September 1, 1992.
For all new students attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this day marked the beginning of a new term.
Sherlock and Hermione had been waiting at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters for quite some time before they finally saw the Weasley family hurrying over.
"Sorry, Sherlock, Hermione, for keeping you waiting so long."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked rather embarrassed.
Actually, they hadn't left home particularly late that day.
But they had encountered one problem after another on their journey.
First, George had forgotten the Filibuster Fireworks he'd bought in Diagon Alley before school started.
After Mr. Weasley had driven the car back out of the yard, Fred ran back to his room to get his broomstick.
Just as they were about to reach the highway, Ginny screamed that she'd forgotten her diary.
By the time she climbed back into the car, it was already quite late.
Even Harry, with his good temper, couldn't help feeling irritated after encountering such situations one after another.
Ginny blushed red with shame, but didn't know how to help Harry calm down.
It was Mr. Weasley who suggested they could use their magical car's flying function to get to London—that way they could save a lot of time.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Weasley firmly vetoed the idea. As a result, by the time they reached King's Cross Station, it was already a quarter to eleven.
"No need to apologize. If you were really late, we wouldn't have waited for you."
Sherlock said calmly.
'That's so like you!'
Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry, Hermione, and the entire Weasley family thought in unison.
Due to the time constraint, even though Mr. and Mrs. Weasley still had plenty to say, they had to hold back.
However, Mrs. Weasley didn't forget to remind Ginny's brothers.
"You boys, make sure you take good care of Ginny!"
The brothers agreed readily enough, but as soon as they boarded the train, they immediately went their separate ways.
Percy ran to the prefects' compartment at the first opportunity to exchange experiences with his fellow prefects.
The Weasley twins weren't much better—they were immediately dragged away by their good friend Lee Jordan the moment they got on the train.
Only Ron remained somewhat responsible, pulling Ginny toward their compartment.
But after Ginny glanced at Harry beside Ron, her face turned red, and she lowered her head, refusing her brother's offer, saying she wanted to find friends.
Ron didn't have any good solutions for this.
He was currently harboring his own frustration.
"First George, then Fred, and finally Ginny—we nearly missed the train by just a bit.
But speaking of which, I think Mum was overthinking it. Ginny doesn't need us to take care of her at all.
Look, she's already sitting with that group of first-year students, taking care of herself just fine.
Of course, that's only when Harry isn't nearby."
Just as Harry had written to Sherlock, whenever Harry was around, Ginny would lose her composure.
Her admiration for Harry was no less than Hermione's for Lockhart—in fact, it was even more exaggerated.
At the Burrow, whenever Harry said a word to Ginny, she would blush for ages.
This made Harry very uncomfortable, so he tried to avoid contact with Ginny as much as possible.
Hearing his good friend Ron say this, Harry smiled bitterly and said nothing.
As a guest living in the Weasley house, some things were really hard for him to say.
Relatively speaking, he was quite a disciplined person.
This was mainly related to his childhood environment.
Living with the Dursleys, being disciplined enough meant getting scolded less.
For this reason, he felt the Weasley family's departure today was indeed rather hasty.
Take himself, for example—he had packed all his luggage properly the night before.
Ron, who shared a room with him, had also benefited from this, joining Percy as one of the good children who hadn't forgotten anything today.
In his view, this approach was simply common sense, just as Sherlock often said.
But apparently, this wasn't the case for the Weasley family.
This incident also reflected a fact from another angle.
Compared to the other Weasley children, Percy was indeed a model student.
However, Ron's bad mood came and went quickly.
Soon, he began gossiping with Sherlock and Hermione.
"I always feel there's something off about Percy. Every time we call him to play Quidditch, he refuses—he used to be eager to experience Harry's Nimbus 2000.
Also, we only see him during meals; the rest of the time he's in his room, and we don't know what he's doing.
And, just the day before you came to our house, he got twelve O.W.L. certificates.
If it were before, he would definitely show off everywhere, but those two days he was unusually low-key—"
After saying all this, Ron winked at Sherlock.
"Sherlock, I think you must be able to deduce what's happened to Percy, right?"
"Hmm, he has a girlfriend."
"Ha, I knew it. Even for Sherlock, deducing this from such information would be... wait, what did you say?"
Ron was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly looked at Sherlock with disbelief.
"I said, he has a girlfriend."
Sherlock said calmly.
"Bloody hell!"
Ron was shocked by Sherlock's words.
He had just described Percy's various strange behaviors and specifically added that he wanted Sherlock to deduce something, but it was actually just a joke.
In fact, he didn't think Sherlock could deduce anything from this information.
After all, Sherlock had only stayed at the Burrow for one day.
Including the previous shopping trip to Diagon Alley and today's meeting at the station, Sherlock had only seen Percy three times this entire summer.
Under these circumstances, how could Sherlock possibly figure out what had happened to Percy just from his third-party description?
Even if Sherlock possessed extraordinary observation and deduction abilities, it shouldn't be possible!
If Sherlock had been living at the Burrow instead of Harry during this time, that might have been somewhat possible.
But unexpectedly, Sherlock dropped a bombshell as soon as he opened his mouth.
Harry and Hermione also looked at Sherlock with surprise.
"Sherlock, you said Percy has a girlfriend—who is it?"
"I think you all should know her. It's that Ravenclaw female prefect who once came to me for consultation on a case."
"My goodness, you mean Penelope Clearwater?"
Hermione covered her mouth in surprise.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Ron shook his head repeatedly. "How could someone with Percy's personality possibly find a girlfriend, especially an excellent girl like Prefect Clearwater?"
Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw fifth-year student—well, now sixth-year.
In terms of appearance alone, she could be considered on par with that Slytherin Gemma Farley.
Only their temperaments were somewhat different.
Relatively speaking, Penelope had a more intellectual air about her, which also fit Ravenclaw's characteristics.
But how could such an excellent girl possibly like Percy, who went to Diagon Alley to read books like "Prefects Who Gained Power"?
Compared to the shocked Ron, Hermione didn't waste time and directly asked for the answer. "Sherlock, how did you deduce this?"
Sherlock chuckled softly and leaned back slightly.
"There were simply too many clues. Just from Ron's description.
Multiple refusals to participate in Quidditch activities—this indicates both a lack of sufficient time and contradicts the collective honor he usually displays as a prefect.
Long periods of self-imposed isolation in his room—this sudden increase in private time often indicates personal social needs.
If you had observed carefully enough, you should have been able to notice that he was frequently communicating in contact with someone.
After all, your family's owl is quite old; such frequent contact couldn't be handled by it alone.
After achieving twelve O.W.L. certificates, acting uncharacteristically low-key contrary to his usual personality—this indicates the existence of emotional sustenance more important than academic achievement."
"But just based on these seems too—"
"Of course, it's not just these."
Sherlock rudely interrupted Hermione and looked at Harry.
"My friend, you remember when you were in the hospital wing, when Prefect Penelope and Cho Chang came to visit you?"
"I—I remember."
As soon as Sherlock mentioned Cho Chang, Harry's heart warmed.
During his time at the Burrow, Harry had maintained letters with Cho Chang, second only in frequency to his letters with Sherlock.
"Then you should also remember that when Prefect Penelope visited you, she clearly said that she already had a boyfriend.
As fellow prefects, she and Percy had three joint castle patrol duties per week, which provided convenient opportunities for them to be alone.
It's worth noting that when another visiting prefect tried to ease inter-house tensions, she showed strong territorial behavior.
This emotional fluctuation usually stems from wariness of potential competitors, which was also evident at the end-of-term graduation ceremony last term, though I suppose none of you noticed.
Finally, Ron, if you want to verify this, you might want to check the first compartment.
I believe you'll definitely gain something."
As soon as Sherlock finished speaking, Ron immediately jumped up and ran toward the prefects' compartment in the first car without a word.
"Oh, Sherlock, your deduction is as brilliant as ever!
That sentence was said by Penelope to me, but I had almost forgotten it!"
"Sometimes I really want to open your head and see what's different inside compared to ours."
Hermione sighed. "I can already imagine Ron's surprised expression when he comes back."
Hearing his two friends' praise, Sherlock's lips curved into an obvious smile.
He always accepted genuine compliments wholeheartedly.
Just then, the food trolley appeared, and Harry jumped up just like Ron had earlier.
He bought some of every snack, especially buying many Chocolate Frogs.
That was because Chocolate Frogs not only tasted good but also came with wizard cards.
Since last year, he had started collecting wizard cards like Ron.
"Sherlock! You're absolutely amazing!"
At this moment, an excited Ron rushed in. "Merlin's beard! Do you have a crystal ball installed in your head?
Guess what I saw? Percy and Penelope were sitting very close together. Although they both pretended to be casual, I could still see through their act!
Oh, I really should tell Fred and George about this—they'll die laughing."
"Ronald, I don't think you should do that."
Hermione said with a stern face. "Since Percy didn't tell you about this, then as his brother, even if you know about it, you have the responsibility to keep it secret."
"Come on, Hermione, do we need to keep this kind of thing secret? Shouldn't the whole school know?"
"What are you talking about! If it could be made public, why would they hide it from others?"
"But—"
"Don't forget, this was Sherlock's deduction!
Ron-ald! You wouldn't want Prefect Percy and Prefect Penelope to resent Sherlock for this, would you!"
Ron: (.·ω·.)
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