Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 405 Harry, Keep Your Bird in Check
"Her standards for herself are different from ours..."

Hearing Ron's words, Harry guessed and said:

"These elective courses could have been skipped anyway, as long as you could pass at least two of them..."

But Hermione, with her personality, certainly wouldn't give up. Moreover, she'd be determined to get an 'O' in every single subject on her final exams.

"He's really ruthless to himself," Ron remarked, clicking his tongue in amazement.

Sherlock smiled slightly. "That's not necessarily true."

"How to say?"

Harry and Ron immediately became interested.

"Wait a while longer, and you'll find out then."

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

Here we go again. No matter how much they ask, it's useless if Sherlock doesn't say anything.

The celebrations continued until 1 a.m., when Professor McGonagall, unable to bear it any longer, finally appeared.

She has been holding back for a long time.

Normally, she would have already taken action.

But it was precisely because she also deeply loved Quidditch and no longer wanted to be subdued by Slytherin that she tolerated the students' emotional outpouring regarding this crucial victory.

However, seeing that if she didn't step in, the little lion might cause a commotion all night, she simply wore a Scottish-style plaid morning gown and a hairnet to the common room and told everyone to go to bed.

“Professor, can we play a little longer?” Fred Weasley said.

“Just an hour, no, half an hour will do!” George Weasley said.

"Don't even think about it!"

Professor McGonagall remained resolute, and the Gryffindor party had to end, with the lion cubs dispersing.

Sherlock, Harry, and Ron went upstairs back to their dormitory.

Harry and Ron continued talking about the game along the way.

Both competitions of this semester have ended, and it's time for the classic scoring phase.

Gryffindor currently has a record of one win and one loss, with one game remaining.

Hufflepuff also has one win and one loss, with one match remaining, and both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor's next opponents are Slytherin.

Ravenclaw has one win and two losses, and all three matches have been completed.

Slytherin has one win and two more games to play.

Then the following situations may occur:

First up is the first match of the next semester: Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff.

First, let's consider the scenario where Slytherin wins.

Gryffindor can only defeat Slytherin in the final match, and then compete for the cup title against Slytherin, who also have two wins and one loss, based on their points.

If Gryffindor loses to Slytherin in the final match, then Slytherin, with a perfect record of three wins, will be the undisputed cup champions.

Secondly, there's the possibility of Slytherin losing to Hufflepuff—although everyone thinks this is unlikely.

But if this happens, Gryffindor will have to defeat Slytherin in the final match and then compete against Hufflepuff, who also have two wins and one loss, for the Cup title based on their points.

Similarly, if Gryffindor loses to Slytherin in the final match, then Hufflepuff and Slytherin, both with two wins and one loss, will compete for the cup title based on points.

In summary, Gryffindor must win their final match against Slytherin, no matter what.

Not only that, winning the game is not enough; points must also be calculated based on the result of the previous game.

After listening to Sherlock's analysis, Harry said, "It's really uncomfortable to have to read other people's faces."

“Especially since we have to watch the Slytherins’ mood,” Ron added.

They didn't feel it while celebrating in the common room, but once they climbed into bed and lay down, having just wrapped the curtains of the four-poster bed together to block out the moonlight, both Harry and Ron felt a wave of weariness wash over them.

Soon, they fell asleep.

Sherlock listened to his two friends' long, drawn-out breathing and couldn't help but smile slightly.

Today's conversation with Sirius gave him some more information, which is good.

After this crucial match, Harry finally had some free time and rejoined Sherlock and Neville's morning practice group.

Before we knew it, February was coming to an end.

That evening, Sherlock, who hadn't attended an astronomy class in a long time, made a rare exception and went to listen to a lecture.

The main issue was that astronomy professor Aurora Sinister expressed dissatisfaction that Sherlock hadn't attended a single class this semester.

Although she agreed that they could indeed skip class after seeing the astronomical model that Sherlock and Hermione had bought together.

But Hermione never misses a single class, while Sherlock should at least show up once a month, right?
So when Sherlock went to her to gather information about Professor Slughorn, she directly expressed this opinion.

Having received the information, Sherlock also said he would give her face.

After class, Sherlock and his friends returned to the common room and found a large crowd gathered around the bulletin board.

"Hogsmeade, next weekend!"

Taking advantage of his height, Ron craned his neck to look at the newly posted notice and told his friends what it said.

After sitting down, he excitedly looked at Sherlock, Harry, and Hermione: "So, are you guys going?"

Sherlock shook his head.

After visiting once, he lost interest in this village, the only one in all of England that was entirely populated by wizards.

Of course, it's another matter if any cases happen there.

Hermione was even more blunt: "I don't have time."

Where's the time?

This is obvious and doesn't need further explanation.

Harry looked at Sherlock, then at Ron, and seemed somewhat hesitant.

“Come on, Harry,” Ron said, nudging Harry with his elbow. “You couldn’t go last semester because of Sirius… wait!”

At this point, Ron suddenly realized, "You could write to Sirius and ask him to go to Hogsmeade too!"
Although he can't come to Hogwarts, it doesn't matter if he goes to Hogsmeade!
Then you can have a proper talk with him about the competition.

"Yup!"

Harry's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

He had been feeling a bit regretful that he hadn't been able to meet Sirius after the Quidditch match.

I didn't expect the opportunity to come so soon.

"Ron, thanks to you for reminding me, I need to go to Hogsmeade!"

During the two weeks that Harry spent living with Sirius during this winter break, he had completely grown fond of his tall, handsome, witty, and humorous godfather.

She found in him a fatherly love she had never experienced before.

Godfather is father.

"now it's right!"

Ron said with a grin, "This time we definitely have to go to Zonko's Magical Joke Shop!"
That's where George and Fred's favorite prank material is kept.

Things like dung bombs, burp candy, frog egg soap, and nose-biting teacups..."

On Friday evening, Hedwig brought Sirius a reply.

"He agreed!"

Harry excitedly said to Sherlock beside him, "Sirius said he hopes to see you and Hermione. Aren't you going?"

Sherlock chuckled and shook his head. "There's nothing there that appeals to me anymore." Hermione added sullenly, "Sorry, Harry, I really want to go, but I have to finish this book by Monday."

Harry: "..."

Why does this conversation seem so familiar?
He glanced at the large book in Hermione's hand; this time it was a reference book on the study of ancient runes.

Just seeing those densely packed hieroglyphs gave Harry a headache, and he quickly looked away.

"Hermione..."

"No need to say anything more, I still have 331 pages to read!"

Seemingly realizing that her tone had been a bit rude, she quickly added:
"However, I would be very grateful if you could bring me back some stationery and candy."

You know, my parents really like the stuff there, and my pens and ink have been running out pretty quickly lately.

"No problem at all!"

Harry and Ron both nodded repeatedly.

"Uh……"

"What's wrong, Lao Ha?"

Noticing that Harry's expression suddenly became a little strange, Ron asked curiously.

"Sirius told me to bring Cho along too," Harry said, blushing.

"My God!"

Ron exclaimed excitedly, "No wonder he's your godfather, he's really smart!"
Dude, what are you waiting for? Write to Miss Zhang now!

"No... I mean, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's wrong with that? Didn't you say last time that she wasn't too happy—because you didn't invite her to your new house during winter break?"

"This time, your godfather personally invited you; isn't that a pretty sincere offer?"

Harry thought about it and realized that it did seem to be true.

So, on a whim, Hedwig delivered another letter to Cho Chang.

Hedwig was clearly unhappy that she had just returned from a long journey and was now being asked to deliver messages for her master again.

It pecked Harry twice, as if being affectionate.

"Fine, since Hedwig doesn't want to go, let the little pig fly there instead," Ron said with a laugh. "I think it'll definitely be willing—"

"Ouch, what are you doing!"

Ron was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

Because Hedwig pecked his index finger hard.

If those two pecks at Harry were just complaints, then those two pecks at Ron were definitely retaliation.

Harry quickly picked Hedwig up, but she was still baring her teeth and claws at Ron.

"It seems jealous." Hermione couldn't help but laugh when she saw this.

"It seems like it can be removed."

Sherlock looked at Hedwig, his mouth clicking as he spoke, displaying a haughty displeasure.

"You don't want to go, and you're unhappy when I ask the little pig to go... Oh well, I won't say anything, I won't say anything, okay?"

Watching Ron being chased around by Hedwig, Sherlock, Harry, and Hermione couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Harry, stop laughing and shut your bird up!"

"Alright, Hedwig, spare his life, spare his life this time!"

Harry coaxed Hedwig to let Ron go, and then had it deliver his invitation to Cho Chang. He then waited anxiously.

Seeing this, Ron couldn't help but laugh and said, "You weren't this nervous before the last competition, buddy."

“This time it’s different!” Harry retorted.

"I get it, I get it, meeting the parents, hehe..."

Harry: "..."

Qiu Zhang's reply arrived quickly.

She said she was originally going to Hogsmeade anyway, so she was perfectly happy to go with Harry to see Sirius.

"Great! We need to get up early tomorrow, let's head back to the dorm!"

After Harry and Ron left, Hermione put away the smile that had been on her face and turned to Sherlock.

She hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, "Sherlock, should I... not have done this?"

Hermione's question was a bit vague, but Sherlock knew exactly what she was asking.

“Harry asked me the same question last time, and my answer was, it’s your own choice.”

Hermione glanced at the massive book on her desk and said with some annoyance:

"Actually, I don't know what I should do either, Sherlock. I'm really starting to doubt whether it's worth it to keep going like this."

Apart from Professor McGonagall, only Sherlock knows the secret of the Time-Turner.

Therefore, Hermione could only confide her thoughts to him.

Or rather, it's thanks to Sherlock's knowledge that Hermione can occasionally share her feelings with him; otherwise, the situation would only be worse than it is now.

“Dear Hermione, you persist in doing something not because it will be effective, but because you firmly believe that it is the right thing to do.”

Hearing Sherlock's words, Hermione lowered her head.

Her fingers unconsciously traced the raised gold-embossed title of the thick book "Elementary Deconstruction of Ancient Runes" on the table.

The flames danced in the fireplace of the common room, casting warm, orange-red light onto her furrowed brow and the open pages of a book covered with dense hieroglyphics.

Hermione was silent for a moment, then looked up.

She gave Sherlock a deep look. "I understand—I will hold on a little longer, if..."

Hermione didn't finish her sentence.

But it doesn't matter even if she doesn't say it.

Anyway, Sherlock understands everything.

On Saturday morning, after Sherlock finished his morning exercise with Harry and Neville, they returned to their dormitory and then went to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Dinner is over.

Harry and Ron headed towards the door, where Cho Chang was already waiting for them at Filch.

Because Ron inadvertently told her that Sirius wanted to meet Cho Chang.

This made Ginny look at Harry and Ron with a resentful expression, which made Harry feel a little embarrassed.

Ron, however, seemed indifferent:

"Don't do that, Ginny. Next year, you can come to Hogsmeade with us too."

Do I care about Hogsmeade?

Ginny was speechless at Ron's slowness.

She finally managed to get closer to Harry during the summer vacation, but now Cho Chang is going to meet his parents.

If this trend continues, by next year, fifth-grader Cho Chang and fourth-grader Harry might even be kissing!

By then, will I still have a chance?

(End of this chapter)