Chapter 24: Pemberton Makes His Move

The morning post arrived at Hogwarts with seventeen owls and a great deal of noise, none of which Holmes noticed. He had been in the foundation chamber since half past five.

He had come alone. This required a word of explanation, which he had left — written on a square of parchment in his smallest and most deliberate hand — on the library table where Hermione Granger would find it when she arrived at six o'clock for her customary pre-breakfast research session. The note read: *Stay above ground until I send word. This is not caution. It is division of labour.* He had considered adding something further and decided against it. She would understand, or she would not, and in either case the instructions remained the same.

The chamber was exactly as they had left it two nights prior. He had been counting on that.