"Never again," John gasps as he doubles over his knees, trying to breathe. John Watson has just experienced what wizards call "apparate". He is not very happy.
It was decided at 221B that Harry would apparate with John while Hermione would apparate with Sherlock and Ron would apparate alone. John had no idea what that meant. But he got his answer when Harry grabbed his shoulder and suddenly he was in suspension, being squeezed through something narrow, and then he was standing in a little village bathed in cold January late afternoon sunshine. He is really glad that his feet were once again touching solid ground. And he is also thankful to the Gods above that he had not heaved out his breakfast on Harry's shoes.
Harry pats his back and says, "Sorry. I forgot it would be a brand new experience for you. I should have warned you to hold your breath. I am so sorry."
John straightens up and glares a little. But he manages a semi polite, "You—it's okay." Then he hears more cracks and Hermione appears with Sherlock and Ron appears on his own. John notices how Sherlock's one hand rested on Hermione's waist. He also notices how Sherlock is not behaving the same way he was. Ron, too, notices that. He asks Sherlock, "You okay?"
Sherlock grumbles, "Yes. I have done this before." He slyly shoots a look at Hermione.
Ron scowls. John smiles. Harry arches an eyebrow in amusement.
John looks around. They are currently in an idyllic northern Britain village. There is a cobbled road and quaint little shops. Then John blinks in surprise. Scratch the idyllic, is that a man flying on a broom? He asks, "Uh. Where are we?"
Harry grins, "The only magical village in England. Welcome to Hogsmeade."
Sherlock too is looking around with amusement shining bright in his eyes. This is truly a novelty. Hermione says, "I haven't been here in ages. Where's Honeydukes again?"
Ron says, "Follow me."
The company follows Ron. Suddenly, from between two houses, Sherlock catches a glimpse of a towering castle. He asks, "Hermione, what is that?"
Hermione turns her head, "Oh! That is Hogwarts! Wait, how can you see it?"
"Hogwarts isn't hidden from Muggle view from Hogsmeade," Harry answers.
"Oh yeah."
John too stares at the castle in awe. Then they finally stop in front a shop. Ron says, "Honeydukes."
""Sweet in the ending,"" Sherlock mutters, "The tunnel then connects Hogwarts and this shop."
"Yes," Harry says.
Hermione pushes open the door. The shop was nearly empty with a few shoppers strolling around. Harry, Hermione and Ron do not as much as glance at their surroundings. They were hurriedly making their way at the back of the shop while Sherlock and John briefly halted.
Towering stacks of sweets of every colour possible. Stacks of sweets like 'Chocolate Frogs', 'Pumpkin Pasties', 'Butterbeer Sherbets', etc. Sherlock is simply speechless, busy clicking mental pictures. John, on the other hand pinched himself to check if he is a dream or not.
Hermione finally realised Sherlock was not there. She turns around. She sees him picking up a chocolate frog. She calls out, "Sherlock! John! This way, c'mon!"
The two men snap out of their puzzled amazement and run up to Hermione.
Harry opens a green door and makes way down the stairs. The rest of them stand at the foot of the stair as Harry tries to remember where that particular stone slab was. Finally he finds it. He shares a look with his best friends. He pushes the slab. Sherlock runs down to help. Harry grumbles, "Thirteen year old me had no trouble."
Sherlock smirks. Finally the slab shifts. A dark hole gapes at them. Hermione rushes over and leaning down mutters, "Lumos."
She waves her wand sideways and gives a cry. Ron runs over and smiles. Rose is hunched at one corner, her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling softly. Ron jumps down and gently scoops his daughter in his arms. He reaches the opening. Hermione takes Rose. She cradles her and says, "She is stupefied. Ennervate."
Rose slowly blinks her eyes. When her vision clears and she sees her mother, she sits up straight and throws her arms around Hermione, crying, "Mum!"
Hermione holds her tight. Her body shaking with tears. Ron comes out of the hole and kneels beside his ex-wife and daughter. He kisses the top of Rose's hair. Rose shouts, "Dad!"
She jumps into Ron's arms. She then notices the other people in the room. She spots Sherlock first. She cries with a booming, "Sherlock!" and rams into Sherlock, throwing her arms open. Hermione gives a teary smile. The scene is funny. Rose hugging Sherlock, who is not sure where to put his hands, so he pats her head instead.
Harry gets a hug too. He nods at Sherlock then, who follows Harry out of the basement. Sure enough, a few people have crowded at the entrance. Harry commands in a booming voice, "Who is the manager here?"
A small man in bright orange robes appears. He recognizes Harry. He mumbles, "Yes?"
Sherlock asks, "Where you here all morning?"
The man says, "Well, sirs, I opened late today."
Harry narrows his eyes, "Why?"
"I—I slept late."
"Did you know that a child was trapped under your basement?" Sherlock asks, his voice dropping several octaves. He inches closer to the manager, who cowers a little.
"No, no I did not! Told you I arrived late! You can ask the shopkeeper opposite me!"
"That we will, rest assured," Harry growled, "Now tell me why you were late!"
"Out drinking last night?" Sherlock asks scathingly. He sees the bloodshot eyes.
The man cowers some more, "Y-yes. Last night, I was at The Three Broomsticks, drinking and chatting with this young lady—"
Harry and Sherlock share a look. Sherlock asks, "Shall we?"

Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron, each holding one of Rose's hands, walk upstairs. They exit the store with John tagging along. She asks, "Where did Sherlock and Harry go?"
"I don't know," John says, all confused.
Ron says, pointing to a bench opposite, "Shall we wait then?"
They all agree and sit down. Rose cuddles up to her mother, "Mum?"
"Yes, love?"
"Why did you send the lady to pick me up? Why did she leave me here?"
Hermione startles. She had completely forgotten to ask her daughter the relevant questions. She asks, "What lady Rose?"

Harry and Sherlock storm out of Honeydukes and make their way to the The Three Broomsticks. Harry pushes the door open. The shrunken heads at the door as usual start their cacophony which shocks Sherlock but he sweeps that aside.
They saunter up to the bartender, a woman with wild brown hair and sharp features. She glances at the two newcomers and shouts, "Harry Potter!"
"You're very famous," Sherlock whispers.
"A celebrity like you," Harry sniggers. He smiles at the woman, "Madame Rosmerta! I thought you were leaving for a long vacation!"
"Oh Harry," she walks from behind the bar and warmly clasps Harry's hand, "I don't trust that little Irishman entirely."
As if on cue, a short, bulky guy comes out from a backdoor, accompanied by a tall, dark man. Harry spots them. He smiles broadly. The short one says, "Hey I am not in any way little! Ask Dean! Harry bloody Potter! I'd think you had forgotten us!"
"Never!" Harry smiles and embraces him. Then he turns around and says, "Seamus, Dean, meet Sherlock Holmes."
Sherlock squints. The taller, darker man looked familiar. He gasps, "Private Bainbridge?"
Harry looks confused. Seamus doubles over in laughter. The other guy smirks, "I am also known as Dean Thomas. You never asked my full name. It is Private Dean Bainbridge Thomas. There was another Dean Thomas on the roll, which is why I am commonly known as just Bainbridge."
"Are you a wizard too?"
"Yes."
Sherlock smiles. Life was so full of surprises. Seamus says, "So this is Sherlock Holmes. Dean showed me your pictures on the Internet. Nice to meet you." He shakes hand with the detective.
"Yes, as plain amusing all this is, Harry?"
Harry asks, "Say, do any of you know the manager of Honeydukes?"
Seamus replies, "Yeah, Mortimer something why?"
"Was he here last night?"
Rosmerta replies, "Yeah he was in last night. Drank a lot of mead, he did."
Sherlock interjects, "Was he with someone?"
"Yeah a pretty young blonde thing. I think she was French or something."
Sherlock nearly stops breathing. He says, "Yes, of course," to himself and to them, "Thank you." He abruptly leaves.
Dean asks, "Harry, everything all right? This Auror business?"
Harry lies, "Yes."

Sherlock finds Hermione with no difficulty. He sees the surprised look on her face. He says, "Hermione?"
She looks up. Her brown eyes wide in shock. She says, "Rose just told me who took her from school."
"Yes. A pretty, young, blonde woman."
John jumps, "How—?"
"Remember how we never questioned it in Paris?"
"Paris?" Ron asks.
"Oh," Hermione gasps.
Harry joins them. He looks between Hermione and Sherlock. He can see both their mental gears grinding. He asks, "Uh, what is going on?"
"Harry, you need to look into one Marianne Zabini Bernard," Hermione says in a low voice.