Molly quickly hurried away from the dorm room, embarrassed that someone might see her in the boys wing and assume things about her, she went red at the thought and it only made her hurry faster to get to her own territory. Therefore with her head hung and her face hid behind a curtain of hair, she didn't see Jim turn the corner; and at the sight of Molly signal for Seb to leave him. So it took her by complete surprise when a hand stopped her and swiftly but gently moved her hair of her face and tucked it behind her ear. She looked up surprised and was met with Jim's gentle gaze and his reassuring hand on her shoulder. She relaxed into his eyes, as to her they seemed like they were endless, like the night, and also strangely comforting.
"Where are you going in such a hurry little one?" Jim asked her giving a questioning look.
"Um well…nowhere really" she replied realizing she had nowhere to go until supper in an hour.
"Ah well then, would you like to join me? We could go along to one of the music rooms?"
"Oh do you play?" Molly asked feeling strangely comfortable around Jim, and so she was no longer stuttering like before.
"No, but I know you do" Jim said a small smile teasing his lips, Molly blushed at this.
"Well only a little"
"I would dearly love to hear you play little one."
"Well…I'm not doing anything so I mean, I guess, if you really do want to hear me play." Molly said thinking over the alternative of sitting alone in her dorm attempting French verbs; so going with Jim seemed somewhat more appealing.
Once in the music room, Molly sat down at the piano, and after encouragement from Jim hesitantly at first started playing, but soon she lost herself in the beautiful and complicated notes, and all the tension in her was released. She got carried away putting in extra twiddles and tunes interlinked with the main melody and laughed as she did so as she began to enjoy herself. Jim clapped heartily at the end of her performance and she did a small curtsey. Jim sat down on the piano stool next to her.
"Go on then, teach me something" he challenged her.
Molly then proceeded to teach him a small piece at the lower end and she played the higher melody. Jim had no coordination over his fingers or timing with her so the piece fell apart quite quickly, which made them both laugh about how awful it had sounded, and were then at comfortable ease with each other all the way to the dining hall where they sat and ate supper together.
Jim was careful to keep up the happy tone all the way though dinner and the conversations that the had, because he was eager for Molly to take down any shields she had built around herself, and for her to be completely comfortable around him, which she slowly was becoming. Excellent, he thought to himself catching eyes with Sebastian sitting on the table opposite him.
Molly didn't see Sherlock at dinner, she assumed he was working or thinking or something. He'd be okay with her sitting with Jim wouldn't he? And anyway Jim was so nice and made her feel like she mattered, unlike Sherlock recently she thought gloomily, but then felt guilty-he's been working he's just distracted she thought, Sherlock does care really…doesn't he?
Jim's voice snapped he out of her thoughts
"So where is your boyfriend this evening?" Jim asked looking around for the absent Sherlock who he knew wasn't there.
"Oh well he's um I expect he's working I guess" Molly said, embarrassed as if she was somehow responsible for his absence.
"Ah, what's he working on?"
"Oh the murders, yknow the girl on the first day and the one earlier"
"He got anywhere close to working it out yet?"
"I don't know really…but what do you mean working it out? Don't you mean finding out who did it?"
"Oh yeah that too, but surely it's a puzzle, I mean there have been two murders so close to each other at the same school, there has to be a pattern or a puzzle doesn't there?"
"Oh well, yeah I guess if you put it like that then um maybe yeah I guess you might be right."
They sat in silence, eating for a few moments.
"Do you think that there's gonna be another one?" Jim asked looking over to Molly whose face turned pale at the thought.
"I didn't even think about that!"
"Well there's got to be hasn't there? I mean the person wouldn't just stop there. Maybe if we worked out the pattern of the killer, we could predict who its gonna be next, but until then, really it could be anyone if you think about it" Jim said
Molly bit her lip and looked around nervously as if the killer was lurking in the shadows of the hall.
Sebastian looked over at them, he felt jealous of course, but gritted his teeth to keep his expression neutral. He hoped that soon Jim would get bored or have no use for her any longer and would stop toying with that stupid stuttering girl. He chewed at a piece of bread thoughtfully. He had known Jim since they had been in reception together at age four, Sebastian still stuck by him because he had for so long now, it was just what he did. Jim was obviously the leader, he was in ever walk of life he found himself in, he would always be one step ahead of people, have that edge, Seb needed that, but he wasn't half as good as Jim, so sticking with him was as good as. Jim was so clever too, frighteningly clever sometimes, but if you were on his side you would be better off. Of course you would never be entirely safe, because Jim just didn't care about anyone, not really. He just liked messing with their heads; in every sense. But it didn't matter, Seb was better off by Jim's side, it was how he survived, and he'd never really known anything different and didn't think he ever really would.
