Amortentia

Chapter 18

“Good, eleven o’clock by the statue of Godric Gryffindor.” Sherlock decided.
“When we get caught I’m blaming you.” John pointed out, looking at Sherlock accusingly. Sherlock smiled innocently at him, and John found it hard to stay mad at him. They split up again, Sherlock going back to his office and the four students going to do their History of Magic essays. John sat at a table, his book open in front of him, scribbling down anything that made sense under the topic. John hated homework, it was such a waste of precious time, he could be out there flying, or taking a walk with Sherlock, but instead he was trapped indoors, his brain pounding with the effort of the essay. When it was finally done, he looked at the clock, 4 o’clock, that’s why he was so grumpy, they had skipped lunch! There wouldn’t be any food out now, the house elves must be preparing dinner right now. John’s stomach growled at the thought, but he ignored it and rolled up the parchment. It took Greg, Mike, and Sara another ten minutes. No matter what he said, John was the smartest of the group, it was quite obvious. They waited for dinner by watching some sixth years play exploding snap, and when five o’clock rolled around they left for the Great Hall, starving. The hall was almost empty when they got there, some staff was there, and maybe one or two kids, but that was it. They loaded up their plates as if they hadn’t eaten in days, which was what it felt like right now. John looked for Sherlock in the staff table, but, as he guessed, he was absent. He was still a little bit nervous, he has broken curfew a couple of times, but just to meet up with friends and pretend to be rebellious, they were never caught except by a Nearly Headless Nick, who just told them to go back to bed, yawning loudly so his head had flopped off. Apparently they were going to be breaking into the girls bathrooms to look for clues or something? The death had happened fifty years ago, there won’t be any clues! Their only chance was if she was a ghost then she could talk to them, but most ghosts didn’t like the students, they were jealous that they were still alive. When dinner was over, the four sat in the common room and waited for eleven o’clock. They were silent, hoping that a teacher wouldn’t come out and give them all detention, plus they had quidditch tryouts the next day and they had to get sleep, or else they’ll fall off of their brooms. The common room slowly emptied out, and when the last person finally left they snuck out of the portrait hole, the fat lady didn’t care, she was sleeping. When they got to the statue of Godric Gryffindor they saw an impatient Sherlock sitting on it, watching them approach.
“About time!” He exclaimed.
“Sorry, we had to wait for some kids leave.” Sara said.
“Sherlock, what are we even doing here, this is the second night in a row I’m exhausted and we’ve got quidditch, so hurry up.” John complained. Sherlock frowned at him.
“Well, we have to find clues to were the Chamber is.” Sherlock said.
“You think the Chamber is in the bathroom?” Mike asked.
“The girl was found in a bathroom fifty years ago, but ours was found in a hallway, so it doesn’t go into the rooms because it’s too big, if it’s in the bathroom it can just go through the pipes to attack people!” Sherlock said proudly.
“You are way too smart.” Greg decided, making Sherlock smile proudly. The halls were still light, but it seemed darker without light from the windows. John keep checking if anyone was around, the teachers didn’t regularly check the halls for kids, but if one was wandering around this late there would be trouble.
“Which one first?” John asked.
“The closest one.” Sherlock said with a smile. They wandered around, following Sara’s directions to the girl’s bathroom. It was locked for the night, but with a tap of his wand Sherlock got the door to open. There were no lights in there, so they lit their wands to see. It looked like a regular bathroom, definitely not a hiding place for a deadly monster, whatever it was.
“Sherlock, if the entrance is in a girl’s bathroom, does that mean Snape has to go in one?” John asked. Sherlock snorted, but nodded.
“Apparently.” The blue light lit the place, rather eerily. John looked around, checking the walls for cracks where a door could open, but there wasn’t much. The bathroom was smaller than most, so it didn’t look too suspicious.
“Nothing here.” Sherlock decided. He opened the door, herding them all out before locking it behind him. They made sure the hall was empty, and then moved onto the other bathrooms. All searches were unsuccessful, the bathrooms were totally normal, but Sherlock was determined that something lay in the ground, waiting for them to wander in and be killed.
“This is a waste of time.” Mike complained as they made their way to another bathroom.
“Ya, it’s getting late, we’ve got quidditch tomorrow Sherlock, we should really go back.” John agreed. Sherlock looked disappointed, but even his best puppy eyes could change John’s mind.
“Come on guys.” Sara said, leading the way down the hall to the common room. Mike and Greg followed obediently, but John hung back a little bit.
“I’m sorry Sherlock, but we really need our sleep, maybe tomorrow night?” John asked.
“No, I have to teach remember, only on weekends.” Sherlock said.
“Then next weekend, I don’t want to give up on this though, I’m just as interested as you are.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I hope so.” John agreed. They stood there a bit awkwardly, John wanted to give him a hug or something to say goodbye, a small kiss maybe? “Bye Sherlock.” He decided, following his friends down the hall. They went straight to bed after, being as quiet as they could to not wake up Rory and Sam. They didn’t even change into their pajamas, John was so tired the moment his head touched the pillow he fell into a deep sleep.