Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 502 The Triumph of the Three Kingdoms

Ever since news broke that the student councils from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were coming before Halloween, rumors about the event have spread like wildfire among the students.

For example, who would compete to be a Hogwarts champion?

For example, what events will be included in the three-way competition?

For example, how were the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang different from them?

As the saying goes, "a rumor without a source may not be without cause."

In this process, some rumors became so detailed and convincing that they sounded like the truth.

Sherlock, Harry, and Cedric have become popular candidates for the title of champion.

As for the competition events, there are all sorts of claims: some say you have to fly into the sky, some say you have to dive underwater, and some say you have to navigate a maze.

Some say that Beauspatton, in France, is an all-girls school where the girls are very beautiful.

Some say that Durmstrang was in Germany, where many historically famous black wizards were trained.

Besides these rumors, the school has also taken other actions.

The most obvious change was that Hogwarts Castle began a thorough cleaning.

Several dirty portraits were cleaned.

Because they never paid attention to these things normally, the people in the portraits that were being cleaned were very unhappy about being cleaned.

"So what if it's dirty? What's it to us?"

"I may be dirty, but can you be dirty?"

"Is it really worth making such a fuss over a bunch of country folk coming?"

They sat huddled inside the photo frame, muttering sarcastic and unpleasant words.

Every time I touch the newly exposed pink flesh on my face, I wince in pain.

The armor, which had previously been free of rust, suddenly became shiny and bright.

It no longer makes creaking noises even during activities.

Unlike portraits, they were quite satisfied with this.

During this process, the administrator, Argus Filch, made his presence felt.

He would fly into a rage whenever he saw a student forget to wipe their shoes clean.

He was so terrifying that he even scared two first-year students into crying in front of everyone.

He would only show a rare smile when he was facing Sherlock.

After all, by now, Mrs. Lorice can no longer live without high-quality cat food.

Surprisingly, not only the school administrators, but even other faculty members seemed unusually nervous.

"Longbotton, please have some mercy and don't expose yourself in front of Durmstrang's men!"

As one of the Transformation lessons was nearing its end, Professor McGonagall roared:

"Don't let them realize that you haven't even mastered a simple conversion spell!"

She said this mainly because Neville had accidentally grafted his ear onto a cactus.

And so, the remaining week passed in excitement and anticipation among the Hogwarts students.

Finally, October 31st arrived.

When the young wizards came downstairs for breakfast in the morning, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight.

Although the school auditorium is usually filled with a festive atmosphere on the eve of Halloween, today was clearly different.

Huge silk banners hung on the wall, each representing one of Hogwarts' houses:
The one with a red background and a golden lion is Gryffindor.

The blue background with a bronze eagle belongs to Ravenclaw.

The one with a yellow background and a black badger is Hufflepuff.

The one with a green background and a silver python is Slytherin.

Each college's representative animal, combined with two color schemes, tenaciously asserts the presence of its respective college.

Behind the faculty desk hung the largest banner, bearing the Hogwarts emblem:
The lion, eagle, badger, and snake are linked together, encircling a large letter H.

Sherlock couldn't help but feel a little emotional upon seeing this design.

Three years ago, that summer, an owl brought Hogwarts acceptance letters.

The front of the envelope has the recipient's address and name written on it, and the back of the envelope displays this marking.

Sherlock felt that the images of the four animals were not distorted by the small space of the envelope; on the contrary, they were all lifelike, as if they were about to jump out of the paper.

They even used a magnifying glass to verify it, thinking it was Mycroft's prank.

I never imagined that magic actually existed in this world.

Three years have passed, and I have transformed from a complete novice who knows nothing about magic into a wizard.

To be precise, he was originally a wizard, but he just didn't know it.

Seeing this enlarged version of the school badge again now, I can't help but be a little lost in thought.

"Sherlock, what's wrong?"

Hermione, seeing Sherlock's dazed expression, couldn't help but nudge him.

Because Sherlock refused decisively, Hermione stopped pestering him.

Having spent four years together, she knew Sherlock all too well.

If Sherlock hasn't made a final decision yet, everything is negotiable.

But once Sherlock makes up his mind, not even nine oxen could pull him back.

"It brought back some memories."

Sherlock withdrew his gaze and spoke slowly.

"What memories came to mind?" Harry asked curiously.

"It reminded me of the first time I received my university admission notice."

"Don't think about that!" Ron waved his hand. "Let's think about how to participate in the Triwizard Tournament!"

Hearing Ron's words, the Weasley twins also came over.

“We asked Professor McGonagall how the Warriors were selected, but she wouldn’t tell me,” George said resentfully.

“She just told us to shut up and focus on transforming our raccoons,” Fred said with a shrug.

"I just don't know what events are included in the championship?"

Ron said thoughtfully, "You know what, I bet we can do it too."

Sherlock, we've done such dangerous things before..."

“But you didn’t do it in front of the referee panel, did you?” Fred added.

George also said, "McGirl said the referees will score the Warriors based on the quality of their performance."

"Referee? Who's the referee?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Oh, the principals of the participating schools must be members of the judging panel."

Hermione suddenly interjected.

This action surprised everyone, and they all turned to look at her.

"Because during the championship in 1792, the warriors were trying to capture a chicken-bodied, snake-tailed monster that went out of control and rampaged around, injuring all three principals."

When Hermione noticed that everyone was staring at her, she immediately put on that impatient expression again.

She was already feeling quite annoyed about keeping house-pockets lately, and seeing everyone acting as if they knew nothing about it only made her feel more helpless.
"These are all written in 'Hogwarts: A History of the School,' has no one ever read them?"

However, of course, that book is not entirely reliable.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it "A Revised History of Hogwarts".

Or it could be called "A highly biased and selective history of Hogwarts, where the school's dark side is concealed."

"What are you talking about?" Ron looked completely bewildered. What was all this about?

Hermione has always been a big fan of this book, so I don't know why she's making such a comment now.

Sherlock and Harry exchanged a glance, both understanding what Hermione was about to say.

Sure enough, Hermione's eyes lit up as she said:

House-elves!

In the over 1,000-page book, *Hogwarts: A History of the School*, there's not a single word about us collectively oppressing one hundred slaves!

Sherlock had already made it clear that he would not take the position of president of the House-Elf Rights Promotion Association, so he remained noncommittal about Hermione's statement.

Harry also looked away, shook his head, and lowered his head to serve himself scrambled eggs.

Compared to Sherlock's straightforward refusal, Harry and Ron's attitudes were much gentler.

After all, we're all friends.

While Sherlock didn't buy any badges, the two of them paid two silver sieves to buy SPEW's badges.

Of course, they did this simply to shut Hermione up.

To everyone's surprise, their silver Xike was wasted.

Hermione didn't quiet down; instead, she became even noisier.

From then on, she kept pestering Harry and Ron, first by demanding that they wear badges.

After being rejected, they were then asked to persuade others to do the same.

Neither of them would wear the badge themselves, so of course they couldn't persuade others to do so.

They also envied Sherlock.

"If we had known, we should have just rejected her decisively, like Lao Xia did!"

Ron had complained about this to Harry more than once.

Unfortunately, once the arrow is released, there's no turning back; even if you regret it, it's too late.

During this time, Hermione also developed a bad habit:

Every night, he would chatter incessantly and pester others in the Gryffindor common room.

She would even shake her piggy bank vigorously under other people's noses.

"Have you ever realized that the people who change your sheets, light your fire, clean your classroom, and cook for you are all unpaid, enslaved magical creatures?!"

"So what? What else can we do?"

Some people, like Neville, had no choice but to pay.

Of course, they weren't genuinely supporting Hermione; they just wanted to stop her from glaring at them so fiercely.

Some individuals seemed somewhat interested in what she said, but were unwilling to actively participate in the activities or lobby for her.

But most people take it as a joke.

Hermione was bullied for a period of time when she was in first grade because of her personality.

However, she later realized her problem and changed her approach to interacting with her classmates, which gradually earned her their approval.

That's why, after she had moved up to the fourth grade, no one was too disgusted by her behavior.

But the attitude of "just watching for fun" is enough to explain the problem.

For example, right now, as soon as Ron heard Hermione say that, he started rolling his eyes at the ceiling.

Fred, who had initially come over because of the topic of the Triwizard Tournament, suddenly became very interested in his smoked bacon.

George glanced at the expressions of the others around him, intending to persuade Hermione:

"Listen to me, Hermione, have you been to the kitchen downstairs?"

"No, of course not. I don't think students should go to places like that."

Hermione said it bluntly, but as soon as she said it, she seemed to remember something and added:

"However, it would be fine if a teacher were with me."

She was referring, of course, to the time Sherlock went to the kitchen with Dumbledore.

However, the Weasley twins were unaware of this, and even if they had, they wouldn't have cared.

Like Sherlock, the two brothers insisted on not buying the SPEW badge.

"In fact, we have been there."

George pointed at Fred as he spoke, "He's been there many times, just to steal something to eat."

We met them, and they were very happy.

They believe 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!"

George shrugged, leaving him speechless.

He doesn't think it's necessary for humans to educate house-elves.

Thinking of this, he looked at Sherlock, his eyes clearly conveying a "Aren't you going to do anything about it?" expression.

Unfortunately, Sherlock ignored this and seemed to have no interest in the matter what.

George looked away with some regret and then discussed the Triwizard Tournament with Fred.

The same goes for everyone else; compared to the tournament, domesticated Pokémon are really nothing.

All day long, the young wizards couldn't concentrate on their lessons, because everyone was thinking about how Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's men would be arriving that evening.

This also led to Professor Snape's furious outburst during Potions class:

"Five points deducted from Gryffindor!"

"Gryffindor deducts 10 points!"

"Twenty points deducted from Gryffindor!"

If it weren't for the fact that get out of class ended half an hour early, he probably could have kept the class going.

However, when the bell rang early, even though he was unwilling, Snape could only turn his gaze away and announce the end of get out of class in his sinister voice.

As the Head of Slytherin's House, he also had duties to perform at some point.

Just as Harry said, he didn't have time to conduct poison tests on everyone.

As a result, nearly fifty points were deducted in half a class period, but the little lions, who had already moved up to the fourth grade, no longer cared about it at all.

Even Neville hurriedly followed the group to the Gryffindor Tower, where they were instructed to put down their bags and textbooks, put on their cloaks, and then rushed down the stairs to the foyer.

When they finished tidying up and arrived at the lobby, they found the deans of the four colleges ordering their students to line up.

They quickly located Gryffindor, and Ron was immediately met with a stern look from Professor McGonagall:
“Weasley, straighten your hat—and you, Miss Petit, take that ridiculous thing off your hair.”

Parvati frowned unhappily and took a large butterfly headdress off the end of her braid.

"Please follow me, everyone," Professor McGonagall said, after the lion cubs had straightened their clothes. "First-graders, please go to the front... Don't crowd..."

The two prefects assisted Professor McGonagall in directing all the young wizards of the school to descend the steps and line up in front of the castle.

The weather is nice today; although it's a bit chilly, the air is very fresh.

As night fell, a pure white, translucent moon hung in the sky above the Forbidden Forest.

Sherlock stood between Harry and Ron, with Hermione in front of him.

The lion cubs were both nervous and excited.

The first-year students, in particular, were so excited that they were trembling with excitement as they were attending such a grand event right after starting school.

It's almost six o'clock.

Ron glanced at his watch, looked at the driveway leading to the front door, and couldn't help but look at Sherlock:

"Old Xia, how do you think they'll get here? By train like we did?"

(End of this chapter)