Hearing Sherlock's words, everyone including Harry himself looked at Harry's shoulder.
Sure enough, they saw a handprint that wasn't very clear but wasn't very blurry either.
Very large.
"Well, you're still the best."
Ginny said with a smile. "We did indeed see Hagrid—oh, and he wants you and Harry to find him at midnight!"
Sherlock nodded, indicating he understood.
"You're not surprised at all?" Seeing Sherlock's completely calm appearance, Ginny pressed on. "He's asking you to come at midnight!"
When they had run into Hagrid and he mentioned this, Harry, Cho Chang, and Ginny had been utterly astonished.
But before they could ask what it was about, Hagrid had vanished the moment he spotted Madame Maxime, leaving the three dumbfounded.
Hermione and Ron, hearing Ginny's words, also looked surprised.
Leaving the castle in the dead of night was definitely against school rules.
Moreover, Hagrid was no longer simply the gamekeeper and keeper of keys.
He was also a professor, the teacher of Care of Magical Creatures.
What kind of behavior was it for a professor to have students wandering outside the castle in the middle of the night?
Yet looking at Sherlock, he seemed completely unsurprised.
"Obviously, it's for the Triwizard Tournament."
Sherlock cut through everyone's confusion with one statement: "At this stage, only this matter would necessitate meeting him at such a time. And only this matter would require both of us to go together."
"Sherlock is absolutely right—Hagrid is a very trustworthy person."
Sirius also spoke up at this point, "So Harry, remember to wear your invisibility cloak properly. And Sherlock—if you need it, I can get you one too, though it won't be as good as Harry's, but it'll definitely be better than the Crouch family's."
With Sirius freed from prison and back in the sunlight, he increasingly displayed his wealth in public.
Often, he would casually say things like this.
Forget getting Sherlock an invisibility cloak—he could get one for each of these young wizards without batting an eye.
Sherlock shook his head. "No need. Unless a teacher specifically tries to catch me, I won't be discovered."
Hearing Sherlock's confident words, Sirius smiled and didn't insist, turning to Harry instead. "By the way, if you're uncertain about anything, ask Remus more. In many cases, he's calmer than I am."
Remus was going through those uncomfortable few days of the month, so he hadn't joined the young wizards' trip to Hogsmeade this time.
But it wasn't a problem.
As a professor, he could leave the castle for Hogsmeade anytime. Sirius just needed to wait for him there.
After discussing Hagrid's matter, Ginny turned to Hermione: "By the way, Hermione, where did you go this afternoon? Did you and Sherlock show Luna around Hogsmeade properly? Like me, it's her first time here!"
"Of course, we went to many places..."
As Hermione spoke, she suddenly realized something was off.
Ginny... seemed to be talking more than usual today.
Not long ago, whether in the Three Broomsticks or when they split into three groups, she hadn't been like this.
Thinking this, Hermione unobtrusively observed Ginny, but found her manner completely natural with nothing unusual.
Her heart stirred, and she looked again at Harry and Cho Chang, finding them equally normal.
How strange...
Wait!
The fact that the three of them were so normal now was the biggest abnormality!
Hermione thought quietly. Perhaps among everyone present, only she knew Ginny's true feelings for Harry.
Ron, as her brother, only knew that Ginny had liked Harry since childhood.
But in his view, Ginny's liking for Harry was like a fan's worship of an idol.
Similar to her own former admiration for Lockhart, or Ron's for Krum.
As for Harry himself, he saw Ginny like a sister.
Cho Chang wasn't close with Ginny.
Luna wasn't normal.
Sherlock was emotionally dense.
Perhaps Sirius had noticed something.
His afternoon grouping arrangement was probably intentional.
So, what was Harry's godfather thinking? So hard to guess.
In any case, under these circumstances, the relationship between Harry, Cho Chang, and Ginny absolutely couldn't be as it appeared now.
Something unknown must have happened during their afternoon together.
As Hermione pondered, she heard Luna suddenly speak, saying wistfully: "Look, those fire clouds have such long tails, like feathers shed when a phoenix grooms itself at dusk."
Everyone looked toward Luna, seeing her staring at the last traces of burning orange-red clouds on the horizon, making such an observation.
Everyone was used to Luna's state.
They glanced at the clouds then looked away.
However, Hermione noticed that Sherlock's gaze once again fell on Luna's slightly upturned face, his lips seeming to relax into maintaining a faint angle.
Hermione's heart stirred.
Watching Luna immersed in her own world, watching Sherlock once again show attention to Luna's state.
That subtle feeling tinged with loss from earlier by the barrel gently brushed across her heart again.
Under the sunset, the shadows of the young people stretched long, each harboring thoughts like scattered dandelion seeds dancing lightly in the evening breeze.
But for Harry and Sherlock, a midnight appointment full of unknowns was quietly approaching.
When the students returned to Hogwarts, everyone felt somewhat tired and went to bed early.
Ron knew Sherlock and Harry were going to see Hagrid, and even brought back butterbeer, planning to get Neville and Dean drunk.
"That's not necessary, Ron."
Sherlock said in his infuriatingly calm tone: "I go out every night, and none of you have ever known."
Ron: (*￣︿￣)
"Also, butterbeer isn't likely to get them drunk. You actually want to drink it yourself, don't you?"
Ron: o(一︿一+)o
No matter how resentful Ron felt, what Sherlock said was fact.
By eleven-thirty, Harry, wearing his invisibility cloak, discovered that Neville and Dean were already sleeping soundly.
In fact, Neville's snoring had started early.
"Sherlock, I'm leaving first."
Harry whispered to Sherlock, gestured to Ron, and quietly slipped out the door.
After a while, seeing that Sherlock still hadn't moved, Ron couldn't help but ask curiously: "Aren't you leaving? If you delay any longer, you'll be late!"
"..."
"Sherlock?"
"..."
"Sherlock!"
Ron called out several times in a low voice. Seeing Sherlock remain motionless, he curiously walked to the bed to look.
Damn!
Where was Sherlock?
The bulge under the covers was clearly a pillow and several large books!
So that's how it is, Sherlock Holmes—giving me a live demonstration, are you?
While Ron was feeling vexed, Harry had already arrived at the common room.
To his surprise, there were still a few people in the common room.
Including the Creevey brothers.
Colin Creevey was telling his brother about what he saw and heard in Hogsmeade today.
Judging by the brothers' excitement, they would probably talk for quite a while before going to sleep.
Harry tiptoed past them, sneaking all the way to the portrait hole.
He looked at his watch, silently waiting for Sherlock to leave the dormitory and meet him.
According to plan, Hermione would open the Fat Lady's portrait from outside for them.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, the portrait opened.
Expecting Sherlock hadn't arrived yet, Harry planned to step out first to greet Hermione and give her a heads-up.
But he didn't expect that the person standing outside the common room was Sherlock.
Harry's eyes widened instantly.
He was certain that Sherlock had discovered him wearing the invisibility cloak in that moment.
Sure enough, when the portrait opened, Sherlock said nothing and turned to walk away.
Completely ignoring the Fat Lady asking from behind: "Eh, aren't you going in?"
Harry had accompanied Sherlock on nocturnal explorations of Hogwarts and naturally understood, silently following as before, stealthily making his way through the castle.
When they reached the pitch-black grounds, Harry couldn't help but ask: "Sherlock, when did you leave the dormitory?"
"Based on timing, probably about ten minutes before you."
"What? I didn't notice at all?"
"Quite normal. At that time you were staring at a leaf in your hand, lost in thought."
"Ah—"
Harry instantly felt Sherlock had seen through him yet again.
However, Sherlock didn't continue with this topic but changed direction: "I ran into Hermione and sent her back early—careful, there are people by the carriages!"
Hearing Sherlock's warning, Harry realized things were different now.
The path to the Forbidden Forest was no longer deserted.
The enormous Beauxbatons carriage was brightly lit inside.
Outside the carriage, several students were pointing at the sky, apparently doing something related to astrology divination.
This scene immediately reminded Harry of that night in first year.
It was his first time going to the Forbidden Forest.
They had encountered several centaurs on the way.
Because they kept repeating "Mars is bright tonight," they nearly gave Hagrid PTSD.
Looking back now, the centaurs' divination might have been truly prophetic.
Mars, which governs warfare, being unusually bright foretold Voldemort's imminent return.
While Harry was reminiscing, Sherlock had already easily avoided these students' sight and arrived at Hagrid's door.
This made Harry somewhat embarrassed.
Wearing an invisibility cloak, he was less agile than Sherlock.
But considering this person was Sherlock, he felt relieved.
When he reached Hagrid's door, he could even hear Madame Maxime talking inside the carriage.
He was about to reach out to knock when Sherlock, as if already knowing he had arrived, made the gesture first.
"Knock knock!"
"You... uh?"
Hagrid had just opened the door when Sherlock had already darted inside.
He looked around, still searching for Harry.
At this moment, Harry also slipped into the cabin and removed the invisibility cloak from his head.
"Brilliant!"
Hagrid closed the door and couldn't help giving Sherlock a thumbs up: "Coming all the way here without a Disillusionment Charm and not being discovered—Sherlock, you're simply marvelous."
Sherlock smiled without speaking.
Harry thought to himself that if Hagrid knew Sherlock had been going to the Forbidden Forest almost nightly for four years without ever being discovered, who knows how amazed he'd be.
But considering Hagrid's mouth was as unreliable as Neville's memory, he suppressed the thought of telling Hagrid about this and instead asked: "Hagrid, what's so important that you called us here so late?"
"I want to show you something."
Only then did Harry notice that Hagrid looked extremely excited now.
He had a flower stuck in his buttonhole that looked like a particularly large artichoke.
It seemed he was no longer smearing axle grease on his head, but he had definitely spent considerable effort combing his hair.
Because Harry saw broken comb teeth in his hair.
All he could say was... speechless.
"What do you want to show me?"
Although Sherlock had already said Hagrid called them because of the Triwizard Tournament, seeing Hagrid like this, Harry grew wary again.
He thought, please don't let it be the Blast-Ended Skrewts laying eggs.
Or Hagrid finding a way to buy a three-headed dog from a stranger in a tavern.
Harry knew these thoughts weren't kind.
But... sorry, seeing Hagrid, such thoughts sprouted like weeds in his mind, unstoppable.
By comparison, Sherlock was much calmer.
He remained silent throughout, quietly watching Harry converse with Hagrid.
"Come with me, don't make a sound, and cover yourself with the invisibility cloak."
Hagrid then looked at Sherlock: "What about you? Can you guarantee you won't be discovered by others while following us? Oh dear, it's my fault—when I passed the message to Harry this afternoon, I should have told you to bring an invisibility cloak too. No, I shouldn't have asked you to come at all—this is something Harry can see alone."
"It's fine, Hagrid. I guarantee I won't be discovered by anyone."
"Really?"
"Really."
"You're certain you can follow me alongside Harry in his invisibility cloak without being discovered by anyone?"
"Trust me."
Harry noticed that Hagrid was now so excited he was becoming incoherent.
This made him even more wary.
He said this thing could be seen by just him alone, and Sherlock didn't even need to see it.
Saying this, wouldn't that mean it had nothing to do with the Triwizard Tournament after all?
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