Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 242 is a talented undercover agent.
No sooner had Easter ended than the young wizards, still recovering from the intense workload, Hogwarts issued a notice to the entire school:

Recently, the Hogwarts Board of Governors held a special meeting to study the malicious attacks on non-pure-blood wizards within the school.

The meeting pointed out that since last Halloween, the school has experienced several vicious attacks, resulting in the petrification of three students, a ghost, and a cat.

This fully exposes the Hogwarts leadership's complacency, weak awareness of safety, and failure to fulfill safety responsibilities. As the second-in-command of Hogwarts, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore bears leadership responsibility for this.

The meeting emphasized that for many years, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has taken it upon itself to educate and guide its own underage wizards, consistently ranking among the world's leading magic schools and Europe's exemplary magic schools. It has also treated half-blood and Muggle-born wizards equally and has never discriminated against them.

The attacks against half-blood and Muggle-born wizards this academic year have severely damaged Hogwarts' reputation and caused enormous losses to the school.

The meeting decided, in view of the principal's serious dereliction of duty, that the twelve board members unanimously decide to issue a suspension order against the principal, Albus Dumbledore, temporarily relieving him of his duties.

The position of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is temporarily being handled by Professor McGonagall, the Vice Headmaster and Head of Gryffindor House, who will be in charge of the day-to-day operations.

The notification was copied to the British Ministry of Magic, which did not raise any objections.

At this point, Headmaster Dumbledore temporarily left Hogwarts.

This incident immediately caused a huge uproar.

Although Dumbledore, as the headmaster, rarely appears at the school, he only shows up during major events.

Including the time recently when he left the school for a long period of time, but the students didn't seem to notice much of it.

Classes continued as usual, songs were sung as usual, horses were ridden as usual, and dances were performed as usual.

Under Chicken Brother's protection, the students have gradually forgotten about the secret room and the basilisk.

However, the situation changed immediately when the news of Dumbledore's impeachment by the twelve board members and his temporary removal from office was issued in the form of a formal notification.

It was only at this point that the students realized how important the smiling, white-bearded old man, whom they usually overlooked, was.

Even with the wise and capable Vice-Headmaster McGonagall in charge, the school operated as usual, and there was no disruption caused by Dumbledore's departure.

But it was only at this point that the young wizards realized that no one could replace Dumbledore.

Fear spread rapidly in an unprecedented way.

The warm sunlight can only shine into the castle through the windows, but it cannot penetrate people's hearts.

Every face in the school looked fearful and uneasy, and every laugh in the corridor sounded jarring and strange, and was often quickly suppressed as soon as it started.

of course there are exceptions.

Apart from a few people, including Sherlock who knew the inside story, Gilderoy Lockhart, the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, appeared remarkably calm.

"Gentlemen, you really don't need to do this!"

Although Albus's departure is a regret, as long as I, Gilderoy Lockhart, a third-class Merlin Order member, an honorary member of the League Against the Dark Arts, and a five-time winner of the Wizarding Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, am at school, real criminals will not dare to cause trouble.

Soon, I will write a book about the basilisk and teach everyone how to deal with it.

I've already decided on a title: "The Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts: How Lockhart Broke the Basilisk's Deadly Curse"

So please rest assured, I will protect you all during this time!

Lockhart's behavior on Valentine's Day recently has made many teachers increasingly disgusted with him.

The faculty members simply ignored his boastful remarks.

Say whatever you want, as long as it's not directed at me!

But it's different for the students.

After all, Lockhart has already demonstrated his abilities this semester, so there are quite a few people who believe his explanation.

Especially the little witches.

They thought Lockhart was handsome.

During a Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the second year, Lockhart once again dragged Neville into a demonstration of the basilisk he had killed, and even gave a preview of what the next class would be about.

He wants to bring a magical, spirit-like creature to the classroom.

That's Boggart.

Even within the entire magical world, this is a truly wondrous creature.

No one knows the true form of the Boggart, because every time it appears, it becomes the thing that those who encounter it fear most.

It was precisely because of this magical characteristic that everyone was so interested in Lockhart's next lesson.

When get out of class ended, Lockhart suddenly called out to Harry:

"Harry, I heard your next match is against Hufflepuff?"

"Yes, Professor."

Do you need me to give you another private lesson?

"No need, Professor, really no need!"

Harry was startled and quickly said, "Your teachings last time were very helpful and will be enough for me to perform well in this competition."

In a moment of desperation, Harry performed exceptionally well, even saying something that made Lockhart burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, you little rascal, you're getting better and better at talking!"
"That's alright, you can come find me anytime you change your mind."

Watching Lockhart gracefully depart, Harry thought the matter was over.

To everyone's surprise, within just half a day, a rumor spread throughout the school.

Before the last match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Professor Lockhart gave Harry, the Seeker of Gryffindor, some extra training.

With his help, Harry displayed remarkable skill and quickly located the Golden Snitch.

Because Lockhart's experience was so practical and valuable that it would benefit Harry for a lifetime, Harry didn't seek him out again this time. Meanwhile, Lockhart once again announced that his book on Quidditch was nearing completion.

This summer, "Dancing with a Broom: Lockhart's Flying Legend and Unique Ball Control Techniques" will be published together with "The Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts: How Lockhart Broke the Basilisk's Deadly Curse".

All Hogwarts students received his autographed books at half price.

Harry's expression at this was like this: _

Sherlock was absolutely right. Perhaps it was Lockhart's persistence that prevented him from being completely controlled by Voldemort's dark magic artifacts.

If Lockhart was simply unpopular among teachers, the other person was the exact opposite.

He stood out as particularly repulsive among the students.

Draco Malfoy.

He started trembling ever since Dumbledore left.

Words like "head held high," "strutting around," and "important" are no longer sufficient to describe his expression and demeanor.

“I really don’t understand why he’s so smug,” Harry said, looking puzzled. “It’s like he’s already a prefect.”

“No, it’s even more outrageous than that,” Ron said with disgust. “I bet anyone who didn’t know better would think he was elected student council president.”

"First of all, he believed that as a pure-blood wizard, he would not be attacked by the heirs of Slytherin."

Secondly, he believed that Dumbledore's departure from school was due to his father's efforts.

Finally, he became so foolish as to actually believe in bloodlines—even less so than his father.

Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry and Ron nodded thoughtfully.

Apart from them, no one else knew that Dumbledore had deliberately left the school, just like last semester.

The main problem is that Dumbledore's commotion this time is much bigger than the last one.

The document was jointly signed by twelve members of the Board of Governors and endorsed by the Ministry of Magic.

Even those who already knew the inside story initially thought that Dumbledore had gone too far and was really expelled.

Fortunately, Sherlock's expression remained unchanged throughout, which put their minds at ease.

However, during a Potions class, their loathing for Malfoy reached its peak.

“I knew all along that my father would drive Dumbledore away.”

Malfoy didn't lower his voice when he was bragging to his close friends Crabbe and Goyle.

Or perhaps he did it on purpose.

He believed that Dumbledore was the worst headmaster in the school's history.

But now things are better; we'll probably have a decent principal, someone who won't want the secret room to close.

Don't worry, McGonagall won't be staying long either; she's just filling in temporarily..."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at Malfoy as if he were a clown.

As for Sherlock, he didn't even glance at Malfoy.

He had received the letter that Dumbledore had sent to him by Watson the day before the notice from the Board of Trustees was published.

Now that all preparations are complete, all that's left is for Harry to finish this battle so that this matter can be resolved.

Even though he didn't look at Malfoy, Malfoy's voice still reached his ears:

"gentlemen!"

As Professor Snape walked past Malfoy, Malfoy seized the opportunity to say loudly, "Sir, why don't you apply for the position of Headmaster?"

"Oh dear, Malfoy."

Snape paused slightly, a faint smile appearing on his lips:

"Professor Dumbledore has only been temporarily suspended by the Board of Directors. I dare say he will be back among us soon."

"Yes, yes, you're right."

Malfoy grinned sheepishly and said, “But sir, if you apply for this position, I bet Father will vote for you—I’ll tell him you’re the best teacher here, sir…”

What followed was a barrage of flattery, saying that Snape was already the youngest headmaster in history, and the next step would be the youngest headmaster in history.

Snape seemed to be encouraged by Malfoy's words, and strode around the underground classroom with his head held high, a smug smile on his face.

Sherlock shook his head inwardly as he watched this scene.

How should I put it? This joy that emanates from within doesn't even seem fake.

All I can say is that Severus Snape was indeed a talent suited to be an undercover agent.

However, Sherlock could see it, but the others couldn't.

Seeing Snape's appearance, Seamus immediately made a vomiting motion into his pot.

His friend Dean was startled when he saw this and quickly stepped aside to block him, preventing Snape and the Slytherin students from seeing his actions.

"I am very surprised that the Mudbloods have not packed their things and left yet."

After Snape left, Malfoy continued speaking to the rest of the Slytherin:

“I bet you five Galleons that the next guy attacked will be dead.”

(End of this chapter)