41 Home

Less than a month after the school anniversary celebration came Christmas.

It was also the first long holiday the students had enjoyed after spending nearly half a year at school.

The Christmas break prompted Sherlock to pack up all the bags and parcels in his dormitory, eventually stuffing them all into a suitcase enchanted with a Scarless Extension Charm.

"Mr. Sherlock! I'll write to you from home." Rupo was incredibly excited. With his return home imminent, he had countless stories from school that he could not wait to tell his family, and naturally, two-thirds of them revolved around Sherlock.

When he had first written to his parents from Hogwarts, emphasizing in his letter that he shared a dormitory with Sherlock and that they were close friends, Rupo Adams's parents had been beside themselves with excitement.

Their hands had even trembled a little as they held the letter, but more importantly, it gave them an excellent reason to visit Mephisto Manor.

At the dinner table where Fumengde entertained the Adams family, Mr. Adams repeatedly mentioned how grateful he was that "Mr. Sherlock has looked after Rupo so many times at school!"

There was an unspoken fact that people in the wizarding world understood but did not wish to voice: virtually all farsighted wizards believed that the young man of the Mephisto Family would inevitably become a figure capable of dominating the wizarding world in the future.

Thus, certain scheming pure-blood families had begun desperately trying to curry favor with the Mephisto Family before Sherlock had fully grown into his power.

However, Fumengde's policy of keeping the family secluded made it difficult for pure-blood families with no prior dealings with the Mephistos to befriend Fumengde and his wife.

Still, after Sherlock entered Hogwarts, Fumengde had gradually changed his former views and taken up several positions in international wizarding organizations.

One of the most influential was his acceptance of the Ministry of Magic's invitation to become a member of the Wizengamot. And because Karkaroff had successfully assumed the post of headmaster of Durmstrang School of Magic—

—combined with his rather poor reputation among dark wizards, and the fact that most dark wizards wished to curry favor with the Mephisto Family—Karkaroff was directly made vice chairman of the International Dark Magic Association, while Fumengde became its chairman without receiving any prior notice.

And all of it was because of his son.

Then there was the Mofilo game Sherlock had created during the Hogwarts anniversary celebration.

The moment Mofilo had shone at the Hogwarts anniversary celebration, it immediately became popular throughout the wizarding world. Sherlock had also written his father a letter, handing over the Honor Box, two hundred Strategist Cards, and the magical contract attached to the Honor Box to Fumengde.

He hoped Fumengde could use Mofilo's patent to make a fortune in the wizarding world.

Although the Mephisto Family's foundation meant they did not care about such money, Sherlock wanted to restore the Mephisto Family's steadily declining prestige in the wizarding world as quickly as possible.

When it came to navigating society, Fumengde was far inferior to Lucius. So Sherlock also wrote to Lucius, his godfather, hoping to combine the efforts of the Mephisto and Malfoy families.

After all, the Malfoy Family had long been active in wizarding commerce. If Lucius was willing to help the Mephisto Family, Sherlock would not mind giving the Malfoys ten percent of the profits.

Moreover, Lucius had indeed contributed a great deal to making the Hogwarts Honor Tournament happen.

Sherlock's standing in the wizarding world had already led people to regard him as the next leader of the wizarding world. This was also why, when he wanted the Hogwarts Honor Tournament to be completed, so many pure-blood families had written to Dumbledore.

After all, many pure-blood families had murky ties during Voldemort's era, making them easy targets for outside hostility and covert suppression. The Ministry of Magic would even use the excuse of searching for dangerous dark magic to conduct searches of pure-blood family homes...

(The diary of Voldemort from the Chamber of Secrets had been something the Malfoy Family wanted to get rid of when the Ministry came to search their home. Giving it to the Weasleys was the perfect way to frame them!)

If pure-blood families had it this hard, dark wizards had it even worse.

So they believed that once Sherlock took control of the wizarding world, whether for better or worse, their current standing would surely change drastically.

"Come on, Pyros, Camilla. We're going home!"

Sherlock took his two pets with him. Camilla remained obediently coiled around his wrist, while Pyros was deeply reluctant to leave his brief time at Hogwarts.

Pyros had been born in a shop and had only spent two or three days at Mephisto Manor. Most of his growing up had been done at Hogwarts, and he was familiar with the blue skies here.

Because school rules did not allow pets to wander freely around the castle, Camilla had spent most of her time either in the dormitory or worn on Sherlock's person. She had practically been stifled to death. Now that she could return to the manor, she was the most excited and impatient of them all.

"What about you, Kirk? Aren't you going home for Christmas?"

"Um... no, Mr. Sherlock. I don't want to return to the Avery ancestral home this year. Life there doesn't make me feel the warmth of a home."

Dandeni, who had already packed his things, suddenly said, "Sometimes I really think you'd be better suited to Ravenclaw. But I'll still bring your gift to our dormitory on Christmas Day."

Kirk smiled happily. Sherlock said that he would too, along with Rupo.

That meant only Fimiya, Rupo, Dandeni, and Sherlock would be taking the train. The four of them fit perfectly into one compartment, which made those little Slytherins who wanted to get close to Sherlock green with envy.

Waiting at King's Cross Station were Sherlock's mother, Aili, and his younger sister, Axinsha. When the red locomotive slowly pulled into the station, the little girl excitedly said to Aili, "Mom, next year I'll be going to Hogwarts too, and I'll be taking this train."

"Of course you will... though your brother has already learned Apparition. I didn't learn it until my sixth year. Many Ravenclaw students Apparated near Hogwarts during their sixth and seventh years, then walked the rest of the way, because Hogwarts is protected by powerful magic, and Disapparation isn't allowed inside either."

Sherlock got off the train and walked beside his mother, Aili. Seeing that Sherlock had grown taller again, Aili could not help sniffing. She now understood how her parents had felt when she had ridden the train while they stood outside the carriage window.

"Young Master Sherlock!"

"Mr. Sherlock!"

"Sherlock... sir!"

Fimiya, Rupo, and Dandeni each came over with their parents to greet him, something their parents had strongly insisted upon.

Mr. Adams was smiling the brightest of all. Seeing Sherlock in person made him even more excited. His son being able to befriend someone destined to become an influential figure in the future was an enormous blessing for the Adams Family.

"Mrs. Aili, we've met before."

"Hello, Mr. Adams."

Dandeni's guardian was his maternal grandmother, an old woman who looked ruthless.

Fimiya was with her mother. Had her father been there too, he likely would have squeezed Mr. Adams aside and gone up to strike up a conversation with Sherlock himself.