The tall, handsome Cedric shook Harry's hand and held it for a long time, unwilling to let go.
He said sincerely to Harry. "Congratulations on getting such a fine broom to replace the Nimbus 2000, Potter."
"Thank you, Diggory."
Harry also had a good impression of this sunny, cheerful young man.
Besides his performance in maintaining order earlier, among all the people who came to see the Firebolt, very few were like Cedric in offering congratulations.
Most people either came to see the Firebolt, came to see him, got handsy with the Firebolt, or got handsy with him.
The two chatted briefly, and Cedric very politely greeted everyone else in the compartment one by one before turning to leave.
"He's the most polite one of all," Hermione said with considerable feeling.
Ron, drenched in sweat, grabbed his cup and took a gulp, unable to help saying. "If only everyone else could be like him."
Ginny and Cho both nodded in agreement.
"Cedric Diggory is indeed a good person."
Sherlock also gave a fair assessment.
But at this moment, a conflicting comment suddenly inserted itself.
"He was secretly looking at Cho."
"Pfft—!"
Ron, who was drinking water, immediately spat it out.
Fortunately, he was already sitting relatively far from the others, so it didn't splash on them.
He coughed repeatedly while looking at Luna with an expression of disbelief.
What was up with this girl?
That statement was even more bizarre than those girls earlier saying they wanted to be Harry's godmother!
It wasn't just Ron—everyone's eyes turned toward Luna.
Cho Chang, who was also from Ravenclaw like Luna, blushed. "Luna, what—what are you saying—"
She didn't doubt Luna's claim though.
This girl was, in some ways, similar to Sherlock—she said whatever she observed, never considering the context.
So, if she said Cedric was secretly watching her, then he was secretly watching her.
The problem was that she hadn't noticed at all, or perhaps she'd encountered this sort of thing so often that she'd become accustomed to admiring looks from the opposite sex.
Or maybe it was because her attention had all been on Harry just now, so she hadn't noticed.
At this thought, she couldn't help glancing at Harry.
Harry happened to look at her as well. Their gazes met, and Cho felt even more embarrassed.
However, what made her even more embarrassed was yet to come.
Because Sherlock also confirmed Luna's observation. "Luna is correct. He did look at Miss Chang several times."
Cho Chang: "..."
Hermione looked somewhat helplessly at Sherlock and Luna.
These two really—
Actually, she had also noticed this.
How should she put it? Everyone appreciates beauty.
The young wizards who came to this compartment to see the Firebolt earlier had more or less let their gazes linger on Cho Chang.
Not just the boys, even the girls were no exception.
She really was very beautiful!
It was just that with only Cedric left, his behavior became more obvious.
But even if you noticed, just keep it to yourself. Why say it out loud?
Didn't they know this would make people feel embarrassed?
But then again, if they could think like her, they wouldn't be Sherlock and Luna.
Speaking of which, Hermione noticed that currently only Sherlock, herself, and Luna had noticed this.
Ron's mind was entirely on the Firebolt, so it was normal he hadn't noticed.
As for Harry, he'd always been rather slow to react to such matters.
Cho and Ginny's attention had been on Harry, so they'd overlooked Cedric instead.
Originally not a big deal, but with Sherlock and Luna pointing it out, the atmosphere became even more awkward.
She had to do something.
While thinking this, the compartment door opened once again.
Percy Weasley and Gemma Farley, the two Head Boy and Girl, walked in.
With them was Percy's girlfriend and Gemma's good friend, Penelope Clearwater.
Upon seeing Gemma, Hermione's gaze immediately sharpened.
Cho Chang secretly breathed a sigh of relief—they'd come at just the right time!
"I already know about the situation. I've just spoken with the prefects."
Percy's gaze swept around, then looked at Harry as if claiming credit.
"No one will come disturbing you in droves anymore, Harry. I imagine you should be quite grateful to me?"
"Thank you so much!"
Harry hurriedly grasped Percy's hand.
This time Percy had really helped him out.
"Come on, Percy, you're really just here to see the Firebolt yourself, right?"
Ron immediately and mercilessly exposed his third brother.
"What are you saying, Ron!"
Percy glared at Ron irritably, annoyed that he wasn't giving him face in front of his girlfriend. "It's Penelope who wanted to see the Firebolt, so I brought her here!"
Penelope didn't deny it. She smiled and nodded, then turned to Harry, politely saying. "Harry, may I hold the Firebolt?"
"Ah, of course!"
Harry was fairly familiar with Penelope and immediately agreed.
While Percy and Penelope examined the Firebolt, Harry, Cho, and Ginny all moved closer.
"Mr. Black is so good to you!" Penelope looked at the Firebolt with envious eyes, sighing sincerely.
Harry felt a bit embarrassed. "My godfather is indeed very good to me."
"By the way, how much does this Firebolt cost?" Percy asked curiously. "I saw it in that shop in Diagon Alley, but it said 'price upon request.'"
"At least over a thousand Galleons," Penelope said with certainty, then also looked at Harry curiously, waiting for his answer.
Harry coughed. "Well, I don't actually know."
"How could you not know? Did Mr. Black refuse to tell you?"
With him saying this, Penelope became even more curious.
"Well, actually, when my godfather intended to give it to me, he was still being hunted—you know, at that time people thought he was the murderer.
So, he managed to send the order to the Owl Post Office, then had the shop staff go to Gringotts to take the galleons from the vault themselves."
"Have the staff take the galleons themselves?"
"Yes, from my godfather's vault. They take however much they need.
So sorry, not only do I not know, even my godfather who bought me the gift doesn't know how much it's actually worth."
Everyone's gazes toward Harry immediately changed.
Gemma hadn't followed Percy and Penelope over. She merely glanced from afar, then naturally sat down across from Sherlock.
A pair of sea-blue eyes looked Sherlock up and down. "Did you have a good Christmas, Sherlock?"
Sherlock nodded. "Not bad."
Gemma's gaze swept over Hermione and Luna sitting beside Sherlock, then she smiled slightly.
"My parents keep praising you. A case that deceived the entire wizarding world for twelve years was solved by you in less than a few months."
"Actually, it was just good luck on my part. Those clues happened to present themselves to me at just the right time."
Sherlock wasn't being modest. If Sirius hadn't suddenly escaped from prison, Peter in his disguise as Scabbers wouldn't have been exposed so quickly.
So, he really had to thank Fudge for this—it was he who inadvertently let Sirius know that Peter wasn't actually dead.
Of course, he also had to thank Hermione's Crookshanks, Ron's gift to Harry of the Pocket Sneakoscope, and the Weasley twins' gift to Harry of the Marauder's Map.
They had peeled away Peter's disguise layer by layer; he had merely connected them together.
Next, Sherlock and Gemma naturally fell into conversation, with no awkwardness despite not having seen each other for a while.
Not only that, Gemma also consciously brought Hermione and Luna into the conversation, not neglecting them due to her discussion with Sherlock.
"Hermione, your extensive knowledge is truly humbling."
Gemma looked at Hermione with considerable admiration. "I absolutely couldn't have known this much in third year. I'm sure you'll get twelve O.W.L.s in the future."
Hearing Gemma mention this, Hermione became genuinely interested.
Gemma had gotten twelve O.W.L.s in her exams.
So, she immediately began asking how to manage the relationship between courses and time.
After all, even with her Time-Turner, she still felt somewhat overwhelmed.
Actually, she'd asked Percy the same question before the holidays.
But his answer hadn't been satisfactory.
It wasn't that he wouldn't say.
In fact, he himself could do it, but didn't know how to share his experience with others.
But Gemma was different.
After just a few sentences, Hermione had a sudden sense of clarity.
"Actually, I'm already preparing to drop Divination."
Hermione unconsciously let slip her inner thoughts. "Reading tea leaves every day is simply a waste of time."
"Divination..."
Gemma said thoughtfully, "Although Professor Trelawney is somewhat eccentric, one thing she said wasn't wrong—this course depends on natural talent above all else.
For those without the Inner Eye, no amount of effort is useful—even those with the Inner Eye can't teach it if they wanted to.
Of course, if it's just to get a certificate or if you plan to work in this field in the future, you might as well continue studying.
This term you should be learning palmistry, which is slightly more concrete than reading tea leaves, but indeed doesn't require too much investment of energy."
Hermione nodded. "Thank you, Gemma."
"Alright, alright, Penelope!"
At this moment, Penelope at the other end of the compartment had been examining the Firebolt for quite a while.
Harry didn't mind, but unexpectedly Percy stopped her from continuing.
"Be careful not to damage it!"
Penelope gave Percy an annoyed look, put down the Firebolt, thanked Harry, and left the compartment directly.
"Wait for me, Penelope!"
Seeing this, Percy immediately panicked and chased after his girlfriend without another word.
Harry. "..."
"Well then, I should go too."
Gemma stood up with a smile.
"It seems Mr. Weasley will be spending all his time with his girlfriend next.
I was hoping to slack off a bit, but now I'll have to honestly fulfill my duties as Head Girl."
Sherlock immediately understood upon hearing this.
It seemed this male Head Boy Percy was usually quite dutiful in his work.
"Leaving already?"
Hermione also stood up, surprised to find herself feeling a bit reluctant to see her go.
Even though just earlier she'd thought of her as a threat.
Looking at Sherlock, however, he remained calm and unmoved, merely nodding to Gemma.
Gemma didn't mind. Like Cedric earlier, she greeted everyone in the compartment before gracefully leaving.
After the compartment door closed again, Cho Chang said with some feeling.
"No wonder Penelope says Head Girl Gemma is like a moon calf that snuck into a nest of vipers. She really is different from other Slytherins."
"That's a novel comparison," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Her words were very enlightening to me."
"Too bad she's graduating this year," Harry also said with some regret. "Slytherin will hardly have anyone like her again. Sherlock says this is what a true Slytherin should be like."
Hearing Harry say this, Hermione suddenly turned to Sherlock. "Sherlock, what do you think of Miss Farley?"
Seeing Hermione suddenly throw out such a direct question, everyone looked over in surprise.
Naturally, Sherlock wouldn't avoid the question. He immediately answered.
"Undoubtedly, Gemma Farley is a witch with outstanding abilities, rational thinking, appropriate conduct, and independent judgment.
As both former Slytherin prefect and current Head Girl, she is unquestionably competent—even excellent.
Her values and actual performance tend toward defining herself and others by ability and reason rather than narrow house loyalty.
I believe she plays an indispensable positive role in Slytherin's current management structure."
Very objective indeed.
Hermione blinked and continued asking. "And—other aspects?"
"My dear Hermione, I believe my description has been quite specific. If there's anything missing, please point it out directly."
"I mean, appearance? Don't you think Gemma is beautiful?"
Hermione threw out another direct question. "Even our Miss Chang will only become the most beautiful in Hogwarts after Gemma graduates!"
"Hermione, what are you saying!"
Cho Chang, who'd been listening with great interest, was suddenly mentioned by Hermione and looked at her somewhat helplessly.
'Why are you dragging me into this when you're talking about Gemma!'
Fortunately, Hermione had only mentioned it in passing, then turned back to Sherlock. "Regarding Gemma's appearance, what do you think?"
This was really starting to get to the bottom of things.
The friends looked at Hermione with some tension.
Was she going to be completely straightforward today?
Cho, with the most delicate mind, glanced back and forth between Sherlock and Hermione. Had the girl felt threatened during their conversation just now?
That made sense—after all, that was Gemma Farley!
If it were herself, she'd probably feel the same way.
Though if it were her, she'd ask "Who is more beautiful, Gemma or I?"—but for Hermione, such a question was impossible to ask.
Cho looked humble and polite, but was confident and proud at her core.
Hearing Hermione's question, Sherlock raised an eyebrow slightly.
He was somewhat surprised by Hermione's fixation on appearance evaluation, but still responded in his customary calm tone.
"Hermione, appearance is essentially a subjective perception that correlates negatively with the time dimension.
However, since you insist on discussing this variable, I can share my perspective."
"Please do!"
Hermione immediately assumed a listening posture.
Everyone else in the compartment perked up their ears, looking at Sherlock curiously, very interested to hear Sherlock's views on this topic.
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