Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Crime is of the Essence	By : K8BNimble Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male Views: 6594 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or BBC’s Sherlock nor do I make money from this. I just like playing with them. Harry Potter is owned by owned by JK Rowling, Scholastic and Warner Brothers & BBC’s Sherlock is owned by, well, the BBC

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Story note: The year is 2018. It’s canon until the Epilogue. Harry never married. Ron and Hermione had Rose and Hugo earlier than indicated in the books so that they are older in this story. Rose was born in 2002 and Hugo in 2005. Other minor modifications made without notice probably!
Reminder: The Sherlock in this story is from BBC's Sherlock which is set in contemporary times. This IS NOT Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock nor any traditional versions as portrayed by Jeremy Brett or any other actor. This is Sherlock as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. You do not need to have seen the BBC series to follow this story.

------

Crime is of the Essence

Chapter 5 - Not Who You Think I Am
A few moments of sheer panic set in as Harry caught his breath. Sherlock looked calm and composed straddled over Harry’s waist. That is until a large object crashed into his head and knocked him over. Snape had apparently woken up and threw a large book at Sherlock, hitting him square in the face.
Harry took the moment to scramble out from under him and drew his wand out before knocking Sherlock into the wall with his body.
“OOF!” Sherlock slid down the wall. By then Snape had run over and grabbed him and threw him face down onto the floor, pulling his arms behind him.
Harry thrust his wand into Sherlock’s face to demand answers.
“That wasn’t Shacklebolt! Not Shacklebolt!” Sherlock yelled between heavy breaths.
“What?!” Harry asked. Sherlock turned his face up towards Harry and tried to see Severus who was sitting on his back.
“Accent was wrong. Close, but not quite right. Someone has obviously studied him.” Harry pulled back and thought a moment. He knew something hadn’t been right, but he couldn’t place it.
“Let him up,” Harry finally said.
“What?” Severus asked in an amazed tone. “This cretin jumped you. He knocked me out. That’s not the sign of the good guy.” He did not let Sherlock up, instead he pulled his arms back harder.
Sherlock grimaced. “I knew you’d try to stop me, that’s why. I didn’t have time to explain. If I’d yelled, he’d have just come through the Floo at you.”
“So why didn’t he just do that anyway?” Harry wondered.
Sherlock had a ready answer, “I assume he didn’t know who was here. You might have had company. He couldn’t take that chance.” He looked up at Harry as if waiting for the logic to sink in. “You might want to shut your Floo down now.” Sherlock suggested through a grunt of pain.
“Right.” Harry turned and waved his wand to shut it down. “Snape, you can let him up.”
“Why do you call me Snape?” the man asked as he reluctantly got off of Sherlock.
Harry looked at him confused at the change in subject.
Severus pointed at Sherlock. “You call him by his first name, but you don’t call me by my first name. Do I not like being called Severus?”
The absurdity of that observation at that moment made Harry laugh. “I guess because you always called me Potter,” Harry said for lack of a better reason.
“Would you prefer that?”
“No, not really. I like being Harry better. Potter reminds me too much of my father.”
Snape squinted as if something was occurring to him but then he shook his head.
“Then, I’d prefer if you called me Severus.”
“Lovely then,” Sherlock interrupted. “Now that we’re all on a first name basis, perhaps we could talk about who that really was and what they want with Harry.”
Harry turned his wand on Sherlock again. “Just to be sure – what movie did we watch on Boxing Day 2008?”
Sherlock wrinkled his nose. “I think it was that Indiana Jones movie with the utterly ridiculous refrigerator scene. Plus, I’ve been here well over the allotted time for Polyjuice.”
Harry lowered his wand. “You were alone for a long time in the kitchen getting tea. I mean, I had a professor who managed to go all year Polyjuiced as someone else and no one caught him until he almost did me in.”
“What kind of ridiculous school would not figure that out?” Severus asked.
“Ours, actually. And does that mean you know what Polyjuice Potion is?”
“Yes. Wait…it’s something that makes you look like someone else, right. How is that possible?” Severus went and sat on the couch.
“Is something coming back to you?” Harry asked, sitting down next to him.
“Magic. I remember magic. It’s real.” Severus was rubbing his head as if he was in pain.
“That’s right. You and I are Wizards, Severus.”
“But not him?” he thumbed at Sherlock.
“Uh, no. Sherlock is a Muggle,” Harry said. Seeing the question on Severus’ face, he explained, “A non-magic person.”
“Good,” Severus muttered.
“What does that mean?” Sherlock asked, clearly irritated. He was rubbing his left shoulder.
“Nothing. I meant that it’s good that I’m remembering,” Severus said with a slight hint of a smile. Harry knew he did not mean that. He also knew that Sherlock knew that. Harry suspected the two of them together were going to be a handful.
“Ok. I’d better go find the real Shacklebolt and figure out what’s going on. Severus, why don’t you stay here and rest up a bit. There’s some leftover curry in the refrigerator if you want it. I’ll get some fresh towels if you want to shower. I’ll also pull out some clean clothes for you.”
Severus eyed Harry’s much smaller stature. “Perhaps, I should borrow Sherlock’s clothes. He seems more my size.”
“His clothes aren’t here and besides, I don’t think he fancies that idea.” Sure enough when they both looked up, Sherlock had a look of horror on his face. Harry remembered clearly that Sherlock didn’t share well. That did, of course, beg the question, even if he wasn’t Polyjuiced, could Sherlock still be trouble? Whoever the Kingsley impersonator was, he wasn’t wrong about why Kingsley had begun sending Harry overseas. Sherlock took big risks when it came to Harry. He didn’t think clearly when Harry was in danger. He risked himself and he risked others. It was the only way Harry knew how much the man had cared for him as he certainly never spoke endearments of any sort. But it also got in the way of his cases.
That wasn’t the whole story of course. Harry shared much of the blame as well. He’d come to rely on Sherlock too much in his own investigations. It made Harry a weaker Auror than he should have been. Than he was now. One of the reasons Kingsley sent him overseas was to regain his confidence. Having Sherlock constantly by his side made Harry doubt his own abilities. Even now he could feel some of that doubt starting to creep back in. He wouldn’t allow it this time. He was the one in danger. He’d make the big decisions.
“I can transfigure some of mine to fit you for now,” Harry said.
“I don’t fancy sitting around here alone.” Severus complained.
“Sorry, Severus. There’s nothing for it. The short story is, you’re considered dead. It would be difficult at this point to explain why you’re not.” Severus moved to interrupt Harry.
Harry put up a hand to stall him. “I promise I will explain when I get back. Maybe you could read that book you threw earlier. It’s the History of Magic. You’ll find both of us listed in it. It’s a place to start. Help yourself to any other books as well. You’ll find most of them in my study.” Harry waved to a room that was located near the front door.
“What’s he going to do?” Severus asked.
Sherlock looked at the two of them. “I believe I’m going back to the shop and look around a bit. Unless you want me to go to the Ministry with you, Harry?”
Harry shook his head. “No, go back. See what you can learn. Maybe you can see if any Muggles remember the shop at all. I would bet galleons to treacle tarts that only Wizards can see it.”
“But, isn’t he a Muggle?” Severus asked. “Why can he see it?”
“He’s an exception,” Harry offered. “He always has been.”
Severus scowled.

* * * * *

Harry Apparated near the Ministry and went into his office. From there he contacted Kingsley via his Patronus and asked for him to reply via the same. No one could impersonate someone’s Patronus. It was too bad so few people could actually conjure them.
It wasn’t long before his boss arrived. Harry informed him of the fire-call.
“Someone was impersonating me? Trying to lure you here?” Kingsley looked gravely concerned.
“I’m guessing the Floo would have actually taken me somewhere else. I tried to backtrace the fire-call, but it was charmed against traces. Since that’s not possible from the Ministry, it had to have originated from somewhere else. They made it look like your office, sir. At least the part that I could see.”
“That’s a pretty elaborate attempt to get to you. I’m more worried about whether there’s any truth to this body having your hair on it. And, where did they get my hair since well…” Kingsley pointed to his rather bald head. The sudden image of where Kingsley’s hair had come from stopped Harry short. He did not need that image of his boss.
“Uh…right. Let’s not go there.” Harry could hear Kingsley trying not to laugh.
“I’m going to summon Draco to see if he can secure the release of that body from the Muggle morgue. I’m also instituting the standard secondary safety procedures of wand identification for all Ministry employees.”
Kingsley summoned Draco using his Patronus. He turned back and poured himself a small glass of water.
Harry fidgeted nervously before admitting, “Sir, you should know that Sherlock Holmes found the body.”
“Holmes, huh?” He looked at Harry suspiciously. “Why would you know that? I thought you no longer spoke to him.”
“I haven’t, in many years. But when he found the body – it wasn’t alone. There was another body. One that was still alive. As soon as he realized the man was a Wizard, he contacted me.”
“I see. I’m not going to ask how Sherlock knew how to find you. You know my feelings on that. Instead I’m going to ask - where is this person now?
“Um…he’s at my place, recovering,” Harry said, cringing. It was a complete violation of procedure. It probably meant another month of desk duty.
Kingsley pursed his lips. “Instead of St. Mungos?” The reprimand could be clearly heard. Kingsley took another sip.
“Well – the patient is Severus Snape.”
Harry couldn’t remember Kingsley ever having done an actual spit-take before.
- 5
- 6
- 7
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Crime is of the Essence