The Eye of the Snake

Dean wasn't expecting to see Cas the next morning, after the stressful night they'd had, so he was surprised to find Cas waiting for him in the common room.

'Good morning, Dean,' Cas said quietly, lightly brushing his hand against Dean's. 'Will you go to breakfast with me?'

'Sure,' Dean grinned, feeling his cheeks burn.

On the way down to the Great Hall, Cas linked his little finger with Dean's until they reached the bottom of the stairs.

It had snowed even more overnight, and they watched Hermione carve a path through the drifts to Hagrid's cabin.

Dean sat close to Cas while he did his best to eat, and not saying anything when all Cas could manage was a few bites of a solitary piece of toast.

When he was finished, they both went to recover their notes that allowed them out of the castle, first going to Madam Pomfrey for Cas's, then Professor McGonagall for Dean's.

'What on earth happened to your first one?' she asked, as she wrote out a fresh one.

Dean glanced at Cas, and pushed as much of his anger away as he could.

'Professor Umbridge believed it to be a forgery,' he said stiffly. 'She gave us detention as well, do you think you could…?'

Professor McGonagall sighed. 'Educational Decree Number Twenty-five gives the High Inquisitor "supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts",' she said. 'I'm sorry, I can't help you with that.'

Dean nodded and took the new note from her, leading Cas from the room.

'How are you?' he asked.

Cas shrugged.'I've felt worse,' he said. 'Would you help me with a potion today?'

'Sure, which one?'

'The antidote to Fred and George's Fainting Fancies. I have a feeling we'll be needing it.'

'You wanna do a potion not even on the syllabus?' Dean grinned. 'Someone's feeling good today.'

'I have my reasons,' said Cas, gently holding Dean's hand.

It was too cold to make the potion outside, so they set up Cas's cauldron in an empty classroom.

Though his hands shook as he added ingredients, Dean watched Cas make the potion with pride. In such a short amount of time, Cas had already made great improvements. They spent much of the day relaxing once the potion was finished, only making an effort to go on Cas's patrol. Towards the end of the day, however, Cas became much more withdrawn, and let go of Dean's hand. Dean knew that he was already thinking of their detention the next day. This became more obvious to Dean when Cas refused dinner and walked silently to the hospital wing.

'I'll see you in Charms tomorrow,' Dean said, as he said goodnight to Cas.

Cas nodded, and kissed Dean's hand. 'See you tomorrow,' he murmured.

Castiel's worsening mood was even more evident on Monday morning, when he didn't appear for breakfast, though Dean was not surprised by this at all. They went about their day as usual, and Dean was pleased to feel Cas softly hold his hand under the desk during Charms.

'I'm worried they won't want me on the Ravenclaw team anymore, if I miss too many practice sessions this week,' Cas confessed to him at lunch.

'Dude,' Dean said incredulously, 'the way you flatten the other teams, they'd never want you to leave.'

'Do you really think so?'

'Definitely. Kicking you off the team would probably be the single dumbest thing they could possibly do, and seeing as you're all Ravenclaw, I'm pretty sure they'd go the smart route.'

Cas smiled. 'All right.'

'I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall after dinner?'

Cas's smile fell and he nodded.

'It's gonna be fine,' Dean reminded him. 'I'll be right there with you.'

Cas gave his hand one last squeeze before making his way to his next lesson.

Cas wasn't at dinner either, and he was already pale when Dean found him waiting outside.

'Come on,' he said gently. 'We don't wanna be late.' Then, to his surprise, he felt Cas's clammy hand wiggling into his. He didn't comment on it, and they walked in silence until they arrived at Umbridge's office.

Cas let go of Dean's hand and Dean knocked on the door.

'Good evening, boys,' said Umbridge as she opened the door.

'Good evening, Professor Umbridge,' they both mumbled, following her into the office.

Dean had already spent a number of evenings in her office, so sat down in his usual seat at one of the small tables.

Cas hesitated before sitting at the other one, staring at the Black Quill waiting for him.

'I would like you both to write "I must not go out of bounds",' Umbridge said, sitting down at her own desk.

Dean struggled at first. There was no point in putting on his glasses, they would just be confiscated before he could use them properly. He wrote the first line slowly, so he would have something good to follow, and listened out for Cas behind him. He only heard a tiny gasp as Cas wrote the first line, but he was silent after that.

A headache formed behind Dean's eyes as his focus was split between his parchment in front of him and Cas behind him, and everything was blurry by the time Umbridge finally allowed them to leave.

Dean rubbed his face, but put his nausea aside to check on Cas.

'Hey,' he mumbled. He reached out to grab Cas's arm, but Cas jerked away from him.

Cas shook his head vigorously. 'Sorry,' he mumbled, rubbing the back of his hand. He'd been biting his lip so hard he'd made it bleed.

'It's okay,' Dean said quietly. 'Do you wanna go outside?'

'No, no, I'm all right, I just need a moment.'

Cas wrung his hands out and took a few calming breaths, then finally looked at Dean. 'What's wrong?' he frowned.

'My eyes hurt,' Dean mumbled.

Cas looked furtively, then put a hand on Dean's arm.

Dean's headache disappeared immediately. 'Oh,' he said. 'Thanks, Cas.'

Cas just gave a nervous smile. 'Should we go to the common room?'

'Yours or mine?' Dean asked.

'Yours,' said Cas, starting towards Gryffindor Tower.

When they got upstairs, Sherlock, John and Hermione were the only ones still in the common room. Cas conjured them all a mug of hot chocolate as he and Dean sat in front of the fire.

John was ashen, lying limply on the sofa, staring into the crystal ball that he was barely able to hold up.

'What's going on?' Dean asked John.

'I keep seeing someone being attacked by Nagini, but I can't work out who it is,' John said.

'What do you see?'

'A rat,' said John. 'A pink one?'

'Why's it pink?'

'It's that woman!' John said furiously, looking away from the crystal ball and allowing Sherlock to gently take it from him. 'She's pure evil.'

Cas inhaled sharply, rubbing his arm.

'I don't know why she's making everything pink, but she is.'

'It's her colour,' Sherlock shrugged. 'You must stop allowing her to affect you, things would be a lot clearer if you did.'

'Oh, excellent advice, Sherlock. I would never have thought of that.'

Sherlock huffed. 'Suit yourself,' he said, getting up and walking towards the portrait hole.

'Where are you going?' John demanded.

'You clearly don't need me.'

'Sherlock, wait-' John got up and chased after him.

Dean uneasily watched them go, picking up the crystal ball that John had left behind. He looked down at it, not really expecting to see anything at all. If he closed one eye and tilted one head he thought he could see some sort of big cat, but it was gone before he could really look at it. 'I should put this with John's stuff,' he said to Cas.

Cas nodded, sipping his hot chocolate. He hadn't moved from his spot before the fire when Dean came back down. 'Sit next to me, Dean,' he murmured.

'Sure.'

Dean sat and left some space between them, but Cas shuffled over, curling up so he was leaning on Dean, holding his arm.

'You're sweet,' Dean said, cheeks warming, doing his best to ignore Hermione's smug expression.

'If you say so,' Cas mumbled, sipping his drink.

'Feeling better?'

'Much.'

Dean sat with him until he fell asleep, then carefully got up, laying a blanket over him. A wave of fury washed over Dean as he noticed Cas holding his own hand in his sleep, the one that had been cut open by Umbridge's Black Quill.

He went up to bed, thankful that he wouldn't have to see Umbridge's awful toad face until the next evening, or so he thought.

The next day's Care of Magical Creatures lesson found them being led into the Forest by Hagrid, who was carrying what looked like half a dead cow.

'We're workin' in here today!' he told them happily. 'Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark.'

'What prefers the dark?' Malfoy said, a trace of panic in his voice. 'What did he say prefers the dark - did you hear?'

Dean snorted.

'Ready?' Hagrid said cheerfully, looking around at the class. 'Right. Well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the Forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em.'

'And you're sure they're trained, are you?' said Malfoy, the panic in his voice even more pronounced. 'Only, it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?'

The Slytherins murmured agreement and a few Gryffindors looked as though they thought Malfoy had a fair point, too.

''Course they're trained,' Hagrid scowled.

'So what happened to your face, then?' demanded Malfoy.

'Mind yer own business,' Hagrid said angrily. 'Now, if yeh've finished asking stupid questions, everyone gather roun'.' He dropped the cow and stepped back. 'Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me.'

He turned, shook his shaggy head to get the hair out of his face and gave an odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees. Hagrid gave the shrieking cry again, then once more, and Dean finally saw what it was Hagrid was calling and grinned.

A pair of blank, white, shining eyes appeared through the gloom, followed by the skeletal body of a great, black, winged horse emerging from the darkness.

As Dean expected, most of the class were still wearing confused and nervous expressions. Harry, Neville, John and a Slytherin boy Dean didn't know were the only ones looking at the Thestral.

'Why doesn't Hagrid call again?' Ron whispered.

Dean watched everyone's reactions, amused.

'Oh, an' here come another one!' said Hagrid proudly, as a second Thestral appeared out of the dark trees, folding its leathery wings closer to its body as it dipped its head to eat some of the cow. 'Now… put yer hands up, who can see 'em?'

Dean put his hand up with the others, though John seemed uncertain.

'Excuse me,' said Malfoy in a sneering voice, 'but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?'

Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass. The whole class stared at it for a moment, then several people gasped. It must have been an odd sight: bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanishing into thin air.

'What's eating it?' Parvati said in a terrified voice.

'Thestrals,' Hagrid said proudly, and Hermione gave a soft 'Oh!'. 'Hogwarts has a whole herd of 'em. Now, who knows-'

'But they're really really unlucky!' interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. 'They're supposed to bring all sorts of misfortune on people who seem them. Professor Trelawney told me once-'

'Professor Trelawney?' Dean scoffed. 'Like she knows what she's talking about. What do you think, John?'

John started, surprised at someone talking to him. 'What?' he said, rubbing his eyes.

'Do they seem unlucky to you? Are they gonna bring us misfortune?'

John snorted. 'No,' he said. 'I would have noticed that by now.'

'They're dead clever an' useful,' Hagrid said, chuckling. ''Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look-'

Two more came quietly out of the trees.

'Don' worry, they won' hurt yeh,' Hagrid said patiently. 'Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?'

Dean and Hermione raised their hands.

'Go on, Dean,' Hagrid beamed.

'The only people that can see Thestrals are people who've seen death,' he said.

'Exactly right,' said Hagrid, 'ten points to Gryffindor. Now, Thestrals-'

'Hem, hem.'

Dean's stomach dropped and fury surged within him at the sound of Umbridge's voice.

She was standing a few feet away, wearing her green hat and cloak, her clipboard at the ready.

Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest Thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound.

'Hem, hem.'

'Oh, hello!' Hagrid smiled, having located the source of the noise.

'You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?' said Umbridge in a slow, loud voice. 'Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?'

'Oh, yeah,' Hagrid said brightly. 'Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' Thestrals today -'

'I'm sorry?' Umbridge said loudly. 'What did you say?'

Dean ground his teeth.

'Er - Thestrals!' Hagrid said. 'Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!' He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully.

Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard. 'Has… to… resort… to… crude… sign… language.'

'Well… anyway…' said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking flustered, 'erm… what was I sayin'?'

'Appears...to… have… poor… short… term… memory,' muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her.

'Oh yeah,' said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but ploughing on valiantly. 'Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one,' he patted the first horse to have appeared, 'name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favourite, firs' one born here in the Forest-'

'Are you aware,' Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, 'that the Ministry classified Thestrals as "dangerous"?'

Dean clenched his fists, but Hagrid merely chuckled.

'Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bit outta yeh if yeh really annoy them-'

'Shows… signs… of… pleasure… at… idea… of… violence.' muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again.

'No - come on!' said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. 'I mean, a dog'll bite yeh if yeh bait it, won' it - but Thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because 'o the death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?'

Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, 'Please continue teaching as usually. I am going to walk,' she mimed walking, 'among the students,' she pointed around at individual members of the class, 'and ask them questions.' She pointed at her wide mouth to indicate talking.

Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English. Dean was shaking with anger by now.

'Erm… anyway,' said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, 'so- Thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them…'

'Do you find,' said Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson, 'that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?'

Pansy's answer was almost incoherent through her giggles.

'No… because… well… it sounds… like grunting a lot of the time…'

Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard.

'Er… good stuff abou' Thestrals,' Hagrid said, trying to act as though he hadn't heard Pansy' answer. 'Well, once they're tamed like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' direction, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go-'

'Assuming they can understand you, of course,' said Malfoy loudly.

Umbridge gave him an indulgent smile, and Dean opened his mouth furiously, but John elbowed him hard before he could say anything.

'Don't,' John said. 'You'll really get in trouble if you get in the way of the High Inquisitor.'

Dean shook his head.

'You can see them, can you?' Dean asked John, in an attempt to distract himself.

'Sort of,' John grimaced. 'I've never actually seen death, well I've Seen it, but not in person. Does that make sense?'

'Sure.'

'I can tell that they're there, but it's sort of like they're behind this veil…' John shivered involuntarily.

'Sounds like something Sam would be interested to hear,' Dean said through gritted teeth.

'Well, Hagrid,' Umbridge said loudly, 'I think I've got enough to be getting along with. You will receive the results of your inspection in ten days' time.' She bustled from their midst, leaving the Slytherins in fits of laughter.

'That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!' stormed Hermione at lunch, stabbing at the food on her plate. 'You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again.'

Cas winced and pushed away his still full plate.

'She's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted troll just because he had a giantess for a mother,' Hermione continued, 'and it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson - I mean, all right, if it had been the Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!'

'Umbridge said they're dangerous,' said Ron.

'Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,' said Hermione impatiently, 'and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before NEWT level, but they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could.'

'Do you?' Harry said quietly.

Hermione suddenly looked horrorstruck, glancing at Harry, Dean and Castiel, who were all wearing similar grim expressions.

'Oh - I'm sorry - no, of course I don't - that was a really stupid thing to say.'

'It's okay, don't worry,' Harry said quickly.

'I'm surprised so many people could see them,' said Ron. 'Four in a class.'

'Just one in ours,' Sherlock told them, looking up at Cas.

Cas stared resolutely down at the table.

'Weasley, we were just wondering,' a malicious voice broke in. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had walked up behind them. 'D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaffle better?'

Before anyone could move, Malfoy suddenly went flying across the room, and the Great Hall fell silent, looking around to see who had cast the spell, but no one had their wands drawn.

Dean knew exactly what had happened and he could feel the static from Cas's Shield Charm pushing him away. He waited until conversation resumed and Malfoy stomped away, seemingly no worse for wear.

'Hey, Cas, can you come help me with something?' Dean said loudly, getting up.

Cas nodded and followed Dean out of the castle and into the grounds, where Dean waited for his panic to ease up.

'It's all right,' Dean said. 'You didn't hurt him.'

'I just - lost control - I - I was angry.'

'It's okay to be angry,' said Dean, watching Cas pace in little circles through the snow. 'If you hadn't done it, I would have, the little worm.'

'It's not funny, Dean,' Cas snapped.

'I didn't say it was,' Dean said soothingly. 'Look, Cas, this stuff happens, even with wizard's magic. Harry told me about that time he inflated his aunt, you remember that? That was way worse than this, and he did that without angel magic.'

Cas rolled his eyes, but stopped pacing. 'It's not angel magic.'

'Whatever you wanna call it,' Dean smiled, noticing the slight shimmer of Cas's Shield Charm drop. 'Come on, let's go back inside. It's cold, and lunch is nearly over.'

Cas and Dean finished their week of detention, and December arrived, bringing with it more snow and an avalanche of homework for the fifth-years.

As the evenings darkened, and the air became icy-cold, Dean noticed a sudden change in Castiel. His behaviour became erratic, one moment almost falling asleep during class, then next throwing a Quaffle furiously on the ground when he thought he messed up during Quidditch practice. He always insisted he was fine when Dean asked, but the bags under his eyes and the permanent frown between his eyebrows said otherwise.

'Cas, you gotta tell me what's going on,' Dean said one afternoon, when Cas had skipped his prefect duties.

'Nothing is going on,' Cas grumbled. 'I'm just tired.'

'Is it 'cause we had to stop DA meetings?' Dean asked. Most of the members were going home for Christmas, so there wouldn't be any meetings over the holidays.

Cas shook his head. 'I'm going home, so I wouldn't have been able to attend anyway.'

'So what's wrong? I know what tired looks like, and this is more than that.'

'There's nothing wrong,' Cas insisted.

'But you're crying,' Dean said, alarmed.

Cas wiped his face furiously. 'I don't know why,' he sniffed. 'I don't.'

'Okay, okay,' Dean said. 'I'm just worried about you, that's all.'

'I know. I appreciate it.'

'You can talk to me, you know.'

Cas just gave him a sad smile and squeezed his hand.

Dean was distracted until the last DA meeting before Christmas. He and Harry went to the Room of Requirement early, and were very glad they did. Dobby had taken it upon himself to decorate the room for the holidays and had strung up hundreds of golden baubles from the ceiling, each one showing a picture of Harry's face and bearing the words: HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!

Dean was laughing too hard to help Harry take them down, and he only just managed it before the door creaked open and people began to arrive.

Luna came first. 'These are nice,' she said, looking around at what remained of the decorations, 'did you put them up?'

'No,' said Harry, 'it was Dobby the house-elf.'

'Mistletoe,' said Luna dreamily, pointing at a large clump of white berries placed almost over Harry's head. He jumped out from under it. 'Good thinking,' Luna said very seriously. 'It's often infested with Nargles.'

They were saved the necessity of asking what Nargles were by the arrival of Angelina, Katie and Alicia. All three of them were breathless and looked very cold.

'Well,' Angelina said to Harry, pulling off her cloak and throwing it into a corner, 'we've finally replaced you.'

'Replaced me?' Harry said blankly.

'You and Fred and George,' she said impatiently. 'We've got another Seeker.'

'Who?'

'Ginny Weasley,' said Katie.

Harry gaped at her.

'Yeah, I know,' said Angelina, 'but she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course,' she said, throwing Harry a dirty look, 'but as we can't have you…'

'And what about the Beaters?' Harry asked.

'Andrew Kirke and John Watson,' said Alicia.

'Oh, John made the team?' said Dean. 'I didn't know he was going for it.'

'He's better than we expected,' Angelina shrugged, just as John arrived.

He realised what they were talking about and came over, grinning.

'You think you've got what it takes?' Dean teased.

'Yeah, I think I've got a solid chance at stopping Cas,' John said.

'Stop me from what?' Cas, who had also just arrived, asked.

'I'm one of the new Gryffindor Beaters,' John said.

'Oh,' said Cas, considering John carefully. 'I'd like to see you try.'

'That's the spirit,' Dean laughed.

'All right, everybody, settle down,' he called out, and the chatter died down as everyone turned to face him and Harry.

'I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far. It's the last meeting before the holidays, so there's no point starting anything new before a three-week break,' said Harry.

'We're not doing anything new?' said Zacharias Smith. 'If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come.'

'We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then,' Fred said loudly.

Several people sniggered.

'We can practice in pairs,' Dean continued. 'We'll start with the Impediment Jinx for ten minutes, then we'll get the cushions out and do Stunning again.'

They all divided up obediently; Harry partnered with Neville, and Dean with Cas, as usual.

Dean stood still while Cas practised on him. Cas didn't look like he'd be up for much, so Dean let him slide by doing the minimum amount of work, until Dean and Harry started walking around and observing.

Cas didn't participate in the Stunning practice, and sat on one of the cushions, staring into space while the rest of the group practiced on each other.

Dean walked around the room, watching Cas out of the corner of his eye, until he came to Sam practising with the Creevey brothers.

'What's up with Cas?' he asked Dean while he waited for Dennis to recover from being Stunned.

'He's just having a tough time,' Dean said, reassuring himself more than Sam. 'Nice job on that Stunner, by the way.'

'Thanks. Will he be okay?'

'I'm sure he will. Did John tell you about how he sees Thestrals?'

Sam's face lit up. 'He sure did. You know, I think he's seeing the actual veil of Death, isn't that so cool?'

'Yeah, awesome,' Dean said distractedly. 'All right, everybody switch,' he called out. He moved away from Sam just in time to see Dennis miss Sam completely and hit Parvati Patil instead.

At the end of the hour, Harry called a halt.

'You're getting really good,' Harry said, beaming around at them. 'When we get back from the holidays, we can start doing some of the big stuff - maybe even Patronuses.'

There was a murmur of excitement and the room began to clear in the usual twos and threes, wishing Dean and Harry a 'Merry Christmas' as they went.

Dean noticed Harry hanging around, then saw Cho Chang also lingering at the bookcases. 'I'll catch you later,' Dean smirked, leaving Harry and walking out with Cas.

Nerves gathered in Dean's chest as Cas walked silently beside him. Even the tiny efforts Cas made at affection had stopped, and it had been days since Dean had felt Cas's hand in his.

Cas slowed to a stop, sensing Dean's worry.

'I'm just so tired, Dean,' he mumbled, leaning heavily against the wall.

'Can I help?'

Cas shook his head, but wrapped his arms around Dean's neck, resting his head on Dean's shoulder. 'I don't know what to do.'

'About what?' Dean asked, holding Cas and rubbing his back, ignoring the sharpness of Cas's spine.

'Anything. Gabriel. Lucy… I miss them so much.'

Dean bit back his rebuke about Lucy. Now wasn't the time.

'I got a letter from your father,' Cas admitted, pulling away from Dean, his eyes swimming again.

'My dad?' Dean asked in surprise.

'He was demanding to know where Lucy is, but I don't know, Dean,' Cas said. 'I promise I don't.'

'Hey, I know you don't,' Dean said. 'I'm so sorry, I'll make him stop bugging you.'

'He won't be angry?' Cas asked anxiously.

'No, of course not,' Dean said softly. 'He can't be mad at you for not knowing where she is if he doesn't know either.'

Cas nodded and took a deep, shuddering breath. 'All right.'

'Let's just rest for today, okay?' Dean said. 'We'll go upstairs and just hang out.'

'But your Transfiguration essay-'

'It's not due for a few days, don't worry.'

They went up to the Gryffindor common room where Ron and Hermione had books and parchment spread out over the tables, and Hermione appeared to be writing a letter. There was no sign of John or Sherlock, but judging by the way Sherlock was looking at John during the meeting, Dean was sure they were spending some alone time together.

Dean made Cas sit down quietly on the sofa near Hermione, then sat on the floor in front of it, and deflected conversation away from him.

Half an hour later, Harry finally appeared in the common room with an odd expression. He sank into the chair next to Hermione's.

'Are you all right, Harry?' Hermione asked, peering at him over the top of her quill.

Harry gave a half-hearted shrug.

'What's up?' Ron said, shifting so that he had a clearer view of Harry. 'What's happened?'

Dean pressed his lips together, knowing exactly what had happened and being deeply amused by it.

'Is it Cho?' Hermione asked in a businesslike way. 'Did she corner you after the meeting?'

'She sure did,' Dean sniggered.

'So - er - what did she want?' Ron asked in a mock casual voice, also catching on to what must have happened.

'She - She - er -'

'Did you kiss?' Hermione asked briskly.

Ron sat up so fast he sent his ink bottle flying, and Cas shifted behind Dean, the conversation catching his interest.

'Well?' Ron demanded.

Harry hesitated, then nodded.

'HA!'

Dean laughed and gave Harry a high-five.

'How was it?' Ron asked.

'Wet,' Harry said eventually.

'Excuse me?' Dean said, his eyebrows shooting up.

'Because she was crying,' Harry added.

'Oh,' said Ron, his smile fading slightly. 'Are you that bad at kissing?'

'Dunno,' said Harry. 'Maybe I am.'

'Of course you're not,' Hermione said over Dean's chortling.

'How do you know?' Ron said sharply.

'Because Cho spends half her time crying these days,' said Hermione, still scribbling on her parchment. 'She does it at mealtimes, in the loos, all over the place.'

'You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up,' said Ron grinning.

'Ron,' said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her inkpot, 'you are the most insensitive wart that I have ever had the misfortune to meet.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' said Ron indignantly. 'What sort of person cries while someone's kissing them?'

'Yeah, who does?' Harry asked, slightly desperately.

Hermione sighed and laid down her quill.

'Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dying. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she liked Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Cedric's memory to be kissing Harry at all, and she'll be worrying what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry. And she probably can't work out what her feelings towards Harry are, anyway, because he was the one who was with Cedric when he died, so that's all very mixed up and painful. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she's been flying so badly.'

'She's not the only one,' Cas mumbled.

'Hey, we've been over this,' Dean said gently. 'You're still the best Chaser in school.'

'One person couldn't feel that all at once, they'd explode,' said Ron.

'Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have,' Hermione said nastily, picking up her quill again.

'She was the one who started it,' said Harry. 'I wouldn't've - she just sort of came at me - and next thing she's crying all over me - I didn't know what to do -'

'Don't blame you, mate,' said Ron, looking alarmed at the very thought.

'You just had to be nice to her,' said Hermione, looking up. 'You were nice to her, weren't you?'

'Well, I sort of - patted her on the back a bit.'

Dean burst out laughing, until Hermione scowled at him. 'Sorry,' he said, clearing his throat.

'Well, I suppose it could have been worse,' Hermione said. 'Are you going to see her again?'

'I'll have to, won't I?' said Harry. 'We've got DA meetings, haven't we?'

'You know what I mean,' Hermione said impatiently.

Harry looked as though he hadn't, in fact, considered asking Cho out properly, shocked as he was by her advances.

'Oh well,' said Hermione, buried in her letter once more, 'you'll have plenty of opportunities to ask her.'

'What if he doesn't want to ask her?' said Ron.

'Don't be silly, Harry's liked her for ages, haven't you, Harry?'

Harry didn't say anything and looked deeply uncomfortable with the conversation.

'Who're you writing the novel to, anyway?' Ron asked Hermione, trying to read her parchment over her shoulder.

Hermione pulled it out of sight. 'Viktor,' she said.

'Krum?'

'How many other Viktors do we know?'

Ron said nothing, but looked disgruntled.

Dean stretched widely. 'Well, as fun as that was,' he said, getting up and walking around behind the sofa. 'Where are you sleeping tonight?' he asked Cas, leaning on the back of the sofa.

'Ravenclaw Tower,' Cas said, stretching out his long legs.

'Cool, I'll walk you.'

Cas was quiet on the way back to his dormitory, but Dean was relieved when Cas's little finger hooked around his.

'What are you thinking about?' Dean asked him as they approached the door with the bronze knocker.

'I was - I was thinking about what it would be like to kiss you,' Cas said, his face flushing pink.

Dean grinned. 'You can try it anytime you want, you know. I'm ready when you are.'

Cas smiled. 'I know,' he said, but that night clearly wasn't the night, as Cas let go of Dean's finger and stepped towards the door. 'Goodnight, Dean.'

''Night.'

Dean walked back to Gryffindor Tower with a renewed spring in his step and got himself ready for bed, but the nightmares hit him almost as soon as he was asleep.

They were the same ones he always had, though more vivid than normal. He dreamt of the fire, of Azazel's yellow eyes, of his mother burning, then it blurred into the night that they were attacked by another Demon. Black eyes and menacing. He had no wand, no weapon but his fists. Launching himself at it was all he could do, clawing and biting at any exposed skin he could find, and he woke with a start with the sound of Sam's screams echoing in his ears.

He lay there, breathing heavily, heart racing, staring up at the dark canopy. Logically, he knew that Sam was completely fine, but he couldn't seem to shake off the nightmare, so he pulled a mirror out from under his pillow and crept out of the dormitory, so he wouldn't wake anyone else. Harry seemed to be having his own nightmare, and John's bed was empty.

The fire was nothing more than embers now, and Dean curled up on the couch with the mirror.

'Sam,' he whispered. 'Sam, are you there?'

He waited for a moment, then Sam's face appeared in the mirror. His hair was sticking up on one side and he glared at Dean.

'I'm here,' he mumbled sleepily. 'What do you want?'

'Nothing,' said Dean. 'I just wanted to see if you're okay.'

Sam's expression softened. 'Yeah, I'm fine. You have a bad dream again?'

'Something like that,' Dean sighed. 'All right, go back to sleep, Sammy. Sorry I woke you.'

'Bye.'

Sam's face disappeared and was replaced by Dean's concerned reflection.

He put the mirror down and scrubbed his face. At least his heart had stopped fluttering. He was just about to go back to bed when he heard yelling upstairs, and Neville raced across the common room.

'What's going on?' Dean asked.

'Harry's ill,' Neville called over his shoulder. 'I'm going to get Professor McGonagall.'

Dean, in his heightened state of anxiety, leapt to his feet and ran up the stairs.

Harry was shaking and sweating in his bed.

'What happened?'

'Harry had a nightmare,' Ron said uncertainly.

'It wasn't a nightmare!' Harry insisted.

Then there were hurried footsteps and Neville returned with Professor McGonagall.

'What is it, Potter? Where does it hurt?' Professor McGonagall asked, hurrying across the dormitory in her tartan dressing gown.

'It's Ron's dad,' Harry said. 'He's been attacked by a snake and it's serious, I saw it happen.'

'What do you mean, you sae it happen?'

'I don't know… I was asleep and then I was there…'

'You mean, you dreamed this?'

'No!' Harry said angrily. 'I was having a dream at first about something completely different, something stupid… and then this interrupted it. It was real. Mr Weasley was asleep on the floor and he was attacked by a gigantic snake.'

'It was Nagini,' Dean said suddenly, and everyone turned to face him. 'John said something a while ago. He said he kept seeing Nagini attack someone, but he couldn't tell who it was.' He glanced at John's still empty bed.

'I'm not lying and I'm not mad!' Harry shouted. 'I saw it happen!'

'I believe you, Potter,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Put on your dressing gown, we're going to see the Headmaster.'

Harry didn't hesitate, jumping out of bed and throwing on his dressing gown.

'Weasley, you ought to come too,' said Professor McGonagall, and the three of them left the dormitory in ringing silence.

Dean wrinkled his nose at a sour smell that permeated the room. He found where Harry had vomited after his nightmare, and swiftly cleared it up.

Seamus and Dean Thomas retreated to their beds, where they whispered to each other, and Neville scooped Trevor and Dolly out of Dolly's tank to sit on his bed with them in his lap.

'Do you think Ron's dad really did get attacked?' Neville asked in a small voice.

'I suppose we'll find out soon enough,' Dean said.

He went back to his own bed and drew the curtains, but he knew the dread that weighed him down would not allow him to sleep.

Welcome back everyone! Sorry for the long wait, it's been super busy at work, and as I've said before, this story has notes and timelines and things that I really need to focus on, so it's harder to jump between it and work. If you're still here, thanks for sticking around and I'll see you again soon!