On the first day of school, everyone arrived early at the Great Hall for breakfast and to collect their class schedules. The Weasley twins, now in their fifth year, enthusiastically handed Sherlock and Harry their timetables.
"After third year, everyone gets different schedules," Fred explained.
"Hey, you two are impressive—taking all the electives! Planning to get twelve certificates like Percy?" George remarked.
"I say, why don't you hand me my schedule while you're at it?" Ron complained, watching Sherlock and Harry examine their timetables.
"Because it's not 'while we're at it,'" Fred replied.
"You can get it yourself. And pass me the marmalade while you're at it," George added.
"This is outrageous, I—"
"Harry!"
Before Ron could finish, a familiar voice rang out, making Harry shudder involuntarily.
The Gryffindor students at the table all turned their heads to see Colin Creevey approaching with a beaming smile.
"Oh, no!" Harry immediately covered his face.
"I suddenly remembered I have something to do. I'll be going now," Fred said.
"Right, Lee Jordan told us he found a new passage," George added.
As if on cue, both twins turned and left together.
"Sherlock, look at this—"
"Use the method Professor Lockhart taught you to deal with him, my friend," Sherlock suggested.
Despite his reluctance, Harry took a deep breath and looked at Colin.
"Oh, it's you, Creevey!"
He tried his best to put on an unpleasant expression.
"On the first day of school, are you already planning to disturb my precious breakfast time with your boring affairs?"
Colin, who had been excited and cheerful, suddenly became quiet upon seeing Harry's expression and hearing his rather rude words.
"I didn't—I wasn't—I just wanted to say hello—"
"Is that so? Well, I can tell you that you've said your hello, and now you can leave."
"Okay, okay—"
Colin nodded instinctively and left, looking back every few steps.
Harry steeled his heart and continued to look busy through his nostrils.
"Harry, your expression is absolutely perfect!" Ron said, looking shocked. "Who taught you that?"
"Didn't Sherlock just say? Professor Lockhart."
"Ha! Seems he's not completely useless after all—at least he taught you something interesting."
"Honestly, I don't like doing this because it always reminds me of Malfoy."
"That little git can't compare to you. George told me that when the Dementors came to the train last night, he dove straight into Fred and George's compartment and nearly wet himself with fear."
"At least he didn't faint."
"Forget about all that, Harry."
Hermione, who had been studying her timetable, looked up and comforted him.
"Everyone felt awful at the time. The Dementors sucked all the happiness away—I felt like my insides were freezing solid."
Ron also tried to cheer up his best friend. "Dad was shaking and weak all over after visiting Azkaban once. Don't worry, only we know about this. As long as no one talks, we can pretend it never happened."
Sherlock rarely agreed with Ron's opinion. "If you cannot ignore others' opinions, then don't let more people know about this."
Hearing Sherlock say this, Harry felt slightly relieved.
As Ron had said, the only people who knew about this were the three friends who had been in the compartment initially, Professor Lupin, and Cho Chang and Ginny who had come later.
None of them were the type to spread such news around.
Thank goodness Malfoy hadn't come to that car yesterday, or the whole school would have known by now.
Just as Harry was thinking about Malfoy, he saw him walking toward them, and couldn't help but tense up slightly.
What a coincidence?
Noticing Harry's gaze, the three friends all looked over.
Ron instinctively asked, "What's he doing here? And why is he alone? Where are Crabbe and Goyle?"
"They won't come," Sherlock said confidently, scanning the Slytherin table.
"Why?" Ron wondered.
"Because he doesn't want others to see what happens next."
Before Ron could ask more, Malfoy had reached them.
"Potter."
Malfoy approached Harry and, seeing that only Sherlock, Hermione, and Ron were beside him, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry said coldly.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Harry had some saint-like qualities in his character.
Unless someone truly wronged him deeply, he wouldn't particularly hate them.
Even if he did hate someone, as long as they could correct their mistakes in time, he could forgive them.
Because of this, people like the Dursleys, Professor Snape, and Filch had all been removed from Harry's "people Harry Potter hates" list.
Now only Draco Malfoy and his father, Lucius Malfoy, remained on it.
This showed just how much they were despised.
However, Harry never expected that the first thing Malfoy would say upon seeing him was.
"I'm sorry, Harry."
"What?"
Harry was stunned on the spot.
Hermione and Ron also looked at Malfoy in amazement, both wondering if the sun had risen in the west.
Only Sherlock remained unmoved, looking as if he had expected this all along.
The three friends' surprised expressions made Malfoy both ashamed and angry.
However, he still suppressed his inner turmoil and recited his prepared lines.
"I apologize for my actions last year and hope you can forgive me."
"Listen—"
Harry was dazed. What was going on?
Sherlock chuckled softly. "I hope you truly recognize your mistakes, rather than merely apologizing because of others' coercion, platinum haired young master."
With Sherlock's reminder, Harry immediately understood.
Gemma Farley!
It was her—she had actually kept her word!
Malfoy looked at Sherlock, his eyes flickering, his expression turning uncertain.
In his view, if it weren't for Sherlock, facing Harry alone would never be as humiliating as this.
September 1st, 1991, on the Hogwarts Express.
That was his first official meeting with Harry—the previous encounter at Diagon Alley didn't count.
Harry had rejected his offer, which had made him furious with embarrassment.
However, it was precisely because of Sherlock's presence that Crabbe and Goyle had been swiftly defeated, leaving him to suffer in silence.
After school officially started, it was also Sherlock who had been protecting Harry, leaving him with nowhere to vent his frustration except for verbal advantages.
Finally, last school year, his father had orchestrated a grand scheme with the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors.
Unexpectedly, the result had been shooting himself in the foot.
Not only had they failed to remove Arthur Weasley and Dumbledore, but it had cost him his position on the Board of Governors.
To regain the Ministry's support, he had to pay a substantial sum.
Add to that the seven Nimbus 2001 broomsticks, which were no small expense.
Worse still, Slytherin had lost to Gryffindor, and the subsequent matches were canceled due to the Chamber of Secrets incident, denying them even the chance to reclaim the championship.
These events were already frustrating enough.
What was even more helpless was that before this term began, the Farley family had also made their move.
Before this, not just Draco Malfoy, but even Lucius Malfoy hadn't realized that the usually low-key Farley family could bring them such tremendous pressure.
As a pure-blood family in the wizarding world, the Farley family wasn't among the Sacred Twenty-Eight and had always been unremarkable.
In terms of reputation, they couldn't compare to the Malfoys or the Potters.
But once they acted, Lucius realized this family had been lying dormant all along.
Malfoy's apology today was also due to the enormous pressure from Gemma Farley.
All of this, ultimately, was because of Sherlock.
If Sherlock hadn't protected Harry, Malfoy could have directly confronted Harry at school without so many concerns.
If Sherlock hadn't uncovered the truth, Arthur Weasley would have been expelled from the Ministry for dereliction of duty last year, and Dumbledore would have been removed from Hogwarts.
If not for Sherlock's relationship with Gemma, the Farley family would never have pressured them like this.
Even that punch Harry had given him last time was taught by Sherlock!
So, it was all Sherlock's fault!
To this day, Malfoy's hatred for Sherlock had actually surpassed his hatred for Harry.
So, when Gemma demanded that Malfoy apologize to Harry and Colin, Malfoy had agreed almost without hesitation.
First, for his family's sake; second, because he had already transferred his target of hatred from Harry to Sherlock.
The two pairs of eyes met for a moment, but ultimately Malfoy couldn't bear it and looked away first.
"Potter, I've said what I needed to say. That's all."
With these words, Malfoy said no more and turned to leave, never addressing Hermione or Ron throughout the entire encounter.
Hatred aside, he still didn't have the courage to oppose Sherlock.
"The sun really has risen in the west—Malfoy actually apologized to you? Harry, you didn't get something on him, did you?"
Ron looked at his best friend in disbelief.
Hermione also pondered. "I'm also wondering if this Malfoy is someone else using Polyjuice Potion—"
"You're both overthinking this," Harry said with a bitter smile. "I think this should be Prefect Gemma's—oh, Head Girl Gemma's doing."
"Gemma Farley?"
When Harry mentioned this name, Hermione's heart skipped a beat.
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