Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 520 The Despicable Sherlock Holmes
The person who was most angry after reading Rita Skeeter's article, besides Harry, was Ron.

His fiery red hair was practically standing on end.

"Sherlock, look at how she's making fun of you!"

What jealousy, some absurd theory, or a premeditated conspiracy?

She's gone mad! Utterly mad!

People often cannot tolerate seeing their own flaws appear in other people.

Ron knew perfectly well that this woman was talking nonsense, and Sherlock had no such idea at all.

But the problem is, he has it!
However, he hid it very well and never showed it.

He only expressed a little bit of his opinion when Sherlock and Harry were selected as the Triwizard Tournament participants.

However, Sherlock quickly pointed this out.

After Ron figured things out, he felt ashamed.

Unexpectedly, several days later, this crazy woman would publish such an article.

The things she said about Sherlock could be applied to herself almost verbatim.

In stark contrast to Harry's anger and Ron's agitation, Sherlock, without even looking up, said:
“Anger won’t solve anything, dear Ron. I do find this article somewhat interesting.”

"interesting?"

Harry turned sharply to him, his face filled with disbelief, and said:

She portrayed me as a pathetic whine who only relied on my dead parents for support!

They even portrayed you as a scheming schemer who coveted my reputation!

"That's precisely why it's so interesting."

Sherlock looked up: "See, not all of her words are false!"

Harry, you did say you weren't forced.

Furthermore, it wouldn't be wrong to say that my initial motivation for approaching you was a carefully planned, ambiguous, and deceptive foreshadowing.

As for the plot behind this matter, it was indeed hidden in a scheme that even Dumbledore was unaware of.

However, this scheme is not dangerous at all.

Harry and Ron looked at each other.

what's the situation?
Why is Sherlock starting to speak up for Rita Skeeter?

"However, apart from these..."

Sherlock's voice began to carry a hint of cold mockery:

"It's just a standard, clumsy tactic, exactly the same as what she published before."

As I told you last time, it would be unrealistic to expect this reporter to have professional standards.

Of the factors of authenticity, accuracy, and effectiveness, only the last one is truly useful to her.

Taking things out of context, quoting from a different source, and creating division—that's her specialty.

Her pathetic logic and so-called evidence weren't even up to Hermione's level for a first-year history of magic essay.

"I think I heard you talking about me?"

Sherlock had barely finished speaking when Hermione suddenly walked into the common room and overheard the rest of Sherlock's sentence.

She glanced at the Daily Prophet placed on the three-person table and couldn't help but laugh:
"Sherlock, do you think this is normal?"

Seeing Sherlock nod, "I knew it—that's what I thought too."

"Ignore it, Harry, Ron, just ignore it."

But Harry couldn't ignore it.

The entire school was in an uproar after this article was published.

On the Hogwarts side, the Gryffindor lion cubs performed well.

Regardless of whether they said it or not, we will wholeheartedly support Harry and Sherlock.

It highlights someone's recklessness and lack of common sense.

It might not be the right thing to do, but it feels so good!
Especially in a situation where everyone is against you, it feels really good to still have people supporting you.

of course there are exceptions.

Ginny Weasley.

She was probably the angrier person besides Harry and Ron.

She then went to Colin Crevey to ask him why he said that.

Colin said he was also wronged, as he had only heard that Rita Skeeter wanted to promote Harry.

As a loyal Harry fan, he naturally praised him to the skies.

In Colin's opinion, this couldn't even be considered a compliment, because Harry was indeed that kind of wise and mighty figure in his mind.

The topic of Qiu Zhang is also easy to explain.

Rita Skeeter asked Harry if he was popular at school.

Colin naturally gave an affirmative answer.

When Rita Skeeter asked the girls if they also welcomed Harry, Colin gave an affirmative answer.

He also mentioned the names of Hermione Granger, Cho Chang, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and the Pettier twins.

However, Rita Skeeter is a woman of great talent and has a keen eye; she immediately spotted the most prominent name among them.

"She didn't just ask me; she asked many other people..."

Colin said, feeling wronged, "I never said Harry was dating Cho Chang."

After hearing this, Ginny had nothing to say.

Colin didn't seem to have done anything wrong.

Apart from Gryffindor, the other three houses reacted differently to this matter.

Ravenclaw students were indifferent to this.

However, some of Cho Chang's friends would tease Harry about this when they occasionally met with him.

As for Qiu Zhang himself, he naturally attracted a lot of attention.

After all, there are quite a few boys who pursue Qiu Zhang.

Especially after entering the fifth grade, Qiu Zhang became the undisputed school beauty.

These boys naturally transferred their resentment to Harry.

The Hufflepuff students, however, were not so happy.

There were nine warriors in the entire Triwizard Tournament, but Cedric didn't even appear by name.

You should know that he was the captain of the three champions of Hogwarts!

The badgers, who had always gotten along well with the Gryffindors, suddenly became cold towards them.

A single herbal medicine lesson is enough to prove this point.

Clearly, the little badgers felt that Harry had stolen the glory of their warrior.

This is mainly because Hufflepuff House rarely receives any honors.

Unfortunately, Digory Cedric was one of the few who brought them glory.

Furthermore, his past victory over Gryffindor in Quidditch only intensified their resentment.

Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finley, who used to be on good terms with Harry, no longer speak to him, even though they are transplanting bouncy bulbs on the same tray.

However, when a bouncing bulb wriggled free from Harry's grasp and slapped him hard across the face, they all burst into gloating laughter, which was quite unsettling.

Even Professor Sprout seemed to have become distant from Harry.

That's understandable, after all, she is the headmistress of Hufflepuff School.

Cedric, on the other hand, took it all in stride. Shortly after the article was published, he approached Sherlock and Harry to say that he didn't care at all.

He also advised the badgers not to target Harry.

Because he was right next to Harry at the time, he knew perfectly well that those words were not spoken by Harry, and Harry himself was not that kind of person.

However, this is of no use.

The prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain that can never be moved no matter how hard you try.

Apart from a handful of people, including Hannah Abbott, the rest of the group continued to treat Harry with hostility.

The little badgers saw it as Cedric being noble and not stooping to Harry's level.

To be honest, Harry greatly admired Cedric's handling of the situation.

Needless to say, the students of Slytherin.

The little snake and the little lion were already at odds, so they naturally seized the opportunity to mock Harry, saying he was desperate for fame.

Moreover, there's Snape, that old serpent king, adding fuel to the fire.

Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts suddenly became Harry's most difficult classes.

Gryffindor's score points also plummeted during this period, eventually landing them in last place.

However, compared to the little snake, the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were even more rude.

Why?
We are all warriors.

How did an article about the Triwizard Tournament become an interview with Harry Potter?
Yes, you are the boy who survived the ordeal, and you saved the magical world.

But note that this magical world must be preceded by a prefix—Britain.

Although Voldemort's dark rule lasted for decades, it was limited to Britain and its surrounding areas.

The impact on Beauxbatons' home country of France was not as significant as one might imagine.

Needless to say, this is especially true for Durmstrang, located in Northern Europe.

Therefore, their gratitude for the name Harry Potter is naturally not as strong as that of the British.

Not to mention that the names of the six warriors from the two schools were crammed into the last line.

And it even misspelled it!
This is absolutely outrageous!

Furthermore, the content of Rita Skeeter's article further convinced them that Harry was someone who liked to show off and flaunt his achievements.

Look, apart from his own college, not many people support him, do they?
So whenever they saw Harry, they would quote lines from the article to mock him:

"Would you like a handkerchief, youngest warrior, so you don't burst into tears during the competition?"

"To be honest, I think he needs something else more. After all, he might wet his pants if he's too nervous!"

"Even though Durmstrang and Beauxbatons saw it, I never said any of that! Not a single word!"

Harry was furious.

But it was no use; none of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's six warriors stood up to offer an explanation like Cedric did.

Hearing Harry's complaint, Sherlock wasn't surprised: "I think they probably assume you gave another interview after you left, right?"

"There is absolutely no evidence!"

“Good habit, Harry,” Sherlock chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. “But they also have no proof that you didn’t say those things.”

"I……"

At that moment, Harry almost blurted out a curse.

Fortunately, he held back.

However, he was also relieved that he finally met Qiu Zhang.

Cho Chang didn't mind at all; her gaze towards Harry was full of smiles.

"Is there anyone who knows better than ourselves whether we are inseparable or not?"
Harry, I think Sherlock and Hermione are right, just ignore it.

Also, good luck on Tuesday, and I hope you do your best!

Harry's mood improved after this incident.

At that moment, Harry suddenly remembered the words from Sirius Black's letter:
"If anything unusual happens, I still hope you will write to me."

All of this was simply extraordinary.

He couldn't wait to start looking forward to the weekend.

The day has finally arrived.

Students in third grade and above handed over consent forms approved by their guardians to school administrator Filch, and then headed to Hogsmeade Village in a large group.

Sherlock has never been very interested in Hogsmeade.

However, because Sirius Black specifically mentioned it in his letter to Harry, Sherlock was included in the group.

Since it was the first outing of the school year, and with Christmas just around the corner, Hermione decided to join the group and buy some of her parents' favorite snacks.

Ron goes without saying.

He never missed a single opportunity to go to Hogsmeade.

However, after arriving at Hogsmeade, their group gained three more members.

Ginny, Luna, Cho Chang.

Luna and Ginny had just started their third year, so this was their first time being allowed to come to Hogsmeade Village.

As for Cho Chang, she was originally with her two roommates, but when they saw Sherlock and his group at the intersection, Lucy and Alicia laughed and pushed Cho Chang out.

"Harry, hurry up and take Cho away!"

"We can't be the ones who stop you from being 'inseparable'!"

Qiu Zhang looked at her two roommates who were running away with silly smiles, shook her head helplessly, and then asked the four of them in a generous manner if they minded.

They certainly wouldn't mind; in fact, Harry secretly hoped for it.

This scene was witnessed by Luna and Ginny, who were not far away.

This made Ginny almost grind her teeth to dust.

While she was still in a daze, Luna had already pulled her forward.

"Wait, Luna, what are you doing?"

"The past is gone!"

Luna said in a completely matter-of-fact tone, "Since you feel uncomfortable, then go over there!"

"I don't feel uncomfortable..."

Luna looked at Ginny without saying a word.

Ginny sighed. "Okay, I'll do what you say."

And so, Sherlock and his group of seven entered the Three Broomsticks pub and successfully reunited with Sirius Black.

Sirius was somewhat surprised to see this.

However, when he saw that Cho Chang and Ginny were both there, he immediately beamed with joy:

"Come, come, sit down here. I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

He ordered a butterbeer for everyone and then started talking about the Triwizard Tournament.

"To be honest, I really envy you guys!"

He remarked with considerable emotion, "It's incredible to encounter such a grand event at school!"
What's even more enviable is that you can participate in it personally...

"Alright, tell me, Harry, how did you manage to mess with that crazy woman, Rita Skeeter?"

"I didn't provoke her!"

Harry said indignantly, "She's the one who provoked me!"

(End of this chapter)