A Study of Scarlet Witch [Sherlock at hogwarts]

The News

Sherlock woke up the next morning and the first thing he did was scrounge up a pencil. A third year student who had taken up muggle studies had some of their stationery to study. For reasons like these he was sometimes glad he was in Ravenclaw.

He took the pencil back to his room and worked on the torn paper. Carefully and lightly rubbing the lead against the paper, he recreated the writings.

It was a list of instructions. To create a portal. There were diagrams of many sorts. But he recognized the platform wall between 9 and 10 platform at King's cross station. Was this how she kidnapped the children?

His stomach rumbled. He hadn't eaten properly last night with the nerves for the looming task. Not that he was particularly keen on eating now, but he had a whole day classes ahead. He sighed, carefully tucking away the papers in his robe, and came down, his head still in the writings. They were definitely quite technical and advanced. But it was just another exhilarating challenge for him.

The great hall was abuzz with some excitement. It was clear the moment he walked in. John, who was already down, spotted him and came rushing, along with Greg.

"Did you hear?" his eyes were shining.

Greg couldn't contain his excitement and he spoke up before giving Sherlock a chance to speak.

"All the kidnapped children were released!"

"What?" Sherlock exclaimed.

"Yes," Greg nodded furiously. "The whole bunch of them appeared just out of platform 9 ¾. In the muggle part. Their memories have obviously been wiped. It's all in the Daily Prophet."

He produced the newspaper from his robe. Sherlock immediately snatched it and sat on the edge of Ravenclaw table, reading. The breakfast lay forgotten. John and Greg just stood, not daring to sit on the table. Greg did not know about their adventure last night, but he knew Sherlock was quite involved in the story, more than a normal 11 year kid would be.

Sherlock hungrily read the story. But to his disappointment, there was nothing much in them. The two main points, that the students were released and they were found outside 9 ¾, was already told by Greg. He glanced up at the teacher's table. Dumbledore wasn't there, just as he had expected. He must be at the ministry, where the children were taken. But Professor Sudol was there. Her head down, silently eating.

He suddenly realised John's keen gaze on him. John made some excuse and got rid of Greg. Greg shrugged and went away, satisfied with Sherlock's puzzled expressions. It wasn't often that happened.

John looked around to see nobody in hearing range and then hissed, "Did you find out what was on the papers?"

Sherlock nodded, he wondered whether he should tell him or not. Sherlock knew once he revealed what it was, John will immediately tell to take the papers to a teacher, obviously not Sudol. But Sherlock didn't want to. He hadn't figured out why Sudol had done this. Or more importantly, why had she released them. It was obvious this was her. The night she's absent from school, the kidnapped children were released. Coupled with information he had, it couldn't be written off as a mere coincidence.

"Well?" John pressed.

"I- I need more time. I can't make sense of it," Sherlock said.

"Let me take a look. I'm pretty sure you have them on person right now," John held his hand out. He was right of course, but Sherlock shook his head.

"Not here. Later. I'm hungry. We'll talk later," he spoke, somewhat curtly and turned towards the assortment of the breakfast, forcing a bread down. John huffed and stomped back to Gryffindor table.

...

They didn't talk later. John was still angry at him and Sherlock was too distracted. He still couldn't decide what to do. He sneaked into library at the lunch time and tried to compare his old notes with the new information. He racked his brains.

He had evidence, most of it. But he still couldn't figure out the motive. Prof. Sudol was new in the country. What possible gain she could have from kidnapping the children? She had asked for no ransom. She had even released the children within one and half month's time.

Also the children had all come back in good shape. They were physically as well as mentally sound, some trauma aside.

And then the attack on Rowe Desgar. Sudol seemingly didn't have a motive behind hurting her as well.

Sherlock realized something. Sudol had released the children after she had hurt Rowe. But she hadn't hurt children. What had Sudol gained from hurting Rowe?

To Sherlock, it just seemed like she was imbalanced psychologically.

That would explain most things. But Sherlock was disappointed. It was quite anticlimactic for him. By the time he reached his next class, Defense Against Dark Arts, Sherlock was proper sulking.

It didn't quite help that John was still mad at him. He sat furthest from him, with Greg and others.

Prof. Sudol came in, shawl wrapped as always. She began droning on about the lesson and Sherlock observed her. She looked placid as always. A little distracted. Why was that? What has she planned? Wait, she is usually distracted. Does she actually have some ulterior agenda on her mind or am I letting my bias colour my opinion?

Sherlock shook his head. He was getting nowhere. Why was he so distracted? He glanced at John. Sherlock realized that he might be right. He hadn't any access to further data and nothing more could be inferred. However Sudol had already released the children and if the aurors found no new clues, the trail can go cold.

He huffed. He racked his brains one last time; a futile attempt against the Teacher's drone and John's voice circling his head.

He muttered something no 11 year old should and resigned. He might have to hand in the papers. It was admitting defeat, something he had yet to learn.

A/n made you wait so many days for this shitty product... I'm truly sorry, I just got stuck... The story's nearing end. Let me know your thoughts.