Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 267 Hagrid's Taste

Sherlock placed the miniature spyglass that Ron had given to Harry on the table.

When it was just Sherlock and Harry, it neither lit up nor spun.

"interesting."

"Sherlock, Hermione is starting to sound more and more like you."

Harry also finished reading Hermione's letter to him at this time, and he said with a mixture of excitement and helplessness:

"She also thought it was a good idea to keep up with the magical world by reading the newspaper."

As he spoke, he handed the letter Hermione had sent him to Sherlock, and then went to open the birthday present Hermione had given him.

Hermione's letter to Harry was more detailed than Ron's.

However, Sherlock knew almost everything Hermione said in her letter.

Even after going to France, Hermione insisted that their contact not be interrupted.

According to Hermione, she originally wanted Watson to help send the gift to Harry, but Hedwig unexpectedly appeared in front of her.

What followed was perfectly logical.

Just as Harry had just told Sherlock, Hermione also suggested that Harry keep up with the wizarding world through the newspapers.

Because the gift she gave to Harry came from an advertisement in the Daily Prophet, and she also saw Ron's family portrait in the newspaper.

In addition, there is a line that is very characteristic of Hermione:
"There are also some interesting local histories of witchcraft in France. I have completely rewritten my thesis on the history of magic in order to include some of the things I have discovered here."

Unlike Ron, Hermione directly suggested that Harry go to London with Sherlock, rather than saying she hoped to meet Harry in London.

After Sherlock finished reading the letter, he turned around and saw Harry opening the gift Hermione had given him.

It was a beautiful black leather box with silver lettering printed on it:

Flying Broom Repair Tool Kit

"My God!"

Harry looked at Sherlock with a smug grin. "I thought she was going to give me a thick book full of difficult spells!"

Seeing Harry's excited expression, Sherlock joked, "I bet if Hermione knew you were thinking this, she would definitely want this thing back."

"Please, Sherlock, don't tell her!"

Harry quickly put his hands together and said something to Sherlock, then pushed the box toward Sherlock and eagerly unzipped it.

"Wow!"

Harry couldn't help but exclaim again.

Before them appeared a large jar of Fleetwood’s Perfect Flying Broomstick Polish, a pair of gleaming silver broom twig trimmers, a small brass compass that could be attached to the flying broomstick on long journeys, and a “Flying Broomstick Care Manual.”

Seeing these things, Harry's green eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but plead with Sherlock again:
"Please, please don't tell Hermione what I just said!"

"As long as she doesn't ask."

Hearing Sherlock's answer, Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Based on his understanding of Hermione, he knew she probably wouldn't ask.

Next up is the last package.

Even without Sherlock's deduction, Harry recognized the messy handwriting on the parchment.

There is no doubt that this gift came from Hagrid.

Harry couldn't help but smile as he thought of that big guy who couldn't keep a secret.

He tore off the top layer of paper, and a green leather object came into view.

However, before he could properly open the package, he noticed that it strangely trembled, and then it screamed loudly.

What the hell? !
Harry's smile froze instantly.

He knew very well that Hagrid, as the first friend he had ever made, would never intentionally give him anything dangerous.

The problem is that Hagrid's view of danger is different from that of ordinary people.

Fifty years ago, when he was still a child, he had already begun to befriend the man-eating, eight-eyed giant spider.

Needless to say, when he grew up, he called the three-headed hound that could almost bite Professor Snape "Little Cutie Furry" and secretly and illegally took dragon eggs to his cabin to incubate them.

Given such a past record, it wouldn't be surprising if Hagrid did something truly astonishing.

"what happened?"

Sherlock, who was flipping through "The Flying Broomstick Care Manual," noticed Harry's unusual behavior and turned to ask him a question.

"Hagrid's gift... seems a bit off."

"Oh?"

Sherlock immediately became interested upon hearing this.

"let me see!"

Sherlock grabbed the remaining wrapping paper that Harry hadn't torn off and pulled it, causing the contents to fall out.

It's nothing dangerous, just a book.

The cover is a beautiful green with the title printed in gold: *The Monster Book of Monsters*.

Harry's dynamic vision meant that was all he could see—because the next moment, the book leaped onto the bed.

To Harry's surprise and astonishment, it suddenly stood up and began to move quickly across the bed like a crab.

The way things unfolded was so unexpected that Harry could only stare blankly at the scene.

With a sharp "bang," the book fell off the bed to the floor. It quickly stood up again, as if trying to walk to the other end of the room.

However, it did not achieve its goal.

Because a strong and powerful hand grabbed it from the ground.

"careful!"

Harry immediately warned them, because the book suddenly opened its mouth to bite Sherlock.

"Snapped!"

Before the book could bite him, Sherlock reached out and closed it with both hands.

Even so, it continued to struggle, trying to break free from Sherlock's grasp.

Unfortunately, under Sherlock's firm grip, no matter how much it struggled, it was to no avail.

Sherlock's hands were strong and powerful, so at most it could only tremble in annoyance and could no longer run fast or shout.

"I'll go find a rope or a clip."

Although Sherlock had taken control of the book, he couldn't let Sherlock remain in that clasped-hands position indefinitely, so Harry immediately prepared to take action. "No need, let's see what Hagrid has to say first."

"Yeah, maybe he mentioned how to deal with this thing."

Harry slapped his forehead, immediately picked up Hagrid's greeting card, and read it aloud:

[Dear Harry: Happy Birthday]

I think you'll find yourself needing this book next semester, so I won't go into details here. We can talk more when we meet. I hope those Muggles treat you well.

Wishing you all the best – Hagrid

???

At that moment, Harry's mind was filled with questions.

Why would Hagrid think a book that bites is useful?

Harry immediately sensed that this was not a good sign.

“Sherlock, I’d better go find a rope…” Harry said helplessly. “Hagrid didn’t say anything!”

"It's alright, I already know the purpose of this book."

"You know that too? What's it used for?"

Harry's voice rose a few decibels as he asked with delight.

"Hagrid's taste remains as unique as ever."

Sherlock's answer felt to Harry like a random reply to a read-already message.

The next moment, he placed the book on the table and released his hands that were holding it.

"Sherlock!"

Harry was immediately taken aback by Sherlock's actions upon seeing this.

Isn't this like letting the tiger return to the mountains?

Sure enough, as soon as the monster book was freed, it immediately pounced fiercely on Sherlock.

It was as if it would transform into a ferocious tiger at any moment and tear the person who had just taken control of it to pieces.

However, Sherlock was faster; he simply grabbed a quill from the table and handed it over.

The book didn't care what was coming at it; when it saw something foreign poking at it, it opened its mouth wide and bit down hard.

With a crisp sound, the broken pen barrel rolled onto the table.

"Autonomous defense system, based on tactile perception."

Sherlock said in a low voice.

He then raised his hand and placed it above the spine of the book.

He had been observing carefully the moment he handed over the quill.

Therefore, it is easy to see that when this monster book is bitten, the spine will bulge directly and form a groove in the center.

At the very moment of biting, the leather texture will briefly contract and shrink, similar to breathing.

"Stress trigger point".

Sherlock muttered to himself again.

Seeing Sherlock's actions, Harry knew that his friend had once again fallen into that state of complete absorption in solving puzzles.

Clearly, at this moment he wanted to figure out how this book bites.

Harry knew that when Sherlock was in this state, nothing he said would make a difference; he could only watch him perform.

The book seemed stunned when it bit off a quill pen, and did not react to Sherlock's actions.

However, this only lasted for a moment.

The next moment, it came to its senses and opened its mouth again to bite Sherlock's finger, clearly wanting to try again.

This time, however, Sherlock did not give it another chance.

He made a decisive move, sliding his hand along the raised lines from top to bottom.

Something magic happened.

As the texture changed from rough to smooth, "The Book of Yokai" trembled violently before falling silent.

The beautiful green leather cover slowly unfolded in Sherlock's palm, revealing the text inside.

Harry pushed up his glasses in surprise.

At this point, he finally saw the contents of the book clearly; it seemed to be introducing some terrifying creatures.

Sherlock quickly flipped through the book and confirmed that the entire book was about magical creatures in the magical world, very similar to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".

The difference is that the creatures introduced in this book are often large in size and highly aggressive, and are generally rated at or above ×××× in the British Ministry of Magic's ranking system.

When Sherlock was reading it, it was laid out in his hands like an ordinary book, left for him to do as he pleased.

There was no trace of his previous unruly demeanor.

Sherlock smiled, closed the book, and turned to his friend:

“Dear Harry, I bet you a Galleon that Hagrid would think all the creatures described in this book are cute little things.”

“No need to bet, because that’s what I think too,” Harry said decisively.

Hearing Harry's words, Sherlock shook his head somewhat dejectedly, then added:

“How about we make another bet? Hagrid will definitely think that everyone who gets their hands on this book can open it without any instruction—in his opinion, something like ‘gently touching it’ like I just did is perfectly normal.”

"How is that possible?"

Harry exclaimed in surprise, "This kind of thing... there's no way anyone else could have thought of it but you!"

"Ha, it's a deal then, you're definitely going to lose this Galleon!"

Of course, a Galleon is nothing to either Sherlock or Harry.

Sherlock was primarily enjoying the process.

Harry gave a wry smile.

He really couldn't say he liked Hagrid's taste.

For example, the Christmas gift he gave himself before, that handmade flute.

Harry wasn't particularly musically gifted, so aside from playing music for his three-headed dog, Shaggy, at the end of his first year, he mostly used it to crack walnuts, which was actually quite useful.

(End of this chapter)