A Study in Gold and Garnet

So sorry everybody! I know it's been a while, I just have been busy (and a bit un-motivated tbh). Well, here we are: the end of the story! This was my first fic, so I hope you all liked it! It'll be a while before Book 2: The Philosopher's Game is ready. Enjoy the ending!

Chapter 8

The staircase led to the top of a tower. Once John emerged into the open air, he looked around. Sherlock wasn't there! A moment later, he spotted him; Sherlock and Professor Hope were on the top of a different tower to his right, one hundred feet away. The spectacle he was witnessing was not a good one. Hope had his wand six inches away from Sherlock's head, and had confiscated Sherlock's wand. Sherlock himself had a glass vial in one hand, and it looked like he was going to drink it.

John knew he had to get this right on the first try. He calmed his nerves, aimed his wand, and said "Stupefy!" A red jet emerged from the tip of his wand and raced through the air towards the other tower. It hit Professor Jefferson Hope square in the chest, and he fell to the floor, hitting the back of his head on the stone.

oooooo

John and Sherlock met up at the bottom of the stairs. "Are you alright?" John asked, worried for his friend.

"Yes," Sherlock said, "A little shaken, perhaps, but I'll be fine. The real question is: are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I wasn't threatened and almost put into a coma."

"Yes, but you did just kill a man."

"What? He's dead?"

"Yes, I checked his pulse before I walked down the stairs. He hit his head on the stone of the tower."

John paused for a moment. "Well, he wasn't a very nice man, was he?"

"No, no he wasn't." Sherlock laughed. He and John walked off to the Great Hall to inform the staff of all they had done.

oooooo

The rest of the year passed by quickly. An antidote to the magical comas was developed using the vial of potion Sherlock had saved. John passed all of his final exams. Sherlock passed all of his with incredibly high marks, excepting Astronomy, which he completely failed. Slytherin won the house cup, much to Sherlock's annoyance. No students ever learned of their heroics, however, as Sherlock had insisted the staff make no mention of their contributions. Sherlock and John did tell Greg Lestrade all that had occurred though.

On the last day of the school year, as everyone was lugging their bags onto the Hogwarts Express, John asked Sherlock a question that had been bugging him ever since they stopped Jefferson Hope. "Did Hope ever tell you why he was putting students into comas?"

Sherlock glanced at John as he lifted a suitcase up into a luggage rack. "Yes, actually."

"Well? Why did he do it?"

Sherlock paused, then said, "He was being paid to do it by some higher malefactor."

John blinked, taken aback. "Who? Did he say? It wasn't...You-Know-Who, was it? I thought he was gone."

"You mean Voldemort? No, it wasn't. It was someone he only knew as 'Moriarty'."

oooooo

They continued discussing this mystery evildoer during the train ride back. Soon enough, they had arrived at King's Cross Station. As they finished loading their belongings onto trolleys, they turned to say goodbye to each other. John wasn't going to say anything too sentimental, because he knew Sherlock hated that kind of stuff. "Good-bye, Sherlock. It was an amazing year, wasn't it?" He hoped Sherlock could pick up what he was leaving unsaid.

"Yes, it was," Sherlock said, with a bit more emotion on his face than was normal. "Good-bye, John." To John's surprise, he gave him a quick hug, then whirled around and headed away.

John watched him walk off. Sherlock had traded out his robes for a long, dark coat, and it fluttered behind him brilliantly as he ran through the brick barrier.

Well, that was an adventure, wasn't it? Having never have written anything longer than like, a page before, that was an accomplishment for me! ;P Some writers on this website are so talented, sometimes it's a little discouraging, tbh. If you really want some good Sherlock Holmes stories, you should read Aleine Skyfire's work, especially Mortality. Anyway, thanks to everyone who read this!