Life as a professor at Hogwarts was extremely busy.
Teaching seven grade levels and grading homework took up almost all of Sherlock's time, from waking up at 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., with little chance to rest.
At the same time, he had to set aside some time each day to study and enrich himself, trying to reach the original owner's original level of magic as soon as possible.
After all, only the improvement of one's own strength can bring the most peace of mind.
Saturday of the first week of school.
In the morning, Sherlock rarely had any homework to grade, and he was able to escape from that complicated magical knowledge, having a moment of leisure in his office.
He picked up The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a widely known book of fairy tales in the magical world, borrowed from the library, and was just reading the very educational story The Warlock's Hairy Heart when a light knock suddenly sounded outside his office.
Sherlock closed the fairy tale book, put it in the desk drawer, and then said,
"Please come in."
The person who came in was not a student asking a question, as Sherlock had expected, but the Head of Gryffindor House—Professor McGonagall.
"Do you have time, Sherlock? Every Saturday, a few of us available teachers get together to have a drink in Hogsmeade."
Sherlock subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Professor McGonagall hadn't finished speaking.
"Slughorn will be with us today; you haven't seen each other since your mother's funeral."
Hearing the name Slughorn, Sherlock was taken aback.
This name was very unfamiliar to him, but he vaguely felt that this person had appeared in the original book.
Professor McGonagall saw Sherlock's expression and continued to explain.
"You may have forgotten him, but when Slughorn was the Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts, your mother, Sally, was his favorite student."
"When you were born, Sally and your father even planned to ask him to be your godfather, and he was very willing, but it didn't happen later due to some other reasons. But Sally and he always had a good relationship until Sally passed away. He even attended her funeral. You were only three years old at that time."
"After that, he went into seclusion. No one knew where he lived. Not long ago, he heard that you came to Hogwarts to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Today, he made a special trip to Hogsmeade to see you."
Professor McGonagall's expression was very serious.
"I think you should see him, Sherlock. He seems to have something very important to tell you, related to your parents."
Sherlock hesitated.
He didn't want to participate in this teacher gathering, not because he was afraid of exposing anything. After a week at Hogwarts, he had a clear understanding.
In fact, there were only three and a half professors in this castle who were familiar with Sherlock.
Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore went without saying, and there was also Professor Flitwick, the head of the original owner's house when he was a student. As for the half, it was Snape.
The reason why Snape was considered half was because Sherlock hadn't figured out Snape's attitude toward him.
According to the original book, Snape had always been eager for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, so in theory, he should be hostile to every Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
But when Sherlock met him in the castle, he didn't show such obvious disgust and hostility.
On the contrary… from the complicated look in his eyes, Sherlock even read a trace of guilt!
That feeling was so strange, sometimes Sherlock even wondered if his brain was broken. How could he possibly see guilt in the eyes of someone like Snape?
Because he couldn't figure it out, Snape could only be considered half.
Even these three and a half professors who were familiar with him in the castle basically didn't know the original owner's true thoughts.
The original owner in his student days was like a wary hedgehog, protecting himself with coldness as sharp thorns. Apart from the undisguised admiration for Dumbledore, no one knew what he was thinking.
So, exposing anything, unless Sherlock himself courted death, made it impossible for anything to go wrong.
He mainly wanted to rest for half a day today and didn't want to spend any more energy on socializing.
However, after Professor McGonagall mentioned Slughorn, saying that he wanted to see him because it was related to the original owner's mother, Sherlock felt that he should take a trip.
The biggest secret on the original owner's body came from his mother. Even the inexplicable crescent-shaped birthmark on his left arm, Sherlock had a hunch, was also related to that crazy mother.
If he wanted to find out about these things, he had to deal with these people.
So, after forming an idea in his mind, Sherlock nodded to Professor McGonagall and said,
"I will go."
Hearing him agree, Professor McGonagall showed a gratified expression on her face.
"At 10 o'clock in the morning, at the Three Broomsticks Pub in Hogsmeade, I, Filius, and Hagrid will all be there. We'll see you later."
After Professor McGonagall finished speaking, she left the office. Sherlock looked at the time. It was already 9 o'clock in the morning, and there was only one hour left before the time agreed upon by the professors.
He took out a few reference books he had borrowed from the castle library before, preparing to use this hour to return them.
Due to the exam-oriented education plan that Sherlock launched for the senior grades this semester, the library was already full before the end of the semester.
The students who came here to study were almost all reviewing the opening exam papers for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class.
Because last year's Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was Quirrell, basically everyone's opening exam scores were not ideal. Sherlock also intentionally made the exam questions a little more difficult.
This caused some frustration among all the senior students who took the exam.
Students who valued their grades even wished they could study the exam paper thoroughly in the library so that they could understand all the questions on it.
Seeing that the learning atmosphere at Hogwarts had significantly improved, Sherlock was very pleased after returning the books.
He left Hogwarts Castle and wandered around the Black Lake before going to Hogsmeade. He had heard that there was a giant squid in this lake, and he wanted to try his luck to see if he could meet it.
As a result, Sherlock came with great interest, but the squid was nowhere to be seen.
Just as he was about to leave Hogwarts to go to Hogsmeade, a commotion suddenly came from the Quidditch pitch, attracting his attention.
The Gryffindor team and the Slytherin team gathered together, as if arguing about something.