Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts

Unlike its dark exterior, the interior of Hogwarts Castle can be described as magnificent and palatial.

Interestingly, the ceiling overhead appears transparent, allowing one to see the twinkling stars outside.

Noticing Sherlock's actions, Hermione whispered to him:

"It's enchanted to look like the sky outside. I read about it in 'Hogwarts: A History'."

Sherlock nodded.

Indeed, it was hard to believe there was a ceiling above, and equally hard to believe the hall wasn't open to the elements.

Originally, when Sherlock saw the size of Hogwarts Castle, he thought his seven years here would be quite cramped.

But now it seemed the space inside was significantly larger than it appeared from the outside.

It was simply unscientific.

When something couldn't be explained, magic filled the gap.

As Professor McGonagall returned, the ghosts floated through the walls and disappeared.

By this time, all the teachers and students were seated, everyone staring at the first-year students, waiting for them to complete the Sorting Ceremony.

Under the gaze of everyone, Professor McGonagall gently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-year students and put a hat on it.

Sherlock noticed that the pointed hat was patched, very old, and even from a distance, he could tell it was filthy.

The next moment, the hat began to wriggle, and a wide crack appeared in the lower part of its middle, as if it were opening its mouth.

Then it began to sing.

"You may not think I'm pretty, but don't judge what you see, I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me..."

A ditty that sounded somewhat noisy to Sherlock was sung.

The hat's singing wasn't great, and the tune was far below his violin level.

However, it did provide Sherlock with some information.

Mainly, it was an introduction to the four houses.

Its introduction was equally objective and, compared to McGonagall, more professional. In short:

Gryffindor—brave, fearless, represented by the lion, symbolizing the element of fire.

Hufflepuff—just, loyal, represented by the badger, symbolizing the element of earth.

Ravenclaw—wise, learned, represented by the eagle, symbolizing the element of air.

Slytherin—cunning, ambitious, represented by the snake, symbolizing the element of water.

The first-year students now understood that they only needed to put on the hat.

"I'm going to kill Fred!"

Ron couldn't help but say to Sherlock and Harry, "He made it sound like we were going to fight a troll."

Harry and Hermione both secretly breathed a sigh of relief, obviously very nervous earlier.

Sherlock was naturally not nervous, just feeling that things were getting more and more interesting.

At this moment, the Sorting Ceremony began. McGonagall held a roll of parchment, walked forward a few steps, and read out the first name:

"Hannah Abbott!"

A little girl with two golden braids stumbled out of the queue under the gaze of the entire school, nervously putting on the hat.

Before anyone knew what happened, the hat shouted Hufflepuff.

The people on the right table applauded and cheered for Hannah, welcoming her to sit at their table.

The fat friar ghost who had greeted Sherlock also waved to her happily.

Then, one by one, the new students were called out by McGonagall, wore the hat, were sorted, and took off the hat.

Mechanical repetition, without any novelty.

Soon, those who were with Sherlock were called by name.

"Hermione Granger!"

Hermione was very nervous, even forgetting to say hello to them, almost running to the stool.

She hurriedly put the hat on her head.

Finally, the hat shouted Gryffindor.

Ron couldn't help but snort, obviously a little unhappy that the little girl might be sorted into the same house as him.

Sherlock watched this scene with great interest.

He didn't care about Ron's petty thoughts. What he cared about was the time it took the hat to sort.

Sometimes the hat would immediately shout out the name of the house, but sometimes it would take some time to make a decision.

For example, Hermione took nearly four minutes.

This was the longest time spent by anyone who had been sorted, giving the impression that the hat was also hesitating.

So, the question was.

When it was his turn, how long would it take, and which house would he be sorted into?

In fact, when the hat sang that little song, Sherlock had already thought about this question.

The result was... anything was possible.

Courage, he never lacked. The fundamental reason he chose to come to Hogwarts was his desire to explore the unknown. When necessary, he could even disregard life and death, a feeling that only made him more excited.

Justice, one of his interests was fighting crime. Of course, the methods weren't exactly lawful good, but certainly not evil, and the result must be justice.

Wisdom, needless to say. Although, because of his family, he once thought he was an idiot before meeting other children.

Cunning and ambition, he undoubtedly possessed both, and from the Sorting Hat's little song, his arrogance and disregard for rules really matched Slytherin.

So even Sherlock, who was good at reasoning and analysis, found it difficult to determine which house he would be sorted into.

If only he could ask Hermione what would happen when she put on the hat, he believed Miss Granger would be happy to answer.

Unfortunately, he couldn't ask.

Because each new student would leave the current queue after determining their house and go to their own house—where older students from the same house were waiting to welcome them.

Just then, McGonagall saw that Hermione had already taken her seat amidst the welcome of the Gryffindor upperclassmen, and her gaze returned to the parchment.

Her gaze paused slightly as she read out the name of the next new student:

"Sherlock Holmes!"

Hearing his name, Sherlock didn't say anything, but Harry and Ron suddenly became nervous:

"Don't go to Slytherin!"

"You must go to Gryffindor!"

In addition to his two friends, there were naturally others who paid attention to Sherlock.

The story of him teaching Malfoy and his cronies a lesson on the train had spread. Students who knew about it couldn't help but notice him when they heard this name.

Not to mention that Sherlock already had a appearance and exterior that was enough to attract attention at first glance.

In addition, McGonagall had also mentioned this little wizard with keen observation and analysis skills to Dumbledore.

However.

Sherlock walked to the stool, but didn't put the hat on his head directly like the others.

He took the hat in his hand, carefully examining it while rotating it.

The entire school was greatly surprised.

McGonagall, who was hosting the Sorting Ceremony, was even more astonished.

It's not like we asked you to come here to buy a hat, why are you picking one?

She couldn't help but look towards Headmaster Dumbledore, who was sitting at the head table.