Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 181 The truth comes out
If the Auror Office and Scotland Yard had anything in common, it was that they should probably both make Sherlock a formal adviser.

Only when something goes wrong do you call in someone capable...

Although this is an old tradition (one of) since ancient times, it is too inconvenient after all.

Thanks to Bourne's good memory and the fact that Hogwarts, where he went to school, did have "hands and eyes", the school's network of connections spread all over Britain.

He soon found the portrait of Ms. Delis de Winter in the hospital corridor.

"...from 1722 to 1741, he served as the chief therapist of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries; from 1741 to 1768, he served as the principal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

After reading the text on the metal nameplate below the portrait, Bourne immediately made a wizard salute to the old woman wearing a light blue wizard robe in the portrait.

Whatever you do, you still have to entrust "your own family" - this kind-faced old witch has been the principal of Hogwarts for almost 10 years longer than she has been the chief healer at St. Mungo's - and accepted the advice of Uncle In response to En's request, Principal Delise Derwent quickly contacted the great detective he was looking for.

Sherlock, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, opened the door of Delis Derwent's room in the magical portrait of St. Mungo's and walked in with brisk steps.

The old witch gave up the space in the portrait to him and Bourne, and walked out of the door in the portrait. Before leaving the house, she waved her wand, and the lit pipe in Sherlock's hand was immediately sealed into a lump of ice.

"This is a hospital, smoking is strictly prohibited."

Delis Derwent's voice is as kind as her face, but it also has an unquestionable majesty.

"Of course ma'am, I'm sorry."

Sherlock quickly put the ice lumps on his frozen hands into his pocket, and then bowed to the witch sincerely to express his apology. When the door in the portrait was closed, the great detective quickly took out his handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then winked at Bourne again.

"Scared to death, scared to death... Among the old principals at Hogwarts, Principal Derwent is the most feared.

Even though the principal's face looks as kind as a neighbor's grandmother, the wand in her hand is made of aspen wood!

You know, in the 18th century, not all wizards could use aspen wands casually.

Only the crazy members of the secret dueling club of the Silver Spear, and those dueling madmen who knew they couldn't beat and couldn't afford to offend, could publicly display the aspen wands they held. "

Just by casually speaking a piece of gossip, the great detective showed a wealth of knowledge in a specific area and extremely keen observation skills.

What is professionalism?

This is called professionalism.

"Mr. Sherlock, I have a mystery here..."

When Bourne said the word "suspicious case", the eyes of the great detective in the magic portrait seemed to light up. He very patiently listened to the complete story of the Leaky Cauldron poisoning case.

After listening to Bourne's statement, Sherlock subconsciously put his hand into his pocket to take out his pipe, but was frozen by an ice pimple and shuddered.

He smiled and quickly took his fingers out of his pocket.

"I probably understand."

Sherlock said.

"The results of the Aurors' investigations are like beads. Each one is actually valuable, but they just can't be strung together.

This is because there is a missing link.

If my reasoning is correct, the missing link should still be hidden in the Leaky Cauldron.

You go call Tonks and let me explain it to her first, and then ask her and Old Tom to use floo powder to go back and check again.

If that were true, it would all make sense. "

Bourne had no reason not to listen to what the expert said, and the expert was personally invited by him.

As for trainee Auror Tonks, after receiving some advice from Sherlock, she immediately returned to the Leaky Cauldron with Old Tom.

Moreover, she soon came back from the fireplace again, less than ten minutes apart.

However, this time she was the only one who returned to St. Mungo's.

"Old Tom is writing a letter over there so that the owl can quickly deliver it to the Auror office." Tonks said excitedly.

Her hair even turned into an afro involuntarily.

"Old Tom checked the cash box."

Tonks organized her words to make herself speak more coherently.

"As you just said, there is indeed a fake silver Sickle in Old Tom's money box - we figured out the murderer's poisoning method!"

Hearing this, Sherlock smiled, and the smile on his face didn't disappear until he habitually took out his pipe and took out the "ice pimple".

Smiles don’t disappear in vain.

It just transfers across faces.

Tonks smiled heartlessly as she explained the whole story clearly to Bourne.

The order of things is this -

1. A few days ago, [the dominatrix or her accomplices] gave Lockhart a bottle of Ogden aged firewhiskey. There was indeed something added in it, but it was not fatal.

2. That [Dominatrix] came to the Leaky Cauldron today to buy raw liver. She knew that the bar owner could recognize her race and predict his behavior.

3. [The dominatrix] threw the silver coins on the bar. Old Tom did not touch the coins directly, but held them through a rag and swept them into the magic money box. 4. Among the few silver coins, one is actually a counterfeit coin. Although it is also made of silver - so as to deceive the magic money box - in fact, it does not have the emblem imprinted on Gringotts' coins, but is engraved with several ancient runes.

Tonks personally inspected it. If you don't look carefully at the silver coin, you really can't tell whether it is genuine or fake.

Moreover, even if Old Tom deposits it in Gringotts later, because the silver content of the counterfeit coin is higher than that of the real silver coin, the goblin in charge of the storage business will most likely take one secretly if he finds out. Real silver coins can be used as replacements, and then the counterfeit coins can be secretly put into one's own wallet.

As for the ancient magic words engraved on the fake silver coin, Tonks stumbled through their meaning: releasing the poison in the wine...

Moreover, the spells attached to those magic words have disappeared, which shows that they have had their effect.

Tonks said excitedly: "The person who poisoned the poison must have cast a very clever transformation spell on the poison!
So when Lockhart drank for the first time, the poison that turned into something else didn't take effect immediately, and was then excreted from his body.

However, when the ancient magic text on the fake silver coin was activated, the poison hidden in the bottle of wine was activated.

Professor Slughorn was poisoned because of this, and he also blocked Lockhart's life! "

Sherlock in the magic portrait nodded and said: "A very reasonable inference. Now, there are only three doubts left in this case."

"First, why did you want to poison Lockhart?"

"Secondly, why did the poisoner devise such a complicated delay trick instead of letting Lockhart be poisoned to death the first time he drank the bottle of wine?"

"Third, is it possible that the answers to the above two doubts are actually the same?"

Tonks was a little confused for a moment, and her mind was a little confused. It took a while before she could figure out some clues.

She said with some hesitation: "Could it be because that guy Lockhart is a best-selling author.

As we all know, the number of fans of a successful writer is definitely much larger than that of a street writer, and among so many fans, there are inevitably one or two little cuties who are not normal at heart.

I heard that Lockhart's update frequency in recent times... can't be said to be completely absent, but it can also be said to be better than nothing.

Therefore, one or more dissatisfied fans sent Lockhart a bottle of Ogden Aged Firewhiskey with added 'flavors'.

If Lockhart can update honestly in the near future, then that person or people will let him go.

But in the end, they discovered that Lockhart had been lying down recently, so in a rage, they simply turned the bottle of wine into poisonous wine. "

After hearing her unreasonable inference, the same expression appeared on the faces of Bourne outside the portrait and Sherlock in the portrait.

(⊙﹏⊙)
Good guy, really good guy!

This is St. Mungo's, not St. Elizabeth. Such wild ideas are really inappropriate to propose in this hospital.

"Ahem, your reasoning is indeed logically consistent, quite good..."

Although he had never smoked a cigarette since entering this portrait, the great detective still pretended to cough twice.

At the same time, I also added in my heart: I said it very well this time, so I won’t say it next time.

"...However, in addition to the poisoning motive of 'prompting updates', there are actually many other motives that need to be considered."

He continued:

"For example, was the writer named Lockhart dealing with or experiencing something when he received the poisoned wine?
The poisoner did not want Lockhart to be poisoned during that time - perhaps because he was worried that he had not finished his work, or that his being poisoned at that time might attract the attention of someone who the poisoner was afraid of.

Therefore, those people would send out the poisonous wine of delayed design. "

Byrne keenly captures one of Sherlock's words: "Why 'those people,' you mean, this murder was an organized act?"

Sherlock nodded in approval.

“There is a strong probability that this murder was planned and carried out by a group of people.

Think about it, you use transformation to poison, and you use complex ancient magic words to delay the onset... Also, I remember you guys just said that the effect of this poison is to make the wizard... He died suddenly from spontaneous combustion.

If he drank that wine in his room, he might even be burned to ashes on the spot. Then this matter will end with Lockhart mysteriously disappearing instead of being murdered.

If one person wants to kill Lockhart, and that person can master so many magics at the same time...

Why didn't she find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Lockhart and use black magic like the Death Curse to kill him neatly?

Therefore, I concluded that the dominatrix did not commit the crime alone, and there must be an accomplice behind her.

Moreover, as far as I know, although dominatrixes have been partially integrated into the society of wizards, they also adhere to certain traditions.

For example, they have a basic respect for wizards and the Ministry of Magic, or they are wary.

It's hard for me to imagine a dominatrix teaming up with a wizard to murder another wizard.

To do this kind of thing, even if they have to work together, they will choose their own kind - this is not out of trust, because the hatred between dominatrixes is everywhere, and cannibalism is not uncommon. ——If they can work together, they probably have some common interests.

Coincidentally, I know that there is such an organization that can unite many dominatrixes, and it can also be regarded as a representative of the overall interests of the dominatrix community. "

The organization Sherlock mentioned made it difficult for Byrne not to think of the dominatrix reform committee he had seen in the memory of "Mr. Zabini".

Moreover, if it is brought into the murder case against Lockhart, it seems that the three doubts that Sherlock just raised can also be explained.

Before Bourne could find them, they came to the door themselves.

Is this a coincidence or a kind of fate?
(End of this chapter)