The warm summer sun shone brightly as Harry and Ron stepped out of the Floo firepce into the bustling streets of Diagon Alley. The familiar cmor of witches and wizards, street vendors calling out their wares, and the scent of baked goods from a nearby café filled the air. To anyone watching, it would seem like two brothers on a typical day out, but this was no ordinary trip. This was the day they would gather everything they needed for their first year at Hogwarts.

  "Right, Harry," Ron said, brushing soot off his clothes. "We've got the list. Let's get this done quick. No point hanging about when we already know where everything is."

  Harry grinned, nodding in agreement. Diagon Alley had been a frequent haunt for the two boys over the years. Molly Weasley had taken them along for errands so many times that they knew the pce like the back of their hands. From the hidden corners of Knockturn Alley to the creaky stairs in Flourish and Blotts, there wasn’t a part of the magical shopping district they hadn’t explored.

  Their first stop was Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. The shop was busy, filled with first-years being measured for their Hogwarts robes. Madam Malkin greeted them warmly.

  “Ah, Harry, Ron! Back again, I see. Ready for Hogwarts, are we?”

  "Yes, ma'am!" Harry said, stepping onto the raised ptform as Madam Malkin began measuring him.

  "Won't take a moment," she assured. "And you're growing fast, Harry! I'll make sure these robes fit perfectly for the whole school year."

  Ron, who was standing nearby, nudged Harry. “It’s weird, you know, thinking we’re actually going to Hogwarts this time. Feels like yesterday we were just running around here, hiding from Mum when she wanted us to carry her bags.”

  Harry chuckled, remembering the times they’d hidden in Flourish and Blotts or snuck into Quality Quidditch Supplies to drool over the test broomsticks.

  Once their robes were sorted, they moved quickly through the shops. Flourish and Blotts was a breeze; they had memorized where the Hogwarts textbooks were dispyed and grabbed A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration and Magical Drafts and Potions in record time. At Eeylops Owl Emporium, Harry paused to admire the snowy owls, but he didn’t feel the need to buy one, given how Molly’s owls were always avaible to use.

  The most fun was at Ollivanders, where Harry’s wand selection became a moment of excitement. “Ah, Mr. Weasley,” Ollivander said, his silvery eyes sparkling. “I wondered when I’d see you. Step forward.”

  Harry’s hands tingled as he picked up wand after wand, none of them feeling quite right. Finally, Ollivander handed him a wand of elder and dragon heartstring core. The moment Harry held it, warmth spread through his fingers, and golden sparks shot out from the tip.

  “Very powerful wand, that one..” Ollivander murmured, but when Harry asked what was so special about the wand, the wandmaker simply smiled enigmatically.

  Ron rolled his eyes when it was his turn, and his wand—a sturdy willow and unicorn hair wand—chose him after only two tries. “Not as dramatic as you, mate,” Ron teased as they left the shop.

  With their trunks nearly full, they headed to the st stop: The Magical Menagerie. “We’ve got to get something fun,” Ron said, eyeing the shelves of peculiar pets. “What about a toad? Or maybe a tarantu?”

  “You’re mad,” Harry replied, grinning as he pointed at a cage of puffskeins. “Maybe you should get one of these. Mum won’t even notice it in the house.”

  “No way,” Ron said, ughing. “Fred and George would turn it into a prank before we even got on the train.”

  The two finally settled on picking up extra parchment and quills from Scribbulus Writing Instruments, and then they were done. The whole trip had taken less than half the time it usually did, thanks to their familiarity with the shops.

  As they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, loaded down with bags, Ron nudged Harry. “You excited?”

  Harry grinned, his green eyes alight with excitement. “More than anything. It’s finally happening, Ron. We’re going to Hogwarts.”

  Ron nodded, his ears slightly pink. “Yeah. It’s going to be brilliant. Just wait till we see the castle.”

  The two boys stepped into the Floo at the Leaky Cauldron, calling out "Weasley Manor!" in unison, disappearing in a swirl of green fmes.

  Harry and Ron stumbled out of the Floo into the Weasley Manor, their arms den with packages from Diagon Alley. They were still ughing about their day’s adventure, particurly about Ron nearly knocking over a shelf of puffskeins at the Magical Menagerie.

  But the ughter stopped abruptly when they stepped into the sitting room. It was unusually crowded.

  Harry immediately recognized Professor Dumbledore, seated in an armchair with his long silver beard glinting in the light of the firepce. Next to him were James and Lily Potter, their faces unreadable but their presence unmistakable. Close by sat a man with unkempt bck hair and an air of restlessness—Sirius Bck. Beside him was a composed and stern-looking woman Harry vaguely recognized as Amelia Bones.

  “Harry,” Molly said gently, stepping forward. “You and Ron are back.”

  Ron gnced around, his brows furrowing at the gathering. “What’s going on, Mum? Why is everyone here?”

  Arthur stepped in, pcing a hand on Ron’s shoulder. “Ron, why don’t you take your things up to your room? We need to have a word with Harry.”

  Ron hesitated, his eyes darting toward Harry. “But—”

  “It’s all right, Ron,” Harry said, forcing a small smile. “I’ll be fine. Go on.”

  Reluctantly, Ron grabbed his school supplies and trudged upstairs, gncing back over his shoulder as he left the room.

  Once Ron was gone, Harry felt the weight of all the gazes in the room settle on him. Molly gestured for him to sit, and he did so, his palms suddenly cmmy.

  “Harry,” Arthur began, his voice calm but serious. “There’s something very important we need to talk to you about. It's about your Hogwarts letter.”

  Harry nodded slowly, his mind racing. “It said Harry Potter,” he said, gncing at Dumbledore, then at the Potters. “Not Harry Weasley. I thought it might’ve been a mistake.”

  Lily Potter leaned forward, her green eyes—so simir to Harry’s—brimming with emotion. “It wasn’t a mistake, Harry. You… you are Harry Potter. You’re our son.”

  Harry blinked, looking between Lily and James, trying to process the words. “Your son?” he echoed, his voice faint. “That doesn’t make sense. I was Harry Dursley before I became Harry Weasley. Mum—Molly—and Dad—Arthur—they’re my parents.”

  “They are your parents in every way that matters,” Sirius Bck interjected, his voice rough but earnest. “But biologically, you are a Potter. James and Lily are your birth parents.”

  “If I’m Harry Potter, not Harry Weasley,” Harry began, his voice steady but sharp, “then how come I was at the Dursley family? Why didn’t you keep me with you?”

  Lily Potter’s face paled, and she instinctively turned toward Dumbledore, her green eyes fshing with a mixture of anger and betrayal. “That was Dumbledore’s pn,” she said, her voice trembling slightly.

  Dumbledore, who had been silent for much of the conversation, stroked his beard thoughtfully before speaking. “It was for your safety, Harry. After Voldemort’s defeat, the magical community was in chaos. His followers were scattered but still dangerous, and I believed it was necessary to protect you from any potential threats.”

  Harry’s gaze shifted back to Lily, whose expression was conflicted. She took a deep breath, seemingly struggling to compose herself. “After Voldemort fell, everyone knew it was Charlie who vanquished him,” Lily expined, her voice den with regret. “The entire wizarding world celebrated him as the Boy Who Lived, the savior of our family and our world. But with that fame came danger.”

  James, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, added, “The Death Eaters were desperate for revenge. They would have stopped at nothing to destroy our family. We thought… we thought splitting the family was the best way to keep everyone safe.”

  “So you sent me to the Dursleys?” Harry asked, his tone rising. “To people who hated me, who treated me like I was nothing? You thought that was safe?”

  Lily flinched at his words, and her voice cracked as she replied, “We didn’t know, Harry. We didn’t know how they would treat you. I thought… I thought Petunia would take care of you because she was my sister.”

  “Petunia?” Molly interjected, her voice filled with disdain. “Lily, you know how she is! How could you possibly think she’d treat a magical child well?”

  Lily’s face crumpled, and she shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. “I was desperate! We were desperate! Dumbledore assured us it was the best way to protect Harry, to keep him out of the public eye until the danger passed.”

  Harry remained standing in front of the group, his arms crossed as he locked eyes with James Potter. “Did the danger pass?” he asked bluntly.

  James blinked, clearly caught off guard by the question. “What?” he said, frowning in confusion.

  “I mean,” Harry crified, his tone sharp, “did the danger pass? Voldemort’s followers, the ones you said were a threat to the family—are they all gone? Captured? Dead?”

  Arthur Weasley cleared his throat, stepping into the tense silence. “Well… most of Voldemort’s followers were captured and put in Azkaban, yes. But many of them cimed they were under the Imperius Curse—mind-controlled. The Ministry… well, they let a lot of them go free because they couldn’t prove otherwise.”

  Harry narrowed his eyes. “So, in other words, Voldemort’s followers are still out there.”

  Arthur hesitated, then nodded solemnly. “Yes, they are.”

  Harry turned back to James and Lily, his expression hardening. “Then nothing has changed. The danger you said I was in when you gave me to the Dursleys—it’s still there, isn’t it? And now you want me to leave the Weasleys and go back to your family? To become a target for those same Death Eaters?”

  James opened his mouth to respond but closed it again, clearly unsure of what to say. Lily, on the other hand, looked stricken. “Harry, it’s not like that—”

  “Not like what?” Harry interrupted, his voice rising. “You told me you gave me up to protect me. That being away from the Potter family would keep me safe. And now, all these years ter, nothing’s changed. The Death Eaters are still out there, and if I go back to you, I become Harry Potter again—the brother of Boy Who Lived, the son of the famous Potters, and a big, shiny target for every dark wizard out there.”

  “Harry,” Dumbledore interjected gently, “your parents only want to give you the love and care they couldn’t provide before.”

  Harry shot him a gre. “And they couldn’t provide that because of your pn, Professor. You sent me to the Dursleys, where I wasn’t loved or cared for at all. And now you’re all acting like I should be grateful for the chance to go back to the people who abandoned me in the first pce. But what’s the point? What’s changed? What’s stopping the same thing from happening again?”

  The room fell into an uneasy silence, the weight of Harry’s words pressing down on everyone.

  Lily stepped forward, her eyes brimming with tears. “Harry, we made a mistake. We trusted Dumbledore’s judgment because we thought it was the best way to protect you. If we had known—”

  “But you didn’t,” Harry cut her off, his voice firm but not unkind. “You didn’t know, and you didn’t check. The Weasleys saved me. They gave me a family, a home, and a life where I wasn’t just someone else’s shadow or a sacrifice for some ‘greater good.’ Why would I give that up to go back to a life where I’m nothing but a target?”

  James finally spoke, his voice low and filled with guilt. “We thought we were doing the right thing, Harry. But I see now that we were wrong. You’re right—the danger hasn’t gone away, and asking you to come back to us now… it isn’t fair to you.”