Neville couldn't help but question his own life at that moment.
Since childhood, his lack of magical signs until the age of seven had always been a cause of concern for his family, who never hid their fears.
Was he truly a wizard, or could he be a Squib?
It was only at the age of eight that the doubt was dispelled.
His great-uncle Algie, in a reckless act, threw him out of a window, and Neville emerged unscathed, bouncing off the ground.
Only then could his grandmother breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, no one questioned the fact that Harry was a wizard.
But why had his magic awakened so early? Could he really Apparate with magic? Wasn't that an exaggeration?
Neville wasn't the only one puzzled.
Other wizards also reflected on the moment their own magic manifested, frowning in discomfort. Comparisons were always unsettling.
However, not everyone was caught up in these thoughts. In the Realm of Souls, a certain mother was watching everything from a very different perspective.
Lily Potter: "Oh, Harry, what a tragic life you've had! Petunia! He's my son! How could you treat him like that?"
Petunia Dursley: "Hmpf! My dear sister, you know how our relationship was. How could you expect me to treat your son as if he were my own? That's impossible!"
Lily Potter: "All this because of magic? You knew that I..."
Petunia Dursley: "Shut up! You have no idea how I feel. Don't say another word!"
With that, the sisters' argument was temporarily interrupted. Shortly after, an even more astonishing conversation took place.
Lucius Malfoy: "Impossible! Harry Potter speaks the language of snakes! He's a Parselmouth! How is that possible?"
Hermione Granger: "Parselmouth? Isn't that Salazar Slytherin's ability? I read about it in old History of Magic books."
Bellatrix Lestrange: "That's the Dark Lord's talent! How can this brat possess it?"
Dolores Umbridge: "It was never said that the Potters had ties to Slytherin. Furthermore, the Potters were excluded from the 28 Holy Families before Harry was even born., which makes this even more unlikely, unless..."
James Potter: "Dolores, don't go too far!"
Although Umbridge didn't finish her sentence, all the adults understood the insinuation.
She was suggesting that Harry wasn't James's son, an accusation he found intolerable.
If I were alive, I'd turn you into a pig.
In the Great Hall of Hogwarts, students whispered, casting curious glances at Harry, whose face was red with embarrassment.
"Harry, so you can talk to snakes? That's awesome! Do you think you can understand rats too? Maybe you can figure out what Scabbers is saying."
To Ron, speaking to snakes was just cool. The possibility of Harry being connected to Slytherin didn't bother him, as Harry was a Gryffindor.
"Ron, stop! I'm going to faint if you keep this up."
Harry waved his hands nervously, trying to avoid the stares.
At the main table, Dumbledore kept his eyes hidden behind his half-moon glasses, revealing nothing.
As the conversations continued, the curtain of light began to shift.
The white curtain retreated, giving way to another, enveloped in growing darkness, as if it would swallow everything around.
It was then that everyone remembered: this was a comparison room. Now, Harry would be compared to the Harry from the parallel world.
Anticipation grew. What would be different in this other world? Would Harry still live a life of suffering, or would something have changed?
As everyone pondered, the dark curtain revealed the first images.
[Night on Privet Drive.
The street was silent and deserted under the night sky, with only a few streetlights casting a faint glow...]
Wait... why did it look the same? No! It was exactly the same scene, from Dumbledore's arrival to Harry's departure. Nothing seemed to have changed.
Lee Jordan: "Why do you think nothing has changed so far?"
Fred Weasley: "As expected of Hogwarts' best Quidditch commentator. Your vision is really sharp, hahaha."
Rita Skeeter: "Two fools. What kind of change could there be if he's still just a baby?"
At the Daily Prophet headquarters, Rita Skeeter frowned. Her Quick-Quotes Quill, always ready to record events, scribbled on the parchment:
Find scandalous material to deal with the Weasleys.
After the note, she turned her attention back to the curtain of light.
To her, success came from finding and twisting news, something at which she was a master.
[Just like in the original world, Harry was left on the Dursleys' doorstep. They reluctantly decided to raise him. The only difference was that this Harry seemed more advanced.
At one year old, he was already running around the house and speaking a few simple words. This left the Dursleys surprised and suspicious, but since nothing unusual had occurred, they assumed he was just a prodigy.
At two years old, little Harry found a comic book while wandering around the house, bought for Dudley. Curious, he opened it and asked Aunt Petunia:
"Aunt Petunia, can you read this to me?"
he asked in a sweet voice, capable of melting anyone's heart.
Perhaps due to his young age and the absence of magical incidents until then, Petunia agreed to read the comic to him.
And so, Harry read his first "book" and met his first hero: Spider-Man.]