Harry Potter: Who cares about belated motherly love?

The day has finally come to meet my mother's childhood sweetheart, the wizard.

Thinking about it carefully, I forgot to ask his name from my aunt. Although I wanted to ask later, I couldn't ask because my aunt was not easy to approach.

After lunch, Mr. Richard came to pick me up.

"Hello, Harry. Thank you for taking care of me today."

"Then I'm counting on you. Please be careful and remember to send him back before five o'clock." Auntie advised.

Mr. Richard smiled and nodded.

"I see. Besides, I'm keeping this letter for you. Please take a look at it. Okay, Harry, shall we go?"

I got into Mr. Richard's car and it drove somewhere.

"Where are we going?"

I asked carefully in the back seat of the car.

"Well... this is hard to explain, but, did you know there's a shopping mall nearby?"

"Yes, I've been there a few times."

Occasionally, when Dudley wanted to buy new toys, he would ask me to help him carry his luggage.

"Did you know there's a kiddie ride over there?"

"Yeah, I know, but I haven't been there."

It's that ride! It's indoors but there are so many fun things inside. I've always wanted to try it! It's great! I saw kids around me go there before.

"You know there is a monitor watching you, right? So we have to be careful. We will meet E who wrote to you at that amusement facility. Then, E will use the wizard's unique method to take you to the person who wants to see you. You can't enter that place without a child, and the monitor can't enter without a child either.

What are the unique methods of wizards? So exciting!

I felt like I was playing the protagonist in a spy movie!

In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the shopping mall.

I got out of the car and followed Mr. Richard to the ride, he showed something like a membership card and then we went in.

He took me to a part of the shopping mall where I couldn't be easily seen. There was a boy with similar hair color and height to me, and a man with brown hair standing next to him.

"Okay, Richard, I'll leave the child to you."

The brown-haired man slowly pushed the boy next to him over.

Mr. Richard took the boy's hand and said with a smile:

"I understand, but you have to come back within two hours, three hours at the most."

"I know. I'll leave it to you."

"Paul, listen to Uncle Richard."

The brown-haired man waved at the little boy, who replied confidently:

"Got it! I'm different from Edgar. I'm a good kid! This is a rare opportunity for me to play freely by myself."

Then he said to me:

"Harry, enjoy yourself! I'm going to have fun here, just take your time, there's no need to rush."

I exchanged places with the kid of similar height, and the brown-haired man, who was called Edgar, took me to a place where I could not be seen by others.

Suddenly, the space seemed to distort, and when I came to my senses, I was already in another place.

Wow...what is this...I feel like vomiting...

Rather than the shock of being instantly transported to another place, I felt more uncomfortable...

"Ah, you're dizzy after all, aren't you? If you're not used to it, you'll get symptoms like motion sickness."

"... Ouch, I feel so uncomfortable..."

"Harry! Are you okay? I've got everything ready to prevent this!"

In a trance, a stranger handed me a drink, and I drank it in one gulp and did as he said.

The uncomfortable feeling disappeared at once.

"What is this? It's amazing."

I looked up and saw a black-haired man standing there.

He was tall and thin, neatly dressed, but with a worried look on his face as he looked down at me.

"Ah, um, nice to meet you, I'm Harry Potter!"

I followed my aunt's advice and introduced myself by looking him closely in the eyes.

"……Um."

The brown-haired man nudged him lightly with his elbow.

"It's not 'hmm'! You're such a slow person, never mind, let me go first... Harry, I'm E, Edgar! Nice to meet you!"

"So Mr. Edgar is Mr. E! Nice to meet you! Thank you for your letter! I'm really happy! I'm no longer scolded by my uncle and aunt for using magic unconsciously! Wait, wasn't your hair brown just now? Why is it red now?"

Mr. Edgar simply snapped his fingers, and his hair visibly changed from brown to red.

"Ah, my family is famous for its red hair. Because red hair is too conspicuous, I used magic to change the color of my hair. And you, come on, make a formal introduction!"

He smiled and pushed the tall and thin man next to him in front of me.

"…I am Severus Snape—"

"No way! You've changed your last name!"

"I'm Severus Prince, teaching Potions at Hogwarts."

Although this gentleman looked a little strange, it was the first time someone took the initiative to talk to me so much. I was quite excited, so I replied:

"Is that so? That medicine was so powerful! It actually worked so well! But, you have to use this when you go back, right? Is that really okay?"

When I think about going back this way, and then taking a bus or something, I feel like I can’t handle it at all.

Perhaps seeing the worry on my face, Mr. Edgar immediately replied:

"It's okay. I've prepared some medicine for the trip back home. If you take it in advance, you won't feel uncomfortable."

After hearing what he said, I felt relieved.

When looking at Mr. Prince,

"…………"

He remained silent and did not move.

What happened? I stared at him.

He just stood there motionless, staring at me.

Uh? What should I do?

"Hey, Severus, you're going to confuse Harry."

"Sorry? This guy is a little bit... Anyway, come over here. I've prepared tea and snacks for you, and there's also juice, okay?"

Mr. Edgar said as he led me towards the table.

The table was covered with cakes and cookies.

I've never eaten so much good food!

"Wow, that looks delicious! Can I have some?"

I was so absorbed in the dessert that I almost forgot about Mr. Prince and was only focused on eating my cake.

"It's delicious! I've never eaten anything so delicious!"

"…Do you like sweets?"

"Yeah! Because you can only find it in the trash can after Dudley's birthday party! But I will also eat non-sweet things okay?"

Before I knew it, Mr. Severus was sitting next to me, watching me wolf down my food.

“Isn’t this delicious?”

Mr. Edgar looked at me with interest.

“Hmm, ummm…”

"He made these for you, Harry. They are all handmade."

Did this guy make this himself? It looks like a professional...Isn't he a teacher at the school?

I thought of the cakes and the untouched cookies and said, "Did you really make this yourself, Mr. Prince?"

"Um... just call me Severus, okay?"

"Mr. Severus? Well, the cake is delicious, thank you! Very tasty."

I looked at him happily.

"Just call me 'Sever'. Lily used to call me that."

Mr. Severus stared at my face, as if he was struggling with something. Was he trying to poop?

I nodded and said:

"Oh, you mean my mom? I heard from my aunt that you two were childhood sweethearts."

"…Yes, Lily was the first wizard I met besides my mother."

"I see. For me, Mr. Edgar and Sever were the first wizards I met."

I answered while eating a snack.

“These dim sum are delicious. Are you good at making dim sum?”

"Making pastries is similar to potions. You need to accurately measure the ingredients according to the recipe, make them according to the instructions, and control the temperature and time in the oven correctly. These are very similar. If you don't read the instructions carefully and prepare well in advance, you won't be able to make perfect pastries."

"I see! That's amazing, Sif! But I might not be very good at it..."

Hearing this, Sif shook his head.

"No, Lily is also good at Potions."

"Really? Then I'll try my best too!"

I looked up at Sev and he was stunned.

What's wrong? It seems that although he is a teacher at the school, he doesn't seem to be good at dealing with children.

But he was staring into my eyes… No, he seemed to be staring into my eyes all the time.

Could it be...

“Do my eyes look like my mother’s?”

Sev suddenly gasped.

Ah, that’s it.

That's why my aunt gave me that advice.

"I'm sorry... I only have my mom's eyes... My aunt also said that I look a lot like dad, even annoyingly similar."

"Don't say that! You think too much! Even though he knew that Harry looked a lot like James, he still went to the barber shop and bought clothes in order to meet Harry. Because he didn't have any decent clothes before, he really tried hard to dress up!"

Mr. Edgar interjected.

Sifu was very embarrassed, "Hey! You guy, stop talking!"

"See, this is Severus' character."

Mr. Edgar explained with a smile.

Sev sighed.

"Yes, I really want to meet Harry. Although I feel a little sorry that Harry looks like James, Black will be crazy happy as Harry's official guardian."

"Is that the guy in jail?" I asked.

"Yes, he was your father's best friend, and they used to call each other 'soul twins' and stuff like that.

But you can't decide who you like. It's not Harry's fault, so don't take it to heart.

Instead of that, I bought a gift for Harry, would you like to accept it?"

He said, handing it to me carefully.

It was a beautifully wrapped gift tied with a ribbon, specially prepared for me.

When I saw it, I kind of wanted to cry.

It turns out that there are really people in this world who will give me gifts.

It’s really a gift prepared for me.

"H-Harry? What's wrong, you don't like it?"

Sev panicked.

How strange! I was so happy, but I couldn't stop crying.

I really wanted to tell him that I didn’t hate it, but was very happy, but I couldn’t stop crying and couldn’t speak, so I could only shake my head to show that I didn’t hate it.

Sif moved closer to me and hugged me gently, tentatively.

I think he had probably never held a child like this before...it felt clumsy and unskilled.

But his hands were gentler than anyone I’ve ever met, and they made me feel at ease.