Though they hadn’t known each other long, Ron already considered Harry a friend.
Besides, Malfoy hadn’t just offended Harry; he had insulted Sherlock and himself as well, so Ron naturally stepped up.
Harry stared coldly at Malfoy.
“Say that again.” Though quiet by nature and reluctant to pick fights, his parents were off-limits.
He would not tolerate any insult to them.
“Oh, looking for a fight, are you?” Malfoy was a little surprised by Harry and Ron’s courage, but after glancing at Goyle and Crabbe beside him, he sneered.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sherlock hadn’t stood up with Harry and Ron, and the disdain in his eyes deepened.
*A Mudblood is a Mudblood—utterly spineless.* *A Weasley might be a disgrace to pure-bloods, but he’s still far better than that coward.* By now, Goyle and Crabbe had stepped forward like dutiful thugs, looming over the three of them.
In truth, Harry wasn’t as brave on the inside as he looked.
Crabbe and Goyle were much larger than he and Ron, so at this moment, he was mostly putting on a tough front.
Ron was much the same; both of them were relying purely on bravado to hold their ground.
They were still just kids, after all.
The inadvertent flickers of fear they showed were caught instantly by Goyle and Crabbe, making the pair even more contemptuous.
As for Sherlock, they gave him as little thought as Malfoy did.
A cowardly Mudblood wasn’t even worth mentioning.
Realizing Harry and Ron were all bluff and Sherlock was as timid as a mouse, Goyle took action first.
He reached out a greedy hand toward the Chocolate Frog next to Ron.
“This food looks pretty good, but it’s mine now!” “Hands off!” When it came to food, Ron finally overcame his fear and lunged forward.
Unfortunately, before he could even reach Goyle, the bigger boy shoved him down.
Effortlessly.
Seeing this, Harry froze.
In that instant, Goyle—who was two full heads taller than him—reminded him of his cousin Dudley, who had bullied him his entire life.
He wanted to do something, but the psychological trauma built up since childhood left his body refusing to obey.
As Goyle laughed, preparing to rip open the wrapper on the spot, a thought took root in Harry’s mind: *I was bullied before coming to Hogwarts, and I’m still getting bullied after coming to Hogwarts.
Did I come here for nothing?* Just as Harry was about to fall into total despair…
Goyle, who was just about to tear open the snack, suddenly let out a shriek of pain.
A powerful hand had clamped tightly around his wrist.
Goyle thrashed his arm, trying to break free, but though the hand wasn’t particularly large, it held his wrist like an iron vise.
“Honestly, you guys…” Sherlock, who had been completely ignored by Malfoy’s trio, slowly stood up.
Holding Goyle’s wrist, he said with a helpless look, “Before taking something that belongs to someone else, shouldn’t you ask first?” Unable to bear the pain, Goyle bent double.
Sherlock was fairly tall to begin with, and as he drew himself up, he became the one looking down on them.
“Sherlock!” Seeing this, Harry couldn’t help shouting out in joy.
At that moment, Sherlock appeared toweringly heroic in his eyes.
Ron scrambled up from the floor, staring at Sherlock with pure amazement.
An absolute powerhouse carrying the team!
“Let him go!” Crabbe finally snapped out of it and charged at Sherlock.
“Look out!” Harry finally conquered his fear, intending to rush forward and help.
But before he could step in, the situation drastically changed.
Facing Crabbe, who was yelling as he rushed over, Sherlock nodded.
“Sure.” With that, he released Goyle’s wrist.
Goyle immediately slumped toward the floor.
Before his body could hit the ground, however, Sherlock landed a fast, brutal uppercut right on his chin.
At the same time, Crabbe barreled forward.
Sherlock casually extended a leg.
*Thud!* Crabbe crashed face-first onto the floor.
Sherlock retracted the hand he had used to punch Goyle and smoothly delivered another blow to Crabbe for good measure.
Goyle and Crabbe were already clutching their heads, howling in pain.
Although the two were physically strong for kids their age, they were only eleven; their pain tolerance wasn’t impressive at all.
To say nothing of the fact that they had encountered a professional like Sherlock.
Sherlock’s eyes now shifted to Malfoy, whose face had paled dramatically as he shrank back.
Sherlock gave him a friendly smile.
“Mr.
Malfoy of the pure-blood family, would you like to give it a try too?” To Malfoy, Sherlock’s smile looked like that of a demon.
He had never imagined the guy could single-handedly defeat Goyle and Crabbe.
No, not just defeat—it was a total crush.
*This guy doesn’t act like a wizard at all!* Stripped of all his previous pride, Malfoy backed away continuously and fled the compartment as fast as he could.
Crabbe and Goyle scrambled after him, rolling and crawling out the door.
Sherlock didn’t bother stopping them, letting them flee.
Harry and Ron looked at Sherlock with nothing but awe.
That earlier thought popped into Harry’s mind once again: *It would be great if I could follow him all the time.* “That was amazing, Sherlock!
How did you do that?” “They were too weak,” Sherlock said, not looking proud at all.
“My family hired tutors to teach me a bit of fencing and boxing back home.” “Boxing?” “Fencing?” Harry and Ron exchanged glances.
Involuntarily, pictures formed in their minds of Sherlock brandishing a wand like a longsword in combat.
A close-combat wizard?
That was bizarre!
“Is ‘Mudblood’ a slur?” Sherlock’s sudden question interrupted Harry and Ron’s imagination.
Harry looked at Ron in confusion, while Ron blinked, as if he hadn’t fully recovered from the shock yet.
Only after a moment did he explain in a low voice: “It’s a vile, deeply offensive term for Muggle-borns.
It’s horrible—only wicked, irredeemable, absolute scum of Dark wizards call them that.” “I see…” Sherlock looked thoughtful.
“Is Malfoy that kind of person too?” “Not quite that far.” Much as Ron hated Malfoy and his family, he didn’t think they were quite at that level.
So he added, “The Slytherin lot say it all the time, though—and Malfoy is definitely going to Slytherin.” Listening to Ron’s explanation, Sherlock pondered for a moment before speaking up: “Ron, I have two questions.”