"Son-uva-bitch!"

The empty hallways cause Dean's curse to echo back at them.

Sam flinches.

Paintings hung in the hallway jolt awake and fling curses of their own at the brothers. Dean's furious glare is enough to make them flee to other paintings, or instantly feign sleep.

Once the paintings are silent, that glare turns to Sam.

"What do you mean you've seen this before!"

Several sarcastic answers spring forward in his mind, but they all get caught in his throat. Sam only shrugs. Dean presses both of his palms to his eyes, his tone becoming more reserved. "You said you'd seen a lot of people in the Hospital Wing, right? How many."

"Probably five? It could have been more. I only caught a glimpse of that scene."

"You know what this means, right?"

"That I messed up righteously? That we wasted two months hunting small fries instead of catching whatever is causing this?"

"Look at me, Sam." Sam looks up to see Dean with a weary smile on his face. Most of the fire is gone from his eyes. "Don't give yourself that much credit. We didn't even know that there was anything that needed to be stopped." Sam's eyes drop to a suit of armour. "We can't hunt things we don't know are there. What we do know from your dream is that whatever happened tonight is going to continue."

Sam won't meet his eyes. Dean grabs Sam's shoulder and turns him to face him. "This isn't your fault, Sam. I was angry before, but it was mostly just from shock. It's been a long time since you've had your…premonitions."

And now we both know that I'm cursed. Sam sighs and brushes off Dean's hand. "We can't do research in the library tonight – it's closed. But we can check out the message on the wall before someone tries to clean it up."

Sam and Dean walk down the stairs in silence. Sam realizes that it is his imagination, but the castle feels less welcoming tonight. The hallways seem darker, shadows seem more menacing, as if things are hiding in them.

When they reach the wall, Sam pulls a pen out of his pocket. He starts taking notes on his arm, not having any parchment on him.

He writes down the words on the wall. He notes that they are in blood (a thing that he has sadly seen before. Cultists were strange), and the water on the floor. He pauses in his writing.

"Hey Dean, think you can find where that water's coming from?"

"Already have." Dean gestures to the door behind Sam. It has a large Out of Order sign hung on it, but he can see that it is a girls washroom.

Dean walks over to the door and turns the knob.

Sam raises a hand. "Dean, this is how people lose their jobs."

"Everyone's in bed now. No one will even know." He nods to the sign. "Besides, it's out of order. No one will even be in here."

Sam shoves his hand in his pocket, careful to not smudge the ink on his arm.

"If this goes south, you're my scapegoat. 'Yeah, my older brother just does this sometimes. Someone's gotta keep an eye on him, though.'"

Dean huffs and opens the door. "You can wait outside then." He walks in.

"No." Sam follows.

The bathroom isn't the worst one Sam's ever been in, but that doesn't mean it's nice. The stone sinks are chipped and the paint is cracking off the stalls. Sam kicks his way through the water covering the floor. As he enters, he hears the sinks on and and see that they are overflowing. Without even looking, Sam waves his wand and the faucets all turn off.

From one of the stalls, Sam hears a gasp followed by water splashing out of one of the stalls. Sam rushes over with his wand out. Besides the rippling water in the toilet, he sees nothing.

Maybe a ghost? They did tend to avoid the Winchesters. He turns out of the stall, catching a look at himself in the spotted and cracked mirror. The dim candlelight of the room casts shadows on his face. He walks toward the mirror. Is it just the candles causing his eyes seem yellow? He leans closer.

Dean's voice breaks through Sam's thoughts, making him jump. "Maybe this was just a Halloween prank. Like the pumpkins exploding at dinner."

"Possibly," Sam replies, but he isn't convinced. "But it's odd that it was so close to the writing on the wall, don't you think?

Dean shruggs. "Since it's on the first floor, everyone would be bound to encounter it as they were leaving the hall. No sense doing it on a random floor where people won't notice it." Dean looks up at Sam in shock. "Oh no, I'm starting to sound like Gabe, aren't I?"

Sam gestures with his fingers. Just a little.

They spend a few more minutes walking around the bathroom, looking for anything that might help. Sam doesn't know about Dean, but all he notices is questionable stains on the walls and that his socks can't possibly get more wet.

Dean yawns, his jaw popping audibly. "I think we should call it a night. We can do more research in the morning."

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam teases even as he walks out of the bathroom. "The Dean I know goes to bed at four am and still catches the sunrise."

Dean swats at Sam's head as he passes.

In his bed, Sam sleeps fitfully, dreams interjected with creatures of fire and yellow eyes.

-.-.-

It takes longer than Sam would have liked to find time to go to the library, and when he is able to, he isn't happy with what he's faced with.

Namely, a stoic librarian with a bad attitude.

"What do you mean I have to wait weeks to get the book?"

"I mean, that all copies of Hogwarts: A History are out of the library, and you must wait until they are returned. That could be up to two weeks from now."

"Isn't there a way to recall the books to get them back sooner? I'm a professor. Do I not have priority over the books in the library?"

Pince's face remains impassive. "I can put you on the waiting list for a copy of the book if you would like."

Sam all but growls in response. "I'll just buy the damn book myself, then." He slams the other books in his arms onto the table with more force than necessary.

"Please refrain from damaging the books in this library, Professor Winchester, or I may have to revoke your library privileges."

Sam's eye twitches. "I apologize." The second Pince finishes jotting down the information in her record book he grabs the stack of books. "Thanks." He leaves before she can change her mind about the books.

Sam drops off the books in his room. He will find time to read them later, but he and Dean have other plans for their day.

He finds Dean waiting at the large double doors of the castle. He has his arms crossed and he's leaning against the wall by the large hour glasses tallying house points.

"I'd say you're late, but then I'd open myself up to a Lord of the Rings reference. Come on, let's go."

-.-.-

Outside the castle, the wind tugs at their cloaks, causing them to dance around as they walk towards the hut by the Forbidden Forest. Dean is grateful that he'd chosen to wear one of his warmer ones today.

Although they'd never spoken to Rubeus Hagrid, they had easily recognized him from their trip to Diagon Alley. No one else they'd ever met had been as tall. Or as hairy.

Hagrid's hut was a very small one, especially considering the man's size. But Dean could practically pack his life into a matchbox so he wasn't one to judge. Dean knocks on the door.

Hagrid opens the door wearing a bright pink apron. "Mornin' profess'rs. I was jus makin' some lunch for meself. Yer welcome to join if yeh want. I 'ave coffee brewin'."

The coffee turned out to be even darker and sludgier than even coffee they'd had from backroads gas stations. It was all Dean could do to not spit out the sip he'd taken. He glances at Sam who pulls a face, and starts moving his tongue to dislodge the grounds now stuck to his mouth. Dean is glad that he got the second cup poured instead of the last.

"It's a nice house you have, Rubeus." Dean draws the man's attention so Sam can discretely spit back into the cup.

"Thanks, Dean! I built it meself. I've been living here 'round fifty years now. Time flies, it does." Hagrid sits down with his plate of food and the table shakes for a moment. With surprise, Dean notices that his coffee is able to slosh out of the cup – he would have thought it to be too thick.

"That is impressive! But I've gotta ask, why are you so close to the Forbidden Forest? I realize that you could probably protect yourself from anything in there, but it seems like an unnecessary risk."

Hagrid laughs which causes the table to shake again. "Nah, nothin' in the forest is harmful as long as yeh respect it. Lots o' protected creatures are in there."

"You must be really familiar with the creatures in the forest, then. Having been here so long and in such close range to it." Dean mimes taking another sip of his coffee. "Did you hear about the cat that was petrified last night? Is there anything in the forest that would have caused that?"

Rubeus' eyes widen slightly, but the smile remains on his lips. "Nope, I know nothin' about the forest. Nothin' at all."

Dean's eyebrows fall over his eyes as Hagrid contradicts himself. And I thought Cas was a bad actor.

Sam speaks up. "Dean and I are just worried about the attack on Mrs. Norris that happened yesterday. We have some experience in incidents like this and we're hoping to get ahead of the creature before students are in danger." Hagrid seems to pale further.

Dean leans forward. "Have you noticed anything strange happening? That's all we want to know. It would give us something to work with."

Hagrid hesitates before answering. "A rooster did get attacked earlier this term. But we 'ave foxes and other rascals runnin' around the castle, and it could 'ave bin one of them. Other than that, I can't think o' anythin' strange happenin'." Rubeus shoves more food into his mouth before he can be asked anymore questions.

"Alright, thanks for your help, Rubeus." Sam subtly waves his wand to vanish the coffee from their mugs. They leave the cabin and Hagrid, despite his earlier hospitality, seems far too eager to be rid of them.

"Okay, that was-"

"-weird"

The Winchesters glance back at the cabin. They pretend to not notice Hagrid pulling his head away from the window and the curtain falling back into place.

"Let's check out the forest," Dean suggests. "We'll give Rubeus some time to cool down. There's definitely something in there that he doesn't want us to find."

Sam glances at his watch. "Not now, I've got to run. My class is starting soon. I got some books from the library that could help us figure out what the Chamber the wall was referring to is. Or what could have caused the attack. They're on the desk in my room."

Dean groans at the prospect of research but nods. "I'll take a look. See ya."

Sam jogs off back to the castle. But Dean turns back to the forest. As far as forests went, this one seemed normal. It was well-lit and didn't give off any bad vibes. What could be so bad in there? Nothing terrible if it was so close to the school, right?

Dean glances at the castle. There was nothing but books and notes waiting for him there.

Filled with resolve, Dean unholsters his wand and walks into the forest.

-.-.-

AN: When I started this story, I was like "Yeah, naming all my chapters after songs is a great idea. What could go wrong?" and now I always have to spend a decent amount of time looking through my music collection or discographies of classic rock bands to find songs. Thankfully, I keep stumbling on ones that fit.

In other news, I did some soul searching and I now I have an outline for this story. So that's pretty great.

Thanks again to you all for reading this story :)