Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 100 You Gave Too Much
Faced with Marietta Aikman's face-to-face output, Qiu Zhang was both relieved and worried.

The good news is that Sherlock was most likely wrong and his friend did nothing wrong.

The worry is that Sherlock's inference is wrong and he will lose face.

Alicia, on the other hand, looked curious, a mere passerby who just wanted to have fun.

Only Hermione and Penelope firmly believed that the criminal was Edgecombe.

There is no need to say much about Hermione's trust in Sherlock, and she has just found evidence.

Penelope believed her own eyes. After all, Acmo's previous abnormal behavior was tantamount to confessing himself.

However, seeing that the other party looked so confident, both of them frowned.

What went wrong?

Sherlock looked at Aikmo as if he were an idiot. "If you were more patient, you wouldn't ask such a stupid question."

Following Sherlock's gaze, everyone realized that Mrs. Norris was repeatedly hitting the bottom of Marietta's cabinet with her claws, making it make a "dong dong" sound.

"Could it be..."

The girls who saw this scene thought of something at the same time.

Penelope quickly walked to the bedside table and fired a spell directly at the place where Mrs. Norris had slapped her:
"Reveal yourself urgently!"

As soon as the transformation spell was cast, a new drawer suddenly popped out from the bottom of the cabinet.

"This is a hidden compartment with a telescopic spell cast on it!"

"Oh my God, that's my sandalwood box!"

Hermione and Qiu Zhang exclaimed at the same time.

Penelope frowned and took out the sandalwood box from the secret compartment, opened it and handed it to Qiu Zhang.

There are seven porcelain dishes embedded in a sandalwood frame with relief carvings of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. From dark green to purple, it seems as if the four seasons of Jiangnan are condensed in this small space.

Just as Qiu Zhang had described before.

"The gold eyeshadow is used more than the other colors, and the signs of use are also very recent."

Sherlock took a quick glance and made an immediate judgment.

"Golden eyeshadow with a subtle shimmer can make the wearer more charming and attract others' attention when worn in social situations."

At this moment, Hermione also remembered Qiu Zhang's seemingly useless description of the seven-color eyeshadow.

"Marietta, why?"

Qiu Zhang turned to Aikmo, his eyes full of regret and remorse.

"We're obviously best friends... You know, if you like it, I can totally ask Dad to buy another copy!"

Aikmo glanced at Qiu Zhang. Her eyes were cold now, no longer showing the false sympathy that Sherlock had previously called.

"The matter has come to this, I have nothing to say."

"Tell me, give me a reason!"

"If I say I was just curious, so I took it and played with it for a few days, would you believe me?"

"This……"

Qiu Zhang hesitated.

"If that's the case, you could just tell Qiu directly."

When Keith heard this, he was immediately furious.

"But not only did you steal the eyeshadow secretly, you even resorted to using a spell and a hidden compartment with a spell attached!"

"Miss Case, if you want to know her motives, I can explain them."

Sherlock suddenly interrupted.

"Yup!"

Alicia reacted immediately and looked at Sherlock with surprise, "You just said that!"

Sherlock looked at Hermione and said, "Hermione, could you please read me what I asked you to find?"

Hermione nodded and took out a stack of papers.

"The Daily Prophet, March 3th, reports that Mrs Edgecombe has once again been honoured for her work on the Floo Network, this time presented with the award by Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge himself.

It is reported that this is the seventh time that Mrs. Edgecombe has been commended by the Ministry of Magic in the past year.

The Ministry of Magic's Department of Transportation and the Floo Network Administration have both spoken highly of Madam Edgecombe on numerous occasions, believing her contributions to the monitoring and management of the Floo Network to be outstanding..."

What Hermione read next was similar, all of which were positive comments and praises of Mrs. Edgecombe from the Daily Prophet.

After listening to Hermione's description, several girls had already vaguely understood what Sherlock meant.

Then Hermione said, "Although Ikemo's Potions grades are not excellent, they are satisfactory.

But recently, her grades have declined significantly - coincidentally, the topic of the paper assigned by Professor Snape recently involved 'the fragility of the magical contract of family affection'."

"Thank you, Hermione."

Seeing Hermione put away the materials, Sherlock turned to Acme and said:
"Ms. Zhang told me before that your mother works at the Ministry of Magic.

It's just that she is very busy, even busier than Miss Zhang's father.

You once inadvertently complained to her that 'not all parents remember to give gifts to their children'. Miss Zhang only remembered this sentence but did not think more about it.

Combined with the Daily Prophet, it is not difficult to see that she is a workaholic.

So I guess that you are mentally unbalanced because Mrs. Aikmo has neglected her family for a long time, and you are jealous of the fatherly love that Miss Zhang has received, so you vent your emotions by stealing her precious gifts.

The decline in Potions grades also provides indirect evidence."

"Marietta, is that true?"

Qiu Zhang looked at Aikemo in shock, and the hand holding the sandalwood box even began to tremble.

Aikemo looked at Qiu Zhang without saying anything.

“Envy is more tragic than theft, for it cannot be returned.”

When Sherlock said this softly, Ikemo finally broke down: "Yes, it was me!"

Aikemo suddenly screamed, snatched the sandalwood box from Qiu Zhang's hand, and smashed it to the ground.

Qiu Zhang had no time to react at all, but fortunately Penelope was quicker and cast the binding spell.

Ikmo's sobbing woke the owl on the windowsill.

Looking at his friend's distorted face, Qiu Zhang stood there in a daze.

At this moment, Qiu Zhang suddenly remembered Aikemo's trembling fingertips when she touched the eye shadow, and remembered that she always said, "Qiu always gets the best things."

Perhaps this friendship had already faded long before she discovered that her eye shadow was missing.

"Come on, Hermione, we have nothing to do here anymore - Prefect Penelope will take care of everything."

Sherlock, who had anticipated this outcome, said the same words again:

"Ravenclaw's wisdom is ultimately no match for the thorns growing wildly in his heart."

"Wonderful, so wonderful!"

During dinner, Harry and Ron couldn't help but exclaimed when they heard Hermione talk about how Sherlock solved the seven-color eyeshadow theft case.

Harry, who had been almost drained of his strength by Wood, looked at Hermione sitting next to Sherlock with envy.

If I hadn't gone to training today, I would have been the one accompanying Sherlock to solve the case, right?
But he was just thinking about it, but Ron said it directly:

"Sherlock, you are so mean!

Next time something like this happens, be sure to call us!"

"I take it your goal is the Ravenclaw girls' dormitory?"

Hermione said grumpily.

"What are you talking about? Do I look like that kind of person?"

Ron yelled in dissatisfaction, "But then again, I've never been to the girls' dormitory..."

Hermione rolled her eyes helplessly. She was too lazy to talk to this guy anymore.

Harry asked another question, "How will Ravenclaw deal with the girl who stole something? Will she be expelled?"

In the early days of school, he was always worried that he would be expelled from school for violating school rules.

He even thought that Dumbledore would give him a break and let him be Hagrid's assistant.

Several times he had dreamed that he was carrying Hagrid's sack and trudging around the grounds, watching Sherlock and the others become wizards.

"No, buddy..."

Ron looked at Harry in surprise. "Why would you think that? The punishment for stealing is just points and detention, or at most, a parent call."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

Seeing his good brother like this, Ron couldn't help but find it a little funny.

He was about to say something when he noticed Harry's eyes were fixed over Sherlock's shoulder at the entrance to the Great Hall.

Ron curiously followed his gaze and immediately saw two figures walking towards him across the Ravenclaw blue and silver curtain.

Harry and Ron's actions naturally did not escape Sherlock's eyes.

He turned slightly to the side and saw Qiu Zhang walking towards him behind Penelope.

"They arrived faster than expected." Sherlock's index finger tapped the oak tabletop twice, making two short thumps. "It seems Ravenclaw has made a decision."

Soon, Penelope and Qiu Zhang came to the table where Sherlock and his three companions were sitting.

Harry and Ron didn't know Penelope, but the Ravenclaw prefect badge, which was similar in style to the one on Percy's chest, allowed them to guess her identity at once.

There is no doubt that this is a girl with both beauty and wisdom.

However, they soon turned their attention to the younger Qiu Zhang.

Her long black hair was loosely tied up with a sandalwood hairpin, with a few strands hanging down at the side of her neck, swaying gently with her steps.

Harry's fingers unconsciously clenched around the dinner knife.

He had met Qiu Zhang - the smile before Christmas left a deep impression on him.

But she is different now than she was then.

The few freckles on the tip of her nose are like stardust scattered on parchment. Instead of appearing blemishes, they add a touch of girlish vitality to her porcelain-white skin.

A pair of beautiful big eyes with a hint of melancholy.

"Merlin's beard," Ron nudged Harry and said in a low voice, "Your ears are red."

Penelope, preoccupied, didn't notice Harry and Ron. She took out a gold galleon and said, "Mr. Holmes, this is our commission..."

After seeing this scene, Ron no longer cared about his good brother.

You know, there is only one Galleon in his family's treasury.

So... can you make money so quickly by accepting commissions?
Sherlock didn't accept it immediately: "You give too much."

"Mr. Holmes, you have upheld the honor of Ravenclaw..."

Penelope sighed and looked at Qiu Zhang.

The latter immediately pushed a silk package embroidered with the pattern of Leifeng Pagoda in front of Sherlock: "Mr. Holmes, this is the West Lake Longjing tea that my father brought from Hangzhou."

"Also, I hope you two won't disclose the details of the case."

Penelope lowered her voice and looked at Harry and Ron again, "The same goes for Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley."

This time, Sherlock accepted the thank-you gift from Penelope and Qiu Zhang, then sneered, "Does Ravenclaw's pride need to be maintained by hush money?"

Qiu Zhang waved his hands hurriedly: "No, no! Marietta has been punished, I just don't want her to be pointed at again..."

Her voice was soft, like falling mistletoe leaves.

Harry suddenly felt as if his ribs had turned into a swarm of rampaging Bowtruckles.

(End of this chapter)