Grim Defeat

Professor Dumbledore sent them all back to the Great Hall, where they were joined minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Castiel and Sherlock hurried over to them, Castiel shivering in his pajamas.

'What happened?' Sherlock asked.

'Sirius Black broke in,' Dean told him, handing Castiel his cloak. 'He attacked the Fat Lady.'

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat to get their attention. 'The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle,' he announced as Professors McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick closed all the doors. 'I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the Prefects to stand guard over the entrances, and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbances should be reported to me immediately,' he added to Percy. 'Send word with one of the ghosts.' He paused, about to leave the Hall. 'Oh, yes, you'll be needing…' He waved his wand and the long house tables flew to the edges of the Hall, and propped themselves against the walls. He waved again and conjured hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags. 'Sleep well,' he said, closing the door behind him.

'Everyone in their sleeping bags!' shouted Percy. 'Lights out in ten minutes!'

The group, now comprised of five Gryffindors and two Ravenclaws, grabbed a sleeping bag each and dragged them to a quiet corner of the room. Gabriel then appeared beside them.

'Hey, are you okay?' he said to Castiel.

'I'm fine, Gabriel. I wasn't there.'

'That's good,' said Gabriel, relieved. 'Who's this?' he said, spotting Dean.

'I'm Dean Winchester,' said Dean, shaking Gabriel's hand.

'Nice to meet you, Dean. I'm Gabriel, Castiel's brother.'

Just then Percy came over. 'Gabriel, can you guard the main doors with Sally?'

'Of course,' said Gabriel. 'See you guys later.'

'I told you it was dangerous,' Hermione said to Dean once Percy left. 'Harry definitely shouldn't sneak out now.'

Dean looked at her incredulously. 'Are you serious? Are you really using the break in of a mass murderer to make a point?'

Hermione's mouth fell open.

'You're smart, Hermione, but you really need to learn how to read a room.'

Ron, who was angry about another attempt to eat Scabbers by Crookshanks, agreed wholeheartedly.

'What I want to know is how he got in,' Dean added, and he wasn't the only. The question that no one had an answer to reverberated around the room.

'He didn't apparate or fly in. We know that much,' said Sherlock.

'We do?' said John.

'Yes. There are enchantments around the grounds prohibiting anyone from entering via apparition or broomstick. And obviously he didn't come in through the main entrance. Not with the Dementors.'

'But didn't he get past the Dementors at Azkaban? Can't he just do that again?' said Dean.

Hermione, although a little upset about Dean telling her off, was just pleased that he was now taking the situation seriously. 'However it was that he did it, that's his only option at this point,' she said.

'The lights are going out now!' Percy shouted. 'I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!'

The candles all went out at once and the only light came from the silvery ghosts gliding around the room. Dean turned around in his sleeping bag to look at Castiel.

'Hey, are you okay?' he hissed.

'Yes, Dean. Go to sleep.'

'Aren't you scared?'

'No. We're safe in here.'

'Oh yeah, you're totally right. Yeah, me neither.'

'Dean?'

'Yeah?'

'Are you afraid?'

'What? No, of course not. Why would I be afraid?'

'Dean.'

'Well, yeah, kinda.'

'We are safe, Dean. No one can get in here, especially not past Gabriel.'

'He really that good?'

'Yes.'

'All right, then.'

'Goodnight, Dean.'

Dean eventually fell asleep with Castiel watching, still wrapped in his cloak.

For the next few days, Sirius Black was the only topic of conversation among the students. The Fat Lady's canvas was taken away, replaced by the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat, grey pony. No one was happy about this, as he spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest making up ridiculously complicated passwords that he changed at least twice a day. Unfortunately, none of the other portraits wanted the job, so it went to Sir Cadogan, the only one brave enough to volunteer. The talk of Sirius Black died down, however, as the Quidditch season drew nearer. The weather grew steadily worse, but this did not stop Oliver Wood from calling training sessions as often as possible, though under the watch of Madam Hooch, who had been tasked with keeping an eye on Harry. Despite the weather, practices were going extremely well until their last practice before the first match.

'Bad news,' said Wood, looking very angry. 'I've just seen Flint. We're playing Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin.'

'They can't do that!' exclaimed Fred. 'We haven't been training to play Hufflepuff!'

'I know. They're blaming it on their Seeker still being unfit to play,' Wood said bitterly. 'It's a load of rubbish, but there's nothing we can do about it now.' He turned to Harry. 'Harry, their Seeker is Cedric Diggory. He's very good, so are you sure I can't convince you to try out the Two Thousand and One?'

'It's a bit late now, Oliver,' Harry said, thunder rolled in the distance. 'If the weather's like this on Saturday, I'd rather be on a broom I trust.'

'All right, then. I trust you, so don't let me down.'

The day before the match was uneventful, if frustrating, with the Slytherins pretending to be upset about not being able to play.

'If only my arm was feeling better,' Malfoy sighed as a gale pounded outside.

Oliver Wood had also took to following Harry around, giving him advice and tips, and making him late for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Unfortunately, Professor Lupin was out due to sickness, so they were stuck with Snape. So, on top of being late, Harry lost ten house points and Snape set them an incredibly difficult essay to write on werewolves, knowing full well that they were nowhere near covering them yet. Ron ended up with a detention to scrub the hospital wing bed pans without magic.

'I always keep them clean, anyway,' said Castiel when he found out. 'It shouldn't be too difficult.'

At last, it was match day. Harry went off with the team and the rest of them went to find seats in the stands. The wind was ferocious and pushed them sideways as they walked. Dean ran out to walk alongside them and all of them were soaked through within seconds of leaving the castle.

'I don't know how Harry's gonna see the Snitch through this!' Dean yelled over the wind.

'At least we'll be able to see what's going on,' said Castiel.

Before Dean could ask why, Castiel's wand was in his face.

'Impervius!' he said.

Suddenly, Dean's face stopped dripping and he could see Castiel, hair plastered to his face, quite clearly.

'Oh, cool, thanks!'

Hermione also cast a charm that kept them warm, despite the sheeting rain. They settled in the seats at the front just as the teams walked out onto the pitch. Wood shook hands with Cedric Diggory, captain of the Hufflepuff team, and both teams took off. They Gryffindor Chasers easily outstripped the Hufflepuffs, but as the match went on, it was clear that Harry couldn't see anything. Wood signalled for a time out and the team landed. Hermione jumped down to cast the Impervius Charm on Harry's glasses. The team took off again, and this time Harry didn't look as if he was flying around aimlessly. Cedric saw the Snitch first, however, and it took Harry a moment to notice him pelting after the tiny gold speck. They all stood up to see better and to cheer Harry on, then suddenly an eerie silence fell over the stadium. Though the wind was as strong as ever, the roar had disappeared. The blood in Castiel's limbs turned to ice and as a hundred Dementors floated out onto the pitch, a loud bang pounded his ears, followed by a terrible scream. Dean caught him just before he hit the ground.

The Dementors also caused Harry to fall from his broom fifty feet in the air, and the crowd gasped and screamed. Dumbledore marched out onto the pitch and cast a spell to slow Harry's fall, then did the same spell they'd seen Lupin do on the train and chased the Dementors away with a silvery light from his wand. Dean managed to shake Castiel awake as the Dementors flew out, and just in time to see Harry hit the ground. It took a moment for Castiel to understand what was happening, but when he did, he vaulted the barrier, down to the pitch.

'Cas, wait!' said Dean, jumping after him.

Castiel slid to his knees beside Harry and immediately began running his wand over Harry's body. Every few seconds, however, he had to stop to shake the water out of his hair. He got frustrated with it, so pointed his wand straight up in the air and shouted 'Impervius!'

Dean looked up in wonder as a barrier formed over them, preventing the rain from falling on them at all.

Dumbledore approached Harry and raised his wand to conjure a stretcher, but Castiel stopped him.

'With all due respect, sir, I must determine whether or not his spine is intact. He must not be move until I've done so,' he said.

So Dumbledore waited patiently until Castiel gave him the go ahead. He stretchered Harry away, followed by the team, and the students emptied the stands.

'That was amazing!' Dean said to Castiel.

'Thank you,' he mumbled.

Just then, Ron, Hermione, John and Sherlock ran over.

'Diggory caught the Snitch,' Ron said. 'We lost the match.'

'Right, like that's our biggest concern. You guys should see if you can find Harry's broom,' said Dean, squinting at the sky.

Ron and Hermione left to find it and Castiel took on a slightly grey pallor.

'What's wrong?' said John.

'I- I can't get up.'

His eyes rolled back and he slumped over. Dean sighed.

'Either of you know how to do that stretcher spell?'

John and Sherlock shook their heads.

'Damn. You guys want to help me carry him?'

Dean reached down and frowned.

'Actually, I got him. He's pretty light.'

When they got to the hospital wing, the whole Gryffindor team, minus Wood, were crowded around Harry's bed.

'What happened?' said Madam Pomfrey as Dean lowered Castiel onto a bed.

'I'm not sure,' said Dean.

'The Dementors make him pass out, don't they?' said John.

'Well, yeah, but they were already gone.'

Madam Pomfrey felt Castiel's forehead. 'He's been under a lot of stress lately,' she told them. 'He hasn't been eating or sleeping much and human bodies can only handle so much.'

'So what, like exhaustion?'

'Yes, I'd say so. He just needs some rest.'

Just then, Hermione and Ron returned, accompanied by Cedric Diggory. Hermione was carrying a bag full of splintered wood and twigs.

'Oh, man,' said Dean. 'Is that-'

'Harry's Nimbus? Yeah,' Ron said grimly. 'It blew into the Whomping Willow and Professor Flitwick had to get it back.'

They went to sit with the rest of the team and Cedric approached hesitantly.

'Is he okay?' he asked hoarsely.

'Madam Pomfrey says he'll be fine,' Fred told him.

'Listen, I tried to get a rematch-'

'It's fine,' Angelina Johnson interrupted. 'You caught the Snitch before Harry fell. Hufflepuff won fair and square.'

'I- well, I'm sorry.'

'It's not your fault. Really. Thanks for coming to see us.'

Cedric nodded and backed out of the room. Not long after Cedric left, Harry woke up. They broke the news to him about both the match and his broom, and Dean pulled Sherlock aside.

'Hey, you saw that crazy magic Cas did, right?' he whispered. 'Have you ever seen him do anything like that before?'

Sherlock glanced over at Castiel. 'Not personally, but Hermione told me that he cast a particularly powerful Lumos charm in our first year.'

'So that kind of thing is normal for him?'

Sherlock shook his head. 'He's always been one of the more powerful wizards I've met, but this… Honestly, Dean, I didn't know you could even do that with the Impervius Charm. It's only supposed to be cast on objects, but he cast it in the air.'

'What does that mean?'

Sherlock shrugged. 'I supposed it means he's likely to have a few more surprises in store for us.'

Sherlock gave the slumbering Castiel a fleeting, curious look, then left with John when Madam Pomfrey ushered them and the Gryffindor team out of the ward.

Hi everyone, welcome back! Thanks to xXMoonylightXx and Guest for the reviews. Sorry for the delay, I have an assignment due in a couple of days but I had a cancelled lecture and few extra hours, so I hope you all enjoyed it and see you next time.