Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 137 Please reply when you receive it

"Look, mate, it's just a trip to Surrey. There's no need for you to come along. Is my driving skill not enough to reassure you?"

"My dear Holmes, I certainly have faith in your driving skills, but it's a rare opportunity to go out, and I don't want to miss it."

"It's just a small town, what's so interesting about it?"

"You can't say that. My daughter is going to her friend's house for the first time, so as a father, it's my responsibility to go along.

If I remember correctly, the last time Sherlock went there during the Christmas holidays, your wife went with him, didn't she?"

"Valita also drove to see them off that time. I didn't go with them."

"Then you can let me drive the two children over this time, and you can just rest at home."

"You can't drive my car."

"So I'm going with you."

"..."

The atmosphere inside the car is a bit subtle.

Hermione sat in the back seat, her eyes shifting between Mr. Holmes, who was driving, and her father, who was arguing fiercely in the passenger seat.

She turned her head to look at Sherlock beside her, her eyes full of confusion, and she was a little at a loss for a moment.

Who am I, where am I, what am I doing?

There is certainly nothing wrong with Sherlock's decision.

Since the conventional method of sending letters by owl would be intercepted, he might as well go directly to Privet Drive to find Harry in person.

As Sherlock said, this is the Muggle world, and problems that cannot be solved by magic must be dealt with in a Muggle way.

But after all, they are both minors, and the situation this time is completely different from the last simple visit.

So even though both of them were excellent little wizards, they needed the escort of adults to go to the town forty kilometers away.

So after careful consideration, Sherlock asked his father for help instead of his mother.

After all, Mr. Holmes is more than capable enough to handle any problem that may arise during the journey.

As Sherlock's father, Mr. Holmes was naturally delighted to hear his son's request and agreed to be his son's driver without hesitation.

Both mothers nodded in agreement without any objection.

However, Mr. Granger objected and said on the spot that he must go along.

So, things turned out like this.

Hermione shook her head helplessly, not wanting to pay any more attention to the argument between her father and Sherlock's father.

She leaned slightly towards Sherlock and asked in a low voice, "Is Harry going to be okay? Do you want to make some inferences?"

"My dear friend, I think you seem to have misunderstood."

After hearing Hermione's words, Sherlock explained helplessly: "Although in most cases, I can infer what happened based on the results, this does not mean that I can predict the future."

He paused, looking at Hermione's concerned expression, and added:
"Also, I remember telling you before that reasoning without sufficient evidence is always a very dangerous thing."

"But didn't you just deduce that the letter we wrote to Harry was intercepted? Doesn't that mean Harry is in danger?"

“That’s just one possibility.”

"Then tell me quickly, what else is possible."

"..."

Mr. Granger looked through the rearview mirror and saw his daughter and Sherlock whispering in the back seat, his face becoming even gloomier.

Especially when he saw his daughter looking so proactive but the boy seemed to be indifferent to her, he felt even more furious.

This kid...

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but snort from his nose to vent his dissatisfaction.

Mr. Holmes, who was driving, glanced at Mr. Granger in the passenger seat with his peripheral vision, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and he secretly found it funny.

However, he did not say anything, but just held the steering wheel firmly with both hands, driving the car steadily and fast, as if all the chaos in the car had nothing to do with him.

These are two fathers with completely different mindsets in the same situation.

At the same time, dozens of kilometers away, at number 4 Privet Drive.

Harry was worried.

Last Christmas, he had visited the Dursleys at Sherlock's insistence.

In addition to getting a photo of Harry's mother Lily as a teenager from Aunt Petunia, Sherlock selected suitable Christmas gifts for the Dursleys:

Special weight loss pills, anti-hair loss shampoo, chocolate frogs.

Speaking of which, anti-hair loss shampoo is still the Porter family's industry.

Giving it to Uncle Vernon can be considered as producing and selling it by oneself in a broad sense.

Both shampoo and weight loss pills have shown good results.

The shampoo, in particular, made Uncle Vernon look several years younger.

It was for this reason that Harry enjoyed much better treatment at the Durst family this summer than before.

If it hadn't been for this incident, Harry would have bet that Uncle Vernon would have locked his spell books, wand, robes, cauldron, and the state-of-the-art broomstick, the Nimbus 2000, and all the rest of it, into the small, dark closet under the stairs the moment he got home.

The place where I lived for ten years.

As for now, Harry has his own bedroom.

Although Uncle Vernon was still rude to him and would even yell at Hedwig when she came back from foraging early in the morning.

Although Aunt Petunia always spoke to him in a sarcastic tone and said some not-so-nice things.

But Harry was already grateful for his current treatment.

But what surprised Harry the most was his cousin Dudley. Even Harry himself couldn't believe that this cousin who had bullied him the most had become the one who treated him the best in the Dursley family.

As for why...

First of all, it was because of the special weight-loss pills Sherlock gave me last time.

Although Dudley continued his domineering behavior in elementary school after entering middle school.

Of course, he is now a middle school student, so he doesn't have to take off his pants in public and pull up his pants when others pee.

However, relying solely on violence is no longer enough to allow him to bully others on campus like he did in elementary school.

At this age, appearance has become an important criterion for evaluating a person.

In this case, the existence of weight loss pills becomes particularly useful.

On the other hand, it was because of the snacks Sherlock gave Harry when he left at King's Cross Station.

At that time, Harry didn't understand Sherlock's intention.

But after entering the summer vacation, he quickly realized it.

For Dudley, foods like Chocolate Frogs and Peppa Pig Every Flavour Beans were a complete dimensionality reduction compared to the snacks he had eaten before.

Even snacks like cockroach piles, which made Harry feel uneasy at the sight of them, were accepted by Dudley.

From this perspective, he might have a lot in common with Dumbledore.

In any case, the existence of these two things has brought about a drastic change in Dudley's attitude towards his cousin Harry.

Even the way Harry was addressed became the more intimate "Old Harry".

Whenever this happened, Harry would think more and more about Sherlock's kindness.

In his letter to Sherlock, he also emphasized this matter and expressed his sincere gratitude to Sherlock.

However, this feeling of happiness did not last long.

Because not long ago, he suddenly felt abandoned.

It has been a full half month since the holiday, and except for the first few days, he has been exchanging letters with his friends.

Even Qiu Zhang, who was far away in the East, shared some of his experiences with him.

But from a certain point on, Sherlock, Ron, Hermione, and other classmates at the wizarding school suddenly lost contact with him.

No more letters were sent to him.

It made Harry feel as if he had lost touch with the wizarding world.

Of course, Harry has communicated with his friends through Hedwig more than once.

However, every time I sent the letter, I never received a reply.

Originally, Harry just thought that they forgot to reply, or even didn't want to reply.

However, after spending a whole year with Sherlock, Harry had made some progress.

After realizing that something was not right, he specifically asked in every letter he wrote: Please reply if you receive it.

But even after he did all this, he still didn't receive a reply from even one person.

Harry immediately realized that something was wrong.

So without saying a word, he told Shylock everything about his experience and asked for his help.

And he asked Hedwig to deliver the letter three times in a row.

However, this is of no use.

Every time I sent a letter, it fell into the sea and there was no response.

This incident immediately made Harry certain that he was definitely in trouble, big trouble!
As the first person to know Sherlock in school...

Well, she was the first person besides Hermione to know Sherlock.

Stealth and boxing were not the only things Harry learned from Sherlock.

He noticed that although Hedwig's feet were empty when she came back every day, time seemed to pass too quickly.

Sherlock's house is not far away, Hermione's house is not close, and Ron's house is very far away.

However, no matter who she wrote to, Hedwig took almost the same amount of time to return.

This reminded him of what Sherlock had said.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how implausible, is the truth.”

So, my letter was intercepted?
At this moment, Harry really wished he could speak bird language.

That way he could just ask Hedwig what happened.

It's a pity that he can't.

It's not like Harry hasn't thought of a solution.

He had specifically told Hedwig to fly slower, and he would follow quietly behind.

But every time I came back empty-handed.

Without the ability to use magic, he was just an ordinary 12-year-old boy who couldn't get very far on his own.

He also thought about asking his uncle Fu to drive him to track Hedwig.

However, the other party refused to agree.

"Who would do such a frivolous thing as intercepting your mail? If someone really did that..."

After hearing what Harry said, Uncle Vernon mocked him mercilessly:
"Then I have to thank him!"

(End of this chapter)