Seeing Ron and Dean wrestling with each other, Harry couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. With those two fighting, he wouldn't have to tell Dean about Cho Chang after all.
It had to be said, Dean was remarkably perceptive in this regard.
Today's trip to Hogsmeade had been incredibly fruitful.
First, he'd finally seen his godfather, Sirius Black, after two months apart.
He looked even more spirited than when they'd last parted.
When Harry, Ron, and Cho Chang arrived at the Three Broomsticks for their meeting, they found wizards coming up to chat with Sirius in an endless stream.
What left Harry even more speechless was that while most of those crowding around Sirius were witches, there were occasionally one or two wizards as well.
Male wizards!
Absolutely ridiculous!
The arrival of the three young wizards finally made these people settle down for a bit.
When Ron tried to sit next to Harry as usual, Sirius pulled him down to sit beside himself instead, smiling as he said to the three young wizards.
"If you'd arrived any later, I would have considered leaving first."
"Haha, that's because you're too popular!" Ron laughed. "It was the same at King's Cross Station in London last time!"
Harry didn't notice anything amiss either.
He was still immersed in the joy of reuniting with Sirius, sitting down directly across from him.
Only Cho Chang, as she naturally took the seat beside Harry, keenly noticed that Sirius's subtle movement had been deliberate.
It was so Harry would sit across from him with her!
This detail immediately made Cho Chang nervous.
However, as time passed, the conversation among the four became pleasant.
Partly because Ron's easygoing personality was there.
Partly because Sirius was genuinely impressive.
Despite being nearly twenty years older than them and having been imprisoned in Azkaban for twelve full years, once he regained his freedom, he quickly adapted to magical society.
Now when he conversed with the three of them, there was remarkably no generation gap, and he didn't put on any elder's airs whatsoever.
It had to be said, good-looking people have advantages.
Even the same words, when spoken by someone attractive, seemed full of decency.
Worth mentioning was that Sirius was also an expert at Quidditch.
He evaluated the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match with a professional eye.
"Gryffindor's advantage over Ravenclaw is comprehensive.
I'm not being biased toward Gryffindor, but from my observation of this match, in almost every position, Ravenclaw is inferior to Gryffindor.
Ravenclaw's Keeper Grant Page has fast reflexes.
But compared to Gryffindor's Keeper Oliver Wood, his physique isn't solid enough, which will be a disadvantage in intense confrontations.
Additionally, his stamina isn't as good as Wood's. Once the match drags on, his attention will naturally be distracted by declining energy.
As for the three Chasers, Roger Davies, Randolph Burrow, and Jeremy Stretton are all boys, but compared to Gryffindor's three female Chasers Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell, aside from stamina, they have no particularly obvious advantages.
Only team captain Roger Davies has relatively outstanding technical skills, but unfortunately, he alone can't support the whole team.
The Beater positions show an even more obvious gap.
Layson Samuels and Duncan Inglebee simply can't compare to the Weasley twins, who themselves are like two Bludgers on the field.
As for the Seeker position... Cho, you have very excellent flying skills.
Without Harry, you would be the best Seeker in all of Hogwarts.
Unfortunately, Harry is stronger than you—after all, he's the youngest Seeker in a century, the only person to become a regular player as a first-year.
As for broomsticks..."
"Wait!" Harry couldn't help interrupting Sirius.
He looked at Sirius in shock. "You—you actually remember the names of everyone on both Quidditch teams!"
Ron and Cho Chang were equally astonished.
After all, even the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students themselves might not be able to do that.
But Sirius had done it after watching just one match?
What level of ability was this?
"It's not difficult, is it?" Sirius said dismissively. "That commentator Lee Jordan is your friend, right?
He announced everyone's names during the match. After hearing them once and remembering them, isn't that quite normal?"
Harry, Ron, and Cho Chang: "..."
After a moment, Harry finally spoke.
"Uh, honestly, probably only Sherlock and Hermione could do something like that."
"Ah, today's students..." Sirius kept shaking his head in a way that made the three young wizards feel thoroughly ashamed.
Sorry for disappointing our predecessor!
After answering the trio's questions, Sirius continued.
"The gap in broomsticks is actually better than the gap in team members.
The two Beaters Layson Samuels and Duncan Inglebee have Cleansweep Sevens, much better than the Weasleys' Cleansweep Fives.
But the technical gap between the two sides levels out the difference in brooms.
Other positions are similar—while there are differences, they're not obvious.
But at the crucial Seeker position, the gap between Cho's Comet 260 and the Firebolt is too great.
Under these circumstances, it would be strange if Gryffindor didn't win."
At this point, Sirius looked at Harry with pride.
"Your father was an excellent Chaser who once won one of Gryffindor's rare Quidditch Cups in history.
Keep it up, Harry. I'm sure you can do it this year too.
Minerva will definitely be happy."
"Professor McGonagall?"
"Yes, around 1953 or so, when Minerva was a seventh-year, she fell from her broomstick during a match against Slytherin due to their malicious foul.
She broke several ribs and suffered a concussion, and stayed away from the field after that.
But her love for Quidditch hasn't diminished at all.
If you go to Hogwarts's trophy room, you should be able to see both her and James's names.
That's why she applied to Dumbledore to let Harry join the Quidditch team as an exception, and personally bought a Nimbus 2000 as a gift for Harry.
She really wants to see Slytherin defeated by Gryffindor!"
The three young wizards looked at each other.
None of them had expected that the usually stern Professor McGonagall had such a past.
"I think Sherlock must have noticed this," Harry said slowly. "Last year we received Special Services to the School awards, and our names were placed in the trophy room..."
Sirius smiled. "Harry, you're good friends with Sherlock, so you should learn something from him, right?
While having friends to rely on is good, you can't depend on friends all the time, can you?
You're going to get married eventually. If every other sentence is about Sherlock, you can't very well spend your whole life with him, can you?"
Hearing Sirius say this, Harry's face flushed slightly.
After finishing with Quidditch, Sirius chatted with the three young wizards about magic.
He showed great interest in Harry learning the Patronus Charm with Remus.
"Sherlock's Patronus is a lion? Interesting!
Your Patronus is smaller than a lion—could it be a dog?"
Sirius became excited at once.
Because his Patronus was also a large dog.
After chatting for quite a while, they finally left the Three Broomsticks.
Sirius's familiarity with Hogsmeade went without saying.
Under his guidance, the three visited Honeydukes sweet shop, Gladrags Wizardwear, Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, and the Zonko's Joke Shop that Ron had been longing for.
Besides being full of guidance throughout, all of today's expenses were naturally paid by him.
Harry felt this was perfectly fine.
Ron and Cho Chang, however, felt a bit embarrassed.
"Ron, don't forget my relationship with Arthur and Molly. Whether as your uncle or your cousin, buying you some things is nothing!
As for Miss Chang, you needn't worry even more—consider it a small compensation from me as an elder for Harry not inviting you to visit during last winter break!"
"But..."
"No buts! These things are nothing. If you keep refusing, I'll buy you a Firebolt!"
Cho Chang was instantly frightened by Sirius's generosity.
Indeed, compared to a Firebolt, clothes, stationery, and snacks really were nothing.
The way Sirius looked, if she didn't accept, he really might buy a Firebolt.
That would be even more difficult to handle.
However, after accepting these gifts, she secretly resolved that next time she visited Harry's new home, she must tell her parents to bring sufficient return gifts.
It wasn't until evening when the sky darkened that Sirius finally sent the three laden with purchases onto the carriage, watching as the thestrals—invisible to most pulled the carriage gradually away.
After a long while, a smile appeared at the corners of Sirius's mouth.
"How wonderful, James... our child has grown up!"
Ron and Dean scuffled for a bit before separating.
It was just joking around, so naturally neither took it seriously.
But Ron still warned Dean not to get any ideas about his sister.
Next, Harry and Ron picked out the things they'd brought back for Hermione, and the rest was divided between Sherlock and Neville, who hadn't gone to Hogsmeade village.
This made Neville very happy.
Because he also loved snacks—that's how he got his round face.
Originally, he'd planned to ask Harry to bring some back for him, but unfortunately, his poor memory made him forget all about it.
However, the kind-hearted Harry hadn't forgotten this poor friend, which moved him greatly.
After spending this wonderful weekend, time finally came to March.
In Charms class, Professor Flitwick finally taught them new content—the Cheering Charm.
Still practicing in pairs.
Having learned his lesson a few times since first year, Professor Flitwick always assigned Sherlock to partner with Seamus and Hermione with Neville.
Both could effectively provide backup.
Harry and Ron continued their Harry-Ron combination.
The Cheering Charm is a spell that can elevate a creature's mood, making people feel cheerful and even smile naturally.
This spell was invented by a wizard named Felix Summerbee.
With Sherlock and Hermione leading the way, the class was naturally very successful, and the two once again earned twenty points for Gryffindor.
After class, all the students went to lunch with big grins on their faces—because the Cheering Charm made them feel satisfied.
"This spell is pretty good—look, even Hermione is smiling. Huh, where's Hermione?"
Ron looked back.
Harry also looked around. Hermione wasn't there.
But Harry clearly remembered that when they left the classroom, Hermione had been right behind him.
"That's strange... Sherlock, did you see Hermione?"
Sherlock pointed. "Over there."
Harry and Ron looked in the direction Sherlock indicated and saw Hermione hurrying over from the other side of the castle.
"How did you do that?" Ron's eyes widened. "You clearly left the classroom with us..."
"I went to the bathroom."
Hermione lied without batting an eye, taking a quick step to Sherlock's side and using his tall height for cover as she secretly stuffed her Muggle Studies textbook into her bag.
"You just didn't notice."
Due to the Cheering Charm's effect, Harry and Ron didn't think much of it.
By the time they were eating apple pie, under the influence of the Cheering Charm, Hermione temporarily forgot about the troubles of studying multiple courses simultaneously.
She shared a little secret with her friends—Professor Flitwick had hinted that the final exam would include content about the Cheering Charm.
"That's good news. At least we can stay cheerful while revising."
Ron said indistinctly while stuffing the rest of his pie into his mouth.
After lunch, the influence of the Cheering Charm gradually faded.
"It's rare to have a Divination class with no conflicts. Sherlock can finally attend class with us!"
The happiest person about Sherlock attending Divination was Harry.
He was truly fed up with Professor Trelawney predicting ominous things would happen to him every time.
Several times he'd almost couldn't help shouting. "The Grim is Sirius, and my Godfather wouldn't harm me!"
But he'd ultimately held back.
Fortunately, as long as Sherlock was present, the professor would usually restrain herself somewhat.
When the four of them climbed the ladder into that dim, stuffy attic classroom, they were surprised to find a glowing crystal ball on each small table, filled with pearly white mist.
"I thought we weren't learning crystal balls until next term."
Ron muttered, glancing around nervously in case Professor Trelawney was hiding nearby—she'd done this before.
"I think it's a good thing. It means we finally don't have to study palmistry anymore."
Harry whispered back. "Every time she sees my palm; she flinches as if she's seen a dementor. I'm sick of it."
"Good afternoon!"
Just then, that familiar, dreamy voice appeared.
Professor Trelawney emerged dramatically from the shadows as usual—this was her favorite way of making an entrance.
Some people still fell for it.
For example, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were trembling with excitement, their faces reflecting the milky white glow of the crystal balls, looking particularly eerie.
"I have decided to introduce the crystal ball slightly ahead of schedule."
Professor Trelawney sat down with her back to the fireplace, surveying the class as she said slowly.
"The Fates have informed me that your June examination will concern the Orb, and I wished to give you sufficient practice."
As soon as she finished speaking, an obvious snort of disdain rang out.
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