Chapter 17: Sherlock’s Two Questions

“What question?”

Hearing that Sherlock actually wanted to ask him, Ron couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

Because that sentence gave him the feeling that a big shot needed him.

“First, what are the characteristics of the four houses?

Second, do you perhaps not realize… that the word ‘Muggle’ also carries a discriminatory connotation?”

Sherlock clasped his hands under his chin, his gaze sharp as he looked at Ron, waiting for his explanation.

“W-what?!” Ron was taken aback. “Muggle… there’s no way it’s a derogatory term.”

He answered the second question first.

After all, compared to the first, the second question hit him harder.

A raging Gorgon, he had never meant any disrespect when using the term Muggle all his life.

His father was even fascinated by the Muggle world and treated them with great kindness.

It was precisely because of this that pureblood families like the Malfoys looked down on them, believing they had sullied the honor of the sacred twenty-eight lineages.

But now Sherlock said that Muggle was also a pejorative?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Harry, standing beside him, also helped explain, “Sherlock, you’re wrong this time. Hagrid calls them that too.”

Sherlock shook his head, not explaining directly, but instead asked again:

“How do you spell ‘Muggle’?”

“Muggle.”

While Ron was still thinking, Harry had already answered.

Sherlock frowned, “Don’t you notice anything wrong?”

Ron still looked confused.

Harry hadn’t seen anything wrong initially either.

But since Sherlock pointed it out, after some thought, he caught on.

“You mean… the root of the word?”

Sherlock nodded, looking somewhat surprised at Ron’s still blank expression:

“So… wizarding families don’t study words?”

Ron cleared his throat twice, his ears reddening. “We do! Of course we do! But I just never noticed anything wrong with this word.”

Sherlock looked at Harry.

Though unsure why, Harry indeed understood the look in Sherlock’s eyes.

So he took the initiative to explain to Ron: “The root of ‘Muggle’ is ‘Mug’…”

“Isn’t that a cup?” Ron quickly asked back, trying not to seem so ignorant.

Harry sighed, “Besides ‘cup,’ it also means ‘fool’.”

With Sherlock’s prompting, Harry carefully explained to Ron that the root ‘Mug’ means not only a cup but also a fool.

Ron’s mouth dropped open in surprise, unsure what to say.

This was indeed the first time he had learned this.

Sherlock was right; those from wizarding families really didn’t pay enough attention to learning words properly.

Seeing Ron’s expression, Harry thought silently.

He also admired Sherlock more and more.

Growing up like himself in a non-magical family, Sherlock not only knew so much about the non-magical world and mastered various knowledge, he could box and fence, and was even skilled in magic.

Truly impressive!

Noticing Ron’s low spirits, Sherlock patted his shoulder:

“Don’t take it too hard. After all, ‘fool’ is ‘Mug,’ not ‘Muggle.’ It’s still okay to use this term.

I think the person who first coined this term was not very friendly toward those who couldn’t do magic.”

“But…” Looking at Ron’s tangled expression, Sherlock went on to explain a little more:

“Language naturally evolves over time. Some words start out neutral but later gain derogatory meanings.

For example, ‘Negro’ originally had no negative connotations; it comes from Latin, meaning ‘black,’ and was widely used in America before the 1960s.

The truly derogatory term was ‘Nigger,’ but today ‘Negro’ is considered just as offensive.

In a few decades, even ‘Black people’ might become too sensitive to use.”

Harry was stunned. “Then what should we call them?”

“Who knows? Maybe African American?” Sherlock said with a bitter smile.

“The same goes for ‘Muggle.’ It originally had a derogatory sense, but today it has softened enough to be widely accepted.”

Harry and Ron looked at Sherlock with admiration; he was so knowledgeable!

At that moment, the compartment door opened once again.

Hermione appeared before them.

“What happened?”

Hermione looked at the candy scattered all over the floor, puzzled.

Harry and Ron glanced at Sherlock.

Sherlock shrugged. “Miss Granger, someone tried to steal our snacks but left after being persuaded.”

“Really?” Hermione was skeptical; she had just seen the Malfoy trio leave earlier.

They didn’t look like they had been ‘persuaded’ at all.

“You didn’t fight, did you? Don’t cause trouble before we even get there!”

Her tone remained proud. Ron tensed his face, about to snap back.

But Sherlock interrupted: “Ron, the first question.”

“What, uh…” Ron only just realized Sherlock had asked two questions and he’d only answered the second.

He felt a little annoyed, always seeming slow-witted in front of Sherlock.

Fortunately, coming from the Weasley family, Ron knew a lot about the four Hogwarts houses and began to speak at length.

Upon hearing Ron talk, Harry and Hermione became interested.

Hermione, like before, sat beside Sherlock and listened attentively.

Sherlock didn’t mind but felt Ron’s descriptions were increasingly subjective.

In Ron’s mouth, Gryffindor was the house of righteous and brave warriors because the current Hogwarts headmaster and deputy headmaster both came from there, as did his parents and several brothers.

Likewise, he would most likely be sorted into Gryffindor himself.

Ravenclaw students were bookish nerds, peculiar and self-important.

Hufflepuffs were a group of invisible gluttons with no special skills except loving food.

But that was acceptable because Slytherin was full of despicable, shameless, cunning villains.

Combining what he’d read with Ron’s personality, Sherlock immediately made an inference.

To others, Gryffindor might just be a bunch of reckless troublemakers.

At this moment, Harry interjected, “Hagrid also said he’d rather be in Hufflepuff than Slytherin.”

“Because Voldemort was in that house?” Sherlock mentioned the name, and Ron shuddered again.

He gave Sherlock a resentful look.

You’re not afraid of him, but couldn’t you consider how we feel?

Sherlock didn’t care about others’ opinions. Receiving Harry’s affirmative answer, he turned back to Ron: “Among the four houses, is Hufflepuff the largest?”

“How do you know?” Ron was surprised. “Oh, Merlin’s beard, you’re amazing!”

Hearing Ron’s answer, Sherlock nodded.

Sure enough, all the troublemakers must have gone to other houses, leaving the kind and obedient to Hufflepuff.

At that moment, a voice echoed through the train:

“In five minutes, the train will arrive at Hogwarts. Please leave your luggage on the train; we will deliver it to the school for you.”

Sherlock immediately sprang into action.

“Why are you heading off so suddenly…” Hermione’s face flushed as she hurriedly stepped out.