Gossip {Sherlock Holmes/Harry Potter}

Chapter Four

Upon the arrival at the train station located near the school, Pierce and Julius grabbed their small bags of their belongings and stepped off the train to head in the direction of the carriages. Pierce hated taking the carriages up to the school, because he hated seeing the animals that pulled the carriages. Only because he seemed to be one of the few people that could. When he brought it up one time to Watson, it was explained that he was able to see the creatures called Thestrals, because he had witnessed death. Not the greatest thing he wanted to hear, and the creatures were just a reminder that he had experienced death at a young age.

He always found himself disturbed by their appearance and when he went to turn to his friends, he found himself alone in the ability to see them, making matters worse. At first, he tried to pretend that they were just normal looking horses with wings, but the creatures were far from it. The flesh of the creatures seemed non-existent, even with the younger ones, making their bones prominently stick out under a shiny glossy black coat.  Their mane and tails were black, but reminded Pierce of tattered black curtains that fluttered in the slight breeze. On top of that, their wings were creepy as well, as they were not feathery or even close, instead their large wings resembled more of a bat's. Leathery looking in texture and not inviting at all.

"Come on, quit looking at them." Julius told him. While he couldn't see them, he knew how much they bothered Pierce, it was obvious by the boy's expression. "Let's just get in a carriage before they get too full.

Pierce sat down in one of the carriage seats and rubbed his face with his hand.

"Relax, Pierce. It's not like any of those things have ever attacked you." Julius said.

"Doesn't matter, I still find them creepy." he shuddered.

The previous year, during a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, Professor Lupin held a lesson pertaining to boggarts. It was so that the students could face their fears and learn how to defend themselves, should they ever encounter one in their lives. One by one, students went up to face their fears. There were some typical fears, such as spiders, vampires, although someone had a strange phobia of balloons, which had certainly made the lesson interesting. But when it came to Pierce's turn, he wasn't all that sure at the time what he feared.

That was until the Thestral took form in front of him. The boggart revealed the creature's fangs that it would use to tear into it's prey, making Pierce feel slightly nauseous before Professor Lupin instructed him to think of something funny. It was hard for him to think of anything funny in the moment, but eventually he gave the demonic horse creature butterfly wings and sent it back.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly for Pierce so far as he sat in the carriage but just as he thought they were in the clear, their carriage picked up one more person.

"Pierce!"

"Oh dear Merlin.." the boy said covering his face with his hands as the relentless tawny brown haired girl climbed into the carriage. 

"Oh don't be so silly, Pierce, I can see you!" Lindsey Foire cooed in his direction.

"Hello Lindsey." he said forcing a smile on his face for the girl. "How was your summer?"

"It was great!" Pierce quickly regretted the question as Lindsey went into every single detail of her summer vacation, from the food she ate to the clothes she wore. He glanced over in Julius' direction to see the boy smiling silently as if he were trying not to laugh.

"Did you have a nice summer, Pierce? I wanted to send you owls so we can stay in contact, but you never sent me your address."

"Oh..that totally slipped my mind." Pierce told her. "I must have forgotten about that. I had a very busy summer, I had to help my mother with a few things."

"Aww that's so sweet of you."

"Yes well-"

It was the last time Pierce was able to get a word in for the rest of the carriage ride up to the castle. He only sighed in relief when they stepped out of the carriage towards the castle, knowing they would be separated from Lindsey as they had to sit at their respective tables. The Gods seemed to have some mercy on Pierce as he was able to lose her through the crowds of students, however, he also lost sight of Julius. Luckily, he was tall for his age, as he stood on the tips of his toes and tried to look out over the sea of students for his friend. 

He finally caught sight of Julius and went in the direction of him, only to almost run in Hermione Granger once again.

She seemed just as surprised to run into him a second time in one day.

"Sorry about that again.." he said. "Although, we should probably stop meeting like this." 

She smiled bringing an instant smile to his face.

"It seems we both are rather distracted today, aren't we?" she said to him.

"Apparently, but if you are the distraction, I can't find myself complaining." he told her, bringing a bright tint of pink to her cheeks. "If you would excuse me..."

"Oh sure.." she stepped aside. He smiled at her once more before going to go save Julius before the shorter boy was crushed among the other students.

"I'll see you around." he said.

"Okay."

"Come on, Julius, I got you." He hoisted Julius up by the back of boy's shirt. "Are you alright?"

"You would think that after all these years that people would develop some manners and learn not to trample those who are not fortunate to be tall!" Julius said brushing his shirt and pants off.

"Let's just get you to the table."

"The nerve of people!"

The two boys sat at the Ravenclaw table waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin and then the Great Feast. 

Pierce looked around bored, until he caught sight of Hermione at the Gryffindor table. She seemed to make eye contact with him as well, however, before he went to wave, Lindsey sat at the Hufflepuff table blocking his view.

"Ugh, I'm never going to escape her." he said.

"Who are you talking about?" Julius asked looking straight forward.

Pierce turned to him. "Who do you think? Lindsey."

"She's really not that bad, Pierce."

"She kinda is. She's like..a...house fly."

"A house fly? How is she like a house fly?"

"You know because you tolerate them until they start getting in your face and then they just become so annoying!"

"Then tell her to go away."

"I can't...that would be mean." Pierce said.

"Well, she likes you obviously, so if you don't tell her, you're basically just leading the poor girl on."

"How am I leading her on?"

"By acknowledging her, you know she worships you."

"That's not flattering, it's creepy." Pierce shuddered. "Also, I would think by now that she would take a hint."

"Obviously not."

Pierce lowered his head to the table. "Why must things be so complicated?"

"Poor Pierce." Julius said clapping him on the shoulder. "Must be terrible to have girls actually like you."

Pierce gave him a look. " The problem is, it's not the girl I want to like me."

"Tough gnomes for you. I'd piss myself with joy if a girl looked in my direction with a smile instead of irritation."

"They do, you're just not looking when they do it."

"Great, Pierce, now you sound like my mother."