Amortentia

Chapter 14

“Hey.” John muttered. He and his friends stood awkwardly between the shelves. Sherlock put the book down and smiled at him.
“Hello John, hello, others.” Sherlock said with a polite enough smile.
“Others.” Mike muttered under his breath.
“Find anything on the Chamber yet?” John asked, ignoring Mike.
“No, not yet, I don’t think it’s in any of the history books.” Sherlock groaned.
“We’ll go see if you missed any.” Greg suggested, practically pulling Mike and Sara away. John sat down in the chair next to Sherlock, who had taken his feet off of the desk to make more room. There were several books spread out, one with a half foot print on it that John wiped away nervously. Most of the books were History of Magic textbooks, the one Sherlock were reading was about potions, and it had a label on it reading Restricted.
“You’re allowed in the Restricted Section?” John asked excitedly.
“I’m a professor, kind of.”
“I’ve never been in there, Madam Pince is way too scary to try anything like that.”
“It’s actually quite dull, just things that Professors think are dangerous.” Sherlock said, rolling his eyes.
“Are they?”
“Oh yes.” John laughed, making Sherlock look at him with confusion. “Where’d your friends go?”
“No idea.”
“Well they should come back because I’ve been theorizing.”
“Do you even know their names?”
“Nope.” Sherlock admitted.
“Well, the one I’m usually with is Greg Lestrade, and the other guy is Mike Stamford, and the girl is Sara Sawyer.”
“I’ll never remember that.” Sherlock decided.
“You remember my name fine.”
“Of course I do.”
“What’s different then?” John asked. Before Sherlock could answer the three came around the corner with a couple of books.
“We found a couple.” Greg said, dumping books on the desk.
“And we also found books.” Sara added, making herself laugh. John rolled his eyes and did his best not to smile. Sherlock grabbed the top book, an ancient looking History of Magic textbook. He flipped through the pages and put it down in disgust.
“Nothing.” He sighed.
“You couldn’t have read that!” Mike said. Sherlock just looked at him.
“I was looking at the death records in Hogwarts, hasn’t been a lot, but one caught my eye. It was a student girl, her death cause was unknown, and she was found in a bathroom.” Sherlock continued.
“If you think I’m going poking around in a girl’s bathroom your wrong.” John said.
“All of the other deaths had causes, except for her. This was fifty or so years ago, but it’s very suspicious. The professors looked terrified at the message, meaning they had seen it before, especially McGonagall, who has probably been here the longest, so the Chamber has been opened before; she had to be teaching here for about fifty years, so she probably knew what had happened with the girl. There was only one death unconfirmed, so that must mean it’s only going to kill one before closing again, but somehow the blonde girl survived, so we need to know what’s in there, and how it kills if a teenage girl in the middle of doing her makeup could survive such a thing.” Sherlock said, talking extremely fast. The four students stared at him, not knowing what to make of the prediction.
“So what are you saying, McGonagall is behind it?” John asked.
“No, but we should go talk to her.” Sherlock decided. He looked at the pile of books, plucking one off and getting to his feet, walking out of the library very fast. John and the rest did their best to catch up, but Sherlock walked extremely fast, probably because he was so tall.
“What are we even going to ask her?” John asked, catching up.
“We’ll see when we get there.” Sherlock decided. They walked all the way to McGonagall’s office, which was on floor four. The door was shut, but Sherlock knocked rapidly, as if he knew she was there. Greg, Sara, and Mike had just caught up when the door opened. McGonagall looked at them with confusion, as if wondering why she had been disturbed during the weekend.
“Professor Holmes, John, others, and what can I do for you?” She asked. John tried not to laugh at his friends being called others again.
“We had a couple of questions for you, may we come in?” Sherlock asked, pushing past without waiting for an answer. John waited until she opened the door wider for the rest to come in. The office was small, with a desk and a couple of chairs. The walls were filled with bookshelves, but mostly folders occupied them.
“Well, I would think this would be about school work, but you’re not a student anymore.” McGonagall observed.
“Correct, it’s not about school work. We were wondering what you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets.” Sherlock said. McGonagall looked slightly nervous, but only for a second.
“I know nothing more than you do Professor.” She admitted.
“Not true, obviously.” Sherlock said.
“Manners please.” John hissed at him.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that there was a kill, and you are old enough to have been around for it.” Sherlock said. John groaned; calling a professor old was not a good method when you wanted to tell you something.
“You look great, for your age, he just means…” Sara started, picking up on the rudeness of it all before Mike elbowed her. The three of them, all standing beside each other, smile innocently. McGonagall looked very conflicted at the moment.
“You were always one step ahead.” She sighed, sinking into her desk chair. Sherlock smiled proudly.
“You can’t go spreading this around, I don’t want to school to panic, but you lot are trust worthy. When the school started, it was founded by four of the brightest wizards of our time…”
“Yes, we know the story, get along with it.” Sherlock said.
“Sherlock!” John hissed again, making Sherlock look up at him as if he didn’t know what he did wrong.
“Well, Salazar Slytherin didn’t agree with the rest, about teaching Muggle born, he wanted to only teach Purebloods and Half-bloods, saying the rest were unworthy to learn magic.” John shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “But the other three disagreed, so he Slytherin left the school. Before he left though, rumor says he built a chamber, a hidden chamber, to only be opened when his true heir returned to the school. Inside there is said to be a monster, which obeys only the heir, and finishes Slytherin’s work, wiping the school of all Muggle borns.” McGonagall finished.
“What type of monster?” Greg asked after they all absorbed the story.
“All I know is it’s a monster.” McGonagall admitted.
“So the girl did die when the Chamber was said to be opened?” John asked. McGonagall nodded gravely. 
“If it was opened before, then the heir must be back, someone who had been here fifty years ago, there can’t be two true heirs.” Sherlock said, not really talking to anyone, more himself.
“Is there anyone, probably staff that could do something like this?” John asked.
“Not that I could think of, unless it’s a ghost.”
“Highly unlikely.” Sherlock said. “Thank you Professor, that will be all.” He decided, jumping out of his chair and walking out the door.
“Yes, thank you for everything, sorry about his lack of manners.” John said, following Sherlock, who was already up a flight of steps, John had no idea where he was going.
“Since when were we just others?” Mike asked John.
“Who wants to list the names?” John asked. “And Sherlock said he didn’t know all your names.”
“I must have told him a million times.” Greg groaned.
“I don’t want to be others.” Sara said, sounding truthfully sad.
“Where is he going?” John asked as Sherlock went up yet another flight of steps. When they finally caught up to him, he was at the scene of the crime, the words still painted on the wall even though there was soap and water dripping on them. Sherlock was looking around, examining the windows.
“What do you think?” He asked as soon as John turned the corner.
“I don’t know what to think.” John admitted.
“Good thing I’m here then. If the monster is here to finish whatever work Slytherin had done, but he only killed one girl, it means the heir must have been caught. But that couldn’t happen because it’s happening again and no one would let the heir of Slytherin walk around here again, so there must have been a fake heir, framed.” Sherlock decided.
“You are way too smart for your age.” John said. Sherlock smiled at him, once again seeming as if he didn’t receive much complements.
“You think the Chamber is around here?” Greg asked, looking around. There were no doors, only stone walls and windows.
“No, that would be too obvious.” John said. Sherlock paused his examination to smile approvingly at John.
“Is there anyone here that would be suspicious?” Mike asked.
“I have no idea.” Sherlock admitted.
“Oy, what are you doing here?” someone asked. John turned to see Filch and Mrs. Norris at the other end of the hall, scrub bucket and brushes in hand.
“Are we not allowed to be here, it’s a public hall?” Sherlock pointed out.
“Get out, now!” Filch demanded, his face red with fury. Sherlock opened his mouth to protest, but John and his friends were out of there faster than he could speak, leaving him no choice but to follow. John led them all to the Gryffindor common room even though Sherlock wasn’t technically a Gryffindor. The fat lady didn’t care though; she let them in without a second thought. The common room was filled since it was the weekend; everyone was busy doing whatever it is they do on weekends. The conversation wasn’t supposed to be public considering McGonagall told them not to spread panic, so they headed up to the dorms. They went to the guys considering Rory and Sam were playing chess in the common room. Sara didn’t have a problem with it, and no one noticed as they walked up the steps. John desperately kicked his dirty laundry under the bed and sat down on it. To his happiness Sherlock sat beside him. Greg, Sara, and Mike all squished on the bed opposite, which was Greg’s.
“So we know that someone in the school is the heir of Slytherin, sending a monster after Muggle borns. They had to be here fifty years before, continuing their work. But they framed someone; they must have been expelled, so we need the list of all students expelled.” Sherlock decided.
“Couldn’t we just ask McGonagall?” Mike asked.
“No, then she’ll get suspicious.”
“Suspicious of what?”
“Well they don’t exactly want students to find the Chamber!”
“Wait a second we’re actually going to find the Chamber?” Sara asked, her voice filled with fear.
“Well yes, what else are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, tell Dumbledore?”
“That ruins all of the fun.” Sherlock decided.
“Let’s just take a break for a while, let’s go flying.” Greg suggested.
“I don’t want to take a break and I don’t know how to fly.” Sherlock said.
“My brain hurts, let’s take a break.” John agreed.
“How does your brain possibly hurt, come on, we were so close!” Sherlock complained.
“Do you know how to play Wizard Chess?” Mike asked him.
“Of course I do, why wouldn’t I?”
“Well you don’t fly, so I was just, never mind, how about a game?” Mike asked him. Sherlock reluctantly agreed, and they went down in front of the fire place with Mike’s board. Sara and Greg sat in the chair and John was stuck leaning against the fireplace, his feet pulled up so that he didn’t kick Sherlock accidentally. The girls were taking notice of his presence, flocking nearer and nearer, watching him play chess. John couldn’t help watching him too; he seemed calm, but concentrating, his eyes darting around on the board, looking at every possible option. He was beautiful, a true gift from god, and he was John’s.  Mike was doing his best, but Sherlock beat him in less than five minutes, even Mike had won almost every time he’s played. John clapped his hands slowly as Mike switched places with Sara, who looked determined to beat the genius. Sherlock moved the pieces around elegantly, his breathing slow and relaxed, making John feel like he wanted to melt or something. Sherlock beat Sara, this time in less than three minutes.
“Amazing.” John muttered. Sherlock heard him, smiling proudly. The group of girls was whispering excitedly to one another, pushing one girl closer and closer to Sherlock. She was giggling, but trying her best to get away until they finally pushed her one last time, making her lose her balance and fall right next to Sherlock. John was prepared to knock her unconscious, but he waited to see what she’d do. Sherlock looked very confused as she got up, blushing furiously.
“Hel…hello.” She squeaked.
“Hi?” Sherlock said back.
“I um…noticed you were beating them at chess, do you mind if I play you?” She asked. John clenched his fists, glaring at the girl with anger. She was reasonably attractive, which made him hate her more.
“I don’t see why not.” Sherlock shrugged. Mike handed him a new set of pieces since the last set had been destroyed. The girl sat on the other side of the board, looking at her friends with a big smile.
“Why are you here, I mean, you’re not a Gryffindor.” She said as her pawn moved forward, a terrible move even to John, who knew nothing of chess.
“I’m here with friends.” Sherlock answered as his piece moved forward to attack her pawn. John looked at Greg for help, but he shrugged as if he didn’t know what to do. Jealousy was consuming him; he wanted that girl out of there, to stop flirting with his boyfriend. If he did anything though, everyone would know that they were together and then the Head Master would get involved and Sherlock might lose his job and stalker Snape might stalk them, so he couldn’t do anything about it. Thankfully, she obviously hasn’t seen a chess board in her life, because Sherlock got her king so quick they didn’t have much more of a conversation.
“I’m rubbish at chess.” She sighed.
“You’re fine, just a little bit more practice.” Sherlock assured.
“Will you teach me? I mean, you’re really good at this.” She said hopefully. John coughed a little, trying to make sure Sherlock turned her down.
“I’m far too busy; I bet one of your friends could help you though.” He said. She looked disappointed, but John was too relived for words.
“I, um, was wondering if you were going to Hogsmeade, I know there is a trip coming up.” She said.
“Yes, I am.” Sherlock said as he took the pieces off of the table. She lost her train of thought as she watched him, and John was putting his hands on the floor to get up at a moment’s notice. Greg, Sara, and Mike were all glaring at him to stay down, to not do anything stupid, but he ignored them.
“Well, are you going with anyone, or is the spot open?” She asked, her voice squeaking a little at the end of the sentence.
“I am going with someone.” Sherlock said. Her face fell, all hope gone. With such a sad expression John should’ve felt guilty for being so happy.
“Oh, so you have a girlfriend?”
“No.”
“So you’re just going with a friend?”
“No.” Sherlock said sounding tired of the girls pesters.
“Oh, you have, a um, boyfriend then?”
“Yes.” Sherlock said. John’s heart burst with happiness, he tried so hard not to smile it felt like his face was splitting apart. Sherlock was his boyfriend then, John’s, not hers. Greg, Sara, and Mike were all smiling anyway, looking at John with happiness. She looked very awkward now.
“Oh, that’s, that’s nice, who?” She asked.
“If I told you, the rumor will be spread, and I don’t want him to be murdered by all you girls, so I prefer to keep his identity secret for now.” Sherlock said, expressionless. She looked very disappointed now, now she knew she had absolutely no chance.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you in potions then.” She decided, getting to her feet and rushing back over to her friends, who moved into the other corner, whispering furiously. John looked at Sherlock, who looked at the girls in confusion.
“That’s starting to get annoying.” He decided. John nodded, so happy he felt like he was going to heaven.