Chapter 53: Vengeance

In the Headmaster's office, Sherlock calmly analyzed the case.

"Second, that line of bloody writing was left by Professor Quirrell.

Third, everything Professor Quirrell did was instigated by someone else."

Silence. A long, drawn-out silence.

"Evidence?"

Dumbledore spoke, his eyes filled with immense curiosity, "Based purely on what happened that night?"

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Sherlock spoke rapidly in his usual calm tone:

"No matter how much he is underestimated, Quirrell is still the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

To be frightened to that extent by a mountain troll is already quite absurd, yet he managed to run all the way from the dungeons to the Great Hall, finish telling you what needed to be said, and only then faint—such a performance is far too clumsy."

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Minerva once told me that you possess astonishing analytical and deductive abilities. It seems that is indeed the case.

That night, you made certain deductions about the person who left the bloody message. Could you tell me how you figured those things out?"

After that night, Professor McGonagall had gone out of her way to find Dumbledore and inform him of Sherlock's deductions.

The person who left the bloody writing was a middle-aged man under six feet tall, right-handed, using a wand approximately nine inches long, agile and scheming. Doing this was not his original intention, but rather the result of another person's instigation.

Long before the term began, McGonagall had already mentioned that Sherlock had deduced that Hogwarts was located in the Scottish Highlands.

Now, with this latest incident, Dumbledore was naturally very interested.

"Actually, deducing those details is quite simple: a person's height can be determined from the length of their stride. The calculation method is quite straightforward, but there is no point in explaining it step by step right now, so I will bypass it for the moment.

When a person writes within a space that is not particularly large, they habitually choose the central position.

Judging from the marks left at the scene, taking the center point of the room as a reference, that line of text is slightly biased to the right.

Combining these two points, one can deduce the other party's height and dominant hand.

Since a wand was being used to write, the length of the wand can also be inferred along the way. These things are as simple as child's play."

"Then how did you figure out that he was agile and scheming?"

Professor McGonagall could not help asking.

Compared to Dumbledore and Snape, she had witnessed Sherlock's capabilities firsthand.

Knowing nothing about magic whatsoever, he had managed to deduce the location of Hogwarts in the English Highlands based merely on the slenderest clues. It was truly impressive.

That was why she had supported Sherlock in voicing his deductions that night.

"The moment I first caught sight of Professor Quirrell, I hurried down to the dungeons. Even so, I only reached Hermione just before the troll did, which shows that his speed was by no means slow."

Professor Quirrell's purpose in releasing the mountain troll was twofold. The first was to create chaos, giving him an opportunity to approach the fourth-floor corridor.

Although I do not know what Mr. Dumbledore asked Hagrid to place on the fourth floor, that was clearly Professor Quirrell's target—unfortunately, he failed."

Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged a glance. "You deduced this as well?"

"Yes," Sherlock said, turning his gaze back to McGonagall. "Speaking of which, we should all thank Professor Snape."

Dumbledore smiled.

McGonagall looked slightly surprised.

Snape remained expressionless.

"While everyone else was running around in panic searching for the troll, Professor Snape went directly to the fourth floor, intercepted Professor Quirrell, and got his leg bitten for his trouble.

Furthermore, that night Professor Snape clearly intervened to stop me from continuing my statement in order to protect me.

Professor Snape must have assumed that if Professor Quirrell heard my analysis, he would realize I had deduced that he was the culprit behind this..."

"Holmes!"

Snape finally lost his patience, shouting with an expression of utter fury, "Do not speak of irrelevant matters!"

Sherlock had originally intended to elaborate further on Snape's bitten leg, but seeing the man's angry and humiliated appearance, he could only shrug and give up with a helpless sigh.

"...Professor Quirrell's first objective was thwarted, leaving him no choice but to retreat to his secondary plan and join the other professors in dealing with the troll.

Naturally, dealing with the troll did not require his personal intervention; the combined strength of Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape was more than enough to handle it.

As for that line of bloody writing, he had already prepared it when he released the troll.

This can be verified both by the time it took to cast the spell and by the traces left at the scene, so I won't elaborate further.

Once the professors had resolved the troll situation and returned, Professor Quirrell would have led everyone there to discover that mark written in blood.

As a side note, when Professor Quirrell saw the bloody writing, his acting was still far too heavy-handed, which firmly cemented my suspicions regarding him."

"So, what does 'RACHE' stand for? Does it refer to the person who instigated Quirrell?"

"A bold guess."

Sherlock shook his head. "My friend Hermione once believed that the person who left the bloody writing originally intended to write the woman's name, Rachel, but was interrupted by other events and thus left it unfinished.

However, I feel there is no need to waste time searching for some 'Miss Rachel,' because 'RACHE' means 'revenge' in German.

Based on my deductions, the person who instigated Professor Quirrell has severe racist tendencies, which is why they used German to write the word for revenge.

Therefore..."

Sherlock paused, looking at Dumbledore.

"Sir, can you tell me what you have discovered now?"

As soon as these words left his mouth, even Snape, who had originally intended to deliver a sarcastic remark, froze in place.

At that moment, both his and McGonagall's gazes snapped toward Dumbledore.

Meeting their collective stare, Dumbledore was momentarily startled before breaking into a smile.

"Minerva's judgment remains as exceptional as ever, Mr. Sherlock. You are even more remarkable than she described."

"Albus..."

McGonagall looked at Dumbledore with a trace of nervousness.

"It's fine," Dumbledore waved a hand, meeting Sherlock's gaze as he spoke, "I have indeed discovered something."

Upon hearing Dumbledore say this, Sherlock immediately pressed his palms together to support his chin, fixing a piercing, burning gaze upon him.

From the very moment he learned that Dumbledore had summoned him, Sherlock had known what would transpire tonight.

Unmasking Quirrell was merely the beginning.

The truly important thing was the person standing behind him.

It was just that the information at his disposal was incomplete, requiring someone like Dumbledore to confirm it further.

However.

Dumbledore suddenly turned to Snape: "Severus, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?"

Snape: (ー`´ー)

"In that case, I won't disturb your joyous gathering!"

Snape said through gritted teeth, "However... Dumbledore, you owe me an explanation!"

With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the Headmaster's office without looking back.

"Ah, youth is wonderful!"

Watching Snape's retreating figure, Dumbledore could not help uttering a sigh of sentiment before turning his gaze back to McGonagall.

"Albus, do I... do I need to leave as well?"

McGonagall pointed a finger at herself, an expression of utter disbelief on her face.

"I'm sorry, Minerva," Dumbledore looked at Professor McGonagall, a smile still gracing his face. "Please trust me."

McGonagall: Σ(｀д′*ノ)ノ