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Chapter 57: The Holiday Starts

When Harry and the others left Professor McGonagall’s office in despair, they were all worried about what Hermione would do next.

Hermione suddenly regained her senses and said in a firm voice, “I can’t stay at Hogwarts!”

Harry and Ron turned to look at her in shock, “I know you’re in danger, Hermione. But you won’t drop out of Hogwarts, are you?”

Hermione shook her head, “I’m not dropping out, but I can’t stay at Hogwarts this Christmas.”

Hearing what she said, Ron and Harry’s eyes suddenly lit up. Their previous ideas had always fallen into a dead end, thinking Hermione must stay at Hogwarts this Christmas. Although she has already signed the list, she can return by taking the Hogwarts Express home to spend her Christmas.

The holidays haven’t started yet, and they say it’s too late to go home. As long as Hermione leaves Hogwarts, even if Sherlock Jinx’s effect still exists, she will not be at risk of being attacked by a monster in the Chamber of Secrets.

In the end, Hermione figured it out on her own.

“That’s right! Professor Forrest said he wished you a happy Christmas holiday. As long as you leave Hogwarts at Christmas and hide for this time, you will not be in danger!”

Harry said excitedly, and a smile finally appeared on Ron’s face. Now, the three of them have found a solution to the problem. Harry didn’t even feel as excited when he got the Philosopher’s Stone in front of You-Know-Who last year compared to today.

Professor Forrest’s ability is too terrifying. This was the only thought that rose in his mind at the moment. The matter of changing her mind and choosing to go home during the Christmas holiday is still a good solution.

They found Professor McGonagall again and crossed Hermione’s name from the list of students who stayed at school. Making sure that the day before the Christmas holiday began, she would get on the Hogwarts Express back to London.

Days before the holiday, none of the three of them dared to test Sherlock again. Even when they meet and greet each other, they fear receiving a sudden greeting and blessing from Sherlock.

Finally, the day before Hermione left, she warned Harry and Ron seriously.

“You don’t need to perform any extra steps on the potion that is being brewed as long as you make sure that the fire under the cauldron is sufficient every three days, and remember not to talk to Forrest throughout Christmas. If there is really no way to avoid him, you must interrupt him before he says anything to you.”

“If you don’t even have time to interrupt him after being blessed by him, hide in the common room immediately, and don’t come out easily until it’s over. But I don’t think you will become the heir of Slytherin’s target or at least not a life-threatening thing.”

Hermione explained to them, the most important of which was to warn Harry that they must meet Sherlock and test his jinx while she was not at Hogwarts. They were frightened. They thought it was a fun thing before, but after learning about Hermione’s situation, they realized how terrible it was to be blessed by Sherlock.

With Hermione’s departure, the Christmas holiday officially began.

Sherlock had written the senior grade’s study plan before the holiday and finally had time to relax. But no matter how busy he was before, he never relaxed his eyes on Neville in the Marauder’s map.

But after he noticed Neville’s anomaly, the castle seemed to be calm. There have been no attacks for two weeks. Even on the Marauder’s map, Neville’s location is all normal.

Before the holiday, apart from going to the classroom as usual, he had no other abnormal behavior. Except for eating, he stayed in his dormitory all the time, much more obedient than other Gryffindors who went around the castle every day.

But the more he was like this, the more Sherlock had suspicion. After the vacation started, he made a few times during lunchtime to observe Neville.

He found that he seemed to have undergone some changes compared with before. His cold may have been cured. But his face was no longer pale and became rosy. His whole characteristic has also become more relaxed. Although he still looks scared, he does not feel frightened at all times.

Sherlock could feel like something happened to him, which caused his sudden change, but he couldn’t know why.

On Christmas day, Sherlock woke up early in the morning and found that his bed was full of gift boxes. Members of the Order basically send these. As a new member, it was normal for him to receive many gifts this year.

Sherlock gave only one Christmas gift, the candy he sent to Dumbledore every year. This is the habit that the original Sherlock has been doing for five years after he discovered that Dumbledore showed an extraordinary love for sweets.

Sherlock saw this moment in his diary and did not stop the habit. He also thoughtfully attached a small card to the gift, which reads ‘Merry Christmas to Professor Dumbledore’.

His gifts were opened. Most of them contained books about magic, a hand-knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley, and a knitted hat from Professor McGonagall. Sherlock put on the sweater and the dark blue knitted hat and walked out of the office. He was ready to go to the Hall to help with the decorations.

Before he reached the corner of the stairs on the first floor, he saw Dumbledore with a grizzled beard in front of him, leaning on the stairs and carefully getting up from the ground.

Sherlock was stunned for a moment. He realized that when he was going downstairs just now, Dumbledore seemed to have accidentally fallen to the ground.