AUTHOR'S NOTE

I got a little stuck on this one. So it took a little longer than the last. I'm still not completely happy with it, but it works.

Everything after that is hazy. Dull and monotone. All sound slipped through my ears barely heard. Someone grabs me. Chanting my name. There's still some light from the flash clinging to his hair. He shakes me. I feel like a sack of rocks. I try to tear him off, but my arms are so heavy. I try to tell him I'm fine or ask him what happened but it's so hard to speak. It takes effort to even remember his name.

"John! John, I'm sorry I was too slow. John!" The tone of desperation sounds so foreign in his voice. He's never desprate. He's definitely never sorry. He's
Amazing
Brilliant
Fantastic
SHERLOCK

"Sh... lock. Sherlock, what was-" The air clears, but I still feel so heavy. I search around for glasses, but I can't see him from the floor. Floor? I must've fell. I feel like I'm being pulled into the ground, even breathing is tiring. "Glasses. He aright?"

"Yes yes, he's completely fine. God, you-you insufferable...GAH! Stay here." He darted up off the floor and ran out of the compartment, I could hear him shouting for chocolate down the corridor. Slowly, I hauled myself up to a seat. Redhead was half paralyzed in his seat while girl was fussing over glasses, who had passed out but looked alright now. I sighed in relief, leaning against the window and shutting my eyes.

"John, eat this." Sherlock shoved something squirming between my lips. "You too, Potter."

I sputtered and spat it out, too tired to open my eyes to see what it the hell it could've been. Sherlock pried my mouth open and forced the squirming thing into my mouth. Chocolate hit my tongue and the squirmy thing became less squirmy and more melty. The pressure on my body lifted and breathing became easier.

"What was- what... happened?"

"Dementors. Prison guards that feed of the souls of the living. Nearly sucked yours out. Chocolate helps recovery of the soul. Have another." He tosses a small brown frog to me. I gawk at the confectionery critter as it hopped around, before tentatively biting at it's arm. The taste of chocolate reminded me of winter afternoons, when I was a kid. Me and Harry would come in from playing in the snow and huddle around the fire, stealing chocolates from our Christmas stockings.

"Did the rest of you feel that?" Redhead muttered, terrified from his corner. Sherlock falls into the seat across from me, fidgeting uncomfortably and scowling. "Like... you'd never be happy again?" Then he got and and paced around the limited space of the compartment.

Glasses looked distraught. "There was so much screaming. Everyone was... I... Mr... Watson? Thank you, I think you saved my life." I tried a polite smile, but as I felt it failing, Sherlock started on a vicious tirade.

"Oh shut up. He didn't save your life, he just foolishly endangered his own. Dementors are intangible creatures which extract souls by proximity and intent. Physical matter and bodies are nothing to them. Putting yourself in front of it's prey only makes for two equally dead victims. You might as well have thanked him for throwing himself off a rooftop." He barked, his robes fluttered around him like the wings of an aggravate bird as he paced up and down, up and down. Glasses shrunk back into his seat.

"Sherlock. Sit down." I ordered weakly. He turns to me to protest, but sighs and resigns himself to half-sprawling quietly in his seat. Twitching like an unhappy crow."They're just children, you... bad person." I groaned. I felt like I would after staying up for four days for one of Sherlock's long-term investigations. Except without the satisfaction of... being on one of Sherlock's long-term investigations. There was a long period of stormy silence.

"But... Professor Holmes... that flash of light. That was you, wasn't it? You grabbed it, I saw you." Girl spoke up in an odd mixture of awe and defiance. Sherlock rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers against his kneecap in agitation.

"It was a charm. You have to use something intangible against something intangible." He chewed out the consonants like a mouth full of gum. Girl looked like she was about to ask another question.

"Bu-"

"Shut up. I don't have the patience to spoon feed complex theories to idiots right now." Girl sits back and seethes silently. Sherlock was in one of his worst moods. If she had said anything more, it would've ended in tears. Luckily she didn't push it. He shifts to his thinking pose, staring blankly at the still icy window. The children all huddle together and whisper to themselves. Suddenly, Sherlock bursts out of his thinking pose and pins Glasses to his seat with his eyes alone.

"Sirius Black is after you." He states, factually. Glasses probably can't see it from his seat, but a maniacal grin is starting to grow on the right side of his face. I'm almost scared for him. "But you've already guessed that, haven't you Harry?"

"...How do you-?" His questions are immediately cut off by Sherlock. Apparently his talent for deduction has nothing to do with being a wizard if even other wizards are surprised by it. I'm just curious who this 'Serious Black' is. The name sounds somewhat familiar.

"Oh, please. Everyone knows who the famous Harry Potter is. The way you fidgeted with your bangs gave it away. Sirius's probable interest in you was obvious. He works for Voldemort, Voldemort hates you. Therefore, the enemy of my friend is my enemy as well. It was also mentioned in a letter." The letter! That's where I remember that name from. Voldemort, on the other hand, is a completely unfamiliar name. But from the way Redhead and Girl flinched, I can guess that he's also a criminal.

Sherlock continued on without so much as a breath."But then it was only a theory that maybe he might finish you off if he has the time and opportunity. Now it's a fact of imminent danger. For the dementor to be so interested in you to not only go after you, but to threaten the life of someone unrelated in the process, you must be directly involved with Sirius Black. You might be the sole reason he broke out of Azkaban. Oh, this is... Wonderful!" All during his speech, the grin slowly spread across his face until the end, when he erupts into the sort of maniacal laughter you would expect from the mouth of a dragon gleefully feasting on roasted knight.

"Another insane professor." I hear Redhead mutter under his breath. I had to agree.