To say that Dean was outmatched by the Death Eater that he dueled was not true, nor was it entirely wrong. Every spell, hex, and curse that he cast had been brushed aside or dodged with almost contemptuous ease. Meanwhile Dean was bleeding from multiple gashes across his chest, his breathing was labored due to a curse that he had been hit with, and his vision was growing blurry. But this was what Dean was used to, this was the sort of against-all-odds fight that he had been raised engaging in.

"Come now," the Death Eater gloated, spreading his arms to shoulder height. "Just give up, clearly you can see that you've lost can't you? You aren't any match for me."

"We're just getting started," Dean promised, glaring daggers at his opponent. "This isn't over by a long shot."

"Now, see, that is where you are wrong." The Death Eater mocked. "The Dark Lord will soon rise again and he will bring with him a new world order. Mudbloods and Muggles will be hunted down like the vermin that they are and blood purity will be restored."

"Are you gonna stand over there and run your mouth or are you gonna fight?" Dean demanded, raising his wand once more.

Crouch removed his mask to reveal a scowling young, handsome face. "Your bravado will be the death of you," he promised. "But not today. No, I think I will quite like to see what becomes of you when your precious students start dying by the dozens and you are unable to help them.

"Don't you dare touch them!" Dean snarled, sending a curse at Crouch which was flicked away easily. "I swear, you touch a single hair on any of those kids' heads I will personally hunt you down and gut you alive."

"Empty words," Crouch sneered. "Albus Dumbledore does not employ anyone capable of killing."

A loud shout in the distance broke Crouch's concentration for a split second and Dean capitalized on it. "Impedimenta!" he whispered. The spell, no less powerful for its quiet recitation, connected solidly with Crouch and sent him sprawling into the dirt. He rushed towards Crouch with the intention of beating him down, magic was clearly not doing the job, the old-fashioned way. He was ten meters away when his body erupted into an incredible pain.

"Is this your first time experiencing the Cruciatus curse?" Crouch breathed, his mocking grin gone from his face. "Wonderful isn't it? It doesn't matter how high your pain tolerance is, this sort of pain isn't bearable by anyone."

Dean had to agree. It felt as though every cell in his body was burning, as though his blood was molten steel. When the pain vanished he discovered that he had fallen to the ground. His wand was, somehow, still in his hand but said hand was beneath the heel of Crouch's boot. Another shout, closer this time, and Crouch vanished, the last image Dean had of him was a manic grin spreading across his face.

Dean tried to get to his feet, he really did, but blood loss and the lack of adrenaline in his system made this an impossible task. He managed to get to a sitting position, but that was the limit of his movement. His vision flickered in and out as voices grew closer to him. He blacked out, briefly, and woke up lying on the ground once more. He saw a dark shape hunched over him and his instincts took over, his hand lashing out and wrapping around the throat of the figure. Other hands were immediately there, attempting to pry Dean's fingers away. "Winchester, it's alright, it's alright!" A familiar voice assured him.

It took him a moment to identify the owner of said voice but, after a moment, the dim memory came back. "Remus?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yes, now let go of Mr. Diggory," Lupin commanded.

Dean released his grip and the smaller man fell back, coughing and heaving in air. "What happened?"

"The World Cup was attacked by Death Eaters," one of the figures around them said somberly. "The Muggles who owned this field were all killed, along with a few of the wizards that came here. Five that we know of so far, we thought for sure that you were six."

"I'm not that easy to kill," Dean said, coughing. "Come on, let's see if we can help the others."

"You aren't going anywhere," Remus said firmly, pressing a hand to push Dean back to a lying position. "We performed some basic healing magic on you, but those gashes aren't closing. You need to get to St. Mungo's."

"I'm fine," Dean insisted.

"We'll take care of him," Lupin promised, gesturing to another person who stood by them. "You lot can go look for any more injured persons."

"You sure, Lupin?" Diggory asked, glancing warily to the person Remus had volunteered to stay with Dean.

"Go, Diggory." Lupin said coldly, offering a hand to Dean.

The Winchester accepted the assistance and, with a great deal of Lupin's help, was soon standing. He had one arm around Lupin's shoulders and, though he would not admit it, that was the sole reason he was able to walk. Quickly, however, his other arm went over another set of shoulders as the larger group of wizards set off to look for survivors or the dead.

"Thanks for this," he told Remus and the other. He turned to the unknown person and said, "My name is Dean, Dean Winchester."

"I know who you are, Professor." The man said, barking out a laugh. He was rather gaunt and very pale, but his eyes held a deviously playful light that Dean immediately found himself liking. His hair was long, nearly shoulder-length, and he was very skinny. "Star, Dak, and Morgan speak very highly of you."

"How do you know those three?" Dean asked, panting already from the short distance they had gone.

"I spent a lot of time with them when I lived in the Forbidden Forest. My name is Sirius Black." He waited for a few moments, as though expecting Dean to say or do something in particular.

"Nice to meet you," Dean said, unconcerned with this revelation. "Yeah, I heard you had your name cleared. How's the outside world been treating you?"

"Like shit." Sirius said cheerfully. "Can't walk into a store without people looking at me like they are afraid of me. Can't find work because of that too."

"That's rough man," Dean said sympathetically. "If you want I could get you a job at the Three Broomsticks? Rosmerta and I are, ah, we get along very well."

"Remus, I take back what I said," Sirius said, looking over at his friend.

"I told you, Sirius, the Winchesters are not your run of the mill wizards." Remus said, smiling. "After all, how many people do you know who would allow themselves to be helped by a werewolf and a former Azkaban prisoner?"

"Not many," Sirius admitted. "Dean, if you could convince Rosmerta to hire me I would be very appreciative. It would be nice to see Harry play Quidditch without being in my Animagus form."

"Sure thing," Dean nodded. His thoughts turned grim then. "So who was killed?"

"Two wizards from Egypt were trapped in their tent when it was set on fire and couldn't escape. Another looks to have been tortured to death. Two more dueled the Death Eaters but you just can't win against those sort of odds. Lynch, the Irish Seeker, was already transported to St. Mungo's but they aren't sure if he is going to survive."

"Lynch?" Dean demanded, enraged all over again. "What happened to him?"

Apparently a few students had been targeted by the Death Eaters and he tried to intervene and help them. The kids escaped, but they took out their frustrations on Lynch. Even if he survives his Quidditch playing days are over."

"Why the hell did they attack anyways?" Dean growled.

"Probably decided to remind the world that they were still a threat," Sirius said grimly. "Everyone knows that some Death Eaters got off scot-free and others went into hiding."

"Yeah, I dueled one tonight. One of the others called him Crouch." Dean said, his breathing now very labored as they clamored up a hill.

"Crouch?" Remus asked sharply. "Are you sure, Dean?"

"Yeah, does the name ring a bell?" Dean asked, frowning. "He took off his mask when we dueled. Younger guy, brown hair, kind of a creepy smile?"

"That's him," Lupin said grimly. He glanced to Sirius and shook his head. "I suppose you weren't the first person to escape Azkaban then."

"Dumbledore will want to know about this," Black said, chewing his lip as he thought. "But we shouldn't go around telling everyone. The last thing we need right now is for people to lose faith in Azkaban. I can promise you, first hand, that it isn't an easy place to escape from."

"Take your word for it," Dean said as they finally made it to the top of the hill. "Why did we just climb this big ass hill?"

"Portkeys," Lupin said, pointing to an old boot in front of them. "The ministry set them up all over the place so that people can get home. This one will take us to St. Mungo's lobby."

"I told you, I'm fine." Dean insisted, fighting off a cough. "Give me a bed and a few hours' sleep and I will be just fine."

"Nothing like a good nights' sleep to cure a punctured lung," Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're going to St. Mungo's, Jam…" Sirius's voice trailed off and a look of sadness took over his features.

Dean glanced to Lupin and saw the same expression there, halting the question he had been about to ask. Dean knew about James Potter and the Marauders, and how much James, Remus, and Sirius had cared for one another. Sam had, very briefly, explained it to him, but Dean now saw that the short summary was not at all enough. He recognized the look on their face. It wasn't one of anger, or shame. This was the look of two people who were remembering someone they loved very dearly after being reminded of their personality. Simply put, Dean had just acted enough like James Potter that Sirius had, if only for the briefest of moments, forgotten that his friend was long dead.

But for that moment Dean saw a much younger man beneath the obvious years of torture and abuse he had endured in Azkaban. It was then that Dean made the unconscious decision to become friends with Sirius Black.

My readers, thank you so much. Thanks to you this story has surpassed five hundred followers! As my thanks, I will make the next chapter(or the one following the next) a special one shot episode. Is there anything you would like to see? Dean and Rosmerta's first date? Neville visiting Triss over the summer? Any other ideas you would like to see? Feel free to inbox me the ideas, or leave them in the reviews. I will, most likely, do one extremely lengthy chapter with several one shots included in it, so please give me your ideas!

Cheers, Hallowed