Until leaving 4 Privet Drive and sitting in the back seat of the car again, Harry still felt like he was in a dream.
His hands tightly clutched a photo album.
This was his greatest gain from this trip.
Through his conversation with Mrs. Dursley, Sherlock easily deduced that she was duplicitous and still preserved traces of her sister's life.
Then he presented the special diet pills and anti-hair loss shampoo purchased earlier in Diagon Alley.
Mrs. Dursley wasn't stupid and gave her nephew an early Christmas present.
Photos of Lily from her youth.
Interestingly, Mrs. Dursley had initially told her husband that Sherlock came to sell shampoo.
Unexpectedly, she actually accepted the shampoo in the end.
What's more interesting is that the main ingredient of this anti-hair loss shampoo was actually hair growth potion from the Potter family.
Whether this counted as export-import business was anyone's guess.
Due to the friendly attitude of the Dursley family, Sherlock additionally gave Dudley two bags of Chocolate Frogs when leaving.
Dudley was naturally delighted, ignoring his parents' stern looks and accepting the gift.
"Sherlock, thank you—thank you so much!"
Before Sherlock could speak, Mrs. Holmes, who was driving, had already laughed.
Without turning her head, she said:
"Don't say that, dear Harry—you and Sherlock are friends, and isn't it natural for friends to help each other?"
Sherlock nodded, agreeing with his mother's words, then pointed at the photo album Harry was flipping through:
"I suggest sending this photo to Professor Snape. For him, this should be the best Christmas gift."
It was a photo of two people together.
The girl, full of youthful vitality, had hair as dazzling as flames, with slightly curled ends playfully resting on her shoulders.
Her fair skin showed a faint blush, her nose bridge was straight and delicate, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned, revealing two shallow dimples. Her smile was as warm and healing as sunshine, capable of dispelling any gloom.
As many people had said, those deep emerald green eyes were exactly like Harry's, clear and bright.
As for the boy whose arm she was holding.
Not to mention his somewhat familiar appearance, just looking at that seaweed-like greasy hair, his identity was already obvious.
Harry suddenly understood why Sherlock had previously asked him about what gifts to give the professors. So, this was what he was waiting for.
However, he was still somewhat hesitant:
"Were my mother and Professor Snape really close friends?"
"Obviously."
Sherlock said in a confident tone, "Although we still don't know exactly why they parted ways, until now, he still feels deep guilt for not protecting your mother."
"But does Professor Snape really have no connection to Voldemort?"
Harry asked somewhat puzzledly, "I wanted to tell you last time, when school started, he looked at me once, and the scar on my forehead started hurting—"
The originally leisurely Sherlock immediately became serious upon hearing Harry's words. He supported his chin with both hands, looking at Harry with piercing eyes.
"Your scar hurt when you made eye contact with Professor Snape?"
"Yes," Harry honestly described his feelings at the time, "Although that burning pain disappeared immediately, it really hurt at that moment. This had never happened before."
Sherlock pondered for a moment, then slowly asked:
"Are you sure it was caused by eye contact with Professor Snape? And not like at the Quidditch field?"
"Yes—wait, Sherlock, what do you mean?"
Hearing Sherlock mention the Quidditch field, Harry immediately recalled the situation at that time.
Everyone thought it was Snape who was causing trouble, trying to throw him off his broomstick, but only Sherlock pointed out that he was actually protecting him.
"You may have forgotten."
Sherlock said quietly, "The person sitting next to Snape at that time was Quirrell."
Harry: "Σ(°△°|||)︴"
As Christmas approached, the festive atmosphere grew stronger.
Ron initially complained about not being brought along to Privet Drive with Sherlock and Harry.
But he was soon distracted by other new things.
First was playing wizard's chess with Mr. Holmes.
Mr. Holmes was quite skilled.
The two were evenly matched, meeting their match.
It was much more interesting than playing chess with Harry.
Recently, he had become fascinated with television.
He found it very interesting that a box could display moving landscapes and figures with sound without using magic.
A few days later, Hermione and her parents also came to Sherlock's house.
It had been nearly a week since returning home from Hogwarts, and Christmas was almost here, yet Sherlock hadn't made a single phone call to her.
Finally, Hermione couldn't wait any longer and called.
Mrs. Holmes, who answered the phone, immediately seized the opportunity and invited the entire Granger family to visit.
Mr. Granger had some complaints about this, "We clearly agreed that they would come to our house—"
Mrs. Granger felt it wasn't a big deal, "Dear, don't worry about these details, as long as the children are happy."
However, Hermione wasn't going to let certain people off so easily.
"Sherlock, didn't you say you would call?"
Hermione stood with her hands on her hips, looking dissatisfied at Sherlock.
Sherlock: "Σ(°△°|||)︴"
Harry and Ron, seeing this, couldn't help but giggle.
It was so rare to see Sherlock at a disadvantage.
"And you two as well!
Harry, why didn't you remind Sherlock to call?
Ron, you can't make phone calls, but you can send letters by owl, can't you?"
Harry and Ron: "Σ(°△°|||)︴"
Seeing Hermione like this, Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Granger couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"Youth is wonderful—"
"Yes, it really is—"
As for Mr. Granger, he was discussing quietly with Mr. Holmes while watching the news on television.
"What troubled times—"
Mr. Holmes looked at the bald man speaking passionately in the news and shook his head slightly.
"Damn it, how did the country become like this!"
The usually gentle Mr. Granger rarely cursed out loud.
"If this continues, this country will become a laughingstock of the international community!"
Mr. Holmes looked at him somewhat surprised, not expecting Hermione's father to have this side.
"I suggest you can go to the bank to borrow some rubles and exchange them for pounds," Mr. Holmes watched the news for a while longer, then cautiously said to Mr. Granger, "Not too large an amount."
Mr. Granger was startled: "Do you also think—"
"Hard to say, just a possibility."
Mr. Granger thought for a moment, then went to discuss with his wife.
Finally, they decided to follow Mr. Holmes' advice and go to the bank tomorrow.
The Granger family had become quite familiar with the Holmes family now.
He still trusted Sherlock's father's judgment.
Sherlock naturally observed both families' actions.
However, politics was rather distant for an eleven-year-old boy like him, and it wasn't something he should be concerned about now.
But after learning that magic existed in this world, Sherlock couldn't help but wonder.
If this giant really fell, would it affect the magical world?
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