Chapter 136 "The Black Dog"

Sherlock is not that interested in Quidditch.

Because of the time spent in the library, in addition to expanding his knowledge, Sherlock also reads many other books when he has free time. Among them is the origin of Quidditch.

There's not much to talk about in this sports game, but in the beginning, there was no Golden Snitch, and there was no Seeker in the Quidditch team. Until a match in 1269 was attended by Barberus Bragge, then Chief of the Wizards Council.

He brought a bird-like magical animal called Snidget and announced that as long as anyone caught the Snidget during the competition, he would receive a grand prize of Galleons. After that, the players completely forgot about the game and just wanted to catch the bird and get the grand prize.

The wizards in the audience used spells to keep the bird, which just wanted to escape from the arena so that they could watch the game until a witch named Modesty Rabnott felt sad about the Snidget and secretly used the Summoning Charm to hide it in her robe and let it go free.

But it was eventually discovered, and she was fined ten Galleons for disrupting the game. In each game, a Golden Snidget is released, and each team has a player initially known as the "Hunter", later called the Seeker, dedicated to catching it.

If any Seeker can catch and kill the Snidget, their team will earn 150 points, symbolizing the 150 Galleons promised by Bragge.

The popularity of Quidditch matches quickly reduced the number of Snidgets in the real world. In the 14th century, any game would use a Snidget and a Snidget that could be used in the game was even auctioned for high prices.

Finally, a smith from Godric's Hollow named Bowman Wright had a different idea. He invented a fake Snidget, which he called the Snitch. This is the origin of the role of the Golden Snitch and Seeker in a Quidditch match.

It was quite a tragic background, and now there is Modesty Rabnott Snidget Reservation in Somerset to protect the Snidget.

From the beginning, Sherlock is reluctant to participate in the sport. But he had nothing to do in the office, and his mood was much better than before. He simply followed along to join in the fun.

The teachers and students at Hogwarts were much more enthusiastic about Quidditch than him. Almost all the teachers and students in the castle came to the Quidditch field despite the wind and rain. The wind was so strong that normal umbrellas could handle it and would be blown away.

Sherlock saw Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and others on the way to the stadium, as well as students like Hermione and Ron. But instead of leaning over, he walked up to the top of the stadium alone and sat there.

A heavy rainy day couldn't stop a Quidditch game. Sherlock even saw Dumbledore in the front row, and even he did not miss the game. Players from both sides began to take off on their broomsticks. The referee of the game was Mrs. Hooch.

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff players looked familiar to Sherlock.

Harry, Wood, Cedric, the Weasley twins, and the students he is now teaching. The game seemed lively. Although Sherlock was not interested, he knew a little about the rules of Quidditch.

It can be seen from the scene that Gryffindor's team has the upper hand, but in terms of Seekers, Harry is at a disadvantage. He needs to wear glasses, which Cedric doesn't, and the rain would block his vision.

In the middle of the game, the Gryffindor team called a timeout. Hermione seemed to run to Harry's side and use some magic on his glasses to make sure he would not be disturbed by it.

Sherlock guessed that it should be a waterproof spell, which is not difficult for Hermione but a bit hard for others. Her hobby is learning spells that aren't usually learned by others.

Just as the timeout was over and the game continued, Sherlock glanced around. He met the eyes of a dog who was quietly sneaking over from the side of the stand.

Sherlock looked at the dog for a moment and quickly reacted. This dog was the one he and Silk had met before in Hogsmeade. Sherlock thought it had wandered to other places, but he didn't expect to meet him again in Hogwarts.

"Come on, come over here." Sherlock called to the dog.

Sirius, who had sneaked into Hogwarts to watch Harry play, was in a dilemma at the moment. According to his past experience, the highest seat in the audience is the worst viewing spot in a Quidditch match. No one at Hogwarts would sit here to watch the match.

But he met this professor again as soon as he came over.

After hesitating for a long time, Sirius felt that turning around and running now would arouse Sherlock's suspicion to get him. It would be a problem if he used magic to capture him. He simply took the initiative, pretending that he was a real dog, and walked to Sherlock's side.

Sherlock looked at the dog. If it weren't for him, he and Silk probably wouldn't have caught the Fiddlesticks smoothly. He touched the wet hair on the dog's body and could clearly feel that the dog was strong. Sirius felt numb when he touched him. He had to stick his tongue out, pretending to be a friendly dog.

"You're quite brave. With so many Dementors guarding here, you still went in," Sherlock said suspiciously. Could it be that Dementors have no interest in dogs?"

Ignoring Sherlock's hands on him, Sirius stared at Harry's performance on the field, watching him fly on a broomstick, reminding him of his father. At this time, Harry was looking for the Golden Snitch in the rain, turning his eyes to the highest part of the stand.

He saw Sherlock and a dog beside him.

He still remembered the prophecy that Professor Trelawney had made to him in the divination class that had just started this semester, saying that he would encounter something unknown. That so-called unknown is a black dog.

Harry had seen this dog in many places, but what he didn't expect was that this time he saw the dog again, and it was near Sherlock. 

Just as Harry was stunned, Wood found that the Golden Snitch was behind Harry. He shouted to remind Harry, who also noticed the Snitch that was flapping its little wings quickly. But just as he was about to lower his broom and dive at the position of the Golden Snitch, all his ears suddenly fell silent.

It was as if someone had turned off the switch on his ears, making him deaf. He felt cold like he had fallen into an ice cave. At least a hundred dementors were under him, looking at him with their faces hidden under the hood.

Sherlock noticed the problem when the Dementors entered the Quidditch field. He frowned, watching the Dementors moving in the distance, clenching his wand in his right hand.

Sirius fled from the stand as soon as the Dementor appeared. He thought that the Dementor had found him and came to catch him. Sherlock didn't care about the dog running away. He was watching the Dementors that came from the sky and pulled out his wands.

Dumbledore also saw the Dementors and his expression turned sour. Sherlock had never seen Dumbledore show such an expression. But he didn't pay attention to Harry because Harry seemed to faint and fall off his broom.

With this height, it's enough to turn him into flesh paste. Dumbledore made a decision in a short time to use a spell to stabilize Harry's falling body. Those uncontrolled dementors quickly flew to the stands, and almost all the students were attacked as well.

Sherlock also had two Dementors in front of him. He was holding his wand, and his emotions before casting the spell were brewing in his heart. Three days have passed since he drank the sadness potion, and now he is much more relaxed than he was at the beginning. 

He waved his magic and chanted a spell, "Expecto Patronum!"

The silver strands flickered on the tip of his wand. Although the process was slow, a crow made up of silver strands appeared in mid-air. It fluttered its wings, dragging long silver strands of light behind it, and flew around the entire Quidditch field.

After the Dementors came into contact with this crow, they were like butter heated on a high-temperature frying pan, with gray smoke constantly rising from their bodies, and they were dissolving.

Sherlock's Patronus quickly flew around the entire field, and the Dementors were driven to the center above the pitch, like a flock of sheep surrounded by wolves. The crow will mercilessly hunt anyone who wants to escape.

At this time, Dumbledore helped Harry down on the ground. He looked at the dementors being taken care of. Sherlock also saw Dumbledore looking at him. He stretched out a hand and waved at him, signaling that he had taken care of it.

Seeing that Dumbledore got control of the situation, Sherlock took back his Patronus and walked towards the bottom of the stand. At this point, the whole field was a mess, and when Harry fell from the sky, the captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuffs caught the Golden Snitch and won the game.

But he was honest. He thinks the game is unfair and asks to wait until Harry wakes up to play again. Dumbledore creates a stretcher, lets Harry lie on it, and finds someone to take him to the school infirmary.

The other students in the stadium hurriedly left. The chilling aura produced by the Dementors was simply unbearable for them. Sherlock also walked out of the stadium with the crowd. His action just now was concealed. Except for Dumbledore, no one saw that he had cast the Patronus.

Before leaving the field, Sherlock saw that Dumbledore and the Dementors were not doing well. He even drew out his wand, which had bright silver strands shining.

Since the beginning of school, he has felt that these Dementors are rebellious and will definitely cause trouble. Now, they have rushed directly into Hogwarts without permission. After using the Patronus Charm, Sherlock's mood is much better.

After releasing a lot of Patronus at that time, which caused a surge of emotional feedback, he never released this spell again. The effect of the sadness potion on him is slowly fading away. Sherlock plans to see if he can get the formula from Madam Pomfrey later and prepare a few bottles by himself for future use.

He will use the "Crow Storm" occasionally in some situations. Many dark creatures in the world are very afraid of this spell, and it's a killer move.

Therefore, Sherlock must have a sadness potion on hand. As long as the dose is not as large as the bottle that Madam Pomfrey gave him before, it can completely suppress the sudden surge of emotion when he casts it, making the spell flawlessly executed without any problem.