Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 50: The Study of Scarlet Words
Tracking the troll is not a difficult task.

Just follow that bad smell.

The downside is that you can't get too close.

Even though there are four people now, the four of them together are still no match for a mountain monster.

Fortunately, the troll was very agile.

It is a typical example of a simple mind and strong limbs.

So Sherlock and his group quickly returned to the corridor along the stairs from the basement.

After following the troll for a distance, when its figure appeared in their sight again, Sherlock suddenly stopped.

"what happened?"

The three people following Sherlock were all stunned.

"right here."

As Sherlock spoke, he walked in a completely opposite direction from the troll.

"Ah this..."

The three people, who were already puzzled by Sherlock's behavior of following the troll, were now even more confused.

It is very strange that the target of stalking is not Snape but the troll.

We have followed each other all the way, why are we parting ways again?

Three of you, look at me and I look at you.

Seeing Sherlock turning another corner and about to leave their sight, they finally followed him.

Unexpectedly, just as they turned the corner with Sherlock, the three of them were shocked by the scene in front of them.

Ron blurted out, "Oh my god!"

The originally smooth, neat and spotless ground was now covered with five huge English letters spelled out in blood.

The visual impact brought by the strong contrast even exceeded the feeling of several people when they first saw the tall and majestic Hogwarts.

After a long while, Hermione, who had just come into close contact with the troll and had developed a certain immunity, tried to spell them out:
"RACHE? RACHE?"

The three people except Sherlock looked at each other.

The act of leaving words in such a bloody way was really terrifying for them.

After a while, Harry swallowed and asked in a low voice: "What does this mean?"

"how could I know?"

Ron touched his nose. He shouldn't be asked about such things.

"RACHE... Rache... Could it be Rachel?"

Hermione hesitated and said, "Could it be that you were originally planning to write about Rachel, but something interrupted you, so you didn't finish it?"

Harry quickly asked, "You mean this represents a person's name? Her name is Rachel?"

Hermione nodded and said uncertainly, "That's all I can think of."

As she spoke, she looked towards Sherlock, wanting to ask him for confirmation.

The same goes for Harry and Ron.

But when the three of them turned their eyes to Sherlock, they found that the latter had already started to act.

Sherlock took out a tape measure and a round magnifying glass from somewhere and walked around the bloody words.

Sometimes he stood, sometimes he knelt, and sometimes he even lay on the ground, completely ignoring the harsh and terrifying surrounding environment.

The three of them wanted to speak several times, but seeing how busy Sherlock was, they finally forced themselves to hold back.

About five minutes later, Sherlock began to examine the blood words on the ground with a magnifying glass.

After observing each letter very carefully, he seemed satisfied and put away the tape measure and magnifying glass.

Only then did the three of them notice that Sherlock had originally placed them in a large pocket specially sewn on the outside of his robe.

"Thank you for being so quiet and letting me find what I was looking for before they got here."

Sherlock turned around and said to the three of them with a smile.

"Some say genius is the ability to endure endless hardship. I personally think this definition is inappropriate, but it is appropriate when applied only to detective work."

"who are they?"

"what do you want?"

"What did you find?" The three of them spoke almost at the same time, but asked completely different questions.

Sherlock looked past the three of them and behind them. "I'll be interrupted immediately if I say anything anyway, so why not wait a while?"

The three of them became increasingly puzzled by Sherlock's mysterious behavior.

Ron, who was the most impatient, was about to speak when he heard loud footsteps suddenly.

Almost at the same time, Professor McGonagall rushed over first, followed by Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell.

As soon as Quirrell, who was walking at the end, saw the huge blood words, he immediately cried out "Ah", sat down on the spot, clutched his chest tightly, and began to sob weakly.

Snape, who was standing by, immediately showed a look of disgust, took two steps to the side, and distanced himself from Quirrell.

But his gloomy gaze soon shifted to Harry: "Potter! What the hell are you doing!"

This time McGonagall did not defend Harry.

But she looked at Sherlock and said in a cold voice: "Mr. Holmes, I need an explanation."

She only had to glance at him to see that Sherlock was the leader of the group.

Facing Professor McGonagall who was about to explode with anger, Sherlock smiled slightly:
"Explain...isn't it obvious?"

Harry, Hermione, Ron: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

As expected of you!
"It seems that the arrogant Gryffindor doesn't even bother to explain," Snape sneered, looking like he was enjoying the fun, "even to his own Head of House."

Mag didn't say anything, but just by looking at her pale lips and ashen face, one could already imagine her anger.

"Don't make me repeat myself. Give me an explanation as to why you don't just stay in the dormitory."

"This isn't obvious... okay."

Sherlock felt helpless, as he really thought the answer was obvious.

In this situation, can't we infer what happened just by looking at it?

No explanation is needed at all.

Unfortunately, the situation is stronger than him, so he can only be patient and say:

"During the Halloween party, I noticed that Hermione didn't show up.

It just so happened that Ron had made her angry this morning, and combined with the descriptions of other classmates, it wasn't difficult to infer that she was alone in the girls' room.

When Professor Quirrell pointed out that the troll had appeared in the dungeon, I suspected that it might have run into Hermione.

So I rushed to the basement classroom immediately and wanted to take her away."

Hearing this, Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry, silently conveying the message with his eyes:
[See? This guy is really afraid that we will drag him down!]

"...I was lucky enough to find Hermione before the troll got to her.

Then he met Harry and Ron who had arrived for the same reason.

Because of the disparity in strength between the enemy and us, we can only take a roundabout way out.

And then I walked all the way here.”

"Yes, that's exactly what happened."

As soon as Sherlock finished speaking, Hermione immediately stood up to testify for him.

This made Professor McGonagall look a little better.

As for Harry and Ron, she simply ignored them.

The testimonies of these two people are not credible at all.

"Is this what you call obvious?"

But before she could open her mouth, Snape said coldly, "Mr. Holmes, do you think the professors can guess what you did just by observing?"

Snape was clearly being sarcastic.

After all, he has never been able to speak properly.

Unexpectedly, Holmes turned around and asked in a matter-of-fact tone, "Isn't it?"

Snape was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, he heard Holmes say very quickly:

"For example, I can tell right now that you just fought a giant monster and subdued it...

Also, before this, you attempted to cross a path guarded by a large dog and were bitten on the right leg."

As soon as he finished speaking, Snape's face turned even gloomier than McGonagall's just now.

(End of this chapter)