"Come, Dear, try this one on."
"You also think this one looks very good, right, Vernon?"
"But this is a dress, Aunt Petunia," Harley spoke softly, a faint blush climbing up her cheeks.
"But this one really looks good; it goes especially well with your hair."
Aunt Petunia held a moon-white dress in front of Harley, sizing it up. "Let's get this one. We'll just buy this one, just one. You will definitely look very, very good in it."
"I also think it's great. It really suits you, Leah, I mean it!"
Uncle Vernon also chimed in from the side. At this moment, his hands were full of shopping bags, yet he was full of energy and vitality, showing none of the breathlessness or fatigue usually associated with accompanying someone shopping.
"Th... O... Okay then."
Harley, truly not knowing what else to say, bit the bullet and nodded. Although she realized the dress was very pretty, the problem was that the person wearing this dress wasn't someone else, but herself.
How am I supposed to wear a dress!
Harley, who really wanted to squat in a corner and draw circles, covered her face. This shy and cute appearance made Aunt Petunia's eyes practically light up.
"You'll get used to it slowly, Leah." Petunia linked arms with Harley, then led her to the next stop. "Now let's pick out a few pairs of glasses for you to match your clothes."
Harley, who had been alive for eleven years and had never experienced such generous treatment, felt a bit resistant, yet also somewhat moved. She could feel the unreserved kindness her aunt and uncle were showing her right now, and this inevitably made her fall into deep thought.
Did Dad really do something to Uncle and Aunt in the past? To make their impression of him so poor...
Just because I became a girl and look like Mom, is the change really this obvious?
At this moment, Harley clearly felt Aunt Petunia's longing and love for her own mother; at the same time, this further highlighted just how deep her disgust for Harley's father was.
For almost the entire morning, they were buying things left and right in the mall. There were so many packages they almost couldn't fit into the trunk and back seat of Uncle Vernon's new car.
After enjoying a sumptuous lunch at a great French restaurant, Uncle Vernon drove them home. Dudley, who had been left at home, ran out eagerly. Having not eaten lunch, he was starving, but at this moment, he didn't dare harbor even a bit of resentment.
"You're being sensible today."
Seeing Dudley actively coming over to open the car door and move luggage, Aunt Petunia nodded with satisfaction. "Now you know to take care of your sister, right?"
"We brought you pizza." Aunt Petunia took out a packed 12-inch pizza and handed it over.
"Thanks, Mum!"
Dudley, almost jumping up to cheer, hurriedly stepped forward, bubbling with joy.
"It was Ha... Leah who said to bring it for you. She guessed you hadn't had lunch."
Dudley looked gratefully at Harley standing by the car, suddenly feeling an impulse to cry from being moved.
Harley actually remembered me! Even though I previously... Boohoo... I was such a jerk before...
Holding the pizza box and running to the side to eat—practically using his tears as dipping sauce—Dudley felt this somewhat cold pizza was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten in his life, bar none!
Aunt Petunia began to reorganize and decorate the new room belonging to Harley. The bedding was all new, and she bought many decorations, all knick-knacks Aunt Petunia picked out herself.
Harley, unable to help, was sent to rest in the living room, but she felt a bit restless.
"Aunt Petunia, I'm going out for a bit."
Harley walked to the door on the second floor and spoke to Aunt Petunia, who was busy. She planned to go meet Lynn; at the very least, she needed to figure some things out.
"Hmm... alright. You know Privet Drive very well. Be careful out there, and come back before dinner." Aunt Petunia instructed, then stuffed a 20-pound note into Harley's hand. "If you want to eat anything, just buy it. You're a bit too thin, Leah. If you gain a little more weight, you'll definitely be even cuter."
Stepping out the door, bright sunshine fell from overhead. Hair like black satin fell like a waterfall, swaying gently with Harley's steps. Although the new clothes on her body were in a boyish style, wearing them didn't feel incongruous at all. Instead, it gave a visual impression of being neat and dashing.
With enough good looks to support it, anything actually looks good worn. Even wearing a tattered sack could be called high fashion.
The road to the small park wasn't long; a slow walk would only take ten minutes or so. But Harley felt this road was very, very long—so long that by the time she walked to the small park, the anger she had harbored when leaving the house to question him had unknowingly dissipated a great deal.
"You're here."
Lynn, who was sitting on a swing swaying back and forth, was holding a book in his hand—a Muggle magazine. After seeing Harley, Lynn put the book away.
"Why didn't you tell me what the price was before?"
Harley gathered her remaining anger and spoke somewhat aggressively: "I—"
But her words were immediately interrupted. Lynn asked just one sentence, stuffing the many words at the tip of Harley's tongue right back in.
"Have your uncle and aunt, and even your cousin, changed their opinion of you?"
Harley was silent for a long time, finally nodding slightly, albeit somewhat reluctantly: "Yes... they have."
"Then your wish has come true, right?"
"Yes... but—"
"Everything requires a price. This price might be small, but it might also not be small. So, do you think the price you paid to achieve this wish is big or small?"
"Of course the price is huge!" Harley glared at Lynn. "I am a boy, not a girl!"
"Is that so? What if you think about it more carefully?"
Lynn looked into Harley's eyes and spoke calmly.
"If being a boy is better than being a girl, then where is it better?"
This question stunned Harley. At eleven years old, the things one thinks about are simple; one hasn't encountered those complex matters of the future.
"But... I..."
"Perhaps you are thinking that as a boy, you will meet a girl you like in the future?" Lynn looked at Harley with interest, then patted the swing next to him, signaling her to sit down and chat.
"No... although there is that..."
"Who made the rule that girls can't like girls?" Lynn spread his hands. "Some things, you can look at from another angle."
"For example, you meet a girl who makes your heart flutter. If you were a boy, would you have a way to get to know her quickly and become friends?"
Harley paused. She knew she wasn't good at dealing with people, especially girls.
"Probably not..."
"Then here comes the problem. The girl who makes your heart flutter must be pretty, right?"
"Mmh..." Harley nodded slightly.
"Then a pretty girl will also be liked by others, right?"
"Yes..."
"You aren't good at dealing with girls, and your 'character model' isn't exactly a top-tier handsome guy, so what you will encounter then is—watching the girl you like throw herself into someone else's arms."
Harley's face went from slightly red to somewhat pale, then darkened a few shades. She visualized it following Lynn's words just now and felt the scene came with its own sickly green filter.
"But what if you are a girl?" Lynn said with a smile. "You can very easily become friends with that girl. You can chat with her with absolutely no burden. You can even go to class together, eat together, or even rest in the same dormitory. Even more, if you can't sleep at night and lift her covers to sleep with her, she wouldn't refuse."
"Maybe you can even bathe in the same pool. If you want to kiss her, there is a high probability she wouldn't mind your actions."
"From a boy's perspective, this is simply a scene one wouldn't dare to dream of, right?"
Harley's face turned completely red. She absolutely hadn't thought of so many things, but after Lynn brought them up, a sense of excitement arose spontaneously. However, as Harley gradually accepted her gender identity, this feeling would also slowly fade away.
An eleven-year-old child is at an age of ignorant enlightenment, the period of highest plasticity.
"Since that's the case, do you still need to have any psychological burden?"
Harley looked up at Lynn's clear eyes, suddenly unable to say anything in rebuttal. Compared to her previous life, just simply changing her gender had changed everything she encountered.
"Then..." After hesitating for a long time, Harley asked in a small voice, "Then is there any way for me to change back?"
"You just need to eat another one of the cookies from before. But regrettably, I only had that one piece. As for a second one... I don't know when I'll get another. Maybe next month, maybe next year, or even longer."
There were over a thousand types of props that had appeared in Doraemon's pocket, not counting those products with technology higher than the 22nd century. The items spawned by his own "treasure garbage bag" were random, and in the vast majority of cases, it was just one item per month.
In the three years he had obtained it, only once had it spawned three items, and they were three duplicate Bamboo Copters.
To be honest, Lynn himself wasn't confident he could wait for the arrival of a second Gender-Swap Cookie.
"In other words, there's basically no possibility of me changing back?"
"There is still hope, but the probability is indeed not high," Lynn said truthfully. "But no matter what, the current result is good, isn't it?"
"Maybe... I guess?" Harley spoke uncertainly, but she was also clear that at least it wasn't worse than before.
"So, are you happy now?"
Lynn said with a smile, "You now have your own new room, new clothes, and an aunt who wants to pour all her longing for her sister onto you and care for you. Your uncle and your cousin have also changed their views of you."
"Are you happy?"
Lynn asked once more.
Harley didn't answer for a long while. She just swung the swing, kicking the stones under her feet just like yesterday, falling into some kind of contemplation.
"I should be... happy, I suppose..."
Harley murmured, but when she looked up again, Lynn was already gone.
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