Disclaimer: See prologue chapter.
Background: See prologue chapter.
A/N: See prologue chapter.
Betas: Lady of the Shards; Kyrianae Narii for advising me on pretty much everything U.K.
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Chapter 12
221B Baker Street – General
John, Sherlock and Harry were under the assumption that Lestrade, too, was a wizard. How else would he know about it if it was as classified as he said it was.
But before Lestrade could answer a voice interrupted them and said, "Ummm... with the topic of your discussion, why hasn't a ward been placed?"
"Doctor Hooper!" said Lestrade, shocked as he didn't hear her come up the steps or open the door.
"Molly," said Sherlock, unflappable as ever even as John started slightly and Harry jerked towards the door, unaware that someone else had entered the room.
"I'm sorry," said Molly, quickly and gesturing with her hands towards the stairs. "Mrs. Hudson said I could come up and see you - she was leaving to buy flour for her biscuits as she said she was at a crucial part and ran out so she was leaving as I was about to knock. I have the," she looked at Harry, having noticed a child right away, "well – reports from yesterday that I knew you would want to see and I thought I could see how you were doing after your ordeal. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just thought that if someone else were to come up and interrupt your conversation, not that I meant to interrupt, that you could get in trouble with the Ministry of Magic and – "
"Doctor Hooper, slow down," said Lestrade staring at Molly as if he had never seen her properly before as did Sherlock, though it was less obvious, as did John while Harry perked up some. Det- Greg wasn't lying to him if this person knew about magic too!
"Sorry," said Molly again and then softly, she asked looking at the three adults, "So why didn't one of you place a ward?"
Sherlock was staring at Molly, assessing her in a new light, leaving it to John to answer for the two of them, "Lestrade's explaining everything to us. This is the first time we are hearing anything about," he hesitated for a split second, though no one but Sherlock could tell, before he said, "magic."
"Oh," said Molly before she looked at Lestrade as John and Sherlock, who tore his eyes away from Molly for the moment, determined to get more answers from Lestrade.
Lestrade sighed and said, "I can't. I can't do magic."
Molly got an understanding look on her face with a touch of sympathy, knowing at once why.
Sherlock steepled his hands under his chin again assessing Lestrade while John looked confused as did Harry.
"I don't understand," said Harry.
"How do you know about magic if you can't do it?" asked John.
Sherlock was staring at Lestrade and Molly, taking everything in before he said, "Before we continue, perhaps, Molly – you should put up a ward." He said that sentence as if it were the most natural thing to say and he said it every day.
"Wards aren't my area," said Molly at once but continued before anyone could say anything, "though I know a Charm that might stop someone from hearing anything if they were to stop outside the door."
She then took her wand out which caused Sherlock to immediately get out of his chair and move over to Molly quickly, stopping to stand just in front of her. John stared at it, unsure what to make of an actual wand while Harry started to look excited. Magic was real! They weren't making it up!
Molly moved back slightly at the invasion of her personal space but she didn't do anything but stare at Sherlock as he inspected her wand.
Sherlock's eyes roamed up and down the wand in Molly's hand, inspecting every inch. Finally, he said, "It doesn't seem like anything other than a piece of rosewood, about ten inches long."
Molly bristled slightly and said, "It's nine and three-quarters with good flexibility with a unicorn hair as it's core as well."
Sherlock raised his eyebrows and looked at the wand again, inspecting it while John said, "Does all of that matter?"
"Yes," said Lestrade.
"No two wands are the same," added Molly who decided Sherlock had enough time to look at her wand and that it was time to put up some the Charm to keep others from listening in.
Molly pointed her wand at the door, and decided to actually speak the word of the spell instead of doing it nonverbal like she usually did, and said, "Muffliato!"
Sherlock, John, Harry and even Lestrade looked at her.
"What does that do?" asked John curiously, standing up and moving towards Sherlock, while Sherlock was looking at the door to see if he could see any difference - he couldn't. Harry was impressed.
"It creates a sort of buzzing sound so that you can have a conversation without being overheard," explained Molly. She moved to the door in the kitchen that leads downstairs and did the spell again.
"I've never heard of that spell," said Lestrade.
"It's not in any book," explained Molly. "It's something that is passed down through the houses if you know the right people."
"Houses? Did you know the right people?" asked Sherlock. John elbowed him causing Sherlock to look at him confused.
"No," said Molly, shaking her head, completely ignoring the question about the houses.
"Then how did you learn it?" asked Sherlock, ignoring the second jab to his side and letting Molly ignore his question for the moment, as long as she came back to it.
"I was always good at getting people to not notice me," said Molly with a self-depreciating smile. "Anyway, you should be able to open the door now so you can be able to see if anyone is coming up the steps. The Charm will cover the whole area."
Sherlock looked at the door and said, "How are we suppose to know if it worked? We did not see any flashes of light or see any sparkles."
Molly looked at him, unsure, and said, "Well how would you like me to prove it's working?"
"Do whatever you did to the doorway to me," said Sherlock at once, his mouth right now refused to form the word spell. There had to be a better word for it.
Molly looked even more unsure and said, "It's illegal to do magic on a Mug- on a person who has no magic."
"A who? What were you going to say first?" asked Sherlock at once.
"Muggle – it means someone who can't do magic," said Molly with a slight frown as if she didn't like the term.
"What if said person," Sherlock refused to say the new word as well – it sounded derogatory, "gave you permission?"
"It's still illegal. In fact, I could get in trouble for performing the Charm I just did as we aren't supposed to do magic in front of Muggles," said Molly, looking worried.
Sherlock waved a hand and said, "I'm sure Mycroft will fix it."
Molly frowned and said, "Who? Does he work for the Muggle government? The Magical government doesn't really like the Muggle government."
John was staring at the doorway and said, before Sherlock could respond to Molly's comment, "You said the spell should affect everyone on the other side of the doorway?"
"Yes," said Molly, nodding her head at John.
John nodded his head before he pushed Sherlock, who was still standing in front of the doorway, across the doorway and Sherlock had to quickly regain his balance before he went head first down the stairs.
When Sherlock had his balance, he turned around and saw John looking and saying something to Harry, though he couldn't hear what as all he heard was the buzzing noise that Molly explained prior. He moved closer to the doorway as John turned to look at him and Sherlock couldn't help himself as he said, "Fascinating."
John tilted his head at Sherlock, amused, and gestured for Sherlock to step back across so they could finish talking, which Sherlock did.
"Satisfied?" asked Lestrade.
"Can you show me more?" asked Sherlock, eagerly.
"I don't know if I can – there are rules," said Molly.
"Boring," said Sherlock, still looking as if Molly would show him more because he asked.
"I could go to jail!" said Molly indignantly.
"Sherlock," said Lestrade and John while Harry watched them, not wanting the new lady to go to jail cause she showed Sherlock some magic.
After a moment, Sherlock said, "Fine." He then turned to Lestrade and said, "Why can't you do magic?"
"Wait, Sherlock. Molly hasn't been introduced properly to Harry yet," said Lestrade, trying to distract Sherlock from getting the answer to his question.
Sherlock just stared at him.
"Manners, Sherlock," said John.
"Dull," said Sherlock, finally.
Lestrade and John sighed in unison causing Harry to giggle a little and Molly to smile faintly.
"Fine," said Sherlock. "Molly – this is Harry Potter," Molly gasped and her eyes shot towards Harry's forehead, something which Sherlock and John both noted, "we met him in the bank yesterday and he will be staying with me and John from now on. Harry – this is Doctor Molly Hooper, she works at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital in the morgue."
Harry looked at Molly with a small smile until Sherlock said she was a doctor who worked in the morgue. Then he looked horrified and said, "You chop up dead people?"
"Yes," said Sherlock.
"No!" said Molly, horrified.
"That's what the neighbors said around Privet Drive," said Harry with an accusing voice.
"I don't chop up dead people, Harry, I promise," said Molly.
"She does," insisted Sherlock.
"You're not helping," said John and Lestrade to Sherlock while Harry still watched all of them, slightly horrified.
"I'm telling Harry the truth," defended Sherlock.
"So is Molly," countered John.
"Is she?" asked Sherlock.
"Yes," said John, very pointedly.
"Let's get back to our discussion, why don't we," said Molly very obviously changing the subject away from her job. Harry didn't make a comment on it, still horrified at the prospect of knowing anyone who cut up dead bodies.
"I was trying to do that but someone said you needed to be introduced," said Sherlock. John rolled his eyes and Lestrade looked at him exasperated. "Lestrade, what did you mean, you can't perform magic?"
Lestrade sighed and said, "Do I have to answer? It's a touchy subject."
Molly looked at them all again before looking at the book that Sherlock was still holding onto that she just noticed.
"Is that 'Modern Magical History,' Sherlock?" asked Molly before glancing again at Harry.
"Yes," said Sherlock.
Molly nodded, looked back at Lestrade and said, "I know it's probably difficult, Detective Inspector, but you should probably explain it. It will make explaining everything else easier as well."
Lestrade still looked reluctant so Molly continued, "It's the main part of what it was about after all. The statuses."
"It? Statuses?" asked John while Sherlock and Harry were watching them.
"Let's sit down and I'll explain but I'll need your help, Doctor Hooper," said Lestrade.
"Call me, Molly," said Molly as she sat down while nodding her head as everyone else sat down as well– John and Sherlock on the couch with Harry after they both noted the uncomfortable look on Harry's face when Molly and Lestrade went to sit on the couch with him and so Molly and Lestrade sat on the chairs.
Lestrade nodded his head and said, "Call me, Greg, then."
Molly nodded.
"Yes, yes. Everyone knows everyone's first name. Can we move on now?" asked Sherlock impatiently waving his hand and narrowing missing Harry's head, who had ducked with John's urging, who had seen the imminent danger for Harry's head.
"Sorry. Sure," said Molly, looking contrite.
"Sherlock," sighed Lestrade.
"Don't be boring," said Sherlock, looking at the both of them, completely ignoring what they both said.
Lestrade and Molly exchanged a look before Molly nodded at Lestrade, who made a face, but said, "First before I tell you why I can't do magic, you need to understand the basic," he paused to find a word, "setup – if you will – of the Wizarding World."
Molly interrupted and said, "Yes, Sherlock, there's a whole Wizarding World."
Sherlock inclined his head slightly and Lestrade went on, "The first thing you have to understand is that to some people your status is very important – to others it means nothing."
"What status?" asked John.
"Your blood status," said Lestrade. "There was a –" he paused, again, shooting a quick glance at Harry before continuing as quick as he could before Sherlock could interrupt, "conflict, a really bad conflict, but I'll come back to that later.
"There are three main groups of blood statuses in the Wizarding World – the first are the pure-bloods."
Lestrade was tense when he said that but he was interrupted before he could say anything more by John who said, "Pure-bloods? What does that mean?"
"It's a social standing," said Sherlock.
"In part," agreed Lestrade, "but it's more than that. Technically to be a 'pure-blood' you have to have parents who were a witch and wizard and grandparents on both sides of the family who were a witch and wizard."
"You said 'technically,'" said John.
"Almost all, not all, but most of the old pure-blood families look down on families if they can't trace their family back to the very beginning of it with them having magic," said Lestrade.
"What of the ones who don't look down on families who can't?" asked John.
"They are considered blood-traitors," said Lestrade simply. "I'll get back to that later though.
"The next main group are the Muggle-borns which is when no one in the witch or wizard's family has magic blood at all."
"Something that these pure-bloods don't like," said Sherlock.
"Quite," said Lestrade and Molly, both together.
"The third and final main group are half-bloods which mean that a witch or wizard has 'Muggle' blood in their family – to most of the old pure-blood families it could be anyone in their family, to everyone else it could mean just that witch or wizard's parents or grandparents," finished Lestrade.
Sherlock, John and Harry were silent for a while, digesting what they were told before Harry asked, suddenly with curiosity in his voice, "So what would I be grouped as?" He struggled with the word for a second before he got it and said, "Muggle-born?"
"No," said Lestrade and Molly, again, both together, shaking their heads.
Sherlock, John and Harry looked at them curiously, waiting for one of them to explain.
"You're a half-blood, Harry. Your father was a pure-blood, your mum a Muggle-born witch," said Molly. "They were nice."
John asked, "How do you know that?" as Harry asked at the same time, with wonder in his voice, "You knew them?"
Molly smiled at Harry and said, answering both questions, "Yes. They were at school with me. They were older than me, obviously, and in a different house but they were nice. Well – once your dad deflated his head a bit."
Harry stared at Molly, trying to soak up all the words he could, hearing for perhaps the first time, good things about his parents.
Sherlock frowned, feeling something in his stomach – unrelated to what he had been feeling the past day – as Harry learned information about his parents. If his brother was here, he would say it was jealousy.
Sherlock changed the subject and said, "Molly, what group of the three would you be categorized in?"
"Muggle-born," said Molly. "Like Greg said, I was the first one in my family to be born with magic."
"Why didn't you stay in the Wizarding World?" asked John, sounding confused.
"What?" asked Molly, looking at him as did everyone else though Sherlock had a slight proud glint in his eye as if John were finally learning his methods from him.
"I'm guessing you have to hide your magic every day or else it would be pandemonium if anyone ever saw you. So why didn't you stay in the Wizarding World?" asked John. "There have to be jobs."
"There are jobs," said Molly, nodding her head in confirmation. "It's complicated."
Sherlock sighed and said, sounding frustrated, "It seems like everything in the Wizarding World is." He turned to Lestrade and said, "What about you? Why did you leave the Wizarding World?"
"What makes you think I left?" asked Lestrade.
"Where do you want me to start?" asked Sherlock.
Lestrade rose his eyebrows.
"The way you were defensive about it yesterday with Mycroft and your reluctance to talk about magic, in general, today are just the beginning. You body language practically taunt with unease, which means you are hiding something and you immediately become uncomfortable whenever it is brought up," said Sherlock.
"There's a reason for that," said Lestrade.
"Not to mention you keep changing the subject, the fact that your leg is now trying to tap out some song unknown to man in your nervousness and that was just the twelfth time you ran your hand through your hair? Also how about the name change?" continued Sherlock.
"All right," said Lestrade, running a hand through his hair again.
"Name change?" asked Molly while Harry looked confused as well.
Lestrade didn't answer her and instead said, "You know how I said Muggle-borns are a witch or wizard born to Muggles?"
Sherlock, John and Harry nodded.
Lestrade continued, "There is an opposite to that. Someone can be born to a witch and wizard and not have an ounce of magic in them."
Sherlock and John got an understanding look on their face, Harry still looked confused as to what that had to do with anything while Molly looked sympathetic, understanding that it was not as simple as that.
"Those that are born to magic couples without magic are called Squibs," said Lestrade, making a disgusted face at the term.
"And you are one of these?" asked Sherlock, raising an eyebrow, confirming while wondering if everyone in the Wizarding World had such derogatory sounding names.
"Yes," said Lestrade with a wince. "But to be born a Squib is different than to be born a Muggle-born."
"How so?" asked John, sounding slightly incredulous. After all, one can't be held responsible with how they were born.
"Well, for one Squibs are rarer," said Lestrade. "They are usually, but not always, born in a family that was considered pure-blood. For someone to have borne a Squib is a matter of deepest shame to some families. To others, it didn't matter though they had no idea of how to take care of the child's educational needs – as the education is very different for a wizarding child than a child who isn't.
"Some children were simply sent to a Muggle school close to where they were living though it was difficult as the child had to learn how to live in the Muggle world and the Wizarding World is completely different. Some children were left – abandoned on the side of the road or at orphanages. And there were still some yet who – who were killed."
"Your parents tried to kill you," said Sherlock, not needing to make it a question, reading his answer in Lestrade himself.
"Yes," whispered Lestrade, eyes going distant for a moment, reliving the moment his life changed, before he cleared his throat and said, "My parents were one of the old pure-blood families – one of the darkest out there."
"How did they try to kill you?" asked Sherlock, curious as to how magic people killed.
"Sherlock!" said John, giving Sherlock a look while Lestrade paled.
Sherlock looked at him before looking at Lestrade, noting his color, before looking back at John and said, "Not good?"
"Bit not good, yeah," said John.
Sherlock tried another line of questioning, "Do the magical people have an idea of what causes Squibs?"
Molly looked at Lestrade, who was still pale and didn't look like he was up to answering, and said, "No one knows for sure though there are rumors that it is due to the inbreeding between the old families so that they could keep their families pure."
"Inbreeding?" asked Harry, curiously.
"Later," said Sherlock, John, Molly and Lestrade, finally snapping out of his memories, firmly.
Harry looked at them all and nodded his head in agreement, knowing he wouldn't get an answer out of them before this "later."
Everyone was silent for a while before Sherlock looked at Lestrade and said, "So with the events that happened in your life, I assume that you have been out of the Wizarding World for a while, correct?"
"Yes," said Lestrade slowly.
"How did you know about Harry's status? How did you know he was a half-blood?" asked Sherlock.
Everyone turned to look at Lestrade but it was Molly who answered, "Anyone who knows even a little bit about the Wizarding World knows all about Harry Potter."
Harry looked shocked as did John while Sherlock looked pensive.
"What? Why?" asked Harry looking at everyone.
Lestrade sighed and said, "First you need to understand something else. About fifteen years ago now, there was a man – a wizard, who thought that anyone not of pure-blood needed to – go away for good – for all intents and purposes and so he started to gather followers to join him and they made it happen."
"There was a wa-" started Sherlock.
"There was a conflict –" interrupted Lestrade.
"You mean war," interrupted Sherlock, remembering all the unexplained deaths and unnatural amount of gas explosions that had happened a few years ago.
"I was trying to be subtle, Sherlock," said Lestrade.
"It's unbecoming," said Sherlock.
Lestrade sighed and, choosing not to argue, said as Sherlock, John and Harry listened carefully, "Yes, there was a war that was raging for a lot of years until on Halloween night, almost four years ago now, the war ended when the man – who was the leader – was killed."
"And who killed this leader?" asked Sherlock.
Lestrade and Molly didn't say anything. They just looked at Harry causing Sherlock and John to look at Harry as well, slightly shocked, even Sherlock though he looked skeptical even as he muttered something about there always being something.
Harry, seeing all the looks directed at him, said, "Me?"
Lestrade nodded while Molly said, while nodding, "You're known as the Boy-Who-Lived in the Wizarding World since that night."
"But I'm just Harry," said Harry, shaking his head, denying that there was anything special about him.
Before anyone in the room could say anything to that statement, a voice from the doorway interrupted them, again, and said, "You are much more than that Mister Potter."
Sherlock, John, Lestrade, Molly and Harry looked towards the doorway and saw Mycroft standing there, leaning on his umbrella.
A/N: Happy New Year's Day to everyone! See you next Wednesday!