Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 189 The Crazy Girl

"After Quirrell's incident, the Defense Against the Dark Arts position became vacant again this year, and Dumbledore approached him."

Although he did achieve a great deal, everyone, including myself, remembers his performance during his student days, so we were all baffled by Dumbledore's decision.

At the time, I thought that this was because they couldn't find anyone to take the course, so they chose him.

But now it seems that perhaps I really misjudged him back then.

I think your view is correct. Although he was fame-seeking, vain, and even had impure motives for becoming a professor at Hogwarts, he is still a qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

With that, Professor Flitwick had finished expressing his opinion on Lockhart.

Just as Sherlock had expected, as the headmaster of Ravenclaw, he knew far more than anyone else.

Sherlock clasped his hands together, resting his chin on them, and fell silent.

"Sherlock, as long as he can teach his students real skills, why bother trying to uncover his secrets?"

After all, everyone at Hogwarts has their own secrets, doesn't they?

As he said this, Professor Flitwick seemed to be thinking of something, and a faint melancholy appeared in his eyes.

Sherlock did not notice this.

After a moment, he lowered his hands and stood up.

"Are you leaving now?"

Professor Flitwick was somewhat surprised by his actions.

"Yes, Professor, your description is very clear and has been a great help. Thank you."

Professor Flitwick was taken aback when he saw Sherlock politely thank him and leave, then burst out laughing.

"This little guy is really..."

He shook his head and buried himself back in the mountain of parchment work.

Leaving Professor Flitwick's office, Sherlock carefully reviewed the information Professor Flitwick had provided.

Possessing above-average magical talent, she is ambitious and driven by self-interest. She achieved good grades during her school years but frequently caused controversy.

After graduating, he traveled the world, suddenly had an epiphany, and ultimately staged a triumphant return...

"No wonder I almost got sorted into Slytherin."

A smile crept across Sherlock's lips.

Lockhart's traits are indeed very similar to those of Slytherin.

Professor Flitwick now admits he misjudged Lockhart and advises Sherlock not to continue digging into Lockhart's secrets.

Sherlock didn't seem to have any objections to this.

In this kind of matter, actions speak louder than intentions. As long as he can teach people real skills, it doesn't matter if his motives are impure.

As for the sense of contradiction I sensed from him, it was reasonably explained after Professor Flitwick's description.

It's nothing more than a struggle between ideals and reality.

However, even though Professor Flitwick knew everything about Lockhart, there were still many doubts about him.

The biggest question is that Lockhart's mastery of magic, as a professor, has also changed.

Only he noticed that Lockhart's spell proficiency had actually increased by quite a bit compared to Lockhart in the first lesson.

Today, almost everyone believes that Lockhart intentionally went easy on his opponent in the first lesson.

However, Sherlock saw it very clearly.

Lockhart's panic when the sprite first came out of the gate was genuine.

More importantly, he resisted using the spells that were actually effective from the beginning.

On the contrary, he is more fond of the self-created "Pisquez" spell.

Even if those spells didn't work.

During each Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Lockhart felt a sense of disgust and resistance whenever those very useful spells were used.

This feeling will only lessen or even disappear after the spell is successfully cast.

However, everyone's attention was focused on the effects of these spells, and no one noticed this.

Sherlock walked and pondered, and when he came to his senses, he was astonished to find that he had unknowingly walked out of Hogwarts Castle.

They had not only left Hogwarts Castle, but had even arrived at the school gates.

What's even more amazing is that they haven't been discovered by anyone else after walking all this way.

Sherlock quickly realized that even though he was walking in a daze, he still instinctively used his stealth skills and successfully avoided the sight of most people.

This had become his instinct.

However, since he had already arrived at the school gate, Sherlock simply walked out of the gate.

This is the place they arrived at by horse-drawn carriage when school started.

I still remember that back then, only I could see the creature pulling the horse-drawn carriage.

As he was pondering this, he suddenly noticed a horse-drawn carriage parked at the school gate.

The magical creature that remained hidden between the carriage and the shaft was still invisible to others.

Besides that, there was another person standing there.

A girl who looks a bit strange.

From Sherlock's perspective, he could only see the girl's back.

She had dark golden-brown hair and wore a pair of carrot-shaped earrings. With Sherlock's extraordinary observational skills, he also noticed that she wore a strangely shaped necklace and that her wand was tucked behind her left ear.

Even though it was just a silhouette, it had a strange quality to it.

However, this was not the point for Sherlock.

The key point is that the girl was reaching out and gently stroking the back of the magical creature.

Without a doubt, she, like herself, could also see these creatures that others could not.

By now, Sherlock had found information about this magical creature.

Thestral.

Their origin is unknown, but they still exist in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts.

This creature is essentially a type of Pegasus, with a dragon-like head, a horse-like body, and a pair of black wings like those of a bat.

Its eyes were silver-white with no pupils, and the huge black horse had no flesh on its body; its fur clung tightly to its bones.

On the first day of school, because of the heavy rain and his eagerness to attend the opening ceremony, Sherlock was unable to observe carefully.

Looking at it again today, you can see that its bones are clearly visible, it has a long black tail, and its wings grow from the raised areas between the bones.

"You can see them too, right?"

Just then, the girl suddenly spoke.

This was the second time the girl had surprised Sherlock.

He was very confident in his stealth abilities.

The fact that they haven't been discovered along the way speaks volumes.

I never expected that I would be discovered by this girl in less than a minute while I was standing here.

Keep in mind that this girl hasn't turned around yet.

In other words, she noticed someone approaching while her back was to her.

Furthermore, the fact that the other party could also see the Thestrals' special physique immediately piqued Sherlock's interest.

Before Sherlock could answer, the girl had already turned around.

Aside from the dark golden-brown hair that was just visible from behind, the girl had pale skin and very light eyebrows.

A pair of silver eyes bulged slightly outwards, and although they were looking at me, they gave the impression of being large but lifeless.

Besides the pair of carrot-shaped earrings, Sherlock also noticed the necklace around her neck, which was made of beer bottle corks.

When Sherlock saw her face clearly, his eyes lit up.

Because he found the relevant information in the attic of his own memory.

This girl... he had seen her before.

At the same time, the girl's lifeless eyes seemed to finally see Sherlock's appearance clearly:
“You are Sherlock Holmes, I know you.”

Although the other party called him by name immediately, Sherlock was not surprised. Instead, he slowly said:

“I know you too, a freshman who was assigned to Ravenclaw.”

Born into a wizarding family, her mother died early, and she was raised by her father. An only child, she loves reading, and her name is…

Sherlock tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said simply, "I forgot."

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, the girl's eyes bulged even more, and she looked extremely surprised.
"You don't even know my name, so how do you know all this?"

Before Sherlock could answer, the girl laughed again and said in a singing voice:
"How stupid of me! You're Sherlock Holmes, it's perfectly normal for you to know these things!"

That's quite right.

Sherlock noticed that the girl had a distinctly eccentric air about her.

So what is your name?

"Luna Lovegood".

She stared intently at Sherlock. "You can call me Luna, and may I call you Sherlock?"

Faced with this seemingly rash reason, Sherlock calmly replied, "As you see fit."

"I've always believed that exceptional intelligence is humanity's greatest treasure. Sherlock, don't you think so?"

"Intelligence is indeed a valuable asset, but it is not the only asset of mankind."

Courage, kindness, and loyalty are equally important; often, they determine a person's worth more than intelligence.

Luna tilted her head, listening intently to Sherlock's answer.

Despite it being their first meeting, the two communicated as smoothly as old friends.

At the same time, neither Sherlock nor Luna took it for granted and were not surprised at all.

The two continued their rapid-fire conversation:

"You know me and understand me because you've heard about me from other people, Penelope, Cho Chang, or Petit?"

“It’s Prefect Penelope, and Ginny, Ginny Weasley.”

"Ha, this is unexpected."

“Oh… how should I put it… I guess they think I’m a bit odd—in fact, some people call me ‘Crazy Girl’ Lovegood.”

But Ginny stopped them from calling me that, so we became good friends. Actually, I don't think they were wrong.

"It's a coincidence, I don't consider myself a normal person either, but that's not important—how did you find me just now?"

(End of this chapter)