"What questions?"
Hearing that Sherlock actually wanted to consult him, Ron couldn't help but perk up.
This question gave him the feeling of "the big shot needs me."
"First, what are the characteristics of each of the four houses?
Second, don't you know that... the term 'Muggle' also carries discriminatory undertones?"
Sherlock pressed his palms together under his chin, looking intently at Ron as he waited for his explanation.
"Wh-what?!"
Ron was shocked. "Muggle... how could that be a discriminatory term?"
He answered the second question first.
After all, compared to the first question, the second one was quite a shock to him.
'Merlin's beard, I had absolutely no discriminatory intent when calling people Muggles since childhood.'
His father was even more interested in the Muggle world and treated them very kindly.
It was precisely because of this that pure-blood families like the Malfoys looked down on them, considering them a disgrace to the Sacred Twenty-Eight.
But now Sherlock was saying that Muggle was also a derogatory term?
'Impossible, absolutely impossible!'
Harry beside him also helped Ron explain, "Sherlock, you're wrong this time. Hagrid calls them that too."
Sherlock shook his head. Instead of directly explaining, he continued questioning:
"How do you spell Muggle?"
"M-u-g-g-l-e."
While Ron was still thinking, Harry had already given the answer.
Sherlock frowned: "Don't you notice anything wrong?"
Ron still looked completely confused.
Harry initially didn't think anything was wrong either.
But since Sherlock had given such a hint, after thinking for a while, he understood.
"You mean... the root word?"
Sherlock nodded, looking at Ron's still bewildered expression with some surprise:
"So... don't wizarding families study vocabulary?"
Ron coughed twice, his ears turning red again. "Of course we do! We certainly study! But but I didn't notice anything wrong with this word."
Sherlock looked at Harry. Though he didn't know why, Harry did understand Sherlock's look.
So, he took the initiative to explain to Ron: "The root of Muggle is Mug..."
"Isn't that a cup?"
Ron quickly asked back, trying to show he wasn't completely ignorant.
Harry sighed, "Besides cup, it has another meaning."
At Sherlock's indication, Harry carefully explained to Ron that the root "Mug" in "Muggle," besides meaning cup, also meant fool.
Ron opened his mouth in surprise, not knowing what to say.
This was indeed the first time he'd learned this knowledge point.
Sherlock was right—people from wizarding families really don't study vocabulary properly.
Seeing Ron's expression, Harry thought to himself.
At the same time, he was increasingly impressed by Sherlock's abilities.
Though he had grown up in a non-wizarding family like himself, Sherlock not only understood the non-magical world so well and was proficient in various knowledge, could box and fence, but even knew how to use magic skillfully.
He was truly amazing!
Noticing Ron's low spirits, Sherlock patted his shoulder:
"Don't worry too much about it. After all, fool is 'Mug,' not 'Muggle.' There's no problem continuing to use this term.
I think whoever originally coined this term didn't have a friendly attitude toward people who couldn't do magic."
"But..."
Seeing Ron's conflicted expression, Sherlock simply explained a bit more:
"Language and writing naturally change and develop with the times. Some words start as neutral terms but later become derogatory.
For example, 'Negro' originally carried no derogatory meaning. It comes from Latin, meaning black, and was widely used in America before the 1960s.
The truly derogatory term is 'Ni**er,' but today, 'Negro' is considered as discriminatory as 'Ni**er.'
In a few more decades, I'm afraid even 'Black people' will become too sensitive to use."
Harry was stunned. "Then how should they be addressed?"
"Who knows? Maybe 'African American'?"
Sherlock said with a cold smile.
"'Muggle' is the same—originally containing derogatory meaning, but today it has been weakened to an acceptable level."
Harry and Ron looked at Sherlock with awe—he really knew so much!
Just then, the compartment door was pushed open yet again.
Hermione appeared in front of them once more.
"What happened?"
Hermione looked at the candy scattered all over the floor and asked somewhat puzzledly.
Harry and Ron looked at Sherlock.
The latter shrugged: "Miss Granger, someone wanted to rob our snacks, but eventually they were persuaded and left."
"Really?"
Hermione was somewhat skeptical. She had just personally witnessed Malfoy's trio leaving.
Their appearance didn't look like they had been "persuaded" at all.
"You didn't fight, did you? Don't tell me you've caused trouble before even arriving!"
She still maintained that proud tone. Ron's face stiffened, he was about to retort.
But Sherlock spoke at this moment: "Ron, there's still the first question."
"What, uh, uh..."
Only then did Ron remember that Sherlock had asked two questions earlier, and he had only answered the second one.
He couldn't help feeling frustrated—in front of Sherlock, he always seemed so slow.
Fortunately, being from the Weasley family, he really knew the four Hogwarts houses well, so he began introducing them eloquently.
Hearing Ron talk about this, Harry and Hermione became interested.
Like before, Hermione sat beside Sherlock and listened attentively.
Sherlock didn't mind, but the more he listened, the more he felt Ron's introduction was too subjective.
In Ron's mouth, Gryffindor was righteous and brave warriors, with the reason being that Hogwarts' current headmaster and deputy headmaster both came from this house, as did his parents and several brothers.
Similarly, he himself would most likely be sorted into this house.
Ravenclaw were bookworms who only knew how to study—students there had strange personalities and were self-righteous.
Hufflepuff were a bunch of insignificant good-for-nothings with no presence, whose only specialty was liking food.
However, this was acceptable, because Slytherin was full of despicable, shameless, sinister, and cunning villains.
Combining his knowledge from books with Ron's personality, Sherlock immediately made a deduction.
In other people's eyes, Gryffindor was probably just a bunch of troublemaking hotheads.
At this point, Harry also interjected, "Hagrid also said he'd rather go to Hufflepuff than Slytherin."
"Because Voldemort came from that house?"
When Sherlock mentioned this name, Ron couldn't help shuddering again.
He looked at Sherlock with a resentful gaze.
'I know you're not afraid, but could you consider the feelings of the rest of us?'
Sherlock wouldn't care about others' opinions. After getting Harry's affirmative answer, he turned to Ron again: "Among the four houses, does Hufflepuff have the most students?"
"How did you know?"
Ron was somewhat surprised. "Oh, Merlin's beard, you're really amazing!"
Hearing Ron's response, Sherlock nodded.
Indeed, all those with problematic personalities went to other houses, so naturally the remaining kind and obedient ones ended up in Hufflepuff.
Just then, a voice began echoing throughout the train:
"The train will reach Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train—we will take it to the school for you."
Sherlock immediately sprang into action.
"How can you just..."
Seeing this, Hermione's face turned red and she quickly retreated.