It was 1990.
London in December was always like this: a sky so overcast it felt as though it would never clear.
At this moment, Harry Potter's mood was just as gloomy as the weather.
He stood under the porch of Number 4, Privet Drive, staring at the fine drizzle falling outside, and let out a slow, quiet sigh.
"Hurry up, boy!" Uncle Vernon's impatient voice came from the living room. "Dudley says he wants chocolate, so you have to go buy it. Don't dawdle! An umbrella… never mind. It's such light rain, I don't think you'll need one."
Harry tightened the coat that hung loosely from his shoulders—it was one of Dudley's old hand-me-downs—and stepped out into the rain.
For Harry, this kind of thing was nothing new.
His status in the Dursley family had always been like this.
The rain quickly soaked the hems of his trousers, and the cold crept up his ankles. Harry walked briskly along the sidewalk with his head lowered, the streetlights flickering dimly through the misty curtain of rain.
Fortunately, the convenience store was very close. Even for a ten-year-old, it wouldn't take long to reach.
As the familiar outline of the store appeared in front of him, he suddenly slowed.
"When did a shop open here?"
Harry stopped and looked curiously to the side of the convenience store. Next to the building that had once stood alone, another structure had appeared at some unknown time.
"Sunshine, Daisies, and Sweet Cream?"
He read the words above the door aloud and guessed it might be a flower shop, or perhaps some kind of dessert shop.
He glanced toward the display window. Inside were only very ordinary-looking potted plants.
It was probably just a normal flower and plant shop. Nothing special at all.
Just as Harry turned to leave, something caught his eye.
Wait.
A cactus in the center of the display seemed to move.
Under Harry's gaze, the cactus slowly twisted, as though it were dancing.
"Is this… a new species?" Harry muttered to himself.
Driven by curiosity, he walked toward the door and slowly pushed it open.
The inside of the store looked like an ordinary potted plant shop. Shelves were lined with green plants and colorful flowers, and the air was filled with the rich, earthy scent of soil.
Several landscape paintings hung on the walls, but they looked strangely empty. Harry thought that portraits might have suited them better.
What struck him as even stranger was the door in the middle of the shop.
It wasn't connected to any wall.
It simply stood there, alone.
The sight of it felt eerie.
The door looked old. Thin cracks ran across the wooden panels, and the brass doorknob had turned green with age.
Harry walked toward it, fascinated, and unconsciously reached out and touched the doorknob.
Who would put a door like this here? he wondered.
At that moment, something unexpected happened.
A thin vine suddenly shot out from a crack in the door and wrapped tightly around Harry's wrist.
Before he could react, more vines surged out, coiling around his body like living snakes.
"Ah!"
Harry cried out, trying to pull free, but the vines were far stronger than they looked.
He was yanked violently toward the door.
"No! Let go of me!"
He struggled with all his strength, but the vines showed no mercy. They dragged him straight through the doorway.
Inside Vinson's Plantation.
This was a massive greenhouse, and also Adrian Vinson's first greenhouse. It was mainly used for growing common potion ingredients.
Adrian Vinson looked at the boy in front of him and twitched the corner of his mouth.
He had only gone to Diagon Alley to buy some Demiguise seeds. When he returned, he found that a child had been caught by his security system—the Devil's Snare.
Probably a wizarding child from nearby who had wandered in out of curiosity, Vinson thought.
"Kids these days… far too mischievous."
Seeing the fear in Harry's eyes, Vinson shook his head and stepped forward. He gently patted the Devil's Snare with his hand.
"Let him go."
As if it understood, the Devil's Snare loosened its grip and released Harry. A few of its vines even rubbed affectionately against Vinson's face.
"All right, all right, go back now," Vinson said with a smile, pushing the plant away. "You did a good job guarding the place."
Upon receiving praise, the Devil's Snare waved its vines in the air like a person waving their arms and slowly retreated into the depths of the greenhouse.
Vinson then turned his attention back to Harry and narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied him.
"Whose child are you?" Vinson asked calmly.
Harry swallowed nervously, his fingers twisting together without him realizing it.
He seemed to have arrived in a very strange place, and the man in front of him was clearly not an ordinary person. Anyone who could command terrifying plants like that must be someone special.
But strangely, Harry wasn't afraid.
He felt a faint sense of familiarity.
"I'm sorry, sir," Harry said cautiously. "I saw this shop and came in to take a look. Then… those vines grabbed me."
Vinson nodded. He didn't doubt Harry's explanation.
Rainwater clung to Harry's hair, and his glasses sat askew on his nose. He looked wet, disheveled, and frightened.
"It's all right, child," Vinson said. "That was my Devil's Snare. It catches wizards who wander in here."
He took out his wand and flicked it lightly toward Harry.
In an instant, the rainwater vanished from Harry's clothes, and his messy hair was neatly dried.
"Wizard?" Harry repeated, staring at him. "What's that?"
Now it was Vinson's turn to be confused.
Could the child in front of him be a Muggle?
Muggles couldn't see this shop at all. It should be hidden behind Muggle-repelling charms.
Could his enchantments have failed?
Just as Vinson began doubting his own magic, Harry spoke again.
"My name is Harry Potter, and I live nearby…"
The moment Vinson heard the name, he froze.
"Harry… Potter…"
He repeated it in a low voice.
Old memories began to surface.
So much time had passed, he had almost forgotten that he had transmigrated into the world of Harry Potter.
Vinson had arrived in this world in 1965.
He had been born into a Muggle family and had originally thought it was just an ordinary transmigration. That was, until he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter at the age of eleven.
Only then did he realize that he had reincarnated into the world of Harry Potter.
But when he calculated the timeline, he had arrived too early. The protagonist hadn't even been born yet.
Vinson accepted the reality easily. Who wouldn't want to live in a world of magic?
During his years at Hogwarts, he was considered an excellent student. However, it was also the height of Lord Voldemort's rise to power, and Vinson knew better than to stand out too much. He lived quietly, acting like an insignificant student.
After all, during that period, students from Muggle-born families were frequent targets of hostility.
Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened during his school years, and Lord Voldemort fell just as Vinson was about to graduate.
After leaving Hogwarts, Vinson traveled the world.
For six full years, he wandered foreign lands, studying rare magical plants and gathering knowledge.
It wasn't until two years ago that he returned to London and settled down.
Over the years, he had slowly forgotten most of the details of the original Harry Potter story.
That was why he hadn't immediately recognized the boy in front of him.
Now that his memories had caught up with him, Vinson realized that the child standing there truly did resemble the Harry Potter from his memories.
Messy black hair.
Deep green eyes.
A lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
Could it really be him?
Vinson felt a strange sense of disbelief.
He had casually chosen a Muggle neighborhood to live in when he returned to Britain.
He had never expected that he would end up living in the exact area where Harry Potter grew up.
And yet, here the boy stood before him.
Soaked earlier by rain, trembling slightly with nerves, and completely unaware of how extraordinary his life was about to become.