When Dumbledore mentioned singing the school song together, all the other teachers except him looked somewhat unnatural.
Sherlock instinctively felt there was something strange about this.
Soon, he understood the reason.
Dumbledore flicked his wand, and a golden ribbon wound through the air above the dining tables, forming lines of text.
These were the lyrics.
Then...
"Everyone choose your own favorite tune, ready, sing!"
All the new students: ???
'This was allowed?'
As it turned out, it really was.
To different melodies, all the teachers and students sang this school song in a completely disjointed manner, utterly lacking any artistic beauty.
The most speechless part was that the Weasley twins were singing to the slow melody of a "Funeral March."
Not only did Dumbledore say nothing, but he patiently conducted the last few measures for them with his wand, and when they finished singing, his applause was the loudest.
Sherlock: (￣.￣)
It looked like he really needed to find a way to get a violin.
After experiencing the sorting, speeches, dining, and singing, Hogwarts' opening ceremony officially ended, and students began returning to their dormitories.
The scene immediately became chaotic.
At this point, the prefects from each house took charge of maintaining order, leading students from their respective houses, especially the new students, back to their dormitories.
The little lions followed Percy through the noisy crowd, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase.
Compared to the other exhausted new students, Sherlock was much more energetic.
His gray eyes sparkled as he observed everything around him intently.
There were simply too many new things here, even leaving Sherlock somewhat overwhelmed.
The portrait paintings hanging in the corridors were all living beings, pointing and gesturing at these new students and even conversing with each other.
Door after door was hidden behind sliding panels and hanging draperies—without Percy leading them, they would never have been able to tell from the outside.
The invisible ghost named Peeves tried to play tricks on them with his walking stick, but was scared off by Percy calling the name of the Bloody Baron.
Finally, they arrived at the end of the corridor, where a portrait hung—a fat woman who asked: "Password?"
Percy answered "Dragon dung," and the Fat Lady moved aside, revealing a circular hole in the wall.
Everyone followed Percy's lead, climbing through the wall hole one by one.
This was Gryffindor's common room.
Percy directed the boys and girls to separate and go to their respective dormitories, and also informed the new students that they would receive their class schedules at breakfast tomorrow, reminding them not to forget to go to the Great Hall on time for meals.
Just from today's performance, Percy could be said to be a very competent prefect.
Compared to the energetic Sherlock, Harry and Ron, these brothers in adversity, were already exhausted and only managed to find their dormitory with Sherlock's help.
—Fortunately, the three of them were assigned together.
Their other two roommates were Neville Longbottom, the round-faced boy they'd seen on the train who had lost and found his toad, and a dark-skinned boy named Dean Thomas.
Seeing that their trunks had already been delivered to the room, Sherlock simply went to the common room for a tour.
Gryffindor's aesthetics were quite good.
The circular room looked very comfortable overall, with walls dominated by warm red tones, and the soft armchairs made one never want to get up once seated.
Originally, Sherlock had planned to start exploring immediately, but unfortunately the temperature here was somewhat low.
Although his physical condition wasn't bad, he had just recovered from a serious illness and found it somewhat difficult to resist the cold's assault on his body.
So, in this brief time, he only managed to figure out a bit of information: Gryffindor Tower was located on the east side of the castle, with the common room on the tower's eighth floor.
When Sherlock returned to the dormitory, he found that all four of his roommates were already fast asleep.
Five four-poster beds, four of which had their deep red velvet curtains drawn.
The one left for him was right between Harry and Ron's.
"Looks pretty good," Sherlock commented, then changed into his pajamas and lay down.
After all, it had been a busy entire day. He hadn't felt it while exploring just now, but once he lay down, drowsiness immediately washed over him like a tide.
Sherlock quickly fell into a deep sleep.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Sherlock opened his eyes to find his four roommates still fast asleep.
He hadn't originally intended to wake them, but the noise he made getting up immediately roused Harry.
Growing up in the Dursley household had taught Harry to wake at the slightest sound.
Seeing his would-be big brother getting ready to go, Harry quickly got up and asked, "Sherlock, where are you going?"
When he heard that Sherlock was going for morning exercise, Harry hesitated for a moment before deciding to go with him.
"A wise decision," Sherlock said with satisfaction. "A healthy body and a clear mind are the prerequisites for solving all problems."
Harry nodded repeatedly—he had become increasingly aware of this point since meeting Sherlock.
He had originally tried to get Ron to come along too.
However, Ron had neither Sherlock's self-discipline nor Harry's determination to follow a role model like Sherlock, so after decisively refusing them, he continued sleeping soundly.
In the end, Sherlock took Harry and left the dormitory to begin their first exploration of Hogwarts.
During the process of taking Harry for morning exercise, Sherlock was surprised to discover that this savior of the wizarding world actually had some potential.
Due to Harry's upbringing—years of living in a dark, cramped cupboard, plus never having enough to eat or drink—he appeared thinner and smaller than his peers.
A gaunt face, protruding kneecaps, and messy black hair, plus green eyes, were his most distinctive physical features.
His original round-framed glasses, which had been held together with lots of transparent tape, had already been magically repaired by Sherlock.
He was now also wearing robes that fit his frame properly—otherwise, wearing Dudley's old clothes, he would have looked even smaller than his actual size.
But...
Although Harry had a slight build, he was agile, quick to react, and was clearly a flexibility-type athlete.
If properly trained, he would definitely have great potential in the future.
In view of this, Sherlock immediately extended an invitation:
"You have talent. Learn boxing from me!"
Harry: (°ー°〃)
In the end, Harry still didn't agree to Sherlock's proposal.
Although he also thought boxing looked cool, wasn't it a bit strange for a wizard to engage in close combat and hand-to-hand fighting?
Sherlock couldn't help but feel somewhat regretful about this.
According to his expectations, he would still need one or two assistants at Hogwarts.
He got along quite well with Harry now, and had originally wanted to train him properly.
He hadn't expected Harry to refuse.
After morning exercise, Sherlock and Harry came to the Great Hall.
Food enthusiast Ron, round-faced Neville, and little Dean Thomas were already in position.