Here's another chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter VI: For the Sins Which Are Yours.

They do leave the courtyard eventually, not because they want to, but because of a few other reasons that they have no control over; like how it's late and Cas is a Prefect so can't be caught outside this late, or how Dean is a little tired, despite his protests that he's just resting his eyes. Not to mention that it's freezingcold. So much so, they went from having only their knees touching to being pressed together from shoulder to foot, arms crossed over their chests and teeth chattering. But the final strawwas when it started raining and they had no shelter.

That's when they decide to leave the courtyard.

'Fucking Scottish weather, man.' Dean hisses as he stands from his place, though his movements are a little stilted from his coldness and having been sitting in the same position for a good amount of hours now. Not that he'll complain about being pressed up against Cas.

Cas just rolls his eyes and grabs ahold of Dean's arm to tug him back into the castle, but only because of how long he was taking to move.

'For someone protesting about getting wet, you spent a hell of a time standing in the rain.' Cas declares as he lets go of his arm, finally back in the castle again, and whilst not equipped with central heating, and therefore not as warm as a house would be - or the Common Room would be for that matter, with its lovely roaring fire - it's definitely warmer than outside.

Dean stares at him for a moment, running a hand through his wet hair as they trudge their way through the castle, Cas' wand tip illuminating the way, before he eventually decides to tell Cas, 'Shut up!'

Cas chuckles, but it shortly dies on his lips when they come to the junction where they need to part. Dean needs to go left to get to Gryffindor Tower; Cas needs to go straight on to get to Hufflepuff's Basement.

'Why weren't you a Hufflepuff?' Castiel questions as he gazes down the corridor with a look of distaste on his face.

'Dunno, the Hat thought 'bout putting me there. It was his first option, actually, then he changed his mind when he saw…' Dean trails off and Cas just tilts his head, and Dean finds himself grinning despite the memory, because only Castiel can manage a look that offers him the chance to continue but says that he doesn't need to.

And a part of him wants to explain things; wants to talk about his family but there's too much and he's wet and cold and tired, and this probably isn't the best time to suddenly bombard Cas with all his problems. And who knows, he may hear them and decide Dean's too fucked up to be friends with; will see the amount of shit Dean's been through and decide that he'll inevitably go through more and he's just not worth the fight.

Instead, Dean digs into his pocket and pulls out his wand, mutters 'Lumos,' so that the tip of his wand lights up so he can see where he's going and he raises his eyes back to Cas again, who seems to realise that Dean's not saying a word, for his head is no longer cocked to the side, his blue eyes no longer narrowed in both interest and understanding.

'I'll see you tomorrow, Cas.' Dean declares, reaching up with his free hand to ruffle Cas' hair, which is already standing up every-which-way, seeing as he seems to have perpetual bed hair, but Dean doesn't help the matter anyway.

He gives Cas another soft smile before he turns on his heel, heading down the corridor and Cas stays there until he rounds the corner and he can't see him anymore.Only then does he move, but instead of moving to start the walk back to his Common Room, he just reaches up to run a hand through his hair as well, a smile on his lips before he decides to start walking, and even then it's only because he's positive he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Dean tries - and fails - not to overthink his action with Castiel as he walks back to the Common Room. People ruffle each others hair all the time, right? It's not like it was out of place. They do a lot of weird things together… and it's not like Cas minded, especially when this is Cas he's talking about; the person who doesn't seem to understand the whole idea of "personal space". Surely he wouldn't mind an innocent hair ruffling.

And that's all it was, after all. It's not like Dean was just overcome by the sudden urge to have to touch his friend, because they were parting and going separate ways. It was just a cute way of saying goodbye… except Dean doesn't normally do cute.

A groan escapes from his lips but he's quickly shushed by a portrait that's trying to sleep, and after rolling his eyes, he closes his mouth, biting his lower lip just to make sure he doesn't make another noise as he continues to make his way back to Gryffindor Tower.

It was just… Cas had just asked him why he wasn't in Hufflepuff and it wasn't a simple question; wasn't like that one that Dean asked Cas ages ago about the meaning of his name.It was as if Cas was asking because he didn't really like the idea of having to leave Dean at that moment, and Dean sort of felt the same. There was peace and quiet and his mind stopped buzzing and it just felt right.

He almost told him about the memory that made the Hat change its mind. Dean knew it was the reason he was placed in Gryffindor. He knew there was nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff, but his mother was a Gryffindor and his father put emphasis on how that meant she was brave and special and Dean just wanted to be brave and special and like his mother; wanted to be good in his father's eyes.

So, when he was nothing more than a nervous eleven-year-old sitting on a rackety stool in front of a couple of hundred of people, and heard the Hat talk about putting him in a House that wasn't Gryffindor, he panicked. He thought of that night when he was only an innocent four-year-old, carrying his six-month-old brother out of their burning house and smiled when the Hat hummed, awestruck, and placed Dean in Gryffindor instead of Hufflepuff.

Dean knows he sort-of fits in with Gryffindor, but knows he would also fit in with Hufflepuff; maybe more so if that's where that Hat originally wanted to put him.

Then again, he does still think he belongs in Gryffindor; it's still the only connection to his mum that he has, and seeing her name on the plaques and thinking about how she would've sat in the room that he sits in with his friends is enough to put any guilt at bay.

But it turns out that Dean's so wrapped up in his thoughts that he doesn't realise he's reached the Portrait Hole until there's a rather obnoxiously posh voice asking, 'Password?'

Dean blinks several times, his eyes focusing on the painting on the Fat Lady with a small frown on his face, before he clears his throat, 'Uh, yeah, Snargaluff?'

He knows it's the correct password, but it still doesn't stop him from saying it like it's a question, his mind so hazy at the moment that he doesn't even feel confident enough with giving the password to his Common Room.

The Portrait eyes him for a moment, and just before it swings open, it declares, 'It's a good thing you are pretty.'

And it says something about how tired and confused Dean is that he doesn't even protest to that. He just crawls through the Portrait Hole and heads straight for the dorm room, and after shucking his damp clothes, he collapses in bed in nothing but his boxers and falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

~oOoOoOoOoOo~

It isn't until Dean wakes up the next day, thankful that it's a Saturday and that he gets to lie in and has no classes, that he finds out just how bad things got after him and Cas left the Room of Requirements last night.

He stirs as he wakes up, a groan breaking free from his lips as he stretches and turns his head to the side, his eyes hazy with sleep, and after blinking a good couple of times, he can finally see the time on the clock on his bedside table.

'Half nine? That's not a freaking lie in!' He declares angrily and he thinks about rolling over and falling back asleep, when he hears someone else's voice, he decides that now people know he's awake, he's got no chance of getting peace to fall back asleep again.

'When we're used to getting up at half six most of the time, I think it is.' Ash's voice declares and Dean groans again, sitting up and running a hand over his face, blinking more sleep out of his green eyes, before deciding to just rub it away with the back of his hand.

'I guess.' Dean admits, looking around the room to find the other beds empty but he doesn't really care. Ash is the only boy in his House that's in his year that he really talks to.

'So, what happened to you last night? Jo and me came back here and expected to find you, but you weren't here; didn't even come back before we went to bed.'

Dean's still rubbing his face with his hand as he slides from bed, making his way to the bathroom, his feet softly padding against the rich burgundy carpet.

'Yeah, me and Cas went outside and sat for a bit.' He explains and doesn't continue until he's back from the bathroom, after relieving himself. 'Didn't realise the time; only came back when it started pissing down with rain.'

Ash studies him for a moment, 'So… you'll have no idea what happened then?'

'With what?' Dean enquires and even though he's still sleepy and in that content stage, he knows that the next words out of Ash's mouth are going to ruin that. Nothing good could come from the discovery of Dumbledore's Army, and Dean's not sure he's prepared to find out just how bad things got.

But before he can tell Ash that maybe now isn't the best time, because he's still happy and almost oblivious feeling, Ash has started talking again.

'Dumbledore's gone.' Ash declares and doesn't elaborate any further, and Dean's not sure if it's because Dean's not fully awake yet or if he's just trying to be dramatic.

'Dumbledore's gone? What do you mean Dumbledore's gone?' Dean exclaims, looking around the room as if it held the answers, but when he realises what he's dong isn't doing any good, he turns back to Ash with a raised eyebrow. 'Come on, man, you can't just drop a bomb like that and not elaborate.'

'Not everyone was lucky with their escape last night. Harry got caught by Umbridge. They went straight to Dumbledore's office and she informed the Minister as well; he was there and everything. They were blaming Dumbledore for setting it up and apparently he just took the fall.'

'Did they take him to Azkaban? I mean, that's the kind of stupid thing Fudge's been thinking about doing for ages now. And treason isn't something they take lightly…' Dean trails off when Ash starts chuckling and Dean's jaw sets. 'What?'

'Do you honestly think Dumbledore's going to let Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, take him to Azkaban?' Ash questions and after a moment, Dean realises just how stupid the idea sounds, so he shakes his head. 'Exactly. According to Harry, Fawkes swooped down over him and he Disapparated in flames.'

Dean chuckles, 'The old man's definitely got style.' He declares before he realises just what Ash had said and wonders, 'I thought you couldn't Apparate on the grounds of Hogwarts?'

'Apparently Dumbledore can. I mean, I know I'm Dr. Badass, but I'm willing to admit that Dumbledore is badass as well.' Ash declares with a grin, before he walks over to the door, clapping Dean on the shoulder as he does so, 'Anyway, made agreements to meet Jo for breakfast, so I'll see you down at the Great Hall in a bit?'

He doesn't give Dean a chance to answer and he's through the door as soon as the wordsare out of his mouth.

Dean falls back onto the nearest bed, not really caring about the fact that it isn't his, before he decides that he can't just sit there. He moves over to his own bedding area, and after pulling on a pair of jeans and a black shirt, he heads down to the Common Room, suddenly determined to get out of his Common Room and head to the Hufflepuff Basement.

Most people who aren't in Hufflepuff don't really know where it is, but Dean does because Lisa, the girl he dated for most of his Fifth Year was in Hufflepuff, and he spent many nights sneaking out of Gryffindor and down to Hufflepuff in order to wait for her. He's actually surprised he hadn't got caught by Cas then, but then he remembers that Cedric was the Prefect last year… God, did this place have any happy memories?

He's just about at the Portrait Hole when someone shouts on him.

He turns to find Fred and George Weasley, waving him over to their little crevice in the Common Room. He looks back to the Portrait Hole, trying to decide whether or not to just go and get Cas when he decides that whatever they want him for won't take too long, so he turns on his heel and walks over to them, noticing that their friend Lee is also sitting beside them.

'What?'

'Well, we haven't really got anything specific yet -'

'- But we're determined to make our new Headmistress' life a living hell -'

'- And we were just wondering if you were up for it -'

'- When the time comes.'

Dean feels a grin pulling at his lips as he listens to the twins idea, and when Fred has finished their statement, he's smiling so wide his teeth are visible.

'You honestly think I'm going to say "no" to running that old boot out of Hogwarts?' Dean questions with a chuckle. 'Count me in. Let me know what you're planning on doing and I'll be there.'

'Lovely.' Fred and George declare in unison before they turn their heads together and start planning, and Dean's much more interested in getting to Cas than putting his two cents in, so he takes his leave, walking back to the Portrait Hole and crawling out through it, but before he moves away he turns back to the Fat Lady.

'Oi!' He calls, getting her attention and when she's raised her perfectly painted eyebrow at him, he points a finger at her. 'Don't call me "pretty" again.'

And with his grin widening even further, he walks away to the Hufflepuff Common Room, leaving the sounds of the Fat Lady's protests behind.

He's halfway to the Hufflepuff Common Room, so intent on his task to just get to it that he doesn't realise he's walked past the person he's coming to find; not until he's been shouted on three times and a hand lands on his shoulder.

'Dean!' Cas exclaims for the fourth time and even though Dean didn't hear him the first three, he can tell by the amount of exasperation in his voice that it definitely isn't the first time he's called his name.

'Where the hell did you come from?' Dean asks, looking around himself and realising that he's nowhere near the Common Room yet, and he turns back to Cas with a frown, who does nothing but give him a grin as he shakes his head amusedly.

'From my Common Room! I was just coming to find you, actually.'

'Really? I was doing the same!'

Cas chuckles, 'I thought as much. Either that or to the kitchens, but I don't see the point in that as breakfast is still being served. Have you had something to eat?'

Cas starts walking back the way Dean had just came from, and he realises this a moment too late and has to jog to catch up with him.

But instead of answering his question, he takes only one thing from Cas' previous sentence.

'You know where the kitchens are?'

Cas grins and nods his head, 'I'll have to show you sometime.'

And for some reason, that means something to Dean; makes him feel that little bit more special, because he knows that Cas could've just turned and told him where the kitchens were and how to get into them, or even more, just stayed silent and decide to not let Dean in on the secret of the kitchens. Instead, he's offered to show Dean.

Sometimes, Dean really can't get over the fact that Cas likes spending this much time with him; the others do it because they're family; Dean knows that. He knows that if they weren't related - by blood or not, because as Bobby once told him, "family don't end with blood" - they wouldn't even give him the time of day. Not really. They're all so much better than him.

But here was Cas, willing to spend as much time with Dean, and actually being sad and annoyed when he can't… last night was proof of that.

'So…' Dean starts as he remembers last night and what Ash told him this morning. 'Have you heard about-?'

'Dumbledore? Yes, Baltahzar filled me in this morning.'

'You saw Balthazar before you saw me?' Dean demands, not realising until the words are out of his mouth, how petulant and possessive he sounds.

Not good.

He's too busy looking around himself, trying to hide his sudden embarrassment, that he misses the sparkle that appears in Cas' eyes as a small smile appears on his lips, but almost as if he too is just remembering himself, it quickly turns into a grin.

Making Dean uncomfortable is never something Castiel can do, so in order to save him from his thoughts, which is probably a good thing, seeing as the Gryffindor looks like he's about to die, he enquires, 'So, you've never been to the kitchens? Dean Winchester, the lover of food, has never had the urge to find the kitchens for a midnight snack?'

Dean almost thanks him for the change in topic, and for not even answering his question, but then he realises that would bring the conversation back to the original one, which wouldn't be a smart idea, so he just sends him a thankful look which he hopes Cas understands, before answering, 'Well, I've had the urge, just haven't really wanted to spend ages looking for them. I'm not curious like Fred and George; I'm happy with what I know.'

Cas chuckles, 'Well, I'm not going to tell you right now, it's going to be a surprise, but let's just say it is probably a good thing you aren't a Hufflepuff, to be honest.'

They've reached the Great Hall by now, and they make their way over to the Gryffindor table after Jo and Ash wave them over. It isn't until Dean's sat down beside Cas that he realises just what that means.

'You lucky son of a bitch!' He gasps, gaping at Cas who wears a smug smile on his face as he grabs a slice of toast and starts to butter it.

'What? What happened? What?' Jo demands, but Dean just shakes his head and doesn't say anything as he grabs some food and starts to eat, but he definitely doesn't miss the fact that he finds his gaze lingering a little more on Cas' smug smile and nope. Definitely not good.

~oOoOoOoOoOo~

Easter holidays have been and gone, and with them, all the free time that Dean and Cas have and can spend together.

It annoys Dean, that him and Cas only share Defence Against the Dark Arts. And it doesn't help that Umbridge seems to think that everyone was a member of Dumbledore's Army until proven otherwise, so is really stepping up the work, and detentions. Dean stays quiet, though, not really wanting to get on her bad side, because whilst his first few detention with her were downright awful, it was nothing compared to what Harry got.

Dean was ready to hex the old toad when he found out about her having Harry write "lines". Only the ink was his blood and left a permanent scar on the back of his hand; "I must not tell lies". He can remember telling them that she should have "I am not a bitch" written all over her then, because clearly the old boot has something about irony. After all, Harry doesn't tell lies; she is a bitch.

So, he hardly gets a chance to talk to Cas inside the classroom, and then there's only a short period of time - like a really short period of time, like five minutes or maybe ten at the most - before he's heading off to Transfiguration, and Cas is going to Herbology.

He tries to fit Cas in whenever he's got a spare time, but Fred, George and Lee have came up with several brilliant ideas on how to make Umbridge go crazy, and Dean just can't not be a part of them.

He thinks about telling Cas and asking him to join in, but then he remembers that Castiel is still the Hufflepuff Prefect, and he doesn't want Cas getting into trouble.After all, if the four of them get caught they can deal with that, but it would be a million times worse for Cas as he's a Prefect and supposed to set an "example", so that's the reason he doesn't say a word to Cas.

But in reality, he probably should have, which is what he realises when he gets a shock when Cas isn't waiting for him outside Defence, after Dean was asked by Umbridge to collect in all the books. He thought Cas would automatically do it, and when he leaves the classroom, he's ready to rant about what a bitch Umbridge is when he notices that no-one is waiting on him.

He only took a minute or two gathering those damn books in, so he knows that Cas can't be all the way down to the greenhouses by now, and he seriously hopes he isn't even out of the castle, otherwise he's not going to be able to catch up with Cas as well as being on time for Transfiguration.

He breaks into run, bashing into several people's shoulders as he barges his way through the corridors, trying to find Cas and almost hurtling into him when he does.

'Cas!' He shouts, not really giving a damn that other people are staring at him now, especially when he notices Cas stop and turn to face him. 'Why didn't you wait on me?'

Cas frowns at him for a moment or two, almost looking lost as he juggles Dean's words over and over again in his head.

'I didn't know I was supposed to wait on you.' He declares, though what he really wants to say is "you haven't talked to me in weeks; what did I do wrong?". He just hops his eyes convey that message because he knows saying that aloud will sound really pathetic and just downright embarrassing.

And surprisingly, Dean does see it; recognises the look straight away, and he looks off the to the side, a hand coming up to run through his short blond hair before he turns back to Cas, who has his blue eyes cast down to the stone floor.

The halls are empty and Dean's definitely going to be late for Transfiguration now, and McGongall is going to be pissed but by the look of things, he needs to cling to the first real friendship he's had since… well, since forever. And he's willing to take the inevitable detention if he's honest.

'Look, it's not been on purpose, I just didn't want you to get into trouble.' Dean rushes, hoping that it explains everything, but all it does is make Cas frown deeper.

'Why would I get in trouble?'

'Fred, George, Lee and me have been planning a thing or two, to give Umbridge hell for… well… being the bitch that she is, and I honestly was gonna tell you and have you join in, but then I remembered you're a Prefect and you'll end up in a million times more trouble that us four. So…' he trails off, because he knows this is a fucking sorry excuse for not talking to his friend, for not making time for him, when he knows that Cas is pretty much only person who knows him and can stand being around him all the time. Sure he stands impossibly close and doesn't get most of Dean's jokes, but he's always a constant. Always just Cas.

'Fuck.' Dean hisses, turning away from Cas' questioning gaze again and it suddenly comes crashing down on him; he's a shitty friend, a shitty brother, a shitty son. No wonder his dad walked out on him; he's not worth sticking around for. 'Probably not a bad idea getting away from me.'

He sits down on the nearest thing he can, which just so happens to be a window ledge, and his bag falls from his shoulder and lands on the stone floor with a resounding thud; if Sam were with him he'd be complaining to Dean about not looking after his books properly.

But the thought of his younger brother isn't enough to put a smile on his face this time around.

He hears Cas sit down next to him but he doesn't raise his eyes to look at him; can't look at him at this moment in time as he's scared of what he's going to see. Hate? Probably. Rejection? Most definitely. He doesn't lift his eyes because he knows Cas is going to say goodbye this time around and going to mean it.It's going to be for good this time.

He's just thrown away the only real friend he's ever had.

God he's a screwup.

'Dean,' Cas starts and Dean braces himself for the inevitable. The "you're not good enough and will never be good enough" speech that's going to come any minute now. Cas' hand in suddenly on his shoulder and Dean's eyes finally rise to meet his, not really caring that there are tears stinging his eyes. The key is not letting them fall. 'I don't know what you think of me, but you mean more to me than being a Prefect.'

Dean doesn't realise just how strong those words really were meant to be - and doesn't until years later - but it's still enough of a affirmation that Dean's green eyes don't move away from Cas, even though they've been staring at each other for about five minutes straight now.

'Stupid thing to do, really.' Dean mumbles and he wants to move his eyes, cast them down to trace the stone of the floor, but for some reason he finds he can't; for some reason he wants to see the emotion pass over Cas' face and through his eyes. And he does, he watches a caring expression leave Cas' face, to be replaced with a small amount of anger, only to settle for exasperation instead.

'One day I'll find out why you've got such a small opinion of yourself, Dean Winchester. One day I'll find out why you don't think good things deserve to happen to you,' Cas muses, the exasperation leaving his face as a small smile finds its way onto his lips, happy to think that he's going to be in Dean's life long enough to find the answer to that question. 'But for now, know this, I'd follow you to Hell, Dean.'

'That's a pretty strong declaration, Cas.' Dean huffs out a laugh, because it's such a Cas thing to say; he's always go big or go home, but he honestly never thought he'd hear words like that; not just from Cas but from anyone. Someone willing to follow him to the darkest place on earth? That just doesn't happen.

It's then Dean realises that Castiel's hand is still on his shoulder, no longer a light touch but a firm grasp, as if he's almost afraid Dean's either going to flee away from him or disappear into thin air, even though Dean's got no intentions of doing either.

Cas' smile just widens, 'Doesn't mean it's not true.'

Cas' hand finally leaves Dean's shoulder, then and settles in his lap, and Dean feels his shoulder burning as if his handprint had just been scalded into his skin; a permanent mark from where Cas had touched him. And the tingly feeling doesn't leave, not as they sit there for the remainder of that period, not even as they head for lunch.

But Dean was definitely right, missing his class to fix his friendship with Cas was definitely more important than actually attending the class. Even though he knows he's going to get a decent amount of detentions for it, it doesn't matter, because he has his best friend back.

And his mind is once again settled, because he knows - for now at least - that Castiel is going nowhere, and Cas is realising the same thing about Dean.

They're in each other's lives now, and they're not leaving them any time soon; not if they can help it.

Please review?

~Charlotte.x