At Ron's insistence, Harry, who had received Lockhart's gift of books, generously treated everyone.
He bought four strawberry peanut butter ice creams for his three friends to share together.
The ice cream tasted wonderful, and sharing it with friends felt even better.
The four of them strolled leisurely through the alley, occasionally stopping to admire the dazzling array of shop windows.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Sherlock, you know what? Only at times like this do I feel like you're actually a teenager. Usually, you give off the impression of being an adult."
"Hermione, I've never denied my age—though you often forget that you're a year older than the three of us."
"Sherlock Holmes!"
Upon hearing Sherlock say this, Hermione immediately flared up.
But seeing his calm expression as he looked at her, she suddenly felt like her anger had nowhere to go.
Because she knew very well that with Sherlock's personality, he wasn't saying this to deliberately anger her—he was simply stating a fact.
But that's exactly what made it more infuriating!
Harry and Ron beside them covered their mouths, trying to suppress their laughter.
Indeed, only Sherlock could handle Hermione.
Next, they encountered other members of the Weasley family.
At Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, the Weasley twins were with their friend Lee Jordan.
At that moment, the three were purchasing magical fireworks called Filibusters, which could ignite themselves and bloom when they touched water.
Seeing Sherlock's group of four, they grinned and greeted them cheerfully.
In a secondhand shop, Percy was absorbed in reading a book.
The title was How Prefects Gain Power.
Percy was so focused on his reading that he didn't notice his annoying younger brother had crept up behind him.
Seeing this, Ron had a mischievous idea and deliberately read aloud from the back cover.
"Hogwarts prefects and their post-graduation careers—sounds rather attractive, doesn't it?"
"Go away."
Percy looked at his foolish brother with annoyance.
After the four had left, Ron whispered to his three friends. "Percy is ambitious. His dream is to become Minister of Magic someday."
"Ron, if that's the case, I'm afraid he'll find it quite difficult to achieve his heart's desire."
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"Percy can be considered a competent prefect. He might be able to enter the Ministry of Magic based on his excellent school performance, and he could even become a middle-level official through his outstanding work abilities, but—"
Sherlock paused here, and under the expectant gazes of his three friends, he continued.
"If one expects to become a leader relying solely on work ability, then neither the Queen's government nor the British Ministry of Magic would be in their current state.
To be honest, rather than that book, I think he'd be better off watching some political television dramas—that might actually help him more."
"Hahahaha!"
Hearing Sherlock's words, Ron couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Sherlock, if Percy knew you said that, he'd probably be furious!"
"I'm simply stating facts."
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about Percy anymore. Actually, I've been wanting to tell you all along—Harry had quite an adventure today!"
"Ron—"
Hearing Ron's words, Harry looked embarrassed. "Don't bring up such embarrassing things."
"What's embarrassing about it? It was absolutely brilliant! Ron's eyes widened. "Apart from Sherlock, you're the only one among us who's been to Knockturn Alley—even Fred and George have never been there!"
"Knockturn Alley?" A flash of surprise crossed Sherlock's grey eyes.
"Yes! We were supposed to use Floo powder to get to Diagon Alley, but Harry ended up in Knockturn Alley instead! It was absolutely brilliant!"
Hearing Ron's words, Sherlock looked Harry up and down a few more times, the surprise on his face growing more noticeable.
He frowned. "I don't see any traces of Knockturn Alley on you. Logically, you should still have residual Floo powder and fireplace soot on your person."
Sherlock was skilled at observation, analysis, and deduction to reach conclusions.
But now, even though Harry had clearly used Floo powder to visit Knockturn Alley, he couldn't reach this conclusion through observation.
Though he had already guessed why this was happening, it wasn't a good sign.
This meant that as his contact with the magical world increased, the interference with his observational and deductive abilities was gradually growing.
Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry's face reddened slightly. "Hagrid found me and brushed the soot off my clothes. Later, I met Ron's parents, and they cleaned me up."
"Indeed, only magic can defeat the deductive method."
Sherlock approached Harry and took out a magical magnifying glass. After examining him carefully for a moment, he had a sudden realization.
"Though most traces have been removed, I can still see handprints and clothes brush marks on you—this matches your description. But your glasses look as good as new—"
"It was magic. Mr. Weasley used magic."
"I thought so."
Sherlock shook his head. "If it were Mycroft, he probably wouldn't make such a mistake."
At times like this, Sherlock inevitably thought of his brother, whose observational skills were even sharper than his own.
"However—if Mr. Weasley also used magic to clean the traces from your clothes, even Mycroft probably wouldn't be able to detect anything."
Hearing Sherlock suddenly say this, Hermione couldn't help but feel worried. "Sherlock, you—"
She felt she should comfort him.
However.
"But that's exactly what makes it interesting!"
At this moment, Sherlock's grey eyes sparkled with excitement.
"When analyzing and reasoning, one must consider the possible effects of magic in advance.
On this foundation, using deductive reasoning to analyze—that way, it becomes.
Using magic to defeat magic!"
Hermione. (;ﾟДﾟ)
'I was worrying about nothing!
This person doesn't need comfort at all!'
Harry and Ron didn't have Hermione's delicate sensibilities.
Seeing that Harry was no longer objecting to his continued storytelling, Ron enthusiastically continued.
"After we found Harry, we originally wanted to wait for you two to come over together.
But as soon as Mom saw that Lockhart was having a book signing, she insisted on going to see him first.
Who knew that the moment Harry walked in, Lockhart spotted him."
At this point, Ron couldn't help but glance at Harry again.
A hint of envy flickered in his eyes, just like when Hermione had heard about Harry and Lockhart's photo together.
Unlike Hermione, whose envy was directed at Lockhart himself—Hermione was a Lockhart admirer—Ron's envy was directed at the kind of attention Harry received from everyone.
Although Harry had said he didn't want this, and Ron knew Harry was being sincere, he just couldn't control himself.
More than once, he had wished he could be like Harry, causing amazement wherever he went.
Thinking this, he buried these emotions deep in his heart and continued his vivid account.
"You don't know how exaggerated Lockhart's performance was. He jumped up and said, 'Isn't this Harry Potter?'
Then he rushed over, grabbed Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front. The whole place erupted in enthusiastic applause.
He had photos taken with Harry, saying they could make the front page, and then gave Harry his complete works.
And there's one more thing you absolutely wouldn't have guessed—"
Ron deliberately paused, and only when Sherlock and Hermione were both looking at him did he say with satisfaction.
"Lockhart also officially announced that he's our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year!"
"Oh, my goodness!"
Hermione gasped and covered her mouth, looking at Sherlock.
Sherlock remained calm as usual.
Ron looked at Sherlock with frustration. "You—you guessed it again, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did guess it this time."
Sherlock smiled mischievously. "After all, for an author, using his own works as teaching materials is quite logical, isn't it?"
"Ha! I don't think he's here to teach—he's here to sell books!"
"Ron, how can you say that about a professor?"
"Please, he's not officially a professor yet!"
"It's only a matter of time. I think you should start respecting him now."
"Hey, don't you think you sound just like Professor McGonagall when you talk like that?"
Sherlock ignored Hermione's argument with Ron and turned to Harry again, asking with considerable interest.
"Harry, I'm guessing you ended up in Knockturn Alley because you didn't pronounce the destination clearly when using Floo powder for the first time, right?
You came out of Borgin and Burkes?"
"Yes, yes."
Harry nodded repeatedly. "I also saw Malfoy there with his father. They went there to sell things."
"So, he's given up on the idea of smuggling things into Hogwarts.
Speaking of which, if someone still can't figure this out even after discovering that their house-elf has gone missing, then I needn't worry anymore—such intelligence really isn't worth my serious attention."
"Speaking of which, it's fortunate that Dobby warned us, or we wouldn't have known about this."
"His intentions were commendable, but his methods were completely wrong. Self-righteously doing what he thinks is good for others will only make people feel disgusted!"
"But he did help us in the end. I wonder how he's doing now."
"Captured by Dumbledore and brought to Hogwarts, with other house-elves watching over him."
"Well..."
The four chatted as they walked, and when they reached Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Ron again showed an envious expression.
Over the past year, he had grown taller too.
By rights, he should get new robes, but Ginny's enrollment this year had put additional strain on their already tight finances.
Not to mention that Lockhart's books were so expensive—this was one of the reasons he resented Lockhart.
As he was thinking about this, Hermione brought up that person again.
"It's such a pity. I was hoping to meet Mr. Lockhart today."
"Please, Hermione, can you stop mentioning him? You'll be able to see him every day once school starts!"
"Actually, I don't have a very good impression of that person. What do you think, Sherlock?"
"I can only say it's such a shame! Since he had photos taken with you, you should have asked him for a few more sets of books—then we could each have a set. You must think more clearly next time you encounter such situations."
"Ahem... Sherlock, wouldn't that be a bit too..."
"Harry, you don't actually think that our soon-to-be Defense Against the Dark Arts professor gave you a complete set of his works purely out of charity, do you?"
"Sherlock, why don't you speak more normally?"
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