Chapter 65: The Old Book

In the office, everyone’s eyes turned to Sherlock. He also came to his senses at this time and recalled the scene where Mr. Weasley and Lucius fought.

“Yes, I was there at the time.” He said lightly, “Lucius was mocking Mr. Weasley’s family, then they fought, and I went up to help and punched him.”

Professor McGonagall looked at Sherlock in disbelief, and even Dumbledore and Snape were slightly surprised.

“You fought him?” Professor McGonagall raised her voice and asked.

Sherlock said calmly, “What he said was bad, and he wanted to insult my mother.”

Hearing what Sherlock said, they could understand his reaction. Indeed, according to the original Sherlock’s character, he would not let it slide. At Hogwarts, fighting only two times happened involving the original Sherlock, and they were directly sent to the school infirmary for three days.

When it comes to himself, there is no need for Ginny to continue the story; Sherlock directly tells what happened next.

“I beat Lucius. After he suffered a loss, he left immediately without staying in the bookstore,” Sherlock pondered the scenery of that day, “but before he left, it seemed that he looked at a book that was in Ginny’s hands.”

When he said these words, everyone in the office found the target. Professor McGonagall and Snape held their breaths.

Dumbledore looked at Sherlock expectantly, “What’s wrong with that book?”

“That book…” Sherlock looked at Ginny.

“That book was old, and I threw it back into the bookstore. I gave Ginny a new set of books as a gift.”

The whole office went quiet. Now everyone knew the problem’s main point, and even Sherlock knew what caused all these accidents.

Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Snape were speechless, and Sherlock himself was speechless. Who knew that an act of giving away books caused such a big deviation?

Dumbledore sighed, “The root of the matter should lie in the old book that Sherlock put back. Lucius wanted to take revenge on the Weasleys using that book. But Sherlock intervened, and the book was left in the bookstore. Maybe someone else took it from the bookstore, bought it, and brought it to Hogwarts.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Professor McGonagall’s face gradually showed a happy expression, “That’s an easy thing. As long as we inform the students and ask who among them bought a strange old book, the source of the problem can be dealt with later.”

Dumbledore’s expression was not so optimistic. He tapped the table with his fingers and said softly, “We can’t tell them about the old book.”

Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore in astonishment, and Snape’s expression was also quite puzzled. Only Sherlock could guess the reason why it couldn’t be done.

“That book is likely to be something that has its own consciousness. Since there has been an attack on the castle, it means that some students have been bewitched or completely controlled by it. If we announced the book at this time, you will not only not find the book but also provoke the monster and let the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets know in advance that we have found them.”

After Sherlock finished his analysis, Dumbledore looked at him with more surprises.

“Your way of looking at things has changed a lot.” He said, “I look forward to your changes after the end of this school year.”

Sherlock bowed his head slightly as if to express that Dumbledore was too much.

Seeing that they were still in the mood to talk about this problem, Professor McGonagall couldn’t help but ask, “If it can’t be announced, how do we find that book? We can’t let things continue like this. While no student has died from this, no one can guarantee it.”

Dumbledore waved his hand, indicating that Professor McGonagall should not be in such a hurry, and explained.

“Tonight, the students will be gathered in the Great Hall to search for the culprit in the castle. Sherlock, Severus, Minerva, and Pomona, four of you will search the common rooms of the four houses. Don’t let the prefect intervene in the process.”

“On the Great Hall, I will arrange for Filius and Filch to ask the students what they did when Draco was attacked.”

After everything was arranged, Sherlock, Professor McGonagall, and Snape left the office together. Professor McGonagall frowned and went to arrange for the students to gather in the Hall. Sherlock and Snape stood in front of the door and looked at each other.

Sherlock has rarely talked with Snape since the beginning of the year. Because he didn’t know how to interact with Snape, he knew very little about the original book and couldn’t figure out his usual character, but he is obviously not friendly. But he doesn’t know if he’s an evil or good person.

“I’ll go check the Slytherin and Hufflepuff’s boys’ dormitory. You can go to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw’s side.” Snape divided the tasks between him and Sherlock.

Of course, Sherlock was okay with this. Just when the two were about to separate, Snape suddenly asked.

“Do you think you can find that book today?”

Sherlock froze. Although he didn’t know why Snape asked him this, he thought about this question seriously.

“There is a high chance of finding it.” Sherlock’s voice didn’t change, “There was an attack today, and the student who was controlled by the book should not have time to hide it.”

This is what he really thought. However, other reasons make him confident. Although the original plot deviated because of his presence, it was precisely because of his appearance that Dumbledore and the professors at Hogwarts knew more clues about the attack in advance.

The monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a basilisk in the original book. No one knew in advance that an old book triggered all these things. After gathering so many clues, Dumbledore took action, and Sherlock felt that there was a good chance that the problem could be solved this time.

“I hope everything goes like what you said.” Snape turned around and left.