The Closet of Possibility

A Stranger In the Lumber Room

Notes: This story is based on another story I wrote: A Study In Magic. All you need to know is that Harry Potter was adopted by BBC Sherlock's infamous duo when he was nine (and they had another kid when Harry was thirteen). The HP timeline was moved up and Sherlock timeline was moved back to make this work. Please enjoy!

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From the notes of J. H. Watson, MD
Late of the Indian Army

It has been years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet it is with diffidence that I allude to them. No amount of discretion and reticence would allow me to make the facts public without risking accusations of insanity or worse. But now, with due suppression of details and light-heartedness of narrative, the story may be told in such a fashion as to entertain and enlighten. The reader will excuse me if I conceal dates or any other fact by which he or she might construct timelines.

We were having a quiet evening in our rooms when the incident happened. A tempestuous gale battered the twin windows of our lodgings. Holmes was enjoying his evening pipe and a pamphlet on medieval music, and I was deep in a recent treatise upon surgery. Amidst the muffled sounds of the sobbing and moaning winds outside, we heard the door to our lumber room open on its own accord. Both Holmes and I glanced at it, and, to our utter astonishment, found a strange man staring incredulously back at us from the opening.

The man was rather over six feet, and had the same thin, rangy, loose-limbed build of Holmes, though not as excessively lean. His eyes were an eerie pale blue-gray, slanted and rather feline in shape, and they possessed a piercing quality that again reminded me of Holmes. The rest of his features were a study in contrasts. A mass of dark curls framed his long pale face, which possessed exotic cheekbones, and the most lavishly accentuated upper lip lent the man an air of effeminacy. Yet his fine retroussé nose, thick eyebrows and strong jaw line were absolutely masculine and gave his whole expression an air of alertness, decision, and determination.

The three of us regarded each other for a full minute, too stunned to speak. Then the stranger, whom I had then just realized was only in his trousers and shirtsleeves with the top two buttons of his shirt undone, muttered something I did not catch, turned heel and closed the door behind him.

Holmes and I immediately sprang to our feet and wrenched open the door to the lumber room. For a few moments, we stared in silent amazement at the familiar sight of ancient newspapers stacked chin high within in the small space, the strange man nowhere in sight.

Dazed, both Holmes and I staggered away and resumed our seats by the fire.

"I can tell from the look on your face that I must quickly discard my hypothesis that we have been exposed to a hallucinogenic substance," said Holmes, breaking the silence. "Two men may hallucinate separately, but they are unlikely to see the same illusion."

"So you saw the man, too."

"As clearly as I see your good self. Yet both his entrance and exit defies human reasoning. Even if there is a secret passageway in our modest abode which has somehow escaped my detection, the man bore no sign of having braved the vile weather outside and appeared as honestly surprised to see us as we ourselves were to see him. There is also no apparent purpose to his brief appearance, except perhaps to shock and astonish. However, our guest seems to have an idea of who might be behind this."

"I'm afraid I did not hear last his words, if that is how you know our stranger has a clue."

"He said, 'damn it, Harry' with the kind of exasperation one who has suffered many such similar incidents may express. One wonders how Master Harry has accomplished this feat when he is but a boy."