of first mornings and old new friends
The next morning was an early one for Sam. He awoke much earlier than what would have been necessary, but the awaiting day made him feel giddy enough to be unable to catch one or two more hours of sleep and so he decided to silently get his day started. He didn't want to wake the others so he grabbed his clothes from his open suitcase and carefully crept over to the bathroom.
It was a rather small one, but clean and functioning which was more than the average motel bathroom had to offer. He stored his things in the cabinets, which he didn't manage to do yesterday, and got ready for the day.
His hair almost at shoulder length didn't get much attention, it was thick and soft, always flying in pretty much every direction and wasn't worth the effort. Dean always teased him for it and ruffled it up even more and John...he regularly threatened to ruthlessly cut it off with scissors one day. And maybe that became a big reason for Sam not to cut it. He liked his hair this way and knowing that his father did not like it, made him like it even more. He would take every little rebellion against John he could get.
It was ridiculous he knew it, but their father dictated their whole lifes. Dean seemed to be mostly okay with it, because he knew their mum. He had an actual relationship with her before she died and thus he shared his fathers need for revenge and alongside of each other their hatred grew and became their source of motivation. But Sam never got to know Mary, he didn't have a single memory of her. Yes he was sad not to have a mum but he felt like he was mourning the idea of a life with a mother more than Mary herself.
And he felt guilty for that. He felt guilty how he didn't miss her and he felt guilty how she died in his nursery. No one ever blamed him for anything, how could they? He was a baby. But he did a good job of that by himself. Wondering what would have been, if she didn't go in to check on him, what if that mysterious fire had somehow something to do with him? Oh how many hours he had wondered how different their life would have been, if they still had her in it. They probably would have never got to know about all that hunting business. They would have spend a completely normal childhood growing up in one place and not constantly on the road, chasing after even the smallest leads.
He glanced at his Slytherin crest on his uniform. From all that Dean had told him their mum would have been proud seeing them attending Hogwarts, he always told him how amazed she was by Johns magic and had hoped that both her children inherited his abilities. She woulnd't have cared that he was in Slytherin, she was a Muggle and didn't grew up on the british wizarding stereotypes.
And Sam wouldn't care as well he decided. He is gonna make the best of it, work hard and not base his success in school on his bedroom location.
Upon deciding what to do next he left his dorm room. He will get his school stuff after breakfast, he would probably have to empty his whole suitcase to get what he needed and he really wanted to let the others sleep some longer.
He stepped into the first years hallway, all was silent and he could finally catch a glimpse through the windows. The sun had just risen and revealed a lucious green forest with gigantic trees slightly in the distance. In front of it was a meadow, covered in long grass and several kinds of wildflowers all bending in the wind. Wether this scenery actually existed in the real world or not, it was quite beautiful.
He passed the second hallways and stepped into the alcove at the top of the stairs. He might as well make use of the numerous reading materials in his common room. He glanced down the stairs. It was now maybe a little over an hour of time left until breakfast would be served and the room was mostly empty only one older girl passed through the room, walking towards a figure sitting on the cushions by one of the windows, gazing into the water.
With the sun shining through the lake it was even more beautiful and it made the whole room significantly brighter. Scattered beams of sunlight found their way through the greenish water. It was still not clear enough to see far but you could make out small fish swimming closely past the windows.
Sam turned his attention back to the shelf. He could only see the books on the lower half and found a bunch of classics for children like 'the Tales of Beedle the Bard ' or 'The Toadstool Tales', which according to the authors note on the back of the book were old stories rewritten to quote: 'fill the pure minds of our little angels with healthy, happy thoughts and protecting the precious flower of their innocence.' Sam almost burst out laughing. If this woman thought the Tales of Beedle the Bard were not appropriate she would probably faint on the spot reading Johns journal on all the monsters they've met.
There were countless more books pressed in the tight space, books of fiction an non fiction, several about Quidditch: 'The Beaters Bible', 'Beating the Bludgers- A study of Defence' or 'A snitch in Time'. There seemed to be a Quidditch book about every single position you could take on the field and on every single ball involved in the game, not to mention the books on brooms, the game rules and other equipement. He would definitely tell Dean about these, maybe he could even get him to read something for a change.
Sam wandered down the stairs, daring a quick glance over to the only other two people in the room. Now that he was closer he recognized the male figure at the window, it was Malfoy. They both looked up as they saw him and Sam decided to just quickly go his way, they sat at the other end of the room at a distance so far it felt unnecesary to greet them.
He let his attention shift to the nearest boookshelf. This one actually seemed to have a theme, focusing on biology and especially Magical creatures. Multible titles caught his attention, either because he read them or because they were of interest to him.He would definitely find some new gems in this one.
Creatures and monsters where always of huge interest to him, the most curious were the differences of their usual monsters and the magical creatures. It was not always possible to devide them, sometimes they just had different names but were essentialy the same. But for the most part they devided them into 'monsters'-evil beings eating humans left and right with little to no magical heritage, and 'magical creatures'- the ones who were undoubtably of magical origin and not necessarily evil. It was a waste to think too hard on deviding the two categories though, they hunted whatever hurt people, magical or non-magical didn't matter. Everyone who was in need of protection got it.
'Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland' suddenly caught his eye. The existence of Dragons was even for him somehow hard to believe. Their father had hunted one once, but it was a curious case. In enclosed spaces it had a disturbingly human looking form, a trait too many monsters liked to take on. The dragons of the magical world were all full on fairytale dragons, looking exactly like you'd expect them too. The magical comunity seemed to have them fully controlled though, they never encountered one and thus never had to hunt one down before.
Sam decided to take a closer look at this book and with a quick glance over his shoulder towards Malfoy he figured he better go into the Great Hall to read than settle down in here. He stuck the book under his arm and made his way.
From the outside the entrance to the common room was just a blank wall, but from the inside there constantly was a visible door, he pulled it open and passed through the wall. He figured it must be enchanted in a similar spell as the wall at King's Cross station, impossible to find if you didn't know it was there and even then it was hard.
After he found himself in the cold hallway he took a closer look around, trying to find an pin point to remember where he had to look for the wall once he wanted to enter again. The invisible door was right in between two torchlights on the wall, these lights were along the whole hallway in a distance of aproximately two meters. Otherwise the walls where completely bare. He made a 360 turn. Diagonally across from the entrance was a wooden bench, it was one of two in this hallway. He decided to count the torchlights for good measure as well as he walked towards the first junction.
He remembered yesterday when they were lead down here they took two corners, the first one right and the second one left before they stopped in front of the wall in the exact hallway he was in right now. So he turned right at the first corner and left on the second one again and walked until he found the stairs appearing to his right. He would remember: right, left and then between the fourth and fifth torchlights, when in doubt check the benches- it's the second one.
He passed the Entrance hall, appreciating seeing everything in daylight. The doors to the Great Hall stood open but no noise came from inside, only a faint echo of two voices every then and now.
As he entered he saw only a hand full of people around the room. The student tables were unoccupied except for maybe ten students sitting alone or in pairs, busy in silent conversation or seemingly schoolwork. At the teachers table stood two woman busy in conversation, the only two voices audible in the hall. One was Professor Mcgonagall, the other a witch with red hair. It fell over her shoulders in long waves. Sam didn't recall seeing her last evening, but she smiled at him as they noticed him entered as if he should know her.
As he made his way over to the table he gazed up at the ceiling, it was now imitating an open sky, with clouds and flocks of birds passing by here and there.
He settled at the Slytherin table, nodding in greeting towards the other two sitting further along the table. He opened his book and was excited for a relaxed, slow morning, passing the time with reading until breakfast started.
Over time the Hall slowly started to fill up and after maybe an hour it was almost completely full, with everyone settled at their respective House table. Yunho as well as Micah had joined him a couple minutes ago and soon after their arrival breakfast appeared on the tables in front of them.
It was a wide variety of fruit, porridge, toast and multiple other things. It was a lively atmosphere and everyone seemed to be excited to start into a new school year.
Dean hadn't made an appearance yet, not that Sam was surprised, his brother generally slept in as long as he could.
It was an uneventful breakfast only once interrupted at what must have been close to hundred owls flying in, bringing them their mail. Many just dropped of the Daily Prophet, others smaller and bigger packages with things forgotten at home and others had the first letters of the year in their beaks.
Soon after Dean entered looking quite disheveled, like he did most mornings. But instead of making his way over to the Gryffindor table he took the opposite direction, his eyes searching for Sams. As he came closer he found him and a smile spread across his face, he passed the last meters and knelt down besides Sam. 'Hey! How was your first night in the dungeon?' he sounded lighthearted, but a look in his eyes told Sam immediately that he was genuinely worried. 'It really was okay Dean. My roommates are great and it's actually quite comfortable down there, promise!' He tried to asure his brother but he knew he would have to show Dean that he was okay with his actions. His brothers protective streak was usually strong, but now that he couldn't keep his little brother as close as he had previously planned he will probably go full on parental- guardian- mode. This one mostly came out when Sam and John had one of their disagreements and when Dean felt like their father was failing his parental role on Sam.
Sam will prove to Dean that he had found friends and felt comfortable enough in his house, even if he had to prove that to himself first. He was of course determined to push against the housing prejudices floating around in Hogwarts but he was not naive enough to believe that he won't struggle at all in this process.
Deans mind was clearly filled with doubt. And Sam gestured to his friends, sitting to his right side. 'Dean this here is Yunho, I met him in the carriages yesterday,' he pulled Yunho a bit closer by his sleeve 'and Yunho this is my brother Dean.' Yunho gave his greetings, giving one of his genuine smiles which made him look like the most trustworthy eleven year old on earth. Dean eyed him up and down, Yunho was clearly not fitting into the stereotypical Slytherin image he had in his head. Sam rolled his eyes, 'Dean, we're eleven years. How evil could he even be?' he asked a bit exasperated, leaning closer so only his brother heard him. 'You know I could handle them even if they were any trouble.' Dean moved his head a bit so he could look his brother in the eyes again, he gave him a look, then gave Yunho a once- over again, 'I'm actually not so sure Sammy, he's like a head taller than you dude.' And Sam knew that Yunho just got Dean- approved. If his brother couldn't protect him from other people, he would make sure that these other people would become just as protective over Sam as Dean did.
It was a method that had worked several times in their lives. Sometimes simply on strangers, mostly motel owner. When Dean and their father would leave Sam behind in one while they went on a hunt they deemed too dangerous for Sam, he liked to speak to the owners and tell them a completely made up sob story about their family that made the people feel so sorry for them that they automatically promised to keep a close eye on Sam for Dean while he was gone. And hell, most of them took their role way too serious for Sams liking, they made sure he was fed, watered and pempered like he was a little lost puppy.
Other times it was used on people they're still close with, like Bobby or Jody and other people out of their hunting community. Everyone who first saw Sam as a surprisingly intelligent, independent young boy, now only saw the little brother everyone collectively kept an eye on.
Sadly Sam couldn't exactly say that he hated it, but he would rather die that admit that out loud.
He decided to ignore his brothers remark for now and bent a bit awkwardly to get Deans attention on Micah, who sat half hidden behind Yunho. Clearly intentional. 'And this is Micah. We all share a room.' Upon hearing his name Micah reluctantly turned in Deans direction.
He got the same check up as Yunho, even though Sam wasn't sure what exactly his brother was looking for. It's not like bad people have 'evil' written on their forehead. But still, he let Dean do what he felt like he needed to do, figuring that timid Micah couldn't possibily give off even an ounce of danger which would alarm his paranoid brother.
Micah was the one to end the wordless exchange by simply turning around again. 'Not much of a talker huh?' Dean murmured and Sam answered in a hushed tone, 'he's like super shy. Haven't really talked more than three sentences with him myself...'
Dean just shrugged his shoulder, stood up and indicated his brother to make some space for him. 'Scoot over would you?' With that he squeezed between Sam and Yunho, sitting with his back to the table on the bench with them. By now a few students glanced over. It was of course not unseen for students of different houses to talk, but a Gryffindor now actually sitting at the Slytherin table was apparently not so normal anymore.
Not that Dean payed any attention to that. He now rested his ellbows on the table behind him and openly started to converse with Yunho, who was propably only one poorly choosen word away from being appointed to Sams new personal, 24/7 bodyguard by Dean. 'So Yunho huh.. Where are you from?' An exasperated 'Deeean', escaped Sams mouth. Yunho didn't seem bothered. 'From London, born and raised. Sam told me about you already, fourth year right?' He didn't wait for an answer though. 'I know Sam wanted to be in your house but you really don't have to worry. My mum was in Slytherin too and I can promise you it's not half as bad. Besides, we two will look out for each other, right Sam?' And Sam could only vehemently nod in agreement. How did he deserve someone like Yunho by his side? He seemed to sense the genuine worry the older brother had and pushed all the right buttons to diminish it right away.
And Dean actually seemed impressed. But before he could say anything further a loud voice sounded from the entrance: 'What's up, shorties? We're back!!' Seemingly everyone in the Hall turned towards the doors.
And in stepped Gabriel and Castiel Novak. Sam recognized them instantly, their families knew each other. Sam and Dean only met the brothers every few years though before they started to attend the same school. Just like them they had family in America and it just so happens that these relatives were part of the wizarding hunting community there, in which the Winchesters were obviously deeply involved. Their parents were Aurors here in England and thus worked hand in hand with the local hunter community. John was not overly fond of them though, for reasons unknown to Sam, and so they only met every now and then when their work intervined. Their sons were not involved in the hunting business, their parents being strictly against it (how normal parents should be if you asked Sam) but the boys seemed to be everywhere they were not supposed to be and so the four young wizards became acquaintances.
They were twins, fraternal, one year younger than Dean. And ever since they went to Hogwarts as well Sam had heard a lot more of them than before, because they quickly got closer with Dean. Especially Gabriel, since he was in Gryffindor as well.
'Oh shit!' Next to him Dean quickly pushed himself up, taking a knive from the table down with him. It clattered loudly on the floor. 'I thought they were coming tomorrow. Do you mind if I...' He looked questioningly at Sam.
Sam couldn't surpress his grin, he knew exactly why his brother was so nervous all of a sudden. He would deny it if anyone would say it out loud but Sam knew it to be true: he had the biggest crush on Castiel. He was still in the stage of full denial though, much to Sams disappointment, but he went full on into gay panic whenever Castiel appeared somewhere. And so Sam of course didn't deny his brother to go. 'Go on! Be careful though or your eyes might pop out.' He gave Sam a death glare over the shoulder as he made his way over to greet his closest school friends.
They had actually met these two briefly in the summer. They were over there for their aunts wedding and if Sam remembered correctly this was also the reason for their delayed arrival. They were granted a leave for two days at school since the wedding festivities went on for one solid week. Their aunt Amara was a big deal in the Wizarding community in the USA and with some old connections she made it clear to everyone that her wedding was the absolut priority number one and somehow everyone responsible seemed to have agreed. Sam figured they were simply afraid of the consequenses, you never knew with Amara. He had met her and she was an absolut force of nature. She kind of terrified him.
He watched as Dean gave Gabriel an excited hug, he hesitated with Cas and they ended up with an incredibly awkward half hug, half handshake situation. 'Oh my god...' Sam groaned under his breath, it hurt just watching. 'Do you know them?' Yunho questioned from his side. 'Yeah, they're kind of old friends and Dean got really close to them when they entered Hogwarts one year after him.'
Sam observed how his brothers still had one of his arms draped over Castiels shoulders, who awkwardly glanced at the hand dangling next to his face. You see, the twins were not just polar opposites in their looks. Gabriel was the smaller one, (though three minutes older how he liked to point out) with dark blonde hair, the outgoing and funny guy everyone somehow knew. Castiel was... well Castiel. He was taller than Gabriel, which was admittedly the case for most of the people, had brown bordering on black hair and a constant look of confusion on his face. He was honestly a bit out of touch most of the time. It was charming and he was super nice, but he was not as good with social clues as his brother and skin contact and human interactions, sarcasm or irony often confused him or made him uncomfortable.
And the letter was now the case- because Dean didn't let go. Why didn't he let go? It was such an awkward position to remain in, especially with someone like Cas, who never initiated contact by his own. 'I can't watch this any longer.' With that he turned around. 'Do I sense some tension between these two?' Unlike Sam Yunho was still observing the trio. Wow, Dean was so obvious that even Yunho saw right through him. But then the korean boy seemed to have some kind of superpower when it came to detecting other peoples feelings.
'Don't get me started. It's awfully painful watching those two prancing around each other.' He dared one last glance over his shoulder, thankfully Dean had finally let go of Cas and while the two Gryffindors made their way over to their house table Castiel went to his own. He sat down next to a girl with long, white blonde hair who looked up from her magazine as he approached. Sam squinted his eyes, was she holding it upside down?
He whipped his head around as a clear voice at the head of their table caught his attention. The woman from the earlier morning stood there, asking for the Slytherins attention.
'I'm sorry I wasn't there to greet my new students yesterday, I had a wedding to attend. My name is Professor MacLeod, I would prefer it if you called me Rowena though. And I'm your Head of house.' Her cold gaze quickly turned into a warm and friendly one as she guided her attention towards the youngest at the table, giving them a welcoming smile. She seemed genuinely nice, but Sam didn't fail to notice how every single Slytherin paid the utmost attention. She had her house under complete control and Sam turned around to pay complete attention to what she was about to say.