Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 534 Bad Luck
After Hibiscus drew the Swedish short-nosed dragon, Mr. Bagman handed the purple silk bag to Krum, and said to Cedric:

"Guests first, you don't have any objections, right?"

Cedric shook his head.

Sherlock suddenly felt that Mr. Bagman was being a bit long-winded.

Wouldn't it be better to hurry up?

As a result, Krum's luck, while not as good as Fleur's, was still pretty good.

He pulled out the bright red Chinese fireball, the number of which was two.

He didn't even blink before plopping down, his eyes fixed on the ground.

Having witnessed the performance of the warriors from both schools, Sherlock became even more certain of his deduction.

Both Ms. Maxim and Mr. Karkaroff, without any surprise, told their students what challenges they would face in their first project.

The only difference is that Ms. Maxim told the three warriors directly.

Mr. Karkaroff only told Krum.

Although Krum had little communication with his companions, he still managed to tell them this crucial information.

He was still observing and making his usual deductions when he noticed that Cedric and Harry's faces had turned deathly pale.

Without a doubt, the Hungarian wood bee, with the highest level of difficulty, was left to them.

Harry and Cedric exchanged a glance, both seeing the despair in each other's eyes.

Damn it, my luck is just too bad!
The two then looked at Sherlock and saw that he still looked calm and collected, and immediately realized what was going on.

Yes, yes, they shouldn't know the types of the three dragons yet.

I almost lost my composure.

Cedric immediately feigned composure and stepped forward to take the purple silk bag from Mr. Bagman.

Naturally, he pulled out the Hungarian wood bee, number one.

Not only was it the most dangerous dragon, but it was also the first to appear.

Anyone who frequently takes exams knows this.

The first person to appear faces the most pressure.

For the participants, there were no precedents to follow.

For judges, there is a lack of comparison when scoring, so they often choose to lower the score to be on the safe side.

It's like doubly bad luck.

At that moment, both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's warriors secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, you've all got them!"

Bagman looked around and then spoke:
"You have all drawn the fire dragons you will face. The numbers around your necks indicate the order in which you will confront the fire dragons. Do you understand?"

Okay, I need to leave you all for a while now because I need to give an explanation to the audience.

Cedric, you, Harry, and Sherlock are the first.

Once you hear the whistle, get into that area, understand?

After seeing Cedric nod, Bagman added:
"So... Harry... can I talk to you for a bit? Shall we come outside?"

Everyone looked at Bagman in surprise, wondering what he had to say to Harry with the match about to begin.

Harry instinctively looked towards Sherlock.

Seeing Sherlock nod slightly at him, he then followed Mr. Bagman out of the tent.

As soon as Harry left, Cedric immediately moved closer to Sherlock and asked in a low voice:
"Sherlock, what does Mr. Bagman want with Harry?"

Sherlock looked at him with a half-smile:
“Cedric, do you really think I’m a prophet who knows everything?”

Cedric suddenly realized.

I've fallen into a fixed mindset.

Despite being given such nicknames as Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock, Sherlock is not omnipotent.

Just like Mr. Ludo Bagman, Sherlock was unfamiliar with him and had no way of knowing what he was thinking.

"Sherlock, I..."

“I actually know what he took Harry out to do.”

Cedric: (ー`ー)
At that moment, Cedric finally understood why Sherlock didn't have many friends at school.

"If my deduction is correct, he probably wanted to offer Harry some help."

"how is this possible?"

Cedric almost cried out.

Ludo Bagman is one of the judges.

How could someone do something like this?
As if seeing through Cedric's thoughts, Sherlock smiled slightly:
"Referees are human too, and humans have their own biases, besides..."

Sherlock said in a meaningful tone, "His selfish motives are by no means small."

Cedric was even more puzzled upon hearing this, and was about to ask again when a whistle sounded from somewhere.

Cedric paused, and Moody had already spoken.

"Hogwarts, it's your turn—you two, come with me!"

He spoke in a gruff voice, then wobbled his prosthetic leg and walked out of the tent, step by step.

Cedric immediately shut up and obediently followed Moody along with Sherlock.

The three of them walked out of the tent one in front and two behind, just in time to see Mr. Bagman running away and Harry standing there looking completely bewildered.

"Harry, come quick!"

Cedric quickly said.

Harry seemed to snap out of his daze and quickly ran over to stand next to Sherlock.

Moody gave Harry a deep look, but said nothing. He simply led them forward in silence.

"Are you alright, Harry?"

Cedric asked in a low voice.

“It’s alright, I’m fine,” Harry replied, then said to Sherlock, “Sherlock, Mr. Bagman…”

"Let's talk about this after the game is over."

Sherlock interrupted Harry, "Your expression tells me everything."

Harry nodded.

Next, Moody led the Hogwarts trio through the tent entrance and outside.

During this process, Harry and Cedric's tension gradually increased until it reached an unbearable level.

Cedric gripped his wand tightly, trembling from head to toe.

At this moment, Harry felt an unprecedented sense of closeness to Cedric.

Although he and Sherlock were best friends, the other's calm and collected demeanor made it difficult for him to feel any closeness.

But there are benefits.

That is, whenever Harry sees Sherlock's calm and composed demeanor, he realizes that his legs are no longer made of syrup.

Finally, Moody led them past the bushes, through a gap in the fence, and to their destination.

In an instant, hundreds and thousands of faces appeared on the stands above the three of them.

When Sherlock and Harry came to see the dragon last Saturday night, there were no stands yet.

However, in the magical world, building a grandstand in three days is no big deal.

At the other end of the paddock was the Hungarian wood bee, which Charlie called "the kind of bee that never ends well."

This is an enormous, scale-covered lizard-like reptile.

It violently twisted its spiky tail, leaving a series of craters several meters long on the hard ground.

Sherlock's gaze swept across the area and noticed that the Hungarian wood bee was guarding its nest of eggs, its wings half-folded.

Although it was crouching low at this moment, its enormous size still gave people the feeling of towering high.

As soon as Moody led the three of them over, the Hungarian Hornet's vicious yellow eyes immediately fixed on Harry.

"That's it."

Moody stopped, looked at the three of them, and slowly said:

"Remember, if you find that things are not going to work, even if you have to give up the game, don't force yourself to keep going."

Harry looked surprised when he heard Moody's somewhat curt advice.

He never expected that the other party would care about them so much.

After saying that, Moody left with his prosthetic leg, walking towards the referee's table.

Sherlock followed his gaze and saw that Dumbledore, Mr. Karkaroff, and Ms. Maxim were already seated.

Only Bagman and Moody are missing from the referee team.

At this point, a deafening clamor erupted from the audience.

Clearly, when they saw Sherlock and his two companions appear, they knew that a tense and exciting match was about to begin.

Since it was Hogwarts' home ground, the three of them naturally received unanimous support from the entire school's faculty and students.

This time, even Slytherin, who have always been at odds with Gryffindor, cheered for the three of them.

Sherlock glanced in the direction of the Hungarian Hornet; the golden egg was in the center of that pile of dragon eggs, and getting it wouldn't be an easy task.

"It seems we're in luck; things are developing almost exactly as we predicted, so let's just do as we said before."

"Yes."

Cedric took a deep breath. "Sherlock, Harry, we have to win!"

Harry nodded heavily.

At this moment, he had completely forgotten what Moody had just said.

"So...shall we begin?"

Cedric glanced at Sherlock nervously and asked.

Sherlock nodded, drew his wand, and said, "Let's begin!"

The three of them simultaneously recited the summoning incantation.

"Fire bolts are coming!"

Harry shouted especially loudly.

Because he was the only one of the three who lacked confidence in successfully casting the spell.

He remembered Sherlock and Cedric's instructions to him.

Eliminate distracting thoughts, concentrate your mind completely and absolutely, and imagine a flaming crossbow bolt.

Only by obtaining the fire bolt will he have a chance to keep up with Sherlock's pace.

Soon, there was some commotion on the field.

A strong whooshing sound came as three flying brooms whistled through the air and flew towards them.

The fire crossbow bolts took the lead, bypassing the edge of the forbidden forest and flying into the enclosure first.

As it abruptly stopped in mid-air beside Harry, waiting for him to step onto it, Sherlock's Nimbus 2002 Super followed closely behind.

When Nimbus 2002 Super also stopped beside Sherlock, Cedric's Seven Stars Sweep arrived belatedly.

A burst of cheers erupted from the stands.

The moment Sherlock, Harry, and Cedric simultaneously leaped onto their respective broomsticks and soared into the air, the voice of the commentator, Bagman, drowned out the cheers of the entire audience:
"Oh my god, they can fly!"

(End of this chapter)