Unsurprisingly, Harry and the others were kicked out of Professor McGonagall's office.
They completely overlooked the fact that without concrete evidence, no one would believe them.
Even they themselves had only become fully certain of Sherlock's jinx talent after their previous discoveries and the three subsequent tests.
And now, not to mention persuading Professor McGonagall to believe them, even how to convince her to verify the facts with Sherlock alongside them was a problem.
Just as Harry and the others left Professor McGonagall's office in low spirits, worrying about what Hermione should do next...
Hermione herself suddenly perked up and said in a firm voice.
"I can't stay at Hogwarts anymore!"
Harry and Ron turned to look at her in shock.
"I—I know you're in danger, Hermione, but it's not like you have to drop out of Hogwarts, right?" Harry stammered.
Hermione shook her head.
"I'm not dropping out, but I can't stay at Hogwarts for this Christmas."
Hearing her words, Harry and Ron's eyes instantly lit up, and their previous dejection and gloom vanished in an instant.
Their thinking had been stuck in a dead end, subconsciously assuming that Hermione had to stay at Hogwarts Castle this Christmas holiday.
But in fact, although she had already signed the list to stay at school, she could still change her mind and take the Hogwarts Express back home for the Christmas holidays.
Since the holidays hadn't started yet, it was still entirely possible to go back to the professor and say she wanted to go home.
As long as Hermione left Hogwarts, even if Sherlock's jinx effect still existed, she would no longer be at risk of being attacked by the monster in the Chamber of Secrets.
In the end, it was Hermione herself who figured this out.
"Exactly! Professor Cavendish said he wished you a happy Christmas holiday. As long as you leave Hogwarts for Christmas and hide out for a while, there won't be any more danger!"
Harry said excitedly, and a smile finally appeared on Ron's face.
Now, all three of them felt a sense of having narrowly escaped disaster.
Harry even felt that when he protected the Philosopher's Stone from You-Know-Who last year, it hadn't been as thrilling as today.
Professor Cavendish is truly terrifying!
This was the only thought rising in his mind at the moment.
The matter of changing her mind and choosing to go home for the Christmas holidays was easily resolved.
They went back to Professor McGonagall, crossed Hermione's name off the list of students staying at school, and confirmed that she could board the train back to London the day before the Christmas holidays began.
After this incident, during the remaining few days before the holidays began, Harry and the others didn't dare to test Sherlock again.
Even when greeting him normally, they were trembling with fear, afraid that Sherlock would give them a sudden greeting or blessing.
Finally, on the day before Hermione left, she earnestly instructed Harry and Ron.
"You don't need to do anything extra with the potion brewing in the bathroom; just make sure the fuel under the cauldron is sufficient every three days. On Christmas Day, remember not to meet Professor Cavendish! If meeting him is truly unavoidable, you must interrupt him before he can say any Christmas blessings to you!"
"If you don't even have time to interrupt, then after being blessed by the Professor, hide in the Common Room immediately and don't come out until the time for the blessing has passed. However, neither of you will be the target of the Heir of Slytherin who opened the Chamber of Secrets; based on previous situations, at least there shouldn't be any life-threatening danger."
Hermione gave many instructions, the most important of which was warning Harry and the others absolutely not to, during the time she was away from Hogwarts,
test Sherlock's jinx again.
They were truly frightened. They had thought it was a fun thing before, but after Hermione's incident, they realized how terrifying it was to be blessed by Sherlock.
With Hermione's departure, the Christmas holidays officially began.
Sherlock, who had finished compiling the workbooks for the upper years just before the holidays started, finally had time to relax.
However, no matter how busy he had been, he hadn't relaxed his surveillance of Neville on the Marauder's Map.
But after he noticed Neville's abnormality, the castle seemed to become calm and tranquil.
No more attacks had occurred for two consecutive weeks, and on the Marauder's Map, Neville's movements were all normal.
Before the holidays, apart from going to class normally, there were no other unusual actions. After the holidays began, he stayed in his dormitory all the time except for meals, being much better behaved than the other Gryffindors who were jumping around the castle every day.
But the more he was like this, the more Sherlock's suspicion of him didn't diminish.
After the holidays began, he intentionally observed Neville coming to eat during lunch a few times.
He found that compared to before, some subtle changes seemed to have occurred in him.
His cold might have completely healed; his face no longer showed an abnormal paleness but had become ruddy.
His overall temperament had also become more open. Although he still looked timid, he no longer gave off the feeling of being a startled bird at all times.
Sherlock could feel that something had happened to Neville to cause this change, but he couldn't find out exactly what it was.
On Christmas Day, when Sherlock woke up early in the morning, he found his bedside piled with various gift boxes.
These were mostly sent by members of the Order of the Phoenix; as a new member, he naturally received a lot of care this year.
Sherlock himself only sent out one gift for Christmas: the Christmas candy he sent to Dumbledore every year.
This was a habit the original owner had maintained for five years after discovering Dumbledore's extraordinary love for sweets.
Sherlock carefully noticed this in the diary and didn't break the habit, even thoughtfully including a small greeting card with the gift that said:
"Merry Christmas, Professor Dumbledore."
He simply unwrapped the gifts. Most were books about magic, a hand-knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley, and a knitted hat from Professor McGonagall.
Sherlock wore the sweater under his robes, put the deep blue knitted hat on his head, and walked out of his office, preparing to head to the Great Hall to help set up some decorative displays.
As a result, just as he reached the corner of the stairs on the first floor, he saw the white-bearded Dumbledore ahead, carefully standing up from the floor while holding onto the banister.
Sherlock was stunned for a moment, then realized that Dumbledore seemed to have accidentally slipped while coming downstairs!