It doesn't look particularly special...
William scrutinized the boy in front of him—too thin, with somewhat messy black hair and a pair of green eyes. The legendary Savior seemed no different from those ordinary little wizards, except for the one striking feature: the lightning-shaped scar zigzagging across the boy's forehead—
The Killing Curse...
William had consulted numerous records and rumors, none of which detailed the events of that night in 1981. People only knew that Harry Potter was the only one to survive Voldemort's Killing Curse, and from that night onward, the once invincible Dark Lord vanished completely. Naturally, "the boy who lived" became the focus of excited crowds.
But... perhaps the boy has some potential that's not immediately apparent?
Hmm... after all, main characters ought to have some sort of aura or cheat.
William pulled his hand from the boy's unconsciously clenched right hand, while Harry remained standing, dazed. As if without realizing, tears began to gather around his eyes.
"Harry? Harry?!"
Hermione noticed this point and shook the boy's shoulder. The push seemed to bring Harry's senses back to reality, and he reflexively responded, tears leaving two streaks down his cheeks.
"Harry, what's wrong?"
Hermione asked curiously, and Hagrid also put aside wondering why Ron hadn't come to see him, and approached with concern.
"Mum... no, I'm just a bit..."
Harry felt his vision blur and reflexively raised his hand to remove and wipe his glasses, only now realizing that he was already tearful—he looked up at William, the blurred figure in his sight seemed to remind him of someone else.
"?"
Wait, what does this longing look mean?
Although Harry's almost inaudible "Mum" was barely heard, William still unfortunately caught it. After a short silence, William decided to change the subject—even without touching the issue of gender, he had no interest in becoming the "Savior's" mum.
"Hagrid, perhaps you should take him inside—" William pointed to the wooden hut behind them.
"Oh, right." Hagrid finally snapped out of it, pressed Harry's shoulder with his hand, and the group entered the hut together, "Maybe you need some candy, Harry." Hagrid clearly thought Harry recalled something sad and placed a large plate of syrupy toffee on the table.
William picked one, slightly too sweet—but rather good apart from sticking to the teeth.
"Woof woof—"
A shadow darted out from under the oversized bed, circled the people in the room three times, evaded Hagrid's large hand, and then eagerly burrowed into William's arms.
"Fang!"
Hagrid's face hidden under his beard turned slightly red, clearly noting William's cloth gradually turning from blue to black.
"No problem." William waved it off. He'd always had a way of attracting these small animals—not initially, but until he dismantled the one hundred and twenty-sixth poacher's base in the Forbidden Forest, the little critters began to approach him ever more closely—
Even after a hundred years, it still seemed the same.
"Scourgify."
As the magic wand swept, Fang's saliva marks disappeared, and his mouth began to bubble with pink foam. Fang stared with round eyes at the bubbles drifting by, a bit bewildered before letting out a burp.
"Hagrid—"
Hermione swallowed the sticky toffee, "Ron was supposed to come by today and be brought back to the castle by Professor McGonagall for casting a spell on Draco Malfoy at the Quidditch pitch..."
"What happened to them?"
"Because Malfoy called me a 'Mudblood,' which sounded rude... but I don't know what it means." Hermione shook her head, her messy and fluffy hair lightly swaying.
"Did he really say that?!"
Hagrid slammed the table, the loud noise even pausing Fang's pink bubbly trail for a moment.
"Hagrid, what does it mean?"
Since entering the house, Harry finally moved his gaze from William's hand and uttered his first words.
"It's a nasty term—most consider it as such—used by Pure-Blood wizards to insult Half-Blood or Muggle wizards, meaning dirty or inferior lineage." William explained, he had been insulted this way often... if such words could be considered a real insult.
Having long been used to the pinnacle level of national curses, the Black wizards' vocabulary was far too limited to even make him react.
After all, these blustering Brits often only say "your mum doesn't love you," compared to the occasional "I love your mum" levels, it's more like whining.
"Ugh, hope Ron won't get in trouble. If he cast a spell on Malfoy—I'm confident Lucius Malfoy will storm into the school shortly." Hagrid seemed deflated, saying dispiritedly, "His dad is on the board... but with Professor Dumbledore around, he absolutely won't let any student be expelled without cause!" Hagrid took a deep breath and barely managed to change to a slightly happier expression.
The air in the room was silent for a moment, apart from the still bubbling Fang, the others engaged in "combat" with the toffee in their mouths.
"By the way, Harry." Hagrid seemed to suddenly remember something, "I need to settle accounts with you. Heard you sent out signed photos, why didn't I get one?"
Harry seemed a bit annoyed, finally casting aside the feeling from earlier with William's handshake, struggling to open his mouth clamped by the toffee, "Is Lockhart still spreading those rumors—" his voice was somewhat muffled, the tearing pain in his mouth making him nearly cry again.
"Haha—"
Hagrid laughed, patting Harry on the shoulder, "I said earlier, Harry, whatever Lockhart says, you don't need to listen—he's completely spouting nonsense, you don't need any effort to be more famous than him!"
"Did you tell him that?"
"No, it was William who chased him off—oh, you'd have seen Lockhart's face then."
Hagrid seemed to recall the scene and laughed heartily again.
"Uh, Lockhart..."
William sighed somewhat helplessly, after only two short lessons, he roughly saw through Lockhart's facade—a complete fool, not even capable of basic spells. He thought Dumbledore really should get his eyesight checked—
If the entire school consisted of professors like Lockhart, Hogwarts would shut down by tomorrow.
"Right, we just saw you with..." Hermione finally freed her teeth from the toffee, "That was the 'Engorgement Charm', wasn't it?"
"Yes, Professor Sprout had me help Hagrid with the Halloween preparations." William nodded, "By the way, since Professor Kettleburn got stung by Billywig and is at St Mungo's Hospital, I'll need Hagrid's help regarding questions about magical creatures—"
"I'll do my best to assist, William..."
Hagrid's voice was somewhat subdued, appearing uncertain, "But I'm not sure if I can be a good teacher..."
"Oh, don't worry, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall told me you absolutely could—in current Hogwarts, no one understands these animals better than you—"
"Re- really...she actually said that?"
Harry saw Hagrid's face visibly beginning to turn red.