Hi there. Before you continue, I want to let you know that I have previously written Philospher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. If you're new and you haven't read them yet, I recommend you check them out on my page.

The Leaky Cauldron

Harry entered the Leaky Cauldron yawning. It had been a long day of homework and shopping for school supplies and he'd decided to make his way back to his room. His foot touched the bottom of the staircase leading up to the rooms and he heard a familiar loud bang outside. Ever since he had used the Knight Bus to run away from the Dursleys, he couldn't help but listen for the sound it made as it came to a stop. Harry noticed that a lot of wizards used the magical bus and he often heard it several times a day. There was almost always someone interesting to look at coming off the bus, so Harry turned to look and gasped as he saw a boy in a tan trench coat come in through the door. Castiel's shoulders were hunched over and he kept his head down as he checked in.

'Castiel?' Harry said as he approached the stairs

He looked up and Harry gaped at him. There was blood crusted and smeared around his nose, purple bruises mosaicked over his cheeks and ringed his eyes, one of which was swollen shut. Castiel saw Harry's expression and looked away awkwardly.

'What happened to you?' Harry said, appalled.

Castiel rubbed his arm and looked around the room.

'I – I would rather discuss it upstairs, if you don't mind.' He said quietly.

'Yeah, of course.'

Castiel lead the way and Harry noticed that he had grown quite a lot over the summer. His coat no longer dragged on the ground at all and neither did he have to roll the sleeves up as much. They walked past Harry's room and Castiel unlocked a room at the end of the corridor. He sat heavily down on the bed and Harry pulled up a chair and sat in front of him, waiting for him to speak.

'It's not as bad as it looks,' he started off.

'It looks pretty bad, though,' said Harry.

Castiel shrugged.

'Some older boys in my village attacked me. They were Muggles so I couldn't defend myself with magic. As I'm sure you've noticed, I'm not very physically imposing, so I could only let them do it.'

'That's horrible!' said Harry.

'Gabriel pulled them off and sent me here. He's coming with my things later.'

Castiel's lip trembled and he pulled some tissues out of his pocket.

'What are you doing here?' he asked Harry while attempting to wipe some of the blood off his face.

'I, erm, accidentally blew up my aunt and she sort of – floated away. I thought I was in a lot of trouble, so I ran away and the Knight Bus brought me here. Fudge says I'm not in trouble, though, since it was accidental magic.'

Castiel's uninjured eye widened.

'These things always happen to you, don't they, Harry?'

'Yeah. Unfortunately.'

Castiel sighed.

'Harry, I'm in a lot of pain and I'm very tired. If you wouldn't mind…'

'Oh, yeah, of course. My room is right down the hallway if you need anything and maybe we could go shopping for your school stuff together,' Harry said, putting the chair away.

'That would be nice,' Castiel said weakly. 'Goodnight, Harry.'

''Night.'

Harry closed the door quietly and walked down the corridor to his own room. Gabriel came around the corner with a heavy trunk, a large cage containing Grace, the black barn owl, and a split lip. He gave Harry a brief, questioning look and carried on to Castiel's room.

It was the last day of the holidays and Harry met Castiel just inside Diagon Alley. He must have had some supplies from Madam Pomfrey in his trunk, as his bruises already looked much better and his eye was no longer swollen shut, though it was still puffy and bloodshot.

'Let's go,' said Castiel. 'I would like to get my books first.'

They walked in comfortable silence down to Flourish and Blotts, where the assistant piled all of the core books into Castiel's arms. She whimpered when he asked for a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters and went to the cage they were kept in. She broke up a couple of the snapping books that were ripping in to each other and dragged another one out. She tied it up, handed it to Harry and stomped away to get the rest of Castiel's books. The monster book squirmed in Harry's arms while Castiel put his other books into his bag. He then took the monster book, stroked it down the spine until it calmed down and then put it with the rest.

'How did you do that?' Harry asked.

'We used to have one at my house. If you didn't know how to calm it, it would eat your shoes.'

'What happened to it?'

'It escaped. It's probably roaming around the mountain somewhere.'

'Oh.'

The assistant the returned with Castiel's books for Ancient Runes, which he stuffed into his bag as well. He paid her for them and they walked back out into the sunshine.

'Where next?' Harry asked.

'I need to get Grace some food.'

'So, Magical Menagerie?'

Castiel nodded and they entered the dark, noisy building where they were met with a shock of orange hair.

'Ron!' Harry exclaimed.

'Harry!'

Ron whirled around to face them. 'Whoa,' he said, spotting Castiel's face.

'Hermione, it's Harry and Castiel!'

Hermione appeared from the depths of the shop with a bulging bag and an ugly orange cat on her shoulder.

'I thought you were getting an owl,' Ron said, frowning at the cat's squashed features.

'I just can't leave him,' Hermione crowed.

Suddenly, the cat spotted Ron's rat, Scabbers, who was being examined by the witch behind the counter. He pushed himself off of Hermione and dove after Scabbers, chasing him out of the shop.

'CROOKSHANKS, NO!' the witch shouted, grabbing hold of him.

Harry and Ron darted off to find Scabbers, while Hermione paid for Crookshanks and Castiel bought some bird seed and Owl Treats.

'Please tell me you didn't actually buy that monster?' Ron said, aghast as Hermione left the shop with Crookshanks in her arms.

'You forgot your Rat Tonic,' Hermione said, ignoring him and handing him a small, red bottle.

'Scabbers needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?' said Ron, clutching Scabbers close to his chest.

'Stop worrying, Ron. Crookshanks will be in my dormitory and Scabbers will be in yours. What's the problem? Poor Crookshanks. That witch said he'd been in there ages. No one wanted him,' Hermione said, rubbing her cheek against the cat's wiry orange fur.

'I wonder why,' Ron muttered sarcastically.

Together they all walked over to Florean Fortescue's and sat at a table, slurping some ice creams.

'What's wrong with Scabbers, Ron?' Castiel asked.

'He's not been right since we went to Egypt, really. He's not been eating, or sleeping, or anything,' Ron told him.

'That doesn't sound very good.'

'Well, he's been around a while. He's tough, but he is old.'

Castiel nodded.

'Harry, did you really blow up your aunt?' Hermione asked anxiously.

'It was an accident,' said Harry, embarrassed.

'Wicked,' Ron grinned.

'It's not funny, Ron,' Hermione frowned. 'He's lucky he wasn't expelled.'

'I think I was lucky not to get arrested, actually.'

'Nah, they'd never arrest you,' Ron said, taking a huge bite of his cone.

'Why not?' said Harry.

''Cause you're Harry Potter. Imagine how much backlash they'd get for arresting the famous Harry Potter. Especially for something as stupid as inflating his aunt,' Ron explained, popping the very tip of his cone into his mouth. 'Besides, it was an accident. No big deal.'

'It was still very dangerous, running away like that,' said Hermione.

'Leave off, will you? No one was hurt,' Ron complained.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Has anyone heard from John or Sherlock?' Harry asked, quickly changing the subject.

'I phoned John to invite him to come with us, but he said that he's already bought everything he needs, so we'll probably see him on the train tomorrow,' said Hermione.

'You 'phoned' him? Like on the telephone?' asked Ron.

'Yes, that's it,' Hermione smiled.

'I'll tell Dad later,' Ron grinned. 'Nothing from Sherlock yet. I sent Errol over to him but, surprise, surprise, I got nothing back. Looks like we'll just have to wait for tomorrow.'

Ron dusted the crumbs off his hands and stood up.

'So, what happened to you?' Ron asked Castiel.

'An unfortunate encounter with some particularly unpleasant Muggles.'

Ron waited, but Castiel did not elaborate further.

They all then set off back toward the Leaky Cauldron, where they found Mr Weasley sat at the bar, reading the Daily Prophet.

'Harry!' he said, smiling as he looked up. 'How are you?'

'Fine, thanks,' said Harry.

'And Cas- goodness, are you all right?'

'It's a long story,' Castiel said.

Mr Weasley put down his paper and emblazoned on the front was a picture of a man with wild, matted hair and sunken, sallow skin.

'Who is that man?' Castiel asked.

'Sirius Black,' Mr Weasley said grimly.

'The Sirius Black?' Castiel said, eyes wide. He leaned closer to the paper. 'He's escaped?'

'Yes,' said Mr Weasley, looking extremely grave. 'They've pulled us all off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him. No sign of him so far.'

'Would we get a reward if we caught him?' asked Ron. 'It'd be good to get some more money…'

'Don't be ridiculous, Ron,' Mr Weasley said, looking very strained. 'Black's not going to be caught by a thirteen year-old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards that'll get him back, you mark my words.'

Just then, Mrs Weasley entered the bar, laden with shopping and accompanied by Fred, George, Percy and Ginny.

Percy walked right up to Harry and Castiel and shook each of their hands.

'Harry. Castiel. How nice to see you,' he said solemnly.

'Hello, Percy,' Castiel said brightly.

'I hope you're both well?'

'Yes, thank you.'

'Harry!' said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. 'Simply splendid to see you, old boy.'

'Marvellous,' said George, seizing Castiel's hand and shaking it vigorously. 'Absolutely spiffing.'

Percy scowled.

'That's enough, now,' said Mrs Weasley.

'Mum!' said Fred, as though he'd only just spotted her, and seized her hand too. 'How really corking to see you-'

'I said, that's enough,' said Mrs Weasley, depositing her shopping in an empty chair. 'Hello, you two. I suppose you've heard our good news?' She pointed at the brand-new silver badge on Percy's chest. 'Second Head Boy in the family!'

'Congratulations, Percy,' Castiel smiled.

'Thank you, Castiel,' Percy said, mildly surprised.

'My brother was Head Boy once. I heard that he was very good at it.'

'Oh, yes, Michael was very good, indeed. Do you speak to him much? Perhaps he could give me some tips.'

'I haven't heard from him in a while,' Castiel said mildly. 'He's very busy working for the Magical Congress.'

'Of course. Of course. Did you ever think about going for Head Boy?'

'Not really,' Castiel said. 'I'm not the right person for it. I'm not like you, or Michael, or Gabriel.'

'Nonsense, Castiel, you'd make a fine Head Boy. Though, I'm not sure Gabriel has the right attitude for it.'

'He's a lot better than you think, Percy. He likes to see the good things in life and he encourages creativity, but he can be serious if he needs to be.'

'I'm just worried that he won't listen to me. As Head Boy, the Prefects are crucial to my ability to keep charge of the student body.'

'Don't be. He has his own ideas on how to run things, but if it's important, he'll take instruction from you, no questions asked.'

Percy smiled.

'Thank you, Castiel. I shall keep that in mind.'

Castiel smiled back.

That night, Castiel joined Harry, Hermione and all seven of the Weasleys for dinner in the bar. Tom the innkeeper pushed together three tables for them and they were served a delicious five course meal.

'No Gabriel?' Mrs Weasley asked.

'No, he's packing his things. I expect he'll come down for something later.'

Towards the end of the meal, Mrs Weasley asked everyone of they were packed.

'Ron isn't,' Percy scowled. 'He's just dumped all of his stuff on my bed.'

'You'd better go pack properly, Ron,' Mrs Weasley called down the table. 'You won't have time to do it in the morning.'

Dinner made them all very sleepy, so they all trouped upstairs to finish packing and get ready for bed. On his way past their room, Harry heard Percy and Ron having a shouting match. He went inside to see what was going on.

'It was here on the bedside table. I took it off for polishing…' Percy was shouting.

'I haven't touched it, all right?' Ron roared back.

'My Head Boy badge has gone,' said Percy, rounding on Harry.

'So's Scabbers's Rat Tonic,' said Ron, throwing things out of his trunk. 'I think I might've left it in the bar-'

'You're not going anywhere till you've found my badge!' yelled Percy.

Suddenly the door banged open and Gabriel came in looking thunderous.

'Can you both shut up!' he said angrily. 'We can hear you all the way down the corridor!'

'But-'

'I don't care, Percy. Fred and George have your badge, but nothing gives you the right to disturb everyone else. It's late and people are trying to sleep. I would have thought that our Head Boy would have some more common sense and consideration,' he spat venomously before storming out again, leaving an astonished silence in his wake. No one had ever seen him like that before and they saw the same shocked expressions echoed on Fred and George's faces, who were stood outside. Percy snatched his badge from Fred's hand, though he didn't notice that they'd charmed it to say 'Bighead Boy'.

Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron, whose mouth was hanging open.

'Er, I'll go and get your Rat Tonic,' Harry said, breaking the silence. 'You should pack.'

'Yeah… yeah, all right. Thanks,' Ron said. 'I don't suppose I'll get an apology.'

Percy huffed and turned his back, and Harry left to find the Rat Tonic.

Welcome back everyone! I hope you're all super psyched for Prisoner of Azkaban. I know I am! And don't worry, there's not too much of a wait before Dean's appearance. See you all next time!