Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 601 If Heaven bestows a gift and you do not take it, you will surely suffer the consequences.

Sherlock snapped out of his reverie and immediately began asking Hepziba about the time of his death.

Harry was immediately taken aback.

Dumbledore did not deny it, but only sighed softly, his tone carrying a hint of undisguised regret:

"Just two days after this incident."

Upon hearing this, Sherlock immediately let out a cold laugh, his eyes filled with contempt for Voldemort's greedy nature:

"It seems he's more anxious than I thought."

I think he was confident he could get away unscathed, right?

Dumbledore gave Sherlock a deep look, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes, and gave an answer that was exactly the same as his deduction:

"The Ministry of Magic ultimately determined that the house-elf Hodge had accidentally poisoned her mistress's evening cocoa tea."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Upon hearing this conclusion, Harry immediately stood up excitedly.

He placed his hands on the table, his tone full of anger and confusion.

How could that skinny and timid house-elf possibly do something like murdering its owner?
Even Kreacher, who loathed Sirius Black to the extreme, would only curse him in private and never thought of harming his master.

How could Hao Qi, who seems so honest and upright, do such a thing?

Only then, recalling Sherlock's question, did Harry belatedly realize what had happened.

He's not stupid.

On the contrary, he is quite intelligent.

In terms of intelligence, he might not be as good as Hermione.

But in terms of intelligence, he was even more intelligent than Hermione.

It's just that he's too kind by nature.

When faced with problems, I always tend to think positively and have never actively considered the evil in human nature.

So after seeing that memory, he only realized that Voldemort must have coveted those two treasures belonging to the founder of Hogwarts and would go to great lengths to get his hands on them.

Simply put, he only thought about making money and never intended to kill anyone.

In contrast, Shylock directly sees through the phenomena to the essence.

Based solely on a precise analysis of Voldemort's character, the most brutal answer was directly derived.

Since that noblewoman possessed the treasures of the founder of Hogwarts, and Voldemort had seen them, she was now facing certain death.

Voldemort would never let him go.

However, he didn't expect Voldemort to act so quickly.

I took action just two days after seeing them.

"Of course not possible."

Hearing Harry's words, Sherlock leaned back in his chair, resting his chin on his hands:

"Let me guess, this murder case is exactly the same as the murder case in Riddle Mansion, isn't it?"
I think the Ministry of Magic's final conclusion was that the house-elf Hodge confessed to murdering her master.

As for the young Tom Riddle, he had nothing to do with this matter.

In fact, he didn't even come into the sights of the Ministry of Magic's investigators.

Even so, one thing doesn't make sense—the magical contracts of house-elves simply forbid them from harming their masters.

"Yes, Sherlock, we agree."

Dumbledore nodded, his eyes showing even greater approval:
"These two cases are indeed very similar; the perpetrators prepared scapegoats in advance."

Meanwhile, the scapegoats all have a clear memory of the alleged murder.

But you're right, house-elves shouldn't harm their owners.

In fact, this case is somewhat different from the case of Mofen killing her brother-in-law.

Mofen readily admitted to killing the three people and then proudly boasted about it everywhere.

Hao Qi only remembered that she put something in the hostess's cocoa tea.

It was later discovered that it wasn't sugar, but a rare and deadly poison.

Therefore, Wisengamour's final verdict was that she did not intend to murder, but was simply old and blind, mistaking poison for candy.

"What a terrible old man with failing eyesight!"

Harry was so angry he laughed.

Whether it was the Ministry of Magic back then or the Ministry of Magic now, it seems to always look the same.

Whether the criminal they identified was actually the murderer is completely irrelevant.

As long as the case can be closed quickly and the public is given an explanation, that's fine.

"In fact, the Ministry of Magic was already inclined to suspect Hodge—simply because she was a house-elf."

Dumbledore's tone carried a hint of helplessness:
"In addition, she is indeed old enough and slow to react."

So after she admitted to putting something in the drink, no one in the Ministry of Magic thought to investigate any other possibilities.

This situation is almost identical to Mofen's.

Morfin confessed, and the Ministry of Magic stopped investigating. By the time I found Morfin, he was on the verge of death in Azkaban.

The same was true for this house-elf; by the time I found her and obtained her memories, she had already reached the end of her life.

As for her memories, they only prove that Voldemort knew of the existence of the cup and the locket; they prove nothing more.

Neither Sherlock nor Harry spoke, and a brief silence fell over the office.

At this moment, Harry truly began to sympathize with Hermione's organization, the "House-Elf Liberation Front."

These elves, enslaved for far too long, seem to lack even basic human rights in the magical world, easily becoming scapegoats for the powerful and wealthy.

Sherlock broke the silence and directly asked the key question:

"The woman Hepzba mentioned, the one who sold the locket to Burke... is Voldemort's mother, Merop Gauntlet?"

"Yes, it's her."

Dumbledore sighed deeply, his gaze becoming distant and heavy.
“I may not have told you yet, but Karaktakusbok obtained this locket from a young witch.”

According to Mr. Burke, the time was just before Christmas, and the witch was ragged, haggard, and pregnant.

She knew the locket was a Slytherin memento, but she had no idea of ​​its true value, and left satisfied after selling it for only ten Galleons.

Sherlock immediately responded, offering a clear and logical analysis:

"So this means that during the later stages of her pregnancy, Melop was alone in London and desperately needed money to make ends meet."

In the end, she had to sell the only valuable thing she had—the locket.

But why is this locket on her?
Shouldn't it belong to Mavolo, or Mofen?

"Uh……"

When Sherlock asked this, Dumbledore looked a little embarrassed, and his eyes darted away.

Sherlock immediately understood the reason, raised an eyebrow, and said with a hint of understanding:
"Is this the part you missed in the memory you relayed to me last time?"

"Yes, Sherlock, yes."

Dumbledore, now even more embarrassed by Sherlock's direct pointing out, coughed lightly and explained:
"In fact, the locket has always been around Melop's neck."

After Marvolo and Morfin were arrested and imprisoned, she took it with her and left Gaunt with old Tom Riddle. In Morfin's memory, he had asked the young Voldemort for the locket.

He didn't know Voldemort grew up in an orphanage and thought he had always lived with his mother.

Sherlock simply looked at Dumbledore silently, without saying a word, his eyes filled with a silent scrutiny.

Dumbledore felt his gaze, coughed again, and quickly assured him:
"Don't worry, if there are any more crucial memories like this in the future, I will take you to see them with your own eyes."

The Pensieve is indeed a great tool, capable of presenting the truth in the most direct way.

This incident once again proves the wisdom of Sherlock's insistence on "witnessing it firsthand".

Harry stood to the side, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Although Sherlock is right, the other party is, after all, the headmaster of Hogwarts, and should at least be given some face.

Sherlock didn't care about any of that. After receiving Dumbledore's affirmative answer, he continued:
"In this way, the whole story becomes very clear."

In Voldemort's view, Slytherin's locket rightfully belonged to him; it was an inheritance left by his mother.

As for Hufflepuff's golden cup, now that he has seen it, how could he possibly let it go, given his personality?
Let me guess again, later Hepzba's family discovered that the deceased's two most valuable treasures had disappeared.

However, due to the long delay and Hepzigba's extremely tight control over his collection, he never revealed it to outsiders.

So it took them a long time to confirm that the treasure had been stolen, right?
And the handsome, polite clerk at Bokin-Bokley also resigned and disappeared not long after.

He vanished without a trace, and no one knew where he went.

"Yes, you've got it all right."

Dumbledore said slowly:

"If our deduction is correct, it means that Voldemort, who has just come of age, has committed another murder."

This time, he wasn't acting out of revenge, but for personal gain.

He wanted the two rare treasures that the poor old woman had shown him, just like the ring he had stolen from his uncle years ago.

Shortly after this incident, he completely disappeared, and even the manager of Borgin-Bock never saw him again.

"I understand the logic, but this is just too crazy."

Hearing this, Harry couldn't help but speak up, his brows furrowing deeply:

"Taking such a huge risk, even at the cost of losing their job, just for..."

"Just for two seemingly useless ancient items?"

Sherlock laughed mockingly, a hint of sarcasm in his voice:
“Dear Harry, it seems you still don’t understand Voldemort enough.”

"Sherlock, I don't understand."

"As I just said, he believed that the locket rightfully belonged to him."

This originally belonged to her mother—in his view, it was simply returning it to its rightful owner.

As for murder, those people simply don't understand the value of life.

Or perhaps he only valued his own life, which is why he was willing to split his soul into seven pieces in exchange for immortality.

As for the lives of others, in his eyes they were utterly insignificant.

"I still don't understand."

Harry shook his head and said:
"Even if he believes the locket is his, what makes him think the gold cup belongs to him as well?"

Ultimately, he couldn't quite understand this extreme possessiveness.

"Because he felt that only someone as 'great' as him deserved to possess such a treasure that contained ancient power."

Sherlock's eyes turned cold:

"In his view, the moment these two things appeared in front of him, they should have belonged to him."

"If Heaven bestows something and you don't take it, you will surely suffer the consequences"—he felt he was simply reclaiming what was rightfully his.

“Sherlock is right, Harry.”

Seeing Harry's still somewhat bewildered expression, Dumbledore took the initiative to explain:

"This behavior may seem crazy to you, but it's perfectly normal to Voldemort."

I hope you can understand, like Sherlock and I do, the special significance these things hold for him.

Both the locket and the cup once belonged to the founder of Hogwarts.

As I said before, this school always held a great attraction for Voldemort.

He simply couldn't resist any item imbued with the history of Hogwarts.

"So, after obtaining them, Voldemort used them to create two more Horcruxes."

Sherlock continued:

"Therefore, his requirement for the remaining two Horcruxes should be the relics of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."

However, the Gryffindor relic, that sword, is now in your hands.

In other words, even if he finds Ravenclaw's relics, we still lack clues about the last Horcrux.

“That’s right. We don’t even have any clues about what Ravenclaw’s belongings are.”

Dumbledore nodded, a hint of worry in his voice.

"It's okay, I believe in your abilities."

Sherlock smiled slightly, his tone filled with trust:

"Also, now that we've determined this direction, I can start gathering clues."

"No, leave this to me."

Dumbledore shook his head and said firmly:

"You still have a lot to do. Right now, successfully completing the three-way championship is the top priority. You can't afford to be distracted."

"Uh……"

When Dumbledore mentioned the Triwizard Tournament, Harry was taken aback, his eyes glazed over.

His mind was completely occupied by the plot to resurrect Voldemort and the Horcruxes, and he almost forgot about it.

“But before that, I would like you to watch another memory with me. This will help you—Sherlock, Harry—to better understand Voldemort’s past and his weaknesses.”

Dumbledore changed the subject and said...

“Good suggestion,” Sherlock nodded, then asked directly, “Whose memories are these this time?”

“Mine,” Dumbledore replied.

"Sir, if it's your own memory, do we not need to look in the Pensieve? Can you just relay it to us?"

Harry felt that Sherlock's direct exposure of Dumbledore's behavior was somewhat impolite and felt bad about it, so he subconsciously wanted to give the headmaster a way out and ease the atmosphere.

To everyone's surprise, Sherlock immediately shook his head, his tone resolute:

"no!
Precisely because it is one's own memory, we should see it for ourselves.

Retelling always carries a subjective element; only firsthand observation can capture the most authentic details.

Harry: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

The intention was to ease the tension, but now the atmosphere has become even more awkward.

(End of this chapter)