Amortentia

Part 28

When he got to the common room the quidditch team was already back, just starting to get settled in for the night.
“Where have you been?” Greg asked, rushing up to him. John groaned, he didn’t feel like sharing the whole story, but his friends herded him to the corner table and he retold his entire story, not afraid to hold anything back from his friends. When he was finished Sara’s mouth was hanging open in shock.
“So do you love him yet?” She asked. John almost laughed, after all that had happened it seemed like everything was funny.
“No I don’t.” John admitted, and he was being honest. Sara frowned in disappointment.
“So Snape caught you?” Greg asked with horror.
“Yep.”
“That’s the worst thing that could ever happen, ever.” He decided.
“Well Dumbledore was fine with it, although I’m sure Holmes will get in trouble for using drugs on school property.”
“Were they muggle drugs?” Mike asked.
“I have no idea, he didn’t specify.” John admitted.
“He must have been crushed.” Sara sighed.
“I feel bad, he doesn’t deserve all of this, and he really is a good person.” John said.
“Then tell him that he is, give him a hug or something, we aren’t asking for marriage, but it seems to me that after you came tonight he calmed down just by your presence.” Greg said.
“I agree with that, he strangled you because he thought you were a stranger and he was all wacked up, but once he realized it was you, you were probably the only face he remembered.” Sara agreed.
“I doubt that, I’m not the only person here that he would recognize.” John argued.
“Name one then.” Sara pointed out. John thought about that, not Snape, not any of the staff probably, no students.
“I don’t know, maybe you guys?” John asked.
“You are the only person he cares about in this school John, and you know that.” Mike said. John smiled shyly, not knowing If that was a complement.
“I don’t even know if I like him, what am I supposed to do, leave Mary?” John asked.
“You just have to give him a chance, one dance, maybe one visit after dinner, make him realize that it’s still you.” Sara said.
“I don’t want to dance with him in front of the whole school!” John defended.
“Then don’t, dance off to the side or something.” Greg shrugged.
“That will go over well, and what about Mary?”
“I don’t know, say you want to dance with us a little or something, she can go dance with her friends.” Sara suggested.
“What if she looks then, and sees me and Holmes?” John asked.
“Go in the hallway.” Mike said.
“There are still people out there!” John defended.
“We’ll distract her, I’ll ask her to come to the bathroom with me because I’m still scared there’s another basilisk and all of my friends are guys.” Sara suggested. John thought about that, it was a stupid plan, but it might actually work, maybe.
“Maybe.” John shrugged.
“We’ll figure something out I guess.” Greg decided.
“Do you guys have dress robes?” John asked.
“Ya, it was on the packing list, how about you?” Mike asked. John nodded; he had been very confused about them, assuming there was some type of seventh year ceremony or something.
“I got this amazing dress.” Sara said happily. Greg groaned, he knew that once the girls were free to wear things other than robes that would be the only thing they talked about and focused on, which was true. Sara launched into a huge speech about her new dress, how she would do her hair, her makeup, everything that no one cared about. By the time she was done, all three of them were about to bang their heads off of the table with annoyance, and when she did stop John was worried someone paralyzed her, it was more likely than her running out of things to say. By that time though, it was about nine o’clock, but John wasn’t tired after his little nap even though his friends all went up to the dorms. He stayed up until about ten, the common room was practically empty, so he was able to sit in the armchair by the fire and read Quidditch through the Ages. In reality though his eyes were skimming the words without thinking about them, his mind was filled with thoughts about what had happened before. He had been so worried about Holmes, worry that he didn’t know he had, like the boggart. His mind may have gotten wiped, but his heart apparently hadn’t. Greg had been right, John had calmed down Holmes. He had been frantic and paranoid, but when he realized who John was he relaxed, getting the sleep he obviously needed because he had John next to him. John wondered if that had happened before, he doubted it, but he couldn’t be sure. It had been the most awkward thing John had ever done, but there was a small, small feeling buried deep in him that wished it hadn’t been interrupted. Even though Holmes was on drugs and very unpredictable, John had felt safe there, in Holmes’s arms, protected from the evils of the world, and he was sure Holmes had felt the same way. Apparently they had needed more protection than just each other’s presence to keep Snape away though, he was harder to avoid than a mosquito. It was pretty funny though, seeing the look of anger on Snape’s face when he found out they weren’t in trouble. Sure Holmes got his drugs taken away, but that actually relieved John a bit. He never would have guessed someone as brilliant as Sherlock would be doing drugs, but apparently he was super depressed. John felt extremely guilty to have caused him that much pain, but he didn’t know what to do about it, was he supposed to go on a date with Holmes, and was he supposed to take him to the Yule Ball? If he had to do something he definitely didn’t want to make it public, he could never face the humility of dating Holmes, especially because the girls would kill him slowly for getting in the way of their crush. He couldn’t deny that Holmes was attractive, it was no wonder the girls all had crushes on him, with his dark curly hair, his soft skin, but John wasn’t supposed to notice that. He better be bloody worth it if anything did make it to the public.