Dumbledore's Army

Dean sat in Charms thinking hard the next day, hardly even attempting to Silence the bullfrog sitting on the desk in front of him. He and Cas had left the Shrieking Shack early that morning, and he had tried to convince Cas to take the day off, to no avail. Having two attacks in the same day had clearly taken its toll on Cas, but he was intent upon not missing anymore classes, so he sat quietly beside Dean, pretending that he wasn't shaking the whole way through the lesson. Dean planned on asking John and Sherlock to keep an eye of Cas for him, but neither of them looked up to doing much either.

He was eventually snapped out of his reverie by a gentle nudge from Cas.

'Hm?' He looked up and saw Professor Flitwick staring at him expectantly. 'Oh. Silencio.' The bullfrog fell completely silent mid-croak.

'Very good, Mr Winchester,' Professor Flitwick squeaked. 'Now let's see you try, Mr Weasley.'

'Wha-? Oh, oh right.' Ron jabbed at his bullfrog so hard he poked it in the eye. It gave a loud croak and jumped off the desk.

They were all given an essay to do by Professor Flitwick, and Harry and Ron had extra homework to practice the Silencing Charm.

Cas pulled Dean aside at the end of the lesson, looking nervously at his feet. 'I wondered if - if you could study on your own after classes today,' he said quietly. 'I think I should perhaps get some rest.'

'Yeah, of course,' Dean said.

'I'll be in the hospital wing if you need anything.'

'Why don't you just go now?' Dean encouraged. 'You can't be learning much if you feel this bad anyway.'

Cas shrugged. 'Professor Umbridge is watching me.'

'Screw her,' Dean said angrily. 'Getting better is more important than her crappy lessons.'

'Please keep your voice down,' Cas said, looking around anxiously. 'I understand, Dean, but I just can't miss any more. Not until she stops watching me. I'm a prefect, I'm supposed to set a good example, not skip classes whenever I feel like it.'

'Cas, you're not skipping classes for no reason, you're not doing anything wrong.'

'Dean, please, I have to go.'

'All right, all right, just-'

'Don't push it, I know.'

Dean watched him go, troubled.

They were allowed to stay inside for break that day, due to the driving wind and rain, but instead of heading to the empty classroom that they had been allowed to use, Dean ran up to the dormitory and dug through his trunk. He found what he was looking for and smiled, shoving a small glass jar into his bag before hurrying back downstairs.

The weather only worsened as the day wore on, and though Harry and Ron were ecstatic to hear that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had been given permission to reform, it soon sunk in that they would have to play in the miserably, stormy weather. They were allowed to stay inside for lunch too, but Dean found a room on his own, so he could concentrate.

He pulled out the empty jar and placed it on a table in front of him. After casting an Unbreakable Charm, he threw every spell he could think of on it, until he was satisfied that it really wouldn't break. He carried it around with him the rest of the day, hoping to give it to Cas at dinner, but Cas didn't appear. Dean badly wanted to go and find him, but he knew that Cas must be feeling really bad if he went as far as to ask for a break from studying, so he reluctantly climbed up to Gryffindor Tower instead. It was quieter than usual, since the Gryffindor Quidditch team were down at practice. Dean laid out his homework on a table near the window, but found himself struggling. He bit his lip and looked around the room for inspiration. His gaze landed on Hermione.

'Hermione, can you come here a sec?' he called to her. 'I need your help with something.'

Hermione gave him a puzzled look, but sat at the table in front of him.

Dean quickly glanced around the room to make sure no one was eavesdropping. He was becoming more and more confident, and less embarrassed by his reading ability, but that didn't mean he wanted everyone to know, so he lowered his voice. 'So, uh, Cas has been helping me to read,' he told her, ignoring her raised eyebrows. 'He says I have… uh, what did he call it? Dyslexia, I think.'

Hermione nodded in understanding.

'Uh, anyway, Cas isn't here, so I was wondering if you could help me with some of these words?'

'Yes, of course.'

Hermione was bossier than Cas, but, to her credit, she didn't pick at Dean as she did with the others. It was a very different style, but Dean found that he appreciated it just as much as Cas's gentle nudges in the right direction.

'This is really good, Dean,' she said, reading through his Transfiguration essay once it was finished. 'It's concise, well informed… I think Professor McGonagall will be really pleased with this.'

'Thanks, Hermione,' Dean grinned, rolling it up and putting it in his bag.

It was late by the time he was finished, so he stood up, stretched widely, and went to bed.

Despite his good mood, the nightmares still came for Dean. They were always the same. He or Sam attacked by something. Blood everywhere. Then he would wake up sweating and breathing heavily.

He sat up and rubbed his face tiredly. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for a while, so he quietly shuffled out of bed and tiptoed downstairs. At least he could sit in front of the fire, but when he got down there, he saw Harry asleep at one of the tables, his homework still in front of him, and John was curled up on the sofa, sniffling quietly.

'Hey, insomnia buddies,' Dean said, pointing at John, then sitting next to him. 'What's up? Where's Sherlock?'

'I don't know where he is,' John shrugged. 'He said he had to do something.'

'Bad vision?'

John nodded, lip wobbling.

'Do you wanna talk about it?'

John wiped his cheeks. 'I keep seeing someone getting attacked by Nagini, but I can't see who it is, or when it'll happen, or where they are even. It's so dark, and it burns… What's the point in all this if I can't help them?'

'Who says there is a point?' Dean asked.

'The centaurs,' John told him. 'I'm supposed to do something.'

'I dunno, centaurs can be a little kooky. Why don't you go ask them?'

'I can't. The Ministry restricted their lands again, so it's dangerous for people to be around them right now.'

'Even for you?'

'Even for me,' John nodded. 'It's probably worse for me, to be honest. Some of them still resent their "Oracle" being human. What about you, what are you doing up?'

'The usual. Bad dreams.'

'Yeah… How's Cas?'

'Better, I think. He's taking some time for himself, which I think is a good step.'

Just then, Sherlock came through the portrait hole, holding a thick, fluffy blanket.

John smiled at him, and Dean got up so Sherlock could sit next to him.

'What's this?' John asked, as Sherlock sat down and tucked them both under the blanket.

Sherlock fussed over the blanket a bit more, then finally pulled out a crystal ball.

'Oh, Sherlock, I don't want to look at it,' John frowned, relaxing into Sherlock's chest.

'I think you need to try it. These visions of Nagini are bothering you, we need to see if we can find out what it's about. I'm right here.'

John sighed and took the crystal ball from him, then glanced uncertainly up at Dean.

'Hey, I'm not even here,' Dean said, shifting so he was facing the fire in one of the comfy armchairs, but watched John out of the corner of his eye, unable to resist his curiosity.

John sat up straighter, but still leaning against Sherlock, and squinted at the crystal ball. Neither of them spoke, but Sherlock stared at John intently, jaw clenched and eyebrow twitching. John bit his lip, holding the ball close to his face until his hands started shaking too hard for him to keep his grip on it. Sherlock took it from him and put it back into its velvet bag, and John slumped against him, eyes closed, shaking his head.

'Nothing,' he mumbled. 'I keep getting stuck on Nagini, and she feels gross.'

'Do you guys need anything?' Dean asked.

'No, thank you, Dean,' Sherlock said, adjusting John, who was rapidly falling asleep, into a more comfortable position.

Dean was considering going back to bed himself, when there was a crack, and Dobby the house-elf appeared in the middle of the room, Hedwig on his tiny arm. His large, pointed ears were sticking out from underneath what looked like every item of clothing Hermione had made.

'Harry Potter, sir!' Dobby squeaked, standing next to Harry's table.

Harry woke with a start, looking around blearily. 'Wha-?'

'Dobby has your owl, sir!'

'Dobby?' Harry said thickly, peering at him.

'Dobby volunteered to return Harry Potter's owl,' Dobby said. 'Professor Grubbly-Plank says she is all well now, sir.'

Hedwig gave a soft hoot and fluttered onto the arm of Harry's chair.

'Thanks, Dobby!' said Harry, stroking Hedwig's head. 'Er… have you been taking all the clothes Hermione and Cas have been leaving out?'

'Oh, no, sir,' Dobby said happily. 'Dobby has been taking some for Winky and Melly, too, sir.'

'Melly?' Sherlock said, confused.

'Oh, yes, sir. Melly likes to visit Hogwarts sometimes, sir.'

'How is Winky?' Harry asked.

Dobby's ears drooped slightly. 'Winky is still drinking lots, sir,' he said sadly. 'She still does not care for clothes, Harry Potter. Nor do the other house-elves. None of the will clean Gryffindor Tower anymore, not with the hats and socks hidden everywhere, they finds them insulting, sir. Dobby does not mind, sir, for he always hopes to meet Harry Potter and tonight, sir, he has got his wish!' Dobby sank into a deep bow. 'But Harry Potter does not seem happy,' Dobby said timidly. 'Dobby wishes he could help Harry Potter, for Harry Potter set Dobby free and Dobby is much, much happier now.'

Harry smiled at him. 'You can't help me, Dobby, but thanks for the offer.' Harry bent to pick up the Potions book he'd dropped, but stopped half way, looking up at Dobby. 'Wait a moment - there is something you can do,' he said slowly.

Dobby beamed at him. 'Name it, Harry Potter, sir!'

'I need to find a place where thirty-four people can practise Defence Against the Dark Arts without being found out by a teacher. Especially Professor Umbridge.'

Dean straightened, watching Dobby with interest.

Dobby gave a little skip, his ears waggling cheerfully, and clapped his hands together. 'Dobby knows the perfect place, sir!' he said happily. 'Dobby heard tell of it from the other house-elves when he came to Hogwarts, sir. It is known by us as the Come and Go Room, sir, or else, the Room of Requirement!'

'Why?' Harry asked curiously.

'Because it is a room that a person can only enter when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped with the seeker's needs. Dobby has used it, sir.' Dobby dropped his voice, looking guilty. 'When Winky has been very drunk, he has hidden her in the Room of Requirement and he has found antidotes to Butterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, sir… and Dobby knows Mr Filch has found extra cleaning materials in there when he has run shirt, sir. It is the most amazing room, sir.'

'How many people know about it?' Dean asked eagerly.

'Very few, sir. Most people stumbles across it when they needs it, sir, but often they never finds it again, for they do not know that it is always there waiting to be called into service, sir.'

'Hey, you heard of it?' Dean said, turning to Sherlock, who was watching Dobby with great interest.

'Yes,' said Sherlock. 'It exists, but I have so far not been able to find it.'

'It sounds brilliant,' said Harry. 'It sounds perfect, Dobby. When can you show us where it is?'

'Any time, Harry Potter, sir,' said Dobby, looking delighted at Harry's enthusiasm. 'We could go now, if you like!'

'Not tonight, Dobby,' Harry said, sinking down in his chair. 'This is really important… I don't want to blow it, it'll need proper planning. Can you just tell us exactly how to get to the Room of Requirement?'

Dean and Harry were up early the next morning, and walked down to breakfast together, discussing what they were going to teach. Cas joined them at the Gryffindor table, looking well-rested.

'Hey,' Dean said, lowering his voice. 'We're having our first meeting tonight. Eight o'clock, seventh floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being whacked by those trolls. Will you tell the other Ravenclaws on the list?'

'Of course,' Cas said.

'Oh, and will you meet me at that empty classroom on the second floor at lunch? I want to talk to you about something.'

'Oh,' Cas said, surprised. 'All right.'

Cas didn't eat any breakfast that morning, but he seemed perfectly comfortable sitting with Dean while he ate his bowl of cereal.

Dean and Harry then spent their morning lessons convincing Hermione that the Room of Requirement was legitimate, and tracking down everyone on the list to let them know about the meeting, without Umbridge noticing.

Harry was getting the message to the Gryffindor Quidditch team at lunch, but Dean took a break from it, grabbed a sandwich, and took the stairs up to the second floor, two at a time, eager as he was to finally give Cas the glass jar. He got there first, and made himself sit down to wait, knee bouncing in anticipation.

When Cas arrived, he was flushed and flustered, but he had an excited glimmer in his eyes.

'You wanted to see me?' he said, sitting on the end of one of the desks.

'Yeah, I've got something for you,' Dean grinned. He finally took out the jar and handed it to Cas.

'Uh… Thank you, Dean, it's… it's a nice jar,' Cas said, holding it awkwardly.

Dean laughed. 'It's not just a jar. Do you remember how you broke up those logs when you got stuck in the common room, and how it made you feel a little better?'

'Yes,' Cas said warily.

'Well, I thought it might help if you could do that if you got stuck in class or something. So I charmed this jar. I tested it, and I think it can take it, but I'm guessing your magic is a little different from regular wizards' magic. So, why don't you give it a try? And if it works, you can keep it with you, so you can let it out safely, until you can get to the Shrieking Shack.'

Cas bit his lip, so Dean poked his head outside the door to make sure there was no one in the corridor.

'Everyone's at lunch,' Dean reassured him. 'No one's around, just give it a try.'

Cas nodded and stood up, placing the jar on the desk and stepping away from it. He raised an arm and focused entirely on the jar. His eyes glowed slightly, and there was a faint, high-pitched whine. He then lowered his arm and blinked. Nothing had happened.

'It's working!' Dean said.

'It is,' Cas said in disbelief.

'Awesome. Well, you can keep that, I figure you can keep it in your bag, or if you put an Undetectable Extension Charm on your pocket, it'll fit in there, and you can have it whenever you need.'

Cas held it in his hand and stared at it. 'Thank you, Dean,' he said quietly, before finally tucking it away in his bag. 'I have something for you too.'

'Oh, really?'

Cas nodded, pulled a small box out of his bag, and passed it to Dean.

He opened it up, and inside was a pair of glasses.

'I figured out how to alter the charms,' Cas said, a note of pride entering his voice. 'They're not prescription, they're just plain glass, but you can read anything with these, without having to wait for me to put the charms on the book.'

'No way!' Dean said, putting them on immediately. 'How do I look?'

'They suit you,' Cas smiled. 'Here, try them with this.' He gave Dean his own copy of The Standard Book of Spells, that hadn't been charmed for Dean to read.

Dean eagerly read through the first page. 'This is so cool, I bet I could even read Snape's chalkboard now.'

'Yes, I believe you could,' Cas smiled.

Dean looked up and caught Cas gazing at him. 'What?'

'Nothing,' Cas said hurriedly. 'Sorry.'

'You don't need to be sorry,' Dean said. 'You're cute.' He bit back a laugh as Cas turned pink. 'Anyway, we should get back to the Great Hall. You hungry?'

'Yes, I am.'

Dean put his glasses away and they went down to the Great Hall together, where Cas ate a whole bowl of soup, before he went on his patrol.

The rest of them waited in the common room until half past seven, when Harry opened the Marauder's Map and checked where Filch, Mrs Norris, and all the teachers were. They hurried up to the seventh floor, to the blank bit of wall that Dobby had described.

'Dobby said to walk past here three times, thinking about what we need,' Harry said.

Hermione nodded, and she, Harry and Ron gave it a try.

'Oh, I think it's working,' John said, on their third pass.

They stopped walking and looked at the polished door that had appeared in the wall. Harry seized the handle and led the way into a spacious room lit with flickering torches.

The walls were lined with wooden bookcases and instead of chairs, there were large silk cushions on the floor. A set of shelves on the far end of the room carried a range of instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large, cracked Foe-Glass.

'These will be good for when we're practising Stunning,' Dean said, prodding one of the cushions with his foot.

'And just look at these books!' Hermione said excitedly, running a finger along the spines of the large, leather-bound tomes. 'This is wonderful, there's everything we need here!'

Then there was a gentle knock at the door, and Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, Seamus and Dean Thomas had arrived.

'Whoa,' said Seamus, 'what is this place?'

'I'll explain once everyone's arrived,' Harry said.

The room began to fill, people arriving in groups of twos and threes. Dean craned his neck over their heads, but Cas hadn't arrived yet.

'This is so cool!' said Sam, when he came in with Colin and Dennis Creevey, then gave Dean a thumbs up before sitting on one of the cushions.

Dean bit his lip and was just about to ask Harry for the Marauder's Map, when Cas finally arrived with Padma Patil.

'Sorry we're late,' said Padma, 'some third years were trying to steal the Venomous Tentacula from the greenhouse.'

Cas smiled at Dean and sat down near one of the bookcases.

'I think that's everyone,' Dean said to Harry, doing a quick headcount.

Harry nodded and addressed the room. 'Well, we've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and - er - what, Hermione?' he said, noticing Hermione's hand in the air.

'I think we ought to elect a leader,' said Hermione.

'Harry's the leader,' Cho Chang said at once.

'What about Dean?' Sam said indignantly.

'It's fine, I'm just here to help teach, I don't mind if Harry's the leader,' said Dean, failing to ignore the smile still on Castiel's face.

'I think we ought to vote on it properly,' said Hermione. 'It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So - everyone who thinks Harry should be our leader?'

Everyone put their hand up.

'Er - right, thanks. And - what, Hermione?'

'I also think we should have a name,' she said brightly, her hand still in the air. 'It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?'

Dean caught Cas's eye and hid his amusement behind his hand.

'Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League,' Angelina Johnson said hopefully.

'Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?' suggested Fred.

'I was thinking,' said Hermione, frowning at Fred, 'more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to it safely outside meetings.'

'The Defence Association?' said Cho. 'The DA for short, so no one knows what we're talking about?'

'Yeah, the DA's good,' said Ginny. 'Only, let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?'

There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.

'All in favour of the DA?' said Hermione bossily, kneeling up on her cushion to count. 'That's a majority - motion passed!'

John then caused a minor distraction by momentarily passing out on his cushion. 'I'm all right,' he mumbled when he sat up again, leaning on Sherlock. 'Carry on.'

Hermione pinned the piece of parchment with all their names on to the wall and wrote across it in large letters:

DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

'Right,' Harry said, when she sat down again, 'shall we get practising, then? The first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful-'

'Oh, please,' said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. 'I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?'

'I've used it against him,' Harry said quietly. 'It saved my life in June. But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave.'

Smith did not move, nor did anyone else.

'All right, then,' Dean said, clapping his hands together. 'Everyone get into pairs, grab out your wands. Cas, you're with me.'

Everyone quickly sorted themselves into pairs. Neville ended up with Harry, and Cas looked thoroughly relieved to be paired with Dean.

'Right, on the count of three, then,' said Harry. 'One - two - three -'

The air was filled with cries of 'Expelliarmus!' Wands went flying, missed spells hit the bookcases, knocking books around.

Cas was the only one that hesitated, but Dean didn't fire a spell at him either.

'Come on,' Dean encouraged. 'Hit me.'

Cas bit his lip, raised his wand, and said, 'Expelliarmus,' but it was so weak that Dean's wand only wobbled slightly in his hand.

'Try it again,' Dean said.

Cas lowered his wand. 'I can't,' he said.

'Why not?

Cas just shook his head.

Dean looked around for a quiet place to talk to Cas, and saw a screen appear in a far corner of the room. 'Okay, come with me.' He walked towards it, tapping Harry's shoulder. 'I'll just be a sec.'

Harry nodded, watching Neville concentrating on his wand with his tongue sticking out.

There were a couple of comfortable seats behind the screen, so Dean made Cas sit down.

'What's going on?' Dean asked, and Cas stared down at his hands folded in his lap.

'I don't want to hurt you,' Cas mumbled. 'I can't stop my power from messing up my offensive spells.'

Dean sighed. 'Okay, Cas, listen to me. I don't want to scare you, but if you ever do have to fight with a Death Eater, or a Demon, or something, you can't hold back, 'cause they won't. You need to use every advantage you have, and I'd say you have a pretty big one.'

Cas nodded.

'And look, we're in a controlled environment, and you or Madam Pomfrey can always heal me. It's important that you practice for real, Cas. And I think it would be good for you to get a handle on how your powers interact anyway, so what do you say? Will you give it another try? Properly this time?'

Cas took a deep breath. 'All right.'

'Awesome, let's go.'

They went back to their spot and Dean stood in front of Cas, smiling encouragingly.

'You've got this, go for it.'

Cas nodded and raised his wand once again. 'Expelliarmus!'

The spell hit Dean full force and threw him into the air, spinning into one of the bookcases and falling to the floor with a thump.

The room fell silent as everyone turned to stare at Dean lying on the floor, winded.

'Whoa,' he said, sitting up. 'That was real good, Cas. Wow. Can't wait to see what you'll do with a Stunner.'

'You're bleeding,' Cas said in alarm, kneeling down next to Dean.

Dean touched a hand to the back of his head and felt a wetness, where his head had connected with the wooden bookcase.

'Let me…' Cas touched his wand to Dean's head and healed the wound.

'Thanks,' Dean said, getting to his feet.

By now, the others had turned their attention back to their own spells.

'Wow. Cool. Do you wanna do it again?' Dean asked Cas. 'Where's my wand?'

'No,' Cas said, picking Dean's wand up and passing it back to him. 'Will you - will you do it to me?'

Dean blinked in surprise. 'What for? I don't need to practise it.'

'I think I should know what it's like.'

'Are you sure?'

'I trust you.'

Dean smiled. 'Okay, do you want me to count down?'

Cas nodded.

'All right, here I go. One - two - three - Expelliarmus.'

Cas's wand flew out of his hand and Dean reached up to catch it, passing it back straight away.

'You okay?' he asked.

'Yes. Thank you.'

'Awesome. Okay, take a break, I'm gonna go round and see how everyone's doing.'

Dean took one half of the room and Harry the other, and went around correcting and encouraging.

The Creevey brothers were both very enthusiastic, but they flourished their wands far too much, causing several books to fly off the bookcases instead of each others' wands. They both seemed very excited to be Disarmed by Sam, who appeared to master the spell quite quickly.

Harry then blew a whistle and everyone lowered their wands.

'That wasn't bad,' he said, 'but there's definite room for improvement. Let's try again.'

Dean walked around the edge of the room, and was pleased to see the performance improving as he and Harry made suggestions and adjusted stances or grips on wands. He watched from a distance as Sherlock amused himself by Disarming random people, and avoiding John's attempts.

'You're meant to stand still!' John said exasperatedly.

'You know perfectly well how to Disarm,' Sherlock said, rolling his eyes and Disarming Zacharias Smith.

'Oh yeah? Let me prove it, then.' John aimed, but Sherlock once again stepped aside, causing John's spell to ricochet and catch Alicia Spinnet from behind, her wand spinning and hitting Katie Bell in the face. 'You git,' said John.

'I know.'

Dean laughed, and continued on, eventually finding his way back to Cas's side.

Cas was sitting on his cushion, quietly reading one of the books he'd found, and hugging the jar Dean had given him.

'Do you need to go?' Dean asked him, crouching down and lowering his voice.

'No,' Cas smiled. 'Could I try the spell again?'

'Sure,' Dean grinned, waiting while Cas put the jar away.

Being thrown across the room was hardly Dean's favourite activity, but he was happy as long as it was helping Cas.

Eventually, Harry blew his whistle again, and everyone stopped shouting 'Expelliarmus'.

'That was really good,' Harry said, 'but we've overrun, so we'd better leave it there. Same time next week?'

'Sooner!' Dean Thomas said eagerly, and there were many nods of agreement.

Angeline, however, said quickly, 'The Quidditch season's about to start, we need team practices too!'

'Let's say next Wednesday night, then,' said Harry, 'and we can decide on future meetings then. Come on, we'd better get going.'

Harry pulled out the Map again, and let them all out in small groups.

Dean left with Cas and walked with him away from the Room of Requirement.

'So, what did you think?' Dean asked him.

'I thought it went well,' said Cas. 'You're a good teacher.'

'Thanks.' Dean grinned, then said, 'Oh,' as Cas stopped in front of the silver swan painting, 'you're going up to Ravenclaw tonight?'

Cas nodded. 'I just need some space,' he said apologetically.

'Yeah. Yeah, totally.'

'Will you come and watch me at Quidditch practice tomorrow?'

'Absolutely. See you tomorrow, Cas.'

'Goodnight, Dean.'

Dean waited until Cas had disappeared behind the painting and wandered back to Gryffindor Tower, whistling with a spring in his step.

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to Morgan Tara Befan and ConstantineHolmes for the reviews!

just so you guys know, I just got a promotion at work. I'll try and keep up my current pace, but I don't know what the workload will be like yet. I'll do as much as I can and hopefully I'll see you again soon!