Explosions and jets of light were everywhere. Dean rushed around a corner, breathing heavily, with his wand at his side. He felt something stinging his eyes and wiped away blood with the back of his hand. Another explosion came from behind him and the wall he had been hiding behind shattered outwards, sending him flying across the hallway. He shook his head, attempting to dislodge the cobwebs that threatened to smother his vision. The cause of said explosion, a massive club fashioned from an entire tree, pulled itself back from the hole it had created. Moments later it was replaced by a massive, ugly head. Dean backed up rapidly as a large hand shoved through the hole and slammed down onto the space he had been moments before. He didn't bother trying to fight the giant, it would have been pointless. He had to find Sam. They had been separated after the bridge had fallen.

A scream, a horrendously pain-filled scream, came from a classroom before him and Dean didn't hesitate to rush in to find the source. He was a moment too late. Just as he passed through the blown-open doors, the two masked Death Eaters simultaneously made slashing movements through the air. Charlie Bradbury, whom they had been torturing at their own amusement, collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Two massive gashes ran on either side of her chest. Her eyes stared at Dean, perhaps the last thing she had seen was his face as he tried to come to her rescue. But they were lifeless now, just as lifeless as the three Death Eaters that Dean saw strewn about the room. But Charlie, the girl whom he loved like a little sister, was dead.

Dean didn't know who the two Death Eaters were, hidden behind their masks as they were, and he didn't care at that moment. They were clearly in bad shape, one robe clearly having been set alight at some point, and the other with blood covering his arms. They raised their wands simultaneously, but Dean was faster. He Disarmed them before they could even speak the first syllable to a spell or hex. Their wands went soaring out a window, and Dean watched them go.

In a gesture of surrender, they raised their hands in the air. But Dean didn't see them. His eyes were fixed on Charlie, and his heart was breaking in his chest all over again. Seeing her dead once, that had been hell. But a second time, that was even worse. Very slowly, he raised his eyes to the two culprits. He tossed aside his own wand, the wood clattering across the ground and rolling into a corner. "You tortured her," Dean said, no inflection in his voice. This was a statement of fact.

"Look here, Dolohov," one of them sneered from beneath his mask. "A professor come to avenge his student. How noble. Well, come on then. Why'd you throw your wand?"

"I don't need that," Dean said, drawing a silver knife from his robes. "That would be too quick."

Dean awoke with a start, just as he had begun to carve the Death Eaters. He was drenched in sweat, despite the cold air that assaulted him the moment he awoke. His breathing was hard and fast, almost as though he had actually been in that battle. He quickly dressed and was about to throw open his door when Sam barged in, his arms laden with wrapped gifts.

It was then that Dean remembered where he was, and what day it was. The dream was still in his thoughts, but he now understood it as just that. A dream. Sam, naturally, saw the state his brother was in and dropped the presents onto his bed. "What's wrong?" he asked, glancing around the room for some sort of visual cue.

"Nothing, nothing," Dean said, forcing a smile. "Bad dream is all."

"Dean, you look like you've seen…" Sam had been about to say a ghost, but then he remembered the fact that Dean and Sir Nicholas got on very well. "A wendigo."

"It's nothing, man." Dean said firmly, dismissing the issue with a finality in his voice. Charlie wasn't even here, the dream was just that: a dream. "You know, Charlie would have loved this place."

"Yeah," Sam said slowly, wondering what sort of dream involving Charlie could have sparked that statement. "She and Granger would be best friends."

"You aren't wrong there," Dean laughed quietly. He eyes the pile of presents curiously and then looked back at Sam. "All for me?"

"No, not all for you," Sam laughed. "I woke up the others and told them to meet here. Except Crowley, he wasn't around."

"You know, I really have to wonder where the hell he goes," Dean said. "I'll be right back, I need to go meet someone."

"Dude, it's Christmas, who are you meeting?" Sam asked, the puzzle of Dean's continued mystery friends still vexing him.

His brother didn't answer, rushing out of the room without a second thought. A slithering sound came from beneath the bed and, a moment later, Lucy slithered out. Hello, she said pleasantly. Has he stopped all that tossing and turning then?

"Uh, yeah," Sam nodded. "You, uh, you didn't happen to catch what he was dreaming about, did you?"

Funny enough, I didn't ask. Lucy said, slithering out of the room with all the abruptness of her master.

Sam wasn't alone in the room for more than five minutes when Bobby and Remus strode through the door. They, too, had gifts in their arms. "Happy Christmas!" Remus said, smiling with genuine joy at Sam. "Shall we drop our presents on the bed then?"

"Sure," Sam said, summoning a few plush armchairs from thin air as he vacated the bed. "Merry Christmas to you both!"

"Doesn't feel quite like Christmas without any wendigos, banshees, or revenants to sort out," Bobby said, taking a seat after he dropped his presents onto the bed.

"I must say, that does sound like an interesting Christmas," Remus admitted, taking a seat next to Bobby. He greeted Castiel when the former angel strode through the door, and then returned his attention to Bobby. "Perhaps, for a lesson, do you think that you could find me a boggart today? Or sometime soon, really. I have a lesson planned for the day after a break and I need one."

Bobby brightened considerably at this. "Should be a few of them around a castle this big," he said, pulling a bottle from his robes and handing it to Lupin. "I'll lock it in a box and give it to you."

"You sound a bit too excited for that," Castiel said, nodding to Dean as he returned. "Is something wrong, Dean?"

"No, just a bit disappointed." He shrugged it off and then clapped his hands together. "Alright, who wants to go first?"

He glanced to Remus, about to tell the werewolf to go first. But he stopped short when he saw that the werewolf was no longer moving. "Oh, hell," he breathed, looking around the room. Sam, Castiel, and Bobby were similarly unfrozen. "Alright, come on, what's the deal?"

"Why, Merry Christmas to you as well," the Guide said, striding through thin air. "I thought, after all I haven't seen you for some time, that I would stop in and give you a present."

"I don't see any gift wrapping on you," Bobby growled.

"Don't act like you are mad at me, Bobby," she laughed. "I gave you your wife back. Sorry about the sister thing, by the way. Believe it or not I have some restrictions on my powers. No, I think it is high time for a familiar face."

The Guide clapped her hands and, apparently arriving via Floo network, a small body shot out of the fireplace in Dean's corner and skidded to a stop. "Have fun," she said slyly, disappearing in a puff of snow.

Dean didn't have to look to know who was slowly rising from his floor, but the red hair was a dead giveaway. "Charlie?" he asked warily.

"Dean?" came her voice, warm and confused. Charlie turned on the spot, and the others saw something amiss right away. It was Charlie, that much was certain, but she was… young. Perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old at most. She seemed to sense something amiss from their gaze and glanced into a mirror in the corner of the room. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"

"Yeah, sort of trying to figure that out right now too," Sam admitted just before crushing her in a hug. "How are you here?"

"Dude, I don't know!" she said, returning the hug with gusto. "I was in heaven, rocking out and playing games, and the next thing I know I am sliding across your floor looking like a teenager! Where the hell are we?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a look and then a smile began to creep over their faces. "Charlie, welcome to Hogwarts."

It was a good thing that time was still frozen. Otherwise Charlie's scream would have been heard throughout the castle.