Amortentia

Chapter 15

“Well, I think we know that no one can beat you in chess.” Mike decided, taking his board back. John looked over to the girls, who were looking at him, but looked away as soon as he returned their gaze.
“Well, I played a lot when I was in school.” Sherlock shrugged.
“Who’d you play?”
“Mostly the staff, the kids kind of stayed away from me, but I managed to figure out how to play one person chess.”
“That might just be the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.” Sara decided.
“Well, it wasn’t that bad, obviously paid off.” Sherlock said with a smile.
“Now there’s going to be a lot of drama.” Greg said, looking at the girls.
“Why should there be?”
“Well, I assume that’s not the first time you were asked out, and now they find out that you’ve got a boyfriend.” Greg explained.
“I’m not seeing the drama here.” Sherlock decided.
“Well, you said to Molly that you can’t have attachments with students so now they know that you just turned them down.”
“Well yes.” Sherlock said, obviously not getting the point.
“It doesn’t matter, they’ll do their best to try to figure out who it is, but I doubt they’re smart enough for that.” John assured.
“That’s true.” Sherlock agreed.
“It’s almost lunch, I’m starving, I don’t know about you guys.” Mike decided.
“I guess so; I still have to sit at the staff table though.”
“So you are going to eat then?” John asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, you said…never mind.” John decided. He got to his feet, waiting for the rest to join him, and walked out of the portrait hole. The Great Hall wasn’t very filled, people had lost track of time since it was the weekend. Sherlock said goodbye and went up to the staff table. John, Greg, Sara, and Mike all got seat by each other, a little separated from the other people.
“He called you his boyfriend!” Sara exclaimed as soon as they sat down.
“I know, I know!” John said happily.
“But seriously, they’ll find out it’s you soon now that they’re on the hunt.” Greg warned.
“They’re just a bunch of girls, what could they do?”
“Don’t underestimate them; it might be the last thing you’ll ever do.” Mike warned.
“Was I the only one that wanted to punch her?” John asked.
“No.” Greg answered an edge in his voice.
“You’ve got to feel bad for her though, she looked crushed.” Sara sighed.
“For some strange reason, I don’t.” John said.
“Well don’t look too happy, that’ll give it away.” Mike said.
“Oh come on, anyone with eyes could see that if Sherlock had a boyfriend it would obviously be you.” Greg pointed out.
“It could be one of you two.” John said.
“No, you’re the one he gazes at.”
“When was that?”
“When you’re not looking.” Sara corrected. John smiled even though that was kind of creepy. The group of girls, containing the one that had asked Sherlock out, walked by, whispering and looking at John. He ignored them the best he could, and they eventually went away.
“Obviously they have eyes.” John sighed.
“Just, stay under the radar okay, don’t go looking for trouble.” Sara suggested.
“I don’t go looking for trouble!”
“Says the guy who’s chasing the Chamber of Secrets.” Mike pointed out.
“You guys are too!”
“It’s mostly you and Sherlock.”
“Still, you guys went too.”
“Oh, I forgot to mention how brilliantly Sara cleared the whole McGonagall thing up.” Greg said, laughing.
“I was just trying to clear up Sherlock’s rudeness, honestly has he ever talked to a person before?”
“Probably not a lot.” John decided.
“Well, what do you think about this whole thing?” Greg asked.
“You’re the detective here, you tell us.” John laughed.
“I don’t have a darn clue; Sherlock is way too smart to be human.”
“Everything he says is true and he talks like thirty miles per hour at a moment’s notice.” Mike agreed.
“Never cheat on him John.” Sara laughed.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” John assured, looking up at the staff table to see Sherlock gazing back, except he looked lost in his own world, so he showed no reaction.
“After all these years, I always thought you’d be going out with Mary.” Mike said.
“Well, I thought so too, but obviously she wasn’t the right one.” John shrugged.
“I think it’s adorable.” Sara said.
“Adorable?”
“Ya, a forbidden relationship, jealously, looking at each other when the other isn’t looking, it’s the perfect romance novel.”
“Oh, well if I’m living a romance novel…”
“Then one of you is going to end up a vampire or werewolf.” Greg suggested, making John laugh nervously, for a detective he was so clueless.
“Why don’t you two go on a walk or something?” Sara suggested.
“I’m tired, I don’t want to walk.”
“Oh come on, maybe he’ll kiss you!”
“Sara, we’ve only been going out two days.”
“Doesn’t matter, he loves you.” She said. John smiled shyly.
“Do you love him?”
“How should I know, I’ve only just met him!” John defended, although he knew the answer was yes. They all looked at him as if they knew the real answer too.
“I approve.” Greg assured.
“Oh god, I didn’t even think of what my parents are going to say.” John groaned.
“They’ll be fine with it, I guarantee it.” Sara said.
“Should I tell them?” John asked.
“Well, no news is good news, so maybe tell them over summer.” Greg suggested. John pondered this, when is he even going to see Sherlock after school? Will they have to end the relationship? There were so many ifs in his life; he didn’t like them at all.
“Finish your lunch, quick, he’s coming!” Greg warned. John didn’t see why he had to finish when Sherlock came, but he stuffed the small remainder of his sandwich in his mouth as Sherlock slid into the seat next to him, which his friends had conveniently left open.
“I’m sick of eating up there with Snape, he never says anything, but I know he is silently judging everything I do.” Sherlock complained, propping his head up with his arm so that his cheek scrunched up. He looked so bloody adorable John almost choked.
“He’ll warm up to you.” Sara assured.
“No he won’t, knew him seven years, still can’t bear to look at me.”
“That’s because he’s jealous of you being so smart.” John said. Sherlock smiled at him, his green eyes sparkling.
“You know what, I think I lost my wand down at the far side of the lake, maybe you two should go look for it.” Sara said hopefully.
“Why were you at the other side of the lake, and how in the world do you lose your wand?” Sherlock asked.
“Never mind.” She said, rolling her eyes.
“So, any ideas on the Chamber?” Greg asked, trying to change the subject.
“No actually, but there has to be someone here that fits the descriptions.” Sherlock groaned.
“We’ll find him soon enough.” Mike assured.
“Before anyone dies. I’m still wondering how she survived, she obviously wasn’t paying attention and she didn’t have her wand in her hand, she couldn’t have defended herself, and I checked, she’s Muggle born, so why didn’t the thing kill her? And what type of monster could sneak around the school without anyone noticing?”
“You’re the genius.” Sara shrugged.
“You guys all have brains too.” Sherlock pointed out. There was an awkward silence.
“Those girls are whispering a lot.” Greg pointed out.
“They’re girls that’s what they do, whisper, cry, and squeal.” Sherlock shrugged. Sara looked at him offensively.
“But you know that they’re whispering about you.” Mike added.
“Why would they be whispering about me?” Sherlock asked. Even John looked at his as if he was crazy.
“You know absolutely nothing about human nature.” Sara muttered.
“They’re whispering about you because they want to find out who your boyfriend is.” Greg pointed out.
“Why should they care?”
“Because they all fancy you and you’re gay.” Mike said.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, just, they probably didn’t see it coming.” John assured.
“I still don’t see what the big deal is.” Sherlock shrugged.
“I just hope Jim and Irene don’t find out.”
“They’ve been very calm lately, I’m suspicious.” Greg decided.
“Who are Jim and Irene?”
“Those two Slytherins that walk around like they own the place, in our potions class.”
“Oh, them, yes I know them, they don’t seem to nice.”
“They aren’t nice, not at all.”
“If they ever cause problems, I can always give them detention.” Sherlock said with a smile.
“That would be funny.” Greg agreed. Their food was long gone, so they all moved from the Great Hall to the entrance hall instead.
“Care for a walk?” Sherlock asked John with a bit of color in his cheeks.
“Uh, sure, ya.” John agreed, smiling up at the professor. His friends were giving him thumbs up from behind Sherlock’s back, but he just rolled his eyes and said goodbye, walking along side of Holmes, feeling small compared to him. The grounds were mostly empty except for a few groups of students doing homework under a tree or something.
“Do you have any homework?” Sherlock asked.
“I have some History of Magic, but that’s about it.” John admitted.
“I guess that’s not bad.” Sherlock shrugged.
“I’m guessing you don’t have any.”
“Thankfully no, Snape is being so darn stubborn about me ‘taking over his job’ so he does most of the work.”
“Do you get paid?”
“Not as much as a real professor, but yes I do.”
“We were trying to decide if you were or not.”
“Am I a common topic in your discussions?” Sherlock asked with a smile.
“Sometimes I guess.” John shrugged.
“You seem very secretive, like you’re worried about people finding out about us, why does it matter so much what people think?” Sherlock asked. John looked at the lake, which was coming closer now. He didn’t know what to say; obviously Sherlock had taken it personally.
“Well, if rumors start spreading the teachers might find out.” John said.
“So what?”
“Well, you could be fired, they told you no attachments.”
“They didn’t say it would get me fired.”
“Still, I don’t want to get you into any trouble.”
“Are you breaking up with me after two days?” Sherlock asked, sounding hurt.
“No, not at all, no, don’t worry.” John assured. Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief. He just didn’t know what to say, Sherlock seemed worried, John felt guilty, he wanted to prove to him that nothing was wrong. He took Sherlock’s hand in his own, feeling the cold fingers tense up. Sherlock looked down at him, but didn’t argue, smiling slightly to himself. They had now made it to the lake, stopping in the damp grass to watch the ripples go by to shore and back.
“Have you ever seen the merpeople?” Sherlock asked.
“No, but I heard of them.”
“They are fascinating creatures.”
“You’ve seen them then?”
“Yes, once or twice.”
“How do you get them to come up and talk to you?”
“I was able to bribe them with some food from the Great Hall.” Sherlock admitted. John was trying to keep his hand as natural as possible, he didn’t know whether to interlock fingers or not, he hoped his hand wasn’t sweating or anything, this was all too stressful.
“What do they look like?”
“Nothing like those fairytales say, they’re hard to describe.” Sherlock shrugged.
“Are they friendly?”
“Not really, you can’t understand a bloody thing they say in that Mermish language.”
“Then what’s the point?”
“To observe.”
“Oh.” John muttered, feeling the constant tingle through his body because of Sherlock’s hand in his own. He didn’t know what to say really, there wasn’t much to say. But now more than ever, he felt he had a chance to take things a step further, even though he didn’t know if he was prepared. If he tried to kiss him, would Sherlock back away, say that he didn’t like him that much? John didn’t even know if he was tall enough to kiss him, he didn’t want to take the chance, but he so did want to.
“John, I want you to know that I don’t care what other people think, about me, about anything. If you know it’s what you want, if it’s okay, they’re just humans, they can’t do anything.” Sherlock said. John didn’t say anything, but stared at their reflections in the water, two robed boys, standing hand in hand, even from the distance John could see that they were both blushing. Was Sherlock saying it was okay to take the chance? Was he going to take it himself? His cold hand was starting to hold to John’s hand tighter, as if he didn’t want him to leave him, like John would even consider something like that. Sherlock turned John to face him and before John knew what was happening, he was kissing Sherlock. John could honestly say there was never a better experience than kissing the person he knew he loved, hand in hand, barley a gap between them. His entire body hummed, his heart had long since burst, the world was gone. And then it was over, Sherlock had pulled away, blushing so furiously that his entire face was red. John had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. If he wasn’t still holding Sherlock’s hand he probably would’ve fallen over, but he doubted he’d notice. They were still standing very close, he could smell the Amortentia on him again, but now it didn’t smell like his mother’s kitchen, it smelled like the potions dungeon, muggy, damp, no doubt how Sherlock would’ve smelled if he hadn’t used the potion.
“I’m, uh, sorry.” Sherlock squeaked in a voice that was definitely not his own.
“No, don’t be.” John assured. Sherlock looked stunned, he had obviously expected John to run off, go straight to Dumbledore to get him fired. John stared back at him, wondering if that had actually happened, if he wasn’t dreaming, half expecting him to wake up. He wanted so desperately to kiss him again, but he knew that was taking it too far.
“Should we, uh, go back?” Sherlock muttered. John nodded and pulled his hand away rather reluctantly. The grass seemed greener, the sky brighter, and the castle more dazzling. They walked up the slopes to the entrance, which was wide open and inviting. When they got to the entrance hall they said a reluctant and awkward goodbye and once Sherlock had turned the corner he ran as fast as he could up to the common room, where his friends where anxiously waiting to hear what had happened. They could see by the amazed look on his face that it must have been serious, so they mobbed him, pulling him into an unoccupied corner.