Having Bobby around again, and with the holidays just around the corner, seemed to have pushed a Sam and Dean prank war to new heights. Sam now found himself in Dean's room, his wand out as he quickly place several hexes around his brother's room. This was in retaliation to, after a long night of drinking with Bobby, finding that Dean had hexed his bed to dump him onto the floor every time he laid down and got comfortable. When his brother had done this, he hadn't a clue. But Sam knew that revenge was not just due, it was obligatory. Dean and Bobby had gotten up early that morning, how they had gotten up after drinking until the wee hours of the day was beyond Sam, and gone off to Diagon Alley for something or other.
A slithering sound came from behind Sam and he turned to see Lucy sliding into the room. She raised her head, her forked tongue darting out, and then seemed to recognize Sam. True to his word, Dean had tied a bright pink bow around her and she had not yet managed to remove it. Taking pity on the serpent, Sam removed the Sticking Charm his brother had placed on the bow and untied it from the basilisk. "Don't tell Dean," Sam said, turning back to continue hexing the room.
Of course not, the reply made Sam jump, totally not expecting anything in response.
He turned to face Lucy, who had coiled onto the bed and was now looking at him expectantly, and cautiously said: "D-d-did you just talk?"
If I didn't, that would make your question redundant don't you think? Lucy asked pointedly.
Sam took a mental step back, totally unprepared to deal with any amount of sass from a snake. He opened his mouth and then closed it, gathering his thoughts. Parsletongues were a huge part of the Series (Sam couldn't call them the Harry Potter series anymore as he saw Harry regularly and it just felt weird) but he had never thought about the possibility of him being one. It made sense, the more he thought about it, considering what his Patronus and House were, but it was still unexpected. He thought about what to say to Lucy, the etiquette of speaking to a snake was never truly covered in the books especially since the only snake that really had a conversation with Harry had been the one from the first book in the zoo. The basilisk from the second had spoken, but that had not been to the student directly. "So how are you?" Sam asked finally, opting for polite formality.
Well enough, Lucy answered, resting her head on a coil. I've been exploring the castle these past few days. Quite a place this, and so many rats to enjoy. Did you know there was another basilisk here? He's dead now, but he was.
"Uh, yeah," Sam nodded, "They killed him last year." He was dumbfounded. Lucy spoke eloquently enough, and he could understand her voice just as easily he could someone speaking English.
It happens. Lucy seemed to shrug using one large coil. Now, what were you doing to the master's room?
"You mean Dean?" Sam asked, "I was hexing his room."
Ah. Well, don't let me disturb you. Lucy tucked her head under one coil, effectively terminating all further conversation.
Sam quickly finished his tasks, continually glancing over his shoulder to steal wary glances at Lucy lest she decide to stop him from his objective. Surprisingly she seemed to have no issue with his task and did not say another word to him the entire time that he was working. He stood by the entrance to Dean's room, admiring his handiwork though of course none of the spells were yet visible.
"Hello Sam," came Castiel's gravelly voice from directly behind him. For the second time in the same hour, Sam jumped in surprise. He blew out a sigh as he beheld the frowning and glaring face of Castiel. "What are you doing in Dean's room?"
"Erm, Cas," Sam said, leaning back slightly due to the angel's proximity. "Personal space applies here too."
"I see," Castiel said, taking a half step back and swaying slightly. "Do you know where Dean is?"
His words were still slightly slurred together and Sam had to fight back a short laugh. "Cas, are you still drunk?"
"No." he answered curtly, glaring at Sam. He then sighed and said, "Yes. I require Dean's hangover cure."
"Cas, Dean's hangover cure is just whiskey," Sam told him consolingly. "Dean's cure to being hungover is to drink less and less until you progressively get less drunk. That, or basically give yourself an IV of straight coffee."
"No, I believe an IV would likely kill me as I am now," Castiel said, taking Sam's exaggeration as a serious suggestion. "I believe I am going to need more alcohol then. Have you seen Crowley? Or do you have any in your room?"
"Wait, I thought Crowley was with you?" Sam asked, suddenly wary. A potentially still drunk Crowley was dangerous. A hungover Crowley was potentially lethal depending on what annoyed him. "We need to find him."
"You find him," Castiel growled, shouldering past Sam and falling onto Dean's bed.
Excuse you! Lucy hissed as she was thrown from her spot on the end of the bed.
Taking a moment to be thankful, for multiple reasons, he had opted not to hex Dean's bed, Sam stepped into the room and turned Castiel onto his side just in case. "Keep an eye on him, would you?" Sam asked Lucy even as Castiel began to snore loudly. "I need to go find Crowley."
If you mean your friend with the funny accent, he is in the kitchen, Lucy told him as she repositioned herself. And I will ensure that this one does not die. Yet.
Sam took this as a positive sign and raced off to the kitchens, unsure of what Crowley could be up to. He tickled the pear of the painting over the kitchen entrance and, once the painting had swung open, leapt inside and nearly collided with a house elf who happened to be passing by. Instantly the little elf bowed low. "Hello there Professor!" she squeaked happily, "Nice to see so many of you today, how can I help you?"
"Oh, sorry," Sam said, "Have you seen Crowley anywhere?"
"Of course," she squeaked, grabbing Sam by the hand and pulling him over to a corner where Crowley had been propped up on a stool. The house elves had apparently fashioned him a blanket by knitting together several cloth placemats and throwing the blanket over him. Sam resisted the urge to laugh, instead turning back to the small congregation of house elves that had formed behind him. "Uh, what happened?" he asked, jerking a thumb towards Crowley.
"Mister Crowley came down to us early this morning, still a little drunk sir," one house elf squeaked, wringing his pillow case tunic in his hands as though he was worried he was in some sort of trouble. "He told us to fix his hangover or get him more to drink, so we started to bring him lots of pumpkin juice. After a little while he fell over and fell asleep so we picked him up and put him in the corner."
"He didn't cause you too much trouble, did he?" Sam asked, relieved nothing worse had transpired.
"Of course not sir!" the first house elf sam had spoken to said happily. She bowed low again and soon enough all the others followed suit. "It is always our pleasure to help the Professors of Hogwarts you see!"
Sam thanked them again and, even though he protested mildly, allowed them to load him up with all sorts of snacks and baked goods before he left. He was bringing them all back to his room when he bumped into Remus going around a corner. Several muffins went rolling across the floor but Sam and Lupin managed to catch most of the food. "So sorry about that, Sam," Lupin said, placing the food back into Sam's arms. "Didn't see you."
"No problem, Remus," Sam said, smiling. "I had too much for me to eat anyways. What have you been up to?"
"Oh, enjoying our little break from classes," Lupin shrugged. "I'm afraid that, with my condition, the holidays are never really the happiest time of year for me. My family isn't very understanding you see."
Sam frowned hard at this. "Well, a very good friend of ours just stopped by for the holidays, you should join us." He told him firmly, his tone indicating he would not take 'no' for an answer.
To his surprise, no argument was forthcoming. "I think I will take you up on that Sam," Lupin told him. "I daresay I have not spent a Christmas with friendly faces in a very long time. Are we doing a gift exchange then?"
This brought the crashing realization to Sam that he had not yet gotten Dean a single thing yet. "Actually, I was just about to go shopping," Sam said, already wondering what he could get Dean and Bobby.