Amortentia

Chapter 11

As promised, Sherlock was standing by the window again, the moonlight shining down on him, his chin was resting on the instrument and his fingers played beautiful music on the strings. His hair and skin shone, and, as usual, he was in his slacks and jacket, this time in a white shirt. John’s breath caught in his lungs, Holmes was still as beautiful as ever. As much as he wanted to sit and listen to the music, watching Holmes, John wanted to get this over with.
“Um, Professor, Sherlock?” John asked. Sherlock’s eyes opened slowly, observing his surroundings with startling blue.
“Hello John.” He said his voice soft and peaceful. John had to remember what he was here for.
“Um, I was wondering how you were, after, you know, that.” John said shyly.
“I’m fine, Snape has been avoiding me though, scowling every time we’re in the same room.”
“Well, he’s bitter of course.”
“How did you make that potion, I know the rules are wrong in the book.” Sherlock asked.
“Someone had written in it before, changing the rules.” John explained, his voice sort of high pitched.
“You sound nervous, anything wrong?” Sherlock asked. John’s voice didn’t seem to work anymore.
“I, well, I’m fine.” John lied. Sherlock put down his violin on his desk, stepping down the small step off of the raised platform towards John.
“I think you had found my old book.” Sherlock said with a shy smile. John noticed that his hair had been brushed to perfection to; none of his curls were out of place.
“Oh?”
“Yes, I had written down the real rules after experimenting with It.”
“In really neat cursive?”
“That would be Me.”
“So Snape was right, you actually did cheat?”
“Well, not purposely, and the book could’ve gone to anyone.” Sherlock shrugged.
“Ya, I guess so. Did he hurt you, you know, with the wand?”
“I’m fine, I had nothing to hide, so I had nothing to fear.”
“Anyone who would correct Snape when he’s in full rage mode has to be a complete idiot.” John laughed. Sherlock smiled, stepping a bit closer.
“Snape’s an idiot too, I know you’d never cheat even if I did help, which I’d never do.”
“Greg would’ve.”
“But you wouldn’t would you?”
“I don’t cheat at anything.” John assured.
“That’s good, honesty is everything.” Holmes assured his voice still soft and smooth.
“So, um, well, I was wondering if maybe, you know, if maybe, you might want to go to Hogsmeade with me?” John asked, his voice cracking and he shut up. Holmes was blushing, he could see that from here, but John was no different, his face was so hot he thought he might catch on fire.
“John, um, you know I’m not allowed to have attachments with students…” Sherlock started.
“That’s fine, no, it’s okay, I was just, it was Greg’s idea, and Sara’s, just an idea, but…”
“But I never followed the rules when I was here, and nothing’s different now. Of course I’ll go.” Sherlock agreed. John almost fell to the floor, he was so relieved, so amazed, so enchanted right now. Sherlock smiled at him encouragingly, and John managed to smile back.
“Okay, thanks, that’s great, I just, should, go now.” He managed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow John.” Sherlock said. John turned, carefully opened the door, stepped out, closed it, and ran all the way down the hall with the widest smile on his face, he didn’t even think it was possible to be this happy, this relieved. Greg, Sara, and Mike ran up to him hopefully.
“He said yes!” John yelled, hoping no one was around to hear the cheers as they jumped up and down together, happiness flooding the group.
“Tell me what happened!” Sara begged.
“At the common room!” John assured. They all ran three steps at a time, shouting UMQRA at the fat lady, who opened the portrait muttering something about volume. When they got to the common room they couldn’t look too happy, but they sat in an abandoned corner so they wouldn’t be over heard.
“What happened?” Greg pestered.
“Well, I got there and he was playing the violin, but I had to interrupt him and I hated myself for it but we talked a little bit but then I asked him to go to Hogsmeade with me and he started saying that he wasn’t allowed to have attachments with students and I started stuttering but then he said he never followed rules anyway and said of course I’ll go and then I left.” John said in one breath. Sara squeaked with excitement and Greg and Mike patted him on the back.
“Does this mean he’s your boyfriend then?” Mike asked.
“I think so!” John said triumphantly, his heart swelled ridiculously at the thought. Sherlock Holmes was his boyfriend; it was official, after what, four days. He had said yes. He had said yes. John put his head down on the table to absorb what was happening. He couldn’t scream, or yell, people would wonder what was happening, and on no possible account could anyone find out.
“Just, don’t tell anyone.” John muttered through the table.
“Never.” Greg, Mike, and Sara said at the same time.
“Why weren’t you guys at quidditch today, I thought you said you’d be there.” Leo said, standing over them with a frown.
“Sorry, we got a little caught up.” Mike assured.
“Is he okay?”
“Better than the best.” John mumbled. Leo smiled with realization.
“You did it then?” Leo asked. John’s head flew up and he stared at Leo with suspicion.
“What do you mean?”
“You asked Mary out?” Leo said, holding his hands up defensively. John looked at his friends for support.
“Um, ya, Mary.” He said quickly.
“You don’t sound too sure.”
“Well I am sure, now leave me alone!” John demanded, going from lovesick to angry. Leo rolled his eyes, but left without another word.
“You didn’t have to be so mean.” Sara said, watching a Leo rejoined his friends.
“Now everyone is going to think I asked Mary out, what if she finds out, what if Sherlock finds out!” John said with fear.
“Well clear everything up, just go get some sleep okay?” Greg assured. John breathed, calming himself down.
“Okay.” He muttered, walking up the steps to the dormitories. He changed into his pajamas and flopped into bed, still smiling like a maniac. He wondered what Sherlock was doing right now, probably playing his violin right now, hopefully with a smile on his face, thinking about John. John buried his face in his pillows and tried not to cry out with happiness. Sherlock was his, all his and only his. He thought about Sherlock’s hand in his, sitting together on a bench in Hogsmeade, and his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

                In the morning John woke up to sunshine streaming down on his face and smiled, realizing it would be his first full day with Sherlock as his official boyfriend. He got up and changed into his robes, walking down to the common room to find almost no one there, everyone must have gone to breakfast already. John grabbed his bag and made sure Greg had completed his Transfiguration homework, which he had. He scrambled down to the Great Hall, which was packed with people, talking, eating, and laughing. John found that his friends had left him a seat, so he sat next to Mike and smiled as he loaded bacon and eggs onto his plate.
“Someone’s happy.” Sara observed.
“Well of course I’m happy!” John said.
“Sleep well?” Greg asked.
“Very.” John replied.
“Well, there’s a new face today.” Sara said, twitching her head towards the staff table. John followed her gaze to see Sherlock sitting in his chair at the staff table, as far as possible from Snape. He was poking at his food, not eating much, but occasionally looking at the door as if expecting someone. Then his gaze found John and they made eye contact. Sherlock smiled at him from across the hall, and John smiled back.
“Oh my god he just smiled at me!” squeaked a girl next to Mike, making all of her little friends giggle ridiculously. John wanted to punch her and say that smile was for him, but that wouldn’t do anything but land him in detention. He looked at her with hate; she was a sixth year, one of the girly gossip girls, looking up at Sherlock along with her other friends. Sherlock had gone back to his food, even though he didn’t eat much.
“Don’t worry about them mate, their no competition.” Greg assured.
“They better not be.” John said, frowning even though he had just received a smile from Sherlock. Greg pulled out a schedule and sighed.
“Sorry, no potions.” He sighed.
“Maybe that’s a good thing, let Snape get over his anger, and I need to go to quidditch tonight.” John said, even though he didn’t like it. He wanted to spend more time with Sherlock. Thankfully though, the classes weren’t too bad, although it was Friday already, that meant closer to Thursday, which meant closer to werewolf night. John sighed, only that could ruin his good mood. When he got to dinner after a long school day, Greg and the others were waiting for him with their brooms and his.
“Eat quickly, we’re going flying.” Mike said. John ate as fast as possible, noticing that many Gryffindors had their brooms as well. They all walked down to the quidditch pitch, some other houses in the mix, it wasn’t reserved. When he kicked off, the world flew by again, zooming around and diving, pretending to catch the snitch even though there wasn’t one. All of the other houses were present, also flying around. Jim and Irene were kind of leaving them alone so far, which made John both relieved and suspicious. The Gryffindors set up a pickup game, releasing the balls and everything for some extra practice. The chasers, Al, Sara, and Kathrine, passed the quaffle around flawlessly while Leo and Greg hit the bludgers around, making a lot of people have to stop what they were doing to swerve to avoid them. Meanwhile John and the Hufflepuff seeker, he didn’t know his name, flew above all of the action, looking for the tiniest sliver of gold between all of the people. John didn’t see it, but to fake the other out, he dove strait down on his broom, pulling up just in time and flying back up, looking desperately around, and there it was. The snitch was flying around near the far left goalpost, near Mike, who was defending a well-placed shot in the middle goal. Thankfully he managed to kick it away, letting Sara swoop down and grab it from the air before the Hufflepuff could get it. John dove to the post, snatching the snitch out of the air and holding it up.
“I got the snitch!” He yelled to everyone, ending the game quickly. Mike and the rest of Gryffindor cheered as everyone landed on the soft ground. The sun was going down so everything was bathed in an orange light. The Hufflepuffs looked disappointed, but everyone shook hands and said good game. John, being the winning captain, had to stay behind while everyone went up to the castle. It was a tradition that the winning captain had to collect the balls, and it was a bit difficult with the bludgers. They were flying around still, looking for someone to knock off a broom, but once they realized there was only one defenseless kid, they both went straight for him. He had to immobilize them, as everyone did, and he fumbled for his wand, the two bludgers coming in at either side. He shot a spell at one, making it stop moving and float around in the air helplessly, but he turned around too late to immobilize the second, it came straight to his face and he ducked, covering his head with his arms, expecting a thumping pain that didn’t come.