Rubeus Hagrid was Hogwarts School's Keeper of Keys and Grounds, as well as Harry Potter's first true friend. He lived in a wooden hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
When Sherlock, Harry, and Ron arrived at the hut's door, Sherlock's gaze swept over a crossbow and a pair of rubber boots by the entrance, already forming a preliminary judgment of this person's character.
If he could examine them carefully, he would discover much more.
But there was no need.
As Harry began knocking, barking and Hagrid's scolding voice rang out in succession.
Then the wooden hut's door opened.
"Wait a moment."
Hagrid opened the door just a crack while turning back to shout, "Come Back, Fang, come back!"
He desperately grabbed the collar of a massive black hound, preventing it from lunging forward, and finally managed to let the three inside.
This hut wasn't like Hogwarts castle with its space-expanding charms—it was small on the outside, small on the inside too.
Hams hung from the ceiling, a copper kettle boiled water over the fire, and before the hearth stood a huge wooden table and chairs. In the corner was a large bed covered with a quilt made of patchwork scraps.
That's all Harry and Ron saw.
But in Sherlock's eyes...
Hagrid's hut was practically a golden house gleaming with dazzling light.
This completely confirmed his prediction.
Even without carefully examining the crossbow and boots at the door, the things inside were enough for him to make judgments about Hagrid.
Indeed, he was someone worth befriending.
At this moment, Hagrid had released the large dog called Fang, and once freed from restraint, it immediately lunged toward the three visitors.
Due to its large size, Harry and Ron were startled and instinctively stepped back.
Sherlock reacted much faster than them.
He had seen through this dog's true nature at a glance.
So, the moment he saw Hagrid release the collar, he inconspicuously stepped back and positioned Ron in front of him.
Under Ron's shocked gaze, Fang climbed up to Ron's neck level and began... licking his ear.
"Uh..."
Seeing the fierce dog instantly transform into a friendly one, both Harry and Ron were stunned, not knowing what to say.
Sherlock spoke at just the right moment:
"The dog reflects its owner—Fang is clearly not as fierce as it appears, just like its master."
Hagrid: Σ(°△°|||)︴
If he understood correctly, this was a compliment, right?
'But... why did it sound so strange?'
However, Hagrid was basically straightforward, so when he couldn't figure something out, he simply stopped thinking about it.
At this point, Harry had already introduced Sherlock and Ron to Hagrid.
Hagrid, meanwhile, was placing his homemade rock cakes onto plates while looking at Ron's freckled face and saying:
"Another Weasley boy, eh? I've spent nearly half my life trying to keep those twin brothers out of the Forbidden Forest."
After this slightly exaggerated joke, he turned to Sherlock. "A genius wizard from a Muggle family—I hear several professors speak very highly of you."
"Sherlock is amazing!"
Harry's affection for Hagrid was visible to the naked eye. After all, in Harry's view, it was this big man who had brought him into the magical world, thereby changing his life.
On the other hand, it was also because he had been too suppressed in Potions class.
So, at this moment, Harry seemed very excited, enthusiastically telling Hagrid about Sherlock's unique observation and deduction abilities, especially praising his deductive method.
There was inevitably some element of showing off his excellent friend.
Hagrid initially listened with great interest.
After all, it was good that Harry could make friends in his new environment.
But because Harry was being overly demonstrative about Sherlock, he gradually began to think Harry was somewhat exaggerating, inflating some of Sherlock's minor tricks out of proportion.
As someone who had personally rescued baby Harry from the wreckage of a house, delivered him to the Dursleys, and personally collected him this year, Hagrid felt it necessary to test this for Harry's sake.
"Well then, Mr. Holmes," he looked at Sherlock with interest, trying to pull up a smile, "since Harry makes you sound so impressive, I wonder if you could deduce something about me."
Hearing this, Harry and Ron immediately leaned forward.
"Er... I'm afraid I can't deduce much," Sherlock said honestly, "but you probably don't like your mother."
As soon as he finished speaking, the smile disappeared from Hagrid's face entirely, and he stared at Sherlock in shock.
After a brief silence, he spoke: "Though I don't remember her very well anymore, she... indeed wasn't a good mother—but how did you know?"
"It's really not worth mentioning."
Sherlock shrugged:
"There's a photograph of you and your father on your bedside table. Though it's quite old, it's kept spotlessly clean, while the rest of the room is quite messy. This shows you value family relationships.
From your father's build, I can see he wasn't a giant, so I deduce you must be a half-giant—according to my knowledge, in giant society, the taller you are, the more authority you have.
At twelve feet tall, you'd be considered short among giants. Your mother isn't in the photograph, and given this tradition, I deduced your mother left when you were young, and your father raised you alone."
"You got it right," Hagrid took a deep breath, seeming somewhat unconvinced as he asked, "Anything else?"
"You love animals and know their habits very well."
"That's also correct. How did you know? Did you figure it out from Fang?"
"No," Sherlock's gaze swept around the hut, "I could tell from your hut—a dog bed made from unicorn hair and umbrella flower petals, wind chimes crafted from Plimpy scales, tablecloth sewn from Grindylow hide, carpet woven from Pygmy Puff fur..."
Sherlock's description left Harry and Ron wide-eyed.
They didn't know about the other materials, but unicorn hair... just one strand cost ten Galleons!
The fragrant umbrella flower petals were equally expensive, costing at least five Galleons and up.
That meant this seemingly messy dog bed was worth over a thousand Galleons!
And... from Sherlock's description, the other items were certainly not cheap either.
Looking back at Hagrid's hut now, how could it still be called simple?
It was clearly a golden house bright enough to blind the eyes.
Harry was somewhat better off, but Ron instantly lost all motivation to study.
'Study? Study what!'
Seven years of hard work at school couldn't compare to becoming a gamekeeper and Keeper of Keys!
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