After hours of being on the train, it finally pulled to a stop in front of a giant lake. When they had gotten out of the train, Sherlock and John picked a boat and climbed in. After a moment of struggles with getting it started, they were out on the black lake, heading towards a giant castle. The ride was rather peaceful, except for the occasional screech coming from the water. However, they got used to it and carried on, until they had made it to land.
After about half an hour of waiting for all the boats to come in, they finally were led into the castle. "Follow me," a tall, dark man said. They followed. When they reached a dimly lit corridor, the man stopped them all and told them to stay put while he got professor Mcgonagall. When he had left, Sherlock tapped John. "This is soooooo boring," he said. John sighed. "Just pretend to have a good time, okay?" Sherlock frowned, but eventually nodded and put on a rather cheesy smile. After waiting another five minutes, John spotted a boy walking towards them. "Well, well," he sneered. "If it isn't Sherlock-moron-Holmes. What do you think you're doing, hanging out with John?"
Sherlock now seemed angry. "Because, Jim, I want to," he growled. "And by the way, it's Sherlock- effing- Holmes, for your information." Jim, however, ignored this and walked over to John. "I'm Jim," he said quietly. "Jim Moriarty. Listen, John, you wouldn't want to go around making the wrong friends, especially not at this place. Because guess what? Once you've made friends, you're stuck with them for the rest of your time in Hogwarts. But I can help you in finding some good friends."
John was astonished. Had Jim Moriarty, the boy who just picked on Sherlock actually asked him to be his friend? "No," He tried to say calmly. "I think I'll decide who I want to be friends with, thank you very much." With that, he turned away from Jim and walked over to Sherlock. He watched from where he stood as Jim muttered something to a tall, blonde boy, then stomped off. He tried not to sigh of relief.
When he turned to see Sherlock's face, he discovered that his friend was smiling. Apparently Sherlock had never thought of it as being rude, go figure. In fact, Sherlock never really thought if his actions would be rude or hurtful, he just did them. So when Moriarty seemed mad that John hadn't wanted to be his friend, he couldn't help but laugh a little. "Sherlock," John sighed. "Sherlock, you know it's rude to smile." But even so, Sherlock could tell out of the corner of his eye that John was wearing a little grin as well.
Finally, after almost thirty minutes of waiting, a professor walked back into the corridor and instructed that they follow her. Without hesitating for a single second, the group of students followed. The hallways were wide and lit up with tall candles, and the wooden floors had been recently polished. But the most amazing thing was the paintings. Instead of staying still, the people were moving around, talking, yelling, crying, singing, and even moving from painting to painting! It was unlike anything the kids had seen before.
After a minute of walking through the hallways, they reached two giant wooden doors which were immediately opened at the kids' presense. Inside, kids from the ages 12-16 were sitting at four different long wooden tables, watching quietly. "We're going to be sorted into our houses now, so try to stay calm," Sherlock whispered in John's ear. John nodded, but when Sherlock turned away, he gulped. 'What if we're separated?' he thought. Suddenly John became very worried about what house he was being sorted into. As he walked up to the front with the other students, he felt his heart rate speed up and his hands tremble. Sherlock must've notices because he patted John on the back and whispered that it was going to be fine.
They lined up in front and professor Mcgonagall started reading off names. "Sebastian Moran," she read off. The tall blond boy Jim had talked to got up on the stage and placed the hat on his head. "Slytherin!" it shouted. The next was a boy named Carl Powers, who got Huffelpuff, and a girl named Sarah who was placed in Gryffindor. Then Jim was placed in Slytherin, Sin Yao Lang and Van Coon were both placed in Gryffindor, and a little girl named Molly Hooper was placed in Huffelpuff. Finally, a name John had dreaded to hear was called out.
"John Watson!"
John slowly stepped up onto the stage and sat down on a hard wooden stool. Professor Mcgonagall placed the old witch hat on his head, and waited. And waited. And then suddenly the hat spoke. "Umm, I'll say, Gryffindor!" John smiled and jumped off the stool. In the crowd of people, he saw Sherlock smiling at him. He waved at his friend and went to sit down. Soon after, Sherlock's name was called. John almost jumped for joy when the hat said he was to be in Gryffindor. Sherlock took a seat next to his friend and they talked and ate and laughed until the could handle no more.
Maybe this year would be alright.
Okay so this chapter was a bit longer, did you like it? I was going to put them in different houses but then I had an idea that required them to be in the same house. I hope to get the next chapter done ASAP, don't worry.