Sam and Dean were right: Charlie took to Hogwarts like a fish to water. The Guide had, evidently, integrated her into the school year so that the professors assumed she had been there the entire time. Naturally, they kept an eye on their favorite little red head. For the following month after she appeared, Charlie always found her way to their room to discuss what she had gotten into that day.
"And, you know, I still say I totally should hate Snape, sort of, but he is actually kind of cool to the other Houses!" Charlie gushed, a smile so bright on her face that it seemed as though she had been given a Cheering Charm. "But, seriously, that Guide chick made me a Ravenclaw?! How the heck am I supposed to hit it off with the Golden Trio if I'm in the wrong house! Even Pottermore put me in Gryffindor, and that Guide is not more official than Pottermore!"
"You do know she is an interdimensional being, right?" Dean said, rolling his eyes and smiling despite himself. He loved having Charlie here. She made a good thing even better with her ceaseless enthusiasm.
"Still not Pottermore," Charlie said loftily, petting Lucy absentmindedly. She and the snake had formed a wonderful friendship almost instantly. "Ugh, I still can't believe that I missed half my third year! I mean, it wasn't a really eventful part of the book but I wanted to meet Buckbeak before Sirius flies away with him!"
"Come again?" Dean asked, frowning.
"Tell you later," Sam promised, glancing up from his grading. "Would you two mind keeping it down a bit? I'm trying to finish this tonight."
"Sorry, Professor," Charlie said, drawing out the word and stifling a laugh. She found the concept of Sam, Dean, and Castiel being teachers hilarious, something she often remarked on. "Don't give me detention now."
"Nah, we'll just write home to your parents," Dean grinned at Charlie, and she smiled right back.
The returning smile was for a very good reason: Charlie's parents were now both alive. She was never at the sleepover that caused them to get into the wreck that took their lives, thus they never died. This was also a separate universe, so that probably played a factor as well. Charlie had discovered this one morning in the Great Hall when a Great-Horned Owl came fluttering from the ceiling for the morning mail and delivered a letter from Charlie's parents telling her how much they missed her for the holidays. She had come, with tears streaming down her face, to Dean who was in the midst of teaching a lesson about Hidebehinds. Mistakenly identifying her tears as those of sadness, he had abruptly dismissed the class and prepared to deliver whoever had caused Charlie to cry the ass-whooping of the century.
"Go ahead, as long as I get good marks they're chill," she said easily. "Speaking of which, have you two started to put together your final exams yet? Only, like, two months before they're here."
"A little," Dean lied.
Sam glanced up at this, a suspicious expression on his face. "Oh, have you?" he asked. "What are you planning for the sixth years?"
"Oh, you know…" Dean waved a hand airily, his mind scrambling for some sort of answer. "Maybe have them find some sort of creature in the Forest."
"You haven't really thought about it at all, have you?" Sam accused.
"No, not at all," Dean admitted. He immediately changed the subject, not wanting to remain under the microscope any longer. "So, Charlie, how are you doing in your classes? Anyone you don't like?"
"Trelawney," Charlie said the name like a curse. "You know, I always thought that the books were a bit harsh on her but, no, that bitch is nuts."
"Oh, if you have trouble with her you should talk to Sam," Dean said slyly. Sam's head shot up at once, and he unconsciously tore the paper he had been grading in half. "He seems to have a way with her."
"How did you find out?" Sam demanded, repairing the paper a bit too aggressively and causing the parchment to be wiped clean.
"Dude, please," Dean said, rolling his eyes. "She gives you bedroom eyes every time that she sees you and always scoots her chair so close to you that she is almost in your lap."
"Oh, Sam, you didn't," Charlie moaned, placing her head in her hands. "With her? Really, dude? What happened to your standards?"
"I was drunk!" Sam snapped, fuming that Dean had found out. Seriously, how did he always find these things out?! "Crowley put a spell on some firewhiskey and I woke up there!"
"Sure, Sam, you sly-tongued devil you," Charlie said, a wicked grin on her face. She suddenly affected a bad Trelawney impersonation, miming a crystal ball on her knee. "Yes, yes it is very clear. You will return to her soon enough and make her wildest dreams come through."
"I hate you both," Sam grumbled, returning to his grading and frowning at the blank parchment.
Charlie and Dean began a game of Exploding Snap, giggling when Sam growled at them every time the cards exploded. They had been playing for about thirty minutes when a familiar face came strolling through the door. Sam looked up and smiled slightly. "Severus, good to see you," he said, rising from his seat slightly. "Is everything alright?"
"Not quite," the Potions master said, eyeing Dean and Charlie's game with something akin to distaste on his face. "I understand that you wrote to the Ministry of Magic in regards to the case of the Hippogriff that attacked young Master Malfoy?"
"Yes, that's correct," Sam nodded, strictly formal now that he saw this was not to be a fun visit from the dark-haired man. "After listening to several accounts from those present, it seems to me as though Mr. Malfoy was at fault. By all accounts, apart from his own, he was insulting the hippogriffs which are amongst the proudest creatures."
"And I know for a fact that Hagrid warned them all about being stupid like that," Dean said, his tone far less polite than Sam's was. He didn't like Severus. Something about the guy rubbed him all wrong. "But I guess, since you are such good friends with his parents, that you don't really have a choice but to back up the kid's claims."
"Are you implying that my judgment in the matter is clouded?" Snape asked coldly, turning to fully face Dean.
"Oh, I'm not implying anything," Dean said, rising from his seat to stand face to face with him. They were about even height, and they stared each other down. "I'm straight up saying it."
"If Hagrid was a competent teacher this wouldn't have happened in the first place," Severus said. "His appointment to the position was a direct result of his friendship with Albus Dumbledore, no acceptable Professor would select such a creature as a Hippogriff for third years."
"Really?" Dean asked, raising one eyebrow. "As far as I can tell all the other students, you know, the ones who paid attention to him, enjoyed the lesson a lot."
Snape glared at Dean and the Winchester glared right back at him. Sam cleared his throat, breaking the silence that had filled the air. "Severus, I didn't mean to make things harder on you. But I felt that I had to write to the Ministry on Buckbeak's behalf."
"Which brings me back to the point of this meeting," Snape said, turning his attention away from Dean. "I have just been informed, by Mr. Malfoy himself, that Hagrid has lost his case for the life of the Hippogriff. The Ministry has deemed it to be too dangerous and needs to be put down. I was asked to speak with you on the matter, though it seems that the issue has now been resolved. There will be an appeal, naturally, but that is just a formality. The execution date is set for the day of exams."
"Thank you, Severus," Sam said, sighing. "Good evening."
"And to you," Snape said, sweeping out of the room without a backward glance.
Once the door closed behind him Sam sighed and shook his head. "I thought that I might have been able to help, guess I don't have that much influence. I guess it didn't really matter."
"Remember the books though?" Charlie said fairly. "Lucius Malfoy basically makes them sign the execution order, they didn't have a chance."
"I would love to get a chance to meet that guy," Dean said darkly. He had grown quite fond of Buckbeak.
"Dean, you can't start fights like that," Sam said tiredly. "Snape is too important to the story here, and we don't want to mess up the story line."
"Speaking of which, things are about to get kind of wild around here, right?" Charlie asked. "I mean, in the books, this is when stuff starts going down real fast."
"Yeah, I have been thinking about that." Sam nodded. "If it wasn't for the fact that we have professor stuff to do, and you have exams and such, I wouldn't be worried. But we can't focus on it too much. I wouldn't put it past the Guide to throw us a curveball."
"Yeah, we need to be prepared for the worst," Dean said. He sighed quietly and added, under his breath, "I just wish I knew what the worst was."
Hello again my beloved readers,
Hallowed here once again. I have, warily, planned out about four to five more chapters that encompass the events of Book 3. But then I have something of a dilemma. Would you, as readers, prefer for me to simply continue onto book 4 in this story, or would you prefer me to start an entirely new book? Would you even like me to continue onto Book 4 at all? By all means, let me know. Your thoughts and reviews are wonderful, and I thank you for taking the time to read. Please, if you would feel so inclined, let me know what you think!
Cheers, Hallowed