"Hey, where are you guys at?" Dean shouted, nearly tripping over a branch and cursing. "I brought the stuff you asked for. I even had the house elves give me a bunch of food to bring with me, but it's gonna be cold if you don't show up!"

"Hello, Dean Winchester," came a voice that Dean had only heard once before.

"Magorian," Dean said, turning to face the chestnut centaur. "Been a while, did you need something?"

"Not at current, though that is subject enough to change," the centaur said gravely. "I came to offer a word of warning to you. Those that you come to meet, they are not the sort you should associate with. They are, in a word, abominations."

"Yeah, well, I never asked you did I?" Dean snapped. The first time that the centaurs had appeared to him it had been Magorian and Bane. They had offered the same word of warning and it had been just as annoying then. Dean has responded in much the same way and Bane had been very clear in his desire to turn him into a pin cushion. Thankfully Magorian had put an end to that flow of conversation before it had progressed much further and the centaurs left him in peace. "Look, they don't bother you and don't cause problems."

"Be that as it may, it was predetermined that I need warn you once more," Magorian told him, inclining his head slightly towards the stars. "Be well, Dean Winchester."

The centaur said nothing more, disappearing into the trees as quickly as he had arrived. "Quite the characters, aren't they?" Asked a familiar rough voice. "I don't see their issue with us."

"Yeah, well," Dean shrugged. He set the sack full of food and books onto the ground and began pulling them out. A roast chicken was pulled from the bag and was just as quickly plucked from his hands. "Hey, easy, I like my hands attached to me."

"Sorry," another voice, a somewhat higher pitched one this time, said sheepishly. "Haven't done well hunting lately."

"You know-," Dean began.

"No, Dean." A third voice said firmly, sadly. "I know what you were about to say, and you know our thoughts on the subject. The humans would not accept us as we are now, and we should not have to change for them. The fact that you do accept us for what we are is no small feat in of itself. Our very parents turned their backs on us, why would the rest of the world be any different?"

"Hey man, I get it." Dean shrugged in defeat. "But the option is always there, Morgan."

"Star will be old enough to make that decision for herself in the coming year," Morgan said, his voice rough as ever. "If she chooses to walk amongst humans, that is very much her choice. For now, she is in my care."

"I do not need anyone to watch out for me," Star complained, ripping apart the remnants of the chicken. "I am perfectly capable of watching out for myself."

"Well, if you three do change your minds I spoke to Dumbledore about you joining. It will be rough at first, but you have the option." Dean said. He saw the third of their group, Dak, about to say something and he held up a hand to forestall it. "Look, it's your choice no one is making you do anything. But I do need to get back, where are those books I brought last time?"

Morgan disappeared and returned a few moments later with the books in his mouth. He dropped them in front of Dean and said, "Sorry about the marks on the cover. Hard to keep things in good condition in the forest."

"That librarian is going to kill me," Dean muttered, picking them up and putting them in the sack. "Try to keep these ones a little less ripped up, okay? I don't feel like dealing with some crazy old woman with magic."

"We shall do our utmost," Morgan said, lowering his head. "Thank you as always."

"So look, before I go," Dean said, throwing the sack over his shoulder. "Christmas is coming up soon. Call me old fashioned but kids shouldn't be alone on Christmas."

"What's one more?" Dak barked out a laugh.

"Yeah, no," Dean shook his head. "Not happening. You have five days until Christmas. So in five days your asses are going to wait by Hagrid's cabin and I am going to come get you. I'll make sure to get you some clothes if you'd prefer to-."

"Thank you, Dean." Morgan interrupted. "We will be there at Hagrid's house, but let's not get ahead of ourselves okay?"

"If you say so," Dean said, waving goodbye to them. "Be there early morning."

"We will," Star promised.

Dean made his way out of the Forbidden Forest, wondering what exactly he should get those three for Christmas. They weren't exactly the sort of kids you could get a laptop or whatever the 1993 equivalent was. This line of thought took him all the way to the castle courtyard. He had just walked through the Great Hall doors when he bumped into Crowley. "Ah, Squirrel," the healer said in way of greeting. "Enjoying the break are we?"

"Crowley," Dean said. "Figured you would have kicked rocks as soon as you could have, with the students gone and everything."

"Oh, I have done my share of exploring already," the demon reassured him, pulling a flask from his pocket and offering it to Dean. "Take a drink of this. It's not my preference, but they don't do much aging here."

Dean did just that and immediately coughed, a stream of blue sparks dancing from his mouth. "What the hell is that?" he asked, blinking away tears. He had only taken a single sip and yet he was already feeling the effects. "Did you just roofie me?"

"Oh please," Crowley scoffed. "Like I would need to resort to such things. No, this little drink was fermented using dragon's breath. Or something to that effect. Not quite sure what you'd call it to be honest, the chap I bought this off seemed insistent that it was good."

"That tastes like blueberries," Dean said, shaking his head. The effects of the drink were already starting to dissipate. "Blueberries… and pineapple?"

"Really, is that what it tastes like?" Crowley said, eyeing his flask curiously. "Haven't tasted it yet. I was planning on asking Feathers, but you worked just as well."

"You just gave me a drink that you didn't know anything about?" Dean demanded. "What if it poisoned me?"

Crowley pulled a small stone from his back pocket and held it up between his middle and pointer finger, waving it slightly. "If it had poisoned you I would have just given you this and gone along my way."

"What's that?" Dean asked, eyeing the little rock suspiciously.

"A bezoar," Crowley said, storing it back in his pocket. "Don't ask where it's from, it's better that you don't know, but it would have cured you of most kinds of poisons instantly."

"And if it hadn't been able to cure me?"

"Well if that were the case I suspect you would be a small pile of liquid Squirrel on the floor," Crowley said, taking a drink of the liquid. He breathed out a stream of blue sparks and nodded appreciatively. "Blueberries and pineapple, bit fruity but it goes down smooth enough."

"Crowley, don't ever change," Dean said with a sigh, shaking his head with a small smile. Truthfully, since they were no longer constantly at odds, Crowley's constant mischievous nature was something he had grown fond of. The accented bastard still had the ability to get under his skin like no one else, but that too had been something they had all gotten used to. "Do you know if Bobby has shown up yet?"

"Bobby?" Crowley asked, his eyebrows shooting up. "What's that angry old men doing here?"

"Evidently the Guide brought him here too a couple weeks ago," Dean said, having forgotten that they had not told Crowley about this development. To be fair it had only happened the previous day and the demon had been nowhere to be found.

"Do be a dear and make sure that he doesn't try to shoot me when he sees me," Crowley said, taking another drink. "Dying would be terribly inconvenient. A real bad start to the holidays if you will."

"You'll be fine," Dean said. "Any plans for Christmas?"

"Why, yes, I was planning on decorating the castle with bits and baubles and teaching all the house-elves Christmas carols so that the students who are staying have a lovely Christmas," Crowley said, rolling his eyes. "It's Christmas, Dean, the only way I celebrated Christmas was by wrapping a demon in barbed wire and setting him on fire."

"Well, Sam, Cas, Bobby, and I will probably be drinking in Sam's room." Dean said uncertainly. "If you want to join, well, you are welcome to join us."

Crowley seemed to consider this. "I will see you there then," Crowley said. The demon said a quick farewell and departed, returning to the hospital wing where his quarters were located.