"Harry, I don't think you've forgotten what happened during our summer vacation at Godric's Hollow last year?"
Sherlock looked at Harry and said slowly. "You saw your grandparents at Potter Manor."
Hearing this, Harry's body instinctively stiffened, and the image of that old manor in Godric's Hollow immediately surfaced in his mind, its aged yet familiar atmosphere seeming to wash over him.
He steadied himself, his voice carrying a touch of distant memory. "Yes, I remember."
"I told you then that they were consciously avoiding someone's existence.
This person was likely a close friend of your parents who played an unsavory role when your parents had their accident."
Sherlock paused. "Considering all the clues, this person is him: Sirius Black."
With a "boom," Harry felt something explode in his mind.
He suddenly stood up, the movement so violent that his chair scraped against the floor, producing a sharp, grating sound.
His gaze was like a sharp sword, instantly fixing on Mr. Weasley, his eyes full of shock and disbelief, along with a trace of anger about to burst forth.
"Mr. Weasley, is this true?"
Arthur Weasley was speechless. He had known Harry for three years now.
Especially last summer, when Harry had lived at their house for over a month. He thought he understood Harry quite well.
This was a kind, generous, intelligent, and brave child.
If possible, he would even be willing to use more positive adjectives to describe Harry, but doing so would seem excessive.
After Black's escape, the Ministry immediately rushed to Privet Drive to protect Harry.
They learned he had actually been driven by Vernon Dursley to Sherlock's place.
Due to his special relationship with Harry, Arthur deliberately spent some time learning that Harry had reconciled with the Dursleys.
This gave him an even deeper understanding of Harry's kindness and generosity.
Under such treatment from the Dursleys, Harry could still forgive them, he almost thought Harry wouldn't get angry.
But at this moment, he saw anger in Harry's eyes.
Deep anger.
He would bet Harry had never looked at You-Know-Who with such an expression.
"Harry—"
"Is it him, Sirius Black? Was he my parents' friend?"
"Yes—"
"Good. I understand."
"Harry, are you all right?"
Arthur was somewhat worried about Harry's mental state.
"I'm fine."
Harry smiled at Arthur and said gently.
"Don't worry about me, Mr. Weasley. I know Black is strong, so I won't go looking for him, because that would be suicide."
Arthur sighed in relief. "That's good—"
However, before he finished speaking, he heard Harry continue. "From now on, I'll work hard to become strong. When I'm strong enough to defeat him, I'll go find him."
"Harry—!"
Arthur was immediately alarmed. "He was able to escape from Azkaban, he's the second most dangerous person after You-Know-Who. Even Flitwick and Snape wouldn't dare claim they could defeat him!"
"I know, so I'll wait until I can beat Professor Snape before going to find him."
...
"I really hope he won't be caught by the Ministry too quickly though if he could be caught that quickly by the Ministry, he wouldn't have escaped from Azkaban in the first place."
At this point, Mr. Weasley began to wonder if he should have listened to Minister Fudge and his wife Molly and not told Harry about this.
But then he shook his head.
Actually, he hadn't said anything, all the facts had been deduced by Sherlock.
His arrival had only helped confirm Sherlock's deductions.
Really enough!
No wonder Snape always avoided having more contact with Sherlock, so this was the reason!
Fortunately, for Harry's strength to reach Snape's level would probably take a very long time.
By then, maybe Sirius would really have been caught.
Even if he hadn't been caught, by the time Harry had Snape's abilities, his thinking would surely have changed compared to now.
However, just as Arthur was preparing to Disapparate, Harry suddenly looked at his head and asked.
"Uncle Weasley, is the Potter hair tonic working well?"
"Ah?!"
Arthur was startled, he hadn't expected Harry to ask this question.
Last Christmas, Harry had given him a gift, Potter hair growth potion.
With its help, his baldness had obviously shown signs of improvement.
"Very effective, thank you, Harry."
"Then this year's Christmas gift will be the same."
...
What a mess!
Thus, Arthur Weasley left King's Road with a heavy heart.
On the other hand, knowing that Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban, was coming for him, Harry wasn't particularly nervous.
But knowing he was that friend of his parents made Harry angry.
Betrayal by friends and family was more infuriating than killing by enemies.
However, after spending two years with Sherlock, Harry had matured considerably.
Just as he had told Arthur Weasley, he wouldn't do anything suicidal.
But his desire to become stronger had never been as urgent as now.
Because of this, the originally leisurely summer vacation seemed to have changed its nature.
Unfortunately, due to the restriction against using magic outside school, Harry could only focus on training his physical fitness.
The original plan was to go to the boxing gym behind St. Bartholomew's Hospital to find Coach Moran, just like during that first-year Christmas when he stayed at Sherlock's house.
However, on the very afternoon Arthur Weasley came to Sherlock's house, Minister Fudge visited again.
Unfortunately, just as Mr. Weasley had told Sherlock and Harry, Fudge treated both Sherlock and Harry like children.
He only told them that Black was a very dangerous person, saying nothing else.
Additionally, he required Sherlock and Harry to stay home during this period and not go anywhere.
It was "cannot," not "should not."
For this, he even met with Sherlock's parents.
However, even facing Sherlock's guardians, he still didn't tell the truth.
Throughout, he didn't mention Black's relationship with Harry's parents, nor did he say that Black had left Azkaban to find Harry. He only said a dangerous person had escaped from the wizarding world and hoped Sherlock's parents could fulfill their parental responsibilities by watching over Sherlock and Harry.
Until the two went to Hogwarts.
When leaving King's Road, he also pointed out that Ministry personnel were patrolling nearby, and if Sherlock and Harry violated the rules, they would receive warnings.
"He's trying to tell me how to do my job."
After Fudge left, Mr. Holmes frowned. "I can sense he didn't tell us the truth."
Harry looked at Mr. Holmes in surprise.
However, what surprised him more was yet to come.
He heard Sherlock say calmly. "This is obvious. This Minister of Magic is a person with a weak character, cowardly, afraid of trouble, greedy for power and money. His inner extreme inferiority manifests externally as arrogance and conceit."
"Um, Sherlock, isn't that assessment a bit harsh?" Harry felt Sherlock was being rather caustic.
"I'm just telling the truth."
Sherlock said mercilessly. "Although he tries hard to hide it, I can still see that he's constantly worried about losing his position.
The source of this fear comes from our beloved headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."
Harry was even more surprised to hear this.
Because he detected Sherlock's dissatisfaction with Dumbledore.
"Honestly, having such a person as Minister of Magic might not be a big problem during peacetime, but once an emergency occurs—" At this point, Sherlock shook his head and didn't continue.
Harry also fell silent.
No magic allowed, and now even outdoor exercise was prohibited.
In that case, it would be better to return to Hogwarts earlier.
Fortunately, Sherlock quickly thought of a way to exercise without leaving the house.
Push-ups + sit-ups: this combination could be done entirely indoors.
The start of school was getting closer. Three days before school was to begin, the telephone in Sherlock's house rang.
Harry, who happened to be near the phone, picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Mr. Holmes, this is Hermione. Could you help me find Sherlock?"
Dead memories began attacking Harry. He finally understood how Gemma had felt when he called her Mrs. Holmes.
It was so embarrassing!
However, he wasn't Gemma after all and wouldn't tease like she did, saying something like "please call me Harry Holmes."
Instead, he coughed and identified himself.
"Um, Hermione, this is Harry."
"What? You're Harry!
Why are you at Sherlock's house?
And why didn't you identify yourself immediately!"
Although he couldn't see her, Harry could already imagine Hermione's furious expression.
He said somewhat helplessly. "I didn't know it would be you on the other end! I hadn't said anything yet when you started greeting me."
"When I heard it wasn't Sherlock answering but another male voice, I naturally assumed it was Uncle Holmes!"
Yes, yes, that's exactly what I thought when I called Sherlock back then.
Harry thought to himself.
But the problem was, if you could tell it wasn't Sherlock speaking, why couldn't you tell it was me?
However, Harry wisely didn't continue arguing with Hermione about this issue. He tactfully changed the subject.
"Sherlock is upstairs. Do you need me to call him?"
"No need, talking to you is the same, I'm back from France. How about we go to Diagon Alley together the day after tomorrow?
Dad and Mom will take me to King's Cross Station in the morning, and we're planning to stay there!"
The day after tomorrow happened to be the last day of summer vacation.
"I don't have a problem with it, but—"
Harry didn't know how to begin. He hadn't told Hermione and Ron about his restricted movements yet, so he really didn't know if he could go to Diagon Alley before school started.
Maybe they would just go directly to Diagon Alley and buy everything they needed in one trip.
"But what?"
Just as Harry was letting his thoughts wander, Hermione on the other end of the phone, hearing Harry's long silence, couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Although Harry hadn't explained why he was at Sherlock's house, this wasn't actually strange to Hermione.
After all, during every vacation, she had called Sherlock more than once.
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