Methods Beyond Magic

The Tie On the Door

    When Sherlock woke up, he was alone. He wasn't terribly surprised, but he was still a little bit disappointed that he wasn't able to see Victor when he awoke. Sherlock sighed, sitting up in bed and shivering a little bit, pulling on his robes and getting to his feet. The cold stone floor was like ice on his bare feet, so he pulled on some socks and pulled the blankets over his bed, to make it look somewhat presentable. Had that just happened? Sherlock looked around for any sign that Victor had ever been there, could it have all just been a dream? A part of Sherlock hoped it had been, another part, the more delusional part, told him that the night had gone exactly how it should've. But no, the letter that the owl had brought him was still laying on the table, the window was slightly open, and there was a Slytherin tie tied around the door handle, left there, presumably, by Victor before he left. Sherlock groaned, rubbing his eyes and stumbling sleepily over to the bathroom, brushing his hair and teeth and washing his face with a wet wash cloth. Now that he was awake, now that he was conscious, the events of the night were flying back to him, how he had told Victor that he wanted a second chance, how he had kissed him... Sherlock splashed cold water over his face once more, trying to actually process this new information. But of course he was happy, obviously he had to be happy about reconnecting with Victor, he had to be happy about finally kissing him and telling him his true intentions, because he wouldn't have done all that without true intentions, would he? Sherlock...loved Victor, of course he did. He would never have spent the night with him if he didn't purely love him. Thankfully it was the weekend, so he could take as much time as he needed to clean up and get himself decent looking, but what a week it had been. It felt more like a roller coaster than anything, but Sherlock couldn't decide if he was climbing to the top of a hill, if he had just come off a massive decent, or if the ride was over. Maybe this was the end, the happy ending, where the two characters fall massively in love after so long, and they were happy for the rest of their lives. Maybe he and Victor were going to be happy. So Sherlock walked down to the Great Hall, his feet feeling sort of heavy and his head spinning, as if he were in some sort of hangover. He wasn't necessarily hungry, in fact his stomach rumbled in protest with the mere thought of food, but he was going down to the Great Hall in an attempt to say hello to Victor again, to see how the boy was processing all of this. He didn't bring the tie, he thought he might just keep it for a while, to give it back maybe not in the most public place in the entire castle, because people might talk and pieces might be put together, and Sherlock did not need another student loving rumor to go around the school again. But then again, that's what he had just done, wasn't it? A shiver went down Sherlock's spine, but he didn't know the cause. Maybe fear, disgust, achievement, or maybe he had just walked through one of the school ghosts and didn't realize it. When he went down to the Great Hall, the first face he picked out of the crowd was Victor's, purely because his smile was literally the most radiating thing in the entire hall. He was sitting, eating his breakfast all alone, but he was smiling so widely that you'd think he was high, or just crazy. Sherlock gave him a smile and, if it was even possible, his smile widened in return. They didn't exchange any words, there would most definitely be time for that later, but for now Sherlock walked up to the staff table and took his seat.
"You're late." Snape observed, finishing off his goblet of pumpkin juice judgmentally.
"It's the weekend!" Sherlock protested.
"Yes, it is, excellent observation." Snape agreed, getting to his feet and walking off. Sherlock frowned in confusion, that was probably the most useless conversation Snape has ever had, but never the less he shook his head and poured a little bit oatmeal into a bowl, staring at it without the intention of eating it. Sherlock's stomach was in a knot, and the smell of food was making him want to throw up, for whatever reason. Was he that disgusted with himself, or was it just excitement? But when he thought back to last night, kissing Victor, he felt nothing but fear. Of course his past self probably had good reasons, he was probably lonely, scared, maybe he even felt bad for Victor back then. But now, as Sherlock looked back on it, he couldn't feel any love. There couldn't have been any love spark between them, he couldn't imagine a time when he thought Victor was so attractive and so tempting that he would go against everything he had been saying to himself since day one. He had insisted that he would never kiss a student, and here he was, the morning after...
"Did you get my letter?" John's voice asked from behind him.
"What, oh, I didn't get to read it, it was the middle of the night, weirdo." Sherlock snapped.
"It was only nine o'clock." John pointed out.
"Well, it felt like the middle of the night to me." Sherlock decided. John shrugged, sitting in Snape's empty seat and grabbing a pastry from the tray in front of him.
"That's not a good idea, Snape will kill you." Sherlock pointed out.
"I saw him leave, he'll never know." John shrugged, not seeming to be worried.
"You're awfully brave." Sherlock observed, pushing his bowl of untouched oatmeal away in disgust.
"Aren't you hungry?" John asked.
"Not really." Sherlock admitted.
"You look tired." John decided.
"Just a bit, I don't really know what I am." Sherlock admitted with a little laugh.
"Not all here again?" John suggested.
"I suppose that could work. I'm just a bit wired I suppose, some stuff happened." Sherlock admitted.
"What stuff?" John asked, tilting his head slightly to the side and ripping out the top of a strawberry with his fingernails.
"Oh, you know, family stuff." Sherlock lied.
"You don't strike me as someone who's very close with their family." John guessed.
"Exactly why this is such an issue. They're already sending out Christmas invitations." Sherlock muttered, poking around at his spoon so John didn't see right through his lie.
"You going to go?" John asked.
"No, course not." Sherlock muttered, glancing quickly over to see if Victor was still at the table. John smiled with relief.
"Good, because I'm staying over the break and I'd like company." he decided.
"Why aren't you going home?" Sherlock asked.
"And have my family and my extended family make fun of me? I think not." John laughed.
"They all make fun of you?" Sherlock asked.
"Well, not on purpose, I mean, sometimes of course they do, but usually they taunt me with their spell casting and potion making. It's quite annoying after an extended weekend." John admitted.
"Well, I'll be here, I hope. They might kidnap me; I have no idea of the extent of my mother's love." Sherlock admitted.
"That's a cheerful thought." John decided. Sherlock looked back over at Victor, who was trying to catch his eye. When finally they made eye contact from across the room, Victor jerked his head to the entrance hall, as if a signal that he wanted to talk to Sherlock, preferably in private.
"Hey, sorry John, I need to go." Sherlock decided hastily.
"What, to go see Victor?" John asked kind of sadly.
"No, of course not, got to grade some papers." Sherlock muttered.
"And are those papers calling you over to the Entrance Hall? I'm not blind." John pointed out.
"I'm sorry, I just need to talk with him, I can't really explain..." Sherlock muttered.
"Ya, alright, I'll see you later." John agreed. Sherlock nodded in thanks, rushing down the stairs to where Victor stood, leaning against the banister of the staircase with a smile on his face. Sherlock noticed that his tie was still missing, as if he hadn't bothered to put a new one on.
"Hello beautiful." He said with a smile. Sherlock scanned the hall to make sure no one was looking.
"Hey Victor." He agreed with a sort of smile. He told himself that the very presence of Victor was enough to smile, that his heart was jumping to meet him, but in fact he felt nothing. It was odd, how the night previous he had been dying to be in Victor's arms, although now he was good with leaving room for Jesus.
"What do you say we go on a walk?" Victor suggested. Sherlock looked guilty back at the Great Hall, noticing John's short figure walking along the staff table. But he couldn't just bail now, not when he was telling his heart to lead him to Victor.
"Ya, alright." Sherlock agreed. Victor smiled and led the way down the grounds. Once they got past the whomping willow, Victor caught Sherlock's hand mid swing and held it in his own, leaning up against Sherlock's shoulder and sighing.
"So, that happened." Victor decided.
"Yes, I suppose it did." Sherlock agreed with a sigh, wringing his hand in Victor's a little bit. It most certainly did not feel at home while trapped in the boy's fingers.
"I never thought I'd be able to hold your hand." Victor admitted. "But here we are."
"Here we are." Sherlock agreed, not knowing what else to say.
"Are you alright?" Victor asked.
"Yes, me? Fine." Sherlock agreed quickly. "Fine." He repeated.
"That's good. I don't know, do you want to talk about what happened?" Victor asked.
"How and why would we ever do that?" Sherlock asked in disgust.
"I mean, sometimes it helps with the shock." Victor decided.
"I'm not shocked. I was the one that called you back, I'm not in shock, I started the whole thing." Sherlock pointed out.
"True, you were, weren't you?" Victor agreed with a happy sigh.
"And that thrills you." Sherlock pointed out.
"It most certainly does. To have someone that you so powerfully love, love you back? It's the best feeling in the world, and I hope the feeling is mutual." Victor decided.
"Yes, of course it is." Sherlock agreed, but the words seemed to get choked up in his throat, as if it were hard to say them. Victor smiled again. They continued around the lake in the same route that Sherlock had followed with John, Victor's hand still swinging in Sherlock's as they walked.
"I saw you left your tie on my door handle." Sherlock pointed out.
"Yes well, there's no dress code on the weekends." Victor shrugged innocently.
"You're bound to need it back." Sherlock pointed out.
"You can keep it if you like." Victor assured, looking over at Sherlock hopefully. His blue eyes sparkled with some sort of emotion, love, probably, or maybe just excitement.
"Why would I want your tie?" Sherlock asked.
"You've got my scarf as well." Victor pointed out.
"You gave that to me." Sherlock defended.
"Yes, and now I'm giving you my tie. It's what couples around here do." Victor pointed out.
"Is that what we are, a couple?" Sherlock asked rather apprehensively, as if he didn't want to know the answer.
"Only if you want to be. I mean, after what happened, I'd say we are." Victor guessed.
"Alright then, a couple, that...the works." Sherlock muttered, looking down at the mud instead of in Victor's eyes.
"You sound unsure, if I'm rushing this, if I'm pushing you to go places you don't want to go, tell me. Relationships have to go both ways for them to properly work." Victor insisted.
"No, I know, I'm fine, there's nothing wrong." Sherlock assured, biting the inside of his cheek in an attempt not to say anything more, to say what was going on in his head.
"Good, because I don't want to force you into this." Victor decided, stopping and turning to face Sherlock, so that their faces were once again very close.
"You're not forcing me into anything, I want this as well." Sherlock muttered. Obviously he had to want this, he had last night, nothing has changed this morning. Victor's blue eyes looked into Sherlock's and he smiled slightly.
"You are so beautiful, I know I say that a lot, I'm probably a broken record by now, but you just...amaze me." He admitted. Sherlock smiled guiltily, feeling like he should probably say something nice in return.
"Thank you, no one's ever really called me anything other than a freak." He admitted with a bit of a laugh.
"We're both freaks, that's why we're meant to be." Victor insisted, leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to Sherlock's lips. Sherlock forced himself to kiss Victor back, but pulled away as soon as he thought he made his point.
"People might be watching." He pointed out.
"We're across the lake, no one's watching." Victor insisted.
"They could be in the quidditch pitch." Sherlock defended.
"They can't tell who we are." Victor pointed out, kissing Sherlock again quickly.
"Yes, but they probably saw us go down here, and it's not too much of a leap to guess who the two figures are." Sherlock defended.
"You sound like you don't want to kiss me." Victor decided.
"No, I just don't want to get caught. I'm a professor; I have to keep up my reputation." Sherlock pointed out. Just those words made his stomach twist uncomfortably, he was a professor, and Victor was just a student, if anyone found out...
"Right, as always." Victor agreed, starting to walk again. Thankfully this time he didn't think to hold Sherlock's hand, and he was free of that burden for now. So they continued walking, Sherlock walking just a tad bit behind Victor, for some reason it made him feel a bit safer.

"Okay, something is obviously up with you." Victor decided after a while.
"I'm fine." Sherlock lied.
"No you're not, you're never this quiet. When we were just friends, you used to talk your head off, about everything; you were comfortable with walking along side me." Victor pointed out.
"I'm sorry, it's just, I can't help but wonder how John is going to take all of this." Sherlock admitted.
"Well, that's obvious, we don't tell him." Victor shrugged.
"He's going to find out eventually, I mean, he spends a lot of time around me and you two are bound to cross paths." Sherlock pointed out.
"Well, we'll just have to be careful. Because he will not take it well, both of us know that, so we're going to avoid that as much as possible." Victor decided. Sherlock nodded in agreement.
"What do we do if someone finds out?" Sherlock asked.
"Deny everything I suppose. Even though this isn't wrong, I'd rather avoid the gossip." Victor admitted.
"I think it's kind of ironic, don't you?" Sherlock asked.
"What is?" Victor asked.
"That the rumors were going around that I was dating students, that I was gay. Well, here we are." He said with a small laugh. Actually, it wasn't funny at all; it was more disturbing that the student body's lies, which Sherlock had found preposterous, had finally come true.
"And it's a shame really, that I can't collect the betting money. Then again, you're better than all the galleons in the world." Victor decided.
"Oh, well, thanks." Sherlock muttered, sort of awkwardly. "You're a nice catch as well." That sort of hurt.
"Thanks Sherlock, how very deep." Victor laughed.
"I'm no Romeo." Sherlock muttered.
"Romeo was no Romeo either, have you even read that play? He was a downright loser." Victor laughed.
"I don't really dabble in muggle literature; it's kind of painful to see the things they come up with." Sherlock admitted.
"Well, John the squib would know all about it, you just go ask him." Victor laughed.
"You still don't know whether or not he's a squib." Sherlock defended.
"What, you haven't asked him yet?" Victor asked. Sherlock shrugged, kind of feeling guilty to be discussing John in such a negative light.
"No, I haven't really gotten around to it, and either way, it's his business, not mine. If he's a squib, I don't necessarily care." Sherlock admitted.
"I want to know." Victor decided.
"Why, so you can humiliate him?" Sherlock asked.
"Well, no, but you never know when I might need that information." Victor shrugged.
"Blackmail?" Sherlock asked.
"More like, if I were going on a great magical adventure and I had to pick a companion, the first person I'd scratch off my list would be Mr. Watson." Victor shrugged.
"I feel like he'd be great on an adventure, he knows non magical remedies and solutions to all sorts of things." Sherlock pointed out.
"For the sake of the plot, let's just forget you said that." Victor decided.
"Fair enough, I suppose." Sherlock shrugged. Victor smiled up at him with a look of wonder.
"God, you are amazing." He decided, starting to lean in for another kiss, but Sherlock just raised his eyebrows. "Oh, sorry, yes, privacy." Victor said very sarcastically.
"Yes, privacy, glad you're catching on." Sherlock agreed. Victor just rolled his eyes, holding Sherlock's hand again and leading him all the way around the lake. a