Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 320 Women are your area of ​​expertise
Gryffindor common room.

Harry looked at Sherlock with a puzzled expression, not understanding why he would say that women were his area of ​​expertise.

So weird!

I'm simply not good at this at all, okay?

But before he could ask a question, a familiar voice rang out, and Hedwig flew in from outside.

It jumped onto Harry's shoulder, gave Harry's ear a affectionate peck, and then stretched out its leg toward its owner.

There was a letter tied there.

Harry glanced at Sherlock in surprise.

Sherlock smiled. "Read the letter first."

Harry then took the letter and began to read it.

Just a moment later, he looked up at Sherlock again and said somewhat awkwardly:
"Qiu said she knew our opponent had changed to Hufflepuff and wanted to meet me."

Sherlock had anticipated this.

Hermione was a step slower, but after hearing Sherlock's words and seeing Hedwig's arrival, she realized what was happening.

Ron was the slowest to react; it wasn't until he heard Harry's words that he realized what had happened.

"Oh—(^▽^)"

The three men's amused gazes made Harry feel extremely embarrassed.

But then again, even so, it can't be said that being a woman is her area of ​​expertise, right?
Cho Chang was his friend and a fellow Quidditch Seeker, so wasn't it normal for him to care about him after hearing the news?
Just as I was about to make a sophistry, or rather, offer some explanation, a girl with hair as red as flames scurried into the common lounge.

"Harry!"

Ginny Weasley, as if she hadn't seen anyone else, walked straight toward Harry and said anxiously:

"I heard our opponent for the next game has changed!"

Sherlock, Hermione, Ron: ←_←

Harry: '(°ー°〃)
There's nothing more to say now.

Seeing how enthusiastic Ginny was, Harry had no choice but to tell her the whole story again.

"It's alright, Harry."

Ginny comforted her, "Have you forgotten the last match against Hufflepuff?"

Even with Snape as the referee, and constantly favoring Hufflepuff, you caught the Golden Snitch in just a few minutes!

“Ginny, you speak just like George.”

"That's how it is. Hufflepuff is nothing!"

After saying that, Ginny looked at Sherlock, Hermione, and Ron, "Oh, so you're all here!"

"..."

Sherlock, Hermione, and Ron remained silent, only looking at Harry.

→_→

Harry suddenly felt even more embarrassed.

However, her good friend ultimately didn't mention Cho Chang in front of Ginny.

Ginny chatted for quite a while before leaving, satisfied.

Shortly after she left, Harry and Ron returned to their dormitory together.

Seeing that Sherlock and Hermione weren't planning to leave, Harry greeted them.

Ron ignored Hermione and simply said goodnight to Sherlock.

Seeing this, Harry sighed inwardly, unsure of what to do.

After the two left, Hermione looked at Sherlock with some hesitation.

"Sherlock, am I... am I doing something wrong?"

"Good and bad are always relative. The key question is, do you think you are wrong?"

"no!"

Hermione shook her head.

As Hagrid said, it's only natural for cats to catch mice.

In her opinion, Crookshank's chasing of Scabbers was just for fun, and he certainly wouldn't actually eat Scabbers.

On the contrary, Ron has harbored a prejudice against Crookshanks ever since he was hit on the head by the Magical Beasts shop in Diagon Alley.

As things have progressed, he has continued to make subjective assumptions without any evidence whatsoever.

After listening to Hermione's heartfelt words, Sherlock did not offer any direct comment on the matter.

"I told you when you were in first grade that you should never care about what other people think, and never let other people's actions influence you."

But back then you told me you couldn't do it.

Sherlock rested his chin on his hands, leaned back, and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"My answer to you is that since you can't change others, you should try to change yourself—and that remains true now."

Hermione looked at Sherlock, her gaze gradually hardening.

In first grade, Hermione chose to change herself.

But this time, she will not compromise.

In the following days, Oliver Wood frequently appeared in Sherlock's sight.

Of course, his target was not Sherlock.

By now, he had given up hope of persuading Sherlock to join the Quidditch team.

I'll just leave this task to Harry after I'm gone.

Given Harry's relationship with Sherlock, he should be able to persuade Sherlock.

He would often run over to Harry during breaks to give him advice.

It's clear that he really values ​​this match.

Harry himself was the same.

He accepted Qiu Zhang's invitation and would set aside some time each day to meet with her.

It's always a pleasant experience to meet a beautiful girl who shares your interests.

Cho Chang also shared all the information she knew about Hufflepuff with Harry without reservation. Wood expressed his strong approval of Harry exchanging information with other Seekers.
“Zhang’s strength is no less than Diggory’s, Harry. You need to find a way to get more information about Hufflepuff from her.”

When necessary... cough cough... we might even have to make some sacrifices.

"I'll support you unconditionally, as long as it's for Quidditch."

“Um… there’s no need for that, Oliver.”

Hearing Wood's hint, Harry was both amused and exasperated. "These past two days, Cho has been proactively sharing information with me."

"That's exactly what I mean—Harry, well done!"

"..."

"Oh, Zhang's here. You guys chat, I'm leaving now!"

Wood saw Cho Chang approaching, winked at Harry, gave him a mysterious smile, and then quickly left.

"Was that Wood? Why did he leave?"

Qiu Zhang saw Wood leaving in a hurry and asked, somewhat puzzled.

This made Harry even more embarrassed.

You can't exactly tell Qiu Zhang that Wood asked you to extract information from him, can you?
Fortunately, Cho Chang was an understanding girl, and she didn't ask any more questions since Harry didn't say anything.

The two quickly got down to business.

"Although Diggory is tall and very strong, he can turn very quickly, so you must not let your guard down."

Cho Chang looked into Harry's green eyes and said in a soft voice, "The final score of our match against Hufflepuff last year was 220 to 150."

Harry's ability to read the game was now extremely sharp, and he immediately understood: "So Diggory caught the Golden Snitch in the end?"

“Yes,” Cho Chang nodded. “In that game, thanks to the efforts of the two batters and me, we were able to stop Diggory from catching the Snitch before we reached 150.”

At this point, Qiu Zhang couldn't help but show a hint of relief on his face, but he immediately became serious and said:
"But this year is different. After becoming captain, Digori quickly found the gap between Hetchpac and other teams."

He also selected a new group of players to address the team's weaknesses.

"That's what Oliver said too; he told us not to underestimate our opponents."

“Yes, Captain Wood is right. This year, Hufflepuff is no longer a one-man team with only one excellent Seeker, but…”

Cho Chang changed the subject abruptly and said firmly, "I believe you, Harry!"

You are faster than him, and Gryffindor is stronger than Hufflepuff who are still getting used to each other!

"If you have confidence, you can definitely defeat Hufflepuff!"

"Thank you, Qiu."

"I'm looking forward to competing against you in the next match, so don't let me down!"

Seeing Cho Chang's somewhat playful smile, Harry clenched his fists and made up his mind.

No matter what, I have to catch the Golden Snitch before Diggory.

In fact, despite Wood's repeated emphasis on the importance of this match, Harry himself was under much less psychological pressure than he had before his match against Slytherin last year.

Compared to the immense pressure from the seven Nimbus 2001s in Slytherin, Hufflepuff was simply insignificant—oh, now it's six—poor Malfoy, still not discharged from the hospital.

Hufflepuff has indeed updated its lineup, but judging from Cho Chang's description, their strength remains firmly above theirs.

So barring any unforeseen circumstances, taking them down shouldn't be a problem.

"Old Ha, it's time to go to class, or we'll be late!"

Just then, a voice came from behind, and Harry and Cho Chang turned around at the same time.

Sherlock, Hermione, and Ron stood together, looking at the three of them with a half-smile.

Lately, whenever Harry is with Cho Chang or Ginny, the three friends always show this kind of fatherly smile.

Both Harry and Cho Chang felt a little embarrassed by the three of them staring at them.

Qiu Zhang was the first to calm down and took the initiative to ask:
"Sherlock, what's the next class?"

"Defense Against Dark Magic".

"Defense Against the Dark Arts? Oh, right, speaking of which... Professor Lupin seems to have taken leave recently."

Yesterday afternoon, Professor Snape taught our Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"What? What happened to Professor Lupin?"

“I’m sorry, Hermione, I don’t know why Professor Snape, who is filling in for Professor Lupin, won’t say anything.”

Someone asked a couple of extra questions, and he deducted points from their score on some pretext.

"Snape again? Does that old bat not feel comfortable if he doesn't give us a few Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons every year?"

“My dear Ron, apart from the teacher of this class, Professor Snape is the best person to substitute for this class, that’s obvious.”

"That's true, but I've had enough of it for the past two years!"

We finally found a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor that everyone likes and who can teach us real skills.

I thought I'd finally made it through, but then the old bat came to substitute for me again!

"Well... actually, I think Sherlock is right. Professor Snape's abilities are beyond doubt."

Especially compared to Quirrell and Lockhart, he can teach us real skills; all he needs to do is change his teaching style.

“If he weren’t always finding fault with Harry and deducting points from his grades, I would agree with you, Miss Cho.”

"Uh... that might be a bit difficult."

Professor Snape disliked Gryffindor students; this was common knowledge among the entire school, though I didn't know why…

"Because Harry's father is in Gryffindor."

"what?"

Cho Chang was stunned by Hermione's words; she had no idea what the connection was between the two.

Hermione was about to explain when her expression suddenly changed:
"Oh no, we have to hurry to class, otherwise if all four of us are late, Gryffindor might get a negative grade."

"Okay, you guys go quickly!"

Cho Chang gently nudged Harry as she spoke.

When the four arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, they found that Snape was not there.

This made the three people, except for Sherlock, breathe a long sigh of relief.

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(End of this chapter)