After Harry restored normal communication with his friends, Hedwig was exhausted and panting every day.
Each time she returned from delivering letters, not only were her feathers disheveled, but both wings drooped down, barely able to support her.
For this, she pecked Harry's head several times harshly.
"Oh, Hedwig, spare me!"
Harry also felt somewhat sorry for his pet and coaxed her for a long while before she calmed down.
Even so, Hedwig refused to continue such high-intensity overtime work.
Her little master was really too much!
Even capitalists would weep upon hearing this!
However, just when Harry was at his wit's end, holding a stack of letters to be sent, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
The turning point came from Aunt Petunia.
This was completely an accident.
Since last Christmas, Petunia had noticed that the relationship between her nephew and the whole family had changed.
Whether it was the hair growth potion or the weight loss pills, both had real effects on her husband and son.
This was undoubtedly a good thing for her.
After Harry indirectly helped Uncle Vernon secure that big order, even Uncle Vernon found Harry much more agreeable.
Not to mention herself, who had direct blood relations with Harry.
Seeing Hedwig throwing a tantrum with Harry, Aunt Petunia, out of gratitude, specially went into the kitchen and prepared a good meal for Hedwig.
Unexpectedly, from then on, it became unstoppable.
Hedwig had originally been eating the cat food Harry prepared for her, only occasionally flying out at night to hunt, catching mice and other prey for extra meals.
But.
As the saying goes, it's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality.
After tasting Aunt Petunia's cooking once, Hedwig's taste was completely spoiled.
Next, no matter how patiently Harry tried to persuade her, she kept her eyes tightly shut, turned her head to one side, and looked disdainfully at the cat food brought to her.
What was even more exaggerated was that without Harry's reminder, Hedwig instinctively flapped her wings and flew straight into Aunt Petunia's bedroom to beg for food.
When she was repeatedly awakened by Hedwig's wing-flapping, looking at those round, big eyes, Aunt Petunia couldn't help but recall the fear of being dominated by owls.
For her, preparing food for a wizard's owl wasn't anything unfamiliar.
Back in the day, when her sister Lily was studying at Hogwarts, she had already done this sort of thing.
But even Lily's owl wasn't this annoying!
The conclusion was that neither mother nor son was easy to deal with!
Although she was unhappy, Aunt Petunia still grumbled while preparing food for Hedwig.
This way, Hedwig was finally willing to deliver letters for Harry again.
In the past, she often ate cat food, but eating it three times a day was not only unpalatable but also troublesome.
But since tasting Aunt Petunia's cooking, one meal was worth three previous ones. Her back didn't ache, her legs didn't hurt, and her wings were strong.
Flying fifty miles in one breath was no problem!
After reading the letter Harry wrote to him, Sherlock looked at Hedwig, who had come to deliver it.
Indeed, she had gotten a whole circle fatter than before.
The current Hedwig looked exactly like a Scottish round-faced fat chicken.
Fortunately, this didn't affect her flying speed.
This also made Sherlock consider whether he should have Watson bring a letter to Harry, and let him taste Aunt Petunia's cooking too.
However, he ultimately didn't do so.
After all, his own mother's cooking wasn't bad either.
Moreover, for wizards from Muggle families like him and Harry, telephone communication was obviously more convenient.
It's just that Harry identified more with his wizard identity, plus he wanted Sherlock to see the fattened Hedwig, so he specially had her fly over.
For Sherlock, communication with Harry only occupied a portion of his time, and a very small portion at that.
He spent his time on other people as well.
One of them was Hermione.
Hermione had now completely figured it out.
Sherlock was purely someone with a "don't initiate, don't refuse, don't take responsibility" attitude.
If she wrote, he would reply.
If she didn't write, he wouldn't write.
Understanding this point, Hermione simply set aside her reserve and began using the dual approach of owl mail + telephone calls to strengthen contact with Sherlock.
Sure enough, under these circumstances, she finally got the satisfactory responses she wanted.
What surprised Sherlock was that besides Hermione, that Slytherin prefect Gemma Farley had also strengthened her communication frequency with him during this period.
Supposedly, he and Gemma Farley had no previous interactions.
Harry was the one who knew her earlier.
When hospitalized due to the Quirrell and Philosopher's Stone incident, Gemma Farley had specially visited her on behalf of Slytherin House.
However, when Harry told Sherlock about this, Sherlock immediately realized something.
That witch... was not simple.
This was a true Slytherin.
Not to be mentioned in the same breath as Malfoy, Flint, and their kind.
When the newly enrolled Harry Potter just had the empty title of "Savior of the Wizarding World" without matching strength, all she did was observe.
But after Harry demonstrated his abilities, she boldly made her move, expressing friendliness.
For someone as kind-hearted as Harry, he naturally accepted her approaches easily.
When she specially sought him out about Flint's matter, although Sherlock rejected her, he further realized Gemma Farley's purpose.
Not just Harry, she was equally concerned about him.
As a prefect, this was understandable.
Percy and Penelope did the same.
It's just that Farley's approach was more in line with Slytherin style—true Slytherin.
However, for Sherlock, what was most important was that the content of her letters was indeed topics he was interested in.
As a witch born into a pure-blood family, and an excellent student at that, Farley naturally understood the wizarding world better than Hermione.
Surprisingly, her understanding of the Muggle world was no less than Hermione's.
In her first letter, she began discussing magical crimes with Sherlock.
She also specifically pointed out the differences between crime and detection in the magical world versus the Muggle world.
Some of her ideas even brought inspiration to Sherlock.
Under these circumstances, Sherlock naturally wouldn't refuse to respond and exchange letters with Farley.
Besides these matters, Sherlock was also constantly monitoring the follow-up to the house-elf Dobby incident.
After Professor Snape's investigation, the results were exactly as Sherlock had previously speculated—the house-elf Dobby was indeed from the Malfoy family.
However, their gold-plated young master classmate in Slytherin could at most be considered Dobby's little master.
On the other hand, although it was Snape who took away and initially interrogated Dobby, it was Dumbledore who brought Sherlock the follow-up news.
First, because Snape himself was unwilling to maintain long-term contact with Sherlock.
Second, the person who had made the agreement with Sherlock was Dumbledore in the first place.
Third, the information he extracted from Dobby wasn't suitable for him to continue exchanging with Sherlock.
All of this stemmed from one name.
Lucius Malfoy.
Draco Malfoy's father.
The Malfoy family, like the Weasley, Longbottom, and Abbott families, belonged to the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families.
According to Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy's father, Abraxas Malfoy, had a bad reputation.
When Lucius Malfoy was 14 years old, the first Muggle-born Minister for Magic in history, Nobby Leach, was forced to resign due to a mysterious illness.
Rumors suggested that the mastermind behind this was Abraxas Malfoy, who liked to promote pure-blood supremacy theories.
After Abraxas Malfoy died of Dragon Pox, these rumors spread throughout the city. Because people generally believed it was retribution.
Later, Lucius entered Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin House.
In his fifth year, Lucius was elected prefect and became good friends with the newly enrolled Severus Snape.
Later, he married another member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, Narcissa Black, and they had Draco Malfoy.
So, when they pried open Dobby's mouth and learned that this creature was indeed the Malfoy family's house-elf, Snape's expression became particularly colorful.
Then he unhesitatingly threw this matter to Dumbledore.
Although Dumbledore was helpless, due to the seriousness of the situation, he still accepted it.
After getting more detailed information from Dobby, he simply Apparated to Sherlock's house.
Besides discussing this matter with Sherlock, he had also decided to accept Sherlock's suggestion and visit Dr. Granger for a dental checkup while he was at it.
After all, relying solely on tooth-care potions seemed insufficient.
When their son's school headmaster came to visit, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes naturally had to receive him warmly.
Having had the experience of the deputy headmaster visiting last year, both were familiar with the routine.
Dumbledore picked up the tea prepared for him and took a sip.
The taste was good, just too light.
Looking at Sherlock's parents, a trace of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.
Once upon a time, he too had been someone with a happy family.
Unfortunately...
There was no need to mention the past.
After brief pleasantries, Dumbledore came to Sherlock's bedroom with him to discuss the follow-up matters regarding the house-elf Dobby.
"When school starts this year, Lucius Malfoy intends to slip a Dark Magic artifact left behind by Voldemort into Hogwarts."
Just the first sentence involved Sherlock's knowledge blind spot.
He unhesitatingly asked: "Why would their family have Dark Magic artifacts left behind by Voldemort?"
"Because Lucius Malfoy was once a Death Eater."
Sherlock couldn't help but frown, realizing things weren't so simple.
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