Chapter 20
The next few weeks went on quite routinely. Sam and Dean went about their days learning during the classes they were assigned to, and had their private tutoring at night.. Sam visited Myrtle on Fridays, and Dean visited the kitchens now and again to teach the house elves new songs about "food".
One night Remus had suggested to Sam that he speak to Madam Hooch about learning more about Quidditch. He inquired during dinner and she said, "If you're serious about the sport, then attend the meeting next Thursday." To which Sam agreed.
Before the meeting was set to start, Sam thought he'd slip by the kitchens himself to grab a snack. As he cracked the portrait door, his ears were met with Dean's off key singing and dozens of house elves' melodious backup.
"Sssssssheeeeeee's myyyyy cheeeeeerry pie!"
Sam's eyes widened as he slammed the portrait shut again. He blinked a few times, turned, and went to the meeting hungry.
Before they knew it, October had begun! The two of them ate, slept, and drank magic. The latter less than figuratively, as Severus insisted that Dean drink his poorly made Hiccuping Potion. The result of which gave him horrible hiccups that Severus refused to cure. He made Dean re-brew the potion twice before he finally got it right. Severus chided him saying that the brewing process was so simple even his first years could make it right the first time. It didn't seem to dampen their budding kinship though, as that very night they stayed up late drinking tea and playing Wizard Chess.
Sam's interest piqued on the 16th of October when Lavender Brown's letter came from her parents with the sad news of her rabbit, Binky's passing. She hadn't received her "premonition" from Trelawney so she had not been outwardly dreading the date, nor had Hermione had to scoff about how ridiculous it was. But sadly it had happened regardless.
Hagrid's classes became more and more Halloween themed. He brought in giant bats, and talked about Acromantulas, much to Ron Weasley's horror. His red hair positively vibrated every time Hagrid mentioned the words 'giant spiders'.
Sam took note of how happy Hagrid was as he beamed proudly with every new creature he brought to the class. Changing Buckbeak's fate had allowed Hagrid to really shine as a Professor, and for that, Sam felt no shame in having done it.
While the students tromped through the pumpkin patch, Sam asked Hagrid how he had been able to grow them so large.
"It's a closely guarded se'cret y'know." he began. And before long he had begun reciting the recipe for his super-grow fertilizer. He was more than halfway through the list when he stopped himself saying, "I shouldn' 'ave tol' ya that."
Things seemed to be settling into a pretty evenly paced life at Hogwarts. Even Minerva seemed to enjoy having Sam and Dean to talk to after the staff meetings. She told them that their idea of bringing physical education to the curriculum was worth an Ogden's Old Firewhiskey each on her tab during their first trip to Hogsmeade.
The castle's décor became increasingly festive as the weeks passed by. Even the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall had bats encircling the students as they ate.
The day before Halloween, Dean was just finishing a private lesson with Severus when the Potions Master opened a hidden compartment in the wall of the classroom. An alcove was hidden within the wall and inside was a cauldron bubbling away. The potion inside gave off an acrid smelling faintly blue colored smoke. Severus scooped up the potion in a small bottle, capped it, and handed it to Dean.
"What's this?" Dean asked.
"This," began Severus with a noticeable sneer, "Is Wolfsbane Potion."
"What's it for?"
"This potion alleviates the symptoms of Lycanthropy. While it does not cure it, it allows the drinker to keep his wits about him throughout the change."
"Oh." Dean said plainly. A few moments ticked by and he finally got what Severus was referring to. "Ooooooooh!"
"If you would be so kind as to deliver this dose of potion to Remus, as I would rather chew on an Oleander."
Dean knew of Severus' dislike of Remus and didn't want to agitate the situation. He simply nodded and said, "Sure thing."
"Make sure you get some sleep tonight." Severus said. "Tomorrow is the school's trip to Hogsmeade. The students can be . . ."
Dean waited patiently through his dramatic pause.
". . . Obstreperous." he drawled.
Dean had no idea what that word meant, so he simply laughed and replied, "Yeah, I'll bet! See ya later at dinner?"
"Of course."
"Alright." Dean said quickly and headed out the door.
Dean climbed the stairs from the dungeon saying the word "obstreperous" over and over to himself.
He went to Remus' chambers and knocked on the door. He heard nothing inside. Checking his watch, Dean knew Remus was usually in his chambers at this time on Saturdays. He knocked again hoping he was only napping.
Eventually he heard a stirring of something inside. The door opened and Dean was met by Remus' sallow face.
"Hey Remus! I brought you . . . JEE-ZUS!" he was shocked to see him looking as pale and worn down as he did. "You okay, man?"
"Please come in." Remus said as he grabbed Dean's arm and quickly pulled him into barely lit room. A few candles had been lit as the curtains had been drawn to block out the afternoon sun. The door promptly closed behind him and Remus turned and tried his best to muster up a smile.
"Please forgive me, I don't want anyone to see me like this." he said.
"You look like Hell, man. Is it like this every time?"
"Unfortunately."
Dean retrieved the potion from his pocket and handed it to Remus who took the bottle feebly.
"You need anything? Can I do something?"
"No, Dean. I will manage. As soon as the sun begins to set, I shall be leaving the castle. There is a safe place I go where I can do no harm." He looked at the bottle in his hand with disdain. "As long as I take this vile concoction."
With that, he unlatched the top and a puff of blueish smoke wafted out of it. Remus lifted the bottle to his lips and he swallowed the potion in one go. His grimacing face told Dean all he needed to know about the taste.
"Foul stuff, this." he said, wiping his mouth.
"So I take it you won't be going with us to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
"Not this time, Dean. Tonight the moon is full, and I am at my weakest. Tomorrow I will be better, but not well enough to make the journey. No, I shall stay here tomorrow. Recover my strength."
"Take care of yourself Remus." Dean said heading toward the door. "Come back to us in one piece, alright?"
"I'll do what I can." he grinned with much effort.
Dean nodded and quietly slipped out the door into the hallway. Outside he ran into Sam who was on his way to his own room.
"Hey!" Sam greeted him. "What's up? How is he?" he asked, seeing that he had just come from Remus' room.
"Well, he ain't winning any beauty contests." Dean said shortly.
Sam looked worried. "I know he is going to be fine. But actually knowing the guy and seeing what he is going through . . . man!" He shook his head.
"Yeah." Dean agreed. "You know if he was any other guy in our world we'd be gearing up to take his wolf-ass out right now."
"But he's not a harm to people. As long as -"
"As long as he takes his potion, he's good. Yeah, I know." Dean said quickly.
"Seeing this side of him. How hard he tries to fight what he is . . . it kind of . . ." Sam looked at his brother's arm.
"Gives you hope that I can fight it too?" asked Dean a little more harshly than he had intended.
Sam pressed his jaw together and nodded. He knew that Dean tried. He didn't want to get on his case. They'd been getting along better than they had in a long time and starting a fight was the last thing he wanted to do.
Dean sighed heavily. "I hear ya." he said and looked down the hallway to avoid eye contact.
As Sam began to speak again, Dean noticed the end of the hall was abnormally darker than usual considering the sun was illuminating every window on this side of the castle. Within the shadows he could make out the dark figure of someone watching them.
"What the?!" Dean exclaimed.
Sam followed his gaze and instantly recognized it. "That's the same shadow that was in my room!"
"HEY!" Dean roared and took off down the hall at breakneck speed, Sam at his heels.
They hadn't closed the gap by half when the figure stepped back further into the shadows and disappeared. Instantly light crept back into the space as if someone was playing with a dimmer switch.
"Oh, COME ON!" Dean yelled in frustration. "Aaaaahhhhh!" He threw his fist through the air at nothing. "Who the hell is it?" he asked.
"I don't know. It isn't Sirius. He doesn't have that kind of power."
"Well it was definitely not Cass."
"Nobody from the books I can think of can do that."
"I swear to God if it's some punk-ass Angel messing with us . . ." Dean's voice trailed off.
"Come on, Dean." Sam said taking his arm. "Not out here. Let's get out of sight. My room is warded."
"Warded? Warded from what?"
"Everything." Sam replied.
They made their way hurriedly down the passageway to his room. Sam waved his wand in front of the door without speaking a word. The door shimmered and with another flick of his wrist the lock clicked open.
Dean looked at Sam sideways for a moment and then they both entered into the dimly lit room. Sam quickly turned around and locked the door and threw the ward back up.
"So, what? Now you can do magic without talking?" Dean asked gruffly.
"It's called Non-Verbal Magic." Sam responded.
"I know what it's called! Where'd you learn how to do that?"
"Minerva. She said I was advancing so quickly that I should try it."
"Geeze, man. You and that Hermione chick should start a brainiac bowling league."
Sam ignored him and crossed the floor, throwing open the curtains. The room lit up revealing the runes, sigils, devil's traps, and Enochian symbols written in chalk on every surface. There were even symbols Dean didn't recognize.
"Wow!" Dean said, impressed. "You weren't kidding. Looks like the dungeon at the Bunker."
"I've had to redo it twice. The House Elves kept scrubbing the walls and I had to leave them a note telling them to leave it alone."
"I thought it was warded?" Dean asked.
"It is. House Elves have their own kind of magic."
"Is that their magic?" he asked pointing to one of the unknown shapes on the wall.
"Yes. That one symbol there allows passage by invitation only. After that night I saw that shadow in my room, I didn't want to take any chances." said Sam.
"I guess not. Okay, so . . . this thing shows up in your room, then nothing for almost a month and now it's stalking the halls?"
"Yeah, I don't know, Dean. It doesn't match any of the lore here, trust me. It's gotta be something from our world that followed us."
Dean sat on the edge of Sam's bed clearly frustrated. As he chewed on his lip a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe we'll find out tomorrow."
"What's that?" Sam asked.
"It's a stupid thought, but Sybil said we'd get the answers to some but not all of our questions on Halloween."
"You know she is widely regarded as a psychic hack, right?"
"Hey! I remember the part of the movie where she made the real prediction prophecy thing. That wasn't bull. That came true. Maybe she does have a bit of the Shining in her?"
"Well I guess it's possible. It does run in her family." Sam thought a moment. "I guess we'll see tomorrow."
Dean stood and grabbed a piece of parchment off the desk and a quill. He hastily scribbled some of the new symbols on the page and shoved it into his robes. "It might not be a bad idea at the point for me to put up some stuff up too."
"Good idea." Sam agreed.
"Okay, I'm gonna go get ready for dinner. Watch your back while you're walking around from now, Sammy."
"You too." Sam waved his wand and the door shimmered to signify his ward had come down.
Dean opened the door and looked up and down the hallway. "Okay, see you in half an hour."
"I'll meet you in the hall."
"Okay, sounds good." Dean said and closed the door behind him. Sam was about to re-ward the door when it opened again and Dean popped his head back in. "By the way . . . what does 'obstreperous' mean?"