Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 125 The Second Bloodstain

Just as Sherlock was adjusting to his body again but his vision had not yet recovered, the unique fresh smell of grass wafted into his nose.

When he fully regained his vision, what came into view was a field of green grass swaying gently in the breeze.

Not far from the two of them stood a wizard, and further away on the ground lay a man, with large stains of blood staining the green grass beneath him dark red.

Looking around, this should be the halfway point of a small hill.

Sherlock looked away, realizing that it was this man who had informed Professor Flitwick.

Sure enough, the other party's next action immediately proved this.

After hearing the unique "pop" sound of Apparition, the wizard turned around nervously.

When he saw that the person coming here was Flitwick, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards them quickly:
"You are finally here!"

When he reached Flitwick, he immediately squatted down.

"Dear Professor Flitwick, I didn't expect you to contact me. I'm really flattered."

Professor Flitwick reached out and patted the other man's shoulder, then turned to Sherlock and introduced him, "This is my former student. He works at the Memory Deletion Command Department at the Ministry of Magic."

"It's the Accidental Magic Reversal Group," the other party explained, then extended his hand towards Sherlock. "Hello, I'm Arnold Peasgood, a graduate of Hogwarts Ravenclaw College. Nice to meet you."

"Sherlock Holmes."

Seeing the other person squatting down and trying to reach out his hand to him, Sherlock silently reached out his hand and shook hands with him.

Does every student of Flitwick's have to squat down when they see him again after graduation?

Is this some weird Ravenclaw custom?

"Ah, I once heard Mr. Abbott tell me about your deeds. You were able to find out the flaws in the report just by looking it up. It's really amazing!"

Peasegood remained squatting, looking up and saying, "Since you're here, why don't we go over there and take a look?"

Seeing Flitwick and Sherlock nod, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.

After all, he is not Asian and there is no way he can squat on the ground for a long time.

Not far from them, a tall male body was lying on the ground.

Sherlock followed Peasegood closer, squatted down, and examined it carefully.

Peasegood then began to introduce himself:
“Just this morning, the Ministry detected an unusual magical fluctuation here.

Because this is a Muggle residential area, my colleagues rushed here as soon as possible.

I was originally thinking that there might be a wizard performing magic in front of Muggles, but I didn't expect to find this.

After identification, it was discovered that the deceased was a member of the Musgrave family in yesterday's case, and this was soon confirmed.

We have already communicated with the Greek Ministry of Magic, and they sent the information yesterday - Professor Flitwick also told me about this yesterday.

So after I heard the news, I took the initiative to apply for overtime and rushed over to deal with the scene.

What I want to say is... whatever you want to do, do it quickly, because I can't delay this for too long."

As Peasegood stated, he watched Sherlock's actions curiously.

Although he had learned some things about Sherlock from Mr. Abbott and Professor Flitwick, he was still a little surprised when he saw it with his own eyes.

It is hard to imagine that a little wizard who is only 12 years old would look around a corpse.

Not only was there no fear at all, but his expression was focused and his behavior was sophisticated.

Looking at him holding the magnifying glass and observing carefully, it seemed as if this was not the first time he had done such a thing.

What's going on? Are all the little wizards in Gryffindor so brave now?

Or am I just not keeping up with the times?
Peasgood had said everything he could, but Sherlock was still busy around the corpse.

When Sherlock turned the body over, seemingly intending to examine the grass beneath it, Peasgood couldn't help but remind him:
"Mr. Holmes, you need to hurry up, or my other colleagues will be here soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sherlock stood up and spoke quickly:
"From the scene, the surrounding grass showed a disorderly fall, with obvious signs of being trampled, and these were left by two people.

The deceased's clothes were disheveled and a button on his collar was torn off, which showed that he had been involved in an argument or fight with someone before his death.

His hands were clenched into fists, and the gaps between his nails were filled with dirt and grass fragments, left by the hard grip on the ground during the struggle.

The facial expression is distorted, the eyes are wide open and full of fear, as if the person had seen something terrible or suffered great pain before death.

There were more than one external injury on his body, but the fatal wound was a deep puncture wound in the chest.

The clothes around the wound were soaked with blood, which had dried and turned dark red.

Judging from the shape of the wound, the murder weapon should be a sharp blade.

As for the cause of death..."

Sherlock paused, "It's poisoning."

"Poisoned?"

Peasegood showed a surprised look. "Isn't it a knife wound? You just said that the chest wound was the fatal wound."

"That wound was indeed fatal, but he did not die from it."

Seeing Peasgood's confused expression, Professor Flitwick also frowned. Sherlock further explained:

"I say it was a fatal wound because even without the poison, it would have been enough to kill him.

However, before he died from excessive blood loss, the toxins in his body had already caused him to lose vital signs. "But, but we have already found the murder weapon!"

Peasgood took out a dagger and tried to explain:

"Although wizards often use magic to fight, there are also cases of them killing people with knives."

Seeing the other party holding the "murder weapon" in his hand, Sherlock's mouth twitched.

Forget it, there's no point in talking about science with these wizards.

He didn't take the dagger, but just glanced at it and said, "You are right, these wounds were caused by this dagger."

"Then how did you..."

"it's actually really easy."

Sherlock squatted down again, explaining and pointing the relevant situation directly to the two people:

"As I said earlier, the deceased's disheveled clothing and the traces of trampled grass nearby indicate that he had engaged in a violent conflict with someone.

If the victim was really stabbed in the chest, blood would have splattered due to the beating of the heart and the violent movements of the body while the victim was struggling.

In that case, the bloodstains under the deceased's body would be distributed in an irregular pattern with a clear direction."

Sherlock gestured with his hands, then pointed to the bloodstains on the ground:
"But look, this pool of blood is spreading out in a perfect circle. It's obvious that it seeped out slowly while the deceased was lying still."

Professor Flitwick and Peasegood were both silent.

They had never seen this method of analyzing a case before.

When wizards solve cases, they usually use a simple and rough three-piece set:

First use the Flashback Charm, then Legilimency, and if that doesn't work, there's the Dementors.

Whenever prisoners heard they were going to be sent to Azkaban, they would confess everything.

But both of them were from Ravenclaw after all, so after spending some time thinking about it, they finally understood what Sherlock said.

"Even so, how can you tell if someone is poisoned?"

“Even simpler: the lips are purple, the skin is a strange bluish-black color, and there is a faint rotten smell emanating from the surface of the body.

But I can only infer that this is an acute-onset poison, and I can't tell what kind it is."

"Sounds like a venomous tentacle, an acromantula, and a runespoor."

Peasegood sighed, "I'll report this matter to the higher authorities for further verification."

Sherlock nodded and continued, "The body's temperature is lower than the surrounding grass, exceeding the normal range. I used a magic magnifying glass to detect the remnants of the spell."

"It should be a freezing spell."

Peasegood thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps the murderer was in a hurry to leave, so the traces of the curse could not be completely removed."

Flitwick also nodded. This was the most likely possibility.

Sherlock stood up and sighed regretfully.

"Out of anger and shame, he killed people in passion."

"Not intentional?"

Peasegood asked curiously.

"There is no motive."

Sherlock explained, "He has already successfully taken his men away and is still looking forward to the deceased signing the property transfer deed. There is no reason to act so quickly.

Both the criminals and the deceased knew from the moment they left Knockturn Alley yesterday that both the British Ministry of Magic and the Greek Ministry of Magic would track them down - especially the Greek Ministry of Magic.

The deceased was obviously aware of this, so when the two people came here, he was unwilling to continue to submit, so he began to struggle and refused to move forward.

This was unbearable for Smith, so a violent conflict broke out between the two in the area.

Rather than resorting to spells, the kidnapper seemed to prefer using more primitive methods to vent his anger—as evidenced by what happened to our Greek friend earlier and the fresh wounds on the deceased's body.

Also, judging from the direction of the footprints on the grass, the deceased had rushed towards the hillside.

I think the deceased said something that was enough to make Smith lose his mind, which led to Smith finally losing his patience and committing the murder.

It might be something like, 'Even if I starve to death, die outside, or jump from here, I will never follow you again.'

Once you take action, it will be too late to regret.

In this case, he could only disguise the scene and leave in a hurry."

After hearing Sherlock's analysis, Peasgood was stunned.

This ability... is even more magical than the flashback spell!
As Sherlock described it, he seemed to have witnessed everything that had happened here not long ago.

"Excuse me, are all people in the Muggle world like you?"

If this were true, then the Muggle world would have left the wizarding world far behind!
"Arnold, did you lose your brain after you went to the Ministry?

It only takes a moment's reflection to understand how it is possible that people like Sherlock Holmes are everywhere."

After being scolded by the teacher, Peasgood finally came to his senses.

Yes, there should only be one person like Sherlock!

(End of this chapter)