In response to DetectiveAtWork's prompt - Holmes is Scrooge and gets a meeting with the three ghosts of Christmas

I apologise for the lateness. I think the fact that there are five chapters will explain why I took so long.

Please, please, please review, but PARTICULARLY review if you spot anything wrong. I won't be offended, I will just be glad someone told me so I can put it right.

Thank you!

CHAPTER 1

"My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass grow under his feet."

Sherlock Holmes

THE FINAL PROBLEM

"Holmes…"

I snuggled deeper under a shockingly thin blanket; I really had to remind Mrs Hudson to light more fires during the winter… or at least lend me a quilt. Was it she who was calling out my name?

"Holmes…"

Or Watson?

"Holmes…"

But Watson's voice did not sound like this. Who could it be?

"Holmes!"

I sat bolt upright and my blanket, which was in fact a ragged coat, slid off me onto the stone floor.

"You are keeping well I see."

I froze at the cold, amused sounding and frightfully familiar voice. Slowly I lifted my head toward it. When I saw the man who spoke I leapt to my feet. "Moriarty!"

The figure in front of me gave a humourless laugh; rattling the semi transparent chains which hung from his wrists and ankles. "You look less than pleased to see me, Mr Holmes."

I spluttered incomprehensibly for a few moments, before finally reaching a logical conclusion. "Of course – I am still dreaming."

"Sadly not," Moriarty sighed. "I am indeed Professor James Moriarty. And I have come with a message. May I sit down?"

"I had no idea that ghosts had need of chairs," I responded. Despite my outward nonchalance, I was more than a little shocked. "And I am sorry to say that I have none."

"No… This is not the most luxurious of places is it?" Moriarty cast his eyes around the bare room disdainfully before lowering himself to the floor. "I expect it is cold as well."

"It will be colder in England," I said with a shrug. My initial fear at seeing the spirit of my old arch-nemesis was now transformed into open curiosity. "Why do you wear those chains?"

"As punishment," Moriarty gave a bitter smile. "These chains are the weight of my sins; and I am forced to wander onward from place to place, dragging them behind me. It is not often I am permitted a rest and I am a little disappointed that you chose such a dismal shelter for yourself."

"I would apologise," I said icily. "But it is hardly my fault. In fact I would say that all blame can be placed squarely on your shoulders."

"On the contrary Holmes," Moriarty pierced me with his ghostly gaze. "It was not I who told you to abandon your friend at the falls."

"Abandon?"

"Or to embark on your frivolous travels across the continent."

"Frivolous?"

"It was also not I, who made you the decision to contact no one but your brother. Indeed, the blame of that decision, lies squarely on your shoulders," Moriarty smiled slightly at my outraged expression. "It is down to you, and you alone, that you spend your days in such lonely places as this. Which brings me to my message."

"Get on with it then!" I snarled. How dare he insinuate that this was my fault, any of it? "And then be off with you!"

Unperturbed, he continued; "Tonight you will be visited by three more ghosts. Those of Christmas Past, Present and Future."

"Christmas?" I exclaimed, anger forgotten.

Again, Moriarty smiled. "It has been a long time indeed Holmes, since I last saw you. There was a time when you let nothing, no tiny detail, slip past you. But tonight is Christmas Eve, and you, my friend are entirely alone. Perhaps fate is not as cruel as I had first thought; it seems we have both entered a different way of life. And both, with not a soul beside us."

I trembled with rage at his mocking words. I had before shied away from his spectral form, but now I approached him. "You are right Moriarty; your fate is not cruel. It is deserved! You will remain alone for the rest of eternity and rightly so. Now leave!"

Moriarty's expression remained unchanged. He rose to his feet, chains creaking cacophonously, and stared at me. "I will leave Holmes. But remember; if you do not think through your decisions, for they are your decisions, then you may find yourself left to the same fate which I now possess."

"You know nothing!" I spat. "Go!"

The sad smile did not leave Moriarty's face as he turned do so. "So long, Mr Holmes…." And with the unpleasant sound of chains being dragged across stone, he departed.