Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 162 Money is Important
At Christmas in 1991, the Christmas gift Hermione prepared for her good friend Sherlock was originally a book called "Magical Crime Casebook".

This book collects various criminal cases in the magical world, including black magic crimes, smuggling of magic items, etc. It was written by some magical law scholars based on research and practical experience.

After discussing it with Harry and Ron, Hermione felt that this was a very suitable reference book for Sherlock, which would help him understand the characteristics of magical crimes and learn investigative techniques from previous cases.

Unfortunately, when Hermione received the book "Learning Makeup from Zero" from Sherlock as a Christmas gift, she immediately became angry.

At that moment, her emotional perception overcame her rational perception, causing her to do something impulsive.

She exchanged the gift for a copy of "Charming Conversation Master".

Gifts prepared at the last minute are naturally of lower quality.

But now, times have changed and Hermione is no longer angry.

After a whole year of getting along, she finally understood Sherlock.

This guy is just that kind of person, and it's unrealistic to expect a book to change him.

In fact, as Hermione expected, Sherlock only glanced at the outline of the book after getting it and threw it aside.

As for who the author is, I don't care at all.

Because in Sherlock's opinion this is a completely useless book.

Your time is precious and there are more important things to do.

I don't want to waste my time on such boring things.

I will not let the content of this book occupy my mind.

Instead, his parents were very interested in the book.

Especially Mrs. Holmes.

After hearing that this book was given to Sherlock by Hermione, I asked for it and I am still reading it now.

From her point of view, the book is useful for both wizards and Muggles.

"Sherlock? Sherlock!"

Hearing Sherlock suddenly stop talking, Hermione quickly called out from the other end of the phone.

"Sorry, just now, an interesting idea suddenly came to me."

"what idea?"

Hermione was immediately interested.

If Sherlock says it's interesting, then it really is interesting.

"From your introduction to Gilderoy Lockhart just now, I think the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this semester may not be a fan of this writer."

"how is this possible?"

Hermione suddenly became anxious:

“If we were not his admirers, how could we use his books as teaching materials?

And there are seven of them! If it were anyone else, there would be no way they could do that..."

"Because this professor is very likely himself."

After saying this, Sherlock raised the microphone and moved it away from his ear.

He had predicted what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, there was a brief silence of a few seconds on the other end of the phone, and then Hermione's excited voice, several decibels higher, immediately rang out:
“Oh my God—if that were the case, it would be wonderful!
Gilderoy Lockhart! He's going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?

In that case, wouldn't we be able to see him every day?"

Hermione Granger has always acted more mature than her peers.

Only at this moment, she cheered and looked like a 12-year-old, no, 13-year-old girl.

It was obvious that she really admired Lockhart.

She was excited for a while, and only after she calmed down did she start to discuss with Sherlock the time to go to Diagon Alley together.

"How do you feel about next Wednesday?
I've already written to Harry and Ron, and they're planning to go book shopping in London that day."

Sherlock naturally had no objection to this.

"But...Mr. Lockhart's books are not cheap. I think we all need to prepare some more gold Galleons..."

"I suggest you consider second-hand books."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

When Sherlock asked her to buy Lockhart's second-hand books, Hermione immediately objected loudly:
"There are no second-hand copies of Mr. Lockhart's works for sale!"

"..."

After saying this, Hermione realized that she had lost her composure. After a brief silence, she said a little embarrassedly:

"That's it, we'll come see you next Wednesday."

Hermione hung up the phone, her face burning.

What's wrong with you?
Although Gilderoy Lockhart is indeed very powerful and charming, he shouldn't be so excited about him.

Hermione, calm down, you must calm down!

Otherwise, wouldn't he faint when he saw Lockhart in person?
Sherlock didn't care.

He was just giving advice, and it was up to her whether she would adopt it or not.

But if Lockhart's books really weren't available secondhand...

Thinking of this, Sherlock couldn't help but frown.

Hermione was fine. Even though Lockhart's books were really expensive, she could afford them given her family situation.

Especially not long ago, Mr. Granger once again listened to Mr. Holmes's advice and exchanged his family's pounds into US dollars.

According to his father's prediction, they will be able to make a fortune when the time is right.

In this regard, Sherlock trusted his father's judgment. Incidentally, Sherlock's own family also did the same.

Harry naturally had no problem with it.

The money his parents left him was enough to cover all expenses for grades one through seven.

Moreover, after this conversation with his grandfather, Harry was ready to collect debts from those wizarding families who owed him dividends.

In this way, his personal property is bound to increase in value again.

The real trouble is the Weasleys.

Judging from the last time I went to the cave dwellings, their economic situation is not optimistic.

As usual, Ron's youngest sister Ginny will also go to school this year.

That meant they had to buy five sets of the Lockhart series.

Not to mention the wands, robes, pets and other essential items for first-year students.

Of course, many of Ginny's things could be bought second-hand, and the Weasley twins could also overcome the difficulties and share a set of textbooks.

But even so, this is still a considerable expense for the Weasley family.

At this moment, Sherlock seemed to have seen the sad expressions on Mr. Weasley and his wife's faces.

Thinking of this, Sherlock couldn't help but sigh.

It seems that this is the same in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds:
Money matters.

However, this difficulty can only be solved by the Weasley family themselves.

The second to last Wednesday in August.

Hermione and her family came to the King's Road after breakfast.

Just like last year, they still planned to go to Diagon Alley as a family of three.

When Hermione saw that only Sherlock came out of the room, she couldn't help but be startled:
"Sherlock, where are your uncle and aunt?"

"They went out early this morning for something."

"Ah? Then they won't go with us?"

"Knowing you already had a car, they asked me to come with you."

Sherlock said calmly, as if he was talking about something insignificant.

"Sherlock, your father and mother are so open-minded!"

When Hermione heard Sherlock's words, she couldn't help but show an envious look and muttered:
"My father won't let me follow you..."

Before she could finish her words, Mr. Granger uttered a sharp explosion:
"Can that be the same?"

Holmes was confident in leaving his son to his wife and him, but he was not confident in leaving his daughter to their family!

Mrs. Granger glared at her husband with dissatisfaction:
"My dear, you frightened little Holmes."

Although Mr. Granger stopped talking, he looked at Sherlock with a scrutinizing look.

In fact, the relationship between the Granger family and the Holmes family is now quite good.

Especially after last month's trip to Godric's Hollow.

Mr. Granger was relatively reassured about Sherlock Holmes.

From the time I met him until now, this child has performed very well in all aspects.

But it is hard to say about his father, Sherlock Holmes.

Even though Sherlock has wisdom far beyond his peers, he is still only a twelve-year-old boy after all!

How could he just trust them with his son?
Mr. Granger could even imagine that if he asked about this matter again, old Holmes would definitely say:
"Brother, how can I not trust you? I am 100% confident in handing Sherlock over to you!"

Thinking of this, Mr. Granger couldn't help but feel even more unhappy.

Think about it as you want, make a fuss as you want, but don’t take your studies as a joke.

Since Sherlock's parents had decided not to go with them, Mr. Granger drove Mrs. Granger, Sherlock, and Hermione to the Leaky Cauldron.

With last year's experience, even without Sherlock and Hermione leading the way, the Grangers found the Leaky Cauldron easily this time.

It was the beginning of the school year, so although the interior of the Leaky Cauldron was still dim, it seemed unusually lively.

When the four men walked into the bar, the owner Tom Cruise saw Sherlock and immediately recognized him.

He grinned, "Hey, little guy, didn't your father come over this time?"

"No."

Sherlock shook his head, his eyes scanning the bar out of habit.

After a moment, he pointed in a direction and said:
"Mr. Cruise, that person will try to escape the bill later."

A few people looked curiously in the direction Sherlock pointed, and saw a short and fat wizard with an unshaven beard and two short bow legs.

At this moment, he was discussing something loudly with the people next to him. When he noticed the gazes of several people, he even smiled and nodded at them.

He looks like a very nice person.

Old Tom couldn't help laughing when he saw this scene:

"You mean him—that's Mundungus Fletcher!

Don't worry, this guy brought money today, I just confirmed it!"

Sherlock nodded and said no more.

Next, the four of them walked through the bar and headed towards the small walled patio in the backyard.

Hermione looked at Old Tom's slightly hunched back and couldn't help asking:
"Sherlock, are you familiar with the bar owner?"

(End of this chapter)