One afternoon, Seamus Finnigan started shouting loudly in the common room.
"The exams are still ages away! What do they want? What on earth do they want?"
Seamus was so irritable because the Easter holiday for Hogwarts third-years had absolutely no festive atmosphere whatsoever.
The third-year students had never experienced such a massive amount of homework before.
No one could escape it and go home for the holidays.
Neville, with his fragile mental state, was already on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Many others like Seamus couldn't bear the pressure and roared in the common room.
Dean Thomas even spontaneously performed singing, dancing, and rapping in the common room, composing lyrics denouncing the school's inhumanity, which received unanimous praise from his classmates.
However, when Seamus pulled out his wand trying to set off fireworks to liven things up, everyone was immediately terrified.
Without any need for organization, several nearby students rushed forward, snatched his wand away, and strongly condemned his irresponsible behavior.
Harry, who had originally planned to return to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, was also forced to stay at school.
Compared to other students, he was even busier, because besides the enormous amount of homework, Wood had once again increased the training intensity.
He had scheduled training for every single day of the holiday.
"Sleep? You still want to sleep?"
When the drowsy Weasley twins couldn't help but complain while Wood was explaining tactics, Wood immediately flew into a rage.
"At your age, at this stage, you can actually sleep!"
After being severely reprimanded, even the mischievous Weasley twins didn't dare act up anymore.
After Wood increased the training intensity, Harry could only squeeze in time to do homework between training sessions.
Even during this process, he couldn't devote all his attention to homework.
Because Wood would constantly come to the common room to discuss tactics with him.
Once he started discussing, it was simply endless and painfully torturous.
However, Harry could understand Wood.
He was himself a fanatical Quidditch enthusiast.
Now the schedule for the final two matches had been set, so it was no wonder he was so tense.
The third term after Easter would host the final two matches of the 1993-1994 school year.
The first match was Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff.
The second match was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.
Whether Wood could win the Quidditch Cup depended entirely on this.
If he lost again this time, he would never have another chance—as a seventh-year, he would graduate this year.
As for the two matches themselves, the first match had almost no suspense.
Everyone believed Hufflepuff would lose to Slytherin, and by a large margin at that.
The reason was simple. although Cedric had assembled a completely new team, they still lost to Ravenclaw.
Although Slytherin narrowly defeated Ravenclaw in their match, everyone could see that their strength was indeed superior to Ravenclaw's.
As for Hufflepuff's victory over Gryffindor, due to the interference of the external factor of Dementors, it had no reference value.
Therefore, the more points Slytherin won against Hufflepuff, the harder it would be for Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup.
Besides Harry preparing for Quidditch, the busiest person in the entire third year was Hermione.
Even though she had dropped Divination before Easter, she still had far more classes than everyone else.
Every evening, she was the last person to leave the common room.
The next morning, she was the first person to rush to the library.
Not only did she have dark circles under her eyes like Professor Lupin, who would become a werewolf, but she also constantly looked like she was about to cry.
Even Harry, who was himself busy beyond measure, felt heartbroken when he saw her.
As the Easter holiday drew to a close, Hermione's mental state grew increasingly worse, and Harry finally couldn't stand it anymore.
He felt Hermione shouldn't continue like this.
As a good friend, he had to do something.
So, he decisively sought out Sherlock.
"Sherlock, who are you writing to?"
He asked this because Sherlock was writing furiously on a piece of parchment.
On the right side of the desk stood Watson, who was tilting his head watching Sherlock, looking like he was waiting.
Having spent so much time with Sherlock, Harry was now accustomed to observing rather than just looking.
With Sherlock and Watson in this state, it was obvious he was writing to someone else, just waiting to finish so Watson could deliver the letter.
"Gemma."
Sherlock said without looking up, "Dear Harry, if you could think one layer deeper, you wouldn't need to ask me—you could deduce who this letter is for."
"Uh..."
As a seventh-year student, Gemma Farley had been very busy recently.
She was preparing for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test (N.E.W.T.).
This was the advanced version of the Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) examination, far more difficult.
So although she and Sherlock were good friends, she had rarely appeared recently. It was perfectly normal for Sherlock to communicate with Gemma this way.
"Alright, I admit I didn't think it through."
When facing Sherlock, Harry always said what was on his mind, never beating around the bush.
So he poured out all his worries about Hermione, then made his request.
"Sherlock, you should go persuade her—she only listens to you now."
Although Harry said this, he had already prepared himself to be refused by Sherlock.
After all, during this entire time, Sherlock had been almost completely indifferent to Hermione's situation.
Of course, it couldn't be said he was completely indifferent.
Regarding Hermione's situation, Sherlock actually knew more than anyone.
It was just that his attitude toward Hermione was exactly the same as before—he neither showed excessive concern because Hermione seemed about to break down, nor had he distanced himself.
When Harry brought this up, Sherlock's pen only paused slightly, then continued writing smoothly, seemingly unaffected by the matter.
Even after Harry made his request, Sherlock still unhurriedly finished writing, tied the parchment to Watson's leg, patted him gently, then watched him leave.
As if he hadn't heard Harry speak at all.
So Harry made up his mind that if Sherlock still said the same thing as before—that this was Hermione's own choice then he would have to steel himself and go persuade Hermione himself.
Actually, Ron had already tried to persuade Hermione at the beginning of the Easter holiday.
The result was that Hermione crisply informed him that she knew very well what she was doing.
Harry felt that if he tried, Hermione would probably just be more polite than she had been with Ron.
Persuading her to give up would be impossible.
But what he didn't expect was that Sherlock suddenly looked back at him and said, "Alright."
"Fantastic!"
When he saw Sherlock stand up and walk toward Hermione, who was buried in a pile of textbooks, Harry couldn't help but breathe a long sigh of relief.
He turned to Ron beside him and said, "Now we finally don't have to worry about Hermione."
"Mate, I think you should worry about yourself first."
Ron sighed and jerked his chin toward the door, "Your dear captain is here again."
When he saw that ordinarily built strongman appear once more at the entrance to the common room, Harry couldn't help but blurt out.
"Oh my god!"
Looking at Harry being forcibly pulled aside by Wood to discuss tactics, Ron shrugged and turned his gaze to the other side.
Sherlock had already reached Hermione.
"Don't talk to me, I don't have time right now... Oh, it's you!"
When she felt the light in front of her being blocked by a shadow, Hermione immediately said impatiently.
But when she looked up and saw it was Sherlock, she couldn't help but show a surprised expression.
She carefully looked left and right, then said softly, "What's wrong?"
Hermione's attitude toward Sherlock was different from everyone else's.
Not only because Sherlock was the hero who had saved her more than once, but also because Sherlock was the only person who knew the secret of the Time-Turner.
"Harry asked me to persuade you. He's very worried about you."
Hearing Sherlock's words, Hermione first froze, then smiled bitterly.
"Sherlock, how can even you...
It's one thing for Harry and Ron not to know, but you clearly know my situation."
"It's precisely because I know that I'm saying this to you."
As Sherlock spoke, he extended his slender fingers and gently tapped the table.
Hermione looked at him uncomprehendingly, not quite understanding what Sherlock's gesture meant.
"Your reactions have become even duller."
Sherlock frowned, "This is not a good sign—three days ago, you even forgot to attend Arithmancy."
Hermione couldn't help but blush at this, "You went outdoors that class, I thought you didn't know..."
"I know everything," Sherlock said extremely rapidly, "Also, your period this month came a week earlier than usual..."
"Shh—!"
Hermione was startled and quickly reached out to cover Sherlock's mouth, preventing him from continuing.
At this moment, her face was as red as the Weasley family's signature hair.
"Sherlock, how can you say such things?"
"Did I say anything wrong? Judging this from your physical condition is the simplest thing imaginable, and also..."
"Please, stop talking!"
Seeing that people in the common room were already looking at her and Sherlock, Hermione quickly stood up.
"This isn't the place to talk. Let's go somewhere else?"
"Fine, that's exactly what I was thinking."
Watching Sherlock and Hermione leave the common room together, Harry, who had been suffering under Wood's torture, couldn't help but perk up.
Indeed, only Sherlock could handle this!
"Where are we going? That empty classroom on the fourth floor?"
After leaving the common room, Hermione asked casually.
"No, this time we're going somewhere different."
Sherlock looked deeply at Hermione and said so.
Soon, the two arrived on the eighth floor.
Watching Sherlock stop in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet, Hermione couldn't help but freeze. "Sherlock, this is what you mean by somewhere different?"
She looked around. This place indeed rarely had visitors.
But even so, compared to the empty classroom on the fourth floor, the latter was surely more suitable for conversation, wasn't it?
"No, we're waiting for someone here."
"Waiting for someone?"
Hermione asked in surprise, "We just need to talk this through between the two of us. Who else do we need to wait for?"
The clever girl knew very well that Sherlock wasn't talking about Harry or Ron, otherwise they would have already followed them out.
But Hermione also didn't think there would be anyone else who could join this conversation, unless...
"Is it Professor McGonagall? Did you ask her to come?"
Hermione suddenly thought of this possibility.
After all, besides Sherlock and herself, only Professor McGonagall knew about the Time-Turner.
"You can't do this, Sherlock..."
Hermione was startled, then said pleadingly.
"If Professor McGonagall thinks I can't handle all the courses, she'll definitely adjust the arrangement and revoke my permission to use the Time-Turner!"
"That would indeed be a good solution."
Sherlock smiled and said, "However, I won't use that method until you completely refuse my proposal."
"That's great!"
Hearing that Sherlock hadn't told Professor McGonagall about this, Hermione breathed a long sigh of relief.
"So what's your proposal?"
She reached out with both hands to grasp Sherlock's, looking into his gray eyes and saying seriously.
"There's just been a small accident, but the situation is still under my control. You don't need to worry about me..."
"My dear Hermione, I don't think ending up like this still counts as a small accident."
"Sherlock, you must believe me..."
Hermione's words came to an abrupt halt, her original expression instantly was replaced by a trace of barely perceptible wariness.
A tall girl was rapidly climbing the stairs.
Gemma Farley.
She was clearly in a great hurry.
Besides being able to tell this from her walking speed, her slightly disheveled long hair and her chest rising and falling with rapid breathing also proved this point.
When Gemma saw Sherlock and Hermione, she stopped walking, her gaze falling on Hermione's hands grasping Sherlock's, her eyes revealing a trace of surprise and inquiry.
Caught off guard, Hermione also froze.
However, she still subconsciously looked down, her eyes revealing a trace of barely detectable regret, then asked.
"Head Girl Farley? Why have you come here?"
Gemma noticed that when Hermione asked this question, her hands holding Sherlock's didn't let go. She nodded slightly toward Sherlock and Hermione and answered.
"Miss Granger, actually I came here because..."
"I had Watson call Gemma over."
Before Gemma finished speaking, Sherlock answered for her, then said crisply, "Gemma, open the door first. We'll talk about other things after we go inside."
"Alright."
Gemma nodded, then began pacing back and forth along the corridor.
"Sherlock, what... what on earth is going on?"
At this moment, watching Gemma, Hermione was already stunned and dumbfounded by Sherlock's maneuver.
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