Chapter Four: Interrogating the Cat

26th August

No. 4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

England

Fourteen hundred hours

Dean Winchester stepped out from behind the hedge the slowly, examining the view of the house closely, his green eyes flickering as he did so. It was a sunny day in England- a rare one, it seemed, seeing as it had rained for the past week. God, he was sick of British weather and British people and British accents… hey, the food wasn't too bad though - they made good pie, at least.

Carefully, he took a step forward to get a better look at No. 4 Privet Drive - Harry Potter's residence. 'Huh.' Dean murmured. It just looked like an ordinary human house - perfectly trimmed lawn with a random statue thing in the centre; beige bricks and a roof slated in dark brown tiles; perfectly polished windows with net curtains drawn neatly behind them. In fact, it was the most normal house Dean had ever seen - everything about it was so, so mundane. Why the hell was a famed teenage wizard living here?

Still, it made it easier to deal with. He might be ignorant in the ways of the wizarding world, but Dean sure knew how to deal with normalised humans.

One of the neighbouring houses doors opened, and Dean hurriedly withdrew to crouch behind the hedge oN E moor. He knelt there for a moment - then realised something, and instinctively jumped in surprise as he realised what he was seeing in the corner of his eye. Castiel.

'Don't do that!' He exclaimed angrily, gritting his teeth and sighing.

'Hello Dean.'

Carefully, Dean turned round, still crouching behind the hedge, his expre ssion fixed in deadpan stone.

'Cas. We've talked about this ' He looked past the Angel's shoulder. There was about three inches between them. 'Personal space?'

Castiel looked down, blue eyes somber, then shifted back a few paces. 'My apologies.'

Dean shook his head and sighed, and stood up, stopping out to survey the house once more. 'Okay, so that's where the kid lives.' He nodded to the building. 'You ready?'

'Yes.'

'Come on, then.' He slid a long hawthorn wand from his pocket and began to walk towards the house, CAstiel following. 'Now remember; we're meant to be wizards. We need to fool this kid into thinking we're genuine, okay?'

Cas looked at him, puzzled. 'But you are a wizard, Dean.'

Dean rolled his eyes 'Jeez, what I would give for people to stop telling me that.' He tlookeeeeee to Castiel. 'Now have you got your stick thingy?'

'You mean the fourteen-and-a-half inch length of cedar wood with a Phoenix feather core known as a wand that is currently in my pocket.' Castiel double checked.

Dean looked at him. 'Yeah, Cas, that. Now take it out of your pocket and let's go.'

They resumed walking across the street, Dean strading up the garden path and up the door, proceeding to thump it loudly upon reaching it. Castiel followed, looking around in curiosity. Wizards and witches perplexed him - they were often out of angelic jurisdiction and he had never directly dealt with them before. God had created them to watch over humans, so it was said; but that had been the purpose of the Angels as well - had he not trusted them enough to do it without wizardig kind there to make sure? Why had he created this race? That was what he wanted to find out in his time here, he wanted to study then, to learn everything he could and such the bottom of this mystery, find an explanation. The stories couldn't be true.

'Jeez, what is taking them so long?' Dean questioned irritably, thumping the door again. The faint sound of yelling could be heard, and as footsteps began to approach the door. Dean turned to Cas hurriedly and said in a low voice; 'Now Cas, let me do the talking, okay? No telling him that you're an 'Angel of the Lord', we won't get anything out of him if we make ourselves out to be insane.'

'Okay.' Cas replied, his mind elsewhere as he ran his eyes over the lawn. A cat had just bounded out of the bushes next door and was slowly slinking across the patch of grass. Could this be a magical cat? It might be able to tell them something. Now it was rolling around in one of the borders, covering itself with dirt… yes, this was definitely something. Cas turned to wander towards it, kneeling down and addressing the feline beast on its level.

'Greetingx, Domus Cattus.' He spoke in gravelly, serious tones. The cat stopped rolling and looked up at him with clear eyes. 'Good, I have your attention. Now tell me, do you know anything about the boy who lives here? Harry… Blotter, I think his name is.'

In the background, there was the sound of the door opening and an English-Accented voice answering the door before Dean's low tones spoke a reply. This went unnoticed to Cas as he watched the cat, who simply stared at him, then meowed plaintively. The Angel creased his brow. 'I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.' He reached down to pick up the creature carefully and held it under the arms out in front of him, looking it carefully into its eyes. 'I'll repeat myself, do you know anything about Harry Blotter?'

There was a tense silence heavy with expectancy as Cas concentrated heavily in the cat, the poor animal looking around in confusion. In the meantime, Dean and a teenage boy wearing glasses had been watching in confusion. Dean coughed hastily.

'Er, Cas?' He called. 'What are you doing?

Castiel turned round, still holding the cat aloft. 'I was interrogating the cat.' At that moment, the creature let out another yowling meow and Cas turned back to face it, momentarily squinting his eyes as he examined it once more, then he shook his head. 'He knows nothing.' With no prior warning, he dropped the cat and let it nosedive to the floor. The aninal took a moment to recover and then shot into the bushes, still yowling.

'Mr Tibbles?' The boy at the door called in alarm, scanning the garden for the cat with concerned eyes. Dean tooh this opportunity to facepalm. A moment later, the boy turned back to Dean and looked from him to Castiel in confusion. 'I'm sorry, but - who are you?'

Dean shot an implying glance at Cas, who, after a confused pause, moved up the path to stand next to him, and coughed. 'We're, uh, from the Ministry of Magic. Department of Wizarding Security.' He lifted up the fake I.D. he had managed to make the other day. From his side, Cas was continuing to inspect the porch, and Dean nUdged him with his elbow. Jumping back into gear, Cas twitched, then realised what was going on, and reached inside his overcoat hurriedly for his I.D., and then proceeded to hold it upside down for Harry Potter to see.

Dean watched as Cas continued to hold it upside down, unblinking and unaware as a confused Harry Potter peered at it, then sighed, and reached to turn it the right way up. 'He's new.' Was all he said to Harry, before placing his hands into his trouser pockets authoritively. 'Now, is it okay if we come in and ask you some questions?'

Harry looked from one man to the other. 'If you're from the Ministry, why are you American?' He questioned, then glanced at Dean's I.D. 'And they never carry Muggle I.D.s.' He said, unsure.

'Well, er,' Dean gave a quick grin. 'They're new, so we can deal with , er, Muggles, pretend we're cops.' He turned round quickly and snatched Castiel's I.D. out of his hands, putting them both into the inside pocket of his jacket before returning to speak to Harry. 'And we do security for uh, U.S. border control, so it's only proper that we're, you know,' Dean put on his terrible English accent to finish his sentence; ' 'Yanks'.'

Harry looked at him as if he thought he was mentally impaired. 'If you're border control, why do you want to talk to me?'

Dean looked upwards, trying to dream up an excuse, but suddenly, the boy's face dawned in realisation and he looked at Dean keenly. 'Wait - did Dumbledore send you?'

Oh, the Dumbledork guy. Dean remembered. He was pretty sure that the dude was the Principal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Bobby had said he was very close to Potter. 'Uh, yeah.' He answered, his voice changing to become firmer. 'Yeah, he sent us. Just to check up on you. Can we come in? I'm Agent Bonham and this here is my partner, Agent Moscoe.' He gestured to Cas.

A hint of worry and sorrow crept onto his face. 'I'm sorry, I can't - My Aunt and Uncle, they-'

With perfect timing, a high, female voice called from the sitting room. 'Harry? Harry, who are you talking to?' A thin, brown haired woman came into the hall, eyes tunning suspicious when she saw Dean and Castiel. . 'Who are these people?' She turned to her nephew, but didn't have him a chance to speak, addressing Dean and Cas a second later. 'We do not abide with cold callers at this hou-'

'Agents Bonham and Moscoe, Ma'am.' Dean gave a quick, cool smile and held up his I.D., gesturing to Cas, who was stood beside him. 'From the Ministry of Magic. Department of Wizarding Security.' A frightened light brightened in the woman's eyes, and then an angry one. Dean judged the way she was glaring at them and then her nephew, and swiftly added. 'And we dabble in the, er, Department for the Treatment of Magical Orphans.' Her eyes dawned with unease as he gave her another smirk; 'DTMO for short.' He added.

The woman nodded quickly, her eyes lowered nervously. 'I'm Petunia Dursley, 'Harry's Aunt.' She added the latter fact darkly. 'Come in, then. She said coldly, moving aside and pushing Harry out of the way roughly . Dean gave another quick smile and moved to enter the house, gesturing Cas to follow him. They were ushered into a pristine, dull sitting room, the front door closing behind them with a bang, and Dean fell onto one of the sofas with no sense of grace whilst Cas hovered next to him, standing up, before Dean pulled him down to sit down as well. Meanwhile, Harry hesitantly took a seat on the sofa nearest to them and Petunia Dursley hurried out of the room, calling 'Vernon!', presumably to summon her husband. As soon as she exited the room, Harry leant forward worriedly, addressing Dean.

'What is it? Why has he sent you? Is something wrong?'

Dean looked briefly at Cas, exchanging glances, and then turned back to Harry. 'Nothing's happened kid, don't worry. As I said, we just wanna ask you a few questions.' He said reassuringly.

The boy gave a sigh of relief. 'Okay.' He answered, looking at them sincerely. 'What d'you wanna to know?'

'Well, first things first and all that - have you felt under threat at any time this summer?' Dean asked, leaning forward confidently. 'Have you… felt like you were being watched, at all? Have you noticed anyone watching you?'

'Er… no.' Said Harry, looking uneasily from one 'Agent' to the other. 'Should I be worried?'

'Oh no, no, we haven't had any reports.' Dean answered. 'We're just double checking.' He smiled briefly. 'Now, has anything happened related to, ahem - 'You-Know-Who and all that?'

Instead of looking taken aback, as Dean had expected from his blunt question, Harry simply became subdued, looking away. 'No.' He looked back up and added monotonously: 'Nothing at all.'

Dean nodded slightly, unconvinced. The kid was definitely lying.

'What about the dream?' Dean almost jumped as Cas spoke beside him, and looked round to see the Angel peering at a now wide-eyed Harry Potter. Oh great, Cas was trying to read the boy's mind. 'The one with the old human and… the, the-' Cas was creasing his brow now, obviously losing his grip on what he was attempting to say.

'How- What dream?' Harry cut in a little too fast, and Dean turned back to him to notice the slight glint of fear in the kid's eyes. 'I don't know what you're on about.' Harry gave a slight, breathy chuckle that was partially eclipsed by the explosive entrance of large, red-faced man puffing angrily; the woman, Petunia Dursley, and a smaller, but equally overweight lump of a boy with thin blonde hair and a discontented, confused expression on his chubby face. The man stormed up to Dean and Cas at once, his double chins wobbling and moustache over his top lip twitching as he yelled at them.

'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?' He demanded, breathing heavily in his aggression. 'YOU FILTHY MAGICAL FREAKS, YOU GET OUT NOW, OR I'M CALLING THE POLICE!'

Dean gritted his teeth, pulling out his I.D. and looking up at the seething man, who he'd already guessed to be Potter's Uncle. 'Mr. Dursley, I'm Agent Bonham from the Ministry of Magic and this is my partner Agent-'

'I DON'T CARE WHO YOU RUDDY WELL ARE OR WHERE YOU'RE FROM, I WANT YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE, NOW. PETUNIA-' His wife jumped next to him. 'SHOW THEM THE DOOR. NOW!'

Mrs Dursley moved to scurry to the door, but Dean stood up authoritively before she could get there, setting his jaw determinedly and locking eyes with Vernon Dursley with unwavering hostility. This was enough to stop the aggressive man in the middle of his mantra as well, and Dean quickly used the silence to shut him down. Meanwhile, the son had caught Cas's eye, and he was staring at him curiously, the fat teenager retreating anxiously in the foreground as he met Cas's gaze.

'MR Dursley.' Dean began, facing the man head on, eyes cold, voice becoming soft with underlying threat. 'I know that you have authority issues, appear to be a control freak and are scared shitless of us, but you can't order us to leave. All we're doing is asking your nephew here some questions, and then we'll be on our way."

'WHAT! YOU RUDE LITTLE-'

'I will also add, Mr Dursley, that we work part time in the Department for the Treatment of Magical Orphans-' Dean watched Dursley's eyes flicker with a spark of fear '- at the Ministry of Magic.' He stared the pathetic man down, towering over him. It was a shame Sam wasn't here, he'd practically be a giant next to the guy. 'And the situation in your home has not slipped under our radar.' He looked from the fat kid to the fatter Dad. 'For instance, why are you and your kid so chubby and your Nephew like a goddam stick?'

Good, Dursley was holding back his aggression now. Dean had got him. After a pause, Vernon Dursley turned stiffly and slowly lowered himself onto the third sofa, his son, who was still eyeing Castiel with fear, quickly sitting down next to him, and his wife perching on the arm, pursing her lip and looking frail. After sending a quick smirk their way, Dean sat back down once more. There was a slightly silence, and then Dursley finally spoke, his voice dripping in repressed anger.

'If you dare insult my son again, you will be thrown out of here, whether you're from the Ministry of Freaks or not.' He said, shaking as he spoke, eyes glittering with fury.

'Got it.' Dean flashed another smile, and then turned to Harry. 'So, Harry, how's… school going for you? At.. Hogwash - Hogwarts?' Dean asked, trying to sound friendly.

'Er, well, thanks.' Harry answered doubtfully, glancing from his seething Uncle to a smiling Dean. 'I go back soon.'

'Did you notice any sulphurous smells when you were there last?' Suddenly, Cas cut in, his intense gaze fixed intently on Harry. 'Or anyone with eyes that were black?.'

'Err, sulphurous smells?' Harry looked at Cas in confusion,. What d'you mean?'

'I'm told sulphur smells like the scent of rotten eggs to humans.' Cas went on as Dean tried to resist facepalming and simply closed his eyes. Sulphur- basically indicates the presence of demons. Like this kid was gonna have any idea if a pack of demons were roaming the school. Castiel continued in his ever-gruff voice. 'Have you, by any chance, smelt that around the school?'

'Er - no.' Harry answered, looking confused and weirded out. Vernon, at the meantime, was staring at Castiel as if he were a three-eyed alien. Hurriedly, Dem took over, this time addressing Dursley's.

'So, have you, as Harry's family, experienced anything strange this summer?' He questioned, raising one eyebrow. 'Anything to do with Harry's school, or his- our kind?'

Neither Mr or Mrs Dursley made a sound - instead, it was Dudley who gave them away, stumbling over his words as he neglected to think about what he was saying. 'Well what about-' he began, addressing his parents - and was then promptly silenced by them.

'Be quiet, Dudley.' Vernon Dursley spoke through gritted teeth and in a whisper, but Cas heard him. Strangely, Harry also looked towards his cousin in alarm.

'Let your son speak, Mr Dursley.' Castiel's serious, insisting voice appeared to intimidate the man.

'Dudley said nothing.' Dursley said shortly, looking as if he was about to have a fit, one eye twitching momentarily.

Dean rolled his eyes, and turned to the fat, wobbling kid. 'You do know that it's against the law to withhold information from the ministry, right?'

Dudley looked as if he had just shat himself. 'Wh-wha-'

'Are you threatening my son?' Vernon had jumped into it now, his blood obviously on the boil. 'We know you can't attack us; it's against your ruddy laws! There's nothing you can do - ha!'

Dean blinked, looking down, and smiled. 'Well, here's the thing, Mr Dursley.' He began, his voice soft as he looked up at the porky, red-faced man. 'You'd be breaking our laws by withholding information so actually, yeah, we can threaten you, and we can prosecute you too. You fancy my friend practising his skills on you? You'd sure make a stunning pig.'

Mrs Dursely whimpered in the background, and her husband looked as if he was about to burst with rage, but neither of them said anymore. Dean looked back to Dudley, who, trembling, began to speak.

'W-well there was that letter,' He looked to his parents. 'F-from that, that man. Mr. Black.'

Dean's eyes widened with surprise, and Cas looked to his friend, but they didn't have time to exchange a word, Harry butting in as soon as Dudley had uttered the words, speaking rapdily and with an air of subdued panic.

'I did see a this woman,' He began, hurriedly trying to change the subject - small wonder as to why. 'At Hogwarts. Last year. She had eyes like you were telling me about - all black, like it was all pupil or something. But I don't know who she was - she wasn't actually at the school, she was in Hogsmeade. The village students visit at the weekends.' He looked to Cas. 'I thought it was just some spell or something. Are you saying there's more to it than that?'

'What did the woman look like, Harry?' Asked Dean, exchanging glances with Cas. Why did he feel like he knew what the kid's answer was gonna be?

Harry creased his brow in concentration, trying to remember. 'I-I dunno - I can't really remember now. She had brown hair, I think - and it was sort of wavy, maybe? She was kind of short, as well, for a woman - like the same height as me?' He shrugged, then frowned in concentration again. 'And she looked like she was in her twenties or something.' He looked to Dean . 'That's all I can remember, sorry.' Why is it important, though?'

'Classified information,' Dean answered, giving a regretful smile. 'Sorry kid.' He looked at Castiel, whose expression was serious. They both knew who the demon was, and they both knew what this meant. Dean tucked his badge into his jacket properly, straightened his tie, and sighed conclusively. 'Well, we'd best be going now.' He smiled from the Dursleys to Harry, receiving glares and gazes of terror from the family across the room and a slight, nervous smile from the Potter boy. 'Come on, Cas.' He began to walk from the living room, Petunia Dursley jumping up to get the door. On the way out, Castiel stopped in front of Dudley, looking down at him with a look of intense fascination on his face as the boy trembled , and his father looked as if he was restraining himself from punching the angel.

'You're very overweight.' Cas said, staring at Dudley with curiousity, his voice gravelly and low. 'I never did understand the human fascination with food. Famine hasn't been around here lately, has he? He is known for causing great hunger and unfulfilled gluttony.'

'Why you LITTLE-' Vernon began, but Dean was too quick, grabbing his friend by the arm and hauling him out of the sitting room. Dursley's shouts, however, could be heard rising from where they were in the hallway.

'Jeez, Cas, could you at least pretend you have some people skills?' Dean said to him, striding towards the front door so they could let themselves out.

Cas looked disgruntled. 'It's not my fault if my 'people skills' are 'rusty.' Pardon me but I have sPent the last year as a multidimensional wavelength of celestial intent.' On alternating words, he made the speech marks sign in the air, prompting Dean to stare at him.

'Dude, you really need to work on understanding irony.'

Cas looked at Dean questioningly, but had no time to reply, as Vernon Dursley came storming into the hallway a second later, Dean opening the door hurriedly as he saw him coming. 'That's right, get out! Go! If you ever dare show your face here again!'

'Okay, okay, we got it, Flintstone.' Dean stepped out onto the doorstep, Cas following him just in time to turn round and have the door slammed in his face. Dean rolled his eyes, turning away, and walked down the garden path. 'Well there's a happy family for you. Jeez.' He sighed. 'That poor Potter kid - not only is he being hounded by Lord Smorgasbord, he's gotta deal with those jerks as well.'

'They were certainly very strange.' Cas agree, creasing his brow. 'I don't understand why they appeared offended by my comment; I was only stating a fact.'

They had come to where the Impala was parked, and Dean reached for the driver side door.

'Well, Cas sometimes humans don't wanna know the facts.' Dean replied, pausing to take in the boring, normal human neighbourhood around him. It might have been mundane, but at least it was what he knew. He knew he was going to be forced into the magical world on this mission; into a place where everything would be unknown and he'd have to look to his brother for help. The fact was, it was going to happen soon. Very soon. And he didn't known what he was going to do. Dean opened the car door. 'Sometimes we just wanna stay nice and comfortable and avoid facing up to the truth.'

A/N:

Hey guys, thanks for sticking with me to read this chapter! Don't worry, things are just getting going - Dean and Cas will be confusing Weasleys and dealing with Veela in no time ;) Any ideas of who the woman Harry mentioned is though? :P