Harry Potter: From Muggle Cousin to Conceptual Archmage

The Hogwarts Express was still heading towards Hogwarts.

In the corridor of the carriage, the conductor who sold snacks groggily returned to normal. He looked around but saw nothing unusual and couldn't remember what had happened just now.

Puzzled, he looked down and saw two Galleons on the rack, and half of the snacks were gone.

"Strange! Did I sell that many snacks just now? And this money, they gave too much, right?"

The conductor was confused and had no choice but to pocket the Galleons and move on, hawking his wares from compartment to compartment.

Meanwhile, Dudley and his group had returned to the compartment where Dudley, Harry, and Ron had originally been seated, bringing three captives with them.

The compartment was narrow and couldn't originally hold so many people.

But Dudley easily solved the problem with an Unplottable Extension Charm.

He not only expanded the compartment's internal space but also removed the marking magic originally set outside the compartment door. Then he closed the door.

After closing the door, he cast a spell to seal the door and reinforced the entire compartment to prevent anyone from disturbing them later.

After that, combined with the sound - proof magic the train compartment already had, no matter what they said or did inside the compartment, no outsiders would hear or sense it.

Inside the compartment.

Dudley, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville split into two groups and sat on the two opposite long benches in the carriage.

The table between the seats had been magically enlarged several times and was piled high with the magic snacks Dudley had just bought and the remaining Muggle snacks.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were tightly bound by the vines transformed from the walking stick and slumped on the spacious floor expanded by the Unplottable Extension Charm. Their eyes were filled with hatred, fear, and helplessness.

Dudley played with the wands of the three captives for a while and then casually threw them into the pile of snacks on the table. Then he pointed with his hand and lifted the Silencing Charm on Malfoy.

"Ah - Let me go right away! You're a disgrace to pure - bloods, colluding with Mudbloods! I'll have my father hang you up and beat you!!"

Malfoy was extremely agitated, constantly spouting threats, obscenities, and insults. Now that the Silencing Charm was lifted, his voice suddenly filled the empty compartment, echoing all around.

Hearing these words, except for Dudley, none of the people sitting there could remain calm. They were all indignant.

However, when they saw the blood dripping from Malfoy's mouth, mixing with the nosebleed, and his seriously injured appearance, they couldn't help but panic.

"Cousin, did I hit him too hard just now?" Harry asked, looking a bit flustered.

"It was a bit, but it's nothing serious."

Dudley remained calm. "Everyone wants to stay calm, but everyone gets angry. Harry, it's normal. It's not your fault. It's all Mr. Malfoy's fault. He can't read the situation, and his mouth is just too foul!"

"Harry?!"

Malfoy exclaimed and spat out a mouthful of blood foam. The conflict had happened so quickly that he just realized what was going on. He stared angrily and demanded, "You're Harry Potter? The famous Harry Potter?"

"That's right, it's me!"

Harry replied in confusion. He didn't understand why Malfoy was reacting like this since they had never met before and didn't know each other.

"Why did you hit me?!"

Malfoy got even more agitated, almost going crazy. He felt so innocent and unlucky. "I came here specifically to be friends with you! Why did you hit me so hard! Huh? Why!"

"Who the hell wants to be friends with you?" Harry looked at Malfoy with a face full of contempt and disgust. "Why'd I hit you? Didn't ya hear what my cousin said? Your mouth stinks! You're asking for a beating!"

Harry's retort was straightforward and decisive. Since his cousin said Malfoy's injury wasn't serious, he wasn't worried at all.

"You're all crazy!"

Malfoy was nearly on the verge of breakdown. "Harry Potter, along with the Weasleys and Neville, you're all crazy! Standing by those Mudbloods and listening to them to deal with a pure-blood wizard!"

"Thud, thud, thud..."

"Slap, slap!"

Hearing Malfoy openly insult his cousin, Harry didn't say a word. He got up from his seat, took a few big strides, and ran up to Malfoy. He bent down and slapped him twice across the face.

Malfoy's already bloodstained pale face quickly swelled up.

This time, he didn't dare to say a word.

He just stared at Harry with a look of grievance and hatred, his eyes teary.

Dudley reached up to rub his forehead. He understood his cousin's actions and anger and felt quite pleased. But when he heard Malfoy call him a "Mudblood", he didn't feel any sense of being attacked at all.

In his past life, he was Chinese. In China, insults of this level had no real sting.

Moreover, the term "Mudblood" referred to a dirty and inferior bloodline.

In China, only pets have their bloodlines nit - picked about.

However, just because the term "Mudblood" had no effect on Dudley didn't mean it had no effect on Hermione.

She had just stepped from the Muggle world into the wizarding world. Her knowledge of wizards and magic came entirely from the textbooks she bought in Diagon Alley. At this time, she didn't know the meaning of "Mudblood".

It didn't matter that she didn't know. Hermione always followed the principle of asking when she didn't understand.

While Harry was slapping Malfoy, she asked Ron and Neville about the meaning of "Mudblood", mainly getting answers from Ron.

After finding out, Hermione inevitably became angry and sad. Besides being sad, she wanted to take revenge on Malfoy, but Harry had already done it for her, and she had also hit Malfoy before.

Malfoy was in a pretty bad state now.

This left Hermione not knowing whether she should be sad or feel relieved.

Dudley took in everyone's reactions, especially Hermione's. He could have stopped Malfoy from spouting offensive words just now, but he didn't.

Because stopping him now would only be a temporary solution.

He couldn't always be with Hermione or Malfoy, and there were other students like Malfoy at Hogwarts.

So, for Hermione and wizards like her from Muggle families, it was a difficult situation. It was almost impossible not to be bullied or insulted by pure - blood supremacy wizards at Hogwarts.

What Dudley had to do wasn't to use violence to stop them time and time again, as that wouldn't solve the fundamental problem.

This is not the right way to resolve the 'b-level regret event - The Bullied Know-It-All Girl'.

What he had to do was to completely untie Hermione's knot and broaden Draco Malfoy's horizons, so that they could understand the real intentions of the corrupt pure-blood forces hidden behind the terms 'Mudblood' and 'pure-blood supremacy'.

He needed to get all his companions to view the situation from a higher vantage point. In that way, they would be able to tell who were the real villains, who were the brainwashed fools, and who were the villains who were willing to be fools.

Only then could they truly brush off these insulting words and respond more calmly when facing bullying.

"Alright, Harry, come back! I think we gotta have a good chat with this Mr. Malfoy."