I’m Only A Defense Against The Dark Arts Professor

Chapter 21: A Boy Named Neville

Harry was embarrassed now. He wanted to remove the bandage from his head, wrap it around his face, and lie that he was Draco.

However, he can’t do that now. Not only did Professor Forrest see who he was before, but he also heard the conversation between him and Ron just now.

Ron was even more at a loss. He stammered and said, “Uhh, hello there. Professor Forrest.”

Sherlock was speechless, didn’t speak, and Filch scolded them, “It’s less than half an hour before the curfew. What do you kids want to do dressing up like this? Run around the castle?”

Harry hurriedly explained, “We just came back from Madam Pomfrey, and Professor Dumbledore asked us to go to the hospital to deal with the injury we had…”

His words got quieter as he spoke. Sherlock looked at the two of them strangely, and when he saw Harry and Ron driving the flying car on the train, he recalled something. He remembered that the two of them should not have suffered serious injuries in the original book.

“I saw you greeting me from the sky when I was on the train. I thought you could land safely.”

Hearing what he said, Harry and Ron were even more embarrassed and could not wait to tuck their heads into their collars.

“You seemed to say you were going to take a leave of absence from my class tomorrow. Is the injury that serious?” Sherlock asked flatly.

Harry seemed to be in a hurry to speak, but he choked on his own saliva. He coughed several times before explaining.

“Professor, I was only joking with Ron. We weren’t seriously injured, Madam Pomfrey didn’t even let us in the infirmary, she used a magic bandage to tend our wound and it would be fine in two days. It won’t affect us in class at all.”

Sherlock nodded slightly, “That’s good. I don’t want students to ask for leave before my first class starts.”

“We promise not to be absent from your class, professor!”

“Go back and rest.”

Hearing him say this, Harry and Ron nodded obediently, like two animals who were caught stealing food, and hurried back to the Gryffindor common room.

“You shouldn’t let them go away easily, Professor Forrest. These two students deliberately wanted to skip class, and you should punish them later.” Filch seemed slightly resentful that Sherlock let Harry and Ron go so easily.

The main reason is that Sherlock’s characteristic is too cold, which makes Filch mistakenly think that he and Snape are the same kind of person.

“They were just thinking about it. As long as they didn’t do it, they should not be punished.”

Seeing what he said, Filch didn’t talk much but continued walking towards the Gryffindor common with Sherlock. On the way, they also met other students from Gryffindor. Although Sherlock could see that Filch wanted to punish them, but since it was not curfew time, he had no way to punish them.

Just as he was walking to the corridor where the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was, a boy suddenly bumped into Sherlock. Just as the boy’s body came into contact with him, Sherlock suddenly felt a burning sensation on his arm again.

That feeling was short-lived and even made him wonder if it was an illusion created by him. Sherlock frowned and looked down at the boy who hit him.

He has a round face, a chubby body, a messy black hair, and his face looks pale because of fear. Sherlock stretched out a hand towards him, trying to help pull him up from the ground. But the boy just gave him a scared look and got up from the ground.

“I’m sorry, Professor Forrest. I ran too fast and didn’t see you on the way here.”

“It’s okay,” Sherlock said and asked casually, “What’s your name?”

The boy lowered his head. It seemed that he was nervous, “Neville Longbottom.”

“Longbottom…” Sherlock repeated the boy’s name.

He is no stranger to this name. Because in the first book that he is most familiar with, he knows the boy in front of him, and it seems to play a very important role in the story later.

But why did the birthmark on his arm burn again when he hit him?

The last time he had a reaction from the mark was when he met Lucius and his son at the bookstore. At that time, the burning sensation was strong. Now, he met Neville, but the burning sensation was only for a brief moment.

What is going on?

He lacks clues of what is happening; Sherlock couldn’t think of anything that correlates between Neville Longbottom and the Malfoys.

Just as he was thinking, Neville asked in a small voice, “Can I go now? Professor”

Sherlock finally came to his senses, and patted Neville’s shoulder casually, “Go back and take some rest.”

Hearing his words, Neville turned around and ran to the entrance of the Gryffindor common. Watching him disappear, Sherlock looked thoughtfully at the hand he had just patted on Neville.

After touching his body, the mark on his arm didn’t burn, which made him wonder if the burning sensation just now was his illusion.

“The Gryffindor students are reckless. They can’t even see clearly when they walk. It’s time to teach these children a good lesson and teach them the rules!” Filch looked at Sherlock, thinking he was still thinking about what had happened to Neville just now, and hinted at Sherlock about giving a punishment.

Sherlock shook his head and forgot about the mark again. There is a high possibility that the original Sherlock’s mother left the mark.

The reason why Professor McGonagall, the Weasleys, Hagrid, and Dumbledore took care of the original Sherlock so much was probably because they were familiar with the original Sherlock’s mother.

Judging from the description in the diary, the original Sherlock does not seem to know why his mother has such a close relationship with these people in the wizarding world. Sherlock felt that he could know it later when the right time came.

Asking Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall directly about their relationship with their mother and maybe the origin of the mark on his body.

This way, the information obtained about it may be more reliable than just guessing it by himself.