Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the best show in the world or J.K. Rowling's amazing world of magic and awesomeness..

A big thanks to my beta Venus.

A/N: Those of you who follow this story's tumblr page (http: / / thelionandthebadger. tumblr. com/) will know why there haven't been an update for quiet some time now. I've damaged my right hand really bad, and it was/is serious. I've been unable to finish this chapter 'cause of it. I haven't been able to use my right hand, not even simple things like lifting my jacket or shoes. I have problems writing with a pencil and I can't really right on the laptop, either (though it is a bit easier on the computer, but not much). Though, my hand and wrist is getting better so I was finally able to finish this chapter. It's a good thing I've already written the next chapter a long time ago so you won't have to wait for it too long. I'm just going to make some minor changes on it.

Enjoy!

~ The Slytherin Brother ~

Dean

He had an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach that someone looked at him. He stood up and walked to the window, but it was not the Hogwarts grounds. It was Castiel's garden. He did not know how he knew that, he just knew. It was dark, and he now saw it from a new angle.

Dean turned around.

The classroom was now a tiny room and there was only one bed located in the middle of it. Dean moved towards it. He had no choice. His pulse began to rise dramatically. His hands shook as he moved the blanket.

Castiel's mesmerizing, blue eyes met his, and his stomach burned like butterflies were flying around in there. It felt good.

"Dean?" Castiel whispered huskily.

"-ean! Dean?"

"GET UP, DEAN WINCHESTER!" A very insistent, very feminine voice yelled while something soft repeatedly kept hitting his head in synch with the words.

Dean groaned. What the hell was Jo, a girl, during inside of the boys dormitory? His sleepy mind couldn't deal with that right now.

"C'mon, Dean. It's getting late."

Dean moved slowly and managed to sit up, running a hand through his hair; it felt greasy and he felt like hell. "Shut up, woman, will you?" He murmured. "I'm coming, geez. Can't a man get some sleep?" Throwing himself back against his pillow, he laid still for a while, staring into the ceiling of his bed. He'd dreamt of Castiel Novak. Thinking now, it had been a very disturbing thing. A guy dreaming about another guy. But it just felt so incredibly good. That burning feeling in his stomach, his pulse beating like he had run a marathon. The shaking of his body. Everything had felt good.

Especially when he looked into those beautiful blue eyes. And that amazing voice of his.

He heard footsteps move around his bed and stop. Then the person, Dean suspected it was Jo doing this, pulled back the red bed hangings. The green eyed Gryffindor winced as the bright September sunlight came pouring through in on him from the window next to his bed. He squinted one eye open and glared up at his blond-haired friend with a scowl. "Evil," he hissed and turned to hide his head in the pillow.

"No, just helping out a friend so he can make it down to breakfast on time." Jo replied, hands firmly placed on her hips as she stared down at him. "When I saw Gordon and the rest of your idiot roommates leave I made it my mission to see if they had even bothered to wake you up. Apparently they hate you so much they didn't even bother to do that."

"Then why couldn't you just have let me sleep?" Dean muttered as he threw his blankets over his head and laid down once again.

Jo grabbed the blankets and pulled them off him and threw them on the floor. Whining, Dean made a grab for them but failed. They glared at one another. "I know how you function without breakfast, Dean. It ain't pretty."

Dean threw himself back against his pillows.

She whistled. "Wow, Dean," her voice sounded surprised as he gave him a once over with her curious eyes. "You look bloody awful. Did you wrestle a monster last night?"

Grumpily, Dean shook his head.

Jo sat down on the corner of Dean's bed. "You did get some sleep last night, right? You weren't up all night thinking about our conversation, right?" She asked gentle, running a nicely cold hand through his hair. "Dean? I hate to make you stop sleeping just because of some words I said."

Dean rolled his eyes, keeping silent. Oh yes, that what was it was about, that was what was wrong with his world this morning. That stupid conversation, and his embarrassing fleeting moment in the library. Why had he even bothered to follow the Hufflepuff? And why had Castiel embarrassed him even further in the class room in front of their new teacher?

The worst nightmare of his life was waiting for him in the Great Hall for he knew Castiel would be there.

"I'll be alright, Jo... I just didn't sleep. Bad dreams or something."

"Or something," Jo repeated – she certainly didn't believe him – and stood up and gestured with her hands for Dean to get ready. "I will wait on the other side of the door. Hurry up." She turned and left him to his own devices.

Dean stood up and got ready with a quick wash of his hair before jumping into his robes. He met with Jo in the Gryffindor common room, and the two of them went down to breakfast with Jo's friends following eagerly.

Dean eyed them warily; he had at least slept with two out of the five of them.

All the girls walked ahead of him, giggling and gossiping and whatever girly stuff they did. Dean didn't care, kept his head down, eyes on the floor, hands in the pockets of his black robes, and ignored them. He wondered if he would have to go around like that for the rest of his life now that a certain Hufflepuff had made his life a living hell. He blamed Jo, too. If she hadn't called him gay he wouldn't be having these thoughts. If he hadn't told her anything he could have gone back to just smirking at the Hufflepuff and making friends with him.

Wait a minute, Dean thought. She accused me of being gay for Castiel, and I'm not so this shouldn't bother me at all, but it does. It's probably because she said I was gay, yeah, that has to be it. I'm annoyed she said that. No. Not gay. Yeah, I should be fine.

Dean grinned. He wasn't gay and that was that. The words hadn't made him doubt his sexuality, only annoyed him that she had called him that. What straight guy wouldn't be irritated because of that?

But that dream. . .

He stopped for a moment just outside the big, golden doors of the Great Hall, steeling himself before he went inside, following the girls towards the Gryffindor table as they made their way through the packed Hall to their regular seats at the Gryffindor table. His eyes drifted towards the Ravenclaw table where he found his brother easily. For a fifth year, Sam was pretty tall compared to the sixth and seventh years around him. He was easy to spot with his mop of wavy, brown hair.

Inside the Great Hall was the usual loud hum and buzz of chatter and laughter, mixed with the clink of silverware on dishes, and as Dean's gaze drifted over the top of the Hufflepuffs heads, he quickly found Castiel's messy hair, clothes. . . Actually just messy everything. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the table of lions and sat down.

A flurry of thoughts and emotions that Dean knew didn't show on his appearance this moment swirled like the ocean through his mind as he hurriedly began grabbing breakfast from a couple of different plates.

After his talk with Jo yesterday, and when he was left alone in his bed, these same thoughts had kept him wide awake. For one thing, he'd given a serious thought to the whole situation. He wasn't gay, that was one thing he was completely and utterly sure of. He just liked Bright Eyes – Dean blinked, eyes wide. Had he just called Castiel Bright Eyes? – because the guy was kind of a weirdo, and maybe they could have some fun conversations.

It wasn't like him to go and make friends, but there was just something drawing him to Bright Ey- the blue eyed Hufflepuff, and he kind of liked it.

Plus, Dean was curious of nature and wanted to explore these emotions and thoughts going through him so badly.

His green gaze slid across the table behind the one he was seated at. Castiel was there, sitting calmly between the group of people Dean assumed was his friends. He spotted Tessa and her two friends, Rachel and Gwen, there with him. Most of the badger's face was hidden behind a copy of the Daily Prophet.

Without taking his eyes off of the boy, Dean dished up some bacon and put it on top of his toast, then a spoonful of sugar and some strawberry marmalade and put that on top of his bacon.

"Eh, Dean? What are you doing with your food?" Asked Jo, nudging him in the ribs. "Some sort of new experiment you decided to do that I know nothing of?"

Dean pulled his gaze away from the Hufflepuff table and looked down at the mess of bacon, toast, and sugar and strawberry marmalade on his plate. Had Castiel actually distracted him from food? For a short moment he found that hard to believe, but then thinking about it again it, he realized that it really did happen. Somebody, a somebody who was Castiel Novak, had seriously made him think about, well, him, during a meal. That had never happened before. When food was in front of him, Dean only paid attention to that.

Grimly, he picked up his fork and took a bit. Couldn't let Jo make fun of him now, could he? "I happen to like this." He muttered to the girl, who was shaking her head, muffling a giggle. When she turned away to listen to something Ava was talking about, Dean looked back over at Castiel. The boy was still reading the paper.

Dean then looked down, forcing himself to take a few bites, then thoughtfully pushed the remnants of sugar, bacon, marmalade and toast around with his fork. Suddenly he wasn't even feeling hungry and it wasn't like his breakfast was likeable.

Alright, what the hell is happening to me? Dean paled at his thoughts. Wasn't it bad enough Castiel had been constantly on his mind since the first day, now the guy actually distracted him from breakfast!

When he looked back over at the Hufflepuff table he immediately met with the baby blue gaze of Castiel over the top of the boy's newspaper. For a second their eyes connected and a shock of electricity surged through Dean, while Castiel frowned but Dean saw the nervous stare. Castiel then folded his paper, turned to his friends and said something before he stood up and started making his way towards the doors.

Oh no, you don't, thought Dean as he quickly grabbed his bag and jumped up from his seat at the Gryffindor table, because for once he had eaten there instead of bugging the hell out of Sammy at the Ravenclaw table.

"Dean!" Jo called, about to stand up. "Wait, where are you going in such a hurry? Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," Dean replied, backing away towards the doors. "– don't hurry with your food or something. I just... forgot something. Meet you in Professor Binn's classroom, kay?" And then he turned around and took off after the always disheveled looking Hufflepuff, who had just disappeared into the main entrance hall of Hogwarts castle.

Why, he didn't know.

Green eyes drifted around furiously outside the Great Hall, Dean standing between in the enormous doorway. He wanted to talk to Castiel. No, he needed to talk to the other young wizard. He took a step forward and decided to walk towards the library. Dean figured if he couldn't find the boy he would just start with the library. According to Sam, Castiel spend most of his free time in the library.

Before Dean even managed to walk up the first staircase he came across, he met with the sound of someone yelling.

"Hey, fairy faggot! Got any ass lately?"

Dean frowned. He knew that voice very well. Too well for his liking, actually. As he took the last few steps up the staircase, he saw Castiel being pushed onto the floor by Alastair. Meg and bunch of other Slytherin douche bags stood hovering over the smaller Hufflepuff. Even Meg seemed to be so much bigger than Bright Eyes- Dean winced, Castiel, now.

Alastair grinned poisonous. "Or perhaps some cock? You like that, don't you? Freaky little..." Dean didn't hear whatever he was going to call the Hufflepuff as Alastair kicked the boy in his stomach.

Castiel went deathly pale and bit his lip in pain, a small amount of blood escaping as he did.

"You've been avoiding us, haven't you? Haven't seen you before now, Cassie. I, well, almost missed you." A boy with short, curly, dirty blonde hair chuckled, hands pressed tightly together in front of his chest as if he was praying. Dean recognized him; it was Kubrick. Fucking Kubrick who'd been after Sammy some years ago.

Meg laughed; it sounded like nails on a blackboard. "Aww, what's the matter? Can't take the pain?" She was about to lash out when Dean grabbed his wand.

"JELLYLEGS!" He yelled as he pointed it towards her.

She screamed in surprise as her legs turned into rubber and she met with the hard, cold stone floor. "What the-!" She and her group of snakes looked around, and as they all laid eyes on the Gryffindor and his wand, she hissed. "You little piece of lion shit! How dare you throw a hex at me!"

Alastair took a step forward towards Dean. Hatred was screaming in his eyes like a banshee. "Hello, Dean." The grin on his face was grim, but it almost seemed playful.

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Alastair, you fucker. Attackin' defenseless Hufflepuffs now? Ain't that a little low?"

The Slytherin snickered. "Oh no. It's always sooooo fun to play with this little cocksucker. Why don't you give it a try, Dean? You liked it once" They had been on first name basis since Dean had kicked the crap out of the Slytherin back when he still had a weird obsession with Sammy. Back when Sam was a first and second year a lot of Slyhterins had made his life a living hell. That was until Dean beat the living crap out of them all. Kubrick had been the worst of them all.

"Or is it that you are his little fairy lover? Is it, Dean? You like taking it up the arse now?"

Dean grinded his teeth. Frankly, he didn't care what people thought about him, and for some reason he could not fathom, his protective instinct suddenly boiled up in him and refused to go away because of this wide eyed Hufflepuff. So what if he was going to be called a fairy, faggot or whatever nasty words people called the gays?

Dean raised his wand. "I don't swing that way, fucker, but don't you dare lay another hand on Cas, got that?"

Alastair smirked and raised his hand to stop the rest of his gang to attack Dean because they suddenly all took a step forward. "Aww, you got the fairy a nickname? How sweet of you, Dean-o." He raised his wand high in front of his chest, eye contact never breaking.

For a short moment his eyes flickered towards Castiel, concern displaying. They silently asked if he was alright, and slowly, Castiel nodded.

Dean spotted a small drop of blood falling from the boy's chin. Eyes narrowing, Dean looked back at Alastair, he smirked like death himself as he raised his wand to cast another hex towards the snakes. "You-"

"What the hell is going on here, chuckleheads? Why aren't you kids playing nice, eh?" Someone interrupted him.

Dean, Castiel, and the group of douchebag Slytherins all turned their attention to the set of stairs further above them. It was none other than another Slytherin, and Dean scowled in frustration. There were too many snakes for him to get out here without a scratch, if not even alive.

But then came the most surprising thing. A situation Dean hadn't imaged.

"What the fuck? Castiel?" The voice was clearly concerned.

Dean blinked. How did this snake know Cas? When he looked over at the Hufflepuff Dean saw relief washing over his face, and the corner of his lips quirking upwards, then flinched in pain as he was reminding of his bleeding lip.

"Meg! What the hell? Beating up my lil' bro' now? Thought you were my friend you bitch." The newly arrived Slytherin moved in an inhuman speed down the staircase, wand raised towards the Slytherins as he moved like a snake sliding gracefully across the floor. "I see Jellylegs have been used. Ooh, I like that!" He grinned. "JELLYLEGS!" It hit one of the unknown Slytherins who stumbled and fell down the stairs.

One of the snakes stood up before Gabriel, probably believing he had a greater advantage due to the fact he was quiet large against the newly arrived Slytherin who was very small. "Traitor!" He hissed with a raised wand.

Before anything could happen, Gabriel moved and jabbed the boy's neck, making him stagger on unsteady legs. "Don't you dare EVER to hurt my little brother again! You hear me, you little piece of shit?"

Dean smirked at that.

"All of you leave or I will seriously kick you into next year! But believe me when I tell you this, bitches, it ain't over yet. Just wait 'till I find you." The Slytherin eyed the rest of his housemates with disgust and pure rage. Wand raised proudly in his right hand, pointed towards his housemates.

Meg bit down her lower lip nervously. "Gabe-"

"Shut it, bitch. Leave and take the rest of your worthless idiots with you. NOW!" The last word echoed through the halls of Hogwarts loudly.

Hissing, Alastair turned around and stormed away with his group.

The last remaining Slytherin turned towards Castiel, and he kneeled down in front of him. He grabbed Castiel's chin and raised the badger's head to exanimate the broken lip.

"Are you all right, bro?"

Castiel nodded. "I am fine, Gabriel." He replied, then added, "You didn't need to do that. Your friends-"

"- are just fucking assholes." Gabriel smiled and tugged the younger boy to his feet. "Sure I do. You're my little brother, Cassie. It's in my job description to protect you, right? Big brother, remember?" It brought out a childish smile in Castiel, and for the first time, Dean could truly see the Hufflepuff was the younger brother despite being taller.

"What are you doing here, lion cub?" Gabriel asked as his eyes turned towards Dean.

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Lion cub?" He questioned, and the Slytherin shrugged.

"Did you hurt Cas, too?" Gabriel turned to his younger brother, "did he hurt you, Cassie?"

Castiel shook his head. "No, Gabriel. He actually defended me, and then you arrived. I'm really glad you did or else Winchester would have been seriously hurt. No offense," he added looking at the Gryffindor with a sly smile.

"I could have taken 'em all. Just didn't get the chance until older brother here came along and saved you."

"I'm sure you could, Winchester." Gabriel joked. "Wait, are you related to Sammy?"

Dean frowned. "Yeah." He replied, feeling weird. "And don't call him Sammy, I'm the only one who gets to do that."

"So he keeps saying," Gabriel grinned then turned back towards the Hufflepuff. "Should we go to the Hospital wing? Dear ol' Madam Pomfrey could help you-"

"No. I'm fine, Gabriel. No broken bones or anything."

"Cracked ribs?"

If it wasn't because he knew Castiel was hurt somewhere, not only the broken, bleeding lip, Dean would have questioned the Slytherin about his relationship with Sammy.

"None of those either." Castiel smiled reassuring. "Let's just pretend this didn't happen." He glanced nervously between them.

"Like hell I will. I gotta beat those stupid snakes into next year as soon as I find 'em again." Gabriel hissed like the Slytherin he was. "Can't let anyone think they can get away with beating my brother. Stupid assholes."

"Gabriel-"

"No! Castiel. I'm tired of seeing them treating you like this. How many times have I told you to come to me?" Gabriel sighed deeply. He turned to Dean. "Thanks for helping my bro, but I gotta get him to the Hospital Wing."

"I'm not inju-" Castiel tried to protest.

"I don't care. Pomfrey will get a look on you. If I am right, Cassie, you hurt somewhere but won't say it because you're too stubborn and don't want me to worry." Gabriel nodded to the Gryffindor, "say hey to Sammy from me, will ya?" He then grabbed Castiel's arm and tugged him along towards the Hospital Wing.

Castiel looked over his shoulders. "Thanks again, Winchester!" He gave Dean a sweet smile.

Dean really liked that smile.

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