The wand floating in mid-air seemed to tremble twice, but in the end, it did not fall, remaining suspended quietly.
Sherlock rubbed his chin; he could feel that the Advanced Unlocking Charm was clearly able to shake the effects of Control Magic, but it was only a slight disturbance.
And this was Sherlock's Advanced Unlocking Charm after his spell effects had significantly improved following the soul stitching.
If a normal Wizard used the Advanced Unlocking Charm, it would likely be like the General Counter-Charm and have no effect on Control Magic.
However, if it were taken up another level—an Advanced Unlocking Charm cast by multiple Wizards working together—it would likely completely shut down Sherlock's unique Control Magic.
But creating such a situation would be extremely demanding.
Before Lord Voldemort fully resurrected and made his comeback, one generally wouldn't encounter such a large-scale wizarding war scenario.
Therefore, the "Floating Wand Casting System" built around Control Magic was entirely feasible; this magical combination was enough for Sherlock to handle most situations.
He now had the most basic ability to protect himself in the Wizarding World.
Sherlock looked at the wand floating in mid-air with satisfaction. Using spells in this manner, he had already thought of many possibilities.
Besides Petrificus Totalus, Stupefy, and Expelliarmus—the three types of spells that need to hit the enemy to take effect—there were also spells like the Explosion Charm(Bombarda), which were inherently area-of-effect offensive spells.
Although casting with Control Magic would reduce the intensity of the spells, who could withstand a bombardment from a hundred wands?
Just as Sherlock was pondering how to expand the advantages of this casting method and create more possibilities, a novel idea suddenly occurred to him.
If he used Control Magic to cast the Patronus Charm, would it summon multiple Patronuses?(TN: I can only see that being useful for sending those messages cause a single patronus is enough to deal with a lot of dementors as seen in the third book.)
Once he thought of this, he immediately made an attempt.
Manipulating the wands to float up again while recalling the feeling of successfully casting the Patronus Charm from before, two wands waved together in mid-air as Sherlock chanted the incantation.
"Expecto Patronum."
The next moment, a silver glow lit up the study once more. The tips of both wands shone with silver light simultaneously, and then two tiny, pocket-sized crows condensed within the silver light, flapping their wings and landing on Sherlock's shoulders respectively.
Sherlock's eyes widened. He extended his arm, letting the two little crows hop onto it, looking with amazement at the Patronuses that seemed to have undergone mitosis.
He really hadn't expected that he could actually summon the Patronus this way.
According to his previous hypothesis, because casting with Control Magic weakened the spell's effectiveness, the most likely outcome would have been the inability to make the Patronus condense into a physical form.
But the result was that the physical forms successfully condensed; they were just pocket-sized.
The Patronus he had fully summoned before was about the size of a standard sheet of A4 paper; now, the Patronuses were reduced to the size of a palm.
Being smaller didn't matter; being able to summon them was the key.
If two wands could succeed, then that meant ten, twenty, or a hundred could as well.
Sacrificing some quality to stack up quantity was a perfectly acceptable trade-off.
The sky was nearing dusk. Sherlock ended his magic experiments for the day with satisfaction. After throwing together a dinner in the kitchen to celebrate today's gains, he concluded his day.
The next day, the morning of July 31st.
Sherlock returned from his morning run and directed his two wands—one indoors and one outdoors—to tidy up the already clean little yard once more.
He had lunch out, then went to a dessert shop to order a cake and pre-order some food to-go from a restaurant for the evening.
Returning home, he did some simple decorating, conjuring ribbons and balloons to create a cheerful atmosphere.
Finally, at three o'clock in the afternoon, he went to Number 4 Privet Drive and knocked on the door of the Dursley residence.
Vernon, who opened the door for him, had a grim expression. Clearly, Harry had informed him in advance that he was going to Sherlock's house for his birthday today.
Upon seeing Sherlock outside the door, he didn't say anything, but simply shouted upstairs roughly.
"Get down here, boy!"
Sherlock's brow furrowed slightly at his tone, but he said nothing.
Harry, however, didn't care about Vernon's tone at all; he had long since grown used to it.
An excited Harry ran downstairs. Sherlock nodded to him and congratulated him with a smile.
"Happy Birthday, Harry."
The smile on Harry's face subconsciously froze, and even his steps were no longer cheerful but became heavy.
But he quickly comforted himself in his heart.
It's fine, it's fine. On the road in Paris, he had already verified that Professor Cavendish's jinx was gone and had turned into a prophecy instead!
If he said I'd have a happy birthday, then I definitely would have a happy birthday!
Thus, the smile reappeared on Harry's face.
Vernon watched Harry walk out the door, his eyes bulging like a fat frog's.
"Don't forget what I told you! Don't come back until midnight! Do you hear me!"
Harry waved his hand.
"I know, I know."
Then he followed Sherlock out of Privet Drive.
On the way, Sherlock asked,
"Why did he specifically make you stay out until midnight?"
"Because Aunt Marge is coming to stay at my aunt's house for a week starting today," Harry explained.
"Aunt Marge is Uncle Vernon's sister; they force me to call her Aunt too. She's stayed at my aunt's house before and she can't stand me. The last time she came was when I was ten. She brought a dog to Aunt Petunia's and just let it chase me up a tree. They ate dinner while watching me like it was a joke, and didn't pull the dog away until midnight."
Harry spoke nonchalantly, without showing much sadness.
He was long used to this kind of life; there had been even worse instances before. For example, at Dudley's fifth birthday party, to prevent four-year-old Harry from beating Dudley at a musical game, Aunt Marge had whacked Harry's shins with her walking stick. At Christmas, Dudley got robot toys while he was given a humiliating box of dog biscuits.
Harry was long accustomed to this, as if he were meant to be the most unwelcome person in the Dursley residence.
"I heard from Aunt Petunia that they originally thought I wouldn't be back for another week, so they invited Aunt Marge over early to save her the annoyance of seeing me. But since I came back early, they told me not to disturb their dinner time and to only come home when Aunt Marge is ready for bed."
Sherlock listened quietly without speaking.
He had grown up in an orphanage in his past life, but even in the orphanage, he had never been treated like this.
"You are quite remarkable, Harry."
Walking along the road, Sherlock suddenly spoke up.
Harry paused for a moment and said somewhat bashfully,
"They all say I'm the Chosen One or something, but I actually know that defeating Lord Voldemort had nothing to do with me..."
"I'm not talking about that," Sherlock said to him seriously. "I'm saying that even without the title of the Chosen One, you yourself are remarkable."
At this, he shrugged.
"Of course, if you were a bit less playful at times and more diligent in your magic studies, you'd be even more remarkable."
"Hermione has told me that enough times at school already."
"That proves she's right. Oh, right, should we invite Ron and Hermione over today? I can go pick them up."
"I already received their presents today. Ron's whole family went to Egypt for a trip, and Hermione is on holiday in France. It's a shame I only found out today, otherwise we might have run into them in France."
While they were chatting, a hurried owl suddenly flew over from a distance, reached the space above their heads, and dropped a letter.
The letter had Sherlock's name written on it.
Sherlock picked up the letter with some confusion, then opened it and scanned it quickly.
By the end, his brow was deeply furrowed.
"There's been an accident, Harry."
An ominous premonition rose in Harry's heart. He thought back to just five minutes ago, when Sherlock had wished him a "Happy Birthday" at the Dursley residence.
"What happened, Professor?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I might not be able to spend today's birthday with you. A friend of mine has a very urgent matter and has asked me to go help."
Sherlock spoke with conflict; he didn't want to break his word to Harry, but the matter in this letter was indeed no small thing.
Harry was stunned for a long while, then he looked at Sherlock with a pleading gaze.
"Then can I stay at your house alone until tonight before going back?"
Sherlock's expression was serious.
"The current situation is dangerous for you; I can't leave you alone."
Harry looked extremely dejected, but he still tried his best to act as if nothing was wrong.
"It's okay, Professor. I'm already very grateful that you were willing to spend my birthday with me today."
He didn't request anything else from Sherlock, but simply turned around and walked slowly back towards the Dursley residence.
In the setting sun, his silhouette looked very lonely.
Sherlock looked at the letter in his hand, tapped his head with a headache, hesitated for a long moment, and then shook his head.
"If you don't mind spending your birthday at the Ministry of Magic, I can take you with me."
Harry immediately turned around in surprise.
"Of course I don't mind! Professor! Anywhere is fine as long as it's not at Aunt Petunia's!"
Sherlock sighed and instructed Harry.
"I might not have time to be with you once we're there. Someone wants my help, so you'll likely have to wait on your own for a while."
Harry said nonchalantly.
"It doesn't matter, I've never been to the Ministry of Magic before!"
"Then let's go. Grab my arm; I'll take you there via Apparition."
Harry grabbed Sherlock's arm excitedly. This reversal of events made him truly believe that Professor Cavendish's jinx was gone and that he wouldn't suffer any more misfortune today!