Due to the restriction preventing him from performing magic outside of school, Sherlock could only stay home during the waiting period for Harry's blood protection magic to cool down, studying subjects that didn't require spellcasting.
Initially, Sherlock had planned to brew some potions during the holidays.
After all, according to Professor Snape, this was a subject that involved "no foolish wand-waving."
He had prepared the materials for this purpose during last Christmas.
However, as he gained a deeper understanding of Potions as a subject, Sherlock gradually began to doubt Snape's claim.
If magic truly wasn't required in the potion-making process, then the question arose.
Could a Muggle successfully brew potions as long as they had the correct magical potion recipes and preparation methods?
The answer was obviously no.
Because creating truly effective magical potions still required the use of magic to coordinate the process.
Of course, if one could achieve wandless magic, then indeed there would be no need for "foolish wand-waving." But brewing potions absolutely required the use of magic.
For example, simply putting dead flies and daffodil root powder and other magical ingredients into a cauldron and repeatedly boiling them over high and low heat—regardless of whether the ingredient proportions were correct or the stirring count was right—would only result in a house full of foul odors or a cauldron of poison.
Professor Snape probably said that because he felt his wand movements while brewing potions weren't "foolish," Sherlock thought.
In any case, unable to use magic, Sherlock could only focus on History of Magic and Astronomy.
After all, these two subjects truly didn't require "foolish wand-waving."
From another perspective, the Greek Translator case had made Sherlock realize one fact. when facing a new system, he had to abandon his old way of thinking. Only by first learning and understanding could he determine whether this knowledge was useful to him.
From the current situation, History of Magic and Astronomy were indeed useful.
Besides studying, he exchanged knowledge with Hermione and Farley.
Only these two witches would actively correspond with him frequently.
Harry, Ron, and other people from Hogwarts would also write to him, but far less frequently than these two.
Interestingly, Hermione was a Muggle-born witch, while Farley grew up in a wizarding family.
Yet Sherlock's exchanges with the two were exactly opposite.
His conversations with Hermione mostly involved magical topics—subjects like Transfiguration and Charms, or the magical world itself.
His exchanges with Farley often related to the Muggle world, particularly the deductive method that Sherlock had developed in the Muggle world, which fascinated Farley greatly.
Time flew by quickly.
When the last week of July arrived, Sherlock had just finished breakfast when Hermione appeared at his doorstep.
She was brought there by Mr. Granger, as usual.
Actually, he had already brought his wife and daughter over once before.
The reason was the same as before—Mrs. Granger had a good relationship with Mrs. Holmes, and Hermione wanted Sherlock to help with her holiday homework.
Voice calls and letter exchanges could no longer satisfy her!
So, it was natural for them to visit.
However, this time Mrs. Granger hadn't come with her husband and daughter.
"What's the situation, mate? You're here so early!"
Mr. Holmes and Mr. Granger had become quite familiar by now, so he immediately joked when he saw him.
"My dear friend, if your daughter had been urging you to leave since she woke up this morning, you'd be just like me."
"Father!" Hermione called out disapprovingly from the side.
"Alright, alright. Actually, I think we should leave early since we still have to go to Devon, don't we?"
The Potter family's old house was located in Godric's Hollow, while the Weasley family was in Devon.
Coincidentally, both were in southwest England.
So, after consultation, this trip was arranged as follows.
Hermione would first go to Sherlock's house, then both families would go to Privet Drive to pick up Harry, then head to Ron's house together.
Finally, everyone would go to Godric's Hollow together.
Last Christmas, after hearing that Ron's family had a superb flying car even better than KITT from Knight Rider, both Mr. Holmes and Mr. Granger had taken an interest in this matter.
After the house-elf Dobby was taken away by Professor Snape, Ron, who had resumed communication with Harry, eagerly invited his three good friends to visit his home.
Now that they had such an opportunity, they naturally wouldn't let it pass easily.
After Mr. Granger finished speaking, he lowered his voice while Hermione wasn't paying attention and said to Mr. Holmes.
"Mate, if you had a daughter, you'd understand my feelings!"
He had originally meant it as a joke.
After all, there were already two Holmeses in Sherlock's family.
Given Mr. and Mrs. Holmes's current age, it was unlikely they'd have another child.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Mr. Holmes suddenly seemed dazed.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing—shall we leave now?"
Mr. Granger didn't think much of it. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Hermione consciously running to Sherlock's room and couldn't help but sigh.
"Let's wait until my daughter and your son come down!"
Sherlock and Hermione didn't keep the two fathers waiting long.
Soon, the four prepared people set off by car.
With the previous experience and it being daytime, Mr. Holmes, now familiar with the route, took even less time than before to reach Surrey.
When Mr. Holmes steadily parked the car in front of 4 Privet Drive, they saw Harry happily playing with his cousin Dudley in the garden.
Hermione couldn't help but be puzzled.
She had heard Harry talk about how terrible his relationship with the Dursleys was more than once.
But from the current situation, Harry's relationship with his cousin didn't seem too bad?
While Hermione was lost in thought, Harry also saw the car he had been thinking about and the person he had been longing for.
He immediately jumped up. "Sherlock, Hermione!"
Seeing this, Dudley also ran over with Harry.
However, his attention was immediately drawn to this car with its smooth, elegant exterior and clean, flowing lines.
Last time there wasn't enough time to look properly, but now when he got close enough to see the car clearly, he immediately showed envious eyes.
"God, this is actually a ROVER? So cool!"
Although Rover was no longer the Queen's vehicle of choice, it was still the choice of social celebrities and the elite class.
It was much better than their family's broken car anyway.
"The diet pills seem to suit you well," Sherlock's gaze swept over Dudley. "Since we last met, you've lost eight and a half pounds."
"Nine pounds." Originally, Dudley's gaze had been somewhat evasive when he saw Sherlock, but upon hearing this, he immediately straightened his chest to refute.
"I think it should be eight-point-something pounds."
Sherlock then looked at Harry. "Harry, from my observation, you've started practicing Quidditch again, haven't you?"
Harry looked conflicted. "Although I know I'll look foolish after you give the answer, I still have to ask—how do you know?"
"This is too simple, hardly worth explaining—"
"Come on, tell us." Hermione pushed Sherlock impatiently. "Your smug expression has already given you away."
"Alright, alright."
Just as Hermione said, Sherlock appeared impatient on the surface but was grinning as he rubbed his long hands and began explaining.
"These things are simple in themselves. When you just ran over, I noticed some special wear marks on your shoe soles. Obviously new shoes, yet the treads are already worn smooth, and there are squeeze deformation marks on the uppers.
You have bruises on your knees, and your collar and cuffs show pilling and damage.
So, I made this dual deduction. you've been engaged in rather vigorous exercise recently, and this exercise is most likely Quidditch.
The wear marks on collar and cuffs are due to frequent friction with the broomstick and rapid contact with air flow during flight. The shoes and knees look more like they had slight friction with the ground.
Using a flying broomstick doesn't count as directly using magic, and with last time's experience, the Ministry of Magic probably won't bother with you anymore.
However, due to Quidditch's special nature, I think you're probably practicing secretly at night when no one's around?
Otherwise, with your skill level, how could you possibly get injured—even if it's just minor scrapes?
Alright, let's quickly end this boring topic and prepare to leave!
The journey ahead is still long!"
The Dursley family neither tried to keep Harry from leaving nor expressed welcome for it.
However, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did politely greet Mr. Holmes and Mr. Granger.
After all, it was thanks to their help that Uncle Vernon was able to get that order.
In Harry's view, this was already tremendous progress.
If it had been before, they would definitely have wished he'd never come back.
What puzzled him was that Dudley kept staying near them.
"Cousin, is there anything else you need?"
Finally, Harry couldn't help but ask.
"I think your cousin needs some small gifts," Sherlock said.
With this hint, Harry immediately understood.
At the beginning of this summer vacation, he had used the magical world snacks that Sherlock gave him to get closer to Dudley.
After all, they were peers, and once the grudges were gone, their relationship warmed up quickly.
Of course, the special diet pills also played a significant role.
Plus, Harry was indeed broad-minded, so Dudley's attitude toward him was even better than Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's attitude toward him.
After getting to know Dudley better, Harry even felt sorry for him.
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