"Quidditch Through the Ages, huh?" Dean asks as he slopes up outside Classroom 3C and leans against the wall beside Castiel.
"What? Oh, right. It's for my brother; he finds Madam Pince unnerving, so I have to withdraw books on his behalf." Castiel admits with a small laugh. "I mentioned I was going to collect a copy of Defensive Magical Theory and Gabriel demanded I pick this up for him. When he plans to get it from me is another matter, though."
"Where's your friend? What's his name, Crowley or something?" Dean asks absently, watching as Castiel rearranges the books in his hand until his copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection rests on the top. Dean remembers then that he left his in his trunk in the dormitory.
"Crowley is in his Xylomancy class. He found Defence Against the Dark Arts to be both tedious and pointless." Castiel replies, with an almost practiced rhythm.
"What the hell is Xylomancy?" Dean asks, raising his eyebrows and frowning slightly.
"Apparently it's some ludicrous form of Divination that involves analyzing burning wood." Castiel looks back at Dean's dumbfounded expression as they walk into class behind two Ravenclaw girls that have just arrived. "I know. As if Divination wasn't ridiculous enough."
They take their seats on opposite sides of the classroom and wait, for what seems like an age, for Professor Merrythought to appear from her office at the top of the stairs and start lecturing them on non-verbal magic. Castiel makes some notes, but ultimately, no one manages to produce a decent shield charm except for a particularly cocky Hufflepuff girl.
Dean considers slyly hexing her, but Professor Merrythought dismisses them with a smile and a wave before he gets chance.
"Where are you going?" Dean asks as he catches up with Castiel as he leaves the room.
"I was planning on going to Study Hall to make a start on my Arithmancy essay before Crowley tries to get on my nerves. And maybe find my brother." Castiel replies as he heads on to the Grand Staircase.
"Mind if I come with you? Sam might be up there, he's kind of a nerd."
"Your relationship with your brother seems... Interesting." Castiel replies, raising an eyebrow as he pushes open the door to the fourth floor corridor.
"I love him, don't get me wrong, he's just kind of a bitch sometimes."
"I know how you feel. I'm the youngest boy in a family of eight, and the only one of us younger than me is my baby sister, so I have to put up with all the hell from my brothers. They'd never irritate a girl; they know better than that."
"Eight, really? How did your parents cope?"
"They didn't. They relied a lot on my oldest brothers to look after us most of the time, but most of them weren't very good with children, despite being children themselves. Uriel was nine when I was born, Raphael was five, but neither of them liked me much. They still don't, actually. Then the first set of twins, Michael and Luke, were three, so they spent more of their time fighting with each other than doing anything else, really. Gabriel and Balthazar were born two years later, but they were barely a year old when I was born. Then Anna was born when I was four, and our parents just stopped caring when she was one, so I basically had to bring her up."
"...That's kind of messed up." Dean replies, and Castiel fixes him with a look that would silence him if he knew him any better. "Seriously?"
"Yes. And I think we did an okay job, considering the circumstances." Castiel takes a few longer strides as he talks, and Dean knows he's inadvertently touched a nerve.
"Sorry. That came out wrong." Dean says sheepishly, catching up with him as they enter the study hall. "I mean, I probably couldn't even look after myself for four years, let alone Sam too."
Castiel looks at him for a long moment, frowning slightly as if he's calculating something. His expression softens after a second, and he nods, just barely. Dean wonders if it's some kind of gesture of forgiveness.
"Dean! Hey." Sam says, spotting his brother from across the room. He's sitting with Anna, who waves at Castiel. He smiles at her and moves over, Dean following behind him.
"How was Potions?" Castiel asks his sister as he sits down opposite her. Dean forces himself into the seat next to him.
"It was good. You were right, swelling solutions are really easy."
"No they're not." Sam and Dean reply in unison, and Castiel and Anna stare at them for a long moment before Castiel laughs.
"Dean, you study N.E.W.T. Potions. How can a basic second year assignment stump you?" Castiel mocks him as he rummages through his books to find his copy of Numerology and Grammatica.
"Just because I study it doesn't mean I enjoy it." Dean practically pouts, frowning as Castiel opens his book to a page full of charts.
"Then why do you do it?" Castiel asks as he rummages for a piece of parchment and a quill.
"He hasn't told you?" Sam stares at his brother in disbelief. "It's usually the first thing he tells anyone!"
"Shut up, Sam."
"Dean wants to be an Auror, and he needs Potions to do it."
"Sam."
Castiel surveys him again, an expression of quiet interest on his face.
"Well, I suppose it's a bit more interesting than wanting to be an Arithmancer. I'll be staring at numbers every day for the rest of my life." He smiles lopsidedly at Dean, and Anna frowns at her older brother. He hasn't smiled like that in years.
"What does this even mean?" Dean asks, sounding exasperated, as he gestures at the book Castiel is reading from. He spots Castiel's timetable wedged between two books and leans over him to grab it. "You must take at least one interesting class."
Castiel seems to ignore him, and starts noting down a few number patterns on his parchment.
"You do Advanced Arithmancy too? How smart even are you?" Dean asks in quiet disbelief.
"Oh, Cas is really smart." Anna interrupts with a smirk. Castiel goes pink across the top of his cheeks and looks down at his work.
Dean is about to make a comment, but a boy slides into the seat on Castiel's other side.
"Hey, bro." He says, leaning over Castiel to grab Quidditch Through the Ages.
"Gabriel." Castiel replies, looking up at his brother for a fraction of a second before frowning. "Where's Balthazar?"
"He's doing some boring Prefect thing. He did tell me, but I didn't listen to him." Gabriel explains lazily, flicking through the book.
"Actually, Gabriel, I didn't tell you." Balthazar appears behind his brother and frowns at him. "Because I knew you wouldn't be listening."
Dean watches them bickering and he swears Gabriel's eyes change colour when he blinks. Castiel sighs and slams his book closed after a few minutes.
"This is hopeless." He announces, and the twins stop snapping at each other for long enough to look at him. "Balthazar, I need your help with some Astronomy work."
"Okay. What is it?"
"It's just a star chart, nothing too complex."
"Let's go to the Astronomy tower and get it done, then. We've got no hope with this idiot around."
"I'm offended." Gabriel pouts, and now Dean's positive his eyes just turned blue.
"Oh, shut up." Anna snaps, rolling her eyes. "Mind if I come with you?"
Castiel and Balthazar nod, and she gets up and follows after them.
"I'll see you in class, Dean." Castiel says, raising his hand as he turns to leave. "Sam."
The Hufflepuff nods at him before he turns back to his Potions essay.
Gabriel sits with them for a few more minutes, in near complete silence as Sam writes up his potion theory and Dean starts flicking through Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in search of fire crabs.
"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Winchester." Gabriel announces as he slams his hands on the table and stands. "I'll see you around. Be gentle with him."
"Excuse me?"
"You know." Gabriel almost glares at him, and it would be intimidating were it not for the fact that he's clearly small for his age and probably couldn't hurt a fly. He walks away from the two of them, and smirks a little to himself.
"Oh my God." Sam laughs when Gabriel is out of earshot.
"What now?"
"You like him, don't you?"
"Who? Castiel?"
"Who else!"
"What? No! We're barely even friends." Dean retorts, flipping through the pages in his book angrily.
"Yeah. Okay." Sam shakes his head at his brother and looks back at his work.
"Explain. Now." Balthazar demands as he and Anna push Castiel down the stairs to the second floor study hall.
"There's nothing to explain."
"So you didn't smile bigger than I've ever seen when he just looked at you?" Anna stares at him, her eyes fierce. Castiel stares right back at her, eyebrows furrowed. Balthazar looks between them, considers pushing them both if one of them doesn't say something, but Castiel's shoulders drop and he lets out a quiet breath. His voice is tiny when he speaks.
"I didn't, did I?"