Gossip {Sherlock Holmes/Harry Potter}

Chapter Two

The summer dragged on for far too long for Pierce. But finally, the first of September came around and that only meant one thing to the boy : Freedom.

The night before, Pierce had packed his trunk with a bright smile on his face despite the fact that knowing he and his mother were under the same roof. The sweet satisfaction that he was going to away from his mother for months at a time had left him in a cheerful mood. Even his mother's bickering and snide remarks couldn't bring him down the morning of as he ate breakfast, quietly ignoring her.

His mother said something to him that brought a triumph smirk to her face.

"I'm sorry, Rita, did you say something?" he asked, causing the smile to disappear once more.

"Go get your trunk, we're leaving shortly!" Rita told him.

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Before he could get up from the table, there was a cracking sound in the living room alerting the two. They heard footsteps approach, and the two saw John Watson show up in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Good morning." he said with a small smile on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Rita asked the man folding her arms over her chest.

"Well, isn't it obvious? I'm here to bring Pierce to King's Cross Station this morning. To save you the trouble, I know you're on a busy schedule, Rita."

Pierce smiled as Rita pursed her lips but shrugged. "You're right, I don't have the time to drop him off. " the woman said before leaving the kitchen brushing passed Watson.

The man grimaced as she moved by him making Pierce snort to himself. The boy grabbed his bowl and placed it just next to the sink, knowing that it bothered his mother and brushed his hands together.

"Morning Watson." he greeted the man.

"Good morning, Pierce. I'm sure you're ready to go."

"You know me so well," Pierce said, "let me go grab my trunk and we can go."

Pierce walked alongside of the man that was his father's work partner.

"So, did my father get any of my letters this summer?" Pierce asked him as they walked through the station.

Watson cleared his throat. "Yes."

"Did he actually read them?"

When the man didn't answer, Pierce knew the answer to his question.

"Lovely. Did someone read them?" he looked at the man.

Watson raised his hand a bit before dropping it to his side. "Look, Pierce, your father is a busy man-"

"I don't need to hear anymore excuses about his poor parenting." Pierce said. "The fact that he puts other people's lives before his own son's is enough for me.  We discussed me coming over this past summer since last summer. Last summer, Watson. He couldn't even take a day off to come see me."

"I'm sorry Pierce."

"That's the problem, Watson. You shouldn't be the one who's sorry. You're the last person that needs to be sorry. You showed up to bring me to the train station when my own parents couldn't be bothered. The sad thing is, I wasn't even surprised to see you Watson. The real surprise would be to see him. Or have my mother happy with my existence. That would be a surprise."

The station was packed that morning as Pierce and Watson made their way through the crowds of people and made it to the barrier between platform nine and ten. Watson allowed Pierce to go through the barrier first with his trunk and then followed him.

Pierce dropped his trunk off at the drop off section before turning to Watson shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"Pierce, as hard as it may be to believe, your father does love you. Very much." Watson tried to convince the boy.

"He has an odd way of showing it."

"I know. But you know what kind of person he is. He is odd, always has been."

"Right." Pierce said before puffing out his cheeks and exhaling slowly. "Well..."

Pierce leaned forward and gave the man a hug. "Thanks for saving me a hellish trip with my mother."

"Anytime." Watson said before he was released. 

"I guess I'll see you when I see you then?" Pierce said to him.

"It'll probably be sooner than you think."

Pierce grinned and gave a nod of his head.

"Bye Watson."

"Goodbye Pierce. Try and have a good year."

Pierce jumped up onto the train. "It's always a good year at Hogwarts," he said, " because I'm not home!"

Pierce turned around to find either one of his friends or a compartment, but as he turned rapidly and nearly crashed into someone. He placed his arms up and did his best to avoid knocking into the person.

"Whoa, sorry." he said before catching sight of Hermione Granger standing before him.

"Oh, no I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking."

"Well, neither was I, so I guess were both guilty, huh?"

She gave him a polite smile. He returned the gesture with a smile of his own before moving passed her.

"Enjoy the train ride." he told her.

"Uh..right, you do the same." Hermione said, her eyebrows furrowing together in slightly confusion at his comment.

He threw a wave over his shoulder and continued down the train.

While Pierce remained, calm, cool and collective on the outside, even just the small encounter he had with Hermione Granger had left him nearly going into cardiac arrest. There was always something about the girl that stood out to Pierce above all other girls at the school. There were pretty girls at Hogwarts, but none of them were as smart as Hermione and he appreciated that the most about her. The fact that she was able to hold an intelligent conversation, she never dumbed herself down for anyone, and was never afraid of showing off how smart she was. Her also being pretty was just an added bonus. A nice added bonus.

He didn't understand why Hermione had been placed in Gryffindor in the beginning, but as the years went on in school, she developed a reputation along with her friends,the infamous Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Their rumors of their adventures during each school year spread like wildfire, and while she was intelligent, it was obvious that belonged in Gryffindor as well.

Beautiful, brave, and smart.

The real question for Pierce to contemplate was, what didn't he like about Hermione Granger?