Chapter 10

'The Forbidden Forest? But it's forbidden!'

'Is it now?' said Sherlock, feigning surprise. 'I didn't know that!'

The two of them were sitting in Dark Against The Dark Arts class and were whispering to each other as Snape was explaining something.

John shook his head. 'What is it you like about doing things that aren't allowed?'

'Everything's boring. You might as well have some fun. Are you coming with me?'

'Tonight? But–'

'Something you'd like to share, Mr Watson?' Snape interrupted them.

'No, sir,' said John quickly.

'No? I'd like to know what you were talking about,' said Snape smoothly.

'Er…' began John, not sure what to say, but Sherlock interrupted him.

'We were merely discussing non-verbal spells, sir.'

Snape raised his eyebrows. 'Were you now? It doesn't matter what you were talking about: you're not allowed to speak while I'm talking.' When he turned back to explaining, Sherlock made a face, then scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to John. You in?
John thought for a moment, then answered. What the hell – why not?

...

So, that night, he sneaked out of the common room for the second time that year. 'What am I even doing?' he muttered to himself while he made his way to the Entrance Hall, where he'd agreed to meet Sherlock. But he also felt kind of flattered that Sherlock wanted him to come.
He met up with Sherlock in the Entrance Hall. 'So how're we getting outside?' asked John. 'The door's locked. Alohomora!' he tried, but nothing happened.

'It's not quite that simple,' said Sherlock. 'Well – actually, it is. It's too simple, really. That's why no one's thought of it.'

'What the hell are you talking about?'

Sherlock pulled a hairpin from his pocket and put it in the keyhole. He began fumbling with it, until the door sprang open. John stared at him. 'No way.'

'Yes way.' Sherlock opened the door. 'After you.'

John went outside, shivering when he felt the cold air touching his skin. Sherlock immediately noticed and shrugged out his coat, handing it to John.
'Sherlock, you don't have to–'

'I insist, John. I don't want you turning into a popsicle.'

Sighing, John accepted and put on the coat. It was really warm and smelled like Sherlock. John inhaled the scent and looked up to find Sherlock looking at him. He looked amused. 'Ready?'

They quickly made their way past Hagrid's hut to the Forbidden Forest. It looked dark and mysterious. Leaves were rustling and John thought he heard a wolf howling. He shivered and wrapped Sherlock's coat tighter around him.

'Not too scary for you, is it?' asked Sherlock, smirking.

'Nothing's too scary for me,' said John, sounding more brave than he felt. He'd heard about the creatures that were roaming around in the Forest and didn't feel like meeting them. Still, he wasn't going to admit this to Sherlock. So he followed his friend into the woods.
'Lumos!' he whispered. A light appeared at the far end of his wand, and he used it to find his way through the trees. Sherlock did the same.

'Going somewhere?' a voice suddenly said. Sherlock and John both froze, then looked around to see where the voice came from. Snape stepped from behind a tree, sneering. 'I already thought I heard you talking about the Forest in my lesson. Come with me, Holmes, Watson.'

John looked at Sherlock and shrugged. They followed Snape back to the castle. John felt really desperate. They were sure to get punishment.
When they arrived in the Entrance Hall, they were met by an angry-looking Professor MacGonagall. 'What's this? Holmes, Watson, what're you doing here? Snape, can you explain this?'

'I found them in the Forbidden Forest,' said Snape.

'What? What on earth were you doing there?'

Sherlock shrugged. 'Nothing, really.'

Professor MacGonagall looked angrier than John had ever seen her. 'Watson, you should know better. You've been at this school for six years. And you–' She turned to Sherlock. 'Accepting you to Hogwarts while you've missed the first five years was an exception. Don't' make me regret agreeing with Dumbledore. Fifty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin.'
Snape didn't look happy about this. He'd probably wanted to prevent taking points from Slytherin, as it was his House, but MacGonagall didn't care one way or another. 'And you've got detention every night in the Transfiguration classroom.'

Sherlock groaned.

'Anything you'd like to say, Holmes?' asked MacGonagall, her lips pressed together in a straight line.

'Nothing, Professor,' muttered Sherlock.

'Then please return to your dormitories.'

...

The next day, the Gryffindors first discovered the loss of House points. 'What the hell? We had more yesterday!' exclaimed Lestrade.

'How come?' wondered Mike.

When they found out it'd been John's fault, they became angry. 'Why'd you have to go with that freak Holmes anyway?' demanded Mike.

'He's not a freak! We were just–'

But the other Gryffindors had turned away from him. Even Sarah looked angry as she passed him without stopping to talk.

Sherlock was having an equally hard time. He'd never liked the Slytherins anyway, but he didn't like being hated by them. Some Slytherins just ignored him, but others tried to curse him. It was a good thing he was good at magic: he'd managed to fend off a few attacks.

John wanted to be angry with Sherlock, but found he couldn't. Besides, he was the only person who wasn't angry with him. Of course there were the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs, who didn't mind, but all of John's friends hated him. Sherlock and he were in this together, and they spent more time together than ever. During lessons, John kept glancing at the clock, wanting to see Sherlock again. When the bell would finally ring, he'd rush over to the corridor, where Sherlock would be waiting for him.

As January turned into February, the Gryffindors forgot all about the loss of House points, but John still spent most of his time with Sherlock, and the other Gryffindors did blame him for that. Sarah didn't try to talk to him anymore, for which he was somewhat grateful. He didn't mind her, but he wasn't in love with her anymore, like he'd been last year. He'd had a secret crush on her since his first year, but had only dared to speak to her in his fifth year.

So when the next Hogsmeade trip approached, she didn't ask him to go with her. He didn't want to go alone, so he decided to ask Sherlock, who happily agreed. John was really looking forward to the trip, feeling he needed to get away from his lessons.

When he woke up on the day of the trip, he quickly pulled on his clothes and rushed downstairs to the Great Hall, where he met up with Sherlock.

That was pretty fast, wasn't it?
My Christmas holidays will start next week, so I'll have a lot of time to write then (: