Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 364 Cut off the head and hang it on the wall

12 Grimoire Place.

Harry, as the host, led the way, while Hermione quietly explained the layout of the house to Sherlock and his parents.

"This is a five-story villa, and we are currently on the first floor."

The main space on the first floor is occupied by a long porch, with a row of old-fashioned gas lamps providing lighting on the wall, and the wallpaper has peeled off.

In addition, the carpet was so worn that it was worn through and the threads were frayed, that even without Sherlock's deduction, it was clear that it had been around for many years.

Although a spiderweb-shaped chandelier flickered overhead, the room still felt somewhat dim overall due to its large size, much like the Leaky Cauldron.

Most of the decorations they could see, including the chandelier and the candlesticks on the table next to it, were made in the shape of snakes.

It looks like true love.

In addition, some portraits that have turned black over the years are hanging crookedly on the wall.

Those are all members of the Black family.

Look there.

As Sherlock stared at the portraits, Hermione lowered her voice and pointed to the two long velvet curtains in front of them.

Judging from their enormous size, there must be another door behind them.

However, Hermione gave an unexpected answer:

"Behind it is a portrait of Mrs. Walbuga Black."

"Sirius Black's mother?"

Sherlock immediately realized what was happening.

"Yes, once the doorbell is rung, she will wake up and start screaming that she wants to kick us out of the house."

This also provides the official answer to why Harry didn't let Mr. Holmes ring the doorbell earlier.

Sherlock chuckled softly upon hearing this: "Heh, it seems she doesn't welcome us?"

"To be precise, it's just that Muggle-born wizards like us aren't welcome, and maybe even half-blood wizards?"

Hermione shrugged and said in a teasing tone:

"A pure-blood family like the Weasleys should still be welcome... right?"

Hermione's tone wasn't very certain either.

After all, in the eyes of other pure-blood families, the Weasleys are degenerate, associating with Muggles and wizards of Muggle origin, and if given the chance, they would even like to wake them up.

"Wait, you mean, this portrait... can talk?"

Mrs. Holmes, upon hearing Sherlock and Hermione's conversation, looked at the two velvet curtains with surprise.

She was trying to imagine what a huge portrait would look like if it suddenly started talking.

"Believe me, Auntie, you don't want to hear her speak."

Not long ago, Hermione had just witnessed Mrs. Black's bold and heroic demeanor.

how to say?

She was eloquent and eloquent, yet her words were often vulgar.

Once you've experienced it, you'll never want to go through it again.

After giving her advice, she immediately looked puzzled:
"Shouldn't your aunt know about this?"

Uncle Holmes had already seen portraits of Grandpa and Grandma Harry when my dad and I went to Godric's Hollow last time…”

Hermione stopped speaking as she suddenly sensed something was off.

Unfortunately it's too late.

Suddenly, Mrs. Holmes turned to her husband, her gaze sharpening abruptly:
"Darling, you don't seem to have told me about this?"

Mr. Holmes: "..."

Sherlock: ←_←

"I think Uncle has forgotten."

Seeing that things were not going well, Harry immediately and cleverly began to cover for Mr. Holmes, saying, "There were just too many things that happened that day, so it's understandable that we forgot to mention this."

"I really forgot."

Mr. Holmes readily agreed and continued, following Harry's lead:

“Dear Varita, I think you should remember that I drove for a long time that day.”

Under Mrs. Holmes's scrutinizing gaze, Mr. Holmes calmly said:
"After we got home, we chatted for a while and then... I fell asleep very quickly after that."

When Mrs. Holmes heard her husband say this, she briefly recalled the events of that day.

For some reason, her face suddenly flushed slightly, and then she nodded, accepting the explanation.

Hermione secretly regretted saying something she shouldn't have, and seeing this, she quickly said:
"Let's continue talking about the structure of this house, but it would be best if we left here first."

Led by Harry, the group tiptoed past the huge portrait hidden behind a curtain, mainly because they didn't want to wake Mrs. Black.

Sherlock was eager to see how eloquent the lady was, but Hermione seemed to have anticipated this. Seeing him slow down, she reached out and pulled him away from in front of the curtain.

Hermione glanced at Sherlock with a hint of helplessness, then pointed to the stairs beside her and said:

"In addition to the bedroom and bathroom, there is also a gorgeous and exquisite living room on the second floor."

There was a large window overlooking the street in front of the house.

On either side of a large fireplace were two ornate glass cabinets filled with… well… a lot of random things. On one wall hung a Black family genealogy tapestry.

Hermione paused for a moment, then added, "But the living room is a mess right now, and there are vixens everywhere through the curtains."

Sirius said he had wanted to throw the things away several times during this period, but Kreacher picked them up and carefully kept them, which made him increasingly dissatisfied with Kreacher.

Actually, I think he shouldn't have done that. He was too harsh on Kreacher. Kreacher is just mentally unstable and doesn't realize he's doing...

"How is this going?"

Sherlock suddenly stopped and pointed to the decorative panel on the staircase wall, asking a question.

Following Sherlock's gaze, one could see a whole row of wrinkled house-elves' heads gathered there.

They all had the same ugly big noses, somewhat like the little elves I had seen before.

Upon seeing this, Mrs. Holmes gasped and instinctively gripped her husband's arm tightly.

She suddenly had a strange feeling that Harry's new home... didn't seem so good.

Hermione frowned and remained silent.

Seeing this, Harry could only helplessly explain, "Those are the heads of the house-elves who served the Black family for their entire lives."

“Dear Harry, I know that without you saying it. What I mean is, why are their heads hanging here?”

“Uh… well… actually… because the Black family elves consider serving their master for life as the greatest honor. Their greatest dream is that when they are too old to work, their master will cut off their head and hang it on the wall alongside the head of their ancestor as decoration.”

"..."

After an awkward silence, Hermione finally spoke up, "Let's continue talking about the room's layout."

As she spoke, she secretly squeezed Sherlock's hand, implying that Sherlock shouldn't have asked that question.

Hermione thought her little actions were well hidden, but she never expected that Mr. Holmes could see them clearly, including his earlier behavior of pulling Sherlock away quickly from Mrs. Black's portrait.

Mr. Holmes whispered a few words to his wife, and the couple's gaze toward Hermione immediately became even more tender.

Hermione was completely unaware of this and continued to enthusiastically introduce the house to Sherlock and his parents:

"The third and fourth floors are bedrooms. Harry is currently living in the second bedroom on the third floor. These rooms have great natural light and you can see the street and the entrance to the house through the windows."

The fifth floor is the top floor. There are only three rooms on this floor, and Sirius lives there. I've never been up there before... Oh, we've arrived.

By this time, the group, led by Harry, had passed through the main hall and arrived at the end of the porch.

“Go down from here to the basement, and the kitchen is there.”

I walked down a narrow stone staircase for a while and came to the bottom of the stairs.

After passing through another door, the group finally arrived at the kitchen that Hermione had mentioned earlier.

Unlike cave dwellings, the kitchen in Blake's old house is very spacious.

It's more like a dining room than a kitchen, and it can easily accommodate dozens of people.

The kitchen is surrounded by rough stone walls, and because most of the light comes from a large fireplace at the other end of the room, the unique structure makes the whole kitchen seem as deep and dark as a cave.

In the center of the room was a long wooden table, surrounded by chairs.

However, there were only two people there at the time: Mr. Weasley and Mr. Granger, who had arrived earlier.

Judging from their actions and expressions alone, it was clear that Mr. Weasley was asking Mr. Granger about Muggles, just like he always did.

He was always very interested in these things.

On the other side, Mrs. Granger and Weasley, wearing aprons, were busy preparing lunch for everyone.

However, judging from Mrs. Granger's appearance, she seemed somewhat at a loss.

Because she was watching as a heavy set of knives automatically chopped meat and vegetables under Mrs. Weasley's supervision.

This is technology I've never seen before!
As Hermione cleared her throat, Mr. Granger and Mr. Weasley both looked up.

"Sherlock, it's been a long time!"

Mr. Weasley was the first to stand up and rushed over to greet him.

As always, he warmly shook Sherlock's hand. "It's so good to see you!"

“Mr. Weasley, we met at King’s Cross Station less than a week ago.”

Arthur Weasley: "..."

Hermione, standing next to Sherlock, couldn't help but smirk.

She was already used to Sherlock's tendency to speak the truth regardless of the situation.

Mr. Weasley then remembered the routine he used when speaking to Sherlock, and quickly turned to the Holmes couple to greet them, "You two are getting younger and younger, haha!"

Sherlock's parents, of course, wouldn't say anything as embarrassing as Sherlock would, such as "We are younger than you."

Mr. Holmes exchanged a few pleasantries with Mr. Weasley, remarking that Mr. Weasley also looked rosy-cheeked and full of energy.

Actually, this isn't entirely a compliment.

Mr. Weasley wore horny-framed glasses, was tall and thin, and had fiery red hair.

In addition, the fact that his bald spot has started to grow hair makes him look even more energetic and radiant.

Harry has been giving him Potter-made shampoo as a Christmas gift for the past few years, and it seems to be working very well.

Compared to the enthusiastic Mr. Weasley, Mr. Granger was much calmer.

After Mr. Weasley had greeted them, he slowly walked over and exchanged greetings with the Holmes family.

The main issue was that he felt a little awkward.

When they heard that Sherlock had arrived, his daughter didn't even greet him before pulling Harry to the door to greet him.

My daughter isn't this enthusiastic when I come home, huh!

Besides, even her master wasn't as anxious as she was.

Although Harry went with Hermione to pick up Sherlock, he could only be considered half a master at most.

His godfather, Sirius Black, was the true owner of the house.

However, Mr. Granger was very well-mannered; although he was secretly displeased, he did not show it on his face at all.

Just then, Sirius Black, whom Mr. Granger treated as his master, came down the stairs.

He greeted the Holmes family, and then, with an apologetic tone, addressed Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger:

"I'm so sorry, you're guests, but I'm asking you to help prepare lunch..."

"Don't say that, Sirius."

Mrs. Weasley continued working quickly, saying efficiently, "This place hasn't been lived in for over ten years, so it's only right that we come to help you."

Sherlock understood after only two sentences.

The Weasleys had been there longer than they and Hermione's family.

Judging from the letters Harry had written to himself and the traces in the room, Sirius and Harry had indeed been doing a thorough cleaning recently.

As Harry said, he thought he was experienced and capable because he had done a lot of cleaning and wiping work at the Dursleys' house.

Who would have thought that the place was so big, and the way wizard families clean up is different from how Muggle families do it, so the results were not very good.

"I'm here to help too!"

Mrs. Holmes then stepped forward and greeted Mrs. Granger and Mrs. Weasley familiarly:
"Jane, Molly, is there anything I can do?"

Mrs. Granger gave a wry smile and pointed to the automatic meat and vegetable chopper set. "It seems we can only do minor tasks."

"Oh, please don't say that—with you all here, everyone will definitely be able to eat before lunchtime—otherwise, we'll be busy until the afternoon."

Mrs. Weasley made a humorous joke with them.

After a brief exchange among the three ladies, Mrs. Holmes began stirring a large pot that was hanging over a fire.

Mrs. Holmes's arrival brought a sigh of relief to Mrs. Granger, who was not used to the magical world.

His gaze toward Sherlock and his daughter softened considerably.

(End of this chapter)