"My dear fellow, it's just a trip to Surrey—you really don't need to co along. Don't you trust my driving skills?"
"Hols, of course I trust your driving. It's just that I don't want to miss this rare opportunity to get out."
"It's just a small town. What's so interesting about it?"
"You can't say that. It's my daughter's first ti visiting a friend's house, and it's only natural for as her father to go along and see. If I rember correctly, when Sherlock went there during Christmas break last ti, didn't your wife go with him too?"
"Violet drove them that ti—I didn't go along."
"Then this ti I can drive the children there, and you can rest at ho."
"You can't handle my car."
"That's why I'm coming with you."
"..."
The atmosphere in the car beca sowhat awkward.
Hermione sat in the back seat, her gaze wandering between Mr. Hols, who was driving, and her father, who was sitting in the passenger seat arguing heatedly with flushed cheeks.
She turned to look at Sherlock beside her, her eyes full of confusion, montarily at a loss.
'Who am I, where am I, what am I doing?'
Sherlock's decision was certainly sound.
Since owl post—the usual thod of communication—was being intercepted, they might as well go directly to Privet Drive to find Harry in person.
As Sherlock had said, this was the Muggle world, and problems that magic couldn't solve had to be addressed using Muggle thods.
But after all, they were both minors, and this situation was completely different from their previous simple visit.
So even though both were excellent young wizards, to travel to a town forty kiloters away, adult supervision was essential.
Therefore, Sherlock had thoughtfully requested his father's help rather than his mother's.
After all, Mr. Hols's abilities were sufficient to handle any problems that might arise during the journey.
As Sherlock's father, Mr. Hols was naturally delighted to hear his son's request and agreed without hesitation to serve as his son's driver.
Both mothers had nodded in agreent without any objection.
However, Mr. Granger had raised an objection and insisted on coming along.
Thus, the situation had evolved into its current state.
Hermione shook her head helplessly, no longer wanting to deal with the argunt between her father and Sherlock's father.
She leaned slightly toward Sherlock and asked in a lowered voice, "Harry won't be in trouble, will he? Can't you deduce sothing?"
"My dear friend, I think you've misunderstood sothing."
Hearing Hermione's words, Sherlock explained sowhat helplessly, "Although in most cases I can deduce what happened based on the results, that doesn't an I can predict the future."
He paused, looking at Hermione's concerned expression, and added,
"Also, I rember telling you before that reasoning without sufficient evidence is always a very dangerous thing."
"But didn't you just deduce that our letters to Harry were intercepted? Doesn't that an Harry is already in danger?"
"That's just one possibility."
"Then tell quickly, what other possibilities are there?"
"..."
Through the rearview mirror, Mr. Granger saw his daughter whispering with Sherlock in the back seat, his expression growing increasingly grim.
Especially when he saw his daughter looking eager and proactive while that boy seed indifferent, his anger flared even more.
That boy...
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but snort through his nose to vent his dissatisfaction.
Mr. Hols, who was driving, glanced at Mr. Granger in the passenger seat with his peripheral vision, his mouth curving slightly upward, secretly finding it amusing.
However, he didn't say anything, just kept his hands steady on the steering wheel, driving both smoothly and quickly, as if all the turmoil in the car had nothing to do with him.
These were two fathers with completely different mindsets in the sa situation.
anwhile, dozens of kiloters away at 4 Privet Drive.
Harry was troubled.
Last Christmas, at Sherlock's insistence, he had visited the Dursley family.
Besides obtaining photos of Harry's mother Lily from her youth from Aunt Petunia, Sherlock had selected appropriate Christmas gifts for the Dursley family,
Special weight-loss pills, anti-hair-loss shampoo, and Chocolate Frogs.
Speaking of which, the anti-hair-loss shampoo was actually a Potter family product.
Giving it to Uncle Vernon could be considered self-production and self-marketing in a broad sense.
Both the shampoo and weight-loss pills had shown good results.
Especially the shampoo, which made Uncle Vernon look several years younger.
It was precisely for this reason that Harry's treatnt at the Dursley house this sumr was considerably better than in previous years.
If not for this, Harry was certain that the mont he arrived ho, Uncle Vernon would have locked his spell books, wand, robes, cauldron, and state-of-the-art Nimbus 2000 broomstick in the small, dark cupboard under the stairs.
The place where he had lived for ten years.
Now, Harry had his own bedroom.
Although Uncle Vernon's attitude toward him remained rough, and he would still roar at Harry because of Hedwig returning from her early morning hunts.
Although Aunt Petunia would still speak sarcastically when talking to him, saying things that weren't very pleasant.
But Harry already felt thankful for his current treatnt.
However, what surprised Harry most was his cousin Dudley.
Even Harry himself couldn't believe that this cousin, who had once bullied him most severely, had actually beco the person in the entire Dursley household who now treated him best.
As for the reason...
First, it was because of the special weight-loss pills Sherlock had given last ti.
Although Dudley had continued his consistently domineering style from elentary school after entering middle school.
Of course, now that he was a middle school student, he wouldn't go so far as to pull down soone's pants in public and help them pull them back up after they urinated.
But relying purely on violence was no longer enough to let him lord it over the campus as he had in elentary school.
At this age, appearance had beco an important standard for evaluating a person.
In this situation, the existence of weight-loss pills beca particularly useful.
On the other hand, it was because of the pile of snacks Sherlock had given Harry when parting at King's Cross Station.
At the ti, Harry hadn't understood Sherlock's intention.
But after entering the sumr vacation, he quickly caught on.
For Dudley, foods like Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were simply a attack from another world compared to the snacks he used to eat.
Even snacks like Cockroach Clusters, which made Harry feel disturbed just looking at them, were gladly accepted by Dudley.
From this perspective, he might have a lot in common with Dumbledore.
In any case, these two things had caused Dudley's attitude toward his cousin Harry to change dramatically.
Even his way of addressing Harry had changed to the more intimate "Harry." From the previous….well… 'Freak'
Whenever this happened, Harry would think more and more fondly of Sherlock.
In his letters to Sherlock, he had specifically ntioned this and expressed sincere gratitude.
But this happy feeling didn't last long.
Because not long ago, he suddenly felt abandoned.
It had been a full two weeks since the holidays began, and except for the first few days, he did not get letters from his friends.
Even Cho Chang, far away in her ho country, had shared so experiences with him.
But from a certain mont on, Sherlock, Ron, Hermione, and other classmates from the magic school had suddenly cut off contact with him.
Not a single letter had been sent to him.
This made Harry feel as if he had lost contact with the magical world.
Of course, Harry had tried more than once to communicate with his friends through Hedwig.
However, each ti the letter was sent out, there was never any reply.
Originally, Harry had just thought they had forgotten to reply, or possibly didn't want to reply.
But after mixing with Sherlock for a whole year, Harry had made so progress.
After discovering sothing was wrong, he specifically requested in every letter he sent out—"Please reply if received."
But even after doing all this, he still hadn't received a reply from even one person.
Harry imdiately realized sothing was fishy.
So, without a word, he told Sherlock about his situation in detail and asked for his help.
And he had Hedwig deliver the letter three tis in a row.
However, this was completely useless.
Each letter he sent seed to sink into the ocean without any response.
This imdiately made Harry certain that he was definitely in trouble—big trouble!
As the person who had known Sherlock earliest at school...
Hermione: 0_0
Well, the earliest person to know Sherlock besides Hermione.
What Harry had learned from Sherlock wasn't just stealth and fighting.
He noticed that although Hedwig returned empty-clawed every day, the ti seed too quick.
Sherlock's house wasn't too far away, Hermione's house wasn't close, and Ron's house was very distant.
But no matter who Harry wrote to, the ti Hedwig took to return was almost the sa.
This reminded him of sothing Sherlock had said.
"When you eliminate all impossibilities, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
So, his letters were being intercepted?
At this mont, Harry really wished he could speak to birds.
Then he could directly ask Hedwig what exactly was happening.
Unfortunately, he couldn't.
Harry had tried to think of solutions.
He had specifically instructed Hedwig to fly slower so he could secretly tail her.
But each ti ended in failure.
Without being able to use magic, he was just an ordinary 12-year-old boy who couldn't walk very far alone.
He had also thought about asking Uncle Vernon to drive him to track Hedwig.
However, Uncle Vernon refused to agree.
"Intercepting your letters? Who would do such a boring thing? If soone really did that..."
After hearing what Harry said, Uncle Vernon ruthlessly mocked him directly:
"I should thank them!"
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