The Boy Who Saw

chapter 14

sherlock woke to his name. The voice was soft and cheery, and he soon felt a nudge on his shoulder which then went down holding his arms gently just below his shoulder and shook him slightly.

"c'mon sherl. wakey wakey, sleepy head."

Sherlock knew that voice well, it was the voice of his friend, John Watson.

"what are you doing here?" Sherlock asked wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"oh i dunno, its your birthday and thought id just pop by say happy birthday to my best friend." john replied sarcastically.

Sherlock had forgotten all about his birthday, how did John even know when his birthday was, he'd never even mentioned it. he was brought back to his senses when something was thrown at him, several things in fact, three small parcels wrapped in brown paper and tied with ribbon. Sherlock looked up at John who was watching him intently, waiting for Sherlocks reaction.

sherlock carefully took the smallest parcel, he gently undid the ribbon and eased open the paper, he found a box full of bertie botts every flavour beans, same as the ones he and john had shared when they had forst met, they were actually sherlocks favourite sweets and he was surprised John knew this. he then went onto the second parcel, slightly bigger than the last, this one contained a book, old and battered, a guide to deduction read on the front in italic gold lettering on the black leather spine.

"i saw you looking at it on the hogsmeade trip, thought you might like it" john said with a smile.

"is there anything you dont notice?" sherlock asked with a smile.

"nope." John said with a silly lopsided grin.

Finally Sherlock moved onto the last present, it was a4 sized, john was smiling at him as he unwrapped it, his smile growing as Sherlock eased it out of the paper. a muggle game, cluedo, Sherlock inspected the game, something to do with solving crimes and mysteries, and from what Sherlock could tell murders. he couldn't understand how this boy who was now sat on the edge of his bed by his feet knew exactly what he liked, probably more so than his family who had apparently 'known' him for 11 years.

Yet again John just sat there grinning, Sherlock felt touched that this kid had bothered with him, because even though Sherlock could be a complete obnoxious ar** it didn't seem to bother John. sherlock went to get up and get ready to go down for breakfast, but was caught off guard by the fact he was still tangled in his duvet slightly, causing him to trip, he was about to faceplant the floor, when John caught him, one arm holding his shoulder, one arm wrapped around his waist. He then straightened sherlock upright and smiled at him.

"are you okay?" john asked in a worried tone, still with a firm hold sherlocks shoulders.

"fine. i'm fine. thankyou john." he looked into johns eyes awkwardly, he hated being the center of attention, it felt wrong. He then remembered the presents john had given him, "thanks for the presents as well" he said with a nervous smile.

"i'm not always gonna be there to pick you up, so can you please stop falling over?" John joked.

"if i recall correctly, this has only happened once." Sherlock pointed out.

"do you not remember when you fell down the stairs? i saw you fall, you were just lying there and i thought something serious had happened, i couldn't wait for the teachers to help, so i carried you to the hospital wing." john explained, he was still holding Sherlock's shoulders.

"you-- you carried me?" Sherlock asked surprised.

"yes Sherlock." john said with a kind smile.

Sherlock was yet again lost for words, why had this boy gone out of his way to look after Sherlock, he was just Sherlock's and he was an annoyance to most, and yet John had decided to care for him, he actually liked Sherlock's little quirks and how he always spoke his mind.

"thankyou John." Sherlock said and then for the first time in his life, he actually pulled John into a hug, john was surprised by this sudden action but then decided that he couldn't push Sherlock away, nor did he want to, Sherlock was his friend and he was there to look after him and protect him. john returned the hug, and then pulled Sherlock away, it had lasted less than two seconds but john could understand that it was Sherlock's way of trying to say thankyou, a task that was usually very difficult to say.

Sherlock then quickly went to fetch his clothes for the day, it wasn't a day with lessons so he decided to wear his purple shirt, black trousers and purple converse, before rushing out of the dormitory and out of ravenclaw common room where John was waiting outside.

"i was wondering where the birthday boy had gotten to" he said and ruffled Sherlock's curls in a joke attempt to mess up his already messy hair, Sherlock just laughed at this and then they had a race to the great hall, Sherlock winning due to his height and long legs. john was out of breath and panting, Sherlock was leaned up against a wall with a grin on his face, john leaned against the wall next to him, "that was the most ridiculous thing ive ever done!" john exclaimed laughing.

After recovering, Sherlock straightened himself up and walked up to the main hall entrance and opened the door with a simple nudge, allowing John to enter first, the ceiling was showing the weather outside, raining but sunny at the same time, it was pleasant. they went to sit down at a table and yet again john made sure Sherlock ate so he wouldn't become weak.

They soon left the great hall and wondered outside, Sherlock soon started to notice the rain and not being willing to stay indoors, flipped out his wand from his pocket and created an umbrella, the umbrella was clear and his wand became the handle, it was just large enough for john and Sherlock to share without getting rained on. they walked around the outside of the school and then went inside up to the ravenclaw common room where Sherlock played his violin and john watched, fascinated.

After a while of john watching Sherlock, Sherlock decided to try and teach john how to play, he didn't think it would be too hard, he'd managed to teach himself perfectly, he hoped john wouldn't be too much harder.

"wanna play?" he offered to john.

"who? me?" john asked.

"well there is nobody else here, so i cant imagine anybody else i could've asked unless of course i've gone mad." Sherlock joked, causing john to laugh.

Sherlock handed the violin to john who held it awkwardly in his arms. Sherlock went over to john and stood behind him, guiding johns hands to hold the violin so his chin rested against it and the bow was held in his other hand. Sherlock then guided his fingers to one chord then another whilst guiding his other hand gently across the strings, Sherlock's head resting on johns shoulder as he intently watched, Sherlock's long slender fingers guiding johns nervous hands.

By the end of it, john had successfully managed to play one song that didn't sound too bad, mostly with Sherlock's help, but he had managed to say the least.

as john was about to leave for gryffindor tower, he turned around and gave sherlock a quick friendly hug.

"happy birthday sherly" john said, "twelve now" and with that he left to go to bed and sherlcok left to go to his bed.