"Hold up; hold up!" John stood up. "You mean to tell me that... magic, Sherlock? This is nuts! You're nuts!"
"John, this is exciting! Magic! Why are you whining?"
"Because this is madness! I can't believe… how can you just… Sherlock! You can't tell me you're just going to believe this?"
"Yes, I can, John. Haven't they proven enough?"
"No- I- no! Magic, Sherlock. Magic! This is a trick,"
"Would you mind doing something to John here so he will understand?" Sherlock said slumping down in his seat again.
"Of course, sir. Confringo" Hermione said, pointing her wand at the tea kettle. It promptly burst into flames, and just as soon as it happened, it was gone.
"Sherlock, what does that prove? That you know pyrotechnics? This is razcy! I anct eeibvle isth- hatw? Hatw si gapnhniep? Ywh anct I ekspa? Helorcks?!
"Blabbering charm," Hermione said, biting her lip to try to keep from laughing.
"Brilliant! Can you keep that on him?"
"Helorcks! Ouy anct od isth ot em!"
"What was that, John?" Sherlock looked giddy. "Do you believe now?"
John huffed, but he nodded his head. He sat back down in his chair in defeat.
"So, what did you mean we found two, sir?" Harry finally spoke up.
"Where did you get that thing on your forehead?" Sherlock asked, pointing to Harry's lighting bolt scar.
"Um, Voldemort, the person who made the horcruxes… he killed my parents. There's one curse that you can never protect yourself from, and you can never survive it. The Killing Curse. He came to my house one night; I was only a year old. He cast that on my parents, before trying it on me. I am the only person to have been able to survive it. 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'." Harry looked at his feet.
"Interesting," Sherlock looked at Hermione.
"How does one go about making one of these things? You mentioned murder, yes, but what else? How does it work?"
"I.. I don't really know, sir. There may be a book on it… but our Headmaster never really told us anything. Just that we had to find them, and destroy them…"
"I can't guarantee I will be able to find them…"
"Scuexe em?" John said standing up. "Rouye Helorcks Loemsh! Uyo nac od hantnyig!"
"John, try not to stutter; no one can understand you," Sherlock said dryly. "I will try, of course, but I do not know anything about your world. I cannot guarantee success,"
"Of course, we understand, sir," Ron spoke up.
"Well, where would we start?"
"I was thinking maybe we could go to the library to see if they have anything on horcruxes and how to make them. 'Know your enemy', they say, right? I'm not sure if they have anything, of course, because it's dark magic… I wonder if Hogwarts library would have anything? We know that Voldemort had gotten the knowledge-"
"Hermione, what's the use in that?" Harry interrupted. "There's no way we'll be able to get into Hogwarts with Snape as Headmaster. You know that,"
"Snape?" Sherlock inquired.
"He was our potions teacher," Ron explained. "He's an evil git who always was unfair to us in class. After Dumbledore died he became Headmaster, but the school's probably over taken with Death Eaters by now,"
"Death Eaters?" Sherlock hated not knowing something. And now, he didn't know anything. He hated asking questions instead of figuring things out on his own, but he couldn't do that now. Anything was possible with this group of kids. Magic was limitless.
"Voldemort's followers," Harry said simply.
"What is the security situation at Hogwarts?" Sherlock asked. He was pretty good at breaking into places; mortal places. Magical… he wasn't so sure about.
"We don't really know, sir. We left school last year to look for these…" Hermione answered.
"Why wouldn't we be able to break in?"
"I- I don't know… I wouldn't know where to begin…" Hermione mused. "If you think you can help, I'm sure the restricted section will have something. What do you say?"
Sherlock smiled. "Count me in."
Later that night, Sherlock, John, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting at a booth in the The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. The sun was up, just barely. Just enough light to see, but not be seen. They were going over the maps, because John and Sherlock had never been there.
"Hold on, let me put this in my Mind Palace," Sherlock said, and then he closed his eyes.
"What?" Harry asked.
"It's.. He uses it to remember things…" John explained.
Five minutes later, they were all set to go. First, Hermione would cast an invisible charm on the five of them. Hermione would go with Sherlock to the library, while Ron, Harry and John would help close everything off and make sure no one came in while they were searching. It seemed simple, but they all knew that something would go wrong.
"Conversus invisiblia," Hermione said five times each. "Alright, we're ready. Lead the way, Harry?" she said. Harry was the only one who knew where the secret passage by the witch statue was.
They walked through it with no relative problems until they got to the end, where Hogwarts would be. It was sealed off.
"This is where it should end… I know this is where the door should be," Harry said.
"Snape probably sealed it off," Ron said.
"Well, now what do we do?" John asked.
"I could blast it in, but what happens if someone's on the other side?" Hermione worried.
"Well, what other choice do we have?"
"Hold on," Sherlock said, putting his ear up against the wall. "No one's there," he concluded.
"How can you tell?" John asked.
"No footsteps,"
"Okay…"
"Aperi calve," Hermione called. The wall blast open and, true to Sherlock's word, there was no one in sight.
"Cogitato melius," Hermione said quietly. The wall mended itself quickly. "Let's go," she said.
The walk to the library was quiet, passing only one or two miserable looking students on the way there.
"This way, Mr. Holmes. The rest of you, stay here," Hermione whispered.
Since they were all under the invisibility charm, they were able to see each other. Sherlock walked a two steps behind Hermione, letting her show him where to go.
They walked and they opened the gate to the restricted section of the library.
"I have no idea where to go… I've never been here," Hermione looked around.
"This way," Sherlock said.
"Horcruxes and other dark magic," Sherlock read from a book he picked off the shelf.
"Lovely," Hermione said. "I think we should get a few more and bring them back to the woods…"
"Why would we go to the woods?" Sherlock asked.
"We've been living in the woods since the end of last year," Hermione explained.
"Too many trees. You'll stay with us until further notice."
"I can't ask that of you, Mr. Holmes," Hermione said, bowing her head.
"I don't recall you asking, Miss Granger. I seem to remember my offering. Call me Sherlock," He smiled.
"Thank you, Mr… Sherlock," Hermione smiled back.
"So…" Sherlock started after a moment of staring at each other. "Let's get these… books. Back to the… the house, yes?"
"Yeah... Right." Hermione said.
A/N: Heeeeyy! So a few things...
I'm so glad I've gotten such positive reviews of this story! This is something I've been wanting to do for a while.
So basically I'm writing this for a school project (like a boss ;) ) and when I started it I didn't realize it would be due in four weeks... Yay... (just kidding) .
I'm sure many of you know how hard it is to write a good fanfiction in a limited time. If anyone would be interested in being a Beta, that would be most appreciated. Also I will be putting any other stories I have going on hold, because this will probably take up like all of my free time. Oh joy.
Anyway, thank you all so so much, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :D