0095 The Investigation

The group of four chatted as they walked, soon arriving at Ravenclaw Tower and climbing to the top floor.

In the shadows of the tower's spiral staircase, the bronze door knocker gleamed coldly in the morning light.

The Ravenclaw common room had no password but required correctly answering the door knocker's question to enter.

Each student had only one chance—if they answered incorrectly, they would lose the right to answer again.

But it didn't matter, as Ravenclaw House, known for its wisdom, always had someone who could find the correct answer.

However, if everyone was stumped by the question, that would be entertaining.

The three young witches didn't know that Sherlock was already quite familiar with this place.

Though this was his first time coming here openly.

The bronze eagle-shaped door knocker spoke in a dull voice:

"Today's question is—Is logic the reflection of the moon or the essence of the lake?"

Penelope didn't answer immediately, but turned back with interest to look at Sherlock and Hermione.

On one hand, she was curious—she wanted to see how Sherlock Holmes, who was clearly in Gryffindor but famous for his wisdom, would answer the door knocker's question.

On the other hand, there was also a hint of testing—if you can't even get through the common room door, how can we expect you to catch the thief?

However, when she looked toward Sherlock, she found him looking around as if pretending to sightsee.

But Penelope understood that Sherlock wasn't avoiding the question.

He genuinely wasn't interested in it.

Under these circumstances, Penelope couldn't force Sherlock to answer and could only turn her gaze to Hermione.

Hermione didn't answer immediately.

She had long heard about Ravenclaw House's door knocker.

Although she hadn't detected Penelope's intention, her competitive nature meant she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Ravenclaw.

So, she pondered for a moment, and only after understanding the logic involved did, she speak:

"Reflections need the lake to exist, but the lake doesn't need reflections to prove its existence—just as wisdom doesn't need logic to prove its eternity."

The next moment, the door knocker opened with a response.

Both Penelope and Cho Chang showed surprised expressions.

They could also have given the correct answer, but they hadn't expected Hermione to do it so quickly.

"Miss Granger, you really should be in Ravenclaw!"

Penelope said excitedly.

Hermione shook her head.

This question—how to put it?

She now understood why Sherlock wasn't interested in this question.

And she also vaguely understood why Sherlock hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw.

The Ravenclaw common room was similar to Gryffindor's—also a large circular room.

But unlike Gryffindor's red and gold colors, the common room was decorated in cool tones of blue and bronze, with more dreamlike interior decoration.

Not only were the walls hung with silk in these two colors, but the arched windows also had silk curtains.

Most eye-catching was that both the domed ceiling and the deep blue carpet were covered with stars.

Walking to the window, one could fully appreciate the surrounding mountain scenery.

Tables, chairs, and bookshelves were placed on the floor, with all equipment complete.

Sherlock looked up and noticed the star chart on the dome was slowly rotating.

Purely in terms of visual effects, it was much more interesting than observing the starry sky through telescopes in Astronomy class.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze.

"There's nothing more to see here. Take us to Miss Chang's dormitory!"

Penelope nodded. She also felt the common room was unlikely to contain clues, so she led Sherlock and Hermione to Cho Chang's dormitory.

When Sherlock and Hermione entered the Ravenclaw common room, they didn't attract much attention from others.

But when he followed Penelope toward the girls' dormitory area, someone suddenly appeared.

"Prefect Clearwater!"

"Michael Corner? You didn't go home?"

Penelope looked at this black-haired little boy, thought briefly, and called out his name.

Michael Corner glanced at the girls and quietly puffed out his chest: "Yes, I plan to use this holiday to properly complete the assignments the professors gave us."

"Commendable spirit, worthy of encouragement—now step aside, we have matters to attend to."

"But, but that's the girls' dormitory!"

Michael Corner became agitated, pointing at Sherlock: "How can you let a boy go there?"

Penelope's gaze instantly became sharp:

"Michael Corner, are you questioning my decision?"

"No, no... it's just that a boy going to the girls' dormitory is still somewhat inappropriate—"

"Mr. Holmes being here has the permission of Professor Flitwick and myself!

Now step aside, don't make me say it a second time!"

Michael Corner was, after all, just a first-year student.

Being able to muster the courage to stand up had already consumed all his bravery.

Facing Penelope's imposing presence, he could only obediently step aside.

Regarding his predicament, Sherlock and Hermione acted as if they hadn't seen anything, following Penelope as they continued forward.

Cho Chang gave him an apologetic smile before hurrying to catch up with the three.

Michael Corner stood there dazed for a moment, then quickly left.

He was going to tell another Ravenclaw prefect about this matter!

Because he held a slip with Flitwick's personally written spell, Sherlock's group successfully reached the girls' dormitory area.

Shortly after they left, Michael Corner brought another Ravenclaw prefect, Robert Hilliard, over.

When they tried to enter the girls' dormitory, the stairs instantly transformed into a smooth stone slide.

Obviously, they couldn't get through.

Robert Hilliard's expression immediately changed.

"Are you certain Penelope took that Gryffindor boy to the girls' dormitory?"

"I saw it with my own eyes! It was the person called the great detective Holmes!"

"I understand."

Robert Hilliard's expression was uncertain, and he finally turned and left.

He was going to find Professor Flitwick to ask about the ins and outs of this matter.

Entering the girls' dormitory area, Sherlock's group of four attracted even more attention.

The main reason was naturally that a boy had appeared in the girls' dormitory for the first time.

However, not everyone came to gawk intensely.

Most Ravenclaw students just looked curiously at Sherlock once, then looked away to attend to their own business.

A few approached Penelope to chat, asking about the reason for this, and left contentedly after getting an explanation.

Only a very few, like Michael Corner, questioned Penelope's approach.

Even worse, when they learned that Sherlock was specifically invited by Penelope to solve Cho Chang's missing cosmetics incident, not only did they not feel relieved, but they reacted even more strongly.

Fortunately, Penelope, as a prefect, was still well-viewed, and with Professor Flitwick's backing, the four eventually managed to escape these people's entanglement.

"The resistance to this matter is greater than imagined," Penelope said as she led the way. "Even first-year students dare to question me."

The implication was that Sherlock must thoroughly investigate this matter.

"After all, we're Gryffindor."

Hermione said somewhat emotionally, "Ravenclaw, known for wisdom, now has to ask brainless brutes for help. It sounds rather ironic."

Penelope and Cho Chang looked at Hermione somewhat helplessly.

This Gryffindor really didn't know how to speak tactfully!

This thought had just emerged when they heard Sherlock echo: "Well said, my friend."

Penelope and Cho Chang became even more speechless.

Indeed, birds of a feather flock together. There was a reason these two could team up.

Finally, the four arrived at Cho Chang's dormitory.

As Cho Chang had said, the girl named Lucy had already left Hogwarts to go home for the holidays.

Still remaining in the dormitory were Marietta Edgecombe and Alicia Case.

When they saw Sherlock appear, their reactions were almost identical to Michael Corner's.

"Prefect Penelope, Cho, how did you bring a boy here?"

"Wait, he's not even a Ravenclaw student!"

"Marietta, Alicia, please calm down."

With her experience from the journey, Penelope was now adept at handling this situation, explaining the purpose with just a few words.

After hearing Penelope's explanation, the two reacted differently.

Marietta Edgecombe frowned without speaking, while Alicia Case muttered, "Ravenclaw matters needing Gryffindor help, really—"

"Alright, say less, both of you!"

Penelope, fearing they might anger Sherlock, quickly interrupted, then turned to Sherlock: "Holmes, you can begin—"

Before she finished speaking, she was surprised to find that Sherlock had already begun his work.

He didn't need her reminder at all.

On Halloween night, Sherlock had used his portable magnifying glass and measuring tape to examine the scene and verify the blood writing before Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell arrived.

Unexpectedly, Easter brought another repeat performance.

The difference was that this time the location had changed to Ravenclaw's girls' dormitory.

His portable equipment had also been updated.

Harry's Christmas gift to Sherlock, besides having the function of an ordinary magnifying glass, could also detect magical traces and discover special runes and magical fluctuations on magical objects.

The original ordinary measuring tape had also been replaced with one from Ollivanders wand shop that could automatically measure distances.

Of course, in the magical world, they could only provide basic functions.

Once encountering skilled spellcasters or powerful dark magical objects, they would lose effectiveness.

However, for Sherlock, they perfectly bridged the gap between the Muggle world and the magical world, allowing some investigative techniques common in the Muggle world to be successfully applied to the magical world.

Watching Sherlock move around the room, sometimes standing, sometimes crouching, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling, the Ravenclaw girls all looked at each other in confusion.

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