Mr. Granger was quite annoyed by his wife and daughter's insistence on meeting Lockhart.
Just as he was about to say something to express his opposition, he saw Sherlock suddenly turn toward one side and look toward a spot not far from them.
"Harry, it seems that after a whole summer vacation, you've forgotten all the stealth techniques I taught you."
Mr. Granger couldn't help but be stunned upon hearing this. 'What was this boy talking about?'
'Where was this Harry coming from?'
"Ron, I suggest you should learn from your brothers—after all, the Weasley twins' talent for pranks is worth acknowledging."
'What the hell, Ron was here too?'
Mr. Granger became even more confused.
As Sherlock's words fell, a big bald head suddenly emerged from the crowd.
"???"
'What did this have to do with Harry and Ron?'
Fortunately, the next moment, he understood what was happening.
The bald man strode toward one side, and behind him appeared two familiar faces.
They were indeed Harry and Ron, whom Sherlock had mentioned.
Mr. Granger suddenly understood.
These two little guys had used the cover of the burly bald man to try to approach Sherlock undetected.
They never expected to be called out just as they got nearby.
Harry sighed. "I told you we couldn't fool Sherlock."
"Don't mention it—I say, Sherlock, your attention is way too sharp. We were clearly hiding behind that big bald guy."
Hearing Ron's muttering, Sherlock held up three fingers.
"First, your stealth techniques are inadequate;
Second, I've been observing our surroundings the whole time;
Third, Harry's backpack was too conspicuous."
Since they'd been discovered, Harry and Ron naturally stopped pretending and cheerfully greeted Sherlock and the Granger family.
The joyful reunion of good friends was naturally delightful.
After chatting briefly, Hermione then asked in confusion, "Why are you only getting here now?"
"It's all my mother's fault! As soon as she saw Lockhart was signing books, she insisted on seeing him."
"No, Ron, it's not Mrs. Weasley's fault. It's mainly because of me..."
"It has nothing to do with you," Ron bent down to rub his instep, looking disgruntled. "There were just too many people in the bookstore!"
Sherlock's gaze swept over his shoe surface. "You got stepped on by a fat man who's five feet and a half inch tall."
Ron was no longer surprised by Sherlock's ability to determine people's physical characteristics.
For such unimportant matters, he was even too lazy to ask about Sherlock's reasoning process and directly entered complaint mode.
"Indeed, a short fat guy! That fellow stepped on my foot while trying to take pictures of Lockhart.
He said it was for the Daily Prophet—how impressive!"
However, Ron's resentment came quickly and left just as fast. After his sarcastic comment, he immediately became excited again.
"But never mind that—do you know? My dad just beat up Malfoy—right in this bookstore!"
"What?"
"What did you say?"
This time, even Sherlock was stunned.
Hermione couldn't help but say, "How could Mr. Weasley hit a child!"
In her view, although Draco Malfoy was indeed annoying, and she herself sometimes couldn't help wanting to punch him, he was still just a first-year... er, now second-year student.
For Arthur Weasley, as an adult, to bully someone smaller seemed rather excessive.
"You've misunderstood. It wasn't Draco Malfoy who fought with Mr. Weasley, it was his father, Lucius Malfoy."
Harry explained, "He publicly mocked Mr. Weasley, calling him a disgrace to wizards..."
In fact, what Lucius Malfoy had said was far more excessive than that.
Especially saying such things in front of so many people was really too much.
Harry couldn't stand listening to it, let alone Mr. Weasley, who was the target.
He was so angry that he had to fight back physically.
However, Harry naturally didn't want to repeat it all again at this moment.
"What a shame—if you'd come a little earlier, you could have seen my dad in action!"
Ron gestured enthusiastically with his hands and feet.
"It was even more impressive than when you beat up Crabbe and Goyle on the train, Sherlock!
He was on top of Malfoy's dad, throwing left hooks and right hooks.
Malfoy's eye got swollen from the beating..."
Watching Ron's high spirits, Mr. Granger listened with great interest.
Well done.
The trip to Godric's Hollow had forged a deep friendship between him and Mr. Weasley.
Hearing about his moment of glory, he naturally supported him silently in his heart.
Mrs. Granger, however, frowned. "We should hurry up and buy the books."
"No need, Auntie!"
Ron didn't notice Mrs. Granger's attitude. He waved his hand and said with a smile.
"Seeing how crowded it was here, Harry already went ahead and bought them!"
"Wh-what?"
Hearing Ron's words, the Granger family was shocked again.
Sherlock showed a look of understanding.
He had already noticed that the number of books in Harry's backpack seemed wrong.
Without a word, Harry took out a set of books from his backpack and handed them to Hermione.
They were exactly the Lockhart series required for second-year students.
Every book had the same style—all with blue covers.
The cover featured a very handsome young man.
Seeing this forget-me-not blue cover and the handsome man, Mrs. Granger's gaze immediately softened.
"Oh, Harry, you're such a thoughtful child."
Hearing Mrs. Granger's praise, Harry felt a bit embarrassed, "I learned all this from Sherlock."
Mrs. Granger immediately looked at Sherlock with motherly kindness, "Sherlock, you taught him so well."
"Ahem."
At this point, Mr. Granger interrupted her gaze.
"But... we need to buy two sets of this Mr. Lockhart's textbooks, and while Harry bought one set, we still don't have enough."
Although Harry's backpack contained another set, Mr. Granger instinctively assumed that was for Harry himself.
Mrs. Granger also frowned upon hearing this.
Harry was a good child, but it seemed he hadn't learned enough from Sherlock yet—he wasn't thorough enough in his consideration.
"No problem!"
At this moment, Ron decisively provided assistance.
"Just before my dad started fighting, that Mr. Lockhart pulled Harry into a photo together and gave Harry his complete works.
Combined with the set Harry bought additionally, there's exactly one set each for Sherlock and Hermione."
Harry nodded and took out all the remaining books from his backpack.
Still the familiar blue covers and Lockhart's moving photographs.
Hermione immediately spotted the difference.
"Why does your set have several extra books?"
"Uh... Lockhart gave me his complete works—besides the textbooks, there are other books too. Let me see..."
"I know! They're 'Magical Me,' 'Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests,' and 'Charm Your Way with Lockhart'!"
Hermione was obviously familiar with all of Lockhart's works.
Before Harry could finish looking at the titles, she had already named all three books.
"Harry, I'm so jealous! Mr. Lockhart even took a photo with you..."
Hermione looked at Harry with envy, as if wishing she had been the one to take the photo with Lockhart instead of Harry.
At this point, Sherlock had quickly flipped through all the books Lockhart had given Harry. He kept the standard seven-book set of textbooks and handed the three extra books to Hermione.
Hermione was startled. "Eh, Sherlock, don't you want these three books?"
"I've already read the household pests one at Ron's house, and you gave me the speaking skills one before."
Sherlock said under everyone's surprised gaze, "As for the other one... it's better not to read it."
Faced with Sherlock's response, Hermione didn't stand on ceremony. She thanked him and took the three books, hugging them to her chest with obvious delight.
However, ten books altogether were so heavy that she could barely stand steady.
Mr. Granger quickly took them from her hands.
At this point, Ron finally recovered from his surprise.
"Wait, Sherlock, when exactly did you flip through that book?
No, I should ask, how did you know my family had Lockhart's books?"
The Weasley household did indeed have a copy of "Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests"—it was Mrs. Weasley's favorite.
However, whether it was the Weasley twins or Ron, they all believed that even without reading the book, they knew how to deal with garden gnomes.
But the problem was, Sherlock had only stayed at the Burrow for one day, and he had been with Ron most of the time.
So, Ron really couldn't understand when Sherlock had discovered and read that book.
"It was sitting on the mantelpiece in the kitchen, wasn't it?
I roughly flipped through it before going to sleep.
As for why you don't know, it's because you had already gone to Percy's room by then."
"Uh..."
Ron thought for a moment, only to realize he couldn't remember what had happened that night.
This was quite embarrassing.
"Forget it, no need to worry about such things!
Let's go find my parents—they want to treat your aunt and uncle to a drink. Eh, where are Uncle and Aunt Holmes?"
"Ron, you're only noticing now?"
Hermione expressed her helplessness at Ron's slowness.
"They had things to do today, so they didn't come."
"What a shame! My dad was really looking forward to having a drink with aunt and uncle!"
Originally, Ron had planned to personally escort Hermione's parents to the Leaky Cauldron.
However, Mr. Granger waved his hand grandly, saying that he and Mrs. Granger knew the way and would go by themselves.
As for Sherlock and the other three, they could wander around Diagon Alley, and after they'd had enough fun, they could meet up at the Leaky Cauldron.
This would also be a perfect opportunity to pick up the robes they had ordered at Madam Malkin's.
"Sherlock, Hermione, your parents are really understanding..."
Ron watched the Granger couple leave with their two sets of books, saying enviously.
"One lets Sherlock come to Diagon Alley alone, the other lets Hermione wander the streets freely...
Look at my parents—they won't even let us go to Knockturn Alley."
Ron complained while turning to Harry. "By the way, Harry, you got a whole set of books for free, so stop acting like nothing happened and treat us to something!"
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