Chapter 163: My Love for You Has Never Changed

Chapter 163: My Love for You Has Never Changed

Sherlock Forest was born in 1971, making him six years old in 1977.

The original owner's mother passed away in St. Mungo's Hospital when he was five, meaning the original owner should now be living in the small house in Surrey.

That house was left to him by his mother.

He did not grow up with his father, not because the Duke of Cavendish was unwilling to take him in, but because the Duke set a condition: if the young Sherlock wanted to live with the Cavendish family, he could not use any abilities that normal Muggles did not have.

Having already demonstrated magical abilities in the year his mother died, the young Sherlock naturally refused. Besides, he did not particularly want to live with his father, so he stayed in the small house.

Of course, the Duke of Cavendish, though angry, did not completely abandon his son. He hired a nanny for him and enrolled him in a Muggle primary school.

There was likely a selfish motive behind this, hoping that the young Sherlock would make friends at school and lose interest in magic, thus avoiding the path of a magical education.

Still, it showed that the Duke of Cavendish had some affection for his son, ensuring he received education and care in his early years.

After returning to the Leaky Cauldron with Snape, the next morning, Amy slipped into Sherlock's room through the window, still wearing the Invisibility Cloak.

Sherlock was in the bathroom washing up, while Amy sat on a chair, swinging her legs and entertaining herself.

"Next time, you can use the front door. The window is too dangerous."

Sherlock, drying his face with a towel, advised the little girl.

Amy blinked and tilted her head, looking at Sherlock.

"Can Amy stay with John tonight?"

Sherlock was taken aback and asked, puzzled.

"Why do you want to stay here?"

"Because Amy feels like she might not be able to stay where she is anymore." She said it was a feeling and a possibility, but her tone was oddly certain, as if she had already made up her mind.

Sherlock ruffled her hair.

"If you really can't stay there, you can come here."

He didn't take it too seriously, thinking Amy was just a child who might be scared of sleeping alone in an empty room at night.

Room 11, where he lived, had two beds, so Amy would have a place to sleep.

Today, they didn't play Wizard Chess. Sherlock was reading the newspaper, and Amy was folding paper with the pages he had finished reading.

Yesterday in Diagon Alley, Sherlock bought many back issues of the Daily Prophet from an old shop. He wanted to learn more about the original owner's mother, Sally Forest, and also keep an eye on the Death Eaters' activities.

Advanced magical research was always in the hands of the Ministry of Magic. The only way Sherlock could think of to reverse time was to find something in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry.

Getting in touch with people from the Department of Mysteries wouldn't be easy, so the safest approach was to first establish connections within the Ministry of Magic and then find an opportunity to contact the Department of Mysteries.

The most convenient and direct way right now was through the Death Eaters. These villains were currently wreaking havoc, torturing and killing Muggles and Wizards, and clashing with Aurors.

Sherlock saw this as a quick way to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic.

He didn't plan to start by meeting people from the Ministry. Instead, he intended to enter the Ministry and become one of its employees.

The British magical community was in a state of crisis, with Voldemort's Death Eaters running rampant. The number of Auror casualties each year far exceeded any other period.

The requirements for becoming an Auror have been relaxed, but even so, the Auror Office is still short of personnel. After all, wizards aren't fools.

Apart from some hot-headed recent Hogwarts graduates and forward-thinking Muggle-born wizards, few adult wizards are willing to risk their lives for the Ministry of Magic. Wizards have always had a lack of trust in the magical government.

However, Sherlock's current situation is also problematic. He can't produce any certificates from the Wizarding Level Exams, and he can't even prove that he attended Hogwarts.

So even if the Auror Office relaxes their hiring criteria, Sherlock, with his current identity, would have no chance of getting in through the normal process.

Therefore, he has to consider some unconventional means, such as "accidentally" helping the Aurors during a battle with Death Eaters, hoping to find a way into the Auror ranks through special channels.

Once he's in the Ministry of Magic, it will be easier to get access to the Department of Mysteries.

To prepare for this "accident", Sherlock has been studying the recent activities of the Death Eaters, trying to find some patterns to determine their next moves and where they might strike next.

But he can't glean much from just a few newspapers.

As Sherlock realized it was getting late, he told Amy he was going to get lunch and prepared to open the door. At that moment, Tom arrived with a middle-aged wizard and walked up the stairs.

"Oh, Mr. Watson, your and your uncle's meals are ready. As you requested, your portions are a bit larger. You don't need to come down; I'll bring it up to you shortly."

Tom greeted Sherlock with a smile.

Sherlock nodded and watched as Tom led the middle-aged wizard to the door of Room 10.

"This is your room, Mr. Williams. I'll go attend to the other guests. If you need anything, you can come downstairs and find me."

Tom escorted the middle-aged wizard into Room 10 and then turned to go downstairs.

Sherlock looked at the closed door of Room 10, frowned, and retreated to his own room.

He sat down next to Amy, who seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation. She put down the paper airplane she was folding and looked at him with wide eyes.

"You told me this morning that you felt you might not be able to stay in that room anymore. Was it Room 10?"

Amy nodded.

"Just a feeling?" Sherlock looked at her skeptically. If it was just a guess, it was remarkably accurate.

Amy's mouth curved slightly, and a small hint of pride appeared on her face.

"Daddy always says Amy's feelings are very accurate."

Sherlock found this quite unbelievable, but Amy didn't seem to be lying. After pondering for a moment, he decided not to dwell on it and patted Amy's head.

"Room 10 just got a new guest. You can sleep in my room tonight. This bed is all yours."

Amy blinked and thanked him.

"Thank you, John."

"You're welcome. What do you want for lunch?"

"Whatever John eats, Amy can eat too."

The little girl refocused on her paper folding. Sherlock had taught her how to make paper airplanes, and she was now trying to improve them so they could fly in the air.

After lunch, Sherlock went to Room 12 and told Snape he was going out for a bit. He then returned to his room, put on his coat, and prepared to visit his home at this point in time.

Amy looked at Sherlock and asked quietly.

"Can Amy go out with John?"

Sherlock had originally planned to leave Amy at the inn, but seeing her hopeful expression, he couldn't refuse.

This trip was just to check on the current state of his home, and he wasn't planning to do anything else, so taking Amy along wouldn't be dangerous.

He reminded her.

"If Amy wants to go out with me, you need to wear a big hat to avoid being recognized."

Amy nodded obediently and put on the Invisibility Cloak. She couldn't be seen by anyone when they left the Leaky Cauldron.

The incident with the two Death Eaters looking for someone at the Leaky Cauldron had already spread throughout the wizarding world.

Not only at the Leaky Cauldron, but Death Eaters were also searching for a girl surnamed Butler in other places.

With only a surname and no portrait or description of her appearance, no one could recognize Amy just by her looks.

However, if Amy were to appear at the Leaky Cauldron, it would still raise some suspicion. Therefore, whenever they went out, she had to use the Invisibility Cloak to conceal herself. Once they reached the Muggle world, there were fewer concerns.

While invisible, Amy grabbed Sherlock's arm to let him know she was right beside him.

After leaving the Leaky Cauldron, they arrived at a secluded alley in London. Amy then handed the Invisibility Cloak to Sherlock, asking him to put it away.

The little girl seemed to not go out much, showing curiosity about everything around her. However, her gray robe was quite conspicuous, not at all the kind of outfit a child of this era should wear.

Sherlock clearly noticed this issue. He helped her put on the wide-brimmed sun hat he had conjured and then took her to a children's clothing store to buy a set of clothes that matched the current times.

Dressed in a dress and wearing a large sun hat, Amy looked like she had stepped out of a fairy tale. She sincerely thanked Sherlock again.

"Thank you for the gift, John. Once I see Dad, I'll have a return gift for you."

"You're welcome. I'm looking forward to your gift, Amy."

As the famous foggy city, London's environment, though beginning to be treated in the 1970s, was still gray and oppressive.

Because of the different timeline, Sherlock couldn't Apparate directly to his home in this time. He had to use other means of transportation.

With Amy, they headed to King's Cross Station and boarded a train to Little Whinging in Surrey.

They didn't call the Knight Bus, partly because of Amy and partly because Sherlock found the magical bus too bumpy for comfort, not something a normal person could adapt to.

Besides, Surrey was right next to London, and the train ride would take only a few hours.

Sherlock and Amy got off the train and bought lollipops for both of them. They then hailed a taxi to Magnolia Crescent 13.

The buildings here looked much the same as when Sherlock first saw them fourteen years later.

The two-story house was covered in ivy, and the garden was overgrown with weeds, giving it a desolate and dilapidated appearance.

At this time, young Sherlock should still be in school, with only a few days until the holidays. The nanny his father had hired was not in the house, and the entire courtyard was quiet.

Sherlock took out his wand, tapped the rusted iron gate, and used Alohomora to unlock it. He and Amy then entered the yard.

Amy, holding her lollipop, looked up at Sherlock.

"Is this John's home?"

"Half of it, I suppose", Sherlock said softly, looking at the yard.

Amy's expression showed confusion; she clearly didn't understand what Sherlock meant by "half of it."

Sherlock didn't explain further but led Amy through the yard, using Alohomora again to open the front door and enter the house.

The room was very tidy, clearly not something a young Sherlock could manage. The nanny must have been doing her job well.

The furniture and layout were similar to what they would be fourteen years later.

Sherlock took Amy on a tour of the living room and then went upstairs. He walked down the corridor to the spot where the magic study would later be.

At the end of the corridor, there was a door that looked ordinary, with a handle, just like the other doors.

Sherlock turned the handle and opened the door. Inside, it wasn't a study but a cluttered room filled with cardboard boxes and old items, a typical storage room.

This confirmed that the magic study Sherlock would later use was created by the original owner after he grew up, not something that came with the house or was inherited from his mother.

This was something Sherlock hadn't expected. He had always assumed that the magic study was left behind by the original owner's mother.

After all, whether a wizard was mad or sane, they would inevitably leave some traces in their home, and most of these traces would be books or materials related to magic.

But if the study was built by the original owner later, then the original owner's mother, the witch named Sally Forrest, hadn't left anything behind in this house?

This question rose in Sherlock's mind, and he began to search the room thoroughly.

He felt that there was still something he hadn't discovered in this house. Previously, he had only found traces left by the original owner's residence, and apart from the mad portrait, he hadn't found anything else from the house's first owner.

Of course, it was also possible that the original owner's mother had left nothing behind, but Sherlock thought this was unlikely.

He searched from the second floor to the first for a long time but found nothing.

Just as he was about to give up, Amy, who had been following him around, asked,

"Is John looking for something?"

Sherlock sighed.

"Yes, but I haven't found it."

Amy looked around the room and then said confidently,

"There's nothing strange in the house. Amy thinks what John is looking for might be outside."

Sherlock was taken aback. He remembered the scene at the Leaky Cauldron at noon, where Amy seemed to have a special ability, and her intuition was always more accurate than that of a normal person.

So, he followed Amy's suggestion and left the house, intending to search the garden.

But Amy held his arm and pointed to the left wall of the house.

"Here, Amy thinks there's something wrong here."

Sherlock was led to the ivy-covered wall and carefully examined it, but at first, he didn't notice anything different.

However, trusting Amy's intuition, Sherlock drew his wand and gently tapped each brick he could reach on the wall.

Finally, when he tapped the thirteenth brick in the seventh row from the bottom, a noticeable sound came from behind them, and a round opening appeared in the lawn!

Sherlock looked at this with surprise and patted Amy's head.

"Amy, you're the hero of the day!"

Amy's face showed a hint of pride, but she didn't smile. She rarely smiled, and Sherlock hadn't seen her do so in the two days he had known her.

Together, they entered the opening in the lawn. Inside, there was a long stone staircase. They walked down it for about five minutes and arrived at an underground study.

As Sherlock and Amy entered, the candles around the study lit up on their own.

The space wasn't very large, about ten square meters, with bookshelves lining the walls, filled with various books.

In the center of the study was a simple desk, and on it lay an open magic notebook.

Sherlock approached the desk and read the content of the notebook:

"Up to this point, my research on the soul has reached its limit. The soul mark placed on Sherlock is my final act of assistance. I hope he will never need to use it or even discover its existence.

Dumbledore and the others have placed their hopes on me, and I must leave Sherlock's side. If this goes well, everything will return to normal. If something goes wrong, I can only hope Xia Luo will not be affected.

To be honest, I have failed as a mother and as a wife, but this is my own choice, and what I am doing now must have its value.

I have written everything I wanted to write here. I will leave this notebook here.

And one more thing.

If you ever find this place, Sherlock, no matter what I become in the future, my love for you has never changed."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end