Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 237 Squatting in the corner drawing circles

Ron felt inexplicably uncomfortable when he saw Hermione's enlightened look at him.

But Hermione didn't say anything.

This prevented him from expressing his thoughts, even if he had them.

Hermione then turned her gaze to Sherlock: "There's one more thing."

"What you want to ask is why these people didn't die, but were merely petrified, right?"

Hermione nodded repeatedly, and Harry and Ron also looked at Sherlock, as they were also curious about the question.

"This question requires bold assumptions and careful verification—any creature that looks directly at the basilisk will die instantly, but what if it doesn't look directly at the basilisk?"

Colin saw it through a camera; the film in the camera was burned, but he himself escaped unharmed.

Cho Chang and Penelope saw the basilisk through the ghost Nick's semi-transparent body, so it wasn't exactly a direct eye contact with the basilisk.

Nick, who was almost headless, did see the basilisk directly, but the problem was that it was a ghost.

Creatures that are already dead cannot die again, which is why they turn into that black, smoky state.

By eliminating all impossibilities, we arrive at the answer: unless the basilisk's eyes are seen without any obstruction, this black magic that causes instant death is weakened, manifesting as petrification.

Sherlock stopped there.

Ron, who was listening with great interest, quickly asked, "What about Lady Lorris? Why was Lady Lorris petrified?"

Sherlock looked at him with a sympathetic gaze.

Ron was still completely bewildered.

Hermione sighed upon seeing this and offered a timely reminder: "You might want to think about the scene of the crime on Halloween Eve."

"I get it, it's water!" Harry was the first to react. "Mrs. Norris must have seen the basilisk's eyes through the reflection in that puddle!"

"correct answer!"

Sherlock snapped his fingers. "Mrs. Lorris is just a cat. Her field of vision is much lower than that of a human, so it's perfectly normal for her to look down and see the basilisk's reflection in the water."

"Now everything is clear!"

Harry exclaimed excitedly, "The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is the Basilisk! Sherlock, Hermione, you guys are amazing!"

However, Hermione, who was initially the most excited, poured cold water on Harry's enthusiasm at this moment.

Even if we know that the monster that is harming people is a basilisk, it cannot be considered the real culprit.

Harry fell silent.

Yeah, so what if we know it's a basilisk?
It didn't just run out of the secret room on its own; it needs to find the person who opened it.

“My dear Hermione, you’re wrong.”

"wrong?"

"We can do at least three things right now."

Sherlock held up three fingers:

"First, knowing that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk means that besides Harry, there is another person in the school who can speak the language, and he is the true heir of Slytherin."

In addition, we can make targeted arrangements to exploit the basilisk's weaknesses and prevent more people from being harmed.

Secondly, since we know that the weeping Myrtle is the same person who died fifty years ago, we can directly ask her what happened back then.

If my deduction is correct, then we have a high probability of finding the location of the secret room through her.

third……"

Sherlock stood up and said, "I'm going to see Dumbledore."

"Again?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, the three of them were taken aback.

It hasn't been long since Sherlock last met Dumbledore, has it?
Why do I have to see him again?
Before they could even ask, Sherlock turned to Harry and said, "Harry, come with me."

"Oh, just Harry?"

Hermione and Ron initially thought Sherlock would be going to storm the headmaster's office alone again, just like before, and didn't have any objections to it.

But when he saw that he was now carrying Harry alone, he immediately felt something was wrong.

"Hermione, I would be very grateful if you could do something for me."

"whats the matter?"

Hermione immediately straightened her back and perked up upon hearing this.

"Lend me some money."

"what?"

Not only Hermione, but Harry and Ron were also stunned.

Would Sherlock ever be short of money?

impossible!

Even if his family wasn't well-off, or even if his family wasn't particularly well-off, he had already earned a considerable amount of Galleons by working as a consulting detective at school.

Even if business isn't as good as last year because of the escape room incident, it shouldn't be to the point of having to borrow money, right?
"Have you run out of Galleons?" Hermione asked quickly. "How many do you need? I have all I have..."

Harry added, "If that's not enough, I have more."

Ron: _〆(Д｀)
In this situation, Ron stopped talking and went to a corner to draw circles.

Other things are fine, but in this kind of situation, there's really no room for him to make a move.

“Dear Harry, I don’t want Galleons, I need Muggle money.”

Harry: _〆(Д｀)
Upon hearing that Sherlock didn't need money from the wizarding world, Harry glanced at Ron, who was still in the corner, and tacitly walked over to him to draw circles together.

He had less Muggle currency than Ron had magical world currency.

Hermione asked, puzzled, "What do you need Muggle money for?"

"Buy some things that we'll need in the future."

"what?"

"..." After hearing Sherlock's words, Hermione was taken aback at first, then nodded. "Okay, leave it to me. Is there anything else I need to do?"

Clearly, Hermione considered this a trivial matter.

"Go find Myrtle."

Sherlock said calmly, "If we can find out from her what happened fifty years ago, and if all goes well, we can start looking for the Chamber of Secrets once I return from Dumbledore."

"it is good!"

Hermione nodded emphatically.

She is the most suitable person to do this.

After all, the weeping Myrtle spends every day in the girls' restroom.

Even if it's for the purpose of investigating a case, it's not a good idea to send Sherlock, Harry, and Ron there.

Surely the secret room isn't located in the girls' restroom?

When Ron heard that Sherlock had given Hermione two things to do—borrow money and go find Myrtle—he was immediately dismayed.

Is he really that useless?
If there's really nothing else to do, taking one more person to find Dumbledore isn't a bad idea!

"Ron, there's one more thing I need your help with."

"whats the matter?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Ron perked up as well.

"Go find Gemma and give her this letter. Be careful to keep it a secret and don't let anyone else know."

Ron was taken aback at first, but when he heard the words "keep it a secret," he immediately smiled and patted his chest to assure him:

"no problem."

Hermione, who was standing nearby, opened her mouth, but also fell silent after hearing the words "be careful to keep it a secret".

The four then split into three groups: Sherlock and Harry went to find Dumbledore, Hermione headed straight for the girls' lavatory, and Ron went to find Gemma Farley.

"Oops!"

After walking for a while, Ron suddenly remembered something.

I don't even know where Gemma is, how am I supposed to find her?
Should I ask someone from Slytherin House?
That's a joke.

He wanted to ask Sherlock, but when he turned around, he and Harry were nowhere to be seen.

"This is bad!"

Ron muttered to himself, "Am I not even as good as an owl?"

"Oh right, the owl!"

Thinking of this, Ron suddenly slapped his forehead and had an idea.

Sherlock had already led Harry to the gargoyle in front of the tower of the Headmaster's office.

He stopped and prepared to give the command.

Unexpectedly, upon seeing Sherlock, the large creature nimbly jumped aside, revealing the spiral staircase behind it.

"Don't you need a password anymore?"

"The principal instructed that if Mr. Holmes wants to come to the principal's office, no password is needed; just let him through."

"a wise decision."

This was the first time Sherlock had expressed his approval of Dumbledore's actions.

In his view, deducing the password to the principal's office was a waste of time—even if it didn't actually take much time.

Harry, listening to Sherlock's conversation with the Dripping Stone Beast, was filled with admiration.

As expected of you!

Even the principal has to give in to him!
And so, the two of them successfully rode the spiral staircase up to the principal's office.

Harry was about to pull the door knocker to knock when Sherlock simply pushed the door open with his hand.

The door opened.

Harry: "..."

Why does Sherlock feel like he's back home when he returns to the headmaster's office?

"All I can say is that you arrived earlier than I expected, but thankfully it wasn't at night this time."

Dumbledore was not surprised at all by Sherlock and Harry's arrival.

He waved his wand, and two glasses of lemonade appeared, sliding down the table to Sherlock and Harry.

"Please take a seat."

Harry seemed a little reserved, while Sherlock sat down casually.

"Since you all came together, then... is it still because of the secret room?"

"Yes, sir."

Seeing Dumbledore looking at him, Harry immediately replied excitedly, "Sherlock has found the culprit of the attack!"

Dumbledore's expression immediately turned serious. "Who is it?"

Harry quickly said, "It's a basilisk."

"The basilisk... petrified..."

Upon hearing Harry utter the name, Dumbledore's eyes behind his half-moon spectacles flickered, as if he had come to a realization.

“Sherlock, your deduction has resolved a question that has been troubling me… So, who exactly opened the secret chamber and released it?”

This time, Harry looked at Sherlock.

Because he didn't know the answer to that question either.

However, judging from the conversation between the three of them just now, it seems that Sherlock doesn't know much about it either.

That's why he brought me to find Dumbledore, right?
(End of this chapter)