The dorm rooms were in sets of ten beds to a dorm for all of the lower school, but now that the pair were in lower sixth, they could have the privilege of getting a dorm to share with one other sixth former (provided they were of the same gender.) John, as was said previously, had sent in his room allocation request to be with Sherlock. Now, they had a small room to themselves, which felt to John like a miniature flat. The walls had dark wooden panelling and so did the floor, but the floor was also covered by a giant rug which was made of threads of dark blue, black and red's woven together into a old fashioned pattern of triangles and squares. The furniture in the room was, as you entered, to the left- two wooden beds which matched the darkness of the wood which surrounded the rest of the room. Each headboard had a patten carved into the wood, made up of swirls, and each bed was made with a thick, woollen blanket laid on top.
To the right as you entered, there were a couple of chests of drawers, both looking old and intricate like the rest, and then straight ahead was a worn looking sofa with a small coffee table and a floor lamp. The bathroom was just off to the left from where you enter the room from, and contained a silver coloured shower and porcelain sink and toilet with shining taps and a bluish colour scheme on all the walls. All around the dorm, there were framed pictures of landscapes, just hanging on the walls for no reason whatsoever. They had to sign an agreement with the use of the dorm, that said they may decorate as they wished, so long as the dorm was given back at the end of the two years exactly how it was at the start. John put down his bag and looked around him at their new home. He grinned, and looked over to Sherlock who was holding Felix and turning up his nose.

"What? It's nice! Don't you think?" John asked, observing Sherlock's air of distaste written over his face.

"It is adequate. We will have to make some changes..."

"Change what?"

"All... This." He said gesturing around him.

"You mean everything?"

"Mmm." Sherlock said, walking into the room properly and surveying it. "Perhaps not. We need our things in here first."

"Yeah, just wait until at least then before any major redecorating!" John said laughing.

Sherlock put Felix down on the rug, in front of the sofa, and wandered over to the two beds and stood between them, looking from one to the other, before going and sitting on the one on the far right, by the window and against the outside wall.

"This is mine."

"Okay, fine by me. I don't mind!" John said picking up Felix and sitting on the sofa. "So what do we have to do today?" He mumbled, asking himself, "well we don't have an assembly until tomorrow morning, but supper is at seven. Isn't it Felix?" He smiled and tickled the baby, who let out a small giggle. Sherlock stood up and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" John asked, turning his head around to the door.

"Seeing who has the dorms assigned to around us. Useful information."

"Oh okay. Good idea."

Half an hour later, Sherlock came back though their door and shut it behind him.

"Did you find out?" John looked up from his schoolbook he was studying, and which Felix was craning over to look at the pictures in.

"Yes. Next door to us are two new pupils, Greg Lestrade and Oliver Browning, and across the corridor from us, there is Phillip Anderson and Mike Stamford. "

John groaned. "Anderson? Great. Why on earth Mike hangs out with him. Mike's actually okay! But Anderson..." He shook his head.

"My thoughts exactly." Sherlock murmured distractedly, looking out of their window down to the pathway outside. He then pulled out his phone and started texting. John looked briefly towards the window before turning back to Felix.

"Who are you texting?" He asked curiously.

"Molly."

"Oh, is she here yet?"

"No."

"Well may-"

There was a knock at their door, interrupting John. Both of their heads snapped up, looking towards the sound. John looked over to Sherlock with panic clearly written across his face. He started mouthing indistinguishable words and gestured silently and frantically toward Felix and then to Sherlock and the bathroom. Sherlock quickly but calmly picked up the child and hurried inside shutting the door behind him.

John got up, walked towards the front door and swung it open, to find two unfamiliar people around his age standing just outside, and not the teachers that he had been fearing. One was right in front of the door with a eager and smiling look on his face, and the other boy was sort of cowering behind him, looking extremely embarrassed by his friend. The one at the forefront was a fairly tall boy with dark hair, styled into a sort of small quiff at the front. He wore a black coat with small leather detailing and dark blue jeans along with scuffed up blue trainers. He began to chirpily make conversation with John.

"Hello. Just thought we would. Come around, say hello. We're next door! And, new here. Um... Yeah, we wanted to come-"

"Well you did..." The other murmured under his breath. At which the confident one turned around, stopped speaking and then took a step to one side to allow John a full look of the other. He was tall and had a sandy blonde mass of hair, cut into a neat, but groomed style. He wore skinny black jeans and a dark grey overcoat, which was unbuttoned halfway. He looked embarrassed at the eagerness of his friend, and the awkwardness of the situation that had been created. The brazen one spoke to the other with an air like he had been deeply insulted by him, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, but we are here to introduce ourselves. Are we going to do so?"

He mumbled a reply that John couldn't hear and hung his head.

"Right." He said turning towards John. "I'm Oliver. And this is ..." He gestured to the guy behind him, indicating he should speak.

"Greg. Greg Lestrade." He said giving a small smile to John.

John gave him a smile back and looked over his shoulder where Sherlock would have been but wasn't.

"Well I'm John, and I've got a roommate, um, Sherlock, but he's... not in at the moment."

"Pleased to meet you John. Pleased to meet you." Oliver said, picking up John's hand and shaking it vigorously, which John thought was strange, but went with it anyway.
As the pair left for the doorway, Greg gave John a nod of recognition, and with it, a conformation of his name. A common way of leaving a conversation between two guys, one which was more familiar to John than the outdated mannerisms of his partner. Although nevertheless, after shutting the door, John thought that he could see them all getting along. Well... Except for Sherlock, but then he never really gets on with anyone! John thought to himself with a slight grin.

"Molly!" John shouted across the front driveway, to the girl struggling with her oversized cases. She looked up, flicking her long blonde hair out of her eyes to see where the voice was coming from. Her eyes scanned across all the people milling around and fell upon John, who was waving, her eyes lit up with recognition and John started towards her, snaking around all the people walking towards the school. He approached her smiling and then gave her a hug before taking her bag off her.

"Oh don't worr-" she started, but then gave in and let John carry the biggest suitcase for her. "Thanks."

"That's okay! I saw you come in and thought the least I could do- considering- what you're doing...was to come and help you with your bags!"

"Oh- well no, really it's not trouble to look after Felix! My pleasure, really, he so adorable! How is he?" She asked smiling as they headed towards the school building, being pulled along by the crowd going the same way.

"He's good, yeah. It's going to be difficult not to let anyone into our dorm room, what with school friends and all of that, bu-"

"Well. You could always leave him in my dorm if you need to? I mean, if that helps at any point?"

"Oh, well it might actually, thankyou, that mig- oh, but what about your roommate?"

"Oh, well yes, but, Well I'm rooming with um, Shelia, Shelia Davis? Do you remember her?"

"Ah yes, I do. She's the one-"

"Yeah, the one who doesn't speak a lot and spends all her time in the art department. She said she wouldn't really be in our dorm much." She looked slightly sad as she mentioned it.

"Oh well that's good. I mean, not good for you b-"

"No it is good, I like having time to myself! And she's got a provisional art scholarship too, so she needs to work hard now." Molly finished, trying to convince herself, just as they arrived at the bottom of the staircase up to John's dorm.

"Well I'm, we're up there... Do you want me to come with you to matron?"

"No! No don't worry it's fine! I will find my dorm and come over to yours when I have dumped my stuff..."

"Okay, if you're sure?"

"Yeah, see you in a bit."

Sherlock sat on the floor with his long legs crossed, waiting for John to return. He had been building an assault course for Felix to crawl through, created from their bags and stray items from around the room. Felix had just been placed at the starting line, and Sherlock sat towards the end with his arms outstretched, attempting to get Felix to come to him. Felix only burbled, and laughed at Sherlock's flailing arm gestures towards himself, and grinning towards Felix.
Finally, he started to crawl towards Sherlock, but on coming to the first obstacle, a shoe of Sherlock's, instead of going around it, he picked it up and threw it, and then continued. Sherlock, with all the expressions of an overly proud parent, enthusiastically encouraged him to continue.

Once he had got to Sherlock, having thrown every obstacle in his way, Sherlock picked him up into a big hug and praised him highly for his, 'excellent initiative.' Whilst Felix smiled and played with Sherlock's curly hair.
When John came in a few minutes later, he caught one glimpse of this loving scene, before Sherlock snapped out of it, and got up. John smiled, knowing that despite Sherlock's recent efforts for him not to see, Sherlock really thought highly of the child, and was terribly and uncharacteristically fond of the little boy.