Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 224 February 1992, 12

On December 25, 1991, the most significant event since the Great War occurred in the Muggle world.

Following the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, the once unbreakable alliance crumbled on its own.

After this incident, the great northern power became a complete laughing stock.

Leaders of major Western powers even disregard their appearance and smile broadly in public.

From this point on, the international landscape of the Muggle world underwent a major change.

A year later, the world is in a period of reshaping after the collapse of the bipolar world order, showing the transitional characteristics of the old order collapsing and the new order yet to be established.

The most important thing is the complete collapse of the bipolar system, and the formal formation of a unipolar world with multiple strong powers.

That country became the sole superpower, reaching the pinnacle of its political influence, military projection capabilities, and ideological output.

It considers itself a "world leader," dominates international affairs, and its unipolar hegemony is dominant.

In fact, even if it doesn't claim to be so, the vast majority of people in the world already regard it as a beacon of humanity, a hope for the future, and a guiding light.

Although the magical world is relatively closed off, this event did have some impact.

This was true worldwide, and for Britain, 1992 was also a turbulent year.

In April, the Conservative Party narrowly defeated the Labour Party, securing its fourth consecutive term in power.

Because Britain had already officially joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), and the collapse of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe led to the reunification of East and West Germany, Germany experienced inflation.

With the German mark appreciating rapidly, Britain would have needed to lower interest rates to stimulate its economy.

However, the ERM restricted the flexibility of its monetary policy at this moment, resulting in the German mark continuing to strengthen and the pound being forced to raise interest rates to maintain its exchange rate, further dragging down the British economy.

Against this backdrop, a man emerged who brought down the Bank of England.

He seized the opportunity and, in September, hedge funds massively shorted the pound.

The Bank of England responded by raising interest rates from 10% to 15% and spending £34 billion of its foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the market.

Even so, it still couldn't stop the pound sterling from falling below the ERM lower bound.

The end result was that the man profited nearly $10 billion, Britain was forced to withdraw from the ERM, and the pound sterling plummeted by 15% against the dollar.

This event became the most serious currency crisis in postwar Britain, and also cast a shadow over Britain's path to joining the European Union.

Even this day was dubbed Black Wednesday, and its enormous impact directly led to a sharp drop in the Conservative government's approval ratings, forced the Chancellor of the Exchequer to resign, and completely shattered the Conservative Party's credibility in managing the economy.

Britain's middle class suffered heavy losses in this event.

but.

That summer, when the Holmes and Granger families returned to London from Godric's Hollow, Mr. Holmes specifically reminded Mr. Granger of this matter.

Having already taken Mr. Holmes' advice in 1991 and made a fortune by borrowing rubles, he followed suit this time as well, exchanging his family's reserves of pounds for dollars and gold in advance.

As a result, he made a fortune during the financial crisis, doubling his family's wealth.

Mr. Holmes had already told Sherlock about this when he first returned home.

So when Sherlock saw that Hermione hadn't sent any Christmas presents by owls, he deduced that Hermione's family would be coming to his house around this time.

Sherlock's deductions were accurate as always.

When he went downstairs for breakfast, Mrs. Holmes excitedly told the whole family the news.

The Granger family will be visiting today, and the two families will spend Christmas together.

"It seems our family has an even better relationship with the Grangers than I thought, Mom!"

Upon hearing her eldest son's words, Mrs. Holmes immediately laughed: "Of course, Mycroft!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because their family is very similar to ours. They were originally ordinary people, but a child in their family has magical abilities!"

"I see."

"That's not all! Hermione and Sherlock knew each other before school even started!"

Mrs. Holmes recounted at length how they met in Diagon Alley, how the Grangers were initially flustered in the face of a completely unknown world, and how she enthusiastically stepped forward to help.

Seeing that Mycroft was listening with great interest, Sherlock pretended not to notice.

At this time last year, Mycroft had already figured out his social relationships at school very well.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have called Harry and paid him to spy on him.

However, seeing that his mother was engrossed in the conversation, Sherlock did not expose her.

"Speaking of which, that kid named Harry is just like Sherlock and Hermione."

His family are ordinary people; they only learned last year that he was actually a wizard.

“My dear Varita, that child is not like Sherlock and Hermione; his parents are both wizards.”

"I know, but that poor child lost his parents at a young age and grew up in his aunt and uncle's house. That family is really..."

At this point, Mrs. Holmes shook her head repeatedly as she recalled her trip to Privet Drive.

"I originally asked Sherlock to invite him to our house for the holiday again, but he refused. He must feel embarrassed..."

"Actually, Harry's relationship with the Dursleys has improved quite a bit now."

Seeing his mother looking at him, Sherlock explained, "Harry received much better gifts this year than last year."

Harry included a letter with his Christmas gift to himself, explaining why he was sending it and mentioning his recent life at school.

Compared to last Christmas, the Dursleys gave him twice as many gifts this year.

A best-selling snack and a game console in the Muggle world.

Although the video game console used to be Dudley's toy, he only played it once before discarding it, leaving it practically brand new. It was something Harry had once dreamed of, but now that he was at Hogwarts, he wasn't particularly interested in it anymore.

On the contrary, Ron and the Weasley twins were very fond of it.

The three of them often argued over the right to use the game console.

As for snacks like cola, sunflower seeds, and popcorn, Harry and his friends who stayed at school enjoyed them to their hearts' content.

"That's right."

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Mr. Holmes summarized by saying:

"Family, friendship, and love are the most precious gifts God has given to mankind."

As he spoke, his gaze lingered between the two brothers.

Sherlock and Mycroft both gave their father obedient smiles.

Around noon, the doorbell rang, and the Granger family appeared at Sherlock's door.

"Merry Christmas!"

After embracing each other, the Holmes couple and the Granger couple quickly led them into the house.

"You're welcome to come, why bring a gift!"

"You must come to our house next year!"

Mr. Granger took Mr. Holmes's hand and said.

"no problem!"

Seeing Hermione run towards Sherlock as soon as she entered, old Holmes smiled broadly and agreed without hesitation.

Whenever Mr. Holmes and Mr. Granger get together, they always end up playing Wizards' Chess.

After all, Mr. Granger couldn't do this with his wife at home.

Although Mr. Granger was never a match for Mr. Holmes, he still enjoyed it immensely.

Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Granger always managed to find common ground.

For example, right now, they are studying the handmade sweater that Mrs. Weasley knitted for Sherlock.

Mrs. Granger pointed to the large red "S" on the chest of her sweater and said to Mrs. Holmes:

“Valita, my Hermione received one too—don’t be fooled by the fact that the styles are the same, even though the letters are different, it took a lot of effort to make it.”

“Indeed, and judging from the weaving, the child’s mother is very skilled,” Mrs. Holmes agreed.

Hermione naturally pulled Sherlock to a corner of the living room, took a book from her bag, and handed it to Sherlock with anticipation:
"Sherlock, this is my Christmas present for you!"
Since we were coming over today anyway, we didn't send Watson on another trip, after all, it's quite a heavy item.

When I woke up this morning and didn't see my gift, did you think I forgot about it?

She winked and said mischievously to Sherlock.

"No, I knew you were coming to my house today when I didn't see the gift you brought."

Sherlock accepted the Christmas present Hermione gave him as he spoke.

Hermione: "..."

Sherlock didn't notice Hermione's expression, but when he saw the "Collection of Magical Crime Cases," his gaze turned strange.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

Sherlock didn't speak, but simply pointed to the table beside him.

There was also a book there, which he had been reading before Hermione's family arrived.

Hermione looked in the direction Sherlock was pointing and her gaze froze.

Another book in the "Case Studies of Magical Crimes" series!
Before Christmas last year, she, who didn't know much about Sherlock, specifically sought out Harry and Ron to hold a small meeting to discuss sending Sherlock a Christmas present.

Ultimately, the gift she decided to give was this book, "The Magical Crime Casebook".

However, plans don't always go as expected. Sherlock gave Hermione a copy of "Makeup Made Easy" for Christmas.

When Hermione's girlish temper flared up, she simply replaced the prepared gift with Lockhart's book, "The Art of Conversation".

Come on, hurt each other!

Of course, she soon regretted it.

As she learned more about Sherlock's character, she realized that sending him that book was pointless.

And that was indeed the case. A year later, Sherlock was not exactly the same as before, though not entirely without improvement.

Not long ago at the Duel Club, Sherlock delivered a critical hit to Hermione.

Hermione was certain that she would remember the phrase "If you're bad, practice more" for the rest of her life.

She had originally planned to send the book out again during the summer vacation.

Unexpectedly, after a trip to the Netherlands, a more suitable gift was found, so the matter was postponed.

What she didn't expect was that, because of this delay, by the time she sent the gift, Sherlock already had it!
"Did you... buy this yourself?"

Hermione spoke with difficulty, clinging to a sliver of hope.

"No, this is a Christmas present that someone gave me."

"who is it?"

“You know her too, Gemma Farley.”

Hermione: (︿)「

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(End of this chapter)