In any case, Hermione had never expected that her carefully prepared Christmas gift would clash with someone else's.
Without a doubt, Gemma was also someone who understood Sherlock very well, just like herself.
At this moment, a thought inevitably surfaced in Hermione's mind.
'I was first—I was the one who came first!'
But who could she blame for this?
If she hadn't been sulky last year and had given the gift directly, nothing would have happened. Now she had become the one who came later despite thinking of it first... If anyone was to blame, it could only be herself.
Hermione was very unhappy.
The good news was that Sherlock hadn't noticed this detail.
The bad news was that Sherlock didn't care at all about what gift she gave him.
Seeing Sherlock's indifferent attitude, Hermione made up her mind to get back at Gemma later!
Although she hadn't directly confronted Gemma yet, Hermione's fighting spirit was already ignited.
Putting this matter aside, Hermione immediately asked about the issue she had been concerned about.
"Has there been any progress on the Chamber of Secrets matter these past few days?"
"No," Sherlock said bluntly.
Hearing Sherlock's words, Hermione couldn't help feeling somewhat dejected.
Could they really only watch helplessly as the monster attacked again and again before Dumbledore returned, unable to do anything?
Just as she felt regretful about this, she suddenly noticed Mycroft Holmes approaching slowly with his black umbrella, having greeted their families briefly upon entering and then withdrawn to one side. There was a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
Sherlock had his back to Mycroft, so he didn't notice his brother approaching.
He noticed Hermione's dejected expression and, quite rarely, offered an explanation.
"Strictly speaking, I have actually deduced some things. But emotions would interfere with my judgment of facts, and... reasoning without evidence is always a dangerous thing."
"Oh? My dear brother is actually waiting for 'evidence'? How touching."
Upon hearing this, Sherlock immediately frowned and turned around.
He saw Mycroft lightly tapping the floor with the tip of his black umbrella, staring at Sherlock with a half-smile.
"Your little savior friend's... special linguistic talent—didn't it make you think of anything?"
Hearing Mycroft's words, Hermione was stunned.
How—how did he know?
Although she had learned from Harry and Ron's accounts that Sherlock had a brother with even stronger observational and deductive abilities, wasn't this a bit too exaggerated?
Just from overhearing her conversation with Sherlock, he could join their discussion so seamlessly.
She didn't understand, but Sherlock immediately caught on.
He showed an impatient expression. "Mycroft, did you peek at my case notes again?"
'Again?'
Hermione spotted the key word.
'So, Mycroft had done this more than once?'
However, if he had read Sherlock's case notes, that would explain why he was so familiar with this matter.
"My dear brother, I must admit that the invisible ink and special quill pen your red-haired friend gave you work very well. But a notebook with signs of being read yet completely empty speaks for itself. Besides, you placed the reagent that reveals the writing in such an obvious location."
"That's because I didn't think you'd be so bored and despicable as to specifically sneak a look at your own brother's case notes."
Sherlock said coldly.
Hermione was shocked and covered her mouth.
The last time she had seen Sherlock speak like this was when he angrily confronted Dumbledore.
She hadn't expected him to be so merciless even with his own brother.
Mycroft then turned to Hermione. "Don't be surprised, Miss Granger. Please forgive my brother—he's actually quite the gentleman most of the time."
Hermione: ...
'What kind of comment was that?'
Upon hearing this, Sherlock said without courtesy.
"Mycroft, don't put on your politician's fake smile in front of my friend, and don't speak in riddles with your Foreign Office rhetoric—speak plainly, or go discuss refreshments with Mother."
Hermione: ...
'Alright, I was careless.'
Sherlock's tongue was indeed... there was no limit to how venomous it could be.
Mycroft was accustomed to his brother's way of speaking. He lightly brushed nonexistent dust from his suit collar and said in an unhurried tone.
"Based on existing evidence, it's indeed difficult to deduce the truth about the Chamber, but I want to ask you—why deliberately ignore the voice your savior friend heard?
According to his account, he heard voices twice. The first time was in a certain professor's office. The second time was precisely at the crime scene—or rather, it was that voice that led him to the crime scene. And both times, only he could hear this voice. Could this really be a coincidence?"
"Mr. Holmes, do you mean to say..."
Hermione suddenly straightened up, her eyes sparkling. Thanks to Mycroft's reminder, she had grasped the key to the problem.
Sherlock snorted coldly. "Mycroft, I know what you want to say, but isn't this too hasty?"
"It's not that I'm too hasty, but that you're being indecisive."
Mycroft looked at his brother with regret in his eyes. "Perhaps in a few years, you won't be like this. When your savior friend demonstrated his ability to communicate with reptiles at the Dueling Club—oh, you seem to call it Parseltongue—my dear brother, you should have formed a hypothesis then.
Of course, you actually did make deductions, but felt you lacked sufficient evidence to support them. However, evidence... have you forgotten even the basic principle of 'bold hypothesis, careful verification'?"
This time, Sherlock didn't argue back.
"I understand! So, the Chamber monster is related to snakes!"
While Sherlock remained silent, Hermione said excitedly.
"That's exactly Slytherin's symbol! So only Harry could... Sherlock, we must tell Dumbledore about this immediately!"
"That's not necessary. Mycroft's suggestions are always like government documents—correct but annoying."
With that, Sherlock also stood up, shooting Mycroft a sharp glance.
"However,... Parseltongue plus voices does indeed point to snakes. Just on this point alone, we can indeed temporarily set aside other considerations and work in this direction."
Just as Mycroft had said, when Harry inadvertently demonstrated his ability to communicate with snakes at the Dueling Club, Sherlock had already deduced that the Chamber monster was snake-related.
However, for certain considerations, he hadn't pursued this line of thinking further.
But now it seemed he had been overly cautious.
Seeing his proud brother finally acknowledge his help, Mycroft showed a satisfied smile.
"How gratifying—you're finally willing to make bold hypotheses."
After saying this, he nodded slightly to Hermione.
"Miss Granger, remember to remind my brother—while arrogance is wrong, being too cautious is equally detrimental to your current situation."
Having said this, he left with his black umbrella.
And then...
Just as Sherlock had predicted, he actually went to join the discussion between Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Granger.
From the faint voices drifting over, they were indeed discussing refreshments, and the three of them got along very harmoniously.
Hermione helplessly withdrew her gaze and crossed her arms, staring at Sherlock.
"The brotherhood in your Holmes family is rather twisted... but he was a great help!"
Sherlock said lightly. "Mycroft is always like this, enjoying being 'one step ahead of me.' After school starts, we can verify his bureaucratic reasoning. If he's wrong, I'll send his treasured dessert recipes to the trolls."
Having said this, he headed toward his bedroom.
Hermione hurried to catch up, muttering somewhat helplessly. "...You two are even harder to understand than Parseltongue!"
The five-remaining people in the house seemed busy but kept part of their attention on the pair of teenagers, Sherlock and Hermione.
Seeing the two run into Sherlock's room one after the other, everyone except Mr. Granger showed pleased smiles.
As for Mr. Granger, he could only feel helpless.
Thus, Christmas of 1992 passed peacefully.
A few days later, the new year of 1993 arrived as scheduled.
Compared to last year, although Mycroft returned home early for the Christmas holidays this time, he only stayed a few days and left after the new year arrived.
Mr. and Mrs. Holmes didn't know what he was going to do.
When Mycroft entered university, they had already received classified orders from Her Majesty's government.
To summarize. Your eldest son is ours now—don't ask what you shouldn't ask!
This was precisely why Mrs. Holmes constantly worried about Mycroft.
Although being valued by the government at such a young age seemed like a great honor, from a mother's perspective, she would rather her son be ordinary but never have to face danger.
This was exactly opposite to Mr. Holmes's view.
As a father, Tarquin Holmes had always respected his children's choices and supported letting them choose their own future paths.
This was also the fundamental reason he could convince his wife to let Sherlock attend school in the remote Scottish Highlands.
During the last few days of the holiday, Sherlock lived both relaxed and comfortably.
However, this lifestyle was somewhat boring for someone who liked pursuing excitement.
But considering he probably wouldn't come home for Easter; Christmas became the only holiday besides summer vacation when he could be with his family.
Under these circumstances, even though he found the holiday boring, he was willing to spend time with his parents.
Because Sherlock had a vague premonition that after he came of age, he probably wouldn't have much time to accompany them.
It was called a premonition, but it could already be seen directly from Mycroft's current state.
After coming of age, he certainly wouldn't enter politics like Mycroft.
But the time spent with family would likely be very limited.
This was probably the Holmes family fate.
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