The Woman Who Counted (A Sherlolly Tale)

Chapter 30

            After two hours, Molly got up and made herself soup, eating slowly on the sofa. When she finished, she cleaned up and grabbed her favourite Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows, off of her shelf and sat on the sofa again, opening it to the first page and beginning to read. Five chapters in, Molly heard footsteps and she looked up to see Sherlock taking slow steps into the sitting room.

            Molly smiled. “Good afternoon, Sherlock. Feeling better rested?”

            “I guess so.” He said, and he sat on the sofa next to her.

            Molly grabbed a kitten bookmark off of the coffee table and placed it in her book. “You slept for several hours.”

            “Did I?” Sherlock asked, and looked towards the clock above the door. “I have, haven’t I?”

            “Yes, in fact, I’m going to have to be going to sleep in a few hours.” Molly said, “Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?”

            Sherlock said, “I expect not.”

            “I think you will. If you’ve not slept in days, you are probably still tired.” Molly said. “Promise me you’ll at least try. Okay?”

            “Okay.”

            Sherlock looked down at her lap where her book sat. “Read to me.”

            “Really?” Molly said.

            “Yes,” Sherlock said, “I’m bored.”

            Sherlock scooted closer to her, their legs side by side, and looked on with her as she opened up to chapter five.

            “’Hagrid?’” Molly began.

            Sherlock interrupted. “Excuse you.”

            Molly rolled her eyes. “You’ve never read Harry Potter, have you?”

            “No,” Sherlock shook his head, “I’ve always been too busy to read novels.”

            Molly closed the book again, and stood up. She placed it on her bookshelf and grabbed Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first Harry Potter book. When she sat on the sofa again, she opened the book to chapter one.

            “’Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.’” Molly began. She read to Sherlock, and he listened. Occasionally, he asked questions like: “What the hell is a muggle?” and “How can glass vanish? And how can children talk to snakes?” to which Molly would respond, “Just wait. It will be explained, Sherlock.”

            Sherlock eventually became patient, and if Molly stopped reading for even a second, he would tell her to keep reading. After finishing chapter 6, Molly looked around at the clock above the door.

            “Sherlock,” she said, “as much as I would love to continue reading to you, I should really go to bed. I’ve got work tomorrow.”

            “Oh,” Sherlock said, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

            “Are you going to go back to Baker Street or…” Molly trailed off.

            “It’s a bit late,” Sherlock said. “I’ll just stay here.”

            “Okay,” Molly said. “Okay. Um, well, I’ll just go get dressed then.”