Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 161: Outrageous Book List

Sherlock looked at Hermione and said slowly:
"Dear Hermione, I once told you that reasoning without sufficient evidence is always a dangerous thing."

"Yeah, I remember." Hermione nodded obediently.

"It's a pity that Mr. Dursley doesn't understand this."

"So?" Hermione pressed on.

“So he got it wrong.”

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Harry told me before that his Uncle Vernon was planning to buy a villa in Majorca after he finalized the deal.

But later on, for some unknown reason, this plan was abandoned - this incident also indirectly provided evidence for my inference.

Just now, my observation of the couple further confirmed this.

Therefore, for Mr. Dursley now, the most urgent thing is to find out the relationship between his wife and that man, and everything else can be put aside for the time being."

Every time Sherlock explains his reasoning process, his speaking speed is faster than usual.

Mr. Holmes and Hermione were already used to it, but it was Mr. Granger's first time seeing it, so he was inevitably slow to accept it.

Fortunately, the deduction process was relatively simple, so when Sherlock finished speaking, it didn't take him long to react. He then asked in confusion:
"If it's really as you say, this matter can be easily resolved—wouldn't Mr. Dursley just ask his wife directly?"

"That's right!" agreed Mr. Holmes. "If we talk it out, won't everything be solved?"

“Unfortunately, many misunderstandings in this world arise from a lack of communication.

It's like those third-rate TV shows where the characters don't even have mouths."

Sherlock's words immediately silenced the three people in the car.

They were still a little shocked when they arrived at Sherlock's house on King's Road.

There is nothing more to say next.

Mr. Holmes and Sherlock stayed with Harry's luggage, while Mr. Granger took Hermione, who was reluctant to leave, back to his home.

At this point, this trip to Godric's Hollow officially ended.

Harry returned to his hometown and met his grandparents.

Hermione came to the cave and saw the daily life of a wizarding family.

Sherlock once again unlocked the unknown areas of the magical world and had fun from it.

Everyone has a bright future.

Sherlock had a pretty satisfactory time during the last month of his summer vacation.

Although he could not perform magic at home, he continued to study astronomy, history of magic, and dissect small animals such as toads in an orderly manner.

Life is quite fulfilling.

In addition, I have not stopped communicating with my friends.

After a summer of getting used to each other, basically everyone understood Sherlock's attitude of "not taking the initiative, not refusing, and not taking responsibility."

Under such circumstances, the classmates also took bold actions and took the initiative to contact him.

including but not limited to:

Harry and Ron are already living in the cave.

Hermione had just separated from Sherlock.

Little round-faced Neville who always loses his toad.

Seamus, whose magic can cause explosions.

Dean, the little black guy, has his own rhythm when he speaks fast.

Hannah was the first to wear the Sorting Hat.

Qiu Zhang, an oriental girl with a graceful temperament.

The most beautiful twin sisters in their grade, Patil.

I will never forget Quidditch captain Wood.

There are also two female prefects from Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

The person who contacts Sherlock most frequently is still Hermione.

In addition to the owls that wizards used daily, Hermione called every other week.

The main content is still about discussing summer homework.

She complained to Sherlock that these classmates, who had just finished their first grade and were about to move on to their second grade, had ulterior motives.

The purpose of communicating with her is to get her work.

Having said that, Hermione always contributes her homework to her classmates' requests and receives a lot of praise.

Surprisingly, Gemma Farley, the Slytherin prefect, contacts Sherlock more frequently than Harry and Ron, becoming the second person after Hermione.

But I have to say, chatting with her is really interesting.

This older sister really knows a lot.

At her strong request, the way Sherlock and she addressed each other changed from "Mr. Holmes" and "Prefect Farley" to "Sherlock" and "Gemma".

It's quite similar to what happened with Hermione.

Ever since Harry moved into the Burrow, Ron had naturally become tied to him.

The two of them contact Sherlock most frequently after Gemma Farley, but Harry is still the main contact with Sherlock, and Ron often adds a few words at the end of the letter.

Harry told Sherlock that all the Weasley brothers were talented and spoke well. He was happier here than at home and he loved staying here.

Unfortunately, not only was Mr. Weasley tight-lipped, but Mrs. Weasley was also tight-lipped.

There is still no clue about the hidden person.

Another person who was more concerned was Ron's little sister Ginny. According to Harry, every time he entered the room, Ginny would always knock something over.

Once he took the initiative to talk to Ginny, her face would turn as red as the sunset.

If you say a few more words, even the roots of your red hair will turn red.

Harry always felt very embarrassed when this happened.

He asked Sherlock for a solution, but Sherlock's reply was "Do what you need to do, just ignore her."

As for the others, their communication frequency with Sherlock was not as high as the top three, and the content of their communication was relatively simple:

It’s either summer homework, remote consultation, or invitation to form a team.

In this way, a month passed by unknowingly.

Until that day comes.

128 King's Road, Kensington & Chelsea, 2nd Floor, Master Bedroom

To Mr. Sherlock Holmes

A black and white eagle owl flew in from the second-floor window with an envelope in its mouth. After circling around the room, it accurately dropped the letter into Sherlock's hand.

Seeing this familiar scene, Sherlock couldn't help but feel dazed.

This time last summer, it was such an owl that brought me the admission notice to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

From that moment on, the boy who believed in science began to come into contact with magic, and his life changed accordingly.

Although it was surprising at first, once you get used to this setting, it is indeed quite exciting.

This year's scene is just like last summer.

Sherlock took the letter with the Hogwarts emblem on it and found that the content was similar to last year.

The opening remarks did not include the part congratulating him on his qualification to study at Hogwarts, but he was still told to depart from King's Cross Station on September 1st and take the Hogwarts direct train to school.

Also enclosed is a list of books needed by second-grade students.

This is also to be expected.

However, when his eyes swept over the list of books, Sherlock was stunned.

Even someone like him, who possesses extraordinary analytical and reasoning abilities, couldn't help but have this thought in mind:
What, what is this written?
Just then, the phone rang at the perfect moment.

After answering the phone, Hermione's clear voice came immediately:
"Hello, is this Sherlock?"

"It's me, Hermione."

"What a coincidence! I thought it would be Uncle Holmes who answered the phone again—by ​​the way, did you get the owl?"

"Just received it, I'm reading it now."

"Haha, I guess the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart, maybe even a witch!"

Sherlock looked at the list of books in his hand without saying a word.

In the second grade must-read list, except for "The Standard Book of Spells, Level 2" by Miranda Goshawk, the other seven books belong to the same series:
"Breaking with a Female Ghost", "Traveling with Ghouls", "Holiday with a Hag", "Traveling with Trolls", "Traveling on a Boat with Vampires", "Wandering with Werewolves", and "A Year with the Tibetan Yeti".

The author is Gilderoy Lockhart.

Although I haven't seen the content yet, it's not difficult to guess from the title that this thing is most likely a novel, or a series of novels.

how to say?

It’s so fascinating!
If this series of books can describe the three elements of characters, plot and environment well, then it should be very good for killing time.

But as a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, it appeared openly on the list...

Even for someone like Sherlock who thinks he is abnormal, it is really outrageous.

"So you know this author?"

Sherlock couldn't help but be surprised to hear Hermione's excited voice.

I've never heard Hermione or anyone else mention this before...

Wait, wait a moment.

Sherlock searched in his memory attic and finally found the related memory in an inconspicuous corner after three seconds.

When I went to Diagon Alley for the first time last year, I wanted to buy some books other than textbooks to help me understand the magical world.

It was then that he heard the owner mention the name Gilderoy Lockhart.

According to the store manager, the author's series of books were so popular that they were sold out.

Because of this, I recommended to him the book "How to Survive in Extreme Conditions" by another best-selling author, Bear Grylls.

I didn't care about it at the time.

Especially when I later discovered that the "Survival Manual in Desperate Situations" was very useful, I threw this memory into the corner of the memory attic.

Who would have thought that after missing out last year, this author named Lockhart would come back so strongly this year?
"Ha, of course I know him!"

When Sherlock asked about Gilderoy Lockhart, Hermione immediately said:
"Gilderoy Lockhart is an internationally renowned figure and author. He is a member of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, an honorary member of the League Against the Dark Arts, a five-time winner of the Wizard Weekly Most Charming Smile Award, and this year also won the British Best Dressed Wizard Award.

He was also a student at Hogwarts and graduated from Ravenclaw with honors.

After graduation, he became a famous writer, and his works were very popular in the wizarding world.

Oh, and he also invented a bird snake egg yolk shampoo that locks in shine, but it’s a shame it wasn’t produced for the mass market…”

Hermione spoke at length about Lockhart's life, and only at the end did she ask:

"Sherlock, do you remember the Christmas present I gave you last year?"

"'Charming Talker'?"

"I'm glad you still remember it! Did you know that book was also his?
It’s a pity that the book I gave you was a paperback edition, without a photo of Mr. Lockhart…”

When she said this, Hermione couldn't help feeling a little guilty.

(End of this chapter)