sortinghat_rp | 06 [evening of March 30th]

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06 [evening of March 30th]

Thank God the egg hunt thing is over with. Don't get me wrong. It looked like everyone who was participating was having a lot of fun... when they managed to stay the right shape, size, and species... but I just couldn't get anywhere near those things. After everything that happened with the snakes last month, I think I might still have some latent egg-related trauma. If someone told me I turn beet red or get the thousand-yard stare when big plates of boiled eggs are served at mealtimes, I probably wouldn't be surprised.

It all worked out for the best in the end, though. Avoiding the hunt gave me lots of time to study and practice Apparition. With any luck, I won't be splinching myself when the Trace gets lifted from me tomorrow. Easter just had to fall on my birthday this year, didn't it?

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[Sherlock nodded.]

I know very well indeed. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing that could cause confusion but as you don't seem to feel the need to specify, I can only assume it's not really an issue. With any luck I can just keep you too worried about detention, expulsion or death to be bothered with anything else.

If I get this thing sorted out and it's something you ought to know, I'll... well, I'll let you know. That is if it needs sorting out and doesn't just resolve on its own. Dwelling on how confused I am won't help.

[Though it was hard not to dwell a little, especially when bed-sharing is involved.]

Also, congratulations. This is probably the first and only time someone has said something that amounts to "I promise to keep raising havoc" as a promise to help someone feel better.

Well, how confused can you be when the most pressing options are run or face dire consequences?

[Sherlock smiles. He'd like to think he can fix anything with a good enough diversion. So long as John being confused doesn't mean the difference between John being his friend and not being his friend, everything will be just fine.]

Really, if you need help with that one, there's little hope for you.

True. And since I have no intention of letting you get expelled, killed, or both simultaneously, and you have no intention of stopping the things that could get you expelled, killed, or both simultaneously...

[He grins a little. Always masking the fact that he loves their stupid adventures with a veneer of respectability.]

Well, I suppose it's up to me to go along for the ride on the schemes that aren't too terrible and try to knock some sense into you when you come up with ones that really, really are.

You call it sense, I call is stagnation. But so long as you're along for the ride, I don't think it quite matters.

[Sherlock pressed the dessert closer to John. It was his pre-birthday after all.]

I don't think either of us really need all that much schooling. A few important items now that we're old enough to be taught but overall we've digested all we need from Hogwarts. Getting expelled would just be them finally agreeing with me.

[John takes a forkful of the cake and savors it as he listens to what Sherlock says. When he finishes the bite, he points the fork at Sherlock, waggling it to make a point.]

The trouble with that kind of thinking is that it could end up being limiting. I know you want to work in the Muggle world as opposed to the Wizarding one, but you never really know how the future turns out, you know? Actually graduating could make a world of difference.

Like for me, I have to graduate and keep getting decent marks if I want to work for St. Mungo's.

John, I never have to work a day in my life. I can more or less just do whatever I want. I'm only at school at all because I need something to do and I promised Mummy I'd finish.

[John sighs and, when he goes for another bite of the dessert, the motion is subconsciously a little stabbier than perhaps it ought to be.]

That must be a nice, but the very idea of that is completely alien to me. Growing up how I did, I got used to families working jobs with long hours and hoping to make ends meet.

[Sherlock shrugs.]

Nothing in life is entirely free. I may receive a sizable stipend but it is always with the understanding that I represent the Holmes family and am responsible for its reputation. Which, unfortunately, makes me perpetually under Mycroft's thumb. Whereas you are tied to work hours and a boss but outside of work, you can do as you like. Fair trade I suppose.

Yeah... still don't think the two lifestyles are anywhere close to each other. You might chafe at the idea of needing to occasionally smarten up and grudgingly give in to what Mycroft and the family has to say, but that's really nothing compared to the panic that'd ensue in struggling families if even one member lost their job.

[He looks sour for a moment, but shrugs.]

Luckily St. Mungo's pays pretty well. I reckon I'd still try to work there even if the pay would just get me by, but the idea of having a financial safety net for once is pretty damn nice.

It's always fascinating how much money means to people. Money and love are the most prevalent motives for crime, violent crime included. Nothing is ever so good that it cannot be corrupted.

I shouldn't think you'd need to worry much about money, though. If you needed any, you could always have mine.

Well, yeah. I never believed for a second that money is the greatest thing and all problems can get solved with enough of it. But if having loads and loads of it does cause as many problems as having almost none of it, I wouldn't know, having only experienced that last bit.

[John frowns a little and straightens his shoulders.] I... thanks for offering, but you know that's not something I'd really feel comfortable accepting. It'd feel weird, I think, getting money without actually working for it.

Having loads and loads of money I can really only attest to the utter stagnation of not having to struggle for anything. Life should be a struggle. All of nature is caught in the battle of life or death and here we are living fat in comparison. And struggle though we should, there's nothing wrong with a safety net.

[He sipped on the last of his drink.]

If there ever were such a need in your life, I'm certain we could think of a way for you to earn the gold. Far be it for me to offer slight to your pride. I rather imagine a doctor's skills would come in handy now and then.

[John laughs a little, but it's a rather happy, flattered sound.]

I know I could help you try to figure out the parts of Muggle society that could throw you for a loop, but you really think I'd be able to help as a Healer?

One never knows. Sickness and injury happen. You could be my private physician on call.

[John snorts and takes a sip of his drink.]

Right, I'll make sure to take time out of my busy theoretical schedule of trying to put people who've seen the bad side of trolls or dragons back together to pop over and tend to your skinned knees, shall I?

Well, if it's not too much trouble.

[Sherlock smirks. Is this flirting? He's not very good at recognizing flirting when he's doing it. Perhaps it's just teasing and jokes. Always possible. Is it possible to flirt and not intend to? Probably not the best time to bring it up with John. Maybe later with Tony.]

[John smirks a bit at that. If the options are "attention" and "not attention", of course Sherlock's choice is obvious. Still, he raises his glass and gives a cheers gesture.]

Well, here's hoping you grow a sense of timing as an adult, then. You might have to wait your turn a little if I'm trying to keep someone from dying and you've just got a black eye that needs some ice. Especially if you earned said black eye.

You know me so well.

[Sherlock gives a mock look of being appalled at his raised glass.]

No, no, you can't raise our glasses to that. Glasses may only be raised in reference to you and your advancement in age.

[John shoots back an equally over-emphasized look of shock.] Sherlock Holmes deferring cheers? Oh, this is a special occasion. [He laughs.] To me and my soon-to-be Tracelessness then.

[He drinks.]

Speaking of which, do you have the time? It's got to be nearing midnight by now.

Quite possibly.

[Sherlock finds the time and relays it to him.]

Do you want to go up to the room then?

[There's that flush again. Thanks, Sherlock.]

For, er, what exactly? It might be close to midnight, but I do want to actually be awake when my birthday rolls around.

I told you, the bed's not for sleeping. It's just for the purpose of having a private place.

[John opens his mouth, about to chastise about how saying things like that still makes it sound so much like something else, but... well, they've already been over that. And it looks like it's not about to stop anytime soon.]

Alright, yeah. Let's go and get upstairs. I think I've had enough knowing glances from the waitstaff for one evening.

You worry far too much about what other people think.

[He gets up to go with him to the room.]

Does it really impact your life in such a meaningful way?

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06 [evening of March 30th]

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