Chapter 14

The night could not come fast enough for Dean. All day long he was distracted from the lessons each class he sat in on was learning. Happy memories were few and far between. He began by recalling as much as he could of his childhood. Obviously nothing popped out in his mind. It was dull and full of repetition.

He thought of his teenage years. The distractions he looked for to ease the monotony. A new location every week or so, a new school, new people. Nothing he could sink his teeth into. Late teens, more of the same. The early twenties, he thought. That's when the freedom started. Well, as much as freedom comes in this line of work.

That was when Sam joined up with him. His loss of Jessica in the same way their mother was killed, that was the only reason he agreed to come with him. He knew that. Had it really been that long ago? Death. Loss. Death. Loss. What the hell did Sammy think of? he thought. Why was he able to produce a full Patronus? What the hell was so happy in his life to give him the edge on me?

He hardly touched his food all day. At breakfast he picked at the eggs on his plate. At lunch, he ate half of his sandwich. And now, at dinner, he sort of picked at his roast and veggies with his fork till it was in shreds.

"Dude." Sam said, taking notice. "What's up with you today?"

Dean looked up slowly from his plate with a highly troubled look on his face. He hadn't been staring at his plate per se, more through it.

Sam saw his face fully now. It was the face of someone who had been contemplatively scrunching their face up in deep thought. The lines on his face seemed so much deeper. His expression was somewhere locked between defeat and exhaustion.

"Oh wow." Sam said staggered. "Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, oh yeah. I'm just . . ." his voice trailed off as he sunk back into his own mind.

"Dean?" his brother asked worriedly.

He didn't speak for a couple of drawn-out heartbeats. "What was your happy thought, Sammy?" he asked finally.

Sam felt a sigh of relief escape him. "Oh! Is that what this is about?"

Dean nodded simply.

"You scared me there for a minute, man. I thought you were gonna tell me – well to be honest I didn't know what you were going to tell me."

"How is it that you were able to pull that owl out of your ass and I hit the bricks?" Dean asked.

Sam put his knife and fork down. This was obviously a very serious conversation and he wanted to give it an earnest go. Who knows when the next time Dean would be so open would be.

"Well, it wasn't easy. I really had to dig but I found it. I thought, when was the last time I was actually, fully, 100% happy. Well, not happy exactly, more like . . . content."

Dean nodded and listened.

"We have fun when we can, we take a load off. But it's temporary. So I thought, when was the last time we had enough of a breather, and the situation felt like a normal life? Remember the time it was you, me, Dad, and Bobby? We had just finished that big case and we decided to take a mini vacation?"

Dean's heavy brow lifted in remembrance. "Oh, yeah. When we lived off of burgers, dogs, and beer for a week? Watched all the monster flicks? Yeah, I remember that. That's it? That was your happy thought?"

"Well, yeah." Sam admitted. "Back then things weren't as messed up. It was simpler. We were all together. Everyone we considered family, all at one place at one time . . . no cases, no demons, no angels. Just us."

Dean looked at him and paused. "You're one sappy son of a bitch, you know that?" he said trying not to break his delivery. He finally broke and smiled for the first time all day.

Sam smiled with him and they shared a laugh. It was moments like this that Sam treasured the most. Perhaps he was sappy.

"Okay, so what happy thought were you using?" Sam asked Dean.

"I was thinking about when we moved into the Bunker. Setting up my own room. Never really had one before. Finally had my own space."

"That's good." Sam said. "But there has gotta be something more meaningful. Something stronger."

"I've been racking my brain all day, man. I can't think of anything."

"I can make a suggestion. You're not going to like it, but it's something."

Dean looked at him sideways. "What am I not going to like?"

Sam chose his words carefully. "When you look back, initially it may be a bit painful, but weren't you happy when you were with Lisa and Ben?"

Dean froze. He had been avoiding the memories of Lisa and Ben purposely. But what Sam said was true. Initially, the memories that immediately came from the thought of them was how he had let them down. How he had scared them half to death while fighting the urges of his temporary state as a vampire. He was trying to keep them safe. He had failed. Hadn't he? He brought the danger into their home when he had made a promise. The hunter in him had ruined what was otherwise a blissfully ignorant life. Aside from all of the precautions and contingencies he had set in place and checked on the daily. Like many things, he just couldn't let it go. And once he found out Sam was alive . . . well . . . it wasn't an easy choice.

But Sam was right. Once you looked past all the regret and self loathing of how it turned out, there was happiness. He had been happy. He loved Lisa. He loved Ben. For a year, he had known what it was like to be part of a normal family. He was, for lack of a better word, a father to Ben. And had Sam not come back from the dead, soulless or otherwise, he may have been a husband. No. He couldn't really blame that on Sam. It hadn't been his fault. It was their past. Those Djinn would have found him regardless. The timing was just . . .

He forced himself to pull out of his own head again. "You're right." he answered Sam. "I was happy."

Sam smiled weakly. He knew how hard it was for him to think about them. And of course there was a certain amount of distain his brother kept for him for his part in it. He hadn't been himself of course, but it still happened. Nothing could be said or done to make up for the loss that he had cost his brother. He knew that.

"They are your happy thought, Dean." Sam said.

"Thank you, Peter Pan." Dean said and nudged him.

They laughed again.

"Oh!" said Sam suddenly. "I had an idea about how to maintain your happiness when the Dementors get close."

"What's that?" Dean said genuinely interested in his theory.

"You know how Remus gave us the chocolate afterward?"

"Yeah." Dean said remembering how the warmth returned and spread quickly through them.

"Well, what if you ate a piece of chocolate while the Dementor was attacking?"

Dean thought about it for a second. "That makes sense. Like in Zelda when you use a fairy in the middle of a really hard boss battle."

"And you call me the nerd." Sam said laughing.

"Alright, alright." Dean retorted. "But yeah, it's a good theory, and I'm going to give it a shot."

After dinner, Remus met up with Sam and Dean.

"Good evening, gentlemen. I trust that you've done your homework?"

They chuckled together.

Dean smiled. "I think I've got it this time.

Remus led them along the familiar path along the lake out into the darkness. From the woods nearby came the sounds of unknown beasts roaming through the trees. Remus looked up at the waning moon that appeared and disappeared behind the cover of clouds drifting across the sky. All was quiet, save for the sounds of the lake lapping at the shore, the soft chirp of crickets, and their three pairs of footsteps.

"So Sammy thinks he's got an idea." said Dean, breaking the silence.

Remus mused. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It's about the chocolate." he confirmed.

"What about it?" Remus asked.

"Well, you know how it helps after a Dementor attack?"

"Of course."

"Well I thought, why not use it during?"

Remus slowed his pace as he thought. The wheels seemed to turning over in his mind as he thought about it. "An interesting theory, to be sure."

"You mean nobody has thought of that before?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Well if you think about it, we are actively seeking a Dementor. All of the Greats of history put all their findings into the books that we teach from. But not many modern people with a brain in their head will go looking for an encounter with them. Most witches and wizards spend their time trying to avoid them. "

"That makes sense." said Dean. "Well, we actively go looking for monsters all the time. Guess that's just the way Hunters think."

"You know," Remus began. "I think you both would make great discoveries here. You think differently. I know that you are trying to find a way back to your world, but would you consider staying?"

Sam spoke first. "Well, I . . . I mean it's a nice break from what we are used to."

Dean piped in, "And it's definitely different than what we are used to."

"There's that," said Sam. "And . . . and we don't even know if this world goes on after the story is finished."

That had done it. Sam clamped his mouth tightly shut.

Remus turned to Sam. "Don't worry, Sam. I've learned my lesson not to ask questions I shouldn't know the answers to."

"Oh, good." Sam felt relieved.

Remus flipped himself around and stopped the brothers in their tracks. "But I will ask two questions."

Sam gulped. He knew he couldn't keep interfering.

"Be as ambiguous as you'd like." Remus continued. "All I want to know . . ."

Here it comes! he thought.

". . . Does the Dark Lord return?"

Harmless enough to answer, right? Sam took a breath. "Yes." he answered.

". . . And do we win?" Remus finished.

Sam's heart felt that same pang of guilt as before with Dumbledore. Knowing full well the outcome and body count was a horrible feeling. He asked a question, but asked for no details. He doesn't have to know that he doesn't make it. If I told him that they win, he will die knowing that his side does win. I can't deny him that, can I? Sam thought.

"Yes." Sam said simply, biting his tongue to prevent himself from saying any more.

Remus smiled and looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from his chest. "Oh, most excellent." he said.

Somewhere deep in the woods a most horrible screech erupted from nowhere. Like something out of a horrible nightmare, it was reminiscent of a scream with the pitch of a diving hawk coming in for the kill, and some sort of wailing moan.

All three men drew their wands.

"We best get a move on." Remus said after some time and began walking with a purpose.

They returned to the place they had gone before near the gatehouse. They approached it with caution and stayed alert. They came to the place they had been attacked before and waited. Ten minutes had come and gone before Remus suggested they go further along the path.

As they walked, Sam handed the others some chocolate. "As soon as you see it, eat it."

"Right-o!" said Remus.

"Got it." said Dean.

Another fifteen minutes went by and still nothing approached them. The night had gotten beyond chilly and their breath was visible with every exhale.

"Well, if we don't find anything in the next twenty minutes, I say we try again tomorrow night." said Remus.

"Yeah, alright." Dean said downheartedly.

Remus turned back the way they came to take a survey of the area. Out of the woods with no warning a Dementor shot toward him at break-neck speed. Before he could react it had swooped over them and had drawn a deep rattling kiss from Remus, who quickly lost his footing. Dean and Sam ducked and popped the chocolate into their mouths. Sam broke off a piece and shoved it into Remus' mouth as he recovered from the blitz attack.

The ground was now covered in frost, and the air seemed to crystallize and become like fog. Remus used the effect of the chocolate to regain his strength and got up quicker than he had anticipated. "It's working, Sam!" Remus muttered said and they all looked wildly around for where the Dementor went.

Sam looked up. That's where it was before. He wished he hadn't looked up. "Ah, crap!" he exclaimed.

The other two followed his gaze. Up above them, swirling around and around, were half a dozen Dementors.

"Gonna need more chocolate." Sam said taking a huge bite right out of the bar itself. The others followed suit and did the same.

The Dementors began to descend all at once.

Remus gave instructions quickly. "Happy thoughts! On the count of three! ONE! TWO! THREE!"

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" the trio yelled in unison.

White light erupted from all three wands and joined together to form the familiar shield. One after another the Dementors bounced off of it. They flew at it again and again but they could not get near their prey.

A glowing wolf swiftly leapt from the shield, followed by a shimmering owl. They flitted about for a bit but did not attack the Dementors. They stood guard in front of the shield as if waiting for something. Suddenly something else broke through the shield. In a blur it had captured one of the Dementors in its claw.

The three tried to make out what it was. It wasn't until a massive tail appeared and stuck the Dementor with its stinger that they realized it was a large scorpion.

The Dementor screeched loudly as the Patronus attacked it. All at once the other two Patronuses began to attack as well. The wolf and owl encircled the other five Dementors and they began to escort the shrieking foes further and further away.

The Scorpion holding the one trapped Dementor in its claw was stinging it over and over again. With each sting the Dementor cried out. Remus looked on in amazement.

"I've never seen this before!" he bellowed over the din.

The scorpion reached up with its other claw and gripped it with both. Without warning the scorpion ripped the Dementor in half, discarding the pieces to the wind. They faded into a black smoke which blew away on the wind. Shortly after, the Patronus itself faded away.

Everything went silent. Nothing to hear, but the lapping water, their ragged breathing, and eventually, the chirp of the crickets.