Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 239 Voldemort Gets His Wish

"Judging from Lockhart's lessons to us, he must have initially resisted after receiving the dark magic items left by Voldemort for the Malfoy family."

But when he discovered that what Voldemort taught him was truly useful, enabling him to shed the label of a mere fraudster and become a genuinely capable professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, he succumbed.

As time went on, he naturally became more and more deeply involved, which manifested in his increasingly adept performance in the Defense Against the Dark Arts course.

Until... he was completely controlled by Voldemort and became his puppet.

"So the person who actually taught us Defense Against the Dark Arts this semester was Voldemort?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Harry couldn't help but cry out.

"Voldemort taught us, but he wasn't entirely Voldemort."

Sherlock looked at the astonished Harry and explained:
"Judging from Professor Lockhart's performance in the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, this doesn't seem like something Voldemort would do."

When Harry heard Sherlock say that, he recalled Lockhart's behavior in class.

Thinking about how he had his students recite long passages of his books and spent most of his time performing stage plays, I suddenly realized that Sherlock was right.

Even if Voldemort did act like a moron last year, he wouldn't have done something like this.

"This may be Lockhart's last stand."

Sherlock continued, "If he is indeed influenced by Voldemort's dark magic items, then it's only a matter of time before he is completely controlled—I don't think he has the mind and ability to resist him."

At this point, he looked at Dumbledore.

After hearing Sherlock's words, Dumbledore let out a long sigh:

“I was already the principal when I was studying at Gilderoy, and I share the same opinion of him as Felius. I also know more about what happened to him after he graduated.”

Sherlock wore an expression that said, "I knew it."

Dumbledore noticed Sherlock's look and felt somewhat embarrassed.

But having come this far, I could only brazenly continue:

After graduating from Hogwarts, Gilderoy became a moderately famous author and traveled to various exotic places around the world.

His performance in school was actually passable, but he quickly went astray after graduation, with only one exception—the Oblivion Curse.

Few people know that Gilderoy was extremely skilled in the Oblivion Spell.

It's no exaggeration to say that he's not even inferior to me or Felius.

Hearing this, Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

He had already deduced what Dumbledore was about to say.

"Later, his books became bestsellers, and he began to bravely and tenaciously fight against black magic. Even Gilderoy's former teacher began to think that he might have misjudged him."

However, the truth is that Gilderoy, with his handsome face and sweet talk, deceived accomplished wizards and witches into revealing their greatest deeds, and then used a master-level forgetting spell to erase their memories.

Every time he returned to England, he would write a book recounting the heroic deeds that belonged to others.

Those whose memories were erased by Gilderoy included an old Armenian wizard and a witch with a hairy chin.

Coincidentally, I knew the two wizards whose memories had been erased by Gilderoy, so I knew exactly what had happened.

"So you believe that as long as Lockhart is put into a normal school life, his hoax will be exposed."

Therefore, you imply to him that if he can become the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, he will be the boy who survived, the savior of the wizarding world, and the nemesis of the Dark Lord—Harry Potter's teacher.

With Lockhart's self-marketing skills, he immediately realized that as long as he could do this one thing well, he could gain more popularity than anything else.

So you hit it off immediately and became accomplices.

You have once again solved the problem of why no one dared to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

He also received the honors he desired.

The only ones sacrificed were the students of Hogwarts and Harry Potter, who was being used without realizing it.

Describing you as despicable, cunning, and unscrupulous is truly apt.

However, judging from Lockhart's actions this semester, your move was actually a lucky accident that yielded unexpected results.

Lockhart was controlled by Voldemort and taught us many useful things. Voldemort himself got what he wanted and finally became a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

If Professor Lockhart were to ultimately be killed by Voldemort, he could say he died without regrets and in a worthy manner.

When Sherlock spoke these words at breakneck speed, following Dumbledore's description of Lockhart, Dumbledore, Harry, and even the portraits of the past headmasters on the wall were all stunned.

The artists noticed a problem: they had this feeling every time Sherlock came to the headmaster's office.

It's just a matter of degree.

"Albus, your student is truly... very special."

After a moment, it was finally Headmaster Dippet, who had previously interacted with Sherlock, who spoke up, giving Sherlock a look of utter exasperation:
"You guys continue chatting, I'm going out for a walk."

As soon as he finished speaking, the portrait on the wall was completely removed.

"They ran away again..."

Dumbledore said softly.

Sherlock was not surprised at all: "Didn't I say last time that you'll get used to it after running around for a while?"

Dumbledore: (°°)
"Let's get back to the main topic."

Sherlock's expression turned serious as he spoke:
“Headmaster, my current deduction is that the three openings of the Chamber of Secrets were all done by Lockhart, who was under Voldemort’s control. During this process, Professor Lockhart was most likely unconscious. However, he did struggle, which can be seen from the fact that he did not write those words on the wall by his own hand the first time.”

"Were there other people involved in this matter?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Dumbledore also became serious.

"Pansy, the Slytherin girl who always liked to follow Malfoy around."

Unlike Dumbledore, Sherlock didn't always hide his reasoning; he directly explained his reasoning process:
"At first I thought it was Ginny Weasley, but then I realized the handwriting on the wall was different from hers."

I've been looking for the person who wrote this since Halloween.

I found quite a few people who met the criteria, but I later excluded them one by one.

I've already asked Gemma for Pansy's handwriting, so I believe there shouldn't be any further twists and turns.

"So that's why you sent Ron to see Prefect Farley!"

Harry suddenly realized.

Dumbledore looked at Sherlock with a satisfied smile. "Sherlock, just when I think you've done enough, you always bring me new surprises. I'll remind Severus to keep an eye on Miss Perkins."

"Thank you for your compliment, Principal. If you had told me this from the beginning, you would have been pleasantly surprised instead of surprised."

"In fact, even if you hadn't come to see me today, I would have invited you here anyway."

Dumbledore looked at Sherlock and Harry with a serious expression and said:

"Please allow me to explain those seemingly 'indulgent' moments in the most honest way."

Sherlock, you are used to piecing together the truth from the details; Harry, you faced the darkness as an infant.

Perhaps... we should start by discussing the two-sided nature of restriction and trust.

Harry nodded, and Sherlock leaned back slightly: "I'm all ears."

Dumbledore's half-moon spectacles began to reflect light:
"I truly did not know of the existence of the basilisk during that incident fifty years ago."

At the time, I had my suspicions about Tom, but I had no evidence to prove it until Harry showed Parseltongue, and those fragments blurred by time were pieced back together.

I will not shirk my responsibility—as the principal, it is my fault that students were injured under my wing.

When the petrification incident recurred, I remained hesitant about whether the legend had come true and failed to immediately include the basilisk in the investigation.

This is the arrogance of empiricism: I thought I knew all of Tom's secrets in the castle, that the ancient evil would erode with time, but I forgot that darkness always patiently waits for the cracks.

Dumbledore tapped his fingertips lightly on the table, his voice low and deep:

"Sherlock, you once said that if you eliminate all the impossible, then what remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

But in eliminating the impossible, I overlooked the most dangerous possibility—that the monsters of Slytherin might actually tear Hogwarts apart in peacetime.

All the excuses about trusting the younger generation cannot hide one fact:
When danger strikes, an adult's primary task is to stand in front of the child, rather than hoping that the child will raise the sword themselves.

I will make amends for this mistake—so, what do you need me to do?

This time, Sherlock did not mock Dumbledore.

However, his words still startled Dumbledore: "I need you to disappear."

"..."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, then smiled wryly and said, "Sherlock, I admit I made a mistake, but it's not enough to warrant this!"

Harry hurriedly added, "Sherlock..."

"You have misunderstood."

Sherlock waved his hand and said, "It's not time for you to apologize to the entire school yet."

What I mean is, you need to disappear from Hogwarts for a while.

"You mean I have to leave here?"

"Just like last year, although we still don't know exactly how he controlled Lockhart, your departure can lower Voldemort's guard."

Besides, if you leave now, the board of directors will probably applaud and cheer you on, won't they?"

“I understand what you mean, but I have to tell you, the Malfoy family's influence on the school board isn't as great as you think. I actually have quite a few people who support me…”

"Wouldn't that be even better? This is a perfect opportunity to kick out those who don't support you!"

"Retreat in order to advance?"

"That's it."

Sherlock nodded. "I will find the secret room soon, and then we can trap it like a turtle in a jar."

However, Mr. Principal, I hope you can take action in time this time, and not stand idly by like you did last year.

After all, this time we no longer need to verify the effects of that ancient spell.

"Don't worry."

Seeing that Dumbledore had made a promise, Sherlock felt he should reciprocate and offered him a word of comfort:
"Don't worry, even if you leave the school, Hogwarts' daily operations will not be affected in any way."

Professor McGonagall is perfectly capable of fulfilling the duties of the principal; your presence or absence makes little difference.

Dumbledore: (￣▽￣)

(End of this chapter)