SuperPotterLock- The Prisoner of Azkaban

The Marauder's Map

Castiel woke up the next morning across from an extremely glum Harry. They smiled faintly at each other, but neither felt like saying much. Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping them both overnight. Harry left as soon as he could on Sunday morning but Castiel stayed behind, curled up in his bed until Dean came to find him.

'What're you still doing in here, man? Harry left hours ago.'

Castiel shrugged.

'Are you okay?' Dean waited patiently for an answer.

'I don't understand,' he said. 'Why do the Dementors affect me so badly?'

Dean grimaced and sat down on the bed. 'Thing about Dementors is the worst, and I mean the worst, magical creatures in the world. Like, even No-Maj's can feel 'em. They suck out all your happy memories and good feelings and stuff.'

'Have you seen them before?'

'Yeah. It wasn't fun. They make you relive your worst memories. We all know why they affect Harry so bad, heck I'd be more surprised if they didn't. The question is, what happened to you?'

Cas bit his lip and rubbed his arm.

'I was in a potion accident,' he said quietly. I survived with some – scars. My mother did not.'

'Wow. I'm sorry, man,' Dean said sympathetically.

'When they come near me, I hear her screaming. I hear myself and I can smell the burning-' He cut himself off with a shake of his head.

Dean looked at him for a moment. 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours.'

'What?'

Dean put his foot up on the bed and lifted up his trouser leg. A burn scar snaked up his calf and stopped just before his knee. 'Azazel set fire to our house when he was trying to kidnap my brother and me. I got Sam out and picked up these gnarly scars but my mom didn't make it.'

'I'm sorry, Dean.'

'Don't be. It was a long time ago,' he said, putting his foot back on the ground. 'Your turn.'

Cas unbuttoned the cuff of his sleeve and rolled it up. He felt much more comfortable showing it to Dean than he expected.

Dean whistled at it. 'How far up does that go?'

Cas patted the top of his shoulder, then buttoned his sleeve back up.

'You don't like showing it off, huh?'

'No.'

'That's a shame. It scores ya all kindsa brownie points with the ladies,' Dean winked. 'Mine does.'

'I don't understand. Hermione and Ginny already like me.'

'Oh boy, do you have a lot to learn,' Dean smiled. 'Are you coming down to lunch, or are you just gonna mope around here all day.'

Cas nodded. 'I'll come.'

'So, who have you told about that?' Dean asked as they left.

'Just you and John.'

'John? Really? Not Sherlock or Hermione?'

'No, why?'

'You just seem closer to them than John.'

'He's a lot easier to talk to than Sherlock and Hermione is very busy.'

'You know, that makes sense,' Dean grinned.

The violent weather of November faded into a chilly haze of rain that persisted well into December. Wood regained some of his manic energy when Ravenclaw's defeat of Hufflepuff put Gryffindor back in the running for the Quidditch Cup. He worked the team as hard as possible, and two weeks before the end of term, the sky lightened over the newly frosted grounds. A Christmas buzz filled the air, Professor Flitwick immediately decorated his classroom, and everyone began talking about their holiday plans. Castiel was going home, as were Dean and Hermione, but everyone else had decide to stay for the holidays.