Dear Sherlock:
First, Merry Christmas!
I had wanted to tell you this in person at the first opportunity after you returned to Hogwarts.
But after much thought, I felt a Christmas present should reach your hands at this special time.
With your memory palace, you surely remember that last time when discussing my graduation plans, I mentioned I'd give you a special Christmas present.
Now it's finally time to fulfill that promise.
Three years is enough time to understand a person, so I think you must greatly need a private space free from interruption.
As I know it, your past choices have often been the common room, the library, your dormitory, and that abandoned classroom we've used more than once.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
But when discussing matters unsuitable for public knowledge, these disadvantages become magnified.
As a former Slytherin prefect, I had to patrol the castle corridors.
As Head Girl, I also had to deal with the castle caretaker and the ghosts.
To relieve Mr. Filch of some unnecessary burden, I consulted some ancient files on castle maintenance.
After several conversations with the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady, and verification through other channels, I finally found something very interesting.
The Room of Requirement
Even the name sounds interesting, doesn't it?
The house-elves call it the "Come and Go Room," because it appears and disappears, only accessible when someone truly needs it.
Its location is on the eighth floor of the castle, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls.
I think even with your powers of observation, you probably haven't discovered there's a magical room here (haha).
Taking back that joke, the method to enter is:
Walk back and forth three times facing that seemingly ordinary stone wall, while concentrating fully on imagining the space you need.
If successful, a smooth door will appear on the wall, leading to a space custom-made for your current needs.
I've tested it—it truly exists.
When I needed an extremely quiet place to organize my thoughts, or to find an undisturbed corner to practice theoretical spell models for dragon taming—oh, don't worry, no real dragons, it satisfied all my needs.
As long as your imagination is rich enough: a soundproof study, an empty conference room, even a recreation of that old classroom we often used, it will realize it for you.
I'm giving you this gift because it's far more trustworthy than any temporary corner we've hidden in.
I hope that after I leave school, this room that responds to your every need will help you in the future.
I believe it will be more helpful than Hogsmeade vintage in solving difficulties, more understanding than Romanian brandy.
I sincerely hope your mood upon receiving this gift truly is as I said then: "I think you'll be very pleased."
May the hearth fire drive away London's chill.
Please give my regards to your uncle and aunt, and to your brother—if he's home.
With regards, Gemma
Perhaps because graduation was approaching, Gemma's letter had a much lighter tone than usual.
After reading the letter, Sherlock fell into recollection.
As Gemma said, with his memory palace, he quickly found the scene when Gemma mentioned this to him.
The abandoned classroom, Gemma's promise.
[This Christmas, I plan to give you a special gift]
[I think you'll be very pleased]
Sherlock smiled.
Because Gemma had guessed right, he was indeed very pleased.
In three years at Hogwarts, he had already mastered most of the castle's secrets.
He wasn't far behind even the Weasley twins with their Marauder's Map.
Plus, Harry had obtained the Marauder's Map from the Weasley twins, that magical artifact, which directly filled in the blind spots in his understanding of Hogwarts Castle.
But this Christmas gift from Gemma once again opened a completely new door for him.
Based on his own exploration and the Marauder's Map, it further expanded his knowledge of Hogwarts Castle.
Although the Marauder's Map wasn't at hand, Sherlock clearly remembered that the map hadn't marked this mysterious room on the castle's eighth floor.
When he first obtained the Marauder's Map, he'd discovered that the Chamber of Secrets wasn't shown on the map.
At that time, he'd already considered this question.
Besides the Chamber, there were very likely other places also not displayed on the Marauder's Map.
He hadn't expected it to come so quickly.
"The Room of Requirement?"
It must be said that this special Christmas gift from Gemma immediately piqued his interest.
Just as Gemma said in her letter, a room that could change according to a person's imagination—even the name alone sounded very interesting.
After school started, he must go investigate it personally!
Besides Gemma's special gift, Sherlock naturally also received Christmas greetings from other friends.
Why had Mycroft said before leaving that Sherlock was more popular with girls than he'd imagined?
Because most of those sending him gifts were female.
Gemma, Hermione, Luna, Cho Chang, Ginny, Hannah, the Patil twins, Penelope, and so on.
Oh, and Mrs. Weasley.
She'd sent Sherlock another hand-knitted sweater, the style slightly changed but overall consistent with previous years.
Still bright blue overall, with a large "S" embroidered on the chest in red and gold.
Also, the size was considerably larger than last year, she knew very well that Sherlock had grown quickly this year.
His friends all understood Sherlock well, sending mostly books as gifts.
Hermione sent a book called Unsolved Mysteries of the Magical World, along with a box of Chocolate Frogs.
In her letter, she told Sherlock she was doing something important, quite mysterious between the lines, saying she'd call him in a couple days once she had some results.
Cho Chang sent a set of young detective series books famous in Asia.
Luna sent the annual compilation of The Quibbler, along with a portrait she'd drawn of Sherlock.
The artwork was unexpectedly exquisite, highlighting and enlarging Sherlock's facial features with a rather comic style, even depicting the Wrackspurts she often mentioned.
The remaining gifts from Hannah, the Patil twins, Penelope, and his male friends were all fairly similar.
Ginny sent homemade cookies.
After trying one, Sherlock felt she'd probably sent him her practice batch and given Harry the ones she was satisfied with.
What most surprised Sherlock was a small vial of Felix Felicis.
Along with the Felix Felicis came a small card with a line written in messy handwriting.
[Your so-called deductive method isn't entirely useless after all]
Looking at the unsigned card, Sherlock couldn't help finding it amusing.
Severus Snape.
This professor's personality was as unchanging as ever.
Last time when he sent Harry a gift, at least he'd left the initials S.S. This time there wasn't even a signature.
However, those capable of brewing Felix Felicis at Hogwarts could be counted on one hand.
Not to mention he'd used exactly the same bottle as when he sent it to Harry.
As for this message, it was filled with strong personal style.
So, are you trying to hide your identity or reveal it?
So hard to guess!
Among the teachers, besides Snape, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Lupin had all sent Sherlock gifts.
Their purpose was the same as Snape's: all thanking Sherlock for catching Peter Pettigrew, revealing the truth of the murder twelve years ago, and giving Sirius Black justice.
Compared to the proud Professor Snape, they were much more candid, all expressing sincere gratitude in letters accompanying their gifts.
Looking at the gifts sent by these professors, Sherlock's smile gradually faded.
In first year, he'd already discovered through Snape's various behaviors this professor's special feelings for Harry's mother, Lily.
At that time, Professor Snape didn't yet know Sherlock's abilities, so without any disguise, Sherlock easily discovered he and Harry's father were romantic rivals.
This deduction had been confirmed by Hagrid at the time.
Besides this, Sherlock had also discovered that Professor Snape still felt deep guilt about Harry's mother's death.
However, due to Professor Flitwick's reminder, Sherlock hadn't dug deeper into this matter.
But.
From Snape specially sending him a gift, and such a generous one at that, there must be even more hidden circumstances.
Professor Snape's guilt about Harry's mother very likely wasn't simply that he hadn't been able to save her in time.
Combined with Peter Pettigrew's confession, this matter must be related to a deal between Dumbledore and Snape.
At this point, a bold idea surfaced in Sherlock's mind.
He'd just have to verify it further after school started.
Snape would never have thought that since discovering Sherlock's special abilities, he'd been avoiding this young wizard.
Yet because of this insufficiently candid gratitude, sending a gift had instead led Sherlock to discover clues.
Besides the gifts from Gemma and Professor Snape, what most surprised Sherlock was his good friend Harry.
The gift itself wasn't unusual—as part of the ancient Black family in the magical world, finding some criminal materials was far too simple for Sirius.
What truly surprised Sherlock was the news Harry sent along with the gift.
A letter and a photograph.
In the photo, Harry was riding a gleaming, exquisitely beautiful flying broomstick, winking slowly at him with a delighted expression.
As for that broomstick, it was the Firebolt they'd seen in Diagon Alley.
Dear Sherlock:
Merry Christmas, I hope you'll like the gift my godfather and I sent you.
Though I personally feel some of the cases in it are too exaggerated—you'll have to judge the specific content yourself.
You may not believe this, but my godfather Sirius actually gave me a Firebolt!
God, it's a Firebolt!
There's something I've never had the nerve to tell you.
Actually, when I first saw it in Diagon Alley, I desperately wanted to have it.
But at that time, my Nimbus 2000 had never lost a single match.
So, I thought, since I already had a very good broomstick, what need was there to empty my Gringotts vault to buy this Firebolt?
Of course, you later told me that even buying the Firebolt wouldn't empty my vault.
But I still backed down, haha!
Unfortunately, my Nimbus 2000 did eventually have an accident.
Before the holiday, Oliver Wood urged me more than once to order a new broomstick.
This was very necessary, I couldn't possibly ride that practice Shooting Star in a match.
Recently, I'd already chosen a broomstick, still the Nimbus 2000.
I believe it would be enough to help me defeat my opponents.
But when I told Sirius I wanted to go to Diagon Alley during this break to buy a new broomstick, he just smiled and told me to wait a couple more days.
Then this morning, I received this gift.
I was absolutely stunned. Sirius said he really should have photographed my expression for you all to see.
But he also reminded me, which is why there's this photo.
Please forgive my incoherence, Sherlock, but I'm just so excited.
When I held it in my hands, I could even feel it trembling, so I let go.
The broom hovered in midair, exactly at the height where I could mount it. I got on, and asked Sirius to take this photo for me.
I thought Sirius had specially bought it for me after hearing I wanted to buy a broomstick.
But Sirius told me that actually, after the match against Hufflepuff, he'd already had Crookshanks place the order.
Crookshanks is even smarter than we imagined.
It delivered the Firebolt order to the Owl Post Office for Sirius, using my name, but having them withdraw the money to purchase the item from vault 711 at Gringotts: Sirius's vault.
Sirius said he thought his appearance as a big dog in the stands had frightened me.
So, at the time he thought of buying the best broomstick as compensation.
Actually, this matter had nothing to do with him, it was all those Dementors' doing.
In any case, I'm very grateful to my godfather.
I can't wait for school to start so I can use this new broomstick in training and matches.
I've been cleaning this old house of the Blacks all this time.
I thought I was experienced (laughs), but this has turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined, so forgive me for not being able to come visit you.
Sirius also had an owl deliver the Christmas present for Ron—the owl itself.
It was purchased specially for Ron in Diagon Alley on the day we came back for the holidays.
Because he felt he was responsible for Ron losing his pet. I think Ron must have been thrilled to receive the gift.
May you spend a pleasant holiday in the warmth of home.
Harry
P.S.: Please give my regards to your uncle and aunt, and to your brother—if he's home.
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