Originally, Harry had prepared to tell Sherlock the reason for leaving Privet Drive on the return journey. But he hadn't expected Gemma to be staying at Sherlock's house as a guest.
What a coincidence!
As they say, family shame should not be aired publicly. Harry instinctively didn't want to mention this matter in front of Gemma, unless Sherlock actively asked.
But what surprised him was that neither Sherlock nor Gemma asked about this point. Sherlock hardly spoke throughout the journey, because Gemma had taken control of the situation.
As soon as Harry got in the car, she began asking curious questions. Not about Harry's reason for leaving Privet Drive, but about the daily interactions between Sherlock and him. She hoped Harry could start from their first meeting.
Although Harry found this somewhat unexpected, Gemma's suggestion suited his intentions perfectly. So, he began narrating their process of getting to know each other in detail.
Having been praised by Sherlock numerous times, even Harry now felt he had a talent for storytelling. The two parents in the front seats listened with great interest, occasionally exclaiming in admiration at his descriptions.
When hearing about Sherlock's first confrontation with the Malfoy trio in the train compartment, Gemma nodded gently.
"So that's how it happened..."
She had first heard the name Sherlock Holmes because of this incident. In 1991, Gemma had just become a Slytherin prefect. One of a prefect's responsibilities was to patrol the Hogwarts Express corridors and attend meetings in the designated prefect compartment—Percy Weasley often mentioned this.
Because of this, Gemma knew about the conflict between Sherlock, Harry, and Ron with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle at the time. However, by the time Gemma learned about this, it was already over.
Although Crabbe and Goyle got beaten up, since all parties involved were first-year students who hadn't been sorted into houses yet, and these two kept their mouths shut about their losses, and the incident didn't escalate, the prefects didn't intervene.
But since the famous Harry Potter was among the protagonists, Gemma paid attention at the time and also remembered the name Sherlock Holmes—because according to feedback afterward, it was Sherlock who controlled the situation, not Harry.
By the Sorting Ceremony, the name Sherlock Holmes became even more prominent. After all, he was a Hatstall that only appeared once every few decades, which was hard not to notice.
But it wasn't until this moment that Gemma heard the complete story from a participant's perspective for the first time.
She looked at Harry and said sincerely.
"Sorry, Harry. Last term I promised to make Draco apologize to you and Colin, but then Colin was petrified, and with the frequent attacks, this matter was set aside."
Harry looked at Gemma with some surprise. He hadn't expected her to still remember this matter—he had forgotten about it himself if she hadn't mentioned it.
Feeling Gemma's sincerity, Harry quickly said. "It's okay, I don't care about his apology anyway."
Prefect Gemma... really is a good person!
Harry couldn't help thinking, she really is different from other Slytherins!
Gemma smiled at Harry's words and said nothing more. She turned to look at Sherlock, meeting his gaze exactly. The two looked at each other and smiled without words.
Next, at Gemma's request, Harry told other stories about him and Sherlock, and everyone else in the car listened with great interest, including Sherlock.
As he had said, each time Harry re-described events, it always brought him new insights. This was one of Harry's important values.
When they returned to King's Road, Harry received a warm welcome from Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Farley. Especially Mrs. Holmes, who hugged Harry tightly and lovingly stroked his messy hair.
"Good child, you should have come earlier!"
This made Harry, who had been worried about troubling Sherlock, breathe a long sigh of relief.
During the 1991 Christmas holiday, he had lived at Sherlock's house on King's Road, and that period had felt very happy to him.
Sherlock's family atmosphere was completely different from the Dursley house on Privet Drive where he grew up, letting him know for the first time what a real home should look like—though this might also be because Petunia had never treated him as family.
In the summer of 1992, Harry had stayed at Ron's house. Compared to the warmth of Sherlock's home, the Burrow had a different atmosphere. It was noisier and livelier, but equally brought Harry joy.
Now returning to King's Road again, he found he didn't feel strange at all. Very wonderful!
After a lively lunch, the Farley family declined the warm invitation from Sherlock's parents to stay longer. After Mr. Farley played another game of wizard chess with Mr. Holmes, they took their leave.
"I have good news to tell you."
As she was about to leave, Gemma pulled Sherlock aside for a whispered conversation. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement. "Do you want to guess?"
Without hesitation, Sherlock blurted out. "You became Head Girl."
Gemma: (⊙ｏ⊙)!?
"Oh, my dear Sherlock, couldn't you pretend you couldn't guess?"
"It wasn't guessing, it was deduction."
"Fine, deduction," Gemma agreed, then asked curiously. "How did you figure it out?"
"When you said that just now, you unconsciously made a chest-out movement," Sherlock's gaze looked toward Gemma's chest, "That's actually self-suggestion."
Gemma's face turned red instantly. This was the first time she had lost her composure in front of Sherlock.
"I..."
"I think the next time we meet, there should be a shiny badge pinned there with 'HG' written on it, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
Gemma secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then raised her head and smiled.
"The Head Girl position was mainly between me and Penelope, and in the end, I won."
"Well then, congratulations."
"Thank you."
Gemma extended her hand to shake hands with Sherlock, then walked toward her parents.
At this time, Mrs. Farley bent down and said something to Gemma. Gemma shook her head, and both of them looked toward Sherlock simultaneously.
Seeing Sherlock's unchanged expression, Mrs. Farley covered her mouth and laughed. Then the three of them Disapparated.
"Um, Sherlock..."
Harry looked at where the Farley family had disappeared and asked curiously. "Is it okay for them to use magic here? Last year, even though I didn't use magic at home, I still received a warning from the Ministry..."
"Dear Harry, I don't think the Ministry would believe I'm genius enough to perform advanced magic like Apparition. Also, Gemma's parents have good relationships with the Ministry staff who handle these matters."
"Oh..."
Harry suddenly understood. So that's how it was!
He came to his senses and thought for a moment, then said.
"Sherlock, I think Mrs. Farley's look at you just now was very familiar."
"What do you mean?"
When Harry saw Sherlock's surprised expression, he couldn't help feeling a bit proud.
"I think her look at you was very similar to how Hermione's mother looks at you—like looking at her own son."
Sherlock: (・・;)ゞ
By dinner time, only Harry remained as a guest in the house. He finally told the Holmes family about his reason for suddenly leaving Privet Drive.
The cause of the incident was a woman Harry called Aunt Marge.
Aunt Marge, full name Marjorie Eileen Dursley, was Vernon Dursley's sister. So, she wasn't actually Harry's blood relative. However, the Dursley family had always forced Harry to call her aunt.
If it were just a form of address, it certainly wouldn't have caused Harry, who had already repaired his relationship with the Dursley family, to choose to leave. The key was that this person was very terrible—absolutely terrible.
She lived in a house with a large garden in the countryside and kept many bulldogs. Because of this, she didn't often come to Privet Drive, as she couldn't bear to leave her precious dogs. Even when she occasionally went out, she chose vacations.
But in her limited visits, she left ineradicable terrible memories for Harry.
Toward her nephew Dudley, Aunt Marge was very good, kissing and hugging him every time they met, and often buying him expensive gifts. But toward Harry, this picked-up nephew, Marge's attitude was even worse than the Dursley family's.
"Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia usually tell me to stay far away and not interfere with their business and I wish they would treat me that way. Aunt Marge is the opposite—she wants me under her nose at all times so she can make suggestions for improvement anytime, anywhere."
Harry tried to explain the difference in his own way.
She most enjoyed comparing Harry with Dudley. Glaring angrily at Harry while beaming at Dudley had become standard procedure. Every time she did this, she gained enormous satisfaction.
The first time that left a deep impression on Harry was Dudley's fifth birthday party. Marge hit five-year-old Harry's shins hard with her walking stick just to prevent Harry from beating Dudley in a musical chairs game.
A few years later, during a certain Christmas, Marge came to visit Privet Drive again. She brought Dudley a computer-controlled robot, but gave Harry a box of dog biscuits.
The most recent visit to Privet Drive was in 1990, the year before Harry started school. Harry accidentally stepped on the paw of a bulldog named Ripper and was chased into the garden, forced to climb a tree. Aunt Marge didn't call the dog back until after midnight.
In 1991, the year Harry first learned he was a wizard, Marge didn't come to Privet Drive but went on vacation to the Isle of Wight. She got sick from eating a bad whelk there—she mentioned this in a postcard to the Dursley family.
Even though she couldn't come to celebrate Dudley's birthday, she still sent a gift. As for Harry, he shouldn't even think about it.
Because of this, when he learned this monstrosity would be staying at Privet Drive for a week, Harry made a decision without much hesitation. He wouldn't meet her and would go directly to his best friend's house to stay for a while.
Harry was quite satisfied with his current relationship with the Dursley family and didn't want to ruin this hard-earned, repaired relationship because of such a person.
After all, Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister, and Harry didn't want to make things difficult for him. Better to avoid the situation entirely—out of sight, out of mind.
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