The Hogwarts Express departed King's Cross station right on time, as always, and the students immediately reconnected with old friends and filled up the various compartments. Charlie Bradbury, somehow, had found herself alone in one such compartment and was gazing out over the countryside as the train steamed along. The moment that the train had departed the station she had pulled her wand free and began to make frost appear on the window, relishing in the ability to once and perform magic.

She was so absorbed in this she barely noticed when her compartment door opened. She heard the sound, glanced back, returned to her magic, and then her head snapped back around to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiling at her. "Sorry, Charlie, do you mind if we join you?" Hermione asked. "Everywhere else is full."

Feeling the strangest sense of déjà vu and destiny, Charlie nodded. "Feel free," she said, scooting closer to the window so that someone could sit next to her. Hermione, predictably, took this seat and pulled a very familiar looking book on Medical Charms from her bag.

"Thank you so much for letting me borrow this," Hermione told her. "The Blood Replenishing Charm isn't quite as effective as a potion, but I still think that the application can be far more effective. At the very least it doesn't take a week to brew!"

"I think it's more for battlefield medicine," Charlie put in. "Like, to keep someone from bleeding out. I don't think it's supposed to be a permanent fix."

"That makes sense," Hermione nodded. "So, how was your summer?"

"Great," Charlie said, smiling. "How about you three?"

"Horrible," Harry said glumly. He brightened considerably and then added, "The end was actually pretty fantastic, but I hate my Aunt and Uncle."

"Mine was alrigh'." Ron shrugged. "You met my brother Percy, right?"

"Once," Charlie said slowly. She was curious as to whether turned into the corporate puppet he had been in the books, or if another ripple had been added to the pond. "Why?"

"You heard about the World Cup right?" Ron asked. "He works for one of the guys who organized it and he made everyone miserable because things didn't go perfectly. Like it's our bloody fault that Death Eaters attacked.

Corporate Stooge Percy: Check.

"So are you guys excited for this year?" Charlie asked, trying to move away from a conversation that she knew a bit too much about. "The Triwizard tournament is here!"

"Oh, I can't wait!" Hermione said excitedly, nearly bouncing in her seat. "Did you know-."

"No, Hermione," Ron said, cutting her off. "No one knows about the random facts about the Tournament that you do."

"Like how the Tournament first started in 1294?" Charlie asked, shooting a scowl at Ron. "Or how it was discontinued in 1792 because of the high death toll?"

Hermione beamed at her and Charlie returned it in full. Ron looked like the wind had been taken out of his sails and Harry just shrugged, patting his friend on the arm. "So, Charlie, I've been meaning to ask you something." Harry said.

"What's up?" she asked.

"How do you know the Winchester Professors so well?" the other two perked up at this as well, and they stopped their bickering.

"What makes you think I know them so well?" Charlie was wary here, unsure of what exactly she should say. A little help here, Guide?

Over Harry's right shoulder, which was the one closest to the train window and thus would not be seen by the others, a small wisp of smoke seemed to manifest from nowhere. It curled into the air until the word 'Nope' was visible. The smoke disappeared an instant later, leaving Charlie without an idea.

Opting for a half-truth, she answered them. "They're actually old family friends, even before I knew I was a witch those two were always around."

"Why were they around?"

"I think it's because I made a cat vanish when I was a kid, probably just wanted to keep a close eye on me and just sorta ended up staying around. They're like my big brothers." Charlie certainly looked at Sam and Dean as brothers, and Bobby was certainly an uncle-like figure to her. Castiel and Crowley… she wasn't sure where she would put them in her, admittedly, very strange family tree. But she had the sneaking suspicion Crowley was that one cousin who got drunk during family gatherings…

"That's wicked, must be nice having family who can give you good grades at school," Ron said wistfully. "Percy would be extra hard on me, but Fred and George would give me detention because it would be funny."

"Sam won't give me good grades just because we're close," Charlie assured a scandalized-looking Hermione. "He believes in hard work. Dean… I don't think he really cares about grades for anyone to be honest."

"Fred and George said that he was their favorite professor," Ron added. "Right nightmare of a coach though, eh Harry?"

"He was tough," Harry admitted. "But we won the Cup thanks to him."

"I know," Charlie said sadly. Gryffindor had played Ravenclaw in the final and had subsequently crushed them by two hundred points.

The door to the compartment opened then and Dean poked his head in. "Potter, Granger, Weasley," he nodded to each of them in turn. He smiled at Charlie and beckoned for her to follow him.

She excused herself from the Golden Trio and followed Dean into the corridor, which was mostly empty save for Sam who was also there waiting for her. "Hey Charlie," he said, wrapping her in a hug. "How ya been?"

"It's so good to see you again, Dean," she said, returning the hug. "I've been good, this summer was amazing! My parents are just like I remember them, they even grounded me once!"

"You're probably the only kid who would be happy about being grounded." Dean laughed. Once his mirth subsided, he glanced over his shoulders up and down the train to ensure they were alone. "Look Charlie, you read the books, right?"

"Only about a thousand times," she said, her voice low as his was. "Why? Are you worried about the Triwizard tournament?"

"Yeah I'm worried about that too, but that's not the main thing on my mind right now," Dean said. "You heard about the World Cup, right?"

"I was in the Muggle World, across the ocean Dean," Charlie reminded him. "Don't worry, I remember enough about it from the books. The Death Eaters showed up, scared some people, and then ran away when the Dark Mark appeared."

"Scared some people?" Dean barked out a lone laugh. "Is that what happened in the book? Try: murdered sixteen people. And a few others aren't out of the woods yet. A girl named Genevieve Fox from Hogwarts died too."

"Genevieve… died?" Charlie's eyes widened and grew reflective with water building in them very rapidly. "No, that can't be right."

Dean caught the waver in her voice and remembered that the two were in the same House. For just a brief amount of time Dean had forgotten that Charlie was a student here, not a Professor and damn sure not a Hunter. She was tough as nails, there wasn't a doubt in his mind about that, but she likely knew Genevieve. Hunter or not, losing a friend was always hard news to take.

He wrapped Charlie in a hug again just as sobs began to rack her frame. "Easy, kid, easy," he murmured, stroking the top of her head. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't read the books, I didn't know what happened was different."

"No one was supposed to die there, Dean." She said, her voice muffled against his shirt.

The compartment door where the Golden Trio were seated opened and Ron poked his head out. Dean sent him a fearsome glare and the Weasley retreated back into the compartment, closing the door after him. "Sam said that what happened the night Remus turned into a werewolf wasn't to the letter either," Dean recalled. "If the Cup didn't happen like it was supposed to either, then we can't be sure what's coming next."

"I'm scared, Dean." Charlie admitted. "I mean, things aren't supposed to get bad for another two years! Not really! But if the Death Eaters are really going after people like that…"

"Hey, listen, Sam and I won't let anything happen to you." Dean said, looking her straight in the eyes. The dream he had, the memory of Charlie's dead body in the bathtub, both of them swam to the forefront of his memories and his resolved solidified into a diamond-hard consistency. "Look: this year I want you to be more careful than ever. If something seems wrong you come find Sam, me, Cas, hell even Crowley. I'm not going to let a damn thing happen to you. But in the meantime, start practicing all the attack magic you can find. Hexes, curses, I don't even care if you learn the Killing Curse. Be ready for a fight at all times."

Charlie hiccupped once and then nodded. "Thanks, Dean, but you need to be careful too. Since you are a Care of Magical Creatures professor, you'll need to be careful. The stuff they have in this tournament is super dangerous."

"Don't worry about me," Dean said, patting her on the shoulder. He glanced into where Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat staring out at them. Once they saw his gaze directed back they rapidly busied themselves with talking about something. "Try to avoid those three. I hate to say it, but they are trouble. Not their fault, I don't think. But they have the same problem that Sam and I do. Trouble has a habit of finding them."

"Trouble finds me too, Dean." Charlie said, iron in her voice once more after her brief show of weakness. "I think I should stay around people who are just as used to dealing with it as I am, don't you think?"

He looked for an argument, but he could find none. He smiled at her and shook his head. "You're probably right."

"I am."

"Just be careful, alright?" Dean said.

"I always am." She said, hugging him one last time and stepping back. "I love you, Dean."

"I know," he smirked.

Charlie wiped the last tears from her eyes and then returned into the compartment. The three in there immediately engaged her, undoubtedly wondering about what had just transpired.

At least she handled the news about Genevieve better than Crowley did, Dean thought to himself, shivering.

Hello my readers,

Hallowed here. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I would like to take a moment to say that I am thankful for each and every one of you taking the time out of your busy days to read this story I so do love writing. Thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart. With that, I would like to pose something of a request/challenge for you. I won't make a habit of doing this, as stated before, but nevertheless: As I said before I am creating original works on wattpad as well. Here is the challenge: go to wattpad and search "The Other Side Bar" (minus the quotations) and it should be the first entry that pops up. If I can get just ten votes on it I will either post a double chapter(5k words minimum, of a POV of whatever character you would like) or another chapter will be posted by this Sunday, December 1st. That's my request of you. If I get more than 10 upvotes before Sunday I'll devise a suitable chapter to release. Thank you in advance.

Cheers,

Hallowed