Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 21: A once-in-fifty-year branch problem

Hogwarts Castle.

Professor McGonagall was still presiding over the sorting ceremony.

However, her mind was still on Holmes, who had just been sorted into Gryffindor.

She hadn't expected that this little wizard who had impressed her so deeply before school started was actually a real idiot just like her.

This name, which is a joke about the Sorting Hat, actually has a more popular name - Hatstall.

As the name suggests, it refers to students whose house sorting takes more than a certain amount of time - the conventional consensus so far is five minutes - and whose personality traits are suitable for several different Hogwarts houses at the same time, making the Sorting Hat feel embarrassed.

A true hat embarrassment is rare, occurring only once every fifty years or so.

In most cases, students are close to being embarrassed.

Just like Granger before Holmes.

Many years ago, on the first night Mag came here, she attracted everyone's attention.

Because the Sorting Hat took a full five and a half minutes.

The main thing is that he is hesitating between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

But in the end she chose the former.

Even today, she still thinks going to Ravenclaw is a good choice.

Especially after becoming the head of Gryffindor, this feeling becomes even stronger every time he faces a group of daring troublemakers.

However, over the years, the Sorting Hat has always insisted on its opinion, believing that Gryffindor is more suitable for her.

If you calculate the time, it has indeed been almost fifty years since I started school.

She had almost forgotten about this matter.

Unexpectedly, Sherlock Holmes and Hermione Granger opened up her dusty memories again.

You know, the Sorting Hat also hesitated for a long time when choosing a house for her current colleague, Flitwick, the head of Ravenclaw.

But in the end, the Sorting Hat made the opposite decision to McGonagall and sorted Flitwick into Ravenclaw.

Over the years, this matter has inevitably become a topic of conversation between her and Professor Flitwick after dinner.

Both of them had happily imagined that if they had been more resolute or hesitant when they were young, perhaps their positions would have been reversed.

So today McGonagall would be the Head of Ravenclaw, and Flitwick would be the Head of Gryffindor.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look towards the stage.

Feeling her gaze, Professor Flitwick gave her a smile.

Obviously, Sherlock and Hermione also reminded Professor Flitwick of McGonagall and himself in the past.

McGonagall withdrew her gaze and looked at Sherlock again, and found that he was talking to Percy, the Gryffindor prefect. She didn't know what Sherlock said, but Percy's expression looked a little strange.

Percy was indeed a little embarrassed.

Because after listening to his explanation of the hat dilemma, that is, the problem of sorting, Sherlock said directly:
"It doesn't sound any different... their explanation is actually more acceptable."

With just one sentence, Sherlock managed to choke Percy.

Can this new student speak?
I am the class leader!

"Hahahahaha!"

The twin brothers laughed out loud.

"Well done! You're so talented, come join us from today!"

"Yes, Holmes, we will definitely make a big splash in front of the whole school!"

Sherlock:

He ignored the two brothers and continued to watch the sorting ceremony of other freshmen.

After him, there appeared several freshmen who had been in the branch for a long time and were close to being in a state of financial difficulty.

For example, the little round-faced boy that Toad lost and found again, Neville Longbottom.

He fell on the way to the bench and waited uncomfortably on the bench for nearly five minutes before he was announced to be sorted into Gryffindor.

Then he ran away with the hat on. Amidst the laughter, Neville had to jog back and return the hat to McGonagall.

Following him was Draco Malfoy, who was very proud of his bloodline.

Neville, on the other hand, screamed as soon as the hat barely touched his head:
"Slytherin!"

That was quick and decisive.

Sherlock looked thoughtful as he watched Malfoy swagger into Slytherin to meet his good friends Crabbe and Goyle.

Judging from the current situation, whether it is between himself and Hermione, or between Neville and Malfoy, this situation is just an exception.

Apart from them, most of the others took the same amount of time as Hannah Abbott, who was called first and was assigned to different colleges within half a minute.

Occasionally, the session would be longer but it would only be over in two or three minutes.

Not to mention that there was no one like Sherlock who spent more than five minutes in hat embarrassment, even fewer people were as close to hat embarrassment as Hermione and Neville.

From a scientific point of view, it does conform to the law of normal distribution, with less at the two ends and more in the middle.

In this way, the sorting ceremony proceeded in an orderly manner under the auspices of Professor McGonagall until she read out a name:
"Harry Potter!"

The savior undoubtedly received the most attention in the audience.

When Harry walked out of the freshman line, the whole restaurant was filled with gasps of shock.

Even the temperature seemed to drop.

"Potter, is she calling Potter?"

"Is that Harry Potter?"

"That's him! If you look closely enough, you can even see the scar on his forehead!"

“How could I possibly see that…”

At this time, the twin brothers couldn't help it anymore. George turned to Sherlock:

"Holmes, I heard you have a good relationship with Potter?"

Seeing Sherlock nod, Fred quickly asked, "Then you must know him well? Which house do you think he will be sorted into?"

This time Percy didn't stop the twins from asking questions, as he was also very interested in this.

"The hat will take a long time," Sherlock replied without hesitation. "The final result is Gryffindor."

"why?"

Hermione finally found her chance and quickly asked.

"Yes, why?"

The Weasley twins also asked.

Not only them, but everyone nearby who heard their conversation couldn't help but look at Sherlock.

If Harry Potter really could come to Gryffindor, it would definitely be a great joy.

But...why?

How can Sherlock make a judgment before sorting?
Of course it’s because of personal experience.

Judging from my own experience of sorting, the hat respects personal choice.

Based on Sherlock's understanding of Harry, there is a high possibility that Harry will be sorted into the other three colleges except Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor and Slytherin have a slightly higher priority than Hufflepuff.

But Harry himself didn't want to go to Slytherin, so that left Gryffindor.

After listening to Sherlock's explanation, the little lions looked at each other in confusion.

Isn’t this a bit too mysterious?

The Weasley twins were about to ask more questions, but this time Sherlock said nothing more.

Seeing him like this, everyone had no choice but to give up.

Anyway, it won't take long to tell whether this guy is bragging or not.

(End of this chapter)