Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 566 What kind of person is Sherlock?

Harry was reading the Daily Prophet, which Ron had stolen from Malfoy, at lightning speed.

The more he read, the more his expression resembled that of Viktor Krum—growing increasingly gloomy.

It's Rita Skeeter again, and what she's holding isn't a quill pen at all, but a poisoned needle!
What she wrote in the article was all nonsense:
First, Hagrid was expelled in his third year for opening the Chamber of Secrets and releasing the monster. It was Dumbledore who took pity on him and gave him a job as a gamekeeper.

It is also said that Hagrid used mysterious powers to obtain the teaching position of the Magical Creatures class, used dangerous animals to scare students in class, and even bribed injured children with Puffy.

These nonsensical ramblings are annoying enough, but the most vicious part of the article is that it exposes Hagrid's background in great detail.

He was said to be a half-giant, whose mother was the cruel and bloodthirsty Friedwafa.

The article even devoted half a page to implying that he inherited the cruel nature of giants, and even questioned whether Dumbledore was gambling with the children's safety by keeping him to teach.

At the end, the author didn't forget to take a jab at Lupin, fabricating a story that he disguised himself as a man to avoid the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, with every word filled with biting sarcasm.

"That's unreasonable!"

Harry gripped the newspaper tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

“This is really outrageous!
How could you write this old cow like that!

How dare she?

He didn't realize that in his haste, he had not only sworn but his voice was also trembling.

As Harry's best friend, Ron was also furious.

He glared at Malfoy sideways:

"'A student who doesn't want to give his name,' that's you, Malfoy, isn't it?"

Malfoy shrank back under his glare and glanced cautiously at Sherlock.

Seeing that Sherlock remained silent, he finally mustered the courage to retort:

"Weasley, don't talk nonsense without evidence. What proof do you have that I said that?"

"Besides you, who else would spread such rumors!"

"Then there's still no evidence?"
As a friend of the great detective Sherlock Holmes, you can't embarrass him!

"Malfoy, you..."

"Besides, what 'this student' said is absolutely right."

Someone was indeed injured during the "Protect the Magical Creatures" class.

As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at Dean, his smugness barely concealed.

As is well known, Dean was burned on the arm by sparks from a blasting conch shell last time.

Although it was just a shallow scar, when Malfoy mentioned it, it seemed to become irrefutable evidence of Hagrid's dereliction of duty in teaching.

"As for the half-giant..."

Malfoy paused here, a mocking smile playing on his lips, and deliberately lowered his voice:
“Weasley, I suggest you think about this: if your parents knew their son was taking classes with a giant, would they agree?”

A half-giant teacher is only slightly better than a werewolf teacher, right?

Ron's face instantly turned bright red, and he trembled with anger.

That bastard was right!
Hogwarts does indeed have a werewolf teacher, Professor Lupin!
But he couldn't say it aloud; he could only clench his fists tightly, glare at Malfoy, and exhale as he spoke:
"Malfoy, fucking—"

Are you all paying attention in class?

Just then, Professor Glapland's voice reached the boy, interrupting Ron's impending vulgar remark.

At this moment, all the girls gathered around the unicorn, stroking it.

Professor Glapland is listing many of the amazing properties of unicorns.

Because the boys couldn't go over, she turned her voice up really loud so they could hear her too.

But when she noticed the situation here, she couldn't help but frown.

Seeing this, Ron had no choice but to abruptly interrupt his spellcasting, glaring at Malfoy with indignation.

Compared to Ron, Harry's anger was mainly directed at Rita Skeeter, not Draco Malfoy.

He was so angry that he couldn't say a word, and the Daily Prophet article trembled in his hands.

After class, the little lions walked together into the castle. The girls were all talking about the lesson, and Parvati Petil couldn't help but say:
"I really hope this female teacher can stay!"
This is what we believe a class on protecting magical creatures should be like...

"A respectable animal like a unicorn, not a monster like a blundering snail."

As soon as she finished speaking, the girls around her immediately echoed her:
"Yeah, yeah! Unicorn fur feels so soft!"

"Compared to it, the blasting snail is utter garbage!"

"Professor Grapland explained it so clearly, much more interestingly than Hagrid!"

"What about Hagrid?"

Harry's voice suddenly rang out.

Suppressed anger was like a pebble thrown into calm water; the girls' chatter instantly stopped, and all eyes were on him.

Lavender Brown paused for a moment, then whispered:

"It doesn't matter, does it?"

Even if he didn't teach this course, Hagrid would still be the gamekeeper and key custodian, wouldn't he...?

She caught a glare from Ron halfway through her sentence.

His eyes looked like he wanted to devour someone, so I quickly swallowed my words and lowered my head, not daring to utter another sound.

She thought to herself that it wasn't that she cared about Ron's opinion, but rather that Harry was a champion in the Triwizard Tournament, and she had to give him some face.

Hermione arrived in a hurry after everyone had entered the hall.

As soon as she saw Sherlock and Harry, she put her book down on the table, her eyes sparkling.

"Today's class was so interesting!"

Half of the unicorn knowledge that Professor Grapeland shared was something I had never seen in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"!

I deliberately stayed until the end and asked her a lot of questions. She even recommended a book to me called "A Study of Unicorn Habits"!

She chattered on and on for a while before noticing Harry and Ron's gloomy faces, and after a pause, asked:

"So, what were you arguing about in class before?"
I saw Sherlock take you to find Malfoy—is he causing you trouble again?

"It wasn't him, it was that woman!"

Harry had wanted to interject for a while, but Hermione's words came out like a machine gun, giving him no chance to speak.

Now that Hermione had finally asked, he immediately held the crumpled newspaper under her nose.

Hermione took the newspaper and read it quickly, her smiling face gradually darkening.

In the end, her mouth was open in an "O" shape, and her eyes were wide open:
"How would Rita Skeeter know all this? Could Hagrid have told her himself?"

"Probably."

Ron rubbed his nose, his tone tinged with helplessness. "You know perfectly well that Hagrid can never keep a secret. Once someone starts talking to him, he'll blurt out everything."

Harry frowned, his lips pursed. "But he can't tell the truth to everyone, can he? Doesn't he know what kind of person Rita Skeeter is?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Expecting Hagrid to keep a secret is as unreliable as expecting Ron to keep his mouth shut."

“Hey—” Ron protested, clearly annoyed. Hermione ignored him and continued:

"But Hagrid can't be entirely blamed; Rita Skeeter is the real culprit!"

He didn't care about anything else; as long as he could get a story, he wouldn't let anyone off the hook. First it was Harry and Sherlock, then it was Hagrid…

"wrong."

Sherlock suddenly spoke, immediately drawing the attention of his three friends.

This is Sherlock Holmes.

In most situations, he remains silent, making it easy for people to overlook his presence.

But once he opens his mouth, he draws everyone's attention.

"What do you mean is wrong? Do you mean this isn't Rita Skeeter's fault?" Hermione asked, somewhat puzzled.

“No, I mean, Hagrid didn’t tell her these things.”

"Not Hagrid?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione asked in unison, their eyes filled with surprise.

“Who else could it be but Hagrid?” Harry pressed.

Ron touched his nose and guessed, "Could it be that Ms. Maxim let it slip?"

“Impossible!” Hermione shook her head repeatedly. “Mrs. Maxim is very tight-lipped. Judging from her conversation with Hagrid that night, she would never want to tell anyone about this.”

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you."

Sherlock looked at Hermione, "When you and Gemma heard Hagrid and Madam Maxim talking about this, were there any other people around?"

“Yes!” Harry’s eyes lit up. “Maybe Rita Skeeter was in the garden and overheard them!”

"impossible!"

Hermione immediately retorted, her cheeks suddenly flushing and her voice lowering as she spoke of the garden:

"There were quite a few young couples in the garden at the time, talking in the grove of trees."

But I made a point of observation; they were far enough away from Hagrid and Ms. Maxim that they couldn't possibly hear me.

"If that's the case, then things are pretty much as I expected."

Sherlock's fingers paused for a moment, a knowing glint in his eyes:
“I spoke with Rita Skeeter alone last time and have gathered some information. Now all that’s missing is one crucial piece of evidence.”

"What evidence?"

Harry leaned closer, his eyes full of anticipation.

"Once we find this evidence, we can shut her up forever and prevent her from writing such nonsense again."

"Don't--!"

Harry jumped up, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

"Don't do anything foolish! She's not worth it!"

His actions drew the attention of those nearby.

Seeing this, Ron quickly pulled Harry down to sit: "Hey, bro, what are you doing? Sit down!"

Harry realized he had lost his composure, but Sherlock's words did remind him of something Sirius Black had once said.

He had advised Sirius against it, as he didn't want his best friend to go down a path of crime because of a woman like that.

"Yeah, Sherlock, don't bother with her."

Hermione quickly chimed in, unconsciously tugging at his sleeve, "She's just a clown. If you ignore her, she'll lose her fun."

Ron nodded in agreement: "That's right, let her write whatever she wants, we'll just ignore it, there's no need to take it seriously."

"What are you thinking about?"

Sherlock looked at them with a strange expression, a faint smile playing on his lips. "You don't actually think I'm going to kill her, do you?"

"Cough...cough..."

The three of them coughed at the same time, their eyes darting away.

For a brief moment just now, they actually thought that.

After all, Sherlock once said something like, "When the law fails to bring justice, private revenge becomes justified and even noble."

This fits perfectly with the current situation.

However, since Sherlock said so, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone picked up their knives and forks, but the roasted potatoes on the plate no longer smelled as good as they used to.

For the next week, Rupert Hagrid disappeared without a trace.

The class on protecting magical creatures was still taught by the strict professor, Glapland. She would arrive ten minutes early every time and explain the points clearly, so that even the most mischievous students dared not lose focus.

Hagrid can usually be seen at the edge of the forbidden forest.

He either carries a sack to deliver food to magical creatures or walks with Tooth.

But now, the edge of the forbidden forest is deserted, with only the cold wind swirling fallen leaves.

More importantly, even during meals, the seat next to Hagrid at the faculty table remained empty.

During this time, Harry was worried about Hagrid, so he asked Ron to go to the Golden House with him to find Hagrid and ask him to come back and continue teaching.

The reason he didn't call Hermione was because his initial plan was to tell Hagrid that everyone wanted him back.

However, Hermione said that occasionally taking a class on protecting magical creatures taught by Professor Grappleland would be a nice change of pace.

Then she was terrified by Harry's angry glare and quickly expressed her wish for Hagrid to come back.

Even so, Harry could tell that Hermione was not being sincere, which is why he didn't ask Hermione to come with him when he went to find Hagrid.

As for Sherlock, he has never had any empathy, so it's perfectly normal for him to say that Professor Grapland is more suitable than Hagrid to teach the course on protecting magical creatures.

So the end result was that Harry and Ron went to Hagrid's hut.

Unfortunately, they knocked the door almost to pieces, but all they could hear were low, guttural barks.

Hagrid never showed up.

This caused Harry's mood, which had just improved somewhat due to the Horcrux clues, to plummet again.

One of the main reasons is that almost everyone believes that Professor Grapeland is a better teacher than Hagrid when it comes to the subject of protecting magical creatures.

Although Hermione always avoided the topic in front of him, Harry knew that she never hesitated to bring it up when she was alone with Sherlock.

In fact, even Harry himself knew that everyone's point of view was correct.

Since Sherlock stopped offering advice, Hagrid has made the course on protecting magical creatures rather uninteresting.

Especially this year, he inexplicably created those exploding snails...

But he just couldn't get over it himself.

It wasn't until mid-January that it was time to visit Hogsmeade Village.

(End of this chapter)