Gossip {Sherlock Holmes/Harry Potter}

Chapter Thirty Eight

'Well done, Pierce." Sherlock clapped the boy on his back once he and Julius were pulled up onto land among the others. A sense of pride raced through the boy, however, he was distracted by the amount of pain that he was in during that moment as well.  He had come in fourth due to not getting Julius out of the water because the boy had screamed and struggled the entire way. Due to his form of bravery by rescuing Ron and Fleur's little sister, Harry had come in first, leaving Krum in second, Cedric in third, and Fleur in last place. However, Fleur didn't seem all that bothered by the idea of coming in last, she was too relieved to see that her sister was okay as she pulled the girl into a tight hug.

"His leg is bleeding!" John alerted the people surrounding him so that the others could heal Pierce's injury.

Julius who was being comforted by Vanessa, quickly looked up and saw the blood on his friend's leg. 

"Pierce...what happened?"

"A Grindylow got me," Pierce told him as he gritted his teeth. "Not a big deal. Are you alright?"

"Me? Of course! You got me out of there...although I guess I wasn't much of a help. Sorry about you getting fourth."

Pierce chuckled and shook his head at his best friend. "Julius I wouldn't have cared if I came in last, the important thing was that I got you out of there. I told you this competition means nothing to me. I don't want eternal glory or the pay out, I want it to be over with so that you and I can return to our normal lives."

"Awww."

The two boys turned their heads to see a couple of girls standing behind them with smiles.

"I really need things to return to normal...or at least our form of normal." Pierce said falling back and closing his eyes.

"Are you okay?" The voice dragged him out of his thoughts quickly as he opened his eyes once more and saw Hermione standing over him. Her hair was still damp but her face was full of concern over him. "Your leg-"

"It's fine, and on it's way to heal." Pierce said, sitting up. "Are you alright? I know that water was absolutely freezing."

Hermione smiled. "Yes, I'm fine. It's certainly an interesting way to wake up."

"I can only imagine. Well, I am glad that you were one of the first to get out of the water."

"Thank you." She knelt down to continue their conversation bringing a large smile to Pierce's face.

"You know for a boy with a pretty bad wound and a traumatic day, " John began, " Pierce seems to be handling this mighty well."

"Well of course he is, teenage hormones overpower everything." Sherlock replied.

John smiled as he saw how happy Pierce was in the girl's presence as his hand movements were all over the place. A common thing the boy did when he was excited.

"Isn't that sweet? Your son has a crush." John chuckled before looking back at Sherlock. 

Sherlock didn't respond as he just rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Welcome to parenthood of a teenage boy." John elbowed him.

"Don't do that." Sherlock replied sternly.

"I thought for sure at one point that you were going to end up knocking Granger in the face." Julius teased Pierce after Pierce returned from a nice long shower and flopped onto his bed.

Pierce lifted his head up from his pillow and glanced over in Julius' direction where the boy was sitting on his bed.

"What?"

" What do you mean what? Were we not at the same place today? Do you not remember...HI HERMIONE I'M PIERCE!" Julius flailed his arms around.

Pierce turned slightly red. "I regret not drowning you, right now."

"Why don't you just ask her on a date, Pierce?"

"Have you forgotten the man giant that is Krum?" Pierce asked. "I'm smart, I know my limitations and getting into a fight with him would not end well in my favor. I'm string compared to him."

"You could hex him into oblivion."

"Of course I could, but what kind of person would that make me in Hermione's eyes? I'm just going to attack people that share similar feelings to her? I can't blame Krum for liking her, there's so many things to like about Hermione. I know I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"But it's not like anything is official with them...they've just been on a couple of dates or so. That's free game, Pierce."

"It's wrong, Julius. No matter what..if it were me in Krum's position, I would be offended if some bloke came out of nowhere trying to ask the girl on the date. It's rude and I won't do it."

"It wouldn't kill you to play a little dirty." Julius said.

"It's not my style, Jules. Going by the book hasn't failed me yet, I just need to be patience."

"Yet, if you continue to wait, what if someone just waltzes right in?" Julius questioned.

"Then it's meant to be. I don't know what you want me to say or what you want me to do!"

"I want you to take initiative, Pierce. There's something there between you two, but if you keep letting others get in the way, then you're going to miss out. I mean, your awkward arm flinging is cute, but it's not that cute to seal the deal."

"You think my arm flinging is cute?"

"Of course."

"Aww, thank you, Jules."

"You're welcome. Now let's work on a plan for you can ask her out on a date."

"We're going to work on a plan for me, yet you haven't asked Vanessa out on a proper date since the Yule Ball and she's the one who technically asked you."

Julius made a face at him but suddenly his expression lightened as he jumped up on his bed.

"That's it!" he cried out.

"Oh no...I already see where this is going." Pierce groaned before dropping his face into his pillow.

"It's a brilliant idea!" Julius said jumping up and down before springing across to the Pierce's bed.

"Get off my bed, you lemur." Pierce grumbled.

"Oh no, my dear Piercy-poo-"

"Merlin Jules-" he whipped around to see Jules standing over him.

"We're going on a double date!"