Stranger Than Your Sympathy
Part One - Freshmen Year
Chapter Three
He barely paid attention in Latin. This class, like Algebra, was going to be a little more challenging for him. Sure, his dad had made sure that he knew the basics, but Latin was Sam's thing. He was the one who bothered with the grammar and pronunciation.
But none of that mattered. All he could think about was his conversation with Bobby and running through everything that his dad had said to him about Hogwarts in the small amount of time that they had between his dad's announcement that he'd be coming here and the boat ride.
One late night, in the Impala, Sam had been dead asleep in the back and Dean had been sulking after once again failing to convince his dad to let him stay home.
"I don't know what your belly-achin' about. You've complained enough over the years about havin' to look after your brother. You'll get to focus on being a hunter that can hold his own and get a little independence at the same time."
Dean didn't respond. He had already argued every point he could think of. And it wasn't that he had given up, but he was exhausted.
"Did I ever tell you anything about the school?"
That caught Dean's attention. "No. I didn't even know you went to a high school for hunters until…"
"Yeah. Well, I was only there for one year, but it was one hell of a year. It all started with the sorting. I got into the best house, of course, Slytherin."
"Houses?"
John smiled. "Yeah – it's real old fashioned, Hogwarts. Like an old British boarding school. They sort you into one of four houses when you arrive. That house is like your family when you're there."
"How do they decide? Is it random?"
"No. I can't tell you about the sorting. It's tradition for freshmen not to know. But each house is known for different things. Hufflepuffs are useless," he said with a scowl, "cowards, really. Most of them end up working in administration. You almost never see 'em actually out in the field doing the real work. Ravenclaws are only a little better. They're good for research. They're soft though. Not like Slytherins."
"What are Slytherins like?" Dean couldn't help but ask. He didn't want anything to do with this school but this was the most information he had gotten out his dad. He wondered briefly if his dad was a little drunk – not too drunk to drive, obviously, but it was rare that his old man was in this talkative of a mood.
"Slytherins make the best hunters. You want to take down real monsters like the one that killed your mom, you better hope that you are sorted into Slytherin. And the sorts of students you'll meet there – the best. I can still depend on my Slytherin buddies if I'm in a pinch. With what I've already taught you, there is no way that you'll end up anywhere else."
Dean felt a sinking in his stomach. What would his dad do if he wasn't a Slytherin? "What's the last house?"
"Huh?"
"The last house. You said there were four."
John scowled. "Friggin' Gryffindors. Monster chow, that's what they are. But don't worry about it. No son of mine would ever be a Gryffindor."
Not Gryffindor, Dean thought to himself then. But apparently, his dad wasn't done.
"If you end up in Gryffindor, don't even bother coming home," he said. A new fear shot through Dean.
He didn't ask any more questions.
"You alright, Dean?"
Dean blinked. He didn't realize that he hadn't been paying attention. It was dinner time and he was sitting at a table with all the Gryffindors in his year when Cassie asked him a question.
"Yeah. Just thinking."
"Try not to break anything," Benny teased him.
Dean rolled his eyes. "We're done for the day right? What's there to do here at night? Cas, you know everything about this stupid place. Anything fun to do?"
"Homework," Cas responded without batting an eye or looking up from the book he was reading next to his dinner tray.
Everyone groaned.
"Why do you think he's the resident expert?" Pamela challenged him. "My older brother graduated last year. I can tell you all you need to know."
That caught Dean's attention. "How the hell do we get out of here? They can't keep up cooped up in this friggin' lighthouse all the time, can they?"
"The rule is that freshmen aren't allowed to leave campus," Pamela said.
"But…"
"But that don't mean that there's no way to leave campus if you catch my drift," she said with a wink.
Oh, Dean liked her.
He was about to ask her more questions when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Winchester," he turned around to see the not-pleased face of Jody.
"Yes, Madam President?" He asked with his most charming smile, having picked up the title from the older Gryffindors. She rolled her eyes.
"You see the scoreboard?"
Dean had not. He hadn't even thought about it since it had been explained to him the night before. Sure enough, now, instead of a row of zeros, all the houses had varying numbers under them. Gryffindor was up 30 points. Which was only five below the next highest, Ravenclaw.
"Looks like we're in second place."
She fixed him with a look. "Yeah, we are. And it's expected for the Ravenclaws to be ahead on syllabus day, but look on the side there. You see what I see?"
On the side of the scoreboard, under each house, were initials. Two at the top with green numbers and two at the bottom with red numbers. Or, in the case of Gryffindor, just one pair of initials. 1st – DW – -2.
"I also got three points!" He protested. "So, really, that's a gain of a point."
He glanced up but his initials were not in the green. A junior – GW, had gained five points. LB, a senior, had gotten ten.
"Yeah, that's not going to cut it. As I said, we take points seriously here. And losing them on the very first day does not bode well for you. Detention."
"On my first day?" He asked incredulously.
"Hell yes."
"Oh, come on cher," Benny tried to argue for Dean, "it wasn't fair, Mr. Singer takin' those points. Dean didn't do anything wrong."
"Do you want detention too, Lafitte?" She turned to him.
"No ma'am," he looked down at his tray of food.
"That's what I thought. Winchester – library, Wednesday night at 7:00." She turned on her heel and went back to her section of the table.
"That's bullshit," Dean said as he played with the remaining food on his plate.
"Sneaking off on our first night probably wasn't the best idea anyway," Pamela said. Dean was going to argue with her, but she kept talking, "best we leave that to a little later in the week. When we've had more time to plan." She winked and got up from the table. "Later boys," she said as she walked away.
Dean really liked that girl.
It was almost enough to make up for the fact that he had detention the following night. Almost.
III
Later that night all four boys were once again in their room. It was too early to go to sleep but too late to do any sort of exploring. Cas had already closed the curtains around his bunk, but the light coming from inside told them all that he was reading or something, not sleeping, while the other three were discussing the other occupants of the tower.
"You've gotta give me something, chief," Benny was pestering Ash.
"No way, dude, I value my nut-sack too much to give you anything."
"She's a strong one," Benny said dreamily.
"Dude – she's so out of your league. Plus, did you see the glares she was shooting your way all day?" Dean asked.
"I think you're mistaking me with you," Benny shot back.
"Yeah, but that's true of everyone in this place. Guess my dad pissed everyone off by being the best in the business. Without being part of the Council. Can't help it that I remind everyone of him."
The room fell silent.
"I don't think you're anything like your old man," Ash said, somewhat quietly.
"What?"
"I've met him, you know? At the Roadhouse."
"You met my dad? He never even mentioned the Roadhouse to me."
"Yeah – he ain't real popular there. I can see why he wouldn't want to take his kids. Thought Ellen – that's Jo's mom – was going to shoot him the last time he stopped by."
"They just don't like him because he's better than them at hunting," Dean continued to defend his father. As far as he was concerned, his dad was the best in the business. That had been cemented by how Dean knew so much more about hunting than his classmates when they had all grown up in the life too.
More awkward silence. Then, "What do you mean I'm not like him?"
Ash shrugged. "Dunno, man. We've all seen you with, well, everyone, you're impossible not to like. I think you've even charmed Jody Mills – despite her better judgment."
"She gave me detention!"
"Yeah. Love a woman who takes authority like that," Ash took his turn sounding dreamy now.
Benny and Dean snorted in unison.
"You think Jo's a tough nut to crack?" Benny asked, "Jody will chew you up and spit you out."
"Maybe I'd like that," Ash said with a grin.
"Who do you have your eyes on, brother?" Benny asked Dean from the bottom bunk.
Dean had to think for a second. There was no shortage of attractive people at this school. Personally, he wouldn't mind playing Seven Minutes in Heaven with any number of the other students. "I've got my sight on you, Benny," he teased, "it's too bad you're already hung up on that Jo chick. Guess I'll have to go with my second choice – I think Pamela Barnes would be willing to take me off campus. I prefer my partners on the easy side."
"You don't stand a chance with me, brother, I'm a relationship man. I've only known you a couple of days and I can tell you're a love 'em and leave 'em type and I ain't looking to get my heart broken."
"You calling me a slut, Lafitte?"
"You said it, not me."
Dean huffed. Leaning over the edge of his bunk, he hurled his pillow at Benny before pressing against the wall to be able to ward off any counterattack.
"Pillow fight?" Ash called, grabbing his.
"Nah," Benny replied lazily. "Dean was just kind enough to give me an extra pillow for the night. 'Preciate it, brother. Think I'll hit the hay. See y'all in the morning." With that, he closed his curtains.
In his mind, Dean gave Benny a point. Which meant it was currently Dean – 0, Benny – 1. He'd get his revenge later.
III
Before his second full day at Hogwarts, Dean once again couldn't turn his mind off and sleep. He wasn't sure if he got more than three hours, but as soon as all his roommates had said goodnight, he couldn't stop running through everything that had happened during the day. He didn't want anyone to know it was bothering him, but he never realized that his father was keeping so much from him.
Not just this whole…world, but also whatever had happened when he was at this school.
It was also difficult for him to sleep without hearing Sam's soft breathing close. He was worried about his little brother and not being able to check and make sure he was safe was driving him insane.
He gave up on sleeping around five in the morning, deciding that he might as well stop pretending that it was going to happen. He wondered when the coffee would appear in the common room.
After showering and stumbling his way into the common room, he was surprised to see that Cas was also already awake and dressed.
"Ah!" He yelped when he saw the other boy sitting in the armchair he had been aiming to sit in. "What are you doing up?"
"Hello, Dean," Cas greeted, "I could ask you the same."
"Couldn't sleep," he mumbled. "You know when the coffee gets here?" Yesterday, sleep had come later in the day rather than earlier, and he had had to run down the stairs just to get to the mess in time for breakfast.
"I don't know if it's an everyday thing," Cas said. "I think it was just something special for the first day. You'll probably have to go down to the mess to get any."
Dean just sank into a sofa and put his hands over his face. This was inhumane.
"You know, they say that coffee stunts growth," Cas said, unhelpfully.
"You callin' me short?"
"No."
Cas is one weird little dude, he thought, not for the first time.
"I think you'd get along with my brother," Dean said, after several moments of silence that should not have been comfortable, but somehow was. "He says that kinda shit to me all the time. Never met a 12-year-old who cared so much about healthy food. Took his first health class in the sixth grade and now it's food pyramid this and calories from fat, that." God, he missed him.
"He sounds very sensible," Cas said, which Dean took as a high compliment. He hesitated for a second. "What's it like, having a brother?"
"I dunno," Dean said. "Annoying, I guess. I always have to look after the little twerp. But he's kinda the best too. He looks after me too. Growing up – we really only ever had each other. Dad's always hunting and…" Dean clapped his mouth shut. He wasn't sure why he was saying so much. It must be the sleep deprivation.
"That sounds very nice. I'm an only child. Kind of."
"Kind of?"
Cas squirmed a little. "I had a brother. Jimmy – he, uh, isn't here anymore."
"I'm sorry, dude," Dean said, his stomach flattening at the thought of Sam dying.
"It's alright. It was – I never knew him. It was right after he was born. I almost didn't make it either. My mom didn't even know she was pregnant. She didn't think that she would be able to have any other children after Jimmy."
"Wow," Dean didn't know what else to say.
"Yes. It was very difficult for my parents to send me to boarding school. Mom calls me her angel. But – I just knew I had to come here. It's a lot less lonely. Somehow, I feel like I'm meant to have a lot of siblings."
Dean snorted. "Sounds painful for your mother."
Cas shook his head. "No – it's not…" he trailed off. "Do you ever feel like your life should have been something different than it is?"
Dean felt that all the time. But he wasn't about to say that out loud. "I still can't believe I'm here. I went to seven different schools last year. And now…"
"Do you like it here?"
On the tip of his tongue, Dean wanted to say yes. It had only been a couple of days but he was already feeling at home here. But it still felt disloyal.
"I don't know."
"Well, I do," Cas said. "I never had friends before you, Benny, Ash, and the girls."
"Yeah, 'cause you're a nerdy little loser."
Cas looked at him intensely. Then smiled. "Yeah But you're my friend, so what does that say about you?"
Dean cracked a smile back. "Not sure yet. Now – you wanna see if we can break into the mess and make some coffee for ourselves? I'm not gonna make it through the day otherwise."
"Technically the rules state that we have to be in the tower by ten, nothing says that we have to stay here until breakfast."
Dean's smile became a grin and he slung an arm over Cas's shoulder. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."
The two of them headed downstairs, chatting about nothing and everything the whole way.
III
"Don't we have Defense Against the Supernatural now?" Dean asked. He, of course, hadn't bothered to pull the schedule that he had shoved somewhere deep in his backpack out during breakfast. But he was confused when Benny started heading down a different hallway than he was expecting when they got to the classroom building.
"No, Dean – today is Seminar," Cas said as if that should mean something to him.
"Seminar?"
Cas shot him an annoyed glance.
"I'll take this from here, cher," Benny said, with a laugh, "he was about to ask if you had read anything about this school or your schedule."
Dean crossed his arms. "I've managed to make it to all my classes, haven't I?"
"Only because you've been following us," Ash said, but he didn't sound bothered by it.
Fair, Dean thought. "Alright, I'll bite. What the hell is Seminar? And does this mean that I busted my butt finishing that reading for DAS for nothin' last night? Why didn't you tell me then?"
"Doing your homework is never a waste of time," Cas said.
"Doing it early is," Dean muttered, "I coulda used that time to do something useful. Like hanging out with the girls instead of being stuck in the barracks with you losers."
Benny rolled his eyes. "Well, you'll get to see plenty of the girls in Seminar. And it wasn't a waste, in any case, we'll have DAS after this. We've got an extra hour of classes on Wednesdays."
"And Fridays," Cas added.
Dean groaned. "Really?"
"Yeah. But these are classes that are for all Gryffindors – the ones we have together as a house. Today is Seminar – which is taught by the in-residence psychic."
"Friday is PE," Ash supplied.
Dean was annoyed that not only did he have an extra hour of class today, but he also had detention. That was going to make the day particularly long and he had not gotten enough sleep the night before.
They continued to chat until they entered the classroom itself.
Dean stopped a little short.
It was unlike any of the other classrooms he had been in at Hogwarts – unlike any classroom he had ever been in before.
First, the curtains had all been drawn closed making the room dark. The only light came from lanterns that were placed on the ground all around the room.
There were no desks. Cushions of various sizes and colors were placed in a large circle.
Lastly, the air was thick with the scent of incense. It felt like the smoke that was burning from the little sticks was burrowing into Dean's pores it was so strong. He coughed a little.
"Come in, students, welcome," the warm voice of Ms. Moseley greeted them. "Take a seat anywhere you'd like."
Dean and his friends gravitated towards the girls in their year – who were already seated.
"This should be good," Jo whispered to Dean. "My mom knows Ms. Moseley, says she's the most competent psychic she knows. And that's high praise coming from my mom."
Dean was a little surprised that Jo had spoken to him at all. Mostly, the blonde girl had avoided him. But maybe that was more about Benny than him.
"When she sorted me, she said that she knew me as a kid," Dean whispered back to her, careful not to bring up his father, which was a sore point with the girl, for some reason.
"She gets around – well respected by everyone."
Dean nodded.
Everyone else filtered into the room. Dean didn't know everyone in his house – most of his time had been spent either with the other freshmen. There were only about forty students total in Gryffindor. Hogwarts was pretty small considering that it pulled from the entire country.
"For those of you who have not met me yet – I am Missouri Moseley. This is the first time I've had a rotation at Hogwarts and I am honored to be here with y'all. I am a psychic. That does not mean that I am all-powerful. I do not see all. I do not know all. Any psychic that tells you otherwise is a fake. Now…" she stopped and turned to a sophomore boy that Dean didn't know, "Roy. You better keep those thoughts cleaner while you're in my presence."
He blushed and looked down.
"Better. Now – we have a lot to cover this year, but we're going to start with the basics. Some of you are thinking that I'm gonna teach you how to read minds. Ain't no way I can do that, babies. You're either born with it or you're not. Some of you in here certainly have it. Most of you do not. And while I can't teach you the psychic arts, I can teach you to be more in tune with yourselves. The more you know your own self, the better you'll be able to trust your instincts. And let me tell ya, being able to trust your instincts is the most important part about bein' a hunter."
My instinct is that this is a waste of time, Dean thought to himself.
"Dean Winchester!" She called him out. "Don't bring that kinda negativity into my class."
Jo laughed at him a little and he felt his face heat up.
"Now. Today we're gonna start with some breathing exercises. We're going to learn to center ourselves and lower our inner walls to get in touch with what is deep within. So… close your eyes and take a deep breath with me…"
It wasn't as uncomfortable as Dean thought it would be. Although he thinks that he may have fallen asleep at some point, because, quicker than he realized, Ms. Moseley was speaking.
"Time to open those beautiful eyes again," she said. He did so, finding that all his classmates seemed to be as surprised as he was that it was over. "Great work today. Now – I don't have a written down syllabus because I think that we're all on a journey together and even I can't see what that will be. I look forward to our time together. Please drink some water before you head off for your next classes." She pointed at a table filled with cups of water that Dean hadn't noticed before.
He went over the table, not ready to talk to anyone, still in a stupor.
"Dean, honey," Ms. Moseley called to him when he had retreated a couple of paces away from the table where everyone was beginning to talk to each other.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"You need more sleep, baby," she said, "if it doesn't get better by the weekend – please go see the nurse."
He had no intention of doing that.
"I mean it, boy," she said severely.
"Yes, ma'am," he repeated sheepishly.
She nodded with approval. "Your friends are waitin' on you. Skedaddle."
Sure enough, Benny, Cas, and Ash were waiting in a little group for him by the door.
"Alright, brother?" Benny asked.
"Yeah – think I fell asleep, man," he admitted as they all walked out together. Benny chuckled.
"I thought that was very interesting," Cas said. "I've always found meditation difficult. Like a part of me doesn't want to see what's there."
Dean shook his head. Cas was always saying things like that. "Well, if it's up to her, Ms. Moseley will turn you into a self-actualized hippy by the end of the semester."
Cas looked thoughtful. "I think I'd like that."
Ash, Benny, and Dean all looked at each other and laughed. Ash clapped Cas on the back. "Remind me to tell you what I've got stashed in my bag later. Help us all get real self-actualized," he said with a wink.
"Like a book?"
"Even better," Ash said.
Dean snorted.
III
The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. The classes that focused on hunting were so easy that he could spend most of the class messing around with Benny and Ash (Castiel would never). He was still not sure how he was going to get through Algebra, but the others had promised to help him with his homework in the evenings to make up for the years of him not paying attention in math class. For the first time ever, he looked forward to working on his homework because it meant studying with his friends.
Of course, he didn't have time to study tonight. Stupid detention.
Normally, if he had been assigned detention, Dean would weigh how much longer he'd been in that town before deciding whether or not he would go. Here at Hogwarts, that didn't seem like an option. Especially when Jody arrived to escort him to the library herself.
"I was told you were a runner."
"Who the hell told you that?"
She raised an eyebrow. It had to have been Bobby. What a traitor. He hated the idea that his uncle was talking about him behind his back.
"No one," she admitted with a smile, "I can just tell just from the look of you. Come on, it'll be boring, but not painful."
That was a relief to Dean. So far, Hogwarts seemed pretty old-fashioned. He wasn't sure if he would be clapping erasers or if he would be forced to write lines with a cursed object that used his blood instead of ink.
He had not yet been to the library. If it weren't for this detention, he was sure that he might have gone the whole year without stepping foot in there. Like everything else in the lighthouse, the room was circular. There were large windows that spanned the entire wall that emitted the dusky sunlight outside.
"Woah," he said.
Jody smirked. "Expecting something more…dungeony?"
"Yeah. I've never seen these windows on the outside."
"That's because they don't really exist – they're an enchantment."
Dean hissed as if burned. "Magic? They allowed a witch in here to…to…"
"Light magic," Jody said. "Far too advanced for most here. I heard that a hunter helped save a whole coven from Muggles. As a thank you, they enchanted the walls in here to look like the outside."
"Why the hell would hunters save a coven of witches? Isn't that the opposite of what we try to do?"
"Not all witches are bad, you know," Jody said, "it wouldn't hurt you to have a more open mind. I don't know the details, it's just a story, but, personally, I find studying here way easier because of the light. Plus, it's artificial, so it doesn't damage the books."
"You sure you're a Gryffindor? Not a Ravenclaw?"
Jody just shook her head. "Too bad you won't be out here – follow me."
She took him to a small room that faced the staircase. Initially, it was so dark that Dean couldn't even see what was in there. Then she flipped a light switch and a harsh, fluorescent, overhead came on, and he almost groaned.
The walls of the room were covered by metal filing cabinets. In the center of the room, there was a singular metal table with a very uncomfortable-looking chair next to it.
"Are you serious?"
"I haven't even told you what you're doing."
"I'm not sure I want to know."
"Probably not. But I'm not allowed to keep you here past curfew, so there's an end in sight. Some of these files were damaged by a storm a couple years back when the roof leaked in the school. The detention project for Gryffindors this term is to go through the files and pull out the water-damaged pages. Paperclip them to the top of the file and later in the semester – because I'm assuming this isn't a one-time thing, you'll be transcribing the damaged pages to make the files all shiny and new."
Dean groaned. This sounded worse than being stuck on research with Sammy.
Jody clapped him on the shoulder. "All the supplies you need are there on the table. The teachers have put out the files that they think will need the most amount of work. Get through this stack and then you're free to go." With that, she left the room, closing the door behind her.
Great, Dean thought.
He took a seat at the table. The overhead light was annoying but, otherwise, the room was warm and he got tired even looking at the files. And unlike the barracks, it was also quiet. No soft (or not-so-soft in the case of Ash) snores to fil the space. Maybe he could take a quick nap?
Dean was almost ready to put his head down on the table when there was a sharp knock on the door.
Suspicious, he stood, only to hear, "Dean," in a loud whisper just outside.
He recognized that voice and he threw the door open.
Too quickly, apparently, as Benny came stumbling in, followed quickly by Cas and Ash.
"What the hell?"
"Shhhh," Ash said. "Keep your voice down."
"At least until we get the door closed," Cas added, carefully closing the door behind him.
After hearing it click shut Dean repeated himself, "What the hell, guys?"
"We felt bad…"
"The room was so boring…"
"It was hardly your fau – "
They were all talking at once and Dean couldn't make out what any of them were saying. "One at a friggin' time," Dean talked over them all.
They all stopped talking.
"We felt bad," Benny finally took the lead for everyone else. "It wasn't fair that you got detention and we thought we could at least keep you company while you did…whatever you're doing here."
"We followed you and Jody – you should've seen us, Cas used this silencing ward that…"
"Ash!"
"Sorry. I mean, we were super sneaky and quiet, man. Plus, these two wouldn't stop bickering and without you there to mediate it was going to be one hell of a long evening," Ash said.
"We were not!" Cas said indignantly. "We only had a small disagreement about…"
"Nah, he's right, cher," Benny said, cutting Cas off. "It was dumb. You lost those points talkin' to us anyway, so we thought it'd only be fair to share in your punishment."
Dean was completely dumbfounded. Sure, he was likable enough. He knew how to blend in with the "popular kids" in the myriad of schools that he attended but he didn't think he'd ever actually had anyone do something like this for him. Other than Sam. And that hardly counted. But it's not like he could say any of that.
"Damn right, it's totally your fault that I sassed Bobby in class," Dean said, playing it cool, but he said it in a way that he was certain they knew he didn't mean it.
"So, what are we working on here, brother?" Benny asked, picking up one of the files.
Dean explained what Jody had told him.
Ash whistled as he looked at the stack of files. "Man, you're lucky we showed up. This woulda taken you hours."
"Are these student files?" Cas asked as he plucked one off the top. His eyes went wide. "They are! This is privileged information."
Benny peered over his shoulder. "Yeah, but these are from like the early '70s."
"That doesn't make the information any less private," Cas argued. "These could still be active Council Members."
"Cool!" Ash said, taking a file for himself, "Maybe we'll find some good blackmail material. Help us when we're outta this place."
"You want to blackmail Council members?" Cas asked, horrified.
"Maybe," Ash said, flipping through his file. "Or teachers."
"They would not be dumb enough to give us a teacher's file in here," Dean said.
"Or would they?" Benny asked, excited, also pinching a file off the top. "First to find something juicy, wins?"
"Wins what?" Dean was suspicious.
"The other three doing his homework for a week."
"That's cheating!" Cas argued.
"Only if you get caught," Dean and Benny said at the exact same time, grinning.
"Alright – game on," Dean said. At very least, it would make this evening a lot more interesting.
"D. Elkins was the best cooter of his year," Ash read from his file.
"What?" Everyone turned to look at the kid.
"Oh. Shooter. Huh, it was water-damaged."
Benny shook his head. Cas looked confused. "What's a cooter?"
"It's the part of a la…" Ash started.
"A turtle," Benny interrupted. "Primarily found in the South. Delicious in soup," he glared at Ash. It was clear that Cas was quite…naïve, and he had privately told Dean that he thought it wasn't their place to try and corrupt the kid. Dean wasn't sure he agreed.
"Oh, Benny, do you spend all your time on the Bayou hunting cooters?" Dean asked with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"Shut up," Benny said.
The four of them continued to work together, reading each other the most interesting things they found. Most of them were about spells going wrong or incident reports like when one girl misfired an arrow (apparently archery was part of the curriculum in the 70s) into a boy's left buttock. (They ribbed Cas for like ten minutes for using the word buttock.)
Dean leaned back in the chair with his feet propped up on the table while both Cas and Benny sat on the table as they looked over the files. Ash was on the floor, cross-legged.
Nothing that was worthly the prize yet and the stack was dwindling to just a couple of files.
"I've got it!" Ash called out.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"This is the file of one John Winchester."
Dean's heart froze. He looked at what Ash was holding and it was…thick…for someone who had only been at Hogwarts for a year.
"Give me that," Dean snapped. These kids may be becoming his friends but that didn't mean that he wanted them getting into his family's private business. And he had a gut feeling that whatever was in the file was, in fact, private.
"No," Ash said, opening the file up. "Born April 22nd of 1964 in Normal, Illinois. Oh, that's your part of the country, isn't it Cas? Sorted into Slytherin by the psychic. Nothing good here, let me take a look at…"
Dean moved from his reclined position to his feet. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to grab the file from Ash, who also stood quickly and moved to the back of the room, still reading the file.
"Dude – they assigned them guns back then. What a wild time the 70s were. Man, he was found with a large amount of contraband including…"
"Give me that!" Dean insisted again, successfully grabbing the file away from Ash.
"Aw, come on man, you're just mad that I'm the first one that…"
"Not cool, Ash," Benny said with a frown. "That's his father."
"Yeah but…"
They continued to bicker while Dean started flipping through the pages of the file. His dad had been a mediocre student – mostly Bs with a couple of As and Cs.
The pages more towards the back had the damage and Dean was just beginning to make out a stamped red, "EXPELLED," when an alarm sounded.
"Shit," Benny said. "That's our ward – Jody's entered the library."
"Technically it's not…"
"Doesn't matter Cas, come on, Dean – we'll see back up in the barracks," the three of them quickly exited the room. Dean was relieved, that meant that he would have more time. He was trying to read the details of his father's expulsion (which others had said to him, but he hadn't believed - his dad had always said that he had dropped out) when the door swung open, and standing in the doorway was Jody Mills.
"It's been an hour, Winchester," she said, "and I got permission to let you out early – even if you haven't finished the…"
She zoned onto the file in Dean's hand, which he immediately tried to hide behind his back.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Nothing," he said, too quickly. "Look – I've only got two left so…"
"Winchester…" she said warningly.
He was about to deny having anything again, but she was quicker than he was. She snuck around the back of him and pulled the file out of his grasp.
She gasped when she saw what it was. "This is your father's file."
"Yeah. Give it back," Dean said through clenched teeth.
"No. This shouldn't – they said that they would remove any…I have to take this straight to the records department. This is meant to be sealed."
"Jody…please – "
She shook her head. "No. This is worth more than my position in student government. I'm sorry, Winchester. Look – just head back up to the tower. I'll take care of this."
"But that's…"
"Dean," she said, looking him in the eyes, "trust me. You don't want to see what's in there."
He debated arguing more, but, ultimately, decided against it. "Fine," he said, his jaw clenched.
Slipping past her he made his way out of the library. His friends were waiting for him just outside the door.
"Did she see us?" Cas asked.
Dean shook his head.
"Did you get to see what was in the file?" Benny asked.
He shook his head.
"I'm sorry, man," Ash said, actually sounding it. "If…"
"Don't worry about it, dude," Dean said. "I'm tired. Just want to get some sleep."
He didn't wait for their responses. He just started up the stairs to their dormitory. They followed and when they got to the room they exchanged some small talk and jokes, but Dean insisted on going to bed early.
As soon as he drew the curtains closed on the bed, he reached underneath the backside of his shirt, where he had managed to store a good part of the file in the back of his pants.
It was time to do some reading.
III
"What's that?" his father asked him when he saw that Sam had spread some papers out in front of him in the motel room.
Dean had only been gone for a couple of days and things had remained tense between the two of them. Sam was trying his best to repress his anger but it was still there, simmering beneath the surface. John seemed to also be trying, at least a little bit. Probably just to avoid having to argue with Sam without Dean to mediate.
And Sam certainly felt like a bomb ready to explode.
But he also knew that it wouldn't do any good. So, he had channeled his rage elsewhere. The fact that this seemed to be putting John on edge only made him feel better about that decision.
"Papers from the Council," Sam said, nonchalantly.
Whatever John had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Sam smirked internally.
"The Council?" he parroted back.
"Yeah – HUCUSA, really. Did you know that they provide a comprehensive homeschool curriculum for the children of hunters who don't have a registered homebase?" His dad continued to look confused, so Sam pressed on, "I saw information for graduates of the program in the packet Hogwarts sent before Dean left. So, I wrote to HUCUSA to ask for more and they sent me a six-month sample for my first semester of seventh grade."
"You wrote to HUCUSA?"
Sam couldn't tell if he was angry, surprised, or impressed.
"Yes. And if you were on the registry, then you would have known this was an option. Now, you don't have to worry about enrolling me in school wherever you land. Or even about staying in one place for a longer time. I can just come with you wherever there is a hunt."
Plus, it had always been Dean who had gotten them enrolled in school by forging his father's signature. Sam wasn't sure that, without him, John would have even known how to get him in.
"You shouldn't've done that without me," John said with a frown, "you don't know the Council like I do."
"How could I?" Sam snapped before taking a calming breath. He was really trying not to fight with his dad. "Look – you're a Hunter-at-Large, even though you're not on the Registry. I'm still not sure how that is possible, so it's not like I spilled any family secrets. Just getting the best education I can while freeing up time so that you haven't lost a hunting partner because Dean is at school."
"Let me look at that," John grabbed at the packet and started reading.
It was a calculated risk, Sam knew, but he couldn't see how his dad could say no. Not without coming off like a massive hypocrite. Which, Sam knew he was, but if he played this subtly enough, his dad would end up thinking this was the best idea in the world.
"This looks good," John said as if he knew anything about what seventh graders were supposed to learn. "And you didn't have to give them an address?"
Sam shook his head. "This was left for me when we dropped Dean off at the boat. If I want to continue, I just need to send them another letter and I can pick up the next set of lessons when we drop him off after Christmas break. I can send in my tests and papers from anywhere and can arrange to get my grade report when we pick Dean up. Or they can just send it straight to Hogwarts and he can bring it."
John's eyes narrowed. "You really thought of everything didn't you?" He sounded suspicious. Sam arranged his face to look as innocent as possible.
"I'm sure if there is anything that I missed, you'll figure it out. I do need to send in a permission slip with my first round of materials with your signature saying that you agree to this all. I am still a minor, after all."
"And this is legit?"
"Yeah – it's even accredited through the Muggle government, so if anyone sniffs around trying to get in our business, we can show them that I am legally enrolled in school. It's safer than moving from school to school, keeps us off their radar entirely."
"Huh," John said, idly flipping through the pages. "Alright then. We can try it. This means I don't want to hear any bitching when we move around. But if you get behind…"
"Back to in-person school!" Sam agreed.
His dad nodded. "Alright. I think I've gotten this case just about wrapped up. I was going to tell you that we were going to Idaho for a stretch – but if we don't have to stay there for you to go to school, there's something in New Mexico that I think would be better."
He seemed to be testing the waters.
"Sounds great, sir," Sam said. "Dean'll be jealous when we tell him all about the warm sun we're getting while it's raining all the time for him."
John looked pleased. He ruffled Sam's hair. "Good – well, let's go grab some food, Sammy, then head out."
Sam smiled at him.
"It's Sam," he muttered under his breath as John left the room. He didn't want to be prematurely too excited, but he thought that his plan might just work out.
III
The papers he had managed to smuggle out were severely damaged. Dean wondered if that is how the file was able to find its way into the stack without being noticed. The front page had a young picture of his dad – faded, but it was him. Dean felt a wave of homesickness wash over him as he looked at it. His dad looked so…carefree in this picture. He was smiling and the haunted look that he had always had, even before his mother had died, wasn't there at all.
The information that Ash had read was easy to see. But it just had things that Dean already knew. The next page was also almost soaked through and impossible to read, but it had at least a couple more pieces of information.
PARENTS: Henry Winchester (MOL, MIA) Slytherin '46; Millie Winchester (née Wilkenson) Inactive Slytherin '48
There was a heading that said LEGACY but everything underneath was nearly unreadable. All Dean was able to get out of it was that his entire lineage was entirely Slytherin. It made his stomach sink. He was not living up to the Winchester name at all if he was sorted into the entirely wrong house. Why was he different? What was wrong with him?
He flipped through more of the pages but all he could make out was a word or two. They seemed to be grades and teacher's reports, which would have been interesting, but not exactly vital information. However, the deeper he got in he realized that he was no longer looking at ordinary student records. They seemed to be a transcript of something. It wasn't until the very last page that had one sentence he could make out in its entirety.
END OF HEARING. COUNCIL VOTE UNANIMOUS. JOHN WINCHESTER IS HEREBY EXPELLED FROM HOGWARTS SCHOOL FOR HUNTERS, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
There it was.
Dean felt his world crumble a little bit more. It was bad enough that he was separated from his brother and father and that his dad had kept this entire…world…a secret from them, but he had always proudly proclaimed that he sacrificed his education to serve the country. That he had always put the needs of others above his own selfish desires. And for Dean to do anything less was not only bad but the greatest disgrace of all.
If he had been lying about all of that – what else was his dad hiding?
Dean shuddered.
He'd just have to figure it out.
Hiding the papers under his pillow, Dean laid down to sleep. There wasn't anything he could do about any of this until the morning.
But it seemed that he had another sleepless night ahead of him.
And the plot thickens. Or begins, rather. I promise, after this first week of Hogwarts, time will speed up a bit. For anyone who is here who read my Winchester's Three series, there is a small Easter Egg at the end of this chapter which is a nod to that.
Thank you to everyone who is reading, particularly those of you who have left me kind words or kudos. Like all fic writers, I love hearing from y'all, so, if you have a moment, leave me a comment or review. It's not the cool thing to say, but I'm loving writing this fic and I hope that you are all enjoying it as well. Also, please enjoy my restraint in the part where Dean says, "Are you serious?" because I very much wanted to have Jody reply, "No, you are," because it's everyone's favorite pun. I'm sure my resolve will fail at some point.
See you next week!