Hermione glanced at Sherlock inconspicuously, then asked Harry with apparent casualness. "What does Malfoy's apology have to do with Gemma?"
"Don't you remember? Last year, she said she would make Malfoy apologize to me and Colin, but then Colin was petrified."
Harry's voice became somewhat somber as he spoke.
He remembered how last year at the Quidditch match, he had seized the opportunity to knock out Malfoy with one punch. Although it cost Gryffindor many points, he had also won the title of Gryffindor Boxing Champion.
With Harry's explanation, Hermione recalled.
Ron nodded repeatedly. "She did say that then, but after the Chamber of Secrets incident, we all seemed to have forgotten about it."
"Yes, I thought she had forgotten too. I didn't expect her to remember it until now."
When Harry spoke about this, he deliberately didn't mention to Hermione that Gemma had visited Sherlock's house during the summer.
Although he didn't understand why, he instinctively felt it was better not to let Hermione know about this.
"Ha! Gemma is much more competent as Head Girl than Percy—she's nothing like a typical Slytherin."
Hermione nodded in agreement. Objectively speaking, Gemma Farley was indeed impeccable.
Sherlock said thoughtfully, "No, this is what a true Slytherin is like."
"But most Slytherin students now are like Malfoy and Pansy..." Hermione said hesitantly.
"That's because when they're deceiving others, they accidentally deceive themselves too," Sherlock said bluntly.
Hearing Sherlock's words, the three friends laughed together happily.
Malfoy had come and gone quickly, so the incident at the Gryffindor table hadn't attracted much attention.
At this moment, Hagrid also entered the Great Hall. He didn't go directly to the staff table but came to Sherlock and the others first, wiping his eyes while saying.
"Thanks to all of you, I can be a professor. I'm so grateful!"
After saying this, he patted each of them on the shoulder.
Except for Sherlock, the other three friends were all slapped onto the table.
"Hagrid, this is what you deserve."
Seeing that Hagrid hadn't realized what he'd done, while the three friends desperately sent him pleading looks for help, Sherlock spoke.
"You were innocent all along. Unfortunately, this justice came far too late."
"Ah, Sherlock, you're absolutely right!"
Hearing Sherlock's words, Hagrid immediately perked up and spoke highly of Dumbledore.
"What a remarkable man—Professor Dumbledore!
When Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough, Dumbledore came straight to me. You know, this is what I've always wanted!"
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he asked nervously.
"I assume you all chose Care of Magical Creatures, right?"
"Yes, Hagrid."
"Hehe, I knew it!"
Hagrid patted Sherlock's shoulder again. "Come to my first class after lunch. I got up at five this morning and arranged everything perfectly!"
After saying this, he walked toward the staff table, laughing heartily while swinging a dead stoat with his other powerful hand.
"Sherlock, are you alright?"
As soon as Hagrid left, Hermione asked nervously.
She had seen clearly that when Hagrid's large hand landed on Sherlock's shoulder, Sherlock's entire body had swayed three times.
"It's fine," Sherlock smiled and shook his head. "That was his unconscious action, and besides, I was mentally prepared."
"I'm more worried about what he's prepared..." Ron said, watching Hagrid swing the dead stoat around, feeling an ominous premonition.
"He wouldn't bring out that spider called Aragog to show us, would he?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Harry shook his head repeatedly. "That's an XXXXX-class magical creature. Even Hagrid couldn't possibly do such a thing!"
"I hope so..." Ron thought of Hagrid calling the Acromantula his "little sweetheart" and felt a chill.
As time passed, the Great Hall gradually emptied.
"My first class is Divination. What about you—hey, that's a pointless question."
"Sherlock, which class do you think we should attend? Should we go to Divination too?"
"What kind of question is that? Didn't you take all the electives?"
"We did take all of them, but there's a small problem."
Harry handed his timetable to Ron.
"My God, how could they arrange your schedule so chaotically? Nearly ten classes in one day? That's impossible!"
Ron exclaimed upon first seeing Harry's timetable, but when he saw the specific content, he rubbed his eyes.
"Nine o'clock. Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes? What's this supposed to mean? You can't possibly be in three classrooms at once!"
Sherlock smiled. "We certainly won't be in three classrooms simultaneously, so we need to selectively skip some classes."
"Sherlock, do you mean..."
"It's simple. This time we'll go with you to Divination class.
Next time when classes conflict, we'll attend other classes, and so on. Finally, we'll choose the courses that suit us."
"I see..." Ron touched his nose. "That's one way to handle it."
"Hermione, what do you think?" Sherlock turned to the other side.
Hermione looked somewhat hesitant but finally said, "Um, I'll go with you."
"Very good. Divination class is at the top of the North Tower. It takes at least ten minutes to get there, so let's leave early."
Sherlock stood up as he spoke.
The journey through the castle to the North Tower was quite long.
For most students, despite having spent two years at Hogwarts, they hadn't become thoroughly familiar with the castle.
Areas like the North Tower were places they had never visited.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Like the Weasley twins.
And Sherlock.
Under his guidance, the four friends climbed long staircases, passed through winding corridors, and navigated rapidly rotating stairs, finally reaching a small platform.
"My God... this path is really, really difficult!"
Ron said, hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
"Thank goodness for you, Sherlock. Otherwise, we probably would have been late on our first day."
Harry also said gratefully.
Ron noticed Harry's calm tone and immediately looked up in surprise, only to find that both Sherlock and Harry looked completely at ease.
As for Hermione, although not as relaxed as Sherlock and Harry, she was only breathing rapidly with her chest rising slightly, nothing like his own exhausted state.
"What's going on!" Ron found it incomprehensible. "Why am I the only one who seems like a weakling?"
"Harry has been training with me every day for the past two years, even during the holidays."
Sherlock looked at the puzzled Ron and explained calmly. "Obviously, you lack aerobic exercise, my friend."
"What about Hermione?"
Ron pointed to the only girl among the four. "Don't tell me she's been secretly doing morning exercises with you two every day?"
"That's naturally impossible—but Hermione is the lightest among the four of us."
"So what?"
"In the process of climbing stairs, the body's kinetic energy gradually converts to gravitational potential energy, so the smaller the weight, the less energy needs to be converted, and the less work required..."
"Wait, Sherlock, can you explain this in terms I can understand?"
When Sherlock began discussing this topic, Ron felt it was more obscure than listening to Professor Snape's Potions class.
In Potions class, Ron felt like he knew every individual word but couldn't understand them when put together.
But listening to Sherlock's lecture, Ron didn't even understand individual words—what kinetic energy, what gravitational potential energy, what work?
What, what, what—what was any of this?
"Simply put, the lighter a person's weight, the easier it is to climb uphill."
"Got it."
Ron sighed deeply and said with some regret. "Looks like that has nothing to do with me—now the question is, how do we get up there?"
Ron asked this because there were no doors on the platform where they stood.
There was a circular trapdoor in the ceiling with a brass plaque that read.
Sibyll Trelawney, Divination Teacher
Other students were also gradually arriving at the small platform, and seeing no way up, everyone began chattering about how to reach the classroom.
Gradually, everyone's gaze fell on Sherlock and Harry.
The Lion King and the Boy Who Lived should take responsibility at times like this!
"Sherlock, look at this..."
Harry couldn't bear the intense stares and looked toward Sherlock.
Facing dozens of gazes, Sherlock seemed oblivious and only replied with one word.
"Wait."
"Wait?"
"Yes, there are voices from above. I can tell they belong to the Gryffindor Patil twins. It seems they arrived earlier and are already in the classroom."
As if to confirm his words, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silver ladder descended, landing right at Harry's feet.
At that moment, everyone fell silent.
"You go first, Boy Who Lived."
Ron grinned and nudged Harry with his elbow.
Harry didn't object and climbed the ladder first.
After him came Sherlock, Hermione, and Ron.
The other students on the platform also climbed up one by one in order of their distance from the ladder, entering through the trapdoor.
Harry, the first to climb up and enter the classroom, took a few steps forward to clear the opening, then shuddered involuntarily.
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