Fic: Vile Violent Vacations 26/30 (SPN/HP) PG-13, Gen
Title: Vile Violent Vacations 26/30
Author: hells_half_acre
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Supernatural
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Genre: Gen
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, spoilers for Supernatural until 5x10.
Disclaimer: This is a transformative work of fiction for entertainment purposes only.
AN: Sequel to Damned Demented Demons and Bobby and Hermione - An Epistolary Fic . Updates every Wednesday (PST).
Previous Chapters:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25
Summary: In which being caught in a wizard battle is just the beginning of Sam's problems.
*a minute or two earlier*
“Zap as many kids as you can back to the castle, ok?” Harry heard Sam say as he approached, low to the ground and behind the hedges, so that Carrow wouldn’t see him. Sam tensed when he saw Harry, and then relaxed.
“Sam, what are you doing?” Harry asked, coming to a stop beside Castiel.
“Emily from Ravenclaw is passing around a message for me,” Sam said, while Carrow gloated about something to Neville in the background. “Cas is going to make sure they get to the castle, once the fighting starts.”
“You could have told me-" Harry said.
“Shh!” Sam said, holding up a hand, and Harry fell quiet. “Shit,” Sam muttered peering around the edge of the thicket, Harry crawled over until he was practically on top of both Sam and Castiel, but he didn’t care - Carrow was speaking Latin.
“What’s he doing?” Harry asked, gripping his wand tightly.
“Summoning,” Sam said, just as Carrow finished. “Dean has the knife - he’ll kill it, don’t worry.”
“But who will it be inside? Can’t you pull it out like you did last year? The host will die otherwise!” Harry said. He knew Dean had some sort of rule against Sam using his powers, but certainly saving someone’s life was worth breaking a rule.
A woman appeared just behind Amycus, dressed plainly - probably a muggle.
“I can’t,” Sam said, looking at Harry with an odd mix of sadness and fear. “I can’t do that anymore. Things have...changed.” Then Sam turned with a hopeful look towards Castiel, “Cas! You can-"
“No,” Castiel said, and looked down, though his jaw suddenly had an angry set to to. “I tried with the one you call Meg...but I...no longer have the ability.”
Harry watched as Sam gave Castiel a sympathetic look.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Sam said, Castiel looked up at Sam, but before he could say anything, the demon spoke.
“My being at your beck and call wasn’t part of our deal, Amycus”
“Who-" Neville started to say.
“But you did promise you’d help me get my revenge,” Carrow said. “Now tell me, which child is he?”
Harry felt his heart seize. Sam and Castiel both shifted beside him, as though a command had been issued.
“Please don’t know, please...” Harry whispered.
“That one,” the demon pointed right at Teddy, “and you already have the audience you want. I think I might just stick around and watch the fun.”
Harry watched in horror as Teddy’s hair turned faster than he had ever seen it turn before, and Amycus raised his wand. Before Harry could process the movement, Sam was standing and running out from behind the thicket.
“NOW!” Sam yelled, and suddenly all the children were running towards them.
There was a flash of light from where Amycus’ spell hit one of Neville’s protective shields, and Harry caught sight of Dean launching himself into the clearing brandishing a long silver knife and heading right for the demon. As children ran towards him, Castiel was moving through them, whenever he touched them, they’d disappear. Harry only had eyes for Teddy though, as he fought through the surge of children to reach where he could see Teddy and his friends. Sam seemed to have Teddy as a destination too.
Ernie and Ron had entered the battle as well - Ron running behind Dean, trying to draw a devils trap in the snow beneath the demon’s feet. Then Dean went flying through the air, lying in a pile some yards off. The ground seemed to split as the demon laughed - the half-completed devils trap ruined by a fissure through the packed snow. Ernie tried to hit Amycus with something, but he was protected by the magical shield, and then the demon was throwing Ernie too.
“Cas, Dean!” Sam yelled, and Cas disappeared only to reappear next to the eldest Winchester, who was getting to his feet. “Run and hide!” Sam yelled at the remaining kids.
Neville fired a hex at Amycus, and it seemed to be the opening Amycus needed, because he managed to hit Neville with a spell that knocked him backwards momentarily, and Harry was almost there - almost close enough to throw up a shield around Teddy, and then he was being slammed backwards into a tree by an unseen force. And that’s when he heard it,
“CRUCIO!”
“NO!”
*
*A Few Seconds Before*
Sam hadn’t thought this part through, because having twenty kids rushing towards you made it very hard to move forward without hurting them, but he could see Teddy towards the back - what had been the front -of the group of children. Nate seemed to have him by the hand and be pulling him along, towards Sam and Castiel. Iggy was beside them, his wand out, glancing back at where Amycus and Neville were fighting. Andrew seemed to be pushing his way both towards Castiel, and towards Teddy, as though he weren’t sure which destination was more important.
Then Sam saw his brother go flying, and the ground seemed to shake a little. The demon was laughing. He made a quick decision, and with two words told Castiel to go help Dean - evacuating the children was taking too long, and Carrow was only interested in Teddy anyway, as long as Sam could reach Teddy - protect him, the other kids could just run and hide in the woods. Cas nodded and disappeared, and Sam yelled at the remaining kids to run and hide. Then Ernie was thrown too, and all of a sudden Neville was down, and then Harry was slammed into a tree and seemed to be stuck there. Thankfully, Sam was almost there, one more step and he could grab Teddy and carry him away.
“CRUCIO!” Amycus said, and pointed his wand right at Teddy’s back.
“NO!” Sam yelled, and without thinking, leaped between Amycus and Teddy, the full force of whatever spell Amycus had just used hitting him.
*
*30 seconds before*
Dean had gotten distracted - Ron had been whispering their location into the mirror, and Ernie had been trying to question Dean about what Sam was doing (and how the hell would Dean know what Sam was doing, besides the fact that it looked like he was playing some sort of weird game of broken telephone) - and Dean hadn’t clued in to the fact that Carrow had started a summoning until there was a demon.
“Shit,” Dean said, and he switched the gun for the knife, and then Ron was back asking what was going on.
“Demon,” Dean said. “Ron, you’re with me. Ernie, you help Neville. Sam and Cas will protect the kids.”
Then the demon pointed right at Teddy, and Dean managed to catch Sam’s eye as Sam darted out behind the kids and yelled,
“NOW!” and that was as good an order as any for Dean. He threw himself down the hill into the clearing. The demon was surprised to see him, and that gave Dean a satisfied thrill, but unfortunately, the demon recovered too quickly. The next thing Dean knew, he was airborne, and fuck, but he hated the strong ones.
He didn’t think he blacked out, but sometimes it was hard to tell. The snow was cold. Thankfully, he was still gripping the knife.
“Dean,” Castiel said from right beside him. Dean quickly rolled onto his feet and turned back towards the battle, just in time to see the demon fling Harry onto the trunk of a tree and then hold him there.
Then someone was screaming. The screaming was nearly inhuman it was so loud, and Dean’s heart seemed to recognize it before his brain did, because for a split second Dean couldn’t breathe. Sam. He was running back into the battle without even knowing where Sam was - who had done what to him - or whether he should be stabbing the demon or the wizard to make it stop. All he knew was that he was going to be stabbing someone.
“Stop it, you fool!” the demon yelled at Carrow. “He can’t give consent if he’s brain-dead!”
*
Sam was in pain. He was on the ground and he was in pain. So much pain. It felt like he had been lit on fire while being stabbed in every part of his body. It felt like he was seizing like he had in the panic room, only ten times worse. There wasn’t a single inch of him that wasn’t in excruciating pain. Distantly he could feel Teddy’s hands tugging on him - alternatively pulling on his clothing and then wrapping around him as though Teddy was trying to drag him away, but also keep him still. Teddy was yelling Sam’s name, but Sam could hardly hear him over his own screams.
*
Dean watched as Castiel beat him to Carrow. Castiel appeared right beside the wizard, and then punched him into a tree. Sam stopped screaming.
Neville scrambled back to his feet and firing spells at Carrow, who was too dazed to block them. Dean switched targets to the demon. He approached more cautiously this time, not wanting to be thrown. Harry was still struggling against the invisible force that held him to the tree, but Dean saw Ernie getting up from where he had been thrown.
Then Cas disappeared and reappeared by the lake, only few yards behind where the demon stood. Dean watched as he crouched down and touched the water, then nodded at Dean.
*
Sam didn’t know how long it lasted, because every second felt like an eternity, but then just as suddenly as it had started, it was over.
“Sam, Sam?” Teddy was repeating. There were tears in his eyes and on his face and his hands were twisted in the collar off Sam’s shirt. Sam could see Nate, Iggy, and Andrew standing close by, all with their wands out, they were as pale and as frightened as Teddy looked. Sam could also hear Neville yelling curses, and he realized that Teddy and the kids were still in the middle of a battle - trying to protect him of all stupid things. Sam used the fact that Teddy was already straddling him to his advantage, and he quickly wrapped shaking arms around the boy and tucked him as close as possible while he rolled to his feet.
“Quick, let’s go,” Sam said, and ran with Teddy away from the sounds of fighting, until they were behind another thicket and a small hill. Sam quickly crouched down and set Teddy on the ground, looking him over for injuries.
Sam’s head swam, as he realized that the unbearable pain he had just experienced had been a curse that had been aimed at Teddy - aimed at Teddy’s BACK. Sam was filled with so much rage, his vision actually greyed out a little at the sides.
“Are you ok?” Sam asked looking into Teddy’s worried brown eyes.
“Sam...” Teddy said. Sam looked at the other three boys.
“Is everyone alright?” Sam’s voice cracked, rough, and slightly painful. Sam wondered how long he had been screaming for.
“We’re fine,” Iggy said slowly.
“Are you ok?” Nate asked. “You’ve just been tortured, Sam.”
Sam had to think about it for a moment, his adrenaline was too high really. His head hurt and he kind of wanted to go home, but besides that, he was just a little shaky.
“I’m ok,” Sam said, patting Teddy gently on the shoulders. He couldn’t believe anyone would aim a curse like that at a twelve year old. “You stay here. I have to go back and help.”
“No, Sam,” Teddy said, grabbing Sam’s arm, “Stay too! You don’t...you don’t look so good.”
Sam tried to smile reassuringly, as he gently removed Teddy’s hand from his arm. His head did kind of hurt, but Teddy was probably just reacting to his voice - there were worse things in the world than losing his voice.
“I’ll be fine,” Sam said. “Don’t worry. Just stay safe. I have to go help my brother and Harry, ok?”
“Ok,” Teddy said, but he didn’t seem convinced. It didn’t matter, just as long as he stayed out of harm’s way, Sam would be satisfied.
Sam ran back to the clearing, the cold air hitting the warm skin at his neck. It seemed Teddy’s frantic efforts to help Sam had managed to tear the top part of his shirt open. Sam knew he’d have to fix it later, but right now the breeze actually felt refreshing, and Sam hoped it would help clear his dizzy head.
When he got to the clearing, he found that Neville had subdued Carrow. Well, Sam figured it was Neville - Carrow was wrapped head to toe in vines. He looked like a green mummy. They seemed to come up from beneath the snow. One of the branches worked as a makeshift gag, and the vines seemed to grow tighter the more Carrow struggled. Neville sat a little ways off, his wand focused on the mummified Carrow. He gave Sam a concerned look, but didn’t say anything, so Sam figured that the plant spell needed continued focus.
Dean, Castiel, Ron, and Ernie, were all facing the demon, which stood with its back to the lake in a defensive position. Harry was still struggling to pry himself off of the tree trunk - he looked rather desperate to do so. When Harry’s eyes met his, Sam gave him the “ok” sign, in the hopes that Harry would calm down a bit. It seemed to work.
“Sammy,” the demon purred. “We were just talking about you. About how I’m going to hand deliver your pretty ass to Lucifer and get my reward.”
“And I was telling her she was dreaming,” Dean said without taking his eyes off the demon.
“She is,” Sam agreed, his voice thankfully coming out strong. He took a step closer, out from under the shade of the trees and into the open field that led up to the Castle, and then his head throbbed and his vision swam a little.
“Oh, poor Sam - things not as easy for you as they used to be, are they?” the demon said. “You know, a little drink would clear that headache right up...plus, it’d make you nice and strong for Daddy.”
“Go to hell,” Sam ground out, wincing at the pain in his head.
“I got a better idea,” Dean said, tossing the knife from his right to his left hand and then back again.
“Please, I am thousands of years old, you really think that whittling knife is going to do the job?” the demon taunted.
“Still just another black-eyed son of a bitch,” Dean said. “Five against one sweetheart, and we’ve got an angel”
“Please,” the demon laughed, “some angel - from what I hear, he’s useless.”
“Oh, he’s useful enough,” Dean said. “Now!”
Sam watched as Ernie rushed forward on the demon’s left, the demon raised a hand and he flew backwards. Before Ernie had even landed, Dean was rushing forward as well on the demon’s right, the knife oddly held low instead of high. The demon quickly threw up her other hand and threw Dean back - and then Castiel tackled her from the front where she had left her defences wide open. Sam watched as Castiel slapped a hand over her mouth and ran her backwards the handful of steps to the edge of the lake, and then fell in to the shallow waters right on top of her.
The water around them started to steam and sizzle. Before Sam could even process that someone had *blessed* the *lake*, Ron was running forward, picking up the knife that Dean had dropped just before he had been thrown by the demon. Harry was finally dropped from the tree trunk as the demon writhed in agony under Castiel, its screams drowned out by his hand and the icy water. Castiel shifted to the side as Ron reached him, and then Ron plunged the knife into the demons chest. There was a tell tale flash of light from within the body, and then Ron pulled the knife out.
“Get her to the hospital wing,” Ron said. “Maybe she can be saved.”
Castiel and the body disappeared.
Sam smiled at Harry even though his head was pounding - they had done it.
“Where’s Teddy?” Harry asked.
“In’a woods,” Sam said.
“Sam?” Harry said. “Are you ok? Your nose is bleeding.”
“Just a headache,” Sam said, his voice rough, but he brought his hand up and felt under his nose. Sure enough, his fingers came away red and sticky. His head really hurt, and something was wrong with his eyes. The world around him kept flickering oddly. Mainly though, he just wanted to go home. He really wanted to go home. It was a little better if he closed his eyes. His head still hurt, and he still wanted to leave, but at least the world stopped swimming in and out of focus.
“SAM!?”
Sam opened his eyes, because that was what he was always supposed to do when Dean yelled at him like that. It was a mistake though, because his headache was so much worse. Sam winced and felt his knees buckle. Dean’s hands were suddenly on his arms, trying to hold him up, but then Dean was just kneeling next to him in the snow.
“Sammy? What’s going on?” Dean said. “What happened?”
Sam tried to look at Dean, but something about the landscape behind him kept changing, so he slammed his eyes shut again.
“Sam?” Harry’s voice came, and Sam felt him kneel on the other side of him. “Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?”
Sam shook his head. It had just been pain, that was all. He may have accidentally hit Teddy while Teddy was trying to keep him still or move him or whatever, but he didn’t remember hitting anything with his head.
“Is it a vision? You haven’t had one of those in years-” Dean asked, even as he started feeling around Sam’s scalp for bumps.
“No,” Sam said. “Dean, I just want to go home. Can we go home?”
“Yeah...yeah, Sammy,” Dean said. “Just, can you open your eyes for me? I just want to see if you have a concussion?”
Sam forced his eyes open again to find that now Neville was also kneeling next to him, looking more than a little terrified.
“How long was he under the cruciatus?” Neville asked.
“I don’t know,” Harry said. “A minute? Neville, it shouldn’t have been long enough to-" Harry cut himself off, but Sam could guess based on the worry written all over Neville’s kind face that there must be side-effects to the spell he was hit with. Still, it just made it all the better that he had taken that hit for Teddy. Though now that Teddy was safe, Sam thought maybe he and Dean deserved to go home.
“Sam, over here, look at me,” Dean said, putting his hands on Sam’s face and turning it in his direction.
“Can we go home?” Sam asked, his voice coming out a whisper where he had meant it to be strong. Dean’s gaze shifted back and forth between Sam’s eyes.
“Sure Sammy, I’ll get the car in a minute,” Dean said, and then he turned to Harry. “He doesn’t have a concussion. What the hell, Harry!?”
“Dean...” Sam whined, he knew he was whining, but his head hurt and he wanted to leave. He wanted so badly to leave. Hadn’t they left a stove on somewhere? Did they have a stove? Maybe an appointment, maybe they were supposed to see Bobby...maybe Bobby left the stove on.
“Shh, Sam, how about you lie down, ok, buddy?” Dean said, and Sam felt Dean wipe the blood from underneath his nose with his shirt sleeve. That was gross. Maybe they should leave and do laundry.
“I’ve never seen this happen before,” Harry said. “I mean, people who are tortured for hours can go catatonic, but Sam was only under for a minute at most.”
“We could get him to St. Mungo’s,” Neville said. “My parents’ healer might-"
Sam made a whining noise unashamedly. His head hurt, and he just wanted to go home, and now they were talking about taking him someplace else. He turned his head to the side. The snow actually felt kind of nice against his sore head, even though Sam was pretty sure he was shivering from lying in the snow this long. The landscape had finally stopped flickering too, and from this angle Sam could see what was behind Dean.
He felt his heart seize in his chest.
*
Dean was trying really hard not to freak out, but Sam was having some sort of episode. He hadn’t been this whiney when he was hurt since he was thirteen, and even then he had never begged to be brought home. Dean didn’t even know where home was! Did Sam mean Harry’s house? Bobby’s? A motel? Lawrence? At that point Dean would have brought him anywhere just to get his brother ‘s weird nose bleed to stop. It was like his brain was rebelling against itself.
Harry and Neville were talking about people going to catatonic from whatever curse Sammy had been hit with...and some sort of special hospital, and Dean did not have fake magical travel insurance, goddamn it!
Then suddenly Sam was trying to scramble up off the ground.
“NO!” Sam said. Dean and Harry both grabbed him, to keep him sitting. Whatever was wrong with his head, it couldn’t be smart for him to try going anywhere. “No, no...the kids!”
“Sam, the children are fine,” Harry said in a very calm way. “Stay still, you aren’t well. You saved the children, remember? Castiel sent them to the castle.”
Sam let out a desperate whining noise.
“Oh god, Cas, oh god...what happened?! What happened to it?” Sam asked, and it hurt just to listen to him, his voice was rough from the screaming.
“What happened to what, Sam?” Dean asked.
“The castle,” Sam said, trying again to get up. “We were all right here! How could we not notice! What did they do?! Oh god, it’s just GONE! How is that even possible!”
His brother had gone insane. Sam was insane. Dean even checked, on the off chance that maybe he was the one that was insane, but no...the castle was still there, and Dean thought that Harry and Neville would be freaking out a lot more if it weren’t.
“The castle’s fine, Sam,” Dean said. “It’s right there. It’s perfectly fine. Just stop talking. Rest your throat.”
“No!” Sam said. “It’s RUINED. Everyone’s dead. Everyone’s dead because of me. Oh god, I just want to go home. I think we left the lights on.”
“Bloody hell,” Harry suddenly said. “He’s not crazy.”
“Really?!” Dean said, and ok, maybe he was freaking out a little, “Because he sounds pretty fucking crazy to me!”
Dean watched in confusion as Harry ripped Sam’s shirt open even further than it already was and started feeling him up. Sam made a half-assed effort to bat Harry’s hands away, but seemed more interested in looking at the perfectly fine castle and whimpering while blood gushed from his nose. Then Harry grabbed Sam’s face and forced Sam to look at Harry instead.
“Sam, stop looking at the castle; it’s only making it worse,” Harry said. “Look at me, just focus on me. You can see me just fine, right?”
“Yeah,” Sam said.
“Ok,” Harry said. “Sam, what happened to your pendant - the necklace you were wearing with the crystal on it, Sam? Where is it?”
The pendant - it was such a simple thing. Dean was so used to his old necklace that he had gotten used to using the magical one quickly and had pretty much forgotten about it. But he knew from last year that if he weren’t wearing it, he would walk right by things like Hogwarts and not even see them - more than that, he’d be filled with a desire to be any place besides there. Only, he wasn’t sure you were supposed to go into fits or have your brain start bleeding out your nose. In any case, last year Sam’s pendant had just been for show - Sam was able to see everything just fine without it, and the repelling magic didn’t seem to have any effect on him, but then again, last year Sam had been...high.
“Blimey,” Neville said, and Dean had honestly forgotten he was even there. Distantly, he wondered where Ron, Ernie, and Cas were in all this confusion. “Is that what happens when-"
“No,” Harry said, without breaking eye contact with Sam. “Sam’s...unique.”
“Maybe I left it at home?” Sam said. “I want to go home.”
“I know,” Harry said, and then Harry was yanking Sam up to sitting. Before Dean knew what Harry was doing, Sam was being pushed into his lap.
“Dean, hug your brother!” Harry said. “It may at least stop the haemorrhaging.”
Dean wrapped his arms around Sam mostly on reflex, and was sure to give Harry a good what-the-hell look. Then he realized that Sam was shivering and his back was all wet from where he’d been laying in the snow, and Dean tightened his hold. He made sure to press Sam tightly against him if only to help warm up the poor kid. Harry stood up and walked a couple of paces off, and waved his wand in the air oddly.
Sam stopped whimpering almost immediately.
“Dean, I’m confused,” Sam said.
“Yeah? That makes two of us,” Dean muttered, even as he realized that his own pendant, now being pressed painfully into his chest, must be working on Sam too.
“No, I mean, the castle looks alright now, and why did I think we had left the stove on? We don’t even have a stove,” Sam said, in a calm, though extremely scratchy voice, as though they were chatting over beer instead of hugging each other awkwardly while sitting in the snow. Actually, it was Dean that was doing the hugging, Sam was mainly just sitting there all limp like a rag doll...that is, until he suddenly shoved his very cold hands in the space between Dean’s ribs and Dean’s jacket.
“Jesus!” Dean said. “SAM! You’re freezing!”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been lying in the snow,” Sam mumbled.
Dean turned his head to see Neville biting his lip to keep from laughing, and that was just not good.
“Yeah, laugh it up, Mr. Wizard,” Dean said. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and do some of those warming charms on my brother.”
That seemed to snap Neville to attention, and he blushed, and pulled out of his wand.
“Sorry, sorry...I should have...” Neville said, but then broke himself off and muttered spells at Sam’s back. Dean could feel the fabric of Sam’s jacket dry beneath his hands and then start to warm, and Sam stopped shivering quite so much.
“FOUND IT!” Harry said. Dean saw him catch something out of the air, before he jogged back over. Dean could see the crystal pendant hanging from a chain in his hand.
“Oh thank God,” Dean said, “because this current solution is starting to get a little bit awkward.”
Harry held the pooled the chain in the palm of his hand, as he knelt down beside Dean. Dean could see where the links were broken. Sam had broken it himself the year before, and had just tied the chain in a knot when they were told they needed the pendants again. Obviously, somewhere between the front gates of Hogwarts and the end of the battle, the knot had come loose without anyone realizing.
“Reparo,” Harry said, and the links joined themselves together again as though they had never been parted.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked from Dean’s shoulder, where really all he could see was the castle.
“You lost your necklace, dude,” Dean said. “Harry just fixed it so that you can put it back on.”
Sam started to pull away from Dean, but Harry placed a hand on his back and held him still.
“Not so fast,” Harry said. “Let me put it on you first so that you don’t go mental again.”
“Tactful,” Sam huffed.
Harry managed to squeeze his hands between Dean and Sam so that he could loop the chain around Sam’s neck and do it up. Then he patted Sam on the back twice.
“Ok, Sam, see if that’s better,” Harry said, and finally Dean was able to let go of his brother, who quickly scrambled up. Sam did back up the snaps at the top of his shirt awkwardly, hiding the pendant where it lay on his chest.
“What the hell was that?” Sam asked, sounding awful and looking a little shaky - and bloody, but otherwise fine.
“The muggle repelling charms,” Harry explained. “They make muggles see ruins instead of the castle, and they make them believe they’ve got urgent appointments, or have to go home for some reason. It lasts just long enough for them to walk away from the Hogwarts grounds.”
Sam nodded. The blood that had leaked out of his nose was already caking on his face, smeared all over by both Dean’s sleeve and, no doubt, his shoulder.
“Hey Neville,” Harry said, “would you go tell Ernie that it’s safe to bring Teddy back, please.”
Neville nodded and took off towards the woods.
“Where’d Ron and that Carrow guy go?” Sam asked.
“The Aurors arrived just as you...um, lost track of things,” Harry said. “Ron’s taken over Carrow’s transport back to Azkaban, since I was...trying to help you. Ernie went into the woods to round up the children who were hiding. I think he’s holding off bringing them back though, until he knows Carrow is removed completely.” Harry took a breath, “Sam, what happened? Last year the charms didn’t even affect you - yet this year...you didn’t even pull at all when we apparated...did you...do you not have demon blood anymore?”
“Um,” Sam said. “I still...I mean, I can’t ever...there’s always going to be a little, but I don’t have...as much?”
*
Chapter 27
Author: hells_half_acre
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Supernatural
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Genre: Gen
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, spoilers for Supernatural until 5x10.
Disclaimer: This is a transformative work of fiction for entertainment purposes only.
AN: Sequel to Damned Demented Demons and Bobby and Hermione - An Epistolary Fic . Updates every Wednesday (PST).
Previous Chapters:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25
Summary: In which being caught in a wizard battle is just the beginning of Sam's problems.
*a minute or two earlier*
“Zap as many kids as you can back to the castle, ok?” Harry heard Sam say as he approached, low to the ground and behind the hedges, so that Carrow wouldn’t see him. Sam tensed when he saw Harry, and then relaxed.
“Sam, what are you doing?” Harry asked, coming to a stop beside Castiel.
“Emily from Ravenclaw is passing around a message for me,” Sam said, while Carrow gloated about something to Neville in the background. “Cas is going to make sure they get to the castle, once the fighting starts.”
“You could have told me-" Harry said.
“Shh!” Sam said, holding up a hand, and Harry fell quiet. “Shit,” Sam muttered peering around the edge of the thicket, Harry crawled over until he was practically on top of both Sam and Castiel, but he didn’t care - Carrow was speaking Latin.
“What’s he doing?” Harry asked, gripping his wand tightly.
“Summoning,” Sam said, just as Carrow finished. “Dean has the knife - he’ll kill it, don’t worry.”
“But who will it be inside? Can’t you pull it out like you did last year? The host will die otherwise!” Harry said. He knew Dean had some sort of rule against Sam using his powers, but certainly saving someone’s life was worth breaking a rule.
A woman appeared just behind Amycus, dressed plainly - probably a muggle.
“I can’t,” Sam said, looking at Harry with an odd mix of sadness and fear. “I can’t do that anymore. Things have...changed.” Then Sam turned with a hopeful look towards Castiel, “Cas! You can-"
“No,” Castiel said, and looked down, though his jaw suddenly had an angry set to to. “I tried with the one you call Meg...but I...no longer have the ability.”
Harry watched as Sam gave Castiel a sympathetic look.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Sam said, Castiel looked up at Sam, but before he could say anything, the demon spoke.
“My being at your beck and call wasn’t part of our deal, Amycus”
“Who-" Neville started to say.
“But you did promise you’d help me get my revenge,” Carrow said. “Now tell me, which child is he?”
Harry felt his heart seize. Sam and Castiel both shifted beside him, as though a command had been issued.
“Please don’t know, please...” Harry whispered.
“That one,” the demon pointed right at Teddy, “and you already have the audience you want. I think I might just stick around and watch the fun.”
Harry watched in horror as Teddy’s hair turned faster than he had ever seen it turn before, and Amycus raised his wand. Before Harry could process the movement, Sam was standing and running out from behind the thicket.
“NOW!” Sam yelled, and suddenly all the children were running towards them.
There was a flash of light from where Amycus’ spell hit one of Neville’s protective shields, and Harry caught sight of Dean launching himself into the clearing brandishing a long silver knife and heading right for the demon. As children ran towards him, Castiel was moving through them, whenever he touched them, they’d disappear. Harry only had eyes for Teddy though, as he fought through the surge of children to reach where he could see Teddy and his friends. Sam seemed to have Teddy as a destination too.
Ernie and Ron had entered the battle as well - Ron running behind Dean, trying to draw a devils trap in the snow beneath the demon’s feet. Then Dean went flying through the air, lying in a pile some yards off. The ground seemed to split as the demon laughed - the half-completed devils trap ruined by a fissure through the packed snow. Ernie tried to hit Amycus with something, but he was protected by the magical shield, and then the demon was throwing Ernie too.
“Cas, Dean!” Sam yelled, and Cas disappeared only to reappear next to the eldest Winchester, who was getting to his feet. “Run and hide!” Sam yelled at the remaining kids.
Neville fired a hex at Amycus, and it seemed to be the opening Amycus needed, because he managed to hit Neville with a spell that knocked him backwards momentarily, and Harry was almost there - almost close enough to throw up a shield around Teddy, and then he was being slammed backwards into a tree by an unseen force. And that’s when he heard it,
“CRUCIO!”
“NO!”
*
*A Few Seconds Before*
Sam hadn’t thought this part through, because having twenty kids rushing towards you made it very hard to move forward without hurting them, but he could see Teddy towards the back - what had been the front -of the group of children. Nate seemed to have him by the hand and be pulling him along, towards Sam and Castiel. Iggy was beside them, his wand out, glancing back at where Amycus and Neville were fighting. Andrew seemed to be pushing his way both towards Castiel, and towards Teddy, as though he weren’t sure which destination was more important.
Then Sam saw his brother go flying, and the ground seemed to shake a little. The demon was laughing. He made a quick decision, and with two words told Castiel to go help Dean - evacuating the children was taking too long, and Carrow was only interested in Teddy anyway, as long as Sam could reach Teddy - protect him, the other kids could just run and hide in the woods. Cas nodded and disappeared, and Sam yelled at the remaining kids to run and hide. Then Ernie was thrown too, and all of a sudden Neville was down, and then Harry was slammed into a tree and seemed to be stuck there. Thankfully, Sam was almost there, one more step and he could grab Teddy and carry him away.
“CRUCIO!” Amycus said, and pointed his wand right at Teddy’s back.
“NO!” Sam yelled, and without thinking, leaped between Amycus and Teddy, the full force of whatever spell Amycus had just used hitting him.
*
*30 seconds before*
Dean had gotten distracted - Ron had been whispering their location into the mirror, and Ernie had been trying to question Dean about what Sam was doing (and how the hell would Dean know what Sam was doing, besides the fact that it looked like he was playing some sort of weird game of broken telephone) - and Dean hadn’t clued in to the fact that Carrow had started a summoning until there was a demon.
“Shit,” Dean said, and he switched the gun for the knife, and then Ron was back asking what was going on.
“Demon,” Dean said. “Ron, you’re with me. Ernie, you help Neville. Sam and Cas will protect the kids.”
Then the demon pointed right at Teddy, and Dean managed to catch Sam’s eye as Sam darted out behind the kids and yelled,
“NOW!” and that was as good an order as any for Dean. He threw himself down the hill into the clearing. The demon was surprised to see him, and that gave Dean a satisfied thrill, but unfortunately, the demon recovered too quickly. The next thing Dean knew, he was airborne, and fuck, but he hated the strong ones.
He didn’t think he blacked out, but sometimes it was hard to tell. The snow was cold. Thankfully, he was still gripping the knife.
“Dean,” Castiel said from right beside him. Dean quickly rolled onto his feet and turned back towards the battle, just in time to see the demon fling Harry onto the trunk of a tree and then hold him there.
Then someone was screaming. The screaming was nearly inhuman it was so loud, and Dean’s heart seemed to recognize it before his brain did, because for a split second Dean couldn’t breathe. Sam. He was running back into the battle without even knowing where Sam was - who had done what to him - or whether he should be stabbing the demon or the wizard to make it stop. All he knew was that he was going to be stabbing someone.
“Stop it, you fool!” the demon yelled at Carrow. “He can’t give consent if he’s brain-dead!”
*
Sam was in pain. He was on the ground and he was in pain. So much pain. It felt like he had been lit on fire while being stabbed in every part of his body. It felt like he was seizing like he had in the panic room, only ten times worse. There wasn’t a single inch of him that wasn’t in excruciating pain. Distantly he could feel Teddy’s hands tugging on him - alternatively pulling on his clothing and then wrapping around him as though Teddy was trying to drag him away, but also keep him still. Teddy was yelling Sam’s name, but Sam could hardly hear him over his own screams.
*
Dean watched as Castiel beat him to Carrow. Castiel appeared right beside the wizard, and then punched him into a tree. Sam stopped screaming.
Neville scrambled back to his feet and firing spells at Carrow, who was too dazed to block them. Dean switched targets to the demon. He approached more cautiously this time, not wanting to be thrown. Harry was still struggling against the invisible force that held him to the tree, but Dean saw Ernie getting up from where he had been thrown.
Then Cas disappeared and reappeared by the lake, only few yards behind where the demon stood. Dean watched as he crouched down and touched the water, then nodded at Dean.
*
Sam didn’t know how long it lasted, because every second felt like an eternity, but then just as suddenly as it had started, it was over.
“Sam, Sam?” Teddy was repeating. There were tears in his eyes and on his face and his hands were twisted in the collar off Sam’s shirt. Sam could see Nate, Iggy, and Andrew standing close by, all with their wands out, they were as pale and as frightened as Teddy looked. Sam could also hear Neville yelling curses, and he realized that Teddy and the kids were still in the middle of a battle - trying to protect him of all stupid things. Sam used the fact that Teddy was already straddling him to his advantage, and he quickly wrapped shaking arms around the boy and tucked him as close as possible while he rolled to his feet.
“Quick, let’s go,” Sam said, and ran with Teddy away from the sounds of fighting, until they were behind another thicket and a small hill. Sam quickly crouched down and set Teddy on the ground, looking him over for injuries.
Sam’s head swam, as he realized that the unbearable pain he had just experienced had been a curse that had been aimed at Teddy - aimed at Teddy’s BACK. Sam was filled with so much rage, his vision actually greyed out a little at the sides.
“Are you ok?” Sam asked looking into Teddy’s worried brown eyes.
“Sam...” Teddy said. Sam looked at the other three boys.
“Is everyone alright?” Sam’s voice cracked, rough, and slightly painful. Sam wondered how long he had been screaming for.
“We’re fine,” Iggy said slowly.
“Are you ok?” Nate asked. “You’ve just been tortured, Sam.”
Sam had to think about it for a moment, his adrenaline was too high really. His head hurt and he kind of wanted to go home, but besides that, he was just a little shaky.
“I’m ok,” Sam said, patting Teddy gently on the shoulders. He couldn’t believe anyone would aim a curse like that at a twelve year old. “You stay here. I have to go back and help.”
“No, Sam,” Teddy said, grabbing Sam’s arm, “Stay too! You don’t...you don’t look so good.”
Sam tried to smile reassuringly, as he gently removed Teddy’s hand from his arm. His head did kind of hurt, but Teddy was probably just reacting to his voice - there were worse things in the world than losing his voice.
“I’ll be fine,” Sam said. “Don’t worry. Just stay safe. I have to go help my brother and Harry, ok?”
“Ok,” Teddy said, but he didn’t seem convinced. It didn’t matter, just as long as he stayed out of harm’s way, Sam would be satisfied.
Sam ran back to the clearing, the cold air hitting the warm skin at his neck. It seemed Teddy’s frantic efforts to help Sam had managed to tear the top part of his shirt open. Sam knew he’d have to fix it later, but right now the breeze actually felt refreshing, and Sam hoped it would help clear his dizzy head.
When he got to the clearing, he found that Neville had subdued Carrow. Well, Sam figured it was Neville - Carrow was wrapped head to toe in vines. He looked like a green mummy. They seemed to come up from beneath the snow. One of the branches worked as a makeshift gag, and the vines seemed to grow tighter the more Carrow struggled. Neville sat a little ways off, his wand focused on the mummified Carrow. He gave Sam a concerned look, but didn’t say anything, so Sam figured that the plant spell needed continued focus.
Dean, Castiel, Ron, and Ernie, were all facing the demon, which stood with its back to the lake in a defensive position. Harry was still struggling to pry himself off of the tree trunk - he looked rather desperate to do so. When Harry’s eyes met his, Sam gave him the “ok” sign, in the hopes that Harry would calm down a bit. It seemed to work.
“Sammy,” the demon purred. “We were just talking about you. About how I’m going to hand deliver your pretty ass to Lucifer and get my reward.”
“And I was telling her she was dreaming,” Dean said without taking his eyes off the demon.
“She is,” Sam agreed, his voice thankfully coming out strong. He took a step closer, out from under the shade of the trees and into the open field that led up to the Castle, and then his head throbbed and his vision swam a little.
“Oh, poor Sam - things not as easy for you as they used to be, are they?” the demon said. “You know, a little drink would clear that headache right up...plus, it’d make you nice and strong for Daddy.”
“Go to hell,” Sam ground out, wincing at the pain in his head.
“I got a better idea,” Dean said, tossing the knife from his right to his left hand and then back again.
“Please, I am thousands of years old, you really think that whittling knife is going to do the job?” the demon taunted.
“Still just another black-eyed son of a bitch,” Dean said. “Five against one sweetheart, and we’ve got an angel”
“Please,” the demon laughed, “some angel - from what I hear, he’s useless.”
“Oh, he’s useful enough,” Dean said. “Now!”
Sam watched as Ernie rushed forward on the demon’s left, the demon raised a hand and he flew backwards. Before Ernie had even landed, Dean was rushing forward as well on the demon’s right, the knife oddly held low instead of high. The demon quickly threw up her other hand and threw Dean back - and then Castiel tackled her from the front where she had left her defences wide open. Sam watched as Castiel slapped a hand over her mouth and ran her backwards the handful of steps to the edge of the lake, and then fell in to the shallow waters right on top of her.
The water around them started to steam and sizzle. Before Sam could even process that someone had *blessed* the *lake*, Ron was running forward, picking up the knife that Dean had dropped just before he had been thrown by the demon. Harry was finally dropped from the tree trunk as the demon writhed in agony under Castiel, its screams drowned out by his hand and the icy water. Castiel shifted to the side as Ron reached him, and then Ron plunged the knife into the demons chest. There was a tell tale flash of light from within the body, and then Ron pulled the knife out.
“Get her to the hospital wing,” Ron said. “Maybe she can be saved.”
Castiel and the body disappeared.
Sam smiled at Harry even though his head was pounding - they had done it.
“Where’s Teddy?” Harry asked.
“In’a woods,” Sam said.
“Sam?” Harry said. “Are you ok? Your nose is bleeding.”
“Just a headache,” Sam said, his voice rough, but he brought his hand up and felt under his nose. Sure enough, his fingers came away red and sticky. His head really hurt, and something was wrong with his eyes. The world around him kept flickering oddly. Mainly though, he just wanted to go home. He really wanted to go home. It was a little better if he closed his eyes. His head still hurt, and he still wanted to leave, but at least the world stopped swimming in and out of focus.
“SAM!?”
Sam opened his eyes, because that was what he was always supposed to do when Dean yelled at him like that. It was a mistake though, because his headache was so much worse. Sam winced and felt his knees buckle. Dean’s hands were suddenly on his arms, trying to hold him up, but then Dean was just kneeling next to him in the snow.
“Sammy? What’s going on?” Dean said. “What happened?”
Sam tried to look at Dean, but something about the landscape behind him kept changing, so he slammed his eyes shut again.
“Sam?” Harry’s voice came, and Sam felt him kneel on the other side of him. “Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?”
Sam shook his head. It had just been pain, that was all. He may have accidentally hit Teddy while Teddy was trying to keep him still or move him or whatever, but he didn’t remember hitting anything with his head.
“Is it a vision? You haven’t had one of those in years-” Dean asked, even as he started feeling around Sam’s scalp for bumps.
“No,” Sam said. “Dean, I just want to go home. Can we go home?”
“Yeah...yeah, Sammy,” Dean said. “Just, can you open your eyes for me? I just want to see if you have a concussion?”
Sam forced his eyes open again to find that now Neville was also kneeling next to him, looking more than a little terrified.
“How long was he under the cruciatus?” Neville asked.
“I don’t know,” Harry said. “A minute? Neville, it shouldn’t have been long enough to-" Harry cut himself off, but Sam could guess based on the worry written all over Neville’s kind face that there must be side-effects to the spell he was hit with. Still, it just made it all the better that he had taken that hit for Teddy. Though now that Teddy was safe, Sam thought maybe he and Dean deserved to go home.
“Sam, over here, look at me,” Dean said, putting his hands on Sam’s face and turning it in his direction.
“Can we go home?” Sam asked, his voice coming out a whisper where he had meant it to be strong. Dean’s gaze shifted back and forth between Sam’s eyes.
“Sure Sammy, I’ll get the car in a minute,” Dean said, and then he turned to Harry. “He doesn’t have a concussion. What the hell, Harry!?”
“Dean...” Sam whined, he knew he was whining, but his head hurt and he wanted to leave. He wanted so badly to leave. Hadn’t they left a stove on somewhere? Did they have a stove? Maybe an appointment, maybe they were supposed to see Bobby...maybe Bobby left the stove on.
“Shh, Sam, how about you lie down, ok, buddy?” Dean said, and Sam felt Dean wipe the blood from underneath his nose with his shirt sleeve. That was gross. Maybe they should leave and do laundry.
“I’ve never seen this happen before,” Harry said. “I mean, people who are tortured for hours can go catatonic, but Sam was only under for a minute at most.”
“We could get him to St. Mungo’s,” Neville said. “My parents’ healer might-"
Sam made a whining noise unashamedly. His head hurt, and he just wanted to go home, and now they were talking about taking him someplace else. He turned his head to the side. The snow actually felt kind of nice against his sore head, even though Sam was pretty sure he was shivering from lying in the snow this long. The landscape had finally stopped flickering too, and from this angle Sam could see what was behind Dean.
He felt his heart seize in his chest.
*
Dean was trying really hard not to freak out, but Sam was having some sort of episode. He hadn’t been this whiney when he was hurt since he was thirteen, and even then he had never begged to be brought home. Dean didn’t even know where home was! Did Sam mean Harry’s house? Bobby’s? A motel? Lawrence? At that point Dean would have brought him anywhere just to get his brother ‘s weird nose bleed to stop. It was like his brain was rebelling against itself.
Harry and Neville were talking about people going to catatonic from whatever curse Sammy had been hit with...and some sort of special hospital, and Dean did not have fake magical travel insurance, goddamn it!
Then suddenly Sam was trying to scramble up off the ground.
“NO!” Sam said. Dean and Harry both grabbed him, to keep him sitting. Whatever was wrong with his head, it couldn’t be smart for him to try going anywhere. “No, no...the kids!”
“Sam, the children are fine,” Harry said in a very calm way. “Stay still, you aren’t well. You saved the children, remember? Castiel sent them to the castle.”
Sam let out a desperate whining noise.
“Oh god, Cas, oh god...what happened?! What happened to it?” Sam asked, and it hurt just to listen to him, his voice was rough from the screaming.
“What happened to what, Sam?” Dean asked.
“The castle,” Sam said, trying again to get up. “We were all right here! How could we not notice! What did they do?! Oh god, it’s just GONE! How is that even possible!”
His brother had gone insane. Sam was insane. Dean even checked, on the off chance that maybe he was the one that was insane, but no...the castle was still there, and Dean thought that Harry and Neville would be freaking out a lot more if it weren’t.
“The castle’s fine, Sam,” Dean said. “It’s right there. It’s perfectly fine. Just stop talking. Rest your throat.”
“No!” Sam said. “It’s RUINED. Everyone’s dead. Everyone’s dead because of me. Oh god, I just want to go home. I think we left the lights on.”
“Bloody hell,” Harry suddenly said. “He’s not crazy.”
“Really?!” Dean said, and ok, maybe he was freaking out a little, “Because he sounds pretty fucking crazy to me!”
Dean watched in confusion as Harry ripped Sam’s shirt open even further than it already was and started feeling him up. Sam made a half-assed effort to bat Harry’s hands away, but seemed more interested in looking at the perfectly fine castle and whimpering while blood gushed from his nose. Then Harry grabbed Sam’s face and forced Sam to look at Harry instead.
“Sam, stop looking at the castle; it’s only making it worse,” Harry said. “Look at me, just focus on me. You can see me just fine, right?”
“Yeah,” Sam said.
“Ok,” Harry said. “Sam, what happened to your pendant - the necklace you were wearing with the crystal on it, Sam? Where is it?”
The pendant - it was such a simple thing. Dean was so used to his old necklace that he had gotten used to using the magical one quickly and had pretty much forgotten about it. But he knew from last year that if he weren’t wearing it, he would walk right by things like Hogwarts and not even see them - more than that, he’d be filled with a desire to be any place besides there. Only, he wasn’t sure you were supposed to go into fits or have your brain start bleeding out your nose. In any case, last year Sam’s pendant had just been for show - Sam was able to see everything just fine without it, and the repelling magic didn’t seem to have any effect on him, but then again, last year Sam had been...high.
“Blimey,” Neville said, and Dean had honestly forgotten he was even there. Distantly, he wondered where Ron, Ernie, and Cas were in all this confusion. “Is that what happens when-"
“No,” Harry said, without breaking eye contact with Sam. “Sam’s...unique.”
“Maybe I left it at home?” Sam said. “I want to go home.”
“I know,” Harry said, and then Harry was yanking Sam up to sitting. Before Dean knew what Harry was doing, Sam was being pushed into his lap.
“Dean, hug your brother!” Harry said. “It may at least stop the haemorrhaging.”
Dean wrapped his arms around Sam mostly on reflex, and was sure to give Harry a good what-the-hell look. Then he realized that Sam was shivering and his back was all wet from where he’d been laying in the snow, and Dean tightened his hold. He made sure to press Sam tightly against him if only to help warm up the poor kid. Harry stood up and walked a couple of paces off, and waved his wand in the air oddly.
Sam stopped whimpering almost immediately.
“Dean, I’m confused,” Sam said.
“Yeah? That makes two of us,” Dean muttered, even as he realized that his own pendant, now being pressed painfully into his chest, must be working on Sam too.
“No, I mean, the castle looks alright now, and why did I think we had left the stove on? We don’t even have a stove,” Sam said, in a calm, though extremely scratchy voice, as though they were chatting over beer instead of hugging each other awkwardly while sitting in the snow. Actually, it was Dean that was doing the hugging, Sam was mainly just sitting there all limp like a rag doll...that is, until he suddenly shoved his very cold hands in the space between Dean’s ribs and Dean’s jacket.
“Jesus!” Dean said. “SAM! You’re freezing!”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been lying in the snow,” Sam mumbled.
Dean turned his head to see Neville biting his lip to keep from laughing, and that was just not good.
“Yeah, laugh it up, Mr. Wizard,” Dean said. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and do some of those warming charms on my brother.”
That seemed to snap Neville to attention, and he blushed, and pulled out of his wand.
“Sorry, sorry...I should have...” Neville said, but then broke himself off and muttered spells at Sam’s back. Dean could feel the fabric of Sam’s jacket dry beneath his hands and then start to warm, and Sam stopped shivering quite so much.
“FOUND IT!” Harry said. Dean saw him catch something out of the air, before he jogged back over. Dean could see the crystal pendant hanging from a chain in his hand.
“Oh thank God,” Dean said, “because this current solution is starting to get a little bit awkward.”
Harry held the pooled the chain in the palm of his hand, as he knelt down beside Dean. Dean could see where the links were broken. Sam had broken it himself the year before, and had just tied the chain in a knot when they were told they needed the pendants again. Obviously, somewhere between the front gates of Hogwarts and the end of the battle, the knot had come loose without anyone realizing.
“Reparo,” Harry said, and the links joined themselves together again as though they had never been parted.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked from Dean’s shoulder, where really all he could see was the castle.
“You lost your necklace, dude,” Dean said. “Harry just fixed it so that you can put it back on.”
Sam started to pull away from Dean, but Harry placed a hand on his back and held him still.
“Not so fast,” Harry said. “Let me put it on you first so that you don’t go mental again.”
“Tactful,” Sam huffed.
Harry managed to squeeze his hands between Dean and Sam so that he could loop the chain around Sam’s neck and do it up. Then he patted Sam on the back twice.
“Ok, Sam, see if that’s better,” Harry said, and finally Dean was able to let go of his brother, who quickly scrambled up. Sam did back up the snaps at the top of his shirt awkwardly, hiding the pendant where it lay on his chest.
“What the hell was that?” Sam asked, sounding awful and looking a little shaky - and bloody, but otherwise fine.
“The muggle repelling charms,” Harry explained. “They make muggles see ruins instead of the castle, and they make them believe they’ve got urgent appointments, or have to go home for some reason. It lasts just long enough for them to walk away from the Hogwarts grounds.”
Sam nodded. The blood that had leaked out of his nose was already caking on his face, smeared all over by both Dean’s sleeve and, no doubt, his shoulder.
“Hey Neville,” Harry said, “would you go tell Ernie that it’s safe to bring Teddy back, please.”
Neville nodded and took off towards the woods.
“Where’d Ron and that Carrow guy go?” Sam asked.
“The Aurors arrived just as you...um, lost track of things,” Harry said. “Ron’s taken over Carrow’s transport back to Azkaban, since I was...trying to help you. Ernie went into the woods to round up the children who were hiding. I think he’s holding off bringing them back though, until he knows Carrow is removed completely.” Harry took a breath, “Sam, what happened? Last year the charms didn’t even affect you - yet this year...you didn’t even pull at all when we apparated...did you...do you not have demon blood anymore?”
“Um,” Sam said. “I still...I mean, I can’t ever...there’s always going to be a little, but I don’t have...as much?”
*
Chapter 27