Chapter 67: Coming Up Empty
Chapter 67: Coming Up Empty
Sherlock no longer dwelled on whether they would catch the murderer, but he felt there was a good chance of finding the old book. He hadn't forgotten the suspicious student he had noticed earlier, and now he at least had a target to focus on.
"Password?"
The Fat Lady portrait at the entrance to Gryffindor yawned and asked Sherlock half-heartedly. She had been informed that a professor would be searching the common room, and asking the password was just a formality.
"Dragon dregs."
After giving the correct password, the Fat Lady portrait opened the entrance to the common room, allowing Sherlock to enter.
During the orientation for new students, each house prefect boasted that their common room hadn't been entered by outsiders in centuries. Sherlock found it highly unlikely that these claims were true. While the entrances to the four houses were guarded in different ways, a determined wizard could easily bypass these simple defenses. With Dumbledore's permission, a Ravenclaw graduate like himself could walk into Gryffindor's common room without any trouble.
Sherlock didn't have a strong desire to pry into the students' private lives and had no interest in what they might be hiding in their dorm rooms. After entering, he headed straight to the boys' dormitory, while Professor Mcgonagall would search the girls' dormitory.
Even the typically rowdy Gryffindors didn't have particularly messy dorm rooms. This wasn't because the young lions were particularly tidy, but because diligent house-elves cleaned their rooms daily.
Searching the dorm rooms wasn't too complicated. Sherlock simply waved his wand and cast a Summoning Charm to gather all the books in the room. After checking that there were no issues, he would return the books to their original places.
However, when he entered a room that seemed no different from the others, Sherlock's attention suddenly became laser-focused. He saw the names on the parchments on the desk.
This was Harry and Ron's dorm room.
But his focus wasn't on Harry and Ron. After using the Summoning Charm to check all the books in the room and finding nothing amiss, he walked over to the four-poster bed marked with Neville Longbottom's name and carefully examined all of Neville's belongings.
He found nothing unusual.
Sherlock frowned and rechecked everything related to Neville in the room, but the result was the same. Ultimately, coming up empty, he left Gryffindor's common room. After checking the Ravenclaw boys' dormitory, he found nothing there either.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the four professors responsible for the search gathered in the corridor outside the Great Hall.
"I didn't find anything", Professor Sprout, who had searched the Slytherin and Hufflepuff girls' dormitories, said with a shake of her head.
The expressions on Professor Mcgonagall and Snape's faces told Sherlock that they had also come up empty. He stroked his chin and looked toward the Great Hall doors.
"Let's check on the students. The bewitched student might have the book with them."
The professors turned their attention to the Great Hall doors, as this was now the most likely scenario. They entered the Great Hall, where Professor Flitwick had just finished helping Filch count all the students.
Determined to ensure that everyone was present except for the three students who were lying in the hospital wing after the attack, the professors gathered in the Great Hall. There were five professors in total: the four heads of the houses and Sherlock, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who held a unique position at Hogwarts.
The students were divided by their houses, and each head of house was responsible for checking their own students. They did not openly announce that they were searching for the old book but instead discreetly observed each student.
Sherlock had come into contact with the old book before, and it was not particularly thin. If someone was carrying it around constantly, it would be quite noticeable, especially since most students were still in their pajamas.
Sherlock, with a clear target in mind, made his way to the Gryffindor common room and found Neville sitting on the floor, lost in thought.
"Mr. Longbottom."
Neville jumped at the sound of Sherlock's voice and looked up, his eyes wide with panic.
"P-Professor Forrest."
Seeing Neville's reaction, Sherlock's suspicions were further confirmed. Neville was definitely hiding something!
After retracing the clues in the Headmaster's Office, Sherlock had a strong feeling that the reaction on his left arm at the bookstore was not caused by the Malfoys but by the old book.
Once at Hogwarts, the burning sensation had occurred again, this time on Neville. This only strengthened Sherlock's suspicion.
"Mr. Longbottom, could you tell me where you were when Malfoy was attacked?"
Sherlock asked casually, but his eyes were not meeting Neville's. Instead, he was carefully examining Neville's belongings.
Neville, clearly nervous, stammered, "I, I was with Seamus and the others, in the, in the dormitory, working on our Potions homework."
Before Sherlock could ask another question, Seamus spoke up, "Yes, Professor, I can vouch for Neville!"
The location of Neville during the attack on Malfoy was not crucial. The basilisk did not necessarily need its master to be present to attack. Sherlock's question was merely a pretext to engage Neville in conversation. However, it only led to another disappointment.
Neville was now in his pajamas, and there was no place to hide anything, let alone a conspicuous old book.
Sherlock did not press further, fearing that he might alert the book. If the book was provoked, it might cause a major incident at Hogwarts and then escape, making the situation much more difficult.
The inspection of the students was quickly completed, and the five professors regrouped. They had found nothing.
Professor Mcgonagall looked grim as she turned to leave the Great Hall.
"I'll go see Albus and see if he has any other ideas."
Professor Sprout sighed and shook her head. "I'll go get the students to bed."
Professors Flitwick and Sprout left, leaving Snape and Sherlock standing on the raised platform, watching the students below as they followed the professors' instructions and climbed into their sleeping bags to rest.
"The results were not as you predicted", Snape said coldly.
Sherlock was frustrated and retorted, "If everything always went as I predicted, I wouldn't be a wizard but a muggle's idea of a god."
(End of Chapter)
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