Hearing the familiar voice, Harry looked up with a start and saw Sherlock and Neville standing at the entrance to the common room, looking at him curiously.
Sherlock glanced at Crookshanks by Harry's feet, his eyes lighting up.
He handed the long, straight stick he was holding to Neville, asking him to take it back to the dormitory, then walked over to Harry.
"What's going on?"
"This fellow keeps trying to get into the boys' dormitory to find Scabbers."
Harry recounted how Crookshanks had tried to sneak into the boys' dormitory that morning, and how he'd just stopped him several times.
"Sherlock, I'm starting to think Ron's right about him—he really is targeting Scabbers. Hermione's being unreasonable this time."
"That persistent, is he?"
Sherlock curiously took Crookshanks from Harry's hands. The large cat immediately began baring his teeth at him.
"He seems quite unhappy that I stopped him from getting into the boys' dormitory," Harry said with a frown, watching this scene.
"He's also unhappy I stopped him from catching Scabbers last time."
Sherlock shook his head. "It's about time. Let's go eat. I'll return him to Hermione in a bit."
As the two passed through the portrait hole, Sir Cadogan energetically called out to them:
"Hey, stop right there, you mangy curs, bring that stupid, fat-faced cat and duel with me!"
Before Sherlock and Harry could respond, Crookshanks let out an indignant meow.
"Meow—!"
From his expression, he clearly wanted to rush up and give this portrait a good swipe for provoking him.
Unfortunately, held in Sherlock's arms, there was no way he could escape.
Harry couldn't help but find this amusing. "Spare him, Crookshanks, spare him."
As if understanding Harry's words, Crookshanks glared viciously at Sir Cadogan before giving up his struggle.
"He really is smart."
When they reached the Great Hall, Harry looked at Crookshanks on Sherlock's lap and couldn't help saying, "We definitely need to tell Hermione about this."
"Don't worry about the cat's business, mate."
Sherlock looked at the dejected Harry. "You should eat something. Surely you don't need me to coax you into eating before every first match of the school year?"
"But—"
"Or should I just call Cho and Ginny over, hmm?"
"Don't—don't do that!"
Harry was startled by Sherlock's threat. He knew Sherlock would absolutely follow through.
If it looked like he needed Cho Chang and Ginny's comfort to be able to eat, he'd definitely be teased by everyone else.
Seeing Harry's nervous expression, Sherlock smiled and began stroking the cat.
With gentle, skillful motions, the previously disgruntled Crookshanks soon began purring contentedly.
The entire cat became positively bouncy.
Before long, Hermione was the first to arrive at the Great Hall.
When she saw Crookshanks lying on Sherlock's lap, she froze. "What's he doing with you?"
"Oh, Hermione."
Harry quickly pulled Hermione down to sit, telling her about Crookshanks trying to sneak into the boys' dormitory that morning.
"I won't tell Ron about this, but you need to keep a better eye on him."
Hermione was also startled by this news. She took Crookshanks from Sherlock's hands. "I'll take him back first."
Watching Hermione hurry off with Crookshanks, Harry sighed. "She's always rushing around like this- ah, Sherlock, why did you actually call them over?"
"Hmm?"
Sherlock followed Harry's gaze and couldn't help but laugh.
Cho Chang and Ginny, these two girls were entering the Great Hall from two different directions.
Their destination, however, was the same: Harry, who sat frozen with his spoon in hand.
"I've told you before, dear Harry, females are your area of expertise."
Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry's tense shoulders relaxed slightly. At least he could confirm that these two girls weren't deliberately arranged by him.
However, when Cho Chang and Ginny approached him side by side, he still felt a strange, indescribable sensation.
What happened next unfolded exactly as Harry had imagined.
Although Cho Chang and Ginny appeared to get along perfectly well on the surface, both encouraging Harry in their own ways, as the recipient of their attention, Harry felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
Cho Chang spread blueberry jam evenly on bread, her black hair swaying gently with the motion, dewdrops on it glinting in the candlelight.
She handed the bread to Harry, her voice as soft as morning mist: "This is a new flavor from Honeydukes. It'll keep you alert while replenishing your blood sugar."
"Thank you, Cho."
Harry took the bread and bit into it, immediately perking up. The taste was indeed as good as Cho Chang had described.
Red-haired Ginny sat on Harry's other side. Seeing this, she immediately pushed the steaming pumpkin juice toward Harry:
"You can't just eat bread, Harry. You need to drink some of this, or you'll choke."
"Listen—all right, Ginny."
Under the black and red hair, two pairs of beautiful eyes briefly met across three rows of silver candlesticks, and thunder rolled appropriately across the Great Hall's ceiling.
"Don't worry, Harry. Believe in yourself, believe in your teammates, believe in your Nimbus 2000."
After a brief silence, Cho Chang smiled gracefully and looked away first.
"The terrible weather doesn't just affect Gryffindor, it affects Hufflepuff too. As long as you play normally, you'll definitely catch the Golden Snitch before Diggory."
Ginny pinched her slightly burning earlobes. "Harry, Hufflepuff is a piece of cake. Beat them!"
Cho Chang: "Overconfidence leads to defeat. Harry, confidence is good, but if it becomes arrogance, that's not good."
Ginny: "Harry, you really don't need to overthink it. Just do it!"
Harry: ((*・・)→→
Watching this scene, Sherlock found it enormously entertaining.
This subtle confrontation in front of him was clearly a collision of wisdom and courage.
One weaving armor with reason, the other forging a sword with passion, yet both hiding their tenderness beneath the hardest shell, building an invisible fortress for the same person.
So, following the Savior of the Wizarding World, the Boy Who Lived, the Dark Lord's Nemesis, and the Boxing Champion of Gryffindor, should his good friend acquire a new title?
The Cross-Dimensional Gravitational Source of Gryffindor Tower, or the Calibration Star of Ravenclaw's Orrery, or perhaps more directly, Primary Sample for Love Potion Distillation?
Just then, the other Gryffindor team members gradually arrived at the Great Hall to eat.
When they saw Cho Chang and Ginny sitting on both side of Harry, they all froze.
Being scrutinized with such strange looks, both girls' faces flushed.
They initially wanted to leave, but upon seeing each other, both chose to remain in place.
Only Wood seemed oblivious to this scene, speaking seriously to the other team members.
"Today will be a tough battle."
"Don't worry, Oliver," Alicia consoled him. "We don't mind a little drizzle."
"Oliver, you should eat something," Harry also urged.
"Harry, you're the one who should eat more. We're counting on you for today's match."
"Thanks, but I came early and already ate quite a bit."
Calling this a drizzle was quite an understatement from Alicia.
Because some professors and students heading to watch the match had their umbrellas blown away halfway there.
This forced them to lower their heads, battling the fierce wind while running across the lawn toward the pitch.
"This year's weather is even worse than last year's."
Hermione, who had returned after taking Crookshanks to the dormitory, frowned.
As she walked toward the stands, she was buffeted by the wind and quickly clutched Sherlock's arm tightly.
"That's why those despicable Slytherins made excuses to forfeit the match," Ginny said indignantly.
Just then, Sherlock felt his other arm tighten.
It was Luna Lovegood, whom he hadn't seen in a while.
"I brought Luna along too," Ginny said with a grin. "She was happy to watch the match with us."
Luna naturally held Sherlock's other arm, curiously looking him over. "Today you're not plagued by Nargles."
"Oi, Ginny, ease up a bit."
Ron, whose arm Ginny had been gripping, couldn't help but complain.
"If I don't hold on tight, what if the wind blows me away? Ron, you're too weak! Look at Sherlock—he's got two girls holding his arms and he's not saying anything!"
Ron looked at Sherlock, who had Hermione and Luna each holding one of his arms, then thought back to Harry being attended to by both Ginny and Cho Chang at the dining table, and couldn't help but sigh deeply.
What a world!
Hermione glanced at Luna, who was holding Sherlock's arm just like she was, and frowned slightly.
Thanks to Sherlock, she now had some understanding of this girl called "Loony Lovegood."
"Loony" was never a compliment.
Calling someone that in private was one thing, but saying it to their face was essentially pointing at their nose and insulting them.
Ginny had even argued with some boys who called Luna loony to her face.
But then again, nicknames were usually accurate, even if names could be wrong.
Luna didn't give the impression of being a normal person.
She had even more peculiarities than Sherlock.
First was her unique aesthetic sense.
She usually wore very odd jewelry, like necklaces strung with Butterbeer corks, radish-shaped earrings, sometimes stuck her wand behind her ear, and occasionally wore Spectrespecs.
As for her daily behavior, that was even stranger.
Her voice often sounded dreamy when she spoke, as if she were in a trance. She believed in the existence of many creatures not yet officially discovered, including the Nargles she'd mentioned multiple times, as well as Moon Frogs, Blibbering Humdingers, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, and so on.
Additionally, her blunt personality could sometimes make people uncomfortable.
She never considered the atmosphere when speaking—basically bringing up whatever topic shouldn't be mentioned.
Though this was actually quite similar to Sherlock.
In short, she gave off a distinctly eccentric vibe.
While Hermione sympathized with Luna being frequently mocked by classmates, she also couldn't understand why this girl would believe so firmly in so many things without any evidence.
The group of five sat down in the stands, with Luna between Sherlock and Ginny becoming the middle person.
The clouds at this moment were like crumpled black parchment, pressing down above the towers of Hogwarts Castle.
The Quidditch pitch was filled with howling winds, rolling thunder, and torrential rain. Even so, when the Gryffindor team members in their scarlet and gold robes and the Hufflepuff team members in their yellow and black robes appeared on the field from two different directions, the spectators in the stands couldn't help but cheer loudly.
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