Hello! I've got another chapter for you all! Hope you enjoy it! We get a little (and by little, I actually mean teeny-tiny) bit of DeanCas interaction! ;D
Enjoy!
Chapter IV: Christmas in a Motel.
Dean feels the coin burn in his hand. Finally. He's been holding it for the past ten minutes, staring at it intently, and he was starting to worry that Hermione had given him a dud one, but no, it's working perfectly fine, thank goodness.
He turns the coin over and sees the writing on the supposed Galleon change, and he feels a smile pull on his lips when he sees the date for the first meeting of the new Defence lessons, which they had dubbed Dumbledore's Army.
Dean's still impressed at Ginny for coming up with that name, and especially her reasoning behind it. Dumbledore being the only thing the Ministry, and Voldemort for that matter, are afraid of. And they were going to wear that name proudly; Dumbledore's Army - proud to be fighting in the old wizard's name.
But who wouldn't feel honoured fighting for the greatest wizard of the time?
He pockets the Galleon and goes back to reading up on the information he needs to write his essay for Potions, a smile permanently on his face and not even the boring task of writing an essay can wipe it off.
It isn't long before he's making his way down the corridor, his mind focused entirely on Dumbledore's Army and nothing else, otherwise he's never going to get into the room; he's still astonished that this amazing room exists. Seven years at school and he has yet to realise that a room that changes to fit whatever your need is exists. He could've used that many times.
However, his worries over the room not showing for him are proved foolish; by the time he reaches the end of the corridor, a door that isn't normally there appears, and after looking left, right and behind him to make sure no-one has followed him, he opens the door and slips in.
'Dean!' He hears a voice shout the second he's shut the door behind him, and he grins as he watches his brother shoot up from his seat and run over to stand in front of him. 'I thought you hadn't got a note about this; you're near enough late!'
Dean rolls his eyes as he ruffles Sam's hair with his hand, 'Remember I'm supposed to be the over-bearing, over-protective brother, not you.'
He wraps his arm around Sam's shoulder despite his brother's half-assed protest and steers him back over to the place he was previously sitting, and it's then Dean realises he was sitting with Jessica, Charlie, Jo and Ash.
Huh. Maybe he was a little bit late.
'Are you ever on time, Winchester?' Charlie questions and Dean knows straight away she's teasing, because after all, that's the only time she calls him "Winchester" instead of "Dean" or "Handmaiden". The latter he's still a little embarrassed about, but it's between them and their own little joke. And after all, he calls her "My Queen", so that evens things out a little.
'Well, I'm never early if that's what you mean,' he retorts, sending a wink to Charlie before sitting down next to her with a chuckle as her face begins to heat up. He looks around the room and notices that near enough everyone from the signup meeting is there, including Castiel… not that Dean cares that much. But he does notice that Castiel stands beside another Hufflepuff; he has blond hair that sticks up every-which-way, and has his arms crossed over his slim chest and Dean's curious because he says something to Castiel, and Castiel gives a deep chuckle.
And nope, Dean doesn't care at all.
He decides to stop watching Castiel and the mysterious Hufflepuff and looks around the room once again, and realises something that he can in fact talk about.
'You didn't tell Gilda about this?' He questions, turning to Charlie who bites her lip.
'I did, but she didn't like the idea of fighting. She's very docile and would rather find other ways to help stop You-Know-Who, so, she's not coming along to these meetings, and she actually tried to talk me out of it, but I just explained that whilst she wasn't a fighter, I was. After all, you can't be a queen if you don't lead your soldiers into battle, isn't that right, Handmaiden?'
'Definitely, My Queen.' Dean grins at her and before anyone can make a comment about their little joking - which they enjoy doing immensely - Harry stands up in front of the room and clears his throat, gaining everyone's attention.
'Uh, hi,' he starts, holding his wand in both hands, his left hand clenching and unclenching around the tip of it and yep, the boy is nervous. Not that Dean could blame him. 'I was thinking that, for your first class, we'll, uh, practise that Disarming Spell.'
'The Disarming Spell? Is that it? That's a bit simple.' Zacharias scoffs and Dean's head whips around to glare at him. If the stupid git doesn't watch his mouth and attitude, his nose was going to get seriously acquainted with Dean's fist. After all, if he doesn't want to be here, why is he here?
Then he remembers that he's dating Ginny and that's probably the only reason he's here. To be with his girlfriend. But with that comment, Dean is sorely tempted to take Ginny aside and tell her she can do ten million times better than an arrogant toerag like him, then he realises that this is Ginny Weasley he's thinking about; the girl has probably realised this already and is just planning out the breakup as he thinks.
Harry's attitude towards the idea of teaching Dumbledore's Army seems to have improved, however, especially with dealing comments like this, for he just fixes his gaze onto Zacharias and retorts, 'Simple, maybe, but this simple spell is the one that saved me from Voldemort last year, so yeah, I recommend most people learning it.'
Dean gives a chuckle, that he quickly tries to cover up with a cough because let's face it, the last thing that's needed is animosity in such a secret and forbidden club like this one.
So, to try and save himself, he nods his head, turns his gaze back to Harry and with a smirk on his lips, declares, 'I think it's an awesome plan.'
The Disarming Spell is easy and simple, just like Zacharias said, but not in the way he meant it, and Dean stands firmly by the fact that it's a useful spell to know. After all, if you do it quick enough, your opponent is wandless and can't attack, and what's so bad about that? And when Dean hears Zacharias complain again as everyone is practising the spell, he needs to turn and tell him that; all the patience and desire to keep the peace in this organisation quickly evaporates, and he puts him in his place.
Yeah, it's a simple spell, but it's an effective spell, and that's what's important. So shut up and let people concentrate, before I find a simple but effective way to permanently shut you up, like, I dunno, ripping your tongue out! He remembers snapping at him, and okay, maybe it was a little harsh, and a little extreme, but he said what he needed to say, got all that anger out of him and got his desired response, seeing as he didn't hear another peep from Zacharias for the rest of the lesson.
After Dean's outburst, they return to practising the spell, even though the majority of the students manage and can do the spell, there are still one or two that can't, and Harry doesn't want to move on until everyone can do it.
However, when he stops the class and says that's them finished for the day, he does explain that he'll be moving on to the Reductor Curse next time, and that the week after that, they'll do the Stunning Spell, before taking another few weeks to perfect them, before moving on to harder spells and hexes.
Dean also noticed, after giving Zacharias what he deserved, that Castiel was excelling in the class. Every time he manages the spell and okay, it's not exactly the hardest spell to do, but there was once or twice he couldn't do it when he wasn't concentrating, but Castiel? Castiel managed it every single time, and Dean felt the desire to say something to him, but then the dishevelled looking blond that he was talking to earlier would beat him to it, and Dean decided there was no point in him doing it; especially when he hadn't talked to him,
After all, he knows that a compliment tends to sound less creepy coming from someone you know, rather than a total stranger.
So, maybe that's why he finds it a little weird and a little disarming, when he finds himself alone with Castiel in the Room of Requirements after their fifth meeting with Dumbledore's Army.
He bites his bottom lip as he packs his bag and notices Castiel a few feet away from him doing the same, and the silence is deafening. Something Dean never likes. There are times silence is an all right thing; tolerable, but this isn't one of them, because this is an awkward silence, with him being stuck in an empty room with the person he's been dying to talk to all year and still can't find the right words to say to him.
He clears his throat, and he's not sure why he did it, because Castiel raises his head and quirks an eyebrow at him, looking at him expectantly.
Dean realises that if he's going to finally say something to him, this is the perfect opportunity, but instead of saying anything, he just stares at Castiel for a little bit longer until Castiel frowns deeply at him and turns away, turning his attention back to packing his books into his bag.
The group had realised they wouldn't get another meeting until next week, so they pushed two together today, but had a break in between and it was so long that Dean got bored and decided to do his homework; he had an essay due in Transfiguration tomorrow, and with the extra meeting, it was the only time he was going to get it done.
It made him look like a nerd, but he didn't care. Not that he needed to worry about people thinking he was a nerd, though, because the second people saw what he was doing, they started copying him; digging out the homework they had to do and doing it until the next meeting was due to start.
The difference was the those students put their stuff back into their bags just after Harry called the meeting to order again. Dean had just kicked his stuff away and that's how he's ended up alone in the room with Castiel, packing his bag.
And once again, he's reminded by how loud the silence is and how much he can't stand it.
So, he takes a deep breath and decides to go for a safe question, 'How're you finding the meetings so far?'
Castiel raises his head and looks back at Dean, his frown still in place because Dean's finally decided to talk, but Dean notices that it's not as deep as it was before, and that seems to soothe him a little.
Castiel shrugs, 'Not too bad. Easier than I presumed.'
Dean gives a chuckle, 'I thought that, you've been nailing every spell Harry's thrown at us!'
Castiel turns and fixes his gaze back onto Dean once more, and Dean's green eyes meet Castiel's blue ones, and he's suddenly caught by the urge to start calling him "Blue-Eyes" again, instead of "Castiel".
'So have you.' Castiel retorts, and he says the three words in such a way that he almost sounds confused. But why on earth would he be confused?
Dean tries to think about that, but then decides that it's too late and he's too tired for that amount of thinking, so just settles on saying, 'Yeah. Most of the time I can do them, but once or twice I've had to take a breath, settle my thoughts and go again.'
'I think you're underestimating yourself,' Castiel states before he shoulders his bag and with only a small, 'I'll see you at the next meeting,' he turns and walks over to the door, leaving Dean alone in the room with a frown on his face at his words.
~oOoOoOoOoOo~
Christmas Holidays roll around sooner than Dean thought they would; even though they land at the same time every year, he just didn't think that much time had passed. So, when Harry stops the meeting early to declare that's them until after the Christmas Holidays, the reality comes hurtling back to him and he feels as if his breath has been knocked out of his lungs.
They're still mastering the basic three charms, but Harry promised that after Christmas, they'll be moving on to harder ones, and he's even going to teach them the Patronus Charm, something Dean's looking forward to.
What he's not really looking forward to is going home.
But he needs to go home; his dad would never forgive him if he decided to spend the Holidays at Hogwarts, even though the Holidays at home were going to be a million times worse.
And so, maybe that's why he's a little hesitant when he's walking beside Sammy as they leave the Hogwarts Express, his hands clenched tightly around both his and Sammy's bag. Sam had protested the second Dean had lifted it up, but after seeing the look on Dean's face, said nothing else and let it drop.
He notices Castiel and the guy he's always around nowadays, who Dean's learnt is called Balthazar, and his grasp on the bags tighten slightly. Despite the fact they had talked after that meeting, they actually haven't said another word since then and Dean's starting to feel pissed off, because it shouldn't be that hard to talk to someone.
But then he always feels annoyed because he shouldn't be that determined to talk to someone he doesn't know; it's weird his sudden fascination with the Hufflepuff, but Dean just has a feeling about him and well, that's all that matters.
Sam runs through the wall whilst he's busy staring at Castiel, who feels someone's eyes on him and turns to gaze a Dean. Instead of turning away and pretending he was doing nothing, he raises his hand and gives a wave - well, as much as a wave as it can be when he's holding Sam's bag in his hand.
Much to his surprise, Castiel stops talking to his friend in order to wave back at Dean, before Balthazar regains his attention by placing an hand on Castiel's arm and Dean just rolls his eyes, before he follows Sammy though the wall and almost bumps into someone as he does so.
'Sorry.' He mutters as he stops and looks around the train station, trying to find his brother and his father, and then he spots them, only a few feet away from them.
With a deep breath in through his nose, he plasters a small smile on his face and makes his way over to them.
'How's the year been so far?' His father questions as soon as he's close enough, and Dean swallows before answering.
'Good, sir.'
John studies his son for a moment before he nods his head and then turns on his heel, walking out of the train station and with a shaky exhale, Sam and Dean follow him.
'Are you going to tell him?' Sam questions, his voice barely a whisper as they follow in step behind their father. Dean turns to look at Sam, a look of disbelief on his face and he shakes his head.
''Course not.'
Sam looks a little disappointed that he's not going to be able to talk about Dumbledore's Army, but Dean just can't bring himself to tell his father anything about how bad things are getting in the Wizarding World again. It's not that he wants to keep his father in the dark, he just knows that how determined he'll get to try and help, and Dean knows he can't.
This is things that he can't fight; he doesn't have the ability; doesn't have the magic that Sam and Dean have; the magic they got from their mother.
It was always a little weird for Dean growing up, realising that his mother had magic but his father didn't. It was even weirder when Dean realised that he, himself, had magic, as did his younger brother, but still his father didn't.
But now, sixteen years later, he's finally gotten used to it.
His thoughts are saved from going to a darker place when he sees his father's car and he grins. He gives Sam back his bag in order to trail a hand over her shiny black body, and Dean's grin widens.
'Aw, Baby, I've missed you.'
John chuckles as his son trails her hand over the boot, up the sides before stroking along to roof as he makes his way to the passenger seat.
But before Dean can pull the passenger door open, John throws the keys at his son.
'Where do you think you're going?'
'What?' Dean questions as he frowns, his gaze shifting between the keys still in his hands and his father, and on one occasion they land on his brother, who just shrugs his shoulders, opening the boot and throwing his bag into it.
'It's yours.' John declares, moving over to the passenger door, putting his hand briefly on Sam's shoulder as he does, and Sam frowns at him for a second before sliding into the backseats, deciding not to say anything. 'Or, at least, it will be when you pass your test.'
He pushes Dean aside in order to get into the passenger seat, leaving Dean standing out in the cold wind for a moment. He stares at the black, '67 Chevy Impala with wonder and just a hint of suspicion. This has been Dad's car for years. He had it before Dean was even born and here he was, just giving it away?
And yeah, he was giving it away to Dean, and not some stranger, but he was giving it away nonetheless and his dad just didn't do things like that.
He's about to open the door and demand to know what his dad's angle is when his father chaps the window from the inside and barks, 'Get in, boy!'
Dean's back straightens ramrod straight, before he clears his throat and walks around to the driver's side. He slides into the seat and puts the key in the ignition, and even though he wears a smile on his lips as the engine of his baby purrs into life, he can't shake the nagging feeling of wrong.
~oOoOoOoOoOo~
Dean's used to sleeping in sleazy motels; he's used to spending birthdays, Christmases and all other anniversary in motels with questionable stains on every surface. Ever since his mum died, his father couldn't stay in one place. Not even when it became apparent that his sons were magic and would have to attend Hogwarts when they turned eleven.
They always moved about; slept in hotels for a few days before hitting the road. Dean's actually surprised the millage in the Impala hasn't reset itself back to zero with the amount of miles it has seen.
Even now, his father still travels about when Dean and Sam are at Hogwarts, and when they do go home for Summer, they spend most of their time at their Uncle Bobby's, who isn't really their uncle, but he's been more of a constant in their life than their own father has, so he deserves the title in Dean's eyes, and he knows Bobby wears it proudly.
Dean doesn't even mind spending all his Summer holidays with Bobby, because he gets to see Jo and Ash then, as well as Ellen. Bobby isn't Jo's dad, but he's married to Ellen and just like with Sam and Dean, he's proud to be there for Jo.
So, yes, Dean's used to the disgusting motels meant for nothing more than whores and sleazy gits, but this is different. He definitely knows that now; knows something is up with his father when they pull up at a motel, that whilst still sleazy, isn't what they're used to at this time, because it's actually decorated for Christmas.
Dean frowns at the building but shuts the engine off and gets out the car when his father does. He waits by the car with under his dad's instructions, as he's going to get the rooms, and all the feelings of wrong and weird that he buried during the drive comes creeping back up until he's having trouble breathing right.
'Dean? Are you okay?'
'Isn't this off to you?'
Sam nods his head, 'He's hiding something; thought that the minute he said he was giving you the Impala.'
Dean sighs in relief, because if Sam's noticed that, it means he's not going crazy.
'Are you going to say something about this?'
With Sam's question, his thoughts about his father quickly leave his mind because of the tone of his brother's voice.
'You're still pissed that I'm not telling him about Dumbledore's Army, aren't you?' He questions, not even bothering to sugarcoat it this time.
He turns his gaze onto Sam and tries to see if he's even thinking about denying it, but his brother turns his brown eyes onto him, his gaze hard and retorts.
'Yeah, I am.' Dean just frowns, so Sam continues. 'You always tiptoe around him, Dean! Trying to be this "perfect" son, and you're never going to do it! He's got a standard of you that you're never going to reach! I just want you to stop being the person he wants you to be, and start being the person you actually are.'
'And what person am I actually?'
Sam rolls his eyes at his brother, his gaze flickering over to the reception to see if he can find any sign of his father returning, and when he can't, he turns back to Dean and replies, 'You're the big brother! You care about anyone and everyone, but because of that dick, the only person you can't see the good in is yourself!'
Dean scoffs, digging his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and rolls his eyes, 'That's really nice, Sammy. Do you want me to go and get ice cream and we can eat it whilst braiding each other's hair as we talk more about our feelings?'
Sam grinds his teeth together, 'You're such a child, Dean! But do you ever notice that you never make those kind of comments when you're at Hogwarts? Away from him?'
He waits a beat but when it becomes apparent to him that Dean knows exactly what he's talking about, and knows the truth behind his words, he shakes his head, 'Yeah, I thought so.'
Thankfully, Dean is saved from any response when they see their father walking back towards them with a grin on his face.
'Got the rooms; let's go boys! Got to get it ready for Christmas!'
~oOoOoOoOoOo~
Surprisingly for the Winchester family, Christmas passes without any arguments and Dean starts to think that he was just over-exaggerating when he thought there was something wrong wit his dad; that he was hiding something.
He thinks that maybe his father had some sort of epiphany whilst they were away at Hogwarts, and this is the "new" him.
But, of course, things could never be that easy or good for him. As he finds out when he wakes up on Boxing Day. His head thumps a little, and he doesn't know if it's because of the food he consumed yesterday, or the drink that his dad let him have. But it's not sore enough that it's going to dampen his mood, and after a tiny groan the second he wakes up, he decides that's all the complaining his sore head is going to get.
Especially when something is nagging at the back of his mind; that feeling of wrong is back again.
He looks around the room and spots Sam still snoozing in his bed, but notices his father's bed is empty, and that's definitely not like his father to be up and out first. He's normally the last to wake.
With a frown, he throws the covers away from his person and slides out of bed, moving over the window in the dingy motel room and pulls back the curtains. He blinks when the sun shoots straight into his eyes, but after he manages to adjust his sight, he looks out to the parking-lot and realises that the Impala is still there.
His frown deepens, because that's definitely not like his dad to leave and not take the Impala, and Dean seems to momentarily forget that this Impala is his now, not his dad's.
'Dean?' Sam's sleep-filled voice fills the silence in the room, and Dean drops the curtain and turns back to him, realising a moment too late that the sun would've seeped into his brother's eyes as well.
'Sorry.' He mutters as he looks around the room, trying to find any remnants of his dad, but there's nothing there that would show that his father even slept in the room; no excess clothing, a jacket, his watch, nothing.
'Where's Dad?'
Dean turns his confused gaze back onto his brother and mutters, 'I honestly have no idea.'
'What do you mean you have no idea?' Sam questions, sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes, but Dean doesn't miss how the sleepiness is slightly replaced with panic.
'It means I have no fucking idea where Dad is!'
His eyes scan the room once more, looking for something, but then he notices a piece of paper under the keys to the Impala, and Dean knows that wasn't there before, because he placed the keys there. It was plain wood when he sat them down; he remembers the clinking sound it made when he sat them down.
He walks over and slides the piece of paper out from under the keys, wincing at the rattling noise they make when they clatter back onto the wood once again.
His name is written in his dad's script on the front and his worry deepens, clawing at him from the inside and dying to burst out. A note is never a good sign; what did his father have to say that couldn't be said to his face?
Dean unfolds the paper and his eyes flit over the writing, the sense of worry slowly being replaced with anger with every word until his hands are shaking and holding the paper so tightly it starts to rip.
It's saved from its fate of being shredded into pieces when Sam unfurls Dean's hands from it and takes it off of him, skimming over the words whilst his brother stands in the same place, trying to decide whether he wants to tear the room apart or throw up.
'He's got another kid?' Sam asks incredulously and Dean just fixes his eyes on him before he shakes his head and storms out of the room, leaving Sam alone with his only comfort being that Dean didn't take the car keys.
~oOoOoOoOoOo~
Dean comes back and after much pleading, he and Sam pile into the car and he drives them to Bobby's. He's at the door when they park and get out of the car, and Dean leaves his bag in the boot as he storms up to Bobby.
'Did you know?'
Bobby nods his head, 'He told me about a month ago, 'cause he told me he was going to be moving in with her and the kid.'
Dean gives a scoff of laughter, shaking his head as his hand clenches into a fist, and he storms inside the house that's been as much of a home as the Impala has been.
'He didn't say where he was going in the letter, do you know?'
'Yeah.'
'Where?'
'I'm not telling you, boy.' Bobby retorts and when Dean turns to stare at him in disbelief, he expands, 'I know you, Dean, you'll go and drive there. You'll not go back to Hogwarts until you've hunt him down and told him what you think; that's if you make it that far without crashing the car 'cause you're not concentrating.'
Dean scoffs and goes to turn away, but Bobby puts his hand on his shoulder and he stops short.
'Son, he's not worth it.'
And with those words, all of his anger evaporates from his body as his shoulder hunch in on themselves, because all he can think of now is why wasn't he enough?
I know John leaving seems a bit random, but I needed it to happen for the story. Not to mention, I kinda hate John Winchester... so the sooner I could get him out of the story, the better!
Reply to Guest Review: Thanks for the review! As for Cas taking Cedric's place as prefect when he died, I just thought that Cas was their second option after Cedric, so instead of going to the 5th Years, they would make Cas the house prefect instead. I know they probably wouldn't have, but shh, we'll just believe they did! And as for the NEWTs, they start studying them in 6th Year, as proven by HBP, and I've just decided to make them like the rest of Scotland. We have highers and advanced highers, which you can take in your 5th/6th year (we don't have a 7th) and if there's a 6th year that's studying the same thing at the same level, they'll be put in with the 5th years. So yeah, I just decided to go with how the rest of Scotland do it, and have NEWT classes consist of both 6th and 7th years, even though it doesn't happen in the books. I just think it makes more sense and cuts back unnecessary classes, y'know? Just me taking some liberty with the HP 'verse as a fellow Scot, 'tis all. ;D
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review (reviews make me update faster!) and I'll see you all next time! ;D
~Charlotte.x