Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 459 Happy Birthday
Harry Potter was fourteen years old, an age when he was tireless in his work and never felt full.

With a strong voice, he successfully blew out all fourteen candles in one breath, winning cheers from everyone.

"Be more alert!"

"Well done, Harry!"

"You really didn't embarrass us!"

Happy birthday, Harry!

After receiving congratulations and well wishes from friends and family, Harry began cutting the cake.

Because there were so many people, Kreacher also made a very large cake to make sure everyone got one.

After that came the banquet.

Kreacher reappeared and began serving the dishes one by one.

When they tasted the cake earlier, everyone thought it tasted great. Now that they tasted the main course, everyone was amazed by Kreacher's skills.

In particular, Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Weasley, and Zhuge Dali are the three mothers.

Both Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Weasley were highly skilled cooks.

Needless to say, Zhuge Dali is the Chinese person who is most knowledgeable about food in the world.

If even she approves of a chef's skills, then they are truly exceptional.

Meanwhile, Harry was mentally prepared this time and gave Kreacher a heads-up, telling him to keep quiet throughout the process.

That made me feel much more comfortable.

But Hermione frowned, thinking that Harry had a tendency to mistreat house-elves.

“This goes against freedom of speech, Harry, you shouldn’t do this.”

“My dear Hermione, freedom is relative, but unfreedom is absolute.”

When Hermione expressed her opinion to Sherlock, Sherlock directly said:
"It is inappropriate to impose your thoughts on the behavior of a species that is completely different from humans."

"But it's so pitiful, don't you think?"

“They don’t feel sorry for themselves,” Ron replied, taking a moment to add as he ate heartily. “They think it’s an honor to serve their master.”

“This is slave labor.” Hermione raised her eyebrows.

Luna chimed in at this point, "Dad said that we had a house-elf a long time ago, and its owner had the same idea as you, so she decided to give the elf its freedom."

"And then?" Hermione asked, intrigued.

"When its owner told it that it was about to be free, it was terrified."

Later, it kept banging its head against the wall, pleading with its owner not to do it.

Luna paused, then said, "They like it this way; they like being other people's slaves."

"But that's not right."

“But they’re very happy!” Luna tilted her head and said, puzzled. “They think they’ve got the best job in the world.”

"That's because they haven't been educated and have been indoctrinated with some wrong ideas!"

Neville said cautiously, "It's always been like this. My grandmother said that house-elves were slaves a long, long time ago..."

"Just because it's always been this way, does that mean it's right?"

"..."

Even after the meal was over, Hermione was still bothered by the incident.

For the rest of the time, the adults and children separated and started playing on their own.

The four ladies were excitedly discussing the birthday party they had just attended.

"British food is really terrible, Varita. It's a shame that the best food in Britain is French food."

"I think it will probably be Chinese food in the future."

"Mrs. Holmes is right—Mrs. Zhang, in your country, is cooking an art?"

"High-end ingredients often require only the simplest cooking methods."

Zhuge Dali's words were agreed upon by Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Granger, and Mrs. Weasley.

The men split into two groups.

Zhang Wei was telling Mr. Weasley about his work, and Mr. Weasley was listening very attentively.

He had always been interested in the Muggle world, and the fact that Zhang Wei was telling Muggle stories from a foreign land made him even more interested.

Sirius, on the other hand, earnestly sought advice from Mr. Holmes and Mr. Granger on how to properly educate teenagers.

Ultimately, he wasn't married, so he lacked experience in this area.

In his view, the Holmes and Granger families were undoubtedly successful in educating Sherlock and Hermione.

As for Mr. Weasley…

Sirius, seeing how Zhang Wei was laughing so hard and gesturing wildly, thought for a moment and decided to give up.

Never mind, I'll ask Molly later; she seems more reliable in this regard.

Harry and his friends toured the old house.

This was the first time that Qiu Zhang, Luna, Neville, and Dean had visited 12 Grimoire Place, and they were very interested in it.

The Weasley twins had lived here for a while and were very familiar with the area, so they told Harry and made their escape.

Harry knew perfectly well that they were going to prepare those magical trick props again.

The undercurrents between Gryffindor and Slytherin before last year's Quidditch final provided them with excellent material for experimentation.

They have been continuously improving these magical items throughout the summer.

Unfortunately, the cave dwelling rooms were rather small, and with Mrs. Weasley watching over them, they didn't dare to go too far.

But things are different now that we've come to 12 Grimmauld Place.

The adults didn't care at all today, and Sirius had already said that he would do whatever he wanted as long as the ceiling wasn't blown off.

Isn't that like someone offering you a pillow when you're dozing off?
As for Ron's third brother, Percy, he did not attend Harry's birthday party.

This summer, he finally got his wish and entered the Ministry of Magic.

According to Ron, he was a complete workaholic.

If Mr. Weasley hadn't insisted on dragging him home every day, he would have preferred to live at his workplace.

Hermione also temporarily forgot about the house-elves and discussed Harry's strange dream with Sherlock.

"Sherlock, can't you figure out who Voldemort's allies are either?"

“Dear Hermione, it is dangerous to make inferences without evidence.”

Can't you guess?

"I never speculate."

“Okay, if Harry’s dream is true, does that mean Professor Trelawney’s prophecy is also true?”

Because an ally has indeed found Voldemort and is going to help him make a comeback.

"My opinion has never changed, dear Hermione."

Sherlock smiled and said, "Don't believe in prophecies too much, but don't reject them either. Just treat them as a tool for inspiration."

"So... is there really nothing we can do right now?"

"You're getting a little impatient."

Sherlock looked at Hermione with his grey eyes and said seriously:

“You, me, and Harry are all just fourteen-year-old kids—well, right, you’re different from us.”

"How is it different?" Hermione didn't react for a moment.

"You'll be fifteen in a month."

(ー`ー)
“Sherlock!” “You are indeed the oldest among us.”

Seeing Hermione's disapproving look, Sherlock smiled and said, "You have to face reality, dear Hermione."

(///￣俣)○～
"Okay... I'm really sorry for being a year older than all of you!"

Hermione knew there was no point in arguing with Sherlock about this, so she took a deep breath and said through gritted teeth:

"I understand, please continue."

“I think you understand what I’m talking about—our headmaster Dumbledore always thinks he can control everything.”

Therefore, he didn't give us enough information on many occasions, which put me in a very passive position when dealing with things.

Hermione nodded; she understood what Sherlock meant.

Whether it's the Philosopher's Stone in the first year, the Chamber of Secrets in the second year, or the Prisoner of Azkaban in the third year.

With Sherlock's exceptional abilities, if he had known all the information earlier, he wouldn't have had to wait so long to solve the problem.

"Fortunately, after the locked room incident, our old principal finally understood this principle."

When I need information, I no longer try to hide it like before; I can always tell you everything.

The result was obvious; I caught Peter in the first semester of third grade.

By the end of the school year, they had learned about Horcruxes, so…

Sherlock smiled slightly, "We've done enough things that require thinking."

We can't expect a group of underage wizards like us to directly confront a Dark Lord who has ruled the magical world for over a decade, can we?
Even if the Ministry of Magic is useless, there's still Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix, right?

Let the old headmaster and the other adults handle the tasks that require physical labor!

Having said that, Hermione understood.

Clearly, Sherlock, Harry, and Dumbledore have reached an agreement.

Thinking of this, Hermione glanced at Harry, who was excitedly introducing Black's old house to his friends, then turned her gaze back to Sherlock and asked uncertainly:
"Sherlock, you guys didn't do something with Mr. Dumbledore again during the summer vacation, did you?"

"Yes."

"..."

That's very frank!
"So you can't tell us what it contains?"

"Personally, I don't really care, but Dumbledore forbids us from talking about it."

Hermione understood upon hearing this.

She knew it!

It's all Ron's fault!
If he hadn't been so talkative last time, Sherlock definitely wouldn't have kept it from him!

"So, should Harry's dream be told to Dumbledore?"

"It's obvious, dear Hermione."

As I just mentioned, it was precisely because Dumbledore was always unwilling to share information with me that our actions were severely delayed.

Conversely, the same applies; when we have new information, we must communicate with Dumbledore promptly.

Sherlock shrugged. "Actually, I just wrote to him about it, and, well, Professor Snape as well."

"Professor Snape?"

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. "Why did you have to tell him?"

"I personally think it's necessary to tell him, and as for the reason, I can only apologize."

"Is it Dumbledore who forbids us to talk about it again?"

"Obviously, my friend."

"..."

Hermione was very angry, but the consequences were not serious.

Overall, everyone had a very happy day on Harry's birthday.

Especially Harry, as the master.

For him, this was the happiest birthday since the last time he stayed at the Sherlock house and was taken out by the Holmes couple.

Once everything was over, Mrs. Weasley, under Ginny's expectant gaze, once again invited Harry, Hermione, and Sherlock to stay in the cave for a while.

That way, when the Quidditch World Cup starts, they can go with Ron's father.

Mr. Weasley used his connections at the Ministry of Magic to get some of the best tickets.

Upon hearing this, Cho Chang looked at Harry with some nervousness.

Sirius Black witnessed this scene, smiled slightly, and refused her on Harry's behalf:
"Molly, thank you so much for your invitation."

But Harry and I haven't seen each other for so many years, and he spends most of the year at Hogwarts. You're going to deprive us of the very little time we have together!

Hearing Sirius say this, Mrs. Weasley had no choice but to give up.

Noticing Ginny's eyes dimming, Sirius, quick-witted, said again:
"But you can let a few children stay here!"

Ron, Fred, George, Ginny...

That way, Molly, you can relax for a while, and things will be more lively here with Harry and me.

“Oh, that’s great!” Fred Weasley said.

“Sirius, I absolutely love you!” George Weasley said.

"Say yes, Mom. There are so many rooms here, and the beds are big and spacious..."

"Shut up, Ron!"

Ginny said irritably, "This sixth brother always likes to make things worse."

When you say the beds here are big and spacious, aren't you implying that the beds in cave dwellings are small and cramped?

Ron realized this as well and immediately shut up.

Even so, Molly understood his meaning and fell into deep thought.

Having the Weasley twins live here certainly saves me a lot of trouble.

Is it not a good idea to pass the trouble on to others?

"Molly, say yes to them!"

Just then, Mr. Weasley, the head of the family, spoke up:

“Bill and Charlie will be back in a couple of days. We’re definitely getting a bit crowded there, and Sirius isn’t an outsider either.”

Molly sighed; Sirius was indeed no outsider.

Both she and her husband are related to the Black family.

"Alright, since you agree..."

"Great!"

The Weasley twins immediately hugged each other excitedly, and then rushed upstairs to work on their inventions without saying a word.

Ron hugged Harry and said with a grin, "Thank you, Mom and Dad."

Ginny was a little embarrassed. She hugged her parents and said, "Don't worry, I'll be good."

And so, Ron, Ginny, and the Weasley twins lived at 12 Grimmauld Place, while the others went back to their own homes.

Cho Chang also made a promise with Harry to meet again at the Quidditch World Cup a week later.

"Once we get there, just come to our private room."

Sirius said with a grin, "There are too few of us, it's too deserted."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhang's cheeks flushed crimson.

(End of this chapter)