Hermione had originally just wanted to find a different place where she could have a proper conversation with Sherlock about the Time-Turner and her course schedule.
After all, discussing her period in public was simply too embarrassing.
But what she hadn't expected was that when the place changed, so did the people.
After experiencing it firsthand, Hermione admitted that the Room of Requirement was indeed a wonderful place.
But was it really necessary to call Gemma over too?
Even though she was the one who had told Sherlock about this room's secret.
Even though Gemma had earned twelve certificates in her fifth year.
And so the problem had circled back to where it started.
"Sherlock, you clearly know that my situation is different from Head Girl Gemma's.
I need to catch up on all my courses, I need to pass my O.W.L.s, I need to..."
"What you need is to take your exams with a healthy body and a clear mind, not to burn yourself out halfway there."
Sherlock's voice wasn't loud, but it was extremely penetrating, every word was crystal clear.
"Just in the past two weeks, your neural response speed has noticeably slowed.
Due to excessive fatigue, you forgot to attend Arithmancy class.
You mistook Devil's Snare for Mandrake roots in Professor Sprout's assignment.
You made spelling errors in your Ancient Runes course.
You should be well aware that these aren't accidental mistakes, but the result of mental exhaustion—not to mention you're only sleeping a few hours each day!"
Hermione looked at Sherlock in surprise. She never imagined that Sherlock was so thoroughly aware of her every move.
So, despite Sherlock's accusatory tone, Hermione wasn't angry at all—in fact, she felt somewhat touched.
Gemma, standing to the side, watched this scene with interest.
When Sherlock had written asking for her help, she already knew he valued Hermione greatly.
Now it seemed Sherlock's regard for Hermione was even deeper than she had imagined.
"Sherlock, I'm not—I didn't..."
Since she was touched, Hermione instinctively wanted to make excuses when faced with Sherlock's interrogation.
But Sherlock interrupted her without any courtesy.
"Hermione, you've put too much pressure on yourself.
This has already exceeded your mental capacity limits—your declining performance is the most direct and powerful proof.
If this continues, you'll age faster than you should."
Sherlock's tone was utterly flat, yet carried an undeniable sense of dissection.
His gray eyes looked directly at Hermione, making her unable to meet his gaze in that moment.
Just as Hermione had guessed, Sherlock hadn't told Gemma about the Time-Turner in his letter.
He had merely said he needed Gemma's help to persuade Hermione.
However, neither Harry, who had come to ask Sherlock to convince Hermione, nor Hermione herself had truly realized the severity of this matter.
The key issue lay with the Time-Turner itself.
When Hermione used the Time-Turner, it seemed like she had more time than others, but what she paid wasn't just doubled effort.
One could only say she was still too young to know that every gift bestowed by fate has its price marked in secret.
Every hour the Time-Turner created for Hermione had a real effect on her biological age.
According to Sherlock's observations, from when Hermione started using the Time-Turner until now, her actual age had increased by at least four to six months compared to her calendar age.
Furthermore, although Hermione currently only used the Time-Turner to go back in time for classes, Sherlock saw the hidden dangers within.
Sherlock always believed that if time could be treated as a type of magic, it was absolutely more dangerous than Transfiguration.
Last time in Hogsmeade, after learning that Hermione was using the Time-Turner to achieve the goal of attending three classes simultaneously, Sherlock had questioned this matter right in front of her.
Anything involving time becomes extraordinarily troublesome.
A butterfly flapping its wings in South America might trigger a tornado in Texas.
The butterfly effect—this chaotic phenomenon becomes even more pronounced when combined with a Time-Turner.
A seemingly insignificant tiny change could very likely affect the development of events.
So far, Harry and Ron had noticed Hermione's mysterious appearances and disappearances more than once.
Because these were just small matters in their daily lives, they hadn't caused any serious consequences.
But if you play with fire often enough, you'll eventually get burned.
Even someone like Sherlock, who excelled at using deductive reasoning to analyze problems, couldn't guarantee that one day when Hermione used the Time-Turner to go back in time, an unintentional action might trigger massive changes through the butterfly effect.
Just like he'd mentioned earlier—Hermione had forgotten an Arithmancy class due to fatigue.
In the established facts of past time, and in the memories of others who attended that class, Hermione simply hadn't been there.
So, no matter how much Hermione used the Time-Turner, she couldn't make up that class. Because Hermione hadn't appeared at that point in the past.
So when past time flowed to the present, Hermione couldn't appear there anymore.
If she tried to change history, a time paradox would occur.
This was absolutely forbidden.
But if history actually changed due to some accident, what would happen to the present and future?
Although according to Professor McGonagall, the Ministry of Magic had strict conditions for using Time-Turners, but...
Sherlock had absolutely no confidence in the management capabilities of those bureaucrats.
So the question arose.
With something like Time-Turners existing, how could people know whether current history had been rewritten?
And how could they know that current events weren't derived from already-altered history?
The result was: they couldn't know.
Let alone Sherlock himself—even Mycroft couldn't help if he came.
This was also why Sherlock wasn't fond of the Time-Turner.
The thing was simply too overpowered.
When Sherlock finished speaking, the room instantly fell silent, with only the crackling of burning wood in the fireplace.
Hermione's face went white as paper, her lips trembling slightly.
Gemma's understanding of this statement was only surface-level, but Hermione knew very clearly that Sherlock had revealed a cold reality she instinctively avoided—she really was aging faster.
Moreover, when Professor McGonagall had given her the Time-Turner, she had also told her about terrible things that had happened after wizards tampered with time.
Many people had killed their past or future selves by mistake.
Even worse, some had made only minor changes, yet history had been overwritten multiple times because of these minor changes, creating an entirely new history.
Most terrifying of all was that everyone on the new timeline wouldn't remember the other history that had already occurred.
According to Ministry calculations, time travel that caused serious harm to Time-Turner users or time itself often occurred when going back more than five hours.
So, the Time-Turner Professor McGonagall gave Hermione was the standard version.
It could only take her back within five hours.
More advanced Time-Turners were still stored at the Ministry.
But with Gemma present, it naturally wasn't convenient to tell Sherlock these things.
Thinking of this, Hermione stubbornly raised her head to look at Sherlock.
Her eyes were complex containing awe, grievance, and a stubborn persistence.
At the root of it all, she just wanted to prove she could do it.
Wanted to be worthy of the life he had saved.
Wanted to stand before this powerful, wise person without seeming weak.
Last time she gave up Divination, on one hand it was certainly because she thought Professor Trelawney was a complete fraud and Divination itself was meaningless.
On the other hand, it was because she'd listened to Sherlock's advice and appropriately chosen to give up. But she hadn't expected that even after giving up Divination, she still couldn't bear such an intense academic burden.
While feeling helpless, she also felt intense dissatisfaction with herself.
It was just taking two more courses than others—why couldn't she do it?
Why was she so useless?
No, I can do it. My potential hasn't been fully unleashed yet!
No matter what, this time I have to grit my teeth and persist.
Thinking this, she took a deep breath and looked at Sherlock.
"Sherlock, I don't care, and I can control it!
I know very clearly what I'm doing. This time, I won't give up."
Hermione's voice was firm, yet carried a hint of tearfulness that even she hadn't noticed.
Hearing this, Sherlock couldn't help but frown.
Hermione's stubbornness exceeded his logic-based predictions.
His blunt, fact-based assessment of harm hadn't achieved the desired effect.
This won't do. It seems I need to increase the intensity!
Sherlock was about to speak when Gemma, who had been quietly observing, stepped forward.
"Sherlock, why don't you let me talk with Miss Hermione?"
"It's not your turn yet."
Hermione, Gemma: "..."
That's so you!
However, this time Gemma didn't follow Sherlock's wishes.
She smiled and said, "Sherlock, you're the one who asked me to come help."
"So?"
"So this time you have to listen to me."
Gemma rarely chose to insist when facing Sherlock.
Sherlock thought carefully for three seconds, then nodded.
Gemma was right—he had specifically called her here today, hoping her experience could help Hermione.
Although he felt it wasn't her turn yet, since she was volunteering, let her take action.
Gemma smiled slightly, first gracefully and steadily pouring Sherlock a cup of tea, then taking Hermione's hand and walking to the other side of the room.
It seemed she didn't intend to let Sherlock hear their conversation.
Sherlock didn't mind.
He casually pulled a copy of Criminal Psychology from the bookshelf and began reading.
On the other side of the room, Gemma still held Hermione's hand, her blue eyes looking gently at the girl.
That gaze was completely different from Sherlock's—no sharp analysis, no observer's judgment. It was more like an understanding older sister who knew about academic pressure.
"Hermione, no one is questioning your abilities, and no one thinks you're being reckless.
Being able to handle so many courses simultaneously is already an extraordinary feat. Compared to what you're doing now, my third-year experience can only be described as shameful."
Gemma smiled slightly. "You know what? Last week I went to the library to look up materials and happened to hear some Slytherin wizards discussing you."
"They must have said I was arrogant, conceited, unbearably annoying, right?"
"Quite the opposite, Hermione."
Gemma gently patted Hermione's cool hand, her blue eyes filled with warmth like afternoon sunlight.
"They said, 'That Muggle-born Granger from Gryffindor is like a walking encyclopedia. She's taking all the courses and still manages to stay at the top of her class.
Since first year, no question has ever stumped her. Even compared to that Gryffindor Lion King known for wisdom, she's just as impressive.'"
Her voice was kind and calm, carrying genuine recognition.
Hermione was stunned for quite a while before saying hesitantly.
"Gemma, did they really say that? I mean, a group of older Slytherin students actually praised me?"
It wasn't surprising Hermione didn't believe it. Slytherin and Gryffindor had always been at odds.
In her view, it was already generous that these people hadn't called her a Mudblood in private. How could they possibly praise her?
Gemma laughed. "Is this why you've always been wary of me, Miss Know-It-All?"
Hermione, being called this, wasn't angry. Because she could tell Gemma meant it as friendly teasing, not full of mockery like Professor Snape.
"Gemma, I know you're different from other Slytherins, but the others are..."
"Hermione, you can consider this self-promotion if you like, but I must say—you really don't need to view Slytherin with prejudice.
Also, it's not that I'm different from other Slytherins. It's that people like Malfoy and Pansy are different from Slytherin.
We can't deny Slytherin's excellence just because there are more people like them."
Gemma said this and sighed deeply.
"I know you've heard unkind words and suffered injustices. These things are real.
But I want to tell you that in Slytherin I've also seen girls bandaging injured animals in the Forbidden Forest, and boys who were willing to be late and punished to help lower-year students from other houses find their lost cauldrons."
Hermione froze.
She clearly hadn't expected Gemma to say such things.
In her impression, Slytherin students were always associated with words like "arrogant," "cold," and "cliquish exclusion."
She had never even imagined the scenes Gemma described, let alone witnessed them.
She heard Gemma continue.
"Professor McGonagall told us when we enrolled that the four houses are just divided by different qualities. The Sorting Hat emphasizes this in its song every year.
Gryffindor's bravery, Hufflepuff's loyalty, Ravenclaw's wisdom, and Slytherin's ambition.
I think you should know very well that ambition isn't a pejorative. There's nothing wrong with it.
Just as too much bravery becomes recklessness, wisdom used incorrectly becomes calculation.
Houses—they're just labels, and they can't define everyone."
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