Flight of the Fat Lady

October came around, along with the Quidditch season. Harry returned one evening from a particularly good practice, and sat down next to Ron. He was copying out Castiel's extremely precise star chart that they had been asked to do for Astronomy. Hermione was watching him disapprovingly and Sherlock was attempting to teach John how to play chess, though he kept getting caught up in winning rather than teaching.

'Oh, Harry guess what?' Ron said, looking up. 'Hogsmeade weekend on Hallowe'en. You coming?'

'I don't think he should,' Hermione frowned. 'With Black still on the loose.'

'Black's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade. Ask McGonagall if you can go.'

'Ron! Harry's supposed to stay in school.'

Just then, a hand reached out and picked up Castiel's star chart interrupting them.

'Hey, this is a nice chart,' he said. 'Whose is it?'

It was Dean Winchester.

'Mine,' said Castiel.

'Damn, this thing is pretty much perfect. Oh hey, it's you!'

'Yes, Dean.'

'Smooth,' John sniggered.

'And you are?' said Dean.

'John Watson,' he said, shaking Dean's hand.

'Winchester?' Hermione said, suddenly interested.

'Yep, that's the one.'

He looked around and saw them all staring at him.

'What, we gotta go around the circle now?' he said. 'Fine, why don't you go first,' he said to Hermione.

'Hermione Granger.'

'Ron Weasley.'

'Sherlock Holmes.'

'Harry Potter.'

He shook each of their hands in turn.

'Cool, now that that's over with, can I borrow your star chart?' he said to Castiel.

'Yes.'

Dean grinned and sat down next to him, pulling quills and a half-completed star chart from his bag.

'How do you know Castiel?' Hermione asked.

'Long story. We met in a bathroom. It was a little awkward 'cause I was trying to skip Charms without anyone noticing.'

Hermione bit her lip, fighting the impulse to tell him off.

'You guys are third years, right? It'll be your first trip to Hogsmeade coming up?'

'Yeah, but Harry can't go. He doesn't have permission.' said Ron.

'Permission? What are you guys, eight? Just sneak out, duh. Fred and George could probably help you out.'

Hermione couldn't resist any longer.

'You don't understand, Dean. Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban to come after Harry.'

'Sirius Black? Well, that changes everything.'

'Really?'

'No, not at all. I have no idea who that is.'

Harry seemed unconvinced.

'I think I'll just ask McGonagall for permission.' he said.

'That's fair enough.'

Dean sat quietly for a moment, copying the star chart.

'What year are you in, Dean?' Hermione asked curiously.

'Fourth,' he said, bending over to look at the chart more closely.

He finished with a flourish and threw his chart and quill unceremoniously into his bag.

'Awesome, thanks.'

He jumped up and walked away without another word, just missing Crookshanks springing after Scabbers once again.

Hallowe'en morning rolled around and John was the first downstairs. He waited for Sherlock, Castiel, Ron and Hermione. Harry had not managed to get permission from Professor McGonagall, so they said goodbye to him and filed past Filch, who was checking people off a long list of names. Castiel was excited to see the village until he remembered what was waiting at the gates. He got half way across the grounds and felt his palms get sweaty. His mouth went dry and he stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of the Dementors on guard. He tried to back away but bumped into someone, whirling around and vaguely recognised Dean, though his vision was blurry and panic was surging through him.

'Whoa, whoa, it's just me,' said Dean.

He was unresponsive, however, so Dean grabbed him by the shoulders to pull him away from the line of students trying to leave.

'No! No!' Castiel said, tearing himself out of Dean's grasp.

'All right, no touching,' said Dean, taking his hands away. 'Can you look at me? We're going to try something.'

Castiel, barely breathing, forced himself to meet Dean's eyes.

'That's good. Really good. Just do what I do, okay? Everything's gonna be fine, you just gotta trust me.'

Dean adjusted his stance until his legs were shoulder distance apart, and had Castiel do the same.

'Okay, what we're going to do is take a deep breath to the count of four,' he said slowly and calmly. 'Then we're going to hold it for four, breath out for four and hold it again for four. I'll do it too and I'll count with my fingers. Ready?'

It took a few attempts, but finally Dean managed to get him breathing in a more regular rhythm.

'How did you do that?' Castiel asked, feeling a lot calmer.

'My little brother used to get panic attacks a lot. It works for him, so I thought I'd try it with you,' Dean smiled.

He noticed that the others were hovering a little way up the path.

'You guys go ahead. We're right behind you.'

He waved them on and turned back to Castiel.

'Do you still want to go? You don't have to.'

Castiel considered it.

'I do want to go.'

'Okay, then stick with me and you'll be just fine.'

Castiel walked to the gate, but slowed again then felt Dean's arms around his shoulders

'Is this ok?' Dean asked.

Castiel nodded and closed his eyes, allowing Dean to guide him. He shuddered as he felt the Dementors' chill wash over him.

'Tell me about your brother,' he said.

'His name's Sam and he's starting here next year. He's super excited, the little nerd,' Dean chuckled.

As they passed the Dementors, Castiel's knees gave way and he felt quite weak, but Dean held him up and helped him walk until he recovered enough to stand for himself.

'Stop,' he said.

Dean let go and they stood to the side for a minute. Dean also pulled some chocolate out of his pocket and shared it with Castiel.

'Man, those Dementors,' he said.

'What about them?'

'Well they suck.'

Castiel then noticed that Dean was shaking ever so slightly.

'Are you all right?'

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.' He stuffed the block of chocolate in his mouth. 'Come on, let's go get some drinks. Any idea where your friends are?'

'We'll probably find Ron in Honeydukes.'

'Sounds like my kind of guy. I like him already.'

They did indeed find Ron in Honeydukes, packing his bag with as many sweets as he could while Hermione watched him with a mixture of impatience and disgust.

'Where are Sherlock and John?' Castiel asked.

'Dunno,' said Ron, staring greedily around the room to see if there was anything else he wanted.

'Sugar Quills,' said Dean, handing Ron one. 'Trust me.'

Finally Ron was finished and they made their way over to the Three Broomsticks, where they found John and Sherlock. John was looking particularly irritated and Sherlock quite smug.

'What's up?' said Ron as they sat down.

'Someone decided that he wanted to sneak into the Hog's Head while it was hosting a vampire meeting,' John told them.

'It was very informative.'

'I swear to God, Sherlock, I will kill you.'

Dean then spotted the barmaid, Madam Rosmerta.

'I'll go get some drinks,' he said, fixing his hair before approaching her.

Castiel watched Dean lean casually against the bar and confidently get Madam Rosmerta's attention. Then he came back to their table, leading Madam Rosmerta with a tray of drinks.

'All right, Butterbeers for everyone,' he said, passing them out. 'Who's had it before?'

Only Sherlock and Ron had.

'You guys are gonna love it.'

They all took a sip and made sounds of enjoyment, except Castiel who, after his first sip, downed the whole glass in one go.

'Wow, you like it, huh?'

'It is good.'

'So, no Harry then?'

'McGonagall said no,' Hermione told him.

'Pfft, amateur.'

'Dean, Sirius Black is extremely dangerous. I don't believe that it would be safe for Harry to leave the school without someone in authority knowing,' said Castiel.

Dean's expression clouded over.

'He really that bad?'

'Yes.'

Dean thought for a minute.

'We'll just have to figure something out. There's no way we can let him miss out on all this.'

'I don't think he'll be able to come until they catch Black,' said Hermione.

'If the dude escaped Azkaban, how likely are they to catch him? I say we just bring Harry anyway.'

'You're being really irresponsible.'

'What are you talking about? Responsible is my middle name. I'm just being responsible for the survival of Harry's social life.'

'You're ridiculous.'

'Can you stop? You're giving me a headache,' John interjected.

'Are you always this much of a buzzkill?'

'Are you always this much of an idiot?' Sherlock snapped.

'Hey!'

'Stop!'

John closed his eyes and sighed.

'Hermione, Harry has an Invisibility Cloak,' he said.

'He does? Awesome, problem solved!' Dean grinned.

'Invisibility Cloaks don't work on Dementors, though,' Hermione said.

'That is not a problem. There are plenty of secret passages out of the castle, just ask Fred and George.'

'Great, now that's sorted, can we go now?' John said irritably before stomping out.

'What's his problem?' said Dean.

Later on, they went back up to the common room and rained sweets down on Harry. John felt hot and still very irritated. He was twitchy all evening and felt as if his nerves were on fire, so he sat in the quietest corner possible. He couldn't hear what anyone was saying, but followed them out when they got up for the Hallowe'en feast. The Great Hall was filled with floating pumpkins, candles and live bats flying around their heads. The food was just as good as it always was and even John managed to enjoy it when his bad mood suddenly disappeared just before dessert. Finally it was time for bed. They said goodnight to Sherlock and Castiel, and made their way up to Gryffindor Tower. When they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, however, they found it completely blocked off by confused students.

'What's going on?' said Ron. 'They can't all have forgotten the password.'

'Let me through, please,' came Percy's voice as he shoved his way through the crowd. 'What's the hold up here? Excuse me, I'm Head Boy-'

A silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, and John shuddered as a chill settled over the corridor.

'Someone get Professor Dumbledore,' Percy said sharply. 'Quick.'

Next moment, Dumbledore was there, sweeping towards the portrait. John peeked through the gap in the crowd left by Dumbledore and his stomach dropped. He heard Hermione gasp beside him.

The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor. Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, eyes sombre, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape hurrying towards him.

'We need to find her,' said Dumbledore. 'Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady.'

'You'll be lucky!' said a cackling voice.

It was Peeves the poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd looking delighted.

'What do you mean, Peeves?' said Dumbledore calmly.

Peeves's grin faded. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore, so instead adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.

'Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape down on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful,' he said happily. 'Poor thing,' he added unconvincingly.

'Did she say who did it?'

'Oh yes, Professorhead,' Peeves grinned. 'He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see. Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black.'

Welcome back everyone :) Thanks to xXMoonylightXx, Keysmash5955, Deany-Elle and Sianna Scale for the reviews. Hope everyone's having a good day and I'll see you soon!