As the Christmas holidays drew closer, the atmosphere among the students at Hogwarts gradually became more relaxed.
The young wizards certainly hadn't forgotten the previous two attacks, but the prospect of going home soon and temporarily leaving Hogwarts Castle—where danger could strike at any moment—still lightened their suppressed moods considerably.
"I heard Percy signed the stay-at-school list this time? What does he plan to do staying here?"
During lunch in the Great Hall, Harry asked Ron curiously while cutting a grilled sausage on his plate.
Ron leaned in mysteriously and whispered to Harry and Hermione,
"I suspect Percy might be in love."
Hermione blinked and asked in a slightly gossipy tone,
"With whom?"
"I don't know," Ron shook his head, "but I suspect it's some girl from Ravenclaw. I've been seeing him wandering around the Ravenclaw Tower lately."
Harry held up his fork with the sausage, his mind wandering.
"You know, Professor Cavendish has such great qualities and so many girls chasing him, yet he still doesn't have a girlfriend. Do you think it's because he believes he can find one whenever he wants, which is why he doesn't have one now?"
Ron's eyes widened as if he had heard some earth-shattering secret.
"It's not impossible."
Hermione tapped her plate with her spoon in dissatisfaction.
"Hey, respect! We should give Professor Cavendish at least a modicum of respect! If the Professor heard these thoughts of yours, he'd definitely punish you by making you clean the toilets with Malfoy."
Harry and Ron glanced at each other and winked; they clearly didn't take Hermione's words to heart.
They naturally respected Sherlock in their hearts; it was just that Hermione herself was far too rigid.
"When do we start the third test?" Ron asked impatiently.
Harry also looked eager to try.
They were obviously addicted to this, as if they had discovered that Sherlock was actually a wishing holy grail—except that when making a wish, you had to get him to say it in reverse.
Hermione calculated the time and said hesitantly,
"Probably this afternoon. I've already finished half a foot. Once I write a bit more, I'll go to the office to find the Professor."
Ron urged her,
"Your handwriting is too small. It doesn't matter if you write larger; that way you'll be faster."
"If it's just for the sake of finishing, then what's the point of doing homework?" Hermione glared at him. "I'm warning you, if I hand in my homework early this time, don't even think about 'borrowing' from mine. You'll all have to write it yourselves."
Facing Hermione's threat, Harry and Ron were unconcerned.
Compared to copying homework, testing whether Sherlock truly possessed god-like abilities was clearly much more attractive to them.
In the afternoon, Hermione came to the library with a foot-long piece of parchment that was half-filled, with Harry and Ron following beside her.
However, the two of them were empty-handed and had brought nothing.
"And here I thought you'd be a bit more conscientious and bring your homework to write together!" Hermione said huffily.
Harry shrugged.
"How can homework be the most important thing right now? Our primary task is to research the extent of Professor Cavendish's jinx influence."
He said with a serious face,
"If the Professor really has the power to make the sun rise from the west, then our current testing is saving the world."
Ron also seemed to have found a pretext for their current actions, saying with a righteous air,
"Exactly, we are saving the world!"
Hermione looked helpless; she couldn't really refute that.
In a roundabout way, Harry wasn't wrong.
If they discovered the limit of Sherlock's jinx ability was extremely high before he said something reckless, it truly was saving the world in another sense.
Throughout the afternoon, Hermione worked seriously, looking up various materials in the library and writing her Defence Against the Dark Arts class homework for the Christmas holidays.
A foot-long piece of parchment was about thirty centimetres, which was quite a bit larger than a normal A4 sheet of paper.
Add to that Hermione's very small handwriting, and it meant she had to spend quite a lot of time on the assignment.
Around four in the afternoon, Hermione had basically filled the entire parchment with words. She looked at her work with satisfaction, then turned to look at Harry and the others, who were slumped on the table in boredom, nearly asleep.
"Have you found out? Is Professor Cavendish in his office now?"
Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"I asked George and the others beforehand. The Professor only had their class this afternoon, and by this time, he's probably long since finished."
"Then we can set off now."
Instantly, Harry and Ron's spirits were revitalised.
"You've finished writing?"
"I'm still two lines short of the Professor's one-foot requirement. Let's head over first; I'll fill in those two lines later."
They escorted Hermione out of the library and then made their way familiarly to Sherlock's office door.
As the holidays approached, Sherlock's work became increasingly busy.
The homework for the lower years was easy enough; he just had to select essay topics for them.
But for the upper years, that clearly wouldn't suffice.
There had never been such a thing as a "problem set booklet" at Hogwarts before. If Sherlock wanted students in the fifth year and above to engage in intensive practice,
he first had to compile the sea of problems himself.
This was undoubtedly a massive undertaking. To be able to distribute the compiled exercise booklets to the students before the Christmas break, Sherlock had been busy with this almost every moment he wasn't in class these past few days.
He felt that Dumbledore should give him an Outstanding Teacher Award this year to reward such a hardworking and dedicated employee.
While Sherlock held a quill in his hand, with a Quick-Quotes Quill scribbling furiously beside him, Hermione knocked gently and walked in.
Sherlock rubbed his aching wrist and looked up at the young girl who had entered quietly.
"Miss Granger, is there something I can help you with?"
Compared to Harry and Ron, Sherlock's impression of Hermione was simply much better.
She was active and proactive in class, never sloppy with her homework—completing it with both quality and quantity—and was consistently diligent, serious, and self-disciplined.
What teacher wouldn't like such a perfect student?
But Sherlock had somewhat overlooked that no matter how perfect Hermione appeared on the surface, she was a Gryffindor at heart.