Chapter 19

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, 12th October 2011

It had been a few days since the emergency Order meeting. The teachers tried not to let the tension show and to show a strong united front for the children. For the most part, it worked. No one seemed to question the students leaving and Albus calmed the Governors down. The chaos at the Ministry had not touched the hallowed halls of the school and classes resumed.

The Winchesters, for one, were relieved. The last thing they wanted was for the students to panic over things out of their control. They were safe…. For now, anyway.

Changes were too being made in the Wizarding World already. In three days, Thicknesse was sworn in, and a bounty was put out for all Muggleborns to prove their 'magical status.' Dean and Sam read the newspaper every day with disgust clear on their faces. Death Eaters were already being employed in the Ministry, and surely more were being put under the Imperius curse. Luckily, none of the students were affected, as Dumbledore would not let any changes come to the school. The students were safe as far as they were concerned. Safe, but scared. Even though life went on as normal, they saw more and more worried faces around them.

The newspapers were another matter entirely. Sam and Dean saw more and more articles as it shifted its opinions, to mainly target the likes of Harry and Albus. They discredited their characters and did anything they could to smear their names further. The boys learned more about what the Ministry was doing in the previous year, before their fall to Lord Voldemort. According to brief snippets they heard from the students, a lot of them didn't pay the Daily Prophet much mind. But some did, and it caused worry and mistrust in the past. In what they saw in the past few days, it was only going to get worse, as more propaganda was pushed out.

It was early in the afternoon when Dean walked up the stone steps of the Owlery to stretch his legs and to go see Jess. He needed to clear his head. It had been an onslaught of information over the past few days, nevermind the last two months. He wouldn't let Sam know, but he was starting to like the tawny owl. She hooted happily when she saw him come in.

"Hey Jess," he smiled. He rubbed her head affectionately. "Are you making friends up here? Are the other birds being nice to you? If they aren't, you let me know, and I'll kick their feathery asses." Jess buried her head into his palm, seeking pets. She stuck her leg out where the newspaper was tied to it. Dean untied it and was immediately met with a photo of his own face, along with his brother's.

"Well, this can't be good." He unfurled the article. "Hey, at least they got my good side." The words 'WINCHESTERS TAINTED BY HELL?' jumped out at him. He began to read. His eyes widened. What the fuck? Were the first thoughts to enter his head. He immediately bolted towards the castle.

Dean darted up the steps to his room, and through the adjoining door into his brother's, the newspaper clutched in his hands, his temper flaring. Sam jumped when the door banged open, and Dean threw the paper at him.

"What the hell?" Sam muttered as he unfurled the crumpled paper. His eyes scanned through the article.

"Exactly, someone found out about us going to hell…" Dean said. "Fuck, this is all we need right now." He ran his fingers through his hair. "How in the hell did that get out? We didn't tell anyone that."

"Woah, Dean. Calm down." Sam sighed.

"Calm down, you want me to cal-" Dean cut off his sentence with a laugh. "Sam, are you serious?"

"Look, we were going to tell them about it eventually, right? This just bumps the timeline up a little." He picked up the article. "They got the chance to tell their version of events, let's tell them ours. Instead of doing Rugarus today, let's do Demons. We have class in an hour. Let's get prepared."

"Okay, okay…" Dean grumbled. "Why are you the voice of reason today?" He said rhetorically as he grabbed his bag.

"It's a talent," Sam said sarcastically.

Together, Sam and Dean walked to the Demonology classroom and began to set up. Dean walked to the Pensieve and began to pull the memories from his mind. Dean grimaced at the thought of dragging out those memories again, he really didn't want to relive them but knew the kids had to know, had to understand what happened when things went south.

They walked to the table, Dean looked down and a small beetle scurrying across the polished mahogany. He grabbed a small cup and trapped the beetle inside. He could hear the small clinking sound as it tried to get out. Sam looked at him quizzically.

Dean shrugged innocently. "It's just a beetle, figure if that Malfoy kid pisses me off, I can put it down his robes."

Sam rolled his eyes as the students began to file in and take their seats. The boys were standing at the front of the class waiting until everyone was settled before beginning class.

"Today we are going to talk about Demons," Sam said to the class. "Specifically, yellow, white and black-eyed Demons." The students fell silent.

"And before you ask, Demons are real," Dean began. "Let's address the elephant in the room. We saw the article this morning. We were going to teach you about this anyway, but we figured it would be better to target it now. Sam and I have been to Hell. You will find out why. We are going to give you the basics about Demons, then we will finish with our memories."

"But before we go in, some notes first." Sam stepped forward. The whole class groaned as they pulled out their parchment and quills.

"There's a hierarchy of Demons," Dean began. "They can usually be differentiated by the colour of their eyes, although they can hide it. The lowest level of Demons have black eyes, and mid-tier Demons like Azazel, will have yellow eyes, and the top-level Demons will have white eyes, like Alastair and Lilith." Dean frowned at the names. "Other low-level Demons are Crossroad Demons, which we will be covering later. They have red eyes"

"Open your books to page 72," Sam instructed and began to read "Demons are malevolent spiritual entities that are the direct opposites to Angels. They are created from human souls that have endured extensive torture in Hell. In this process, they become corrupted, extremely evil, and also very powerful. Similar to Angels, they require a vessel to walk the Earth, though they are able to roam in their smoke form."

"According to the tier of Demon, there will be different powers. White-eyed Demons are more powerful than both black, red and yellow-eyed demons. Demons have certain powers, such as possession, super strength, and telekinesis at the lowest level. Yellow and white-eyed are more powerful."

"Possession is not a good feeling," Sam told them. "I was possessed by a Demon briefly once. I had lapses in my memory in which the demon made me do horrific things. We eventually figured it out and performed an exorcism to make it leave. This brings us to protection. There are certain amulets that if you wear it can protect you from being possessed, as well as our method." He pulled the collar of his robes aside to show the pentagram tattooed on his chest.

"We both got these tattoos to prevent any more possessions after what happened to me." Not that it worked, he thought, thinking of Lucifer. "Holy water will burn a Demon. Placing salt on entrances like windows and doors will prevent entry by Demons."

"Wicked!" A student smiled. "We can get tattoos?"

"Really? That's the thing you take from this lesson?" Dean scoffed under his breath. "No, you can't have tattoos…"

"Today, we are going to study one Demon in particular, Azazel." Sam disregarded his brother's comment. "We have had the most… contact with this Demon. He's the Demon that started all of this. He murdered our mother when we were kids, and our father raised us as hunters to eventually track him down and kill him. Which we eventually did. He was a yellow-eyed Demon." Dean explained, keeping a neutral expression.

"From what we know about Azazel a week before his arrival, the geographical area has cattle deaths, electrical storms and temperature fluctuations. His presence also made clocks stop and electrical devices go haywire," Sam started.

"He was impervious to Holy Water unlike normal Demons, possess human hosts but can also exist in a disembodied form, and had the ability to possess a reaper." Dean put in.

"His abilities included creating and manipulating fire, telekinesis, and the ability to cause internal bleeding and grievous wounds with his mind," Sam added.

"He has superhuman strength and is capable of making deals like your typical crossroads demon, and he's also impervious to a salt barrier." Dean finished. "So long story short, it was almost impossible to kill him."

"Does he have any weaknesses?" Malfoy smirked. "How did you kill him? And if you killed him, then why are we talking about it? It's not like we'll be fighting him any time soon."

"He does have weaknesses, iron stings nasty and this," Sam said and then pulled out the Colt and slid it across the front desk. "This is called the Colt, and it's a gun that can kill almost anything. But you have to have special bullets to use it."

"As for your other questions Mr Malfoy," Dean almost sneered the name. "We are talking about it because for every one thing we teach you about, there are probably thousands of other nastier pieces of work that haven't been able to break out of Hell. And you never know what you'll be up against in the real world." Dean was very tempted at that moment to do what he threatened earlier but held back.

"As for white-eyed demons, they include demons like Lilith and Alastair. Lilith was the first demon Lucifer created. Alastair was another one of the first demons. They are very similar but more powerful than the yellow-eyed demons," Sam told them.

"Today we have two memories to show you, both about Azazel. The first memory is an exorcism of a normal black-eyed demon, and the second memory is the first time we tracked him down, and we realized he was possessing our Dad."

"So, I think it's time to get started with the memories," Dean said.

"Everyone, get in line," Sam told the students, who got in line and entered the Pensieve.

The class appeared in a room. A woman was tied to a chair in the middle of a Devil's Trap. Bobby, Sam, and Dean stood nearby.

"Are you gonna read me a story?" Meg mocked.

"Something like that. Hit it, Sam," Dean ordered. Sam started reciting the exorcism.

"An exorcism? Are you serious?" Meg laughed.

"Oh, we're going for it, baby," Dean smirked. "Head spinning, projectile vomiting, the whole nine yards." Meg flinched in pain. Sam looked at Dean. Meg looked between the brothers.

"I'm gonna to kill you," she hissed. "I'm gonna rip the bones from your body."

"Wow…" Ron muttered.

"No, you're gonna burn in hell. Unless you tell us where our Dad is." Meg just smiled at him. "Well, at least you'll get a nice tan." Sam was still reading the exorcism. Meg began to shake in and gasped in pain. Sam stopped reading.

"He begged for his life with tears in his eyes," spat Meg through her teeth. "He begged to see his sons one last time. That's when I slit his throat." Sam started reading again.

"For your sake, I hope you're lying. Cause if it's true, I swear to God, I will march into hell myself and I will slaughter each and every one of you evil sons of bitches, so help me God!" Dean exclaimed. Sam continued reading. Meg started to show signs of being in pain again.

"Where is he?" Dean demanded.

"You just won't take "dead" for an answer, will you?"

"Where is he?!"

"Dead!"

"No, he's not! He's not dead! He can't be!" Dean yelled. "What are you looking at? Keep reading." Dean saw Sam staring and snapped. Sam once again started reading.

"He will be!" Meg yelled.

"Wait!" Dean stopped Sam. "What?!"

"He's not dead. But he will be after what we do to him." The demon whispered.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Dean hissed.

"You don't."

"Sam!" Dean commanded his brother to continue the exorcism.

"A building!" Meg blurted out. "Okay? A building in Jefferson City."

"Finally," Malfoy muttered in a sneer to his friends.

"Missouri? Where, where? An address!"

"I don't know."

"And the demon — the one we're looking for — where is it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know! I swear! That's everything. That's all I know." Meg pleaded.

"Finish it," Dean spat.

"What? I told you the truth!" Meg looked shocked and outraged.

"I don't care."

"You son of a bitch, you promised."

"I lied!" Dean yelled. "Sam? Sam! Read!"

"Maybe we can still use her. Find out where the demon is," Sam muttered to Dean.

"She doesn't know," Dean frowned.

"She lied," scoffed Sam.

"Sam, there's an innocent girl trapped somewhere in there. We've got to help her." Dean told his brother. Bobby approached them.

"You're gonna kill her," he said.

"What?

"You said she fell from a building. That girl's body is broken. The only thing keeping her alive is that demon inside. You exorcize it — that girl is going to die," he said in a sad voice.

"Oh no…" Hermione whispered.

"Listen to me, both of you, we are not gonna leave her like that," Dean snapped.

"She is a human being," Bobby replied.

"And we're gonna put her out of her misery. Sam, finish it."

Sam continued the final part of the exorcism. Meg threw her head back and screamed. The demon left her mouth in a cloud of black smoke. Meg's body slumped forward, blood dripping from her mouth.

"What happened to her?" Harry asked.

"She didn't make it," Dean frowned. "Demons like to treat their vessels as expendable."
A few of the students shuddered at that.

The memory blurred and everyone appeared in a grubby shack that seemed to expand to accommodate all of them. There were three men, two of whom they knew, were the Professors. The other man looked older than the two, the students assumed it was John Winchester.

"Well, this is fun." John walked over to the window beside Dean. "I could've killed you a hundred times today, but this..." John let out a long sigh. "This is worth the wait."

Dean tried to struggle, but he was pinned to the wall.

The students observed that there were no restraints on him, this must have been the telekinesis they had been talking about.

John looked over to him, his grin looking more like a sneer. "Your Dad, he's in here with me. Trapped inside his own meat suit. He says 'hi', by the way. He's gonna tear you apart. He's gonna taste the iron in your blood."

Dean grimaced. "Let him go, or I swear to God –"

"What? What are you and 'God' gonna do? You see, as far as I'm concerned, this is justice." He comes over to Dean. "You know that little exorcism of yours? That was my daughter."

"Who, Meg?"

"The one in the alley? That was my boy. You understand."

Dean rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What? You're the only one that can have a family?" John's voice became confused before clearing, and he smiled darkly. "You destroyed my children. How would you feel if I killed your family? Oh, that's right. I forgot. I did. Still, two wrongs don't make a right."

"You son of a bitch," Dean glared.

"I wanna know why. Why'd you do it?" Sam's question brought the demon's attention back to the younger brother.

"You mean why did I kill Mommy and pretty, little Jess?" His tone was condescending.

"Yeah." Sam glared at him.

"You know, I never told you this, but Sam was going to ask her to marry him." John looked back to Dean with a smirk, backing up towards Sam. "Been shopping for rings and everything." His attention moved back to Sam. "You want to know why? Because they got in the way."

"In the way of what?" Sam was fuming with anger; his hands would be shaking if he could move at all.

"My plans for you, Sammy. You… and all the children like you."

The students looked to Sam, seeing the regret in his eyes.

"Listen, you mind just getting this over with, huh?" Dean forced a bored vibrato into his voice. "Cause I really can't stand the monologuing."

John walked back over to Dean again. "Funny, but that's all part of your M.O., isn't it? Masks all that nasty pain, masks the truth."

"Oh, yeah?" Dean frowned, hating to be called on his bluff. "What's that?"

"You know, you fight, and you fight for this family, but the truth is they don't need you. Not like you need them. Sam, he's clearly John's favourite. Even when they fight, it's more concerning than he's ever shown you."

Dean bit his tongue against the pain, it still hurt just as bad all these years later.

"I bet you're real proud of your kids, too, huh? Oh wait, I forgot. I wasted 'em." Dean just smiled at him, and John looked at Dean. He stepped back and put his head down. When he looked back up, Dean suddenly yelled in pain.

Sam's eyes widened as he realized Dean was being tortured. "Dean! No!

Dean started to bleed heavily from his chest. Sam struggled against the force pinning him.

"Dad! Dad, don't you let it kill me!" Dean tried to get the attention of his father, asking him, begging him to fight back. But John just looked at him again and smiled. Dean started screaming in pain again.

"Dean! No!" Sam struggled against the invisible hold. Blood was flowing out of Dean's nose and mouth from the torture. Sam struggled as hard as he could to break free.

The students seemed to think there was no hope, even though they knew the Professors were still alive today.

"Dad, please," Dean mumbled just before passing out.

"Dean!" Sam yelled.

"Stop," John whispered, and Sam was suddenly let go. "Stop it." Sam dove and grabbed the gun off the table. John turned to him, eyes yellow once again, and Sam aimed the gun at him.

"You kill me, you kill Daddy," John grinned.

"I know," Sam scowled. He fired the gun, shooting John in the leg. John fell down and so did Dean. Sam ran to his brother.

"Dean? Dean, hey? Oh God, you've lost a lot of blood," Sam said, panic in his voice.

"Where's Dad?" Dean whispered.

"He's right here. He's right here, Dean."

"Go check on him."

"Dean," Sam tried to argue.

"Go check on him," Dean gasped.

Sam got up and went to his father. "Dad? Dad?" he asked. John was lying motionless on the floor. His head suddenly snapped up.

"Sammy! It's still alive. It's inside me, I can feel it. You shoot me. You shoot me! You shoot me in the heart, son!" he said with great effort, clenching his jaw. Sam aimed the gun at John. "Do it now!"

The students' eyes were wide with shock.

"Blimey…" Harry and Ron muttered together. Hermione was gnawing at her bottom lip.

"Sam, don't you do it. Don't you do it," Dean gasped from the corner.

"You've gotta hurry! I can't hold onto it much longer! You shoot me, son! Shoot me! Son, I'm begging you! We can end this here and now! Sammy!" John continued to beg.

"Sam, no," Dean whispered again.

"You do this! Sammy! Sam..." John yelled. Suddenly, the demon left John's body in a cloud of black smoke. It disappeared through the cracks in the floor. John looked at Sam accusingly, panting as he banged the back of his head against the floor in frustration.

The class was soon wrapped up without any other drama collecting the assignments and. Both Sam and Dean noticed that the students were very quiet today, no doubt from the article earlier.

"Ms Granger, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, could we see you for a few minutes?" Sam asked as the students gathered to leave. Dean noticed a jeering look from Malfoy. Glad the three were getting in trouble, or so he thought anyway.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the table.

"Yes Sam, Dean?" Ron asked, using their names as they preferred.

"We're sure you heard about what happened at the Ministry the other day," Dean began. The three nodded.

"Good, we just wanted to make sure you were informed," Sam confirmed. "We don't want you guys in the dark."

"Sam?" Hermione asked hesitantly, not used to calling a Professor by their first name. What is that noise?" she asked.

"Looks like it's coming from the jar," Ron pointed out. "What in the bloody hell is in that?" he said as he spotted something tiny and black trying to move the clear cup from the inside.

"Just a beetle I found," Dean shrugged. "Was gonna let it out outside. But it looked kinda cool." Hermione was already moving. She picked up the mug and quickly caught the beetle in her hand. Sam and Dean looked at her, confused. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"This isn't an ordinary beetle. It's Rita Skeeter," she said in an annoyed voice. "See, Harry, Ron? Remember the markings?"

"Blimey," Ron breathed.

"Hold on… what's going on?" Dean interrupted. "You're telling me this is a person?"

"This is Rita Skeeter in her Animagus form," Hermione explained. "She's unregistered. She used to be a journalist for the Daily Prophet. She snoops on people in her beetle form. I found out about her and threatened to report her. Looks like she's back to her old tricks," she fumed.

"You're kidding right?" Sam mumbled.

"No," Harry replied. "In my fourth year, she reported on the Triwizard Tournament. She reported a lot of lies about me. She's always doing it," he frowned.

"Well, give her here," Dean said. Hermione let the beetle scuttle into his hand. "Ms Beetle, you spy on us again, I'll squish you. Capiche?" he threatened. He let the beetle down, and it scurried away rapidly. "Well, we can add talking to beetles to the list of weird shit we have done…" he said, more to himself than anyone else. Sam shook his head, exasperated.