; tears welled up in her hazel eyes and she jumped out of her seat.
"Lily, are you all right?" asked Harry worriedly.
"Yeah, just going to the bathroom," Lily said, almost running out of the living room, and Harry and Ginny looked at each other gravely.
Noticing this, Mary made a stern face at her son and daughter. "Jim — Sherry! Put that thing away at the family meeting!"
"Okay, Mum," Jim grumbled, putting the phone back in his pocket, but already looking victorious, having achieved his primary goal.
Mary and Ginny began talking loudly about knitting, trying to make the awkwardness of the situation go away. James and Albus began a heated discussion about where the upcoming Quidditch World Cup would be held. Harry remained silent, but after twenty minutes he began to feel uncomfortable.
"Why isn't Lily coming back?" asked Mary worriedly. "Shall we look for her together?"
"Thanks, that would be nice."
Everyone came out of the living room and started looking for Lily. Sherry and Jim went up to the second floor with Ginny and James while the rest of the group searched the first floor. Harry opened the bathroom door with little expectation, but his heart sank when he realized that the sink had been left dry with no sign of recent use.
"Dad, come to think of it, Lily got up with her bag," Albus said with concern in his voice. "Do you reckon she might've left the house?"
"I'll check the back door for any sign of her. You check the garden after you check the front door."
Walking past the kitchen, Harry caught sight of Lily's pink backpack leaning against the door. Harry opened the door and looked out into the backyard, where a large tree stood on a lawn, but no one was there. Deciding to use some spells in case the others failed to find Lily, he returned to the house. Just in time, Dudley appeared in the hall, sucking whipped cream on his thumb, having checked the dining room.
"Looks like we're done with the first floor," said Dudley. "Should we go back to the living room in case she's back?"
"Sure," Harry replied. But as he passed through the hallway with the stairs on one side, he suddenly remembered something and stopped. "You go on — let me check the cupboard."
"I already checked — it's empty."
"Just in case."
As Dudley's footsteps faded into the living room, Harry opened the small door under the stairs and peered inside. There was no one in the cupboard, true to Dudley's word, but what he found inside was very different from what Harry had expected — instead of a pile of junk like old shoes and umbrellas, there was now a small bed with a blanket and pillow on it. It seemed that the cupboard had returned to the way it had looked when Harry had slept in it as a child, completely unaware of the Wizarding world. Lost in his old memories, Harry sat on the bed in the cupboard, then felt something warm and soft under him and heard a shrill scream.
"Arrrrrgh, that hurts!"
On the seemingly empty bed, Harry felt a light, fluid fiber on his fingers; he grabbed the end and pulled it off. Lily emerged from under the Cloak, which had faint constellation patterns on a silvery gray fabric. Looking sleepy, she rubbed her calves where Harry had just sat.
"I found Lily!" Harry shouted as he poked his head out of the cupboard; the others replied in agreement.
"How did you know I was here, Dad?" asked Lily, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"I didn't — otherwise I wouldn't have sat on you," Harry said with a smile. "I remember giving James the Cloak of Invisibility . . ."
"Don't tell James — I borrowed it on the sly. It's warmer than it looks," Lily said with a shrug. Her lower body, covered by the Cloak, was still invisible, and her upper body seemed to float without it.
"James seems to be causing a lot of trouble with the Cloak at Hogwarts, but he must not have considered using it as a blanket . . ."
She covered her mouth with her hand and yawned. "Why is there even a bed in here? It's hard to imagine anyone staying here."
"You're right; but I did live here when I was very young."
Harry felt bitter to remember the spiders that had landed on his face when he had slept in this cupboard as a child. He reached his hand over his head and touched the dusty ceiling, gently sloping down along the stairs above.
"You're joking, aren't you? How can anyone live here?" said Lily, laughing out loud. But she got serious when Harry kept a straight face. "Did you really?"
Harry nodded and said, "My aunt and uncle were not so kind to me, mostly because they hated magic so much. That's why Dudley is so remarkable — it must've been very difficult for him to escape his parents' influence."
Harry sat on the bed with Lily in silence. Even though the cupboard felt even more cramped with the two of them, he hardly noticed as he was deeply moved by the fact that he had finally returned to sit here with his dear daughter. At last, Harry had shaken off all the unhappiness that had plagued him since he was an infant.
"Dad — you know what day tomorrow is, right?"
"Of course. Did you make a wish to Santa Claus?"
"Come on, Dad! I'm much too old for that. I think you've already told Kreacher to leave our presents at home," Lily said, looking down at her laced fingers. She tended to do that whenever she was about to bring up a serious subject. "Can you get me a smartphone for a present?"
"Lily, I get it, that device could come in handy. But there's too much magic in the air at home or at Hogwarts, so it wouldn't last long —"
"Times have changed, Dad — you can use it at Hogwarts now!" cried Lily. "For some time now, students have been flocking to a certain place to use their phones!"
"Really?" said Harry in shock. "But . . . but how?"
"I haven't seen it in person, so I don't know the details — but it looks like they've modified the Room of Requirement for the purpose. I'm sure everyone from a Muggle family has one, since Professor McGonagall officially allowed us to bring them last term."
As Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry was convinced that he would not let anything important go unnoticed within the Wizarding community. But from what Lily was saying, it sounded like the tide of change had already begun to rise, soaking Harry's ankles without him even knowing it.
"Okay, but I'll buy you one around Easter, not tomorrow."
"Really? Thanks a lot, Dad!" Lily held out her hands and cheered, but then she smacked one of them on the underside of the ceiling and cried out in pain. "I still can't believe you used to live here."
"Neither can I."
Father and daughter returned to the living room, where Ginny and Mary were talking about knitting and Dudley was sitting in a rocking chair looking at his phone.
"Where's everybody else?" asked Lily.
"Oh, Lily, are you okay? They're upstairs playing games," Mary said, taking her eyes off the wool scarf she was knitting. "We bought Jim a new PlayStation."
After a moment's thought, Lily left the living room and ran up the stairs to find her brothers and second cousins. She seemed to have gained confidence from Harry's promise to buy her a smartphone.
As Harry sat down on the sofa opposite him, Dudley muttered, "Where was she? She couldn't have been in the cupboard. . . ."
"Of course you couldn't find her; she was in the Cloak of Invisibility."
Dudley laughed and said, "I see — I'd like to use one of those at work. . . . I've been so busy these days; sometimes I wish I could just vanish from this world."
"By the way, Big D, why did you put the bed in the cupboard?" Harry asked hastily, before the subject turned to the drilling industry, and Dudley stared up at him.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, we rented the room for the year. A waitress who used to live there only recently moved out."
"Renting it? You mean — that cupboard?"
Getting up from his chair, Dudley collapsed next to Harry and said, "Let me show you."
He took out his cell phone and fiddled with it for a while before showing it to Harry. On the left side of the screen were pictures of different houses, and on the right side were the rental prices.
"This app is called Airbnb. Anyone can use it to rent out a part of their house." Dudley pressed a button and a picture of number four, Privet Drive, popped up. A series of pictures of the cupboard under the stairs, taken from different angles, came up as he moved his fingers. It looked slightly larger and cleaner than it actually was, but the images were certainly of the cupboard Harry was familiar with.
"One hundred and thirty pounds per week," Harry read out the weekly rent for the cupboard written below the pictures. Having been away from the Muggle world for the past thirty years, he had lost much of his understanding of its monetary value and asked his wife, "Ginny, can you tell me how much one hundred and thirty pounds is for us?"
Ginny, who was learning to knit from Mary without the use of magic, raised her head. Harry had a feeling that his wife, the sports reporter for the Daily Prophet, would have a better idea of the exchange rate for Muggle money than he did, and he was right.
"Well, their five pounds is about a Galleon to us, so . . ." Ginny replied after bending and unbending her fingers a few times and finished with, "About twenty-six Galleons."
Now it was Harry's turn to be shocked. "Twenty-six Galleons! For one week's rent of that tiny cupboard?"
Perhaps because Harry had said it too loudly, Dudley blushed a little. "Yes, I know it's a bit expensive. But that's the current market price — tenants come in at that rent."
It occurred to Harry what he could do with twenty-six Galleons. A long time ago he had bought the phoenix feather wand — his dear, lifelong companion now in his pocket — from Ollivanders for only seven Galleons, which meant that three such wands could be bought for the same amount. Moreover, a glass of butterbeer cost only two Sickles at the Three Brumsticks, and since one Ggalleon was seventeen Sickles, that gold could buy more than four hundred butterbeers.
"This neighborhood isn't the only one experiencing skyrocketing rents; in fact, the housing market nationwide seems to be a mess," Dudley further explained. "It wasn't unreasonable for my father to move the family back here, after all."
Harry remembered his constant urging to get the Dursleys out of their home when Voldemort's threat was at its height. Uncle Vernon had then believed it was Harry's plan to take over the house, which had been rapidly increasing in value. As Harry considered the amount of Galleons he would have to pay for the time he had spent in the cupboard, he had a bitter taste in his mouth. Perhaps his late aunt and uncle had shown him great kindness without ever knowing it.
"Some Londoners are living in boats because the rents have gone up so much," said Mary.
"Right, I've heard that too," Dudley said, turning the smartphone he was holding upside down. "As you can see from toys like this, our technology is getting better every day, but oddly enough, life has gotten harder for a lot of people. . . ."
A sad smile spread across Mary's face as she added, "Some call it poverty in the midst of plenty. Maybe it's that our world needs a little magic, too."
"Yes, we could really use some magic."
While the four adults were lost in silence and thought, Albus came downstairs and rubbed his tired eyes.
"Everyone's feeling sleepy now, Mum."
"All right, Albus. I'll make you a bed."
Rolling up their sleeves, the Potters climbed the stairs. It took several wand swings and spoken spells for them to create an extra comfortable bed in the smallest bedroom that had once been Harry's and was now occupied by Sherry. After clearing Jim's room of all the clutter, Harry then magically summoned a bunk bed for James and Albus, and it was decided that Harry and Ginny would stay in a spare bedroom for visitors.
When Harry was satisfied that everything had gone smoothly in the end, Sherry ran up from downstairs. "Mum, I can't find Caroline anywhere!"
"Who's Caroline?" asked Harry.
Dudley looked worried as he said, "Our family cat. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her for the last few hours . . ."
The two families searched the house for about an hour, looking in every nook and cranny. But unlike Lily, Caroline really seemed to have left the house.
"Now I remember — I felt something brush against my leg when I came in here, and it must have been that cat," said Ginny thoughtfully.
Sherry cried out, worried and grieving, "Poor Caroline, it's so cold outside! And how hungry would she be?"
"Don't worry too much, dear — she's done it before," said Mary reassuringly.
"But she came back before sunset back then!" Sherry began to sniffle. "All the houses in this town look so alike! How would she find ours in the dark?"
"Maybe we should leave the door open for Caroline to come in," said Jim, who had just returned from searching the front yard.
"Absolutely not. The burglar alarm won't work if the door is left open," said Dudley sternly.
"But we have Uncle Harry!" said Jim.
"Yes, burglars have no chance against him!" Sherry said in agreement.
With all eyes on him, Harry knew he had no choice. "Okay, I'll take some security precautions."
Sherry, excited by his assurance, ran forward to open the front door just enough for the cat to enter. Harry took out his wand and began casting all the defensive spells he knew at the entrance. Having done most of the work, Harry poked his head through the open door and looked around. The nearby streetlights lit up the snowy street, and it seemed as if a golden net had been woven over it.
"Are you sure about this, Harry?" whispered Ginny uneasily.
"Don't worry — I know just the right spell for the occasion. . . ."
Harry stepped back and cast a final spell on the door, wrapping it in a silvery oval that was almost transparent. At the same time, the cold wind stopped blowing through the crack.
"Minerva taught me this new spell — she had modified the one once used by the Death Eaters to suit her needs. . . . When cast in an open passage, this spell allows only those with certain qualifications to pass. In this case, you have to be a cat to enter the house."
"No wonder. I'm sure Professor McGonagall found it very useful," said Albus grumpily.
"It's done!" When Harry turned and announced it, Jim and Sherry rejoiced.
"Magic is so amazing!" Sherry exclaimed, causing a small smile to spread across Lily's face.
The rest of the family had eventually gone up to their bedrooms. Harry, left alone on the first floor, took one last look around the hallway. The scenery inside the house, which he had once found painfully familiar, felt somehow alien in the dark. Harry stared at the quiet street beyond the open door, which showed no signs of anything strange, as he absentmindedly touched the lightning scar on his forehead. It did not hurt at all. . . . All was well. Harry climbed the stairs, reassured that nothing could possibly go wrong, at least for tonight.
How very wrong he was.
The birds on the wires chirped at the break of dawn. From the outside, number four, Privet Drive looked as if it was going to have an uneventful morning. Harry, awakened by the birds, went down to the first floor where Jim was happily opening his presents under the Christmas tree. Sherry was stroking a cat with a smile on her face; Caroline was licking milk from the bowl next to the front door, which was still slightly ajar.
"Thank you, Uncle Harry," Sherry said happily, "Caroline's back!"
Harry replied with a grin. He undid his defensive spells one by one so as not to accidentally hurt any Muggles. Harry politely declined Dudley's invitation to join his family for lunch, seeing his children's impatience. With their presents already piled under their own Christmas tree at the Potters', they would be anxious to get home and open them. Besides, they were supposed to have dinner with Andromeda Tonks and Teddy Lupin that night.
The Potters were about to leave when they encountered an unexpected problem. Harry and the rest of the family were sitting in the living room, packing the clothes they had brought and putting them in Ginny's bag. At that moment, Lily rushed into the living room and spilled the contents of her bag on the sofa.
"Lily, you must be confused," said James importantly. "You're supposed to be packing, not the other way around."
Ignoring this, Lily rifled through her various toys and accessories on the sofa, desperately trying to find something. After turning her bag upside down a few more times, she looked back at Harry with an alarmed expression on her face.
"Dad, I can't find it — I don't see the Invisibility Cloak anywhere!"
"Why are you looking for the Cloak here?" said James. "I must have left it at home."
"Sorry — I brought it without your permission. . . . I'm pretty sure I left it in the cupboard, but I can't find it!"
Harry went straight to the cupboard under the stairs, leaving James, who was furious that Lily had carelessly touched his things. He brushed his hands over the small space inside the cupboard until dust flew everywhere. Even though the Cloak should be visible when someone isn't wearing it, there was no trace of it when he lifted the bedclothes and blankets several times. Harry even used his wand to shine a light into the darkness under the bed. Convinced that it could not possibly be in the cupboard, Harry told Dudley and got everyone to search for the missing Cloak.
After a series of fruitless searches throughout the morning, and after Harry even used magic to see if anyone could remember seeing the Cloak, Harry had no choice but to admit what he had never wanted to admit. The best of all the Invisibility Cloaks, the only thing Harry had inherited from his father, the most useful artifact that had saved him and his friends from countless dangers, had indeed been lost.