Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 613 Overbearing Aura
Ludobagman raised his silver whistle, his gaze slowly sweeping over the three Hogwarts warriors, and reminded them in a passionate tone to prepare.

Upon hearing his command, Harry and Cedric immediately tensed up.

At that moment, the two made the same move: suppressing their smiles, leaning forward, and gripping their wands tightly.

Sherlock wasn't as tense as they were, but he was also ready to set off.

Bagman nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this.

As expected of the team I bet heavily on and won, their spirit and energy alone are far superior to the other two teams.

"Three—two—"

As he began the countdown, the entire audience became excited.

"one!"

After a short, sharp whistle, Sherlock, Harry, and Cedric simultaneously stepped into the maze entrance and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Beauxbatons and Durmstrang's warriors stood there, watching the three figures disappear, their eyes filled with envy and resentment.

The score advantage accumulated in the first two events has now turned into a real opportunity to take the lead.

On the surface, it appears that the three of them entered the maze only ten minutes early.

But if they're lucky, they can save more than just ten minutes of travel time.

There's nothing we can do; we're simply not as skilled as others, and this is the consequence.

Even though I'm still unwilling, I can only suppress my restless feelings and silently wait for my time to come.

The three warriors from Beauxbatons were in slightly better spirits.

At least they're not at the bottom.

In the audience, the Holmes couple and the Dursleys couple, who had been invited by the school to watch the game, looked utterly astonished.

Although we already knew in advance that they would not be able to watch the game, isn't this happening way too fast?

As soon as the countdown ended, Sherlock and Harry were swallowed up by the maze.
"Are we just going to sit here like this?" Vernon couldn't help but ask.

Mr. Holmes sighed: "That certainly seems to be the case."

All I can say is that the competition design in the magical world is so outrageous that it's hard to understand!

Inside the maze, tall hedges, like impenetrable walls, cast dark shadows on both sides of the path.

They were so dense that they almost blocked out all starlight, and even the faint moonlight could hardly penetrate them.

It's unclear whether the hedges themselves provided good sound insulation or if some special soundproofing magic was applied.

As soon as Sherlock and his two companions stepped into the maze, the cheers of the audience outside vanished without a trace.

The only sounds around were the footsteps and breathing of the three people, and the occasional rustling of the hedges in the distance; the silence was unsettling.

"This feels absolutely awful."

Harry couldn't help but speak to Sherlock and Cedric beside him, his tone somewhat uneasy:

"I feel like I'm back at the bottom of the lake."

"I feel the same way—the fluorescence flickers."

Cedric, who was walking at the front, responded and then cast an illumination spell.

A soft white light shone from the tip of his wand.

Looking at the still dimly lit passage ahead, he hesitated before glancing at Sherlock and Harry:
"It seems the brightness isn't enough?"

Without saying a word, the two immediately raised their wands and recited the same spell as Cedric.

As the three beams of white light intertwined, the area within a few feet was finally illuminated.

This way, at least you can see the winding path ahead and the rough outline of the hedges on both sides, so you don't get lost in the dark.

"Fortunately, this is a team competition."

Cedric looked around in the light, still shaken, and said:

"If it were an individual competition, just walking alone in a place like this would give you goosebumps."

Harry nodded; he shared the same sentiment.

It's as if this dark and silent environment can amplify inner fears, making people involuntarily tense up.

Sherlock said nothing.

His gaze swept over the surrounding hedges and the marks on the ground, as if he were lost in thought.

However, Harry and Cedric were focused on being alert to their surroundings and did not notice his movements.

By the time they realized what was happening, Sherlock had already looked away.

As per the previously agreed plan, Cedric, who volunteered to lead the way, was responsible for guiding the way after entering the maze.

He proceeded cautiously, and before he had gone more than a few steps, he came to a fork in the road.

Seeing the three passages stretching into the depths of the maze like the tentacles of a monster, Cedric stopped in his tracks.

He hesitated for a moment, then held his still-glowing wand flat in his palm, took a deep breath, and slowly spoke:
"Show me the way!"

As the name suggests, this spell is used to determine direction.

To be precise, it can turn a wizard's wand into a compass.

The wand began to spin slowly in his palm.

The wand tip wobbled a few times before finally stopping, pointing to the passage to the right of the three, which was hidden by a dense hedge.

"The center of the maze is in the northwest."

Cedric said cautiously:
"I think the best course of action now is to take the left-hand road and then turn right as soon as possible. This will allow us to get to the core area in the shortest distance."

After stating his judgment, he looked uncertainly to the side:
"Sherlock, what do you think?"

Seeing Sherlock nod, Cedric secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he was chosen as the captain of the Hogwarts team from the very beginning by the Goblet of Fire, he felt that he had accomplished almost nothing in the first two events and had not played the role that a captain should have.

The first project involved Sherlock and Harry gathering intelligence beforehand, learning that their goal was to cross the dragon.

While he was still considering what magic to use to deal with the fire dragon, Sherlock had already come up with a different approach and devised a method to summon a flying broom.

This effectively turned land warfare into air warfare, giving them the greatest advantage in speed.

The results are obvious.

This tactic not only led to Hogwarts' best results, but also inspired Durmstranger's Krum, who promptly adopted it.

You know, he's one of the best Seekers in the world!

In the second project, Sherlock continued his god-like performance.

They solved the mystery of the golden egg in just one week, leaving the other two schools far behind.

This time, Cedric seized the opportunity and devised a "bubble head spell" tactic to solve the problem of long-duration diving.

Unexpectedly, man proposes, God disposes.

As the team captain, he became a hostage due to the rules of the game.

Although this was due to objective reasons, he did indeed do nothing throughout the match day.

Now, with the third project underway, his confidence is almost completely eroded.

He was only roused again after receiving Sherlock's approval.

Next, Cedric took the lead and chose the leftmost road as planned.

When you encounter another fork in the road, try to turn to the right as much as possible and always proceed in a northwest direction.

Whether the three were lucky or unlucky, they walked cautiously for a while and didn't encounter any obstacles along the way.

I only encountered two forks in the road.

Just then, a second whistle blew from outside the maze.

"Ten minutes have already passed?"

Cedric was somewhat surprised; he felt that the three of them had only just entered the maze.

Damn, time flies so fast.

Harry instinctively looked up at the night sky above, obscured by the hedges, trying to tell the time by the stars, but he couldn't see anything.

Only Sherlock stated with certainty: "Ten minutes have indeed passed."

Upon hearing this, Cedric immediately felt a strong sense of urgency.

At the same time, I was also secretly worried that I might have led them astray, causing the progress to be too slow.

He coughed and quickened his pace:
"Then we need to speed things up, we can't let them catch up."

Sherlock and Harry naturally had no objections, and the three of them quickened their pace.

The Beauxbatons' warriors were unable to catch up with them.

However, Bagman's third whistle could be heard in the distance.

This means that Durmstrang's warriors have also entered the labyrinth.

At the same time, they also encountered their first obstacle.

Professor Hagrid's masterpiece – the blasting-tailed snail.

Now, not only the three people in the maze, but most of the students at Hogwarts know the origin of this thing.

Last summer, Hagrid hybridized a man-headed lion-bodied scorpion with a full sixty fire crabs to create this new breed.

It's important to know that the Sphinx is classified as a Class 360 dangerous creature by the British Ministry of Magic.

Therefore, Hagrid's breeding practices seriously violated the "Prohibition of Animal Breeding Experiments" decree issued by the Ministry of Magic in 1965.

From this point of view alone, it would be entirely justified for him to be expelled.

As for why everyone knows this?

Of course, Hagrid let it slip himself.

He knew the matter was very sensitive, but he inadvertently revealed the truth when discussing it with his students.

Fortunately, Dumbledore was there to protect them, so nothing bad happened.

Sherlock and Harry had anticipated that Hagrid would put the Bombtail in the maze.

They knew this big guy friend all too well.

The Exploding Tail Snail blocking their way was even more terrifying than they had imagined.

After some time, it had grown to a full ten feet long, larger than an adult tiger.

Its back was covered with thick, hard armor, as if cast from metal, which shimmered under the illumination of three beams of light.

A long, highly venomous stinger was coiled around his back, its tip gleaming with a ghostly blue light.

Its head was menacing, with fangs and claws, and its deep roar even made the surrounding hedges sway slightly.

He exudes an aura of dominance!
Calling it a roadblock at this moment is an underestimation.

"Collapse!"

Upon seeing the Bombtail blocking the way, Harry instinctively fired a red light spell.

To everyone's surprise, the spell fired from the wand bounced back as if it had hit solid steel after striking the armor of the Blasttail.

"Ouch!"

Seeing this, Harry cried out and tried to dodge, but it was too late.

Fortunately, at the crucial moment, Sherlock kicked him in the lower back, allowing him to narrowly avoid the curse he had cast.

Even so, Harry could still smell the odor of burnt hair.

The rebounding spell flew past his head, singeing a few strands of hair.

"This thing is like a fire dragon! Its armor can reflect spells!"

Seeing this, Cedric exclaimed in alarm, "We need to distract it first!"

True to his word, he immediately raised his wand and shouted:
"A black dragon emerges from its cave!"

A cloud of black mist exploded from the tip of his wand, and a small black snake was summoned, landing between them and the Blast-tailed Snail.

The summoned snake raised its head and defiantly flicked its tongue at the blasting snail.

The frizzy-tailed snail was already short-tempered, and seeing a small snake daring to provoke it, it was immediately enraged.

It let out a strange roar and immediately spewed out a scorching flame from its tail, lunging towards the little snake.

"Chance!"

Cedric seized the fleeting opening and shouted.

He aimed another spell at the unprotected, soft abdomen of the blasting snail.

"There are many obstacles!"

Unfortunately, the blasting snail moved too quickly.

His aim was slightly off, and the spell still hit the hard shell, bouncing away again.

However, Cedric had anticipated this and had specifically calculated the angle when casting the spell, causing the rebounding spell to fly away from the three of them, thus avoiding any accidental injury.

Harry, who had been kicked aside by Sherlock, finally realized what was happening.

Even before it had fully regained its footing, it immediately raised its wand and cast the same spell on the belly of the Blasttail:

"There are many obstacles!"

He was lucky this time.

The tadpole was focused on strangling the small snake at its feet, its abdomen completely exposed.

The spell hit its target precisely, and the massive body of the Blast-tailed Snail suddenly stiffened, stopping a few feet away from them, seemingly temporarily controlled by the spell.

"Hurry, it's too big, the Barrier Charm won't last long!"

Cedric noticed that the Bombtail's legs were moving slowly and its muscles were twitching slightly, indicating that it wouldn't be long before it broke free from the spell's bindings.

He immediately reached out to help Harry up, while urgently shouting to Sherlock.

"Then let's extend the time a bit more."

As Sherlock spoke, he drew his wand and calmly cast a freezing spell on the Blasttail.

"The ground is frozen and the sky is cold!"

Struck by the curse once again in its soft belly, the Blast-tailed Snail came to a complete stop in front of the three.

"Phew, that was close!"

Harry and Cedric both breathed a sigh of relief.

Both of them had cold sweat on their foreheads and were panting heavily.

The thrilling confrontation they had just endured had greatly depleted their physical and mental strength.

"Sherlock, you are so calm!"

Cedric couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

From the moment they encountered the Blasttail, he and Harry had been shouting and making a lot of noise, and their movements were somewhat chaotic.

After Ha used the obstacle spell to create the Exploding Tail Snail, his first reaction was not to finish it off, but to quickly flee the scene?

This kind of behavior is really embarrassing!
In contrast, Sherlock remained calm and composed throughout the entire story.

He only said one sentence, but it played a decisive role at a crucial moment.

Sherlock glanced at Harry, who was panting heavily and whose hair still smelled slightly burnt.

Hearing Cedric's praise again, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, but his tone remained calm:
"The courage is commendable, and the actions are decisive, but the thinking is lacking."

Dear Harry, the moment you see it, casting a spell immediately is not the best option.

First, observe its weaknesses, rather than attacking blindly.

If I remember correctly, Hagrid explained this magical creature in detail during class.

Harry blushed immediately upon hearing this.

As it turned out, Sherlock was absolutely right.

He was just a hair's breadth away from being hit by the rebound of his own spell.

(End of this chapter)