Thank you for trying us out! You've already made my day!


"Mum, don't be daft. I'm not going to forget anything." I said, I pulled my suitcase down the stairs, letting it smash against each step.

I hear Harriet call from upstairs, "Don't do that John! You're going to wreck the floor."

"I'm just looking out for you John, you're going to be gone for a long time." My mum followed me down the stairs and pulled me into a hug, "You're going to be late, don't forget to send me a letter or however you guys transfer mail."

"I'll only be gone until Christmas and Mum, I think it's still by owl." I turned around and opened my arms and she ran into the hug.

"Just be safe John, don't let anyone bully you." she pulled me closer before pulling back and regarding me thoughtfully.

"Don't worry Mum, but I do have to go. I'll see you soon." I gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked out the door.

...

As I stepped onto the train I looked down the narrow aisles. Because I was late, most of the compartments were full, as was the hallways. I pushed through people until I was able to find an empty compartment. I sat down and put my head on my hand, staring out the window. I couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts and possibly make friends.

Quite soon after I sat down, the train gave a whistle and started rolling forward, the station falling behind the window quickly.

About ten minutes into the ride I was ready to fall asleep, my eyelids drooping down. I would have fallen asleep too if there hadn't been a knock on the door. I looked up as a boy walked in, he had curly black hair and when he looked up to see me, his eyes were an astonishing shade of blue.

"I'm sorry, do you mind if I sit with you?" he asked, and walked in and sat down before waiting for my reply.

"Yeah, go ahead." I mumbled. We sat in an awkward silence before I said, "I'm John."

He looked up and hesitated before replying, "Sherlock." and then he looked out the window before speaking again, "You're a first year, right?"

"I- Yeah. Why?" I asked, looking at him as he continued to stare out the window.

"So am I." he replied.

After he didn't say anything else I shrugged and pulled my sweater tighter over my body and curled up to look out the window.

...

It was beautiful inside the castle, paintings and tapestries all over the walls. Ghosts would flit out every once and a while to take a look at all of us new students and the people in the painting would observe us with great disdain.

"Welcome new students! To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am your headmistress, please follow me and we will commence the sorting promptly!" The woman in the front of the crowd, who had a quite strict face, smiled and waved her wand to open the doors into the great hall. We all filed past her and stood in front of four rows of tables. Each table had different colours decorating it. One was red and gold, another yellow and black, another blue and bronze and the far table was green and silver. All of the tables were lined with kids of all different ages.

I zoned out for a bit, quietly observing everything going on, until the woman from before started calling out peoples names. It went through alphabetical order. Each student getting up and putting the hat on their head. The hat would call out a name, I guess of the houses, and each of the tables would erupt into cheers for their new addition. For the first bunch of students I didn't recognize any names, until the woman called out "Sherlock Holmes!" and the boy from the train walked up to the stage. He held his head high as the hat fell over his eyes. It took a while but moments later it screeched out, "Slytherin."

I watched the boy walk over to the table as it's cheers died down. He was welcomed with open arms but sat near the end of the table. I shrugged and watched as more and more people continued to be called up and sorted into the houses. Finally, when there was only ten other students left, my name was called, "John Watson!"

I stepped up in front of everyone and sat on the stool. The headmistress placed the hat on my head and it slipped over my eyes, blocking everyone else from view. A deep voice filled my mind and said, "A Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor. What a difficult choice. You are loyal, but also brave and courageous. Hmmm... perhaps, GRYFFINDOR!" the roar was loud in my ears and I took the hat off, placing it on the chair before stumbling over to the red and gold table who patted me on the back and cheered. I smiled, it'd be easy to make friends here.

...

I sit on the chair in the common room, the fire crackling in front of me. It was nearly 3 in the morning. I just could not fall asleep. I frown into the fireplace, something seemed off, but there was nothing wrong. It was probably just being in a new place that was making me uneasy. That's all. I sigh and walk back to my room, pulling the curtains around the four-poster closed.

...

"Wake-up you stupid arse." A voice calls and light hits my face, "We have classes today you know."

I open my eyes and blink the cobwebs out. I sit up slowly in my bed and look around. Yes, it was indeed morning. Then I really look around and remember where I am. Hogwarts. I let out a smile and a sigh and get up to change my clothes. The mysterious boy who woke me up was nowhere to be found.

I shrug and go downstairs and head to breakfast.

In the great hall I notice that not many people were eating, I wasn't actually late. In fact, I think that no-one is there because I was early. Nobody was eating at the Gryffindor table and I sigh and go alone. I didn't know what time it was, I didn't check, the person who woke me made it seem like I was late.

I grab a seat and begin putting different types of food on my plate. Muffins, and fruit and, oh man, there were waffles. I love waffles. Chocolate chip waffles! I grin as I dig in. The food is so good that I barely notice when another student walks up and sits beside me. I look over and recognize Sherlock.

"Hey there mate!" I say through a mouthful of waffles.

"Disgusting. You should at least try and keep some of the food in your mouth." he grabs some fruit from the tray in front of him.

"Aren't Slytherin's supposed to eat at their own table?" I ask, hooking my thumb over my shoulder and pointing at the respective table.

"Apparently I'm not welcome there." he says, taking a bite from an apple. I raise my eyebrow and he elaborates, "I offended one too many people. I'm not really sure how. They nearly asked me to." he shrugs. He doesn't seem fazed by the outcome, just that he's used to it.

"Ah, how do you offend people on your first day here? Why would they ask you to?" I continue to eat as he smirks and begins talking.

"I told them that I could figure out almost anything about them by just looking at them. Don't give me that look. That's how I offended them, I figure some stuff out they would have rather kept secret."

"Hmm, mind showing me how this works?" I ask, tilting my head a bit to the side. I can see by the way he smiles that I've said the right thing.

"Alright, well, you were hoping to become a doctor as you grew older, but your parents never thought you could, no they always put you down." That was-true, and offensive, "Your father left when you were young though and now your mother goes through a constant string of lovers." Also true, "Your mother is also a muggle as is your bother... No, sister. You live in slight poverty and are-"

"Okay you can stop. I don't want to hear any more thank you very much." I interrupted, although it could be interesting to see how much Sherlock could have figured out, it wasn't much up my alley to be insulted to blatantly.

I went back to eating my waffles in a sort of stony silence, but no matter how hard I tried, I really couldn't be angry while eating waffles.

...

At dinner that night, I sat near the end of the table. Nobody had tried to talk to me yet, other than a Hufflepuff who was quickly dragged away by her friends. So I was alone at the table. The food was extremely delicious and it filled me up quite a bit. While I was walking back to my room, I couldn't help but have a disturbing sense that I was being watched.

...

About two months into the school year, everything was relatively normal. No more odd feelings, and I hadn't seen Sherlock Holmes since that one morning at breakfast. Other than class of course. But he was always the first one to leave and sat at the back. Apparently he was brilliant though I hadn't seen any of that myself.

Either way, I had decided to try out for the Quidditch team. An interesting idea on my side since the only time I had ever ridden a broom was that week of classes that we got instructing us on how to.

I made my way onto the pitch, enjoying the sunlight. I rarely went out of the castle other than for Herbology and that was usually rushing to and from classes.

I approached the team, the borrowed Quidditch equipment already put on and the borrowed broom in hand.

"Ah! You must be Watson!" says the boy who was obviously captain, "Mike Stamford, at your service." he was a guy on the heavier side, so he was probably a beater, "Here to try out for Chaser are ya'?"

"Yeah, I am." I had studied up on the rules of Quidditch and although it would have made sense for me to be a beater, there was no open position for one.

"Alright, let's go up and do this shit!" Mike laughed and kicked off on his broom, I followed him up.

...

Making the Quidditch team was probably the best thing of the first part of the year. The whole event of it was the only highlight. Classes were generally dull as they were mostly speeches and learning possibly a spell a month and then practicing it for the next ten years.

I still hadn't made any friend, though I was becoming closer acquainted with a boy named Greg. We ate together at mealtimes and hung out during class, but he had already made a lot of other friends.

Christmas break would begin in a week.

...

An owl came, not two days before the train would leave. I was sitting at breakfast and hadn't received any letter from Mum since the first week. I had received letters from Harriet occasionally just making sure I was okay and saying how her and Mum were also doing fine. How Mum was always getting new boyfriends and that Harriet herself was starting to develop a crush on someone.

But this owl didn't have the normal note. It was from Mum, telling me to stay at school over Christmas, for reasons she'd like to handle herself.

I sighed, this would be difficult. The sign-up sheet for staying in the castle had already gone around and I hadn't signed it. Perhaps I'd be able to find one of the teachers and tell them about my situation. I could only hope that Harriet was okay.

This will be quite a long Christmas break.


Reviews are what keep me writing. Please help me by reviewing! Even if all you do is say "I want more!" You can have some waffles. You don't like waffles? Then you can have chocolate.