I nodded, holding onto the dragon book and following him to one of the round, cluttered wood tables. It was very bright and colorful since we were right behind a large, multicolored window, leaking sunlight into the room. I sat in one of the chairs and he sat in the one next to it, sitting so close that I got a fresh whiff of whatever cologne he was wearing.

"So, what do we have here then?" he sighed, pushing the clutter away from us and spreading the book out on the table. He opened to a random page and I saw an evil looking squid thing, grimacing up to us from the drawing on the page. But it moved, so it looked like it was trying to escape and strangle us.

"Ah, Grindylows, nasty little things, we've got some of them in the lake." Sherlock said with a sigh, glancing out the window as if he could actually see what was there through the colors.

"What do they do?" I asked.

"Pull you into the depths of the water, kind of pathetic alone but in packs they are very dangerous. Never go swimming alone Mr. Watson, surely you know that." Sherlock pointed out.

"What else is in the lake?" I asked, kind of creeped out by these new creatures.

"Oh, you know, fish, merpeople, the giant squid." He shrugged. My jaw nearly dropped onto the table, making Sherlock's face split into a grin.

"You have a giant squid?" I asked in amazement.

"Why yes, throw it some toast and you can probably see at least a part of it. I've never seen an eye or head, but the tentacles are common." Oh sure, totally normal you liar.

"And merpeople are real?" I asked.

"Oh nothing like you'd think they are, if you know what good for you, I'd advise against going to go chasing them."

"What do they look like?" I asked. Sherlock flipped some pages in the book, and after a moment I could see what looked like a fish and an alien mixed. That was one messed up Ariel. It thrashed and scowled, thrusting an iron trident hopelessly at us. These pictures are quite violent.

"Whoa... I guess I won't be having any mermaid girlfriends anytime soon." I sighed, slightly disappointed.

"Well god, I hope not." Sherlock agreed. I opened up the dragon book, and Norwegian Ridgeback blew fire at the words on the opposite page, seemingly upset about being trapped here. I read it briefly, but it was mostly just speed, firepower (a pun that made me smile), agility and stuff I didn't necessarily care about. It wanted to hear about violent deaths from these beasts, fights, and, most importantly, where to find them.

"How about these?" Sherlock asked with amusement, flipping to one of the last pages. I glanced over and just rolled my eyes.

"So unicorns are real then? My sister tried to catch one once, when she was younger, she was convinced. I guess she was right." I just laughed. The unicorn, unlike all the others, merely looked at us with annoyance, as if it was our fault that it was our fault he was in there. It was beautiful, truly, but also looked a lot more dangerous than the characters the princess shows display. There unicorns had wicked sharp horns on their heads and didn't seem afraid to use them.

"We've got unicorns in the Forbidden Forrest, but they disappear before anyone can really see them." Sherlock shrugged.

"Still amazing. What other creatures do you have that muggles look over?" I asked.

"Oh, well pretty much everything, we've got trolls, giant spiders, werewolves."

"Werewolves?" I asked with a smile.

"And vampires, but thankfully there are no whiny teenage girls that manage to fall in love with both of them." Sherlock said. I chuckled at that, my sister used to love those movies, it couldn't stand them.

"So, can I see this notorious giant squid?" I asked hopefully, trying to see that lake out the window but failing. 

"Oh course Mr. Watson, but I'm sorry to say there is no toast available at the moment." Sherlock said with a shrug, shutting the book with a snap, making ancient dust fly up at me. Sherlock got to his feet, brushing off his black jacket even though there was nothing on it to start with. I couldn't help but thinking how much he reminded me of a Disney prince or something.

"Should we put the books back?" I asked.

"Oh take a look around, do you really think that matters to me?" he pointed out. I nodded, also standing up and stacking the dragon book on top of the encyclopedia for good measure. Sherlock waited patiently, looking down at me with an unreadable expression. I hoped he wasn't annoyed with me or anything, I don't think I did anything to upset him, but I suppose it was impossible to tell with him. Sherlock seemed like the person to laugh at death but shun you from his life for trying to be nice to him. We walked out the door together, this time we didn't link arms, but he still walked quite close to me, occasionally our hands would collide in midair and my entire face would erupt in mad blushing, desperately hoping he didn't notice. We walked down the Grand Staircase to find the main doors wide open, letting the warm wind blow lazily in. Sherlock led the way outside, to a beautiful lawn of the greenest grass I've ever seen. In the distance I saw a large forest, not nearly as cheery looking as the rest of the complex. It was very dark, as if something waited in there for an un-expecting victim. Thankfully Sherlock wasn't headed the way, he was walking towards a large lake, shining in the sunlight and looking beautiful to swim in. But after knowing what was in there, grindylows, merpeople, especially this giant squid, I don't think I'd stick a toe in with the fear of it getting eaten off. The grounds sloped downwards, speeding Sherlock up to the point that I actually had to jog to keep up with him. He didn't seem to notice; in fact it looked like he was in his own little world in his head. I wouldn't be surprised if he walked right into the lake. But at the edge he stopped, his black (where those dance shoes?) at the edge of grass and mud.

"I doubt he'll come out, usually he's asleep." Sherlock sighed, picking up a small rock in his graceful fingers and throwing it as far out as he could. The rock splashed into the water a good ten feet away, which wasn't that bad of a throw. I bet I could totally beat him though.

"Have you seen it before?" I asked curiously.

"Once or twice yes, sometimes I would go down to the lake and sit on the rocks. It's a peaceful place to get homework done." Sherlock sighed, picking up another rock and twirling it into the water. The flat stone skipped off the shiny surface, creating ripples as it bounced one, twice, three times, four times, and sank at the fifth skip.

"Pretty good." I decided, picking up the flattest stone I could find. A while back my dad had taught me how to skip rocks in the pond in the park, but I was very unexperienced. I threw it underhand, but the stone skipped once before sinking below the surface. I heard Sherlock chuckle quietly, but I just scowled at him.

"Not my best skill okay?" I defended. Sherlock looked around the mud, plucking a rock and examining it for a moment before stepping closer and handing it to me.

"It's all in the wrist, as I'm sure you've heard." He pointed out, demonstrating how to flick your arm.  I nodded, knowing exactly how to skip a stone, but giving him the satisfaction of teaching me. He seemed like the type of guy who always wanted to have the upper hand at everything and loves to prove people wrong. I mimicked his action, flicking my wrist in exactly the right way, but he just frowned slightly.

"No, like this." He stepped even closer until I could smell that intoxicating smell, taking my hand gently. A shock went up my arm like fireworks exploding at the touch of his soft, cold skin, hoping he didn't notice. Sherlock moved my arm around to make me skip the rock the right way, like a puppeteer or something. I'd also like to mention that I was totally doing it the right way in the first place, and I didn't know if he just wanted to prove me wrong or get this close.

"There we go." He said with a satisfactory smile. The rock was still clutched to my palm, unsure if I was allowed to actually throw it or if I was just supposed to keep it as a gift from him or something. My hand was still in his, and for a second I looked up to see if he had any intention of letting go, but found myself gazing into those emerald green eyes, enchanting me as if I couldn't look away. I felt myself blush miserably and tore my eyes back to the lake, trying to make it look as if I wasn't just staring at him.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" he asked, but it wasn't a worried tone, it was actually quite flirtatious. He didn't let go.

"No, you're fine, just, fine." I assured, my words falling over each other in this extremely awkward moment. He let go of my hand rather reluctantly, letting his fingers slide against my skin and sending yet another shiver down my spine. Why did he make me so embarrassed? We were friends; he knew my worst secrets, why should I be worried about this? I kept looking at the lake, doing everything I could to not look at him as he stepped half a step away, not making much more space either way.

"Well, go ahead then." He pointed out. I looked up with confusion, but then remembered the actual point of that whole hand holding demonstration.

"Ya, right, okay here it goes." I agreed. I did my best to do exactly as he had taught me, and to my surprise it went zipping through the air, bouncing off the water four times before disappearing.

"Brilliant." Sherlock said happily. I smiled at him, actually quite impressed I had actually managed. I looked at my watch, worried about lunch time approaching, but once again it was blinking twelve o'clock, it had gotten out of the time range apparently. I guess I ruined the whole moment with that, because Sherlock stepped back a couple steps more, looking at the lake instead of me.

"I think I should probably get going, I don't want to miss lunch because I had been pronounced dead." I decided. Sherlock nodded with half a smile on his face.

"Yes of course, that would be a tragedy if you had to show up to your own funeral." He agreed, but there was something in his eyes, something that was trying to escape his mind and he was pushing away.

"I guess I'll see you around then, I'll write, definitely, maybe you can even beam me up again tonight." I said with laugh.

"I hope to see you soon Mr. Watson." He agreed, and with that light started to glow all around me, engulfing Sherlock, the lake, and the castle until I was shaken into my own body, collapsed once again with my head on the desk. I took a deep breath, making sure everything was once again intact and my soul was settled in nicely. My door was still locked, undisturbed as far as I could tell, so I got up, stretching out and looking at the clock. Eleven thirty two, thank god I came back or my mom would've come wandering in. I walked out the door, finding Harry asleep on the couch with her earbuds still blasting heavy rock music. Dad was missing, but I could hear mom messing around with stuff in the kitchen, the fridge kept opening and closing so I'm guessing we're just having sandwiches or something. I sat in the armchair and turned on football, which seemed to be on all day on Sunday. It wasn't my favorite, but I was never really a TV person really. I was more video games or actually playing sports. When mom called us to the table I had to throw a pillow at Harry, who was apparently completely passed out on the couch. She wasn't too happy about that, and I ducked as she chucked one of the coasters, her favorite couch side projectile, at my head. I went to the table, which had somehow managed to make my dad appear, still in his pajamas and yawning. I sat in my normal chair, taking one of the sandwiches and pilling some chips onto my plate.

"How's the project going dear?" Mom asked. I looked at her blankly, suddenly remembering my excuse to remove myself from family activities.

"Oh, it's fine." I shrugged. "Almost done actually."

"Well Greg called, he wanted to go biking, I told him when you were done you can go out." she said. I smiled on the outside, but I really didn't want to go out now. Sherlock's world was so much more interesting than this stupid muggle world, and if I could I'd spend the rest of my life there.

"Harry are you starting to pack for school?" she asked, taking her attention off me. Harry just groaned, stuffing her mouth with food so she didn't have to answer. Dad didn't seem to be interested in the conversation; he was eating his sandwich with a scowl and only looking at his plate. This was normal though, one of those days were he didn't want anything to do with his own family. When I was finished with lunch I disappeared back into my room, locking the door just so they think I'm actually finishing up. I knew she'd bug me for ages if I didn't go out and talk with Greg, so I guess I'd have to make some stupid excuse to him after a half hour or something. I grabbed the book and a pencil, making a bit of a blanket cocoon on my bed.