On the morning of the first day of the new term, Sherlock gave up Ancient Runes and went with Harry and Ron to Professor Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class.
Hermione, needless to say, still had to use the Time-Turner to attend all her classes.
Even now, Harry and Ron still hadn't discovered Hermione's secret.
This made her somewhat relieved.
If these two friends couldn't notice, others certainly wouldn't pay attention either.
It was just that she was a bit tired.
Fortunately, after a winter holiday, her tight schedule had finally relaxed somewhat.
After eating breakfast in the Great Hall, the four left Hogwarts Castle and hurried across the cold, damp lawn.
When they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they could already see Hagrid's much larger than normal figure.
He was currently standing at the door of the cabin built from logs, excitedly waving his arms at them.
"I hate going outdoors for class at this time of year. This weather is so cold and damp. Really hateful."
Ron specifically emphasized twice his hatred of this weather, then turned his head and said somewhat emotionally to Sherlock: "Actually, you really didn't need to come to this class for my sake."
In Ron's view, good friends like Sherlock, Harry, and Hermione, who had all chosen every course, could have gone to the indoor Ancient Runes class in this weather.
But they came to this outdoor class entirely for him, Ron. Well—there might be a tiny bit of reason for Hagrid too.
Sherlock couldn't help but smile at this, "Ron, actually Harry—"
Hearing Sherlock's opening, Harry immediately sensed trouble, knowing he was about to speak the blunt truth again.
Having already developed a conditioned reflex, he immediately pulled Sherlock back and took advantage of Sherlock looking at him to quickly speak first.
"Right, right, it's just more fun to attend class together with more people!"
Hermione at their side found this secretly amusing.
If Harry hadn't pulled Sherlock back, Sherlock would definitely have said, "Actually, I didn't choose this class to accompany you."
Of course, neither did she.
That meant the only person truly willing to accompany Ron was Harry alone.
Not only that, he also had to stop Sherlock from stating this fact that would hurt Ron's feelings.
How to put it—it was quite difficult.
"Anyway, since Hagrid listened to Sherlock's advice, Care of Magical Creatures has been quite interesting. I wonder what new creature he'll show us today?"
Harry tried to make his tone sound more sincere and reliable, trying his best to fill the vacuum created by Sherlock's near slip.
As he spoke, he sneaked a glance at Ron, hoping his cover could smooth over the previous potential awkwardness.
Fortunately, because he'd spoken in time, Ron hadn't realized anything.
This made him secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Close call.
What surprised Harry was that he'd only said it casually.
But unexpectedly, Hagrid's class was actually quite interesting.
For the first lesson of the new term, Hagrid hadn't consulted Sherlock in advance but fully exercised his own initiative.
To cheer the students up, he'd specifically created a pile of bonfires.
The heat and light from the bonfires drove away the dampness and cold, making everyone feel comfortable all over.
You have to understand, bonfires in the magical world were different from the Muggle world.
Once these bonfires were lit, they were immediately filled with cheering, jumping fire salamanders.
Without Hagrid saying anything, the students knew what to do.
They actively went to collect firewood and leaves, making the flames burn even more vigorously.
Then they formed a circle to watch the fire-loving lizards scurrying back and forth in the crackling wood.
The bright bonfire lit everyone's faces bright red. Even the usually antagonistic young lions and snakes were getting along harmoniously in this setting, not glaring at each other.
Of course, this also had to do with certain people not actively causing trouble.
As if Hermione had truly guessed right, even on such a rare occasion, Malfoy hadn't come looking for trouble.
Since he didn't come to provoke them, Crabbe and Goyle, who always followed his lead and never had ideas of their own, naturally wouldn't act out either.
The two stared dumbly at the fire salamanders leaping in the bonfire, looking quite stupid and dull.
Standing beside Malfoy was Pansy Parkinson, who was looking at Malfoy with adoration, appearing even more vacant than Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry withdrew his gaze, his ears hearing Hagrid's lecture while his thoughts had long drifted to his three friends.
After experiencing this public trial, especially witnessing Pettigrew receive the Dementor's Kiss, Harry felt as if he'd suddenly grown up overnight.
Take the small matter just now—if it were before, he wouldn't have stopped Sherlock so perfectly and appropriately.
Instead, he would have only realized after the fact that Sherlock's words would affect Ron—even though they were indeed the truth.
After living together for three years, Harry had gained deep understanding of his friends.
In their four-person group, Sherlock was the undisputed leader.
Absolute rationality and extraordinary composure made him like a sturdy ship that could always maintain a straight course through stormy seas.
No matter what happened, as long as Sherlock stepped forward, it gave people a feeling that "this is in the bag."
For Harry personally, communicating with Sherlock was also the most relaxed. Because Sherlock was transparent like pure crystal.
Never having to worry about hidden calculations or false pretenses in his heart. Because his thinking was meticulous, he could always quickly grasp core contradictions and provide the most direct, logic-based solutions.
It was just that sometimes it was like having cold water poured over your head.
But conversely, precisely because of this powerful rationality, he had an almost clumsy ignorance, especially in social aspects.
Harry thought he was already bad enough at socializing.
Who knew that after coming to school, he'd meet two people even worse at speaking than himself.
And one was worse than the other.
Sherlock always said whatever it was, which meant both genuine reliability and that he often overlooked subtle emotional atmospheres in interpersonal interactions.
Actually, Harry had vaguely discovered a fact—Sherlock wasn't unaware that certain things he said would touch others' sensitivities.
But unless it was to solve a case, he simply didn't care about these things, and would always speak so bluntly.
This made him always seem out of place in daily life, even inadvertently hurting others.
If he could change this, he'd surely have become the school's most popular figure long ago, rather than the current situation.
The school's teachers and students all respected, some even feared Sherlock.
But those who could become his friends were always just these few.
After all, only very few people could tolerate Sherlock's various quirks.
Even Dean Thomas, who lived in the same dormitory, sometimes had complaints about Sherlock's behavior.
Hermione's situation was special. In first and second year, her pride and adherence to school rules often seemed unreasonable.
She was also the person second only to Sherlock in not knowing how to speak.
But after repeatedly experiencing life-and-death trials together, that occasional stubbornness and rigidity gradually faded.
She no longer cared about school rules as before. Instead, she learned to give friends tolerance and space while upholding principles.
Especially after the Crookshanks and Scabbers incident last term, she seemed to have become softer, finally able to put herself in others' shoes.
This made her much more likeable.
As for Ron, he seemed the most carefree but was actually the opposite.
Living long in the shadow of excellent older brothers, combined with relatively poor family circumstances, bred inferiority complex in him.
This inferiority manifested externally as confidence.
But this confidence was illusory—making him the most sensitive of the four.
This sensitivity made him particularly care about friends' attitudes, easily feeling snubbed or forgotten.
An inadvertent glance, a joking remark, even a friend's unintentionally displayed superiority could stir ripples in his heart.
Harry had noticed this problem more than once.
Ron longed to receive everyone's attention like Sherlock or himself.
But neither he nor Sherlock particularly enjoyed such attention.
Sherlock was better—he would enjoy praise within small circles.
But Harry himself was thoroughly sick of it, because this universal attention was exchanged for the sad fact of becoming an orphan.
Among the three, only Ron would be hurt by Sherlock's blunt truths—neither he nor Hermione would be, and this was even when all three understood Sherlock.
His subconscious protection of Ron's feelings just now in words and actions came precisely from this point.
As if to verify his assessment of his three good friends, just then Sherlock casually pointed out something in Hagrid's explanation that didn't conform to a detail in the Magical Creatures Protection Act.
"Ah, is that so?"
Hagrid immediately said nervously.
"Well, if Sherlock says so, then it must be right! Everyone just remember what Sherlock said!"
Hagrid had no awareness whatsoever of being a professor.
Or conversely, he had too much instinct as a professor, which was why he immediately corrected himself after Sherlock pointed out the error.
Ron rolled his eyes at Sherlock's nitpicking and muttered "Merlin's beard" before running off to play with the fire salamanders again.
Harry sighed deeply, withdrawing his thoughts.
He thought to himself that his childhood wasn't happy either, and his temperament wasn't that good—why was he the one maintaining relationships?
It must be because he was too kind!
Although the second Divination class was indoors, compared to the outdoor Care of Magical Creatures class, it turned out to be much duller.
This time Sherlock didn't attend class with Harry and Ron, which gave Professor Trelawney an opportunity.
Because this term she began teaching them entirely new content—palmistry—so throughout the whole class, she kept telling Harry that his life line was the shortest she'd ever seen.
Lavender and Parvati, who worshipped her most, also looked at Harry strangely.
This inevitably made Harry somewhat annoyed.
"I think she's just targeting you, Harry. Or else she's met too few people in her life!"
After class, Ron said indignantly, "Maybe we should bring Sherlock next time—that way she might restrain herself a bit."
"Bring me to do what?"
"Of course it's—oh, Sherlock, you're here!
Huh, Hermione, how come you're coming with Sherlock?"
Seeing Sherlock and Hermione walking toward them from another corridor in the castle, Ron couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise.
Hermione had just come out of the Divination classroom with them!
He immediately turned back to look—where was any trace of Hermione?
Seeing Ron like this, Sherlock couldn't help but find it amusing.
Hermione's behavior was so obvious, yet Ron still hadn't discovered anything wrong even in this second term.
Or rather, he'd noticed something wrong but hadn't thought deeper about it.
That was in character for him.
Sure enough, after seeing Hermione didn't answer, Ron didn't pursue it further.
Instead, he told Sherlock about what happened in Divination class and expressed indignation about Professor Trelawney targeting Harry.
"Palmistry?"
Sherlock looked at Hermione. Hermione nodded and spread open her palm, speaking to Sherlock,
"It's all new content. Supposedly one can see their life line, career line, love line—"
Although she didn't like this class, if it came to knowledge of the subject, she could still crush Harry and Ron.
So once Hermione started speaking, Harry and Ron decisively stopped talking.
After Hermione finished explaining the lesson's content, Harry and Ron looked curiously at Sherlock.
They both wanted to hear what Sherlock thought.
Sherlock chuckled lightly and took Hermione's outstretched palm,
"This line is the life line, this is the career line, this is the love line—they're treated as tracks of fate, right?"
Hermione, whose palm was held by Sherlock, instantly had her ear tips turn red, but still nodded lightly: "Yes."
Sherlock manipulated Hermione's finger joints, making her palm slowly close into a tight fist.
He looked at the three. "Understand?"
"Understand what?"
Ron was first stunned, then reacted, clenching both fists, his expression becoming fierce:
"I understand, Sherlock—you want us to bravely raise our fists and fight that nonsense-spouting person!"
Harry and Hermione both looked at him speechlessly.
Whether Professor Trelawney was spouting nonsense was still uncertain, but Ron was definitely spouting nonsense.
Sherlock shook his head, pointing at Hermione's clenched fist, saying word by word:
"Fate is held in your own hands."
This time, the three were slightly stunned, then showed thoughtful expressions.
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