Chapter 143 "Sad Hermione"

After the Christmas holiday, Hogwarts has maintained a stable atmosphere. While Black's danger remains, this year is far less disturbing than last year. At least everyone knows that he is a murderous wizard, and more than half of the students know that his target has always been Harry Potter.

It is obviously much safer than having Basilisk targeting every student in the school. Harry's study of the Patronus Charm with Sherlock also proceeds in an orderly manner. His magic talent is high, and Sherlock was right before. After experiencing the high pressure from the Dementors, he can cast the Patronus Charm.

Almost every spell Harry can learn at his level, but it still takes a breakthrough to truly summon the Patronus. This is not a matter of rushing to learn it.

After Sherlock uses the Dementor to experiment with applying the Oblivion Charm to it, he finally keeps his promise, releases it to nature, and returns to the line of Dementors outside.

Sherlock tortured the Dementor so badly that when he went back, he could only be a helpless Dementor who only wanted to eat emotions, and he could no longer recall the almost hellish life of these few months.

By the end of February, Harry had asked Sherlock to take two weeks off. The Quidditch match between them and Ravenclaw, which is about this year's House Cup, is about to come, and he has to focus most of his energy on field practice to win the game for Gryffindor.

It's good for a young child to have some hobbies like this. Sherlock didn't want him to devote all his energy to studying magic, so he was granted a two-week day off.

Sherlock didn't have time to watch the Quidditch match. As the end of the term approached, not only did the students have a heavy study plan, but Sherlock's workload also increased day by day.

Every week, he has to examine more than 200 test papers, prepare the study plans, and prepare the content of the practical lessons. Sherlock was still busy even though Lupin helped him with the burden from grade one to four, and he didn't have any interest in Quidditch, so he didn't go to watch the game as well.

But after the game, he still knew the result.

Harry rode his Firebolt broom, which had been checked out by Professor McGonagall, and took the Gryffindor team to victory.

In the middle of the game, Draco's Slytherin team pretended to be Dementors to scare him in order to interfere with Harry, but instead of scaring Harry, they were taken down from the broom and fell.

For this reason, Professor McGonagall was as angry. She deducted fifty points from Slytherin in front of Snape and was going to report it to Dumbledore.

The whole of Gryffindor was filled with joy in the winning match. Although Sherlock didn't have much of an interest in Quidditch, the feeling among the students still put him in a good mood.

On the afternoon of the end of the game, Sherlock had just returned from the library. He was holding a pile of materials and was about to go back to the office. When he was going to the Hall to eat, he heard a small voice in an empty classroom. 

He stopped and listened carefully to the voice in the classroom, which he could tell was the voice of a girl. Sherlock hesitated for a moment, but he gently pushed open the door of that classroom and walked in.

There was a girl inside, sobbing softly while holding a quill and writing her homework on the parchment quickly. Two-foot-tall books were beside her as if there were a lot of books that had not been read yet.

When Hermione heard the movement, she wiped her tears and looked towards the door in a panic. Sherlock also saw Hermione.

"Professor Forrest." Hermione said.

When Sherlock saw that Hermione was the person crying secretly here, he was very surprised. However, he didn't show his doubts for the first time; instead, he pulled out a chair and sat down beside Hermione.

"Hiding in a classroom and crying secretly is not like what Miss Granger, that I know, would do."

Hermione put down the quill in her hand. She seemed very sad, and she held back her emotions, not wanting to show them in front of Sherlock.

Sherlock took out a box of Bertie Botts Multiflavoured Beans from his pocket and put it on the desk.

"How about some candy? I got these from Dumbledore's office. Before I left, I asked the painting on the wall to help me not to tell the truth. Unfortunately, Dumbledore came back and caught me in the act. Though, he still allows me to take the candies."

Sherlock's story amused Hermione. She took out a tissue and blew her nose, "You must be lying, professor."

Sherlock shrugged, squeezed a bean, and put it into his mouth, "So, can you tell me why do you want to hide here alone? Why don't you go back to the common room to celebrate with them?"

Hermione's face became sad again, but this time, she didn't pretend. She said sadly, "They don't care about me anymore; our friendship is over."

"Harry got the Firebolt at Christmas, but no one signed it. He and Ron were both fascinated by the gift. At a time like this, it was probably sent by Sirius Black to kill him. I told my concerns to the professor, but they blamed me for overreacting."

"Professor McGonagall took Harry's broom and took it apart for a full inspection. They were mad at me because of that. Ron said I was a troublemaker, and Harry was angry with me."

"It wasn't until the day before yesterday when Professor McGonagall made sure the broom was fine and gave it back to Harry. He was happy when he got it. I was happy for them too, but Ron was still angry, and Harry wanted to take this opportunity to get along back with them, but..."

Hermione couldn't help crying again. Sherlock didn't interrupt her but handed over a tissue.

Hermione continued as she took the tissue and wiped away her tears, "But Ron's pet, Scabbers, is missing again! There's a puddle of blood on his bed with Crookshanks' hair. He said that Crookshanks ate Scabbers!"

"They put it all on me. I know there's been something wrong with Crookshanks since he came to school. But if he just listened to me, Scabbers might still be alive if he took care of him well, and he can't just blame me for everything..."

"I don't have time to explain to them... I still have a lot of homework to do... They just ignored me, and I don't have time to deal with them..."

After Sherlock listened to Hermione's story, he understood that it was nothing more than a common conflict between the three. But he did not take this conflict lightly.

Sherlock is a teacher at Hogwarts, and a teacher's responsibility is not only to teach but to help the students as well in their personal lives. He is obliged to help them face the unexpected difficulties in life. 

"Running away doesn't solve the problem, Miss Granger."

Hermione stubbornly said, "I didn't run away. I have a lot of things to do right now, and I don't have time to worry about those things with them!"

"But since you know you're not to blame, or even if you were and Crookshanks really ate Scabbers, they shouldn't treat you like that."

Sherlock laughed, "Actually, I also think you're right. A stranger gave Harry a broom, and it was risky when Black was on the loose. Telling the professor and letting them check it is the best thing to do, and you're absolutely right about that. Even if it turns out that there's nothing wrong with the broom, there's no reason for Harry and Ron to be mad at you."

Hermione grumbled.

"But you shouldn't run away from the disappearance of Ron's pet, Hermione."

"They all pushed the blame on me..." Hermione wanted to explain.

"Crookshanks is your pet. Of course you, as the owner, are responsible for what he does," Sherlock said seriously, "If you think Scabbers' disappearance has nothing to do with Crookshanks, explain it to them, go find Scabbers with Harry and Ron rather than hiding here alone and be sad about it."

"Don't let the sadness affect you, Hermione. They should apologize to you for the broom thing. If the disappearance of Scabbers is related to Crookshanks, you should also apologize to Ron."

Hermione fell silent. Sherlock gave her time to think, pushed the box of beans in front of her, and said.

"Life is like this box of candy. Everyone has a different flavor experience and story. The one we eat now may have a bad flavor, but when you eat the strawberry one, it doesn't mean that every candy here is bad. There would always be good things coming."

Sherlock pinched a pink multi-flavored bean for her, Hermione took it silently, and stuffed it into her mouth. It happened to be a sweet strawberry flavor.

Looking at her appearance, Sherlock stood up from his seat. "Find a chance to explain it to Harry, and don't push yourself too hard. There is always time to learn."

Hermione seemed to be feeling a lot better. "When I'm done with my work, I'll go find them."

"Good."

"Thank you, Professor."

After Sherlock's comfort, Hermione felt a little better. She looked at the homework that seemed to never be finished and put them away temporarily. Returning to the Gryffindor common room, all the Gryffindor students were celebrating, and Fred and George somehow bought a bunch of candy from the Honeydukes.

Hermione was holding a thick stack of books, avoiding the crowd, and Harry happened to notice her at this time.

"Did you watch the game?" Harry took the initiative to ask her.

"Of course I did," Hermione said, her voice muffled and hesitant, "I'm glad we won. I think you did a great job. But I have to do this book before Monday."

"Come on, Hermione, come and eat something." Harry said while looking at Ron, wondering if Ron was in a good mood enough to make peace with Hermione.

"I can't, Harry. I've got four hundred and twenty-two pages to do." said Hermione.

"Besides," she also looked towards Ron, "He wouldn't want me to join."

Ron deliberately picked the moment and said loudly, "If Scabbers hadn't been eaten, he could have eaten a few of these Fudge, which he always liked."

Hermione cried again, and she was no longer in the mood to apologize even after listening to Sherlock's words. Before Harry could say or do anything, she hugged the books, sobbed, ran to the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory, and disappeared.

Harry sighed, and he had no way to mediate the conflict between his two friends.

Ron valued Scabbers very much, and it seemed that Hermione would not take the initiative to apologize. He had no idea what to do now. However, things didn't end here tonight.

The entire Gryffindor students had a happy day, but in the middle of the night, Harry was suddenly awakened by Ron's scream. Ron woke up in the middle of the night and saw Sirius Black standing in front of his bed.

When Harry woke up, he heard the door slamming loudly. They rushed out of the dormitory and ran downstairs, waking everyone.

Just as the Gryffindor students gathered in the common room, Professor McGonagall also heard the movement and walked in with a furious expression.

Harry and Ron explained what happened to her, but Professor McGonagall didn't believe it. Because the portrait of Sir Cadogan at the entrance showed no signs of damage, it wasn't until they questioned Sir Cadogan that they knew that Black had used the correct password in the Gryffindor common room for a whole week from a note, and he had let him in.

Recently, Neville just lost the password he wrote down.

That night, the entire castle was searched again, and Sherlock was called up by Professor Flitwick in the middle of the night to search the area near the library. The search came up to nothing, and no one found Black. He seemed to know the castle well and knew where to escape.

After tonight, the management of the castle became stricter.

Sir Cadogan was fired from temporarily guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, and after the Fat Lady painting was repaired, she returned to her post. She had several more paintings to patrol and protect her.

Neville was also punished. Professor McGonagall ordered him not to go to Hogsmeade village again after this and forbade anyone to give him the password to enter.

Neville had to wait every night to see who could take him in. Apart from the increasing security in the castle, Black's appearance did not affect the other lives of the students.

In the middle, Hagrid specifically approached Harry and Ron and told them that Hermione had recently been sad. But Ron was still angry about Scabbers, saying that unless Hermione threw her crazy cat away, he would be willing to accept her again.

Hagrid wanted to try his best to reconcile the conflict between them, but he was unable to do so. Sherlock didn't pay any more attention to this in the follow-up teaching of the Patronus Charm to Harry. He believed that in the end, Harry and others would handle it by themselves.

Another half a month passed. During the full moon phase in March, Sherlock found Lupin in the office.

"How's it going? What a perfect day, isn't it?" He asked, sitting across from Lupin.

Lupin said with a wry smile, "Are you serious?"

Sherlock shrugged, "Of course I'm serious, or do you think I'm joking with you?"

"But even if there is a Wolfsbane Potion, there is no way to ensure that I am safe."

Sherlock waved his hand and said, "In the werewolf state, how many Stunning Charms can you resist at most?"

Lupin pondered and said, "I haven't tried it, but according to previous records, there have been cases where a dozen Aurors used a Stunning Charm to subdue a werewolf. "

"Just a dozen or so?" Sherlock said, "Don't worry, even if you really go crazy, it won't hurt me."

Lupin had no more reason to refuse. A few days ago, when Sherlock was having lunch with him in the Hall, he proposed that he would like to observe some of the characteristics of a werewolf up close when he transforms on the next full moon night.

Lupin thought he was just talking casually, but he didn't expect Sherlock to be serious.

"If you really want to see it, then come with me tonight." He said calmly, "Today is the day I can transform."

While waiting bored in Lupin's office, Sherlock suddenly found a familiar parchment on his desk.

He asked in surprise, "You took this from the Weasley twins?"

Lupin was surprised by Sherlock's reaction: "No, I got it from Harry. You know this thing?"

Sherlock's face was weird, but he didn't hide anything. "It's the Marauder's Map. I took this map from the Weasley twins at the beginning of school last year and gave it back to them because they were doing well. I didn't expect it to fall into your hands again here."