Amortentia

Chapter 7

"Are you two alright?" Holmes asked, more asking John than Greg.

"Fine." They both said.

"If you want, tomorrow night I can help with the potion." Holmes offered. John just nodded, and Greg didn't answer.

"Please try to make sure Snape doesn't kill us with detention." John begged.

"I have no input, but he mentioned something about cleaning the slug containers this morning, so that's probably what you'll have to do." Holmes said. Greg groaned.

"Why does he torture the students?" Greg asked.

"I have no idea." Holmes shrugged, and walked away.

"Fifty points? Because of an accident?" Greg complained.

"That's not fair at all." John agreed.

"And cleaning the slug containers, those things are enormous, and I doubt we'll be able to use magic." John groaned, they had a fun night ahead of them. After class they skipped most of lunch to take a fast shower, getting the terrible stink out of their clothes. When they got back people were still eating, thankfully, but they ate their lunch as fast as they could. Ancient Ruins, another boring class, was next, so the afternoon promised to be terrible too. At least the detention was in potions, because John was sure Professor Holmes was there. For some reason, thinking about Holmes made him giddy, as if he wanted to run around breaking things and screaming. That was the weirdest feeling in the world, but he controlled it, not breaking anything. After long classes of Ancient Ruins and Care of Magical Creatures, neither of which interested John, they dragged off to dinner, dreading the detention to come. Dinner was surprisingly short, and before they knew it they were back in the dungeons. When they opened the door, there was music flooding out, soft violin music, beautiful. That obviously wasn't Snape then. Holmes was standing near the window, in his slacks and jacket again, playing a piece of music by candle light. He didn't see them come in, his eyes were closed and his head was pressed against the instrument. He was swaying slightly, his fingers gracefully dancing around the strings of the violin, bow going back and forth. Greg went to the table, but John stood in the doorway, transfixed by the beauty of the moonlight hitting the figure, the beauty of the music, the beauty of Holmes.

"John, come on!" Greg hissed, looking annoyed. John snapped out of the trance, walking over to the chair without his eyes leaving Holmes. "Shhh, the longer we can stall him the shorter we have to work." Greg whispered. John agreed with a nod, agreeing not for the work, but every note that came out of the violin made his heart skip a beat, Holmes looked so elegant and peaceful, so beautiful. John's head couldn't even process the embarrassment of possibly being gay, he didn't even care, and the man standing in front of him clouded his thoughts and his feelings. Greg bumped the table behind him with his elbow, making a loud banging noise, triggering Holmes's eyes to open and the music to stop. John wanted to throw his friend out the window, but he couldn't, Holmes had noticed them now. John tried to frame the memory in his mind permanently, like the moving pictures hanging on the walls.

"How long have you two been here?" Holmes asked, his face getting a bit red.

"Just got here." Greg lied. John nodded his agreement, not trusting himself to speak.

"Well, Snape claims he doesn't do detentions either, so I guess I'll be the supervisor." Holmes shrugged, setting the violin down softly on his desk.

"Okay, what are we doing?" Greg asked.

"As promised, you'll be cleaning the slug cages, without magic. Ever the helpful, Snape left out the buckets of disinfectant, gloves, and scrub brushes, but you'll have to get the slugs out yourself." Holmes said. The cages were sitting in the front of the room, snails crawling around on the filthy glass. Greg groaned, but John didn't complain, anything to be in the presence of Holmes.