OWLs

The next day was warm and sunny, so they took the opportunity to spend some time out in the grounds. Ron was only concerned with going over the match as much as possible, and described all of his saves in great detail.

Cas listened to him patiently, but after the fourth time Ron laughed about his sudden loss of skill, Cas tactfully pulled a pack of flashcards out of his bag to practice with Dean.

John lay with his head in Sherlock's lap, Sherlock playing absent-mindedly with his hair. He was enjoying watching coloured threads swirl through the sky. He couldn't see who they were connected to or where they were going, but they didn't disturb him, the threads quite content to pass him by.

'They're pretty sometimes, you know,' he muttered.

'What is?' said Hermione, and John jumped. He hadn't realised he'd spoken out loud.

'Nothing,' he said hastily. 'Why don't you tell us where you went off to yesterday?' he added at Hermione's sceptical look.

'What do you mean?' said Ron, crestfallen. 'You didn't see any of my saves?'

'Well - no,' said Hermione. 'But, Ron, we didn't want to leave - we had to!'

'Yeah, how come?' said Ron.

'It was Hagrid,' said Harry. 'He decided to tell us why he's been covered in injuries ever since he got back from the giants. He wanted us to go into the Forest with him, we had no choice, you know how he gets. Anyway…'

Harry launched into his explanation. It only took about five minutes, but by the end of it, Ron was staring at him, open-mouthed, and Cas had dropped all of his flashcards on the floor, after hearing the word 'giant' and being drawn back into the conversation.

'He brought one back and hid it in the Forest?' Ron said.

'Yep.'

'No,' said Ron, as though saying this he could make it untrue. 'No, he can't have.'

'Well, he has,' said Hermione firmly. 'Grawp is sixteen feet tall, enjoys ripping up trees, and knows me as Hermy.'

Ron gave a nervous laugh.

'And Hagrid wants us to…?'

'Teach him English, yeah,' said Harry.

'He's lost his mind,' said Ron in an almost awed voice.

'Yes,' said Hermione irritably, turning the page of her book. 'Yes, I'm starting to think he has. But, unfortunately, he made us promise.'

'Well, you're going to have to break your promise,' Ron said firmly. 'I mean, come on, we've got exams and we're about that far -' he held up his hand to show thumb and forefinger almost touching '- from being chucked out as it is-'

'Not to mention we'd have to get past the centaurs again,' John pointed out with a shiver.

'Exactly. And anyway, remember Norbert? Remember Aragog? Have we ever come off better for mixing with any of Hagrid's monster mates?'

'I know, it's just that - we promised,' said Hermione in a small voice.

'Wait, wait, hold on, you didn't get us sucked into this, did you?' Dean asked.

'Well…'

'Hermione!'

'Wait, I want to meet him,' Cas said, gathering up his flashcards.

'What?'

Cas shrugged. 'The giants are the reason my ancestors died out. It could be interesting to meet him. He might even be descended directly from the same clan.'

'You need to reconsider the things you find interesting,' Sherlock said with a raised eyebrow.

Ron sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'Well, Hagrid hasn't been sacked yet, has he? He's hung on this long, maybe he'll hang on 'til the end of term and we won't have to go near Grawp at all.'

As June arrived in a shimmer of blazing sunlight, John grew uneasy. He dreamed about the Department of Mysteries almost every night, and he knew that Harry was too, despite his Occlumency practice with Cas. Yet neither John nor Sherlock could work out exactly what he was looking at. All he knew was that there was a room filled with shelves upon shelves of orbs, and Voldemort wanted one or maybe more.

'He's going to make his move soon, I can feel it,' John told Sherlock, during another night sat up in front of the fire. 'What can we do?'

'I don't know if there is anything we can do,' Sherlock said. 'Especially not with Dumbledore gone.'

'Oh, what about Professor McGonagall? Maybe she could get him a message.'

Sherlock shook his head. 'She doesn't know where he is. He didn't tell her, so she could stay at Hogwarts without Umbridge interrogating her. I heard her telling Flitwick in the staff room the other day.'

'What were you doing in the staff room?'

Sherlock kissed John's nose. 'Causing trouble, of course.'

John snorted. 'Do you really think kissing me will distract me from asking questions?'

'Yes,' Sherlock smirked, 'and I'm right.'

'Or maybe that's what I want you to think, so you'll kiss me.'

Sherlock laughed. 'You don't have to trick me into it, not that you could.'

John grinned, reaching out to run his hand through Sherlock's thick curls. 'I love you,' he whispered.

Sherlock smiled and adjusted himself so John could lie down, resting against Sherlock. 'Sleep,' he murmured.

John sighed, content, and his eyelids began to droop. He dreamed about the orbs again, but suddenly his dream shifted. He saw flashed and heard screaming, but he couldn't pull himself out of it - he was trapped. He found himself in a room that was empty but for an ancient stone archway, hung with a single tattered black curtain that fluttered without even a hint of wind. John's blood turned to ice, and he could see blurs whipping around the room but not what was making them. His chest constricted. He couldn't breathe, and he couldn't stop himself from going closer to the archway. Something was calling to him from behind the curtain. It felt familiar. Before he could get to it, however, he was distracted by the sudden appearance of Sirius before him. There was no time to react. Sirius was hit with a jet of green light and disappeared.

JOHN!

John's eyes snapped open and gulped in air, feeling as though he'd been submerged in icy water. He clutched at Sherlock's robes, struggling to draw breath.

'It's all right,' said Sherlock, though he had turned quite pale. 'It's all right, you're back. Try to breathe.'

John nodded and tried to slow himself down.

'What did you see?' Sherlock asked, holding his hand.

'I - I - it was - Sirius,' John gasped. 'He - he - ' Tears pricked at his eyes. 'I saw him die.' He put a hand over his mouth, trembling. 'Wh - what do we do?' he said, his voice rising in pitch.

'Try to calm down and tell me about it,' Sherlock said slowly. 'Where was he?'

'Um…' John closed his eyes again, picturing their surroundings. 'It was a room I've never seen. It just had a really old archway in it.'

'What did the archway look like?' Sherlock prompted.

'It - it looked like it could fall down at any moment. One of those crumbly stone types. And it had… it had a - a curtain on it.' He saw it again, and struggled to resist its pull. 'There's something about it…'

'Stop,' Sherlock said sharply. 'Don't go near it. Not even in your visions.'

'Why?' John said, his words slurring slightly. 'I think there's something behind it…'

Sherlock grabbed John's shoulders, shaking him. 'Don't! I don't know what it is, but I can feel it through you. It's dangerous.'

John snapped out of it and his chin wobbled. 'What do we do?' he repeated. 'I don't know where that is, Sherlock, we have to save him.'

'And we will,' Sherlock said, making John look him in the eyes. 'We'll go to Professor McGonagall first thing in the morning. She might not know where Dumbledore is, but she knows where Sirius is. I'm sure she'll find a way to get a message to him.'

'But - but what if he's in trouble now?'

'Is he?' Sherlock asked John. 'Can you see him?'

'Erm… I need Harry…'

'Then let's get Harry. Come on.' Sherlock took John by the hand back upstairs, and sat him on a stool beside Harry's bed.

Without waking him, John put a hand on Harry's shoulder and searched for his connection to Sirius. He was dreaming about the Department of Mysteries again, and was so absorbed in it that he didn't register John's touch at all. John brushed past the dream and found a thread between Harry and Sirius, and followed it as far as he could, but it got twisted up and scattered as soon as he got near Grimmauld Place.

'I can't see him,' John muttered, squinting, then let go of Harry. 'Let me try the crystal ball.' He sat on his bed with it, but all it did was yank him back to face the archway until Sherlock ripped the ball out of his hands. 'Nothing,' he muttered, rubbing his head. 'Let's try one more thing.' He grabbed Sherlock's hand and hurried downstairs. He pushed on the front door, but for the first time in years it was locked.

'Damn,' he hissed, resting his head against the door. 'I wanted to see if being in the Forest would help,' he explained.

Sherlock thought about it. 'We still could, come on.' He led John away, to Firenze's Divination classroom. He went to open the door, but John grabbed his hand.

'Firenze lives in there, remember,' he said. 'We should at least knock.'

Sherlock rolled his eyes, and very deliberately knocked on the door.

It opened and Firenze waved them inside.

'Sorry to bother you so late,' John said, breathing in the smell of the classroom.

'You have not disturbed me,' said Firenze. 'Centaurs don't need much sleep, and we need to stay awake to observe the celestial movements.'

'Er - right. Can I sit in here for a bit?'

'Of course,' said Firenze.

John nodded and walked over to the clearing in the middle of the room. There was still a small fire flickering, but John focused his attention on the sky.

'That's the benefit to being named after stars,' John muttered, looking up at Sirius, shining merrily. It was more abstract than looking at Sirius directly, but John was certain his patron star would let him know if anything was amiss. 'I think he's… fine,' John said, relieved. His attention was then caught by Mars directly overhead. 'This war,' he said to Firenze. 'I think it might be coming sooner than you think.'

'Yes, I think you might be right,' Firenze murmured.

John sighed deeply. 'He's all right,' he muttered again, but now he'd been able to check, he was too tired to return to the dormitory. Instead, he curled up right on the floor of Firenze's classroom, asleep even before Sherlock Conjured a blanket for him.
John woke up disoriented the next morning, but headed straight for Professor McGonagall's office.

She was sitting at her desk with a stack of parchment and a steaming cup of tea. She frowned when she looked up at John.

'What's the matter, Watson?' she asked, indicating for him to sit down.

'I - er - I need to get a message to - to Padfoot,' he said in a strained voice.

Professor McGonagall glanced at the door behind him. 'This had better be important,' she said sternly.

'It is,' said John. 'I saw - something bad happen to him and…' he took a deep breath. 'This is going to sound weird, but please just trust me. Please tell him to stay away from the archway with a black cloth on it.'

Professor McGonagall looked confused, but nodded. 'Leave it with me, Watson, don't worry.'

John sighed, relieved. 'Thank you, Professor,' he said, getting up from the desk. 'Thank you so much.' Once out of the room, he hugged Sherlock tightly. 'It's good to use it for something good for once,' he said happily, grabbing Sherlock's hand and walking with him to the Great Hall, spirits high.

Exam time arrived in a wave of heat and bright sunlight, but they had no time to bask in it. Professor McGonagall handed out the Gryffindors' exam timetables during a Transfiguration lesson.

'As you can see,' Professor McGonagall told them. 'Your OWLs are spread over two successive weeks. You will sit the theory papers in the mornings and the practical in the afternoons. Your practical Astronomy exam will, of course, take place at night.

'Now, I must warn you that the most stringent ani-cheating charms have been applied to your papers. Auto-Answer Quills are banned from the examination hall, as are Rememberalls, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs and Self-Correcting Ink. Every year, I am afraid to say, seems to harbour at least one student who thinks they can get around the Wizarding Examination Authority's rules. I can only hope that it is nobody in Gryffindor. Our new - Headmistress - has asked the Heads of House to tell their students that cheating will be punished most severely - because, of course, your examination results will reflect upon the Headmistress's new regime at the school… However, that is no reason not to do your very best. You have your own futures to think about.'

'Please, Professor,' said Hermione, her hand in the air, 'when will we find out our results?'

'An owl will be sent to you some time in July.'

John stayed behind after the lesson and approached Professor McGonagall. 'Will I be able to do what I did last year with Colin?' he asked anxiously, determined not to accidentally cheat.

'Yes, of course,' said Professor McGonagall. 'I'll make the arrangements.'

Dinner was a subdued event the night before their first exam. Dean was reading his Charms notes at the table with his hands over his ears, blocking out as much as he could except for his notes and the food he was eating. For the first time, he didn't bother trying to coax Cas to eat, knowing full well that it wouldn't work. He didn't notice anything going on around him, until Hermione knocked her goblet of pumpkin juice all over his notes.

'Hey!' he exclaimed, snatching up his parchment, but Hermione paid him no attention.

'Oh, my goodness, is that them? Is that the examiners?' she said faintly, staring into the Entrance Hall.

They followed her gaze and saw Umbridge standing in the Entrance Hall, with a small group of ancient-looking witches and wizards, looking rather nervous.

'Shall we go and have a closer look?' saud Ron.

Trying not to draw too much attention to themselves, they all got up from the table, collecting their notes together and walking casually through the Great Hall.

Professor Marchbanks, a tiny, stooped witch, seemed to be a little deaf; she was speaking to Umbridge very loudly considering they were only a foot apart.

'Journey was fine, we've made it plenty of times before!' she said impatiently. 'Now, I haven't heard from Dumbledore lately!' she added, peering around the Hall. 'No idea where he is, I suppose.'

'None at all,' said Umbridge, shooting a malevolent look at Harry and Dean, as their group dawdled around the foot of the stairs, pretending to wait for Ron to tie his shoe. 'But I daresay the Ministry will track him down soon enough.'

'I doubt it,' shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, 'not if Dumbledore doesn't want to be found! I should know… examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs… did things with a wand I'd never seen before.

'Yes… well…' said Umbridge, 'let me show you to the staff room. I daresay you'd like a cup of tea after your journey.'

It was an uncomfortable evening, and breakfast the next morning was worse. No one slept much, and everyone tried to cram in as much revision as they possibly could, until it was at last time for their first exam.

The fifth-years had their written exam for Charms first, and they milled around in the Entrance Hall while the other students went off to lessons. At half past nine, everyone but John was called forward to re-enter the Great Hall.

John waited behind to get his instructions from Professor McGonagall and wait for Colin, but just as he arrived, Umbridge came around the corner to check on the Great Hall.

'What are you doing out here, Mr Watson?' she asked, scowling at him.

Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes. 'Watson has a special arrangement to take his exams, Headmistress.'

'Oh, no, no, no, I don't think so. Every student must test under the same conditions. No exceptions.'

'But-' John began.

'You heard the Headmistress, Watson,' Professor McGonagall interrupted, with a twinkle in her eye. 'In you go.'

John blinked and held back a smile. 'Right you are, Professor.'

'All right, Mr Creevey, apologies for the misunderstanding, you can return to your class now.'

'Okay, bye. Good luck, John!'

John hurried into the Great Hall. The house tables had been removed and replaced with many single person desks, taking a seat at the only empty desk towards the back of the room.

Professor McGonagall strode to the front of the Great Hall and waited until everyone was seated and quiet. 'You may begin,' she said, turning over an enormous hourglass on the desk beside her.

John turned over his paper and read through the first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly.

As soon as John touched his quill to the parchment, his vision blurred until he saw the answer written in his own handwriting in his head. He smirked to himself and began scribbling it on the paper before him.

'Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?' asked Hermione, still anxiously gripping the exam paper two hours later as they exited the Great Hall. 'I'm not sure I did myself justice on Cheering Charms, I just ran out of time. Did you put the counter-charm for hiccoughs? I wasn't sure whether I ought to, it felt like too much - and on question twenty-three - '

'Hermione,' Ron said sternly, 'we've been through this before… we're not going through every exam afterwards, it's bad enough doing them once.'

The fifth-years ate lunch with the rest of the school, then trooped off into the chamber beside the Great Hall, where they waited to be called for their practical exam in small groups.

Cas's group went first, but he seemed confident; Charms being one of his better subjects. Hermione and Sherlock went soon after. Students who had already been tested did not return, so they had no idea how any of them did.

Harry's group was next, then finally John, Ron and Dean were among the last to be called.

Professor Flitwick directed them to their examiners.

Dean ended up with Professor Tofty, who looked as though he might be the oldest of them.

'Winchester, is it?' he said in a quavery voice, consulting his notes. 'Winchester, as in-?'

'John Winchester, that's right,' Dean said with a forced smile, the pride in his chest he used to feel at the mention of his father having long worn off.

'All right, then, let's get started. If I could just ask you to take this egg cup and make it do some cartwheels for me…'

Overall, Dean felt the exam had gone very well, only slipping up slightly on his Levitation Charm when Ron distracted him by accidentally mutating a dinner plate into a large mushroom.

There was no time to relax that night, instead going straight to the common room to submerge themselves in revision for Transfiguration the next day.

Dean had developed a headache by the end of the written exam, despite his glasses. Transfiguration was always wordy at the best of times, but Cas healed him at lunch, smiling fondly at him.

Wednesday was Herbology, but Thursday they had Defence Against the Dark Arts. Dean was most nervous about it, until Cas eagerly shook him awake before breakfast.

'Hey,' he mumbled, briefly dazzled by the morning light. 'What are you doing?'

'I had an idea,' Cas said excitedly, holding out his hands.

Dean looked down, confused at Cas's seemingly empty hands. 'What am I looking at?'

Cas smiled widely, then pushed something onto Dean's face.

'What-?' Then Cas held up the newspaper, which Dean read easily. Dean's mouth dropped open, and he felt his face for the frames.

'Disillusionment Charm,' Cas said brightly. 'Now she can't see if you're wearing them.'

Dean grinned. 'Cas, you're a damn genius,' he said, and kissed Cas on the cheek.

Cas blushed self-consciously, and they went down to breakfast together.

Dean breezed through the written exam, and relished the practical, watching Umbridge staring at him with barely contained disgust.

'Excellent, well done!' cried Professor Tofty, who was examining Dean again, as he performed the Boggart banishing spell. 'Very good, indeed. Now, that's everything, but there is a chance for a bonus point… Do you think you could give the Patronus Charm a go?'

Dean nodded eagerly, and fixed in his mind a memory of himself and Sam setting off fireworks. 'Expecto Patronum!' he said, sending his alsation bounding around the room. He also saw Ron and John do the same with their own Patronuses.

When they disappeared into silver mist, Professor Tofty and the other examiners clapped enthusiastically.

'Very well, Winchester, you may go,' Professor Tofty smiled.

On Friday, Hermione and Cas had their Ancient Runes exam, but everyone else had the day off. With the weekend ahead for revision, they decided to take a break, and lounged in the common room with the window open to let in the warm summer breeze.

'How were the Runes?' said Ron, yawning and stretching as Cas and Hermione climbed through the portrait hole.

'I mis-translated ehwaz,' Hermione said furiously. 'It means partnership, not defence; I mixed it up with eihwaz.'

'Ah well,' said Ron lazily, 'that's only one mistake, isn't it, you'll still get -'

'Oh, shut up!' Hermione said angrily. 'It could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another Niffler in Umbridge's office. I don't know how they got it through her new door, but I just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off - by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg - '

'Good,' said Harry and Ron.

'It is not good! She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!'

'He's teaching at the moment; she can't blame him,' said Harry, gesturing out the window towards where Hagrid was teaching out in the grounds.

'Oh, you're so naive sometimes, Harry. You really think Umbridge will wait for proof?' said Hermione, before sweeping off to the girls' dormitories, banging the door behind her.

'Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl,' Ron said, very quietly so she wouldn't hear him.

Cas sat down next to Dean, and Dean recognised the guilty expression on his face.

'What?' Dean said softly, holding his hand.

Cas sighed. 'I helped Lee let the first one in,' he mumbled.

'It's okay, let's be real, she would have found an excuse without your help.'

Cas shrugged, unconvinced, but squeezed Dean's hand.

They didn't have time to dwell on it, however. They had their Potions exam on Monday, and Dean spent equal parts of his weekend studying and keeping Cas calm enough to sit his own exam.

It was easier than they had expected, both the paper and the practical, without Snape breathing down their necks.

'Only four exams left,' said Parvati as they headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

'Only!' Hermione snapped. 'I've got Arithmancy, and it's probably the toughest subject there is!'

Nobody was foolish enough to snap back, however.

Though they were all determined to perform well in Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures exam, Cas was caught off guard by the Fire Crab they were meant to be cleaning out and feeding, and couldn't quite convince himself to get close enough to its flaming mandibles to feed it. He walked away from the exam clearly upset, and had to spend the evening in the Shrieking Shack, despite his practice at expelling his power before it built up too much.

They had their Astronomy paper on Wednesday morning, but had to wait until it was dark for their practical. The afternoon, instead, was devoted to Divination.

Cas had the afternoon off and continued to study his star charts, but he was in a much better mood after the morning's theory. He caught Dean by the waist as he was leaving for his Divination exam, and kissed him until he turned bright red.

'What's that for?' Dean grinned.

'For luck,' Cas smiled, and Dean left the common room slightly giddy.

Dean would have described his efforts at Divination as shaky at best, but he amused himself by watching John struggle to decide how much he should reveal to his own examiner.

At eleven o'clock that night, they all hurried up to the Astronomy Tower for their practical exam. It was a perfect night for stargazing, cloudless and still, and bathed in silvery moonlight.

They each set up their telescopes and, when Professor Marchbanks gave the word, proceeded to fill in the blank star charts they had been given.

Professors Marchbanks and Tofty strolled among them, watching them as they entered the precise positions of the stars and planets they were observing.

Dean relaxed, glancing at Cas nearby, who was adjusting his telescope with a practised hand. Half an hour passed, then an hour. At the midnight mark, John shuddered, twitching hard enough to knock over his telescope. Sherlock straightened abruptly, the moonlight revealing how pale the both of them were.

'What?' Dean mouthed when he was sure neither Professors could see him.

Sherlock shook his head and John picked his telescope back up, but neither went back to their exam, instead staring intently out at the grounds.

The hair on the back of Dean's neck prickled, but he forced himself to focus on his exam. The minutes stretched out, Dean could hear his heart beating loudly in his ears and feel all of his muscles begin to tense.

Then an echoing roar shattered the silence, cutting through the darkness right to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Several people ducked out from behind their telescopes to peer down at where the sound had come from, including Dean and Cas. Dean felt a slight crackle of static as Cas realised it was coming from Hagrid's cabin and involuntarily threw out his Shield Charm.

Professor Tofty gave a dry little cough. 'Try and concentrate now, boys and girls,' he said softly.

Most people returned to their telescopes, including Cas, but Dean could hear the soft clinking Cas's telescope was making as Cas tried to adjust it with shaking fingers.

Dean looked around to make sure neither of the examiners were watching and quickly whispered 'it's okay,' to Cas. 'Just breathe and focus.'

Cas didn't respond but Dean heard him take a steadying breath.

'Ahem - twenty minutes to go,' said Professor Tofty.

Whoever was still staring out into the grounds hastily went back to their telescopes, but as soon as they did, a loud BANG came from the grounds.

Hagrid's door had burst open and by the light flooding out of the cabin they saw him quite clearly, a massive figure roaring and brandishing his fists, surrounded by six people, all of whom seemed to be attempting to Stun him.

'No!' cried Hermione.

'My dear!' said Professor Tofty in a scandalised voice. 'This is an examination!'

But nobody was paying the slightest attention to their star charts anymore. Jets of red light were still flying about beside Hagrid's cabin, yet somehow they seemed to be bouncing off him. Cries and yells echoed across the grounds.

'Be reasonable, Hagrid!' a man yelled.

'Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!' Hagrid roared.

Fang, attempting to defend Hagrid, leapt repeatedly at the wizards surrounding him until a Stunning Spell caught him and he fell to the ground. Hagrid gave a howl of fury, lifted the culprit bodily from the ground and threw him; the man flew what looked like ten feet and did not get up again.

Then the castle doors opened, light spilling out onto the dark lawn and a single long black shadow rippled across it as it sprinted towards Hagrid's cabin.

John stumbled violently and Sherlock caught him.

'How dare you!' the figure shouted as she ran. 'How dare you!'

'It's McGonagall!' whispered Hermione.

'Leave him alone! Alone, I say!' cried Professor McGonagall. 'On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing to warrant such-'

Several people screamed as the figures around the cabin shot no fewer than four Stunners at Professor McGonagall. The red beams collided with her, lifting her right off her feet. She landed hard on her back and didn't get up.

'Galloping Gargoyles!' shouted Professor Tofty. 'Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behaviour!'

'COWARDS!' bellowed Hagrid. 'RUDDY COWARDS! HAVE SOME O' THAT - AN' THAT -'

Hagrid too two massive swipes at his closest attacker, knocking them out cold. Hagrid then doubled over; they thought he had finally been overcome by a spell, until he straightened up, lifting Fang's limp body onto his shoulders.

'Get him, get him!' screamed Umbridge, but her remaining helper seemed highly reluctant to get within reach of Hagrid's fists and backed away instead.

Hagrid turned and ran. Umbridge sent one last Stunning Spell after him but it missed, and Hagrid disappeared into the darkness past the main gates.

There was a long minute's quivering silence as everyone gazed open-mouthed into the grounds. Then Professor Tofty's voice said feebly, 'Um… five minutes to go, everybody.'

But then there was an ominous rattling all the way around the tower, then all the lenses in everyone's telescopes shattered.

Dean immediately turned to Cas and saw the telltale glow in his eyes. 'Professor, Cas and I are done,' he called, and didn't wait for a response before taking Cas by the hand and walking him back down the tower. He stopped when they reached the landing. 'Hey, it's okay,' he said, gently stroking Cas's cheek and feeling how badly he was shaking. 'By the looks of it, that's a job for St Mungo's, and there's no better place for her than there, okay?'

Cas sniffed and nodded, but he couldn't force out any words. Instead, they both wandered down to the Shrieking Shack and spent the night there, though neither of them slept very well.

Their final exam, History of Magic, was due to take place the following afternoon, so Dean and Cas traipsed back up to the Gryffindor common room after a fitful night, and painstakingly worked through stacks of notes.

The fifth-years entered the Great Hall at two o'clock and took their places in front of their face-down exam papers.

'Turn over your papers,' said Professor Marchbanks from the front of the Hall, flicking over the giant hourglass. 'You may begin.'

Dean, exhausted, was ready for it to all be over. He never wanted to read anything again, and his eyes were already irritated and itchy. It was only History of Magic, after all, would it really be so bad if he just put down his quill and stopped? He sighed and looked up. He could just see Cas's messy dark hair over the top of everyone else's heads, then forced himself back to his paper. Cas believed in him, and that was enough to gather his thoughts and focus as best he could.

The minutes ticked by. Dean could see his handwriting getting less and less legible the further through the exam he got. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, frowning deeply.

To his surprise, he finally managed to get into a good flow, and the answers to the questions finally surfaced in his mind, though he was certain he could have gone into more detail for most of them. He even managed to finish the entire paper, and set it on the desk in front of him, quite pleased with himself. The people around him were still scratching hasty answers on their parchment with their quills, but a few minutes before the end of the exam, a loud shout erupted from somewhere in front of Dean, then Harry fell sideways out of his seat. He smacked against the stone floor, still yelling and clutching at his scar.

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to Morgan Tara Befan for the review! See you again next time!