Archive of Our Own

The trail should not have led anywhere.

That was the first thing Sam Winchester knew for certain.

Not suspected. Not guessed. Knew.

The tracks had carried them through miles of dense Scottish woodland, twisting between trees so old that their trunks had grown around one another, roots breaking through the soil like the knuckles of something buried alive. The deeper Sam and Dean followed, the stranger the forest became.

The compass in Sam’s hand had stopped behaving like a compass nearly twenty minutes ago.

Its needle trembled uselessly, spinning whenever he tried to hold it steady. North shifted each time they crossed between the trees. Their footprints vanished behind them. The dim light filtering through the canopy never changed, though Sam was certain they had been walking long enough for the sun to have moved.

Even the air felt wrong.

It pressed against Sam’s skin with the faint, charged heaviness that came before a storm, except there were no clouds visible through the branches. No wind. No thunder.

Just silence.

Dean moved several paces ahead of him, one hand close to the weapon tucked beneath his jacket. He stepped over a fallen branch and glanced back.

“You still got the trail?”

Sam crouched beside a patch of disturbed earth.

“Maybe.”

“That sounded confident.”

“The ground keeps changing.”

“The ground.”

“Yes, Dean. The ground.”

Dean looked down at it as though the forest floor had personally insulted him.

“Great. Haunted dirt.”

“I didn’t say it was haunted.”

“You said it keeps changing.”

“I said the tracks keep disappearing.”

“Which is something haunted dirt would do.”

Sam ignored him, studying the half-print pressed into the damp soil. It looked ordinary enough at first glance, but the heel ended abruptly, the impression fading into smooth earth where the rest of the tread should have been.

He reached out.

Dean immediately caught his wrist.

“What have we said about touching weird crap?”

“That you usually do it first?”

“That I’m older and have earned the right to make bad decisions.”

“You’re twenty-two.”

“Exactly. Ancient wisdom.”

Sam pulled his arm free and rose, wiping his fingers against his jeans despite not having touched anything.

The trail they had been following had brought them across a boundary neither of them had seen.

One moment there had been an ordinary stretch of woodland ahead. The next there had been a strange pressure in Sam’s ears, a sensation like walking through cold water, and the landscape had shifted around them.

The trees became thicker.

The shadows deepened.

The path behind them disappeared.

Dean had tried walking back twice.

Both times, they had somehow returned to the same moss-covered stone despite moving in a straight line.

Sam had stopped pointing that out after Dean threatened to shoot the stone.

Now they continued forward because there was nowhere else to go.

Somewhere beyond the trees, something cracked.

Dean froze.

Sam did the same.

The noise came again.

Not a branch this time.

Voices.

Many of them.

Dean raised two fingers, then pointed toward the thicker cover to their right. Sam nodded.

They moved without speaking, slipping between the trees and lowering themselves behind a wide trunk veiled in hanging moss.

The voices grew louder.

Teenagers, Sam realised.

A lot of teenagers.

Dean looked at him, brows drawing together.

Sam carefully leaned around the tree.

The group emerged through the forest in a disorganised cluster, dressed in black robes that caught against roots and low branches. Some wore red and gold beneath them. Others wore green and silver.

There were sixteen of them.

Sam counted twice.

Eleven in red and gold. Five in green and silver.

They carried leather bags, books and long, narrow sticks that looked almost like carved pieces of wood.

Wands, Sam thought before immediately dismissing the word.

No.

Not wands.

People didn’t carry wands.

The dark-haired boy at the front pushed a branch away from his face and nearly let it swing back into the shorter boy behind him.

“Watch it, James,” the shorter one complained.

“Sorry, Peter.”

Sam’s gaze sharpened.

Names.

Good.

Dean had heard them too. Sam could tell by the slight tilt of his head.

“Are we all agreed,” a red-haired girl said from the centre of the group, “that blindly following Potter is no longer an acceptable plan?”

“I object to the word blindly,” James said.

“You led us into a bog.”

“It looked like a path.”

“It was covered in water.”

“Some paths are.”

“Not to that extent.”

A black-haired boy walking beside James shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes.

“I’m with Lily,” he announced. “James has lost his leadership privileges.”

“Traitor.”

“Sirius,” Lily said, “you told him to turn left.”

“It felt right.”

“It was the bog.”

“It felt less right afterwards.”

Dean slowly looked at Sam.

Sam mouthed, Students?

Dean’s expression said that he was thinking the same thing, but it didn’t make sense.

No school should have been this deep in a forest.

No school should have been hidden behind whatever barrier they had crossed.

And no ordinary school dressed its students in robes and sent them into the woods carrying sticks.

A tall, thin boy with brown hair had stopped several paces behind the others.

He wasn’t looking at the path.

He was looking into the trees.

Sam went still.

The boy’s head turned slightly.

Listening.

His face was marked by pale scars. There was a wary tension in the way he held himself, almost invisible beneath the tired set of his shoulders. His nostrils flared once.

Sam caught Dean’s sleeve and gently pulled him farther behind the trunk.

Dean’s hand closed around his weapon.

The scarred boy continued staring toward them.

“Remus?”

James’s voice drew his attention back.

Remus blinked.

“What?”

“You stopped.”

“Thought I heard something.”

The others immediately became quieter.

Sam watched Remus’s eyes travel across the trees.

Too alert.

Too focused.

There was something else as well, something beneath the damp smell of earth, bark and moss.

A scent Sam had learned to recognise through experience he would have preferred not to possess.

Animal.

Musky.

Wild.

Wolf.

He looked at Dean.

Dean was already watching Remus with a hard, knowing expression.

Werewolf.

Neither of them said it aloud.

A round-faced boy near Lily adjusted the strap of his bag.

“Do you think Professor Kettleburn noticed we weren’t behind him?”

“No,” said a blonde girl. “Frank, I don’t think Professor Kettleburn notices much of anything once he starts following a creature.”

“He was talking to us thirty seconds before he vanished,” Frank said.

“That doesn’t mean he knew we were there,” another girl replied.

“Mary,” Lily warned.

“What? It’s true.”

A girl with dyed blonde hair pushed her robe sleeve away from her wrist and looked around them.

“We should have reached the paddock by now.”

“Marlene, we should have reached the paddock before James found the bog,” said the blonde girl.

“Alice, I have apologised for the bog.”

“You apologised to your shoes.”

“They suffered most.”

Two nearly identical red-haired boys exchanged a look.

“Maybe Kettleburn expects us to find our own way back,” one suggested.

The other nodded gravely.

“A test of our survival instincts.”

“Fabian, your survival instinct told you to eat berries you found beside a spider web,” Lily said.

“They were perfectly safe.”

“You were sick for two days.”

“That could have been unrelated.”

“It began ten minutes after you and Gideon ate them.”

“Then Fabian was sick for two days,” Gideon corrected.

The sixteen continued forward, though none of them seemed to know where they were going.

Sam glanced at Dean again.

Dean lifted one shoulder.

They stayed hidden.

For now.

The five students in green and silver walked slightly apart from the others, though not far enough to suggest complete separation.

The one at their centre caught Sam’s attention immediately.

He was shorter than most of the boys around him, lean beneath his robes, with dark curls falling across his forehead and a pale, sharp-featured face that looked almost bored despite their situation.

He moved carefully through the forest, stepping over roots without glancing down, as though he was used to watching everything around him from the edges of his vision.

One of the boys beside him slapped a branch away.

It sprang back.

The shorter boy ducked without breaking stride.

“Barty,” he said flatly.

Barty looked over his shoulder.

“What?”

“You nearly hit me.”

“But I didn’t.”

“An inspiring defence.”

“You ducked.”

“Because you nearly hit me.”

“That sounds like a successful partnership.”

Another boy with light hair caught the branch before it could swing again.

“Stop trying to concuss Regulus.”

“I’m not trying, Evan.”

“That doesn’t improve it.”

Regulus.

Sam repeated the name silently.

Regulus.

It fit him somehow, though Sam couldn’t have explained why.

A blonde girl walking beside Evan had leaves tangled in her hair. She looked upward as though the canopy were showing her something no one else could see.

“The forest is moving,” she said dreamily.

Everyone stopped.

Dean shifted behind the tree.

The dark-skinned girl beside her sighed.

“Pandora.”

“It is.”

“Do not say that while we’re lost.”

“Why not, Dorcas?”

“Because Barty will make it worse.”

Barty smiled.

“The trees are hunting us.”

Peter made a distressed sound.

“They are not,” Lily said firmly.

“How do you know?” Sirius asked.

“Don’t encourage him.”

“I’m not encouraging him. I’m questioning your certainty.”

“The trees aren’t hunting us,” Remus said.

The way he said it was calm, but Sam noticed that Remus looked into the shadows again.

He could feel them.

Maybe not their exact location, but something.

Sam eased his weight back.

A twig pressed beneath his boot.

He froze before it snapped.

Beside him, Dean peered through a gap in the moss.

The students had gathered around a crumpled piece of parchment in Alice’s hands.

“This is useless,” Alice said.

“It’s upside down,” Frank told her.

She rotated it.

“It’s still useless.”

“That might be because it’s a feeding schedule,” Mary said.

Alice stared at the parchment.

James looked over her shoulder.

“It has times on it.”

“Yes, James. Feeding schedules often do.”

“It could have been a map.”

“It has drawings of buckets.”

“Landmarks.”

Lily closed her eyes.

Sam nearly smiled despite himself.

Then one of the sticks lit up.

There was no spark.

No match.

No battery.

Lily simply lifted the narrow piece of wood and said, “Lumos.”

A white glow bloomed at its tip.

Sam’s amusement vanished.

Dean’s posture changed beside him.

The others followed.

One by one, lights appeared at the ends of the sticks, throwing pale illumination across their faces and the surrounding trees.

No wires.

No concealed flashlights.

No visible mechanism.

Magic.

Real magic.

The word landed heavily in Sam’s mind.

It had to be some kind of ritual.

Some kind of power.

Demons could manipulate objects. Demons could throw people across rooms without touching them. Demons could create light, influence minds and wear human faces.

Sixteen teenagers hidden in an impossible forest, speaking Latin over carved sticks.

Dean’s fingers closed around Sam’s arm.

Demon, he mouthed.

Sam didn’t answer immediately.

He watched Lily hold the glowing stick over the parchment.

Watched James wave his own carelessly until Marlene shoved it away from her hair.

Watched Sirius illuminate his face from below and make Peter jump.

Watched Remus take Sirius’s wrist and lower it with the exhausted patience of someone who had done the same thing many times before.

They didn’t act possessed.

But demons could act like anything.

That was the point.

Regulus had not lit his wand.

He stood at the edge of the group, staring into the dark while Barty and Evan argued about whether they had already passed the same split oak.

Sam’s eyes kept returning to him.

Regulus’s expression remained composed, but there was tension in the line of his jaw.

He was listening too.

Not like Remus.

Not with something inhuman beneath his skin.

Regulus was watching the others. Counting them. Checking the forest. Calculating.

“Regulus,” Dorcas said. “Which direction?”

He looked at her.

“Why are you asking me?”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t offered an obviously terrible suggestion.”

“That is because I have offered no suggestions.”

“Exactly.”

Barty leaned closer.

“I say we keep walking until we find something.”

“That is how we became lost,” Evan said.

“We became lost because Potter led us into a bog.”

“I heard that,” James called.

“You were supposed to.”

Regulus glanced at the illuminated sticks around them.

Then he drew his own.

The movement was smooth enough to make Dean tense.

Regulus murmured something too quiet for Sam to catch.

A thin silver light rose from the tip.

It didn’t merely glow.

It curled upward like smoke, twisted in the air and stretched between two trees in a narrow strand.

The silver thread trembled.

Then split into three different directions.

Regulus stared at it.

“So much for that.”

“What was it meant to do?” Pandora asked.

“Show us the nearest path.”

“And?”

“There are three.”

“Perhaps all three are nearest,” she said.

“That is not how nearest works.”

“It might be how the forest works.”

Sam felt Dean tug him back behind the tree.

They withdrew several paces, moving silently until the students’ voices became muffled.

Dean leaned close.

“Okay.”

Sam waited.

Dean stared at him.

“Okay?”

“That’s your analysis?”

“My analysis is that we’ve got sixteen demon kids doing magic in a forest that won’t let us leave.”

“They might not be demons.”

“They’re waving sticks around and making light appear.”

“Could be witches.”

Dean’s expression darkened.

“That is not better.”

“Not every witch is—”

“Sam.”

“I know.”

They had encountered people who used magic before.

It never ended well.

Magic demanded something.

Blood. Souls. Sacrifice. Death.

And these teenagers were carrying it casually, using it to read paper and search for paths.

“You think sixteen demons are pretending to be lost schoolchildren in case two hunters happen to be hiding behind a tree?”

Dean looked toward the distant lights.

“I think demons lie.”

Sam did too.

That was the problem.

He also knew what happened when they underestimated something because it looked human.

“What about the werewolf?” Dean asked.

Sam glanced back toward the group.

“Remus.”

“You memorising their names now?”

“It helps to identify them.”

“Sure.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Sam frowned at him.

Dean looked pointedly toward where Regulus stood beyond the trees.

Sam lowered his voice.

“I heard them say his name.”

“You heard all their names.”

“And?”

“And you’re staring at one of them.”

“I’m tracking him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“He’s the most alert after Remus.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Would you stop doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“That.”

Dean gave him an innocent look that fooled no one.

A sudden burst of laughter carried through the forest.

Both brothers looked back.

Sirius had apparently said something that made James double over. Lily looked furious. Mary and Marlene were laughing. Peter was trying not to.

The five in green and silver looked less entertained.

Regulus looked as though he was reconsidering every choice that had brought him there.

Then Remus went still again.

His head turned.

Directly toward Sam and Dean.

“Move,” Dean whispered.

They slipped deeper into cover moments before Remus stepped away from the group.

James immediately followed him.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Sirius’s light swung toward the trees.

“You heard something again?”

Remus nodded.

Peter moved closer to James.

The three of them exchanged a glance so fast that none of the others appeared to notice.

Sam did.

So did Dean.

The other three knew what Remus was.

James shifted subtly to Remus’s left. Sirius took the right. Peter stayed just behind them.

Protective formation.

Practised.

Regulus watched them from across the group, his eyes narrowing.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked.

“Nothing,” James said too quickly.

“You are clearly doing something.”

“We’re looking.”

“For what?”

“The thing Remus heard.”

“What thing?”

“The thing,” Sirius repeated.

“That was extremely helpful.”

Dean leaned close to Sam’s ear.

“They know.”

Sam nodded.

“Three of them.”

“The loud ones.”

The students began moving again, but more carefully now.

Remus stayed at the front.

Regulus drifted toward the back.

Sam and Dean followed.

They tracked them for nearly fifteen minutes.

The forest bent around the group, forcing them through narrow spaces between thorny bushes and enormous roots. Whenever the students tried to walk in one direction, the land seemed to turn them elsewhere.

Sam watched their magic.

Marlene lifted a fallen branch without touching it.

Frank repaired the torn strap of Alice’s bag with a brief flash of light.

Fabian sent red sparks into the air until Lily told him he might attract something.

Gideon responded by sending green sparks after them.

Dorcas made both sets vanish with one sharp movement.

None of it looked demonic.

That did not mean it wasn’t.

Dean became more certain with every spell.

Sam became less.

“They’re kids,” he whispered again.

Dean didn’t look at him.

“They’re armed.”

“With sticks.”

“With magic sticks.”

“They’re lost.”

“Could be an act.”

“Dean.”

“Sam.”

They moved behind another tree as the group stopped.

Ahead, the forest narrowed into a shallow clearing surrounded by thick, black trunks.

James climbed onto a fallen log.

“All right. New plan.”

“No,” Lily said.

“I haven’t said it yet.”

“That has never stopped it from being a bad plan.”

“We split up.”

Every other student objected at once.

Sam couldn’t distinguish half the words.

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you insane?”

“That’s how people die.”

“Potter, I swear—”

“James!”

James raised both hands.

“Fine! We don’t split up.”

“You lasted four seconds as leader,” Sirius said.

“I’m still leader.”

“You lost your privileges at the bog.”

“I don’t remember voting.”

“We did it while you were apologising to your shoes.”

Regulus stepped away from the group.

Sam watched him approach the edge of the clearing.

He moved toward the exact stretch of trees where Sam and Dean were hidden.

Dean raised a hand.

Wait.

Regulus stopped ten feet away.

He looked down.

Sam followed his gaze.

A print.

Dean’s boot had left a faint impression in the damp soil.

Regulus crouched.

Sam held his breath.

Regulus touched the edge of the print, studying it.

Then he looked into the trees.

His grey eyes moved slowly over the shadows.

For one sharp second, Sam thought they met his.

Regulus rose.

“Someone’s been here.”

The clearing fell silent.

Dean’s gun was in his hand before Sam saw him draw it.

Barty moved to Regulus’s side.

“What kind of someone?”

Regulus pointed to the earth.

“A person.”

James jumped down from the log.

“How recent?”

“I don’t know.”

Remus had gone rigid.

His gaze snapped toward Sam and Dean again.

Too late.

“Now,” Dean whispered.

They moved at the same time.

Dean came from the left, gun raised.

Sam emerged from the right.

“Don’t move!”

Sixteen students spun toward them.

Wands lifted.

Dean aimed at the centre of the group.

“Drop them!”

No one obeyed.

James stepped in front of Lily.

Sirius moved in front of Peter and partly in front of Remus.

Barty and Evan shifted closer to Regulus.

Dorcas pulled Pandora behind her.

Frank raised one arm across Alice.

Fabian and Gideon stood shoulder to shoulder.

Every wand remained pointed at Sam or Dean.

“Drop the weapons!” Sam shouted.

“They’re wands,” Mary said.

“I don’t care what they are. Put them down.”

“What are those?” Peter asked, staring at the guns.

“Not important,” Dean said. “Sticks on the ground. Now.”

Sirius bared his teeth.

“Make us.”

Dean stepped closer and aimed directly at him.

James caught Sirius’s sleeve.

“Maybe don’t challenge the stranger with the metal thing.”

“We outnumber them.”

“You don’t know what the metal things do,” Lily said.

“I know they’re being pointed at us,” Marlene replied.

Dean’s voice dropped.

“Last warning.”

Remus stared at him.

Not at the gun.

At Dean himself.

Sam saw the moment Remus scented what they carried. Silver. Iron. Salt. Old blood. Weapons cleaned with oils that clung to their clothes.

Remus understood that they were hunters.

His face lost what little colour it had.

James noticed.

Sirius noticed.

Peter noticed.

“Put them down,” Remus said quietly.

Sirius looked at him.

“What?”

“The wands. Put them down.”

James hesitated for only a second before lowering his.

Peter followed.

Sirius’s jaw clenched.

Then his wand hit the leaves.

Lily stared at them as though they had lost their minds.

“Remus—”

“Please.”

Something in his voice decided it.

One by one, the others dropped their wands.

Dean moved quickly.

“Hands where I can see them. Everyone on the ground.”

Barty laughed once.

It was not an amused sound.

“You cannot be serious.”

Dean swung the gun toward him.

“Try me.”

Regulus’s eyes fixed on the weapon.

His face gave nothing away.

Barty’s wand remained in his hand.

Evan reached across and pushed it down.

“Not now.”

“They’re Muggles.”

Sam didn’t know the word.

Dean clearly didn’t either.

“What did you call us?” he demanded.

“No one,” Regulus said coldly, “called you anything.”

Dean looked at him.

Sam did too.

Regulus held Dean’s stare without blinking.

“Ground,” Dean ordered.

Regulus’s mouth tightened.

But he lowered himself.

The others followed with varying degrees of anger.

James lay flat with his hands behind his head, whispering furiously at Sirius to do the same. Lily lowered herself beside Mary, her expression murderous. Marlene swore under her breath. Alice stayed close to Frank. Fabian and Gideon argued quietly over which of them had made the situation worse despite neither having done anything. Pandora looked almost curious. Dorcas looked ready to kill someone.

Barty kept staring at Sam as if memorising his face.

Evan watched Dean.

Remus lay perfectly still.

Peter trembled.

Sam moved among them, kicking the wands out of reach while Dean kept his gun trained on the group.

“Wrist ties,” Dean said.

Sam pulled the bundle from his jacket.

They worked fast.

James first. Then Sirius, who resisted just enough to make Dean wrench his arms back harder.

“Careful,” James snapped.

Dean glared at him.

“You want to be next to the gun?”

Peter didn’t resist.

Remus didn’t either.

His eyes remained fixed on the silver knife at Dean’s belt.

Lily demanded to know who they were.

Dean ignored her.

Mary called him an arse.

Marlene agreed.

Alice asked Frank whether the restraints were Muggle-made.

Frank said he assumed so.

Fabian told Gideon he could probably chew through his.

Gideon told Fabian to demonstrate.

Dean threatened to gag both of them.

Pandora asked whether the guns were frightened of magic.

Dorcas told her this was not the right time.

Barty promised, in a perfectly calm voice, that if Sam hurt Regulus, he would remove Sam’s spine.

Evan told him to stop threatening the armed strangers.

Sam tried not to look at Regulus.

He failed.

Regulus had gone down on one knee rather than lying flat. His wand was several feet away. His hands were visible. His expression was cold enough to frost the air.

Sam restrained Dorcas.

Then Pandora.

Then Evan.

Barty jerked one arm away when Sam reached him.

Sam forced him down.

“Don’t.”

Barty turned his head, cheek pressed into the leaves.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Quiet,” Dean ordered.

Marlene made a strangled sound that might have been laughter.

Dean pointed the gun at Lily.

James immediately surged upward.

Sam shoved him down before he could get far.

“Stay still.”

“Don’t point that at her.”

Lily’s eyes flashed.

“Lily,” James hissed.

“He is clearly confused.”

“I am not confused,” Dean said.

“You entered a school forest, ambushed sixteen students and tied us to the ground.”

Dean’s expression flickered.

School forest.

Sam looked around them.

There were no walls.

No fences.

No buildings.

“You expect us to believe there’s a school here?” Dean asked.

“Yes,” Frank said.

“Hogwarts,” Alice added.

Sam exchanged a glance with Dean.

Hogwarts.

The name meant nothing to either of them.

Sirius turned his face toward Dean.

“How did you even get through the wards?”

“Wards,” Dean repeated.

The word confirmed something for him.

Sam saw it happen.

Whatever doubt Dean had entertained disappeared.

“Sam.”

“I know.”

“Finish.”

Sam looked toward the only student left unrestrained.

Regulus.

He was still kneeling.

He watched Sam approach with the complete, motionless concentration of a cat waiting beside a hole.

Sam raised his gun slightly.

“Hands behind your back.”

Regulus looked at his face.

Not the weapon.

Sam had seen fear hidden beneath anger. Defiance masking panic. Arrogance covering uncertainty.

Regulus looked genuinely unimpressed.

“Now,” Sam said.

Regulus slowly moved one hand behind him.

Sam stepped closer.

Dean kept the rest covered.

“Both hands.”

Regulus moved the second.

Sam circled behind him.

Up close, Regulus looked even smaller beside Sam than he had from the trees. The top of his head barely reached Sam’s shoulder when they stood. Kneeling, he seemed almost slight.

But nothing about him felt harmless.

Sam reached for his wrist.

Regulus moved.

One second, Sam was standing.

The next, Regulus had caught his arm, twisted beneath it and driven upward with his shoulder.

Sam’s feet left the ground.

The forest turned over.

He hit the earth flat on his back hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs.

His gun vanished from his hand.

Before Sam could recover, Regulus was on top of him.

A knee trapped one arm.

One hand forced the other wrist against the ground.

Regulus straddled his waist, using his weight with brutal efficiency, and raised the stolen gun directly between Sam’s eyes.

Everything stopped.

Sam stared up at him.

Regulus’s dark curls had fallen across his forehead. His cheeks were faintly flushed from the movement, but his breathing remained steady. His grey eyes were furious, focused and startlingly bright against his pale face.

He was—

Sam’s mind failed him.

Pretty seemed like an absurd word to think while a gun was pointed at his face.

It was also the only word his brain supplied.

Regulus was so fucking pretty.

Not soft.

Not delicate.

Sharp.

Beautiful in the way a blade was beautiful, all clean lines and danger.

Sam should have thrown him off.

He was taller.

Broader.

Stronger, probably, if he could get any leverage.

He had escaped worse holds.

He had fought creatures twice his size.

Instead he lay frozen beneath a sixteen-year-old wizard who had flipped him over his shoulder as though Sam weighed nothing.

Regulus pressed the barrel closer to his forehead.

“What,” he said, perfectly deadpan, “is this?”

Sam opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

“The weapon.”

“Gun,” Sam managed.

“What does it do?”

Sam looked at the finger Regulus had placed dangerously close to the trigger.

“Don’t touch that.”

“Why?”

“Because it fires.”

“What does it fire?”

“A bullet.”

Regulus’s expression did not change.

“What is a bullet?”

Sam became acutely aware of the pressure of Regulus’s legs around his waist, the hand pinning his wrist and the fact that Regulus was close enough for Sam to see the darker ring around his irises.

He should have been trying to escape.

Instead, some traitorous, completely useless part of him wanted to put his free arm around Regulus’s waist and hold him there.

Not to trap him.

Just—

Hold him.

Which was insane.

Regulus had a gun pointed at his face.

Sam’s gun.

A weapon Regulus didn’t understand.

And Sam’s brain had apparently decided this was the perfect time to forget how survival worked.

“Metal projectile,” Sam said.

Regulus stared.

“It kills people.”

That got a reaction.

Small, but there.

Regulus’s eyes sharpened.

His finger moved away from the trigger.

Sam exhaled.

Then Dean shouted.

“Get off him!”

Regulus turned his head.

Dean had swung his weapon toward them.

The barrel aimed directly at Regulus.

Sam’s stomach dropped.

“Dean, don’t!”

Dean’s eyes were wild with anger.

“Put it down and get off my brother.”

Sirius exploded off the ground.

Sam didn’t understand how he did it with his wrists restrained.

One moment Sirius was flat beside James.

The next he had thrown himself sideways into Dean’s legs.

Dean staggered.

The gun jerked away from Regulus.

Sirius surged to his feet, caught Dean’s weapon between both bound hands and wrenched it upward.

“Don’t point that at my brother!”

Dean slammed an elbow into Sirius’s shoulder.

“Get off!”

Sirius held on.

The two of them crashed into a tree, pushing and pulling at the gun while shouting over one another.

“Dean!” Sam yelled.

“Sirius!” James shouted at exactly the same time.

Dean twisted, trying to wrench his weapon free.

Sirius planted one foot against a root and pulled back with his entire weight.

“You psychotic bastard!”

“You attacked us!”

“You pointed it at Regulus!”

“He’s sitting on my brother!”

“Because your brother attacked him!”

“Your brother stole his gun!”

“After he tried to tie him up!”

“Would both of you stop saying brother?” Mary shouted from the ground.

“No!” Dean and Sirius roared together.

James struggled against his restraints.

“Sirius, let go before it goes off!”

“What does that mean?”

“It means move!” Sam shouted.

Sirius’s expression changed.

He tried to push the barrel upward.

Dean mistook the movement for another attempt to take it.

They wrestled harder.

“Dean, safety!” Sam yelled.

“It’s on!”

“You sure?”

Dean’s face went blank for half a second.

“Mostly!”

“Mostly?” Lily repeated.

“Everyone stop moving!” Frank shouted.

No one listened.

Regulus turned his attention back to Sam.

The stolen gun remained pointed at Sam’s face, though his finger was carefully away from the trigger now.

Sam could hear Dean and Sirius struggling several feet away.

He should have done something.

Regulus was distracted.

This was the opening.

Sam shifted one wrist experimentally.

Regulus immediately tightened his grip.

“Don’t.”

Sam stopped.

Regulus looked down at him with flat irritation.

“You ambushed sixteen people.”

“We thought you were demons.”

The words came out before Sam could stop them.

Regulus blinked.

“Demons.”

“Yeah.”

“You saw school robes, books and wands, and concluded demons.”

Regulus stared at him.

Sam felt heat climb his neck.

Behind them, Dean slammed Sirius against the tree again.

Sirius kicked Dean in the shin.

Dean swore.

“You little—”

“I’m taller than Regulus!”

“I don’t care!”

Regulus closed his eyes briefly.

Sam watched him.

“You’re related to him,” Sam said.

Regulus opened his eyes.

“Unfortunately.”

“I heard that!” Sirius shouted.

“You were meant to!”

Dean yanked at the gun.

“Stop talking to Sam!”

Regulus glanced over.

“You stop threatening me.”

“You’re pointing a gun at his head!”

“You pointed one at mine.”

“Because you attacked him!”

“He grabbed me.”

“To tie you up!”

“You continue to present that as a defence.”

“It is when you’re demons!”

Sirius pulled harder.

“We are not demons!”

“That’s what demons say!”

“What else would someone who isn’t a demon say?”

Dean opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Sirius gave him a viciously triumphant look.

“That’s what I thought.”

James had rolled onto his side.

“Could someone untie me so I can stop them?”

“No,” Dean and Sirius said together.

James stared at both of them.

Peter, still flat on his stomach, raised his head.

“Are all older brothers like this?”

Remus looked between Dean and Sirius.

“Apparently.”

“They’re both idiots,” Lily said.

“Agreed,” Dorcas replied.

Dean heard her.

“I’m holding a gun.”

“You’re failing to hold a gun,” Dorcas said.

Sirius barked out a laugh.

Dean shoved him.

Barty had twisted around enough to see Regulus pinning Sam.

His expression was delighted.

“Break his wrist.”

“No,” Evan said.

“Just a little.”

“You cannot break someone’s wrist a little.”

“You can try.”

“Regulus,” Dorcas said, “do not listen to Barty.”

“I rarely do.”

“You listen to me constantly,” Barty protested.

“I hear you constantly. It is different.”

Pandora rested her cheek against the leaves.

“The tall one likes you.”

Silence struck the clearing for the second time.

Sam stopped breathing.

Regulus slowly looked down at him.

Dean stopped wrestling.

Sirius stopped pulling.

James, Peter, Remus, Lily, Mary, Marlene, Alice, Frank, Fabian, Gideon, Barty, Evan, Pandora and Dorcas all looked toward Sam.

Even from the ground.

Even restrained.

Every one of them.

Sam’s face burned.

Dean stared at Pandora.

“What?”

Pandora looked mildly surprised by the question.

“Sam likes Regulus.”

Hearing his name from her made it worse.

Sam had not told them his name.

Dean had shouted it.

Of course.

“Pandora,” Dorcas said.

“He does.”

“You don’t know that,” Sam said.

Regulus remained perfectly still on top of him.

Pandora smiled faintly.

“He stopped fighting.”

“I hit the ground hard.”

“You are larger than Regulus.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“It generally does during wrestling,” Fabian offered.

Gideon nodded.

“Mass. Leverage.”

“Neither of you is helping,” Lily said.

“I don’t like him,” Sam insisted.

Regulus’s brows lifted by the smallest amount.

Sam immediately realised that had sounded worse.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with you.”

Regulus stared.

“I mean, I don’t know you.”

“That has become increasingly obvious.”

“I just—”

Dean recovered his voice.

“Sam, stop talking.”

“Gladly.”

Sirius’s eyes moved from Sam to Regulus and back.

Then narrowed.

“No.”

Sam wished the forest would open and swallow him.

Sirius released the gun with one hand long enough to point at Sam.

“You.”

Dean used the shift to pull the weapon closer.

Sirius caught it again.

“Don’t point at my brother,” Dean snapped.

“I’m pointing with my hand.”

“I don’t care what you’re pointing with.”

“He’s staring at Regulus.”

“I am not.”

“You are,” Pandora said.

“Pandora,” Sam begged.

She looked pleased that he had remembered her name.

Regulus’s gaze had not left Sam’s face.

It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

That was somehow worse.

Sam became aware that one of Regulus’s hands was still wrapped around his wrist.

The other held the gun.

His knees pressed against Sam’s sides.

Sam could throw him.

He knew he could.

Regulus’s balance was good, but Sam had size and strength. One hard twist, a raised knee, a shift of the hips, and he could reverse their positions.

He imagined doing it.

Regulus beneath him, startled for once.

Sam pinning his wrists.

Holding him down.

The thought made the heat in his face spread to his ears.

He stayed perfectly still.

Regulus noticed.

Of course he noticed.

“You really are not trying,” he said quietly.

Sam swallowed.

“You have a gun.”

“You told me not to touch the trigger.”

“And you listened?”

“I am not an idiot.”

“Right.”

Regulus studied him.

Sam wanted to know what Regulus looked like when he wasn’t furious.

He wanted to hear him laugh, though it seemed almost impossible to imagine.

He wanted to know why Regulus stood between Barty and Evan. Why Sirius had launched himself at Dean without hesitation. Why Regulus’s first instinct had been to disarm Sam rather than use the wand lying several feet away.

He wanted, with sudden painful clarity, to put his arms around Regulus and pull him down against his chest.

Which was ridiculous.

They were enemies.

Maybe.

They were something.

Sam had no idea what.

Dean and Sirius resumed their struggle.

Dean tried to hook a foot behind Sirius’s ankle.

Sirius saw it coming and stamped on Dean’s boot.

Dean swore and slammed his shoulder into him.

Sirius snarled.

“Stop trying to shoot my brother!”

“Stop trying to steal my gun!”

“Tell your gigantic idiot to stop staring at Regulus!”

“Tell your tiny lunatic to get off Sam!”

“Tiny?”

Regulus’s voice became dangerously quiet.

Sam looked up at him.

Regulus turned his head toward Dean.

Dean saw his expression.

“Compared to Sam,” he amended.

Regulus looked back down.

“That does not improve it.”

“See?” Sirius shouted. “Now you’ve insulted him.”

“He flipped Sam over his shoulder!”

“And beautifully done,” Barty said.

“Barty,” Evan warned.

“What? It was.”

Marlene had managed to roll onto her side beside Mary.

“This is the strangest Care of Magical Creatures lesson we’ve ever had.”

“That is a significant achievement,” Mary said.

“Kettleburn will be devastated he missed it.”

“He may still be walking.”

“He may be in Scotland by now.”

“We are in Scotland,” Alice said.

“Exactly.”

Frank lowered his forehead to the ground.

James tugged at his restraints again.

“Remus, can you reach my hands?”

Remus shifted carefully.

Dean’s attention snapped toward him.

“No moving.”

Remus froze.

The command sounded different when aimed at him.

Harder.

Dean knew what he was.

Remus knew Dean knew.

James went pale with anger.

Sirius did too.

Peter’s breathing quickened.

Sam saw all of it from beneath Regulus.

So did Regulus.

His eyes moved from Dean to Remus, then to James, Sirius and Peter.

Something passed across his face.

Suspicion.

He had noticed their reaction, but he did not understand it.

Sam looked away before Regulus could follow the thought any further.

Lily lifted her head.

“What exactly are you hunting?”

Dean’s grip tightened on the gun.

“None of your business.”

“You are in our forest.”

“We didn’t exactly choose to be.”

Sirius stared at him.

“You genuinely have no idea where you are.”

Dean shoved him back against the tree.

“No.”

“Hogwarts.”

“Still means nothing.”

“The school.”

“Can’t see a school.”

“It’s beyond the forest.”

“What kind of school keeps a were—”

Dean stopped.

Sam’s entire body went tense.

Remus went white.

James jerked against the ties.

Sirius’s face changed with terrifying speed.

Peter stopped breathing.

No one else seemed to understand what Dean had nearly said.

Regulus turned his head slowly toward Remus.

Sam reacted without thinking.

He managed to free his hand from under the smaller boy's hand and caught Regulus around the waist.

Regulus stiffened.

Sam pulled.

Not hard enough to hurt him.

Just enough to draw his attention away.

Regulus looked down sharply.

Sam realised he was now holding Regulus against him.

His palm spread across the narrow line of Regulus’s side beneath the black robe.

For one suspended moment, neither moved.

Sam’s heart pounded.

Regulus’s eyes widened by a fraction.

Then narrowed.

“Remove your hand.”

Sam did.

Immediately.

“Sorry.”

Regulus stared at him.

The gun remained between them.

Sam’s hand tingled where it had touched him.

Dean glanced toward Sam, then at Regulus.

His outrage returned at full force.

“Hey!”

Sirius shoved him.

“Do not yell at Regulus!”

“I’m yelling at Sam!”

“You’re looking at Regulus!”

“Because he’s on top of Sam!”

“You keep mentioning that as though we cannot all see it!”

“We can definitely see it,” Fabian said.

“Very clearly,” Gideon agreed.

Sam closed his eyes.

Regulus shifted slightly.

Sam’s eyes opened again.

Regulus had adjusted his grip on the gun, turning it so the barrel no longer pointed directly between Sam’s eyes.

It now rested beside his head.

Sam did not know whether that was progress.

Barty did not seem pleased.

“Regulus, why are you no longer threatening him properly?”

“Because if this fires, I do not know who else it might hit.”

“A sensible concern,” Lily said.

Dean pointed at her while still fighting Sirius for the weapon.

“Thank you.”

“That was not support for you.”

“I’m taking what I can get.”

Marlene looked at Sirius and Dean.

“You know, they are remarkably similar.”

“Don’t say that,” James said.

“Which one are you insulting?” Mary asked.

“Both.”

Sirius looked horrified.

Dean looked offended.

“We are nothing alike,” they said simultaneously.

The clearing erupted.

Even Remus laughed once, though the sound was tense.

James dropped his forehead to the leaves.

Peter made a helpless noise.

Lily stared upward as if asking the sky for patience.

Mary and Marlene began laughing properly.

Alice covered her mouth despite her bound hands.

Frank shook his head.

Fabian declared that this proved Marlene’s point.

Gideon said they should test whether the resemblance extended to other behaviours.

Barty suggested making them fight without weapons.

Evan told him they were already fighting over one.

Pandora smiled at the trees.

Dorcas muttered something about being surrounded by fools.

Regulus remained on Sam.

Sam remained beneath Regulus.

Dean and Sirius remained locked around the gun.

And nobody had the slightest idea what happened next.

Dean glared at Sirius across the weapon between them.

Sirius glared back.

“You let go,” Dean said.

“You first.”

“It’s mine.”

“You pointed it at Regulus.”

“Because he attacked Sam.”

“Because Sam attacked him.”

“Sam was trying to restrain him.”

“Again, not the defence you think it is.”

Dean’s jaw clenched.

Sirius’s did too.

Neither released the weapon.

Sam looked up at Regulus.

Regulus looked down at him.

“You could move,” Regulus said.

“So could you.”

“I have the advantage.”

“You have my gun.”

“And the advantage.”

Sam almost smiled.

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You are smiling.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Maybe a little.”

“Why?”

Sam had no answer that would not make everything worse.

So he said nothing.

Regulus studied him for another long moment.

Sam wondered whether Regulus could feel his heartbeat through where they were pressed together.

Probably.

It was beating hard enough to shake the ground.

Dean saw Sam’s expression.

His eyes widened.

“Sam.”

Sam looked over.

Dean was staring at him in disbelief.

Sirius followed Dean’s gaze.

Then stared at Sam with renewed hostility.

“Oh, absolutely not.”

Regulus sighed.

“Could everyone stop deciding things on my behalf?”

“I’m not deciding anything,” Sirius said.

“You launched yourself at an armed stranger.”

“He pointed the weapon at you.”

“You point wands at people constantly,” James said.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“I know what a wand does.”

Dean barked out a humourless laugh.

Sirius immediately scowled at him.

Dean pulled.

Sirius pulled back.

Regulus looked down at Sam again.

Sam looked at Regulus.

Around them, the others argued, threatened, complained and tried unsuccessfully to work themselves free.

The forest stood silent beyond the clearing.

No wind moved through the branches.

No path appeared.

No professor came looking for the lost class.

No explanation arrived for the hunters who had crossed an impossible boundary or the students who had shown them a world neither Winchester had known existed.

There were only sixteen restrained witches and wizards on the ground.

One werewolf pretending to be nothing more.

Two older brothers wrestling over a gun because each believed the other threatened the person he had spent his life protecting.

And Sam Winchester flat on his back beneath Regulus Black, unable to decide whether he was in danger, had lost his mind or had just met the prettiest person he had ever seen.

Regulus tilted his head.

“Are you going to try to get up?”

Sam considered it.

He looked at the gun beside his head.

At the cold, irritated expression that no longer quite hid his uncertainty.

Then Sam glanced toward Dean, who was still swearing at Sirius.

He looked back at Regulus.

“Probably not.”

Regulus stared at him.

From across the clearing, Dean shouted his name.

Sirius shouted Regulus’s.

Everyone else began yelling again.

Dean finally won.

It happened without warning.

One moment he and Sirius were still locked together beside the tree, both of them snarling, boots slipping through leaves as they fought for control of the gun.

The next, Dean twisted hard, drove his shoulder forward and shoved with everything he had.

Sirius lost his footing.

His heel struck a raised root.

His hands slipped from the weapon.

He went backwards with a sharp, furious sound and hit the forest floor flat on his back, hard enough to scatter dead leaves around him.

“Sirius!” James shouted.

Dean stumbled forward from the sudden release, caught himself and spun.

His gun came up.

Fast.

Too fast.

Sam saw the movement.

Saw Dean’s arms straighten.

Saw the barrel swing away from Sirius and settle directly on Regulus.

Dean’s face had changed.

There was no confusion left in it.

No startled disbelief over magic, no irritation at Sirius, no uncertainty about the students they had ambushed.

Only rage.

Protective, instinctive rage.

The expression Sam had seen on Dean’s face a hundred times before whenever something stood over him with a weapon.

“Get away from him,” Dean snarled.

Regulus turned.

The stolen gun remained in his hand.

His grey eyes fixed on Dean’s weapon.

Sam felt the instant Regulus’s body tensed above him.

Felt his knees press more firmly against Sam’s sides.

Felt his grip tighten around the gun he still did not fully understand.

Dean’s finger shifted.

Sam moved.

There was no thought behind it.

No decision.

No warning.

One second he was lying beneath Regulus.

The next he tore his pinned wrist free, caught Regulus tightly around the waist and twisted.

Regulus made a startled, high sound.

Not a yell.

Not quite.

A sharp little squeak forced out of him when the world tipped sideways.

Sam rolled them.

Leaves crushed beneath his shoulder.

Regulus’s robe twisted around them.

The stolen gun stayed clutched in Regulus’s hand as Sam used his weight and momentum to reverse their positions completely.

Regulus landed on his back.

Sam came down over him.

Regulus’s legs locked around Sam’s hips on instinct.

His free hand seized the front of Sam’s jacket.

For one fractured second, Sam saw nothing except Regulus’s face beneath him—wide grey eyes, dark curls spread over the leaves, lips parted in startled offence.

Then Sam dropped lower.

He pressed himself down over Regulus until there was almost no space between them.

His chest covered Regulus’s chest.

His shoulders shielded Regulus’s head.

One arm wrapped around the back of Regulus’s neck while the other braced against the ground beside him, blocking as much of the shorter boy as Sam physically could.

Sam did not reach for the gun.

He did not try to wrench it from Regulus’s hand.

He did not pin Regulus’s wrist.

He barely even registered that the weapon was still there, trapped awkwardly between their sides.

All Sam knew was that Dean was aiming at Regulus.

So Sam covered him.

Every part he could reach.

Every part Dean might hit.

Sam curled over Regulus until his own body was the only target left.

If Dean fired, the bullet would have to pass through Sam first.

Everything froze.

Dean’s breath caught.

The gun remained raised.

But it no longer pointed at Regulus.

It pointed at Sam’s back.

Sirius stopped halfway through trying to sit up.

James stopped pulling against his restraints.

Peter’s mouth fell open.

Remus went utterly still.

Lily stared.

Mary and Marlene stopped whispering.

Alice’s eyes widened.

Frank lifted his head.

Fabian and Gideon both fell silent at once.

Barty’s expression emptied.

Evan’s brows rose.

Pandora blinked slowly.

Dorcas stared at Sam as though she had never seen anything quite so incomprehensible.

Regulus stopped breathing beneath him.

Sam could feel the shorter boy’s entire body locked rigid against the ground.

His legs were still around Sam’s hips.

His fist was still twisted in Sam’s jacket.

The gun was still in his other hand.

Sam’s face was pressed beside Regulus’s temple, his body curved protectively over him, one broad shoulder blocking Regulus’s face from Dean’s line of sight.

No one spoke.

The forest seemed to stop with them.

Even the distant rustle of branches disappeared.

Dean’s gun did not lower.

“Sam.”

His voice came out strange.

Thin beneath the anger.

Disbelieving.

Sam tightened his hold on Regulus.

He had not meant to.

He only realised he had done it when Regulus’s fingers clenched harder in response.

“Move,” Dean said.

Sam did not.

“Sam.”

“No.”

The word was muffled against Regulus’s hair.

Dean stared at him.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Sam lifted his head enough to look over his shoulder.

Dean stood several feet away, both hands wrapped around the gun.

The barrel was steady.

His eyes were not.

Sam had seen Dean terrified before.

Dean usually hid fear behind anger so quickly that most people never noticed the difference.

Sam always did.

“Lower it,” Sam said.

Dean’s jaw clenched.

“He has your gun.”

“I know.”

“He had it pointed at your head.”

“I know.”

“He attacked you.”

“We attacked them first.”

Dean stared as if Sam had started speaking another language.

“That doesn’t mean you throw yourself in front of him.”

Sam’s arm remained around the back of Regulus’s neck.

Regulus lay silent beneath him.

Too silent.

Sam could feel his heartbeat now.

Fast.

Hard.

Hammering against Sam’s chest.

“Lower the gun,” Sam repeated.

Dean’s eyes flicked toward the small strip of Regulus still visible beneath Sam’s shoulder.

Sam shifted immediately, covering it.

Dean noticed.

His face went blank with disbelief.

“You’re shielding him.”

“Yes.”

“From me.”

“Yes.”

“Sam.”

Dean said his name as though it should have been enough to break whatever madness had taken hold of him.

It wasn’t.

Sam looked directly at the barrel pointed toward his back.

“If you shoot, you hit me.”

Regulus’s fist tightened sharply in Sam’s jacket.

Dean’s face drained.

Sirius stared from the ground.

For the first time since Sam and Dean had appeared, he had nothing to say.

James looked between them, eyes wide behind his glasses.

Peter whispered, “Oh.”

Remus did not answer him.

No one seemed able to.

Dean’s arms lowered by less than an inch.

Then stopped.

“Get off him,” he said.

Sam turned his face back toward Regulus.

Regulus was staring up at him now.

The shock had not left his face.

It looked wrong there.

Sam had only known him for minutes, but Regulus seemed built for cold disdain and quiet fury. He seemed like someone who met every surprise by refusing to show it had surprised him at all.

Now his composure had cracked completely.

His eyes were wide.

His lips were parted.

A faint flush had climbed across his cheeks.

He looked offended.

Annoyed.

Confused.

And underneath all of it, something Sam could not name.

“You flipped me,” Regulus said.

His voice was quiet beneath Sam.

Sam blinked.

“You flipped me,” Regulus repeated, more sharply.

“Yes.”

“I was winning.”

Sam almost laughed.

The sound caught in his throat because Dean was still standing behind him with a gun.

Regulus’s gaze moved past Sam’s shoulder.

His body tensed again.

Sam immediately lowered himself, hiding Regulus’s face against his chest.

Regulus made another muffled, offended noise.

“Stop doing that.”

“No.”

“I cannot see.”

“That’s the point.”

“I would like to see the person aiming a weapon at me.”

“I’d rather he couldn’t see you.”

Regulus went still again.

Sam felt the words land between them.

Dean heard them too.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Dean demanded.

Sam ignored him.

Regulus did not.

“Your brother appears upset.”

“That’s his normal state.”

“I heard that,” Dean snapped.

Sam kept his body pressed over Regulus.

“I know.”

Sirius finally found his voice.

“Get the gun away from them.”

Dean’s head turned toward him.

Sirius had pushed himself upright despite his bound wrists. His hair was full of leaves. His face was twisted with anger, but his attention was fixed not on Dean’s weapon now, but on Sam.

On the way Sam had covered Regulus.

Dean swung his glare toward him.

“You stay down.”

“You are pointing it at both of them.”

Sirius stared at him.

Dean stared back.

Then Sirius looked at Sam again.

Sam could practically see the calculations happening behind his eyes.

Suspicion.

Confusion.

Protectiveness.

The reluctant recognition that Sam was, at that exact moment, the only thing standing between Regulus and the gun.

Sirius’s mouth opened.

Closed.

Opened again.

“Why?”

Sam did not pretend not to understand.

“I don’t know.”

That was the truth.

He did not know why he had moved before Dean could fire.

He did not know why the idea of Regulus being hurt had filled him with a terror so immediate that his body acted before his mind could catch up.

He did not know why he was willing to place his own back in the path of a bullet for someone he had met minutes ago.

He knew only that he had seen the gun turn toward Regulus and there had been no other possible response.

Regulus shifted beneath him.

His legs remained wrapped around Sam.

Sam became aware of it all over again.

Regulus seemed to realise it at the same time.

His expression tightened.

“Move your hips.”

Sam froze.

Dean made a strangled sound.

Sirius’s eyes widened.

James turned his face into the leaves.

Lily closed her eyes as though enduring physical pain.

Mary made a choking noise.

Marlene bit her lip.

Fabian’s brows shot upward.

Gideon looked delighted despite the restraints.

Barty stared at Sam with renewed murderous interest.

Evan sighed.

Dorcas muttered, “Of course.”

Pandora merely watched.

Regulus’s face flushed darker.

“That is not what I meant.”

Sam’s own face burned.

“I know.”

“You are pressing me into the ground.”

“I’m trying to cover you.”

“You are enormous. You have succeeded.”

“I can still see part of him,” Dean said.

Sam immediately shifted again.

Regulus squeaked for the second time.

This one was angrier.

“Stop moving me!”

“Sorry.”

“You do not sound sorry.”

“I’m a little distracted.”

“You are not the person pinned beneath someone twice your size.”

“I’m not twice your size.”

Regulus glared at him.

Sam looked down at the shorter body almost entirely hidden beneath his own.

“Fine,” he muttered. “Close.”

Sirius’s expression darkened.

“Do not comment on his size.”

“I wasn’t insulting him.”

“You called him tiny.”

“Dean called him tiny.”

“I corrected that,” Dean said.

“No one asked you,” Sirius snapped.

“You’re the one talking about it!”

“I am talking to your brother!”

“That’s worse!”

Dean raised the gun slightly again.

Sam felt the movement without seeing it.

Regulus saw the reaction in Sam’s face.

His annoyance vanished.

The change was instant.

His fingers released Sam’s jacket only to catch the back of it instead, clutching him closer.

Sam dropped over him completely.

“Dean,” he warned.

Dean’s breathing was harsh.

“Get away from him.”

“No.”

“He’s armed.”

“So are you.”

“He stole that from us.”

“After we pulled it on him.”

“He could shoot you by accident.”

Sam glanced down at the gun still in Regulus’s hand.

It was trapped between their bodies now, angled toward the forest floor.

Regulus followed his gaze.

Then looked back at Sam.

“I am not going to shoot you.”

Dean laughed once.

Sharp and humourless.

“You don’t even know how it works.”

“I know which part not to touch.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“It is more reassuring than you pointing yours at us.”

“Us?” Dean repeated.

Sam closed his eyes.

He had heard it too.

Regulus’s brows drew together.

Sam could feel everyone else looking at them.

Dean lowered the gun another fraction.

“You’ve known him for five minutes.”

Sam lifted his head.

“I know.”

“You thought he was a demon.”

“I don’t anymore.”

“You don’t know what he is.”

“He’s a wizard,” Pandora supplied.

Dean looked at her.

Pandora tilted her head as far as the ground allowed.

“He is also a Black, a Slytherin, a Seeker and occasionally a cat when he believes no one is looking.”

Regulus stared past Sam.

“What?”

Pandora smiled.

“Metaphorically.”

“No one thought you meant that literally,” Dorcas said.

Dean glanced around the clearing full of magical students.

“I did.”

“That is understandable,” Pandora admitted.

Barty pushed himself up onto one elbow.

“Regulus.”

Sam felt Regulus’s attention shift.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like me to kill him?”

“No.”

Barty blinked.

Sam did too.

Regulus seemed irritated by both reactions.

“He is currently preventing the other one from shooting me.”

Dean’s nostrils flared.

“The other one has a name.”

“You have not introduced yourself.”

“You heard Sam say it.”

“I heard him call you Dean.”

“Then use it.”

“I do not particularly want to.”

Sirius made a short, approving sound.

Dean pointed the gun at him again.

Sam immediately looked over his shoulder.

“Dean.”

“I’m not shooting him.”

“You keep saying that with a gun pointed at people.”

“Because every time I lower it, one of them jumps me.”

Sirius leaned forward.

“I will do it again.”

“I know.”

“And I’ll win next time.”

Dean stared.

“You were just flat on your back.”

“You caught me off balance.”

“I shoved you.”

“You cheated.”

“How do you cheat in a fight?”

“You used brute strength.”

“That is how fighting works!”

James let his forehead fall against the ground again.

“They’re doing it again.”

“They never stopped,” Remus said quietly.

Sam looked toward him.

Remus remained still, but his eyes were fixed on Dean’s gun.

His face was composed again.

Too composed.

Sam recognised the effort it took.

James had shifted closer despite his restraints, shoulder almost touching Remus’s.

Peter had done the same on the other side.

Sirius noticed Sam looking.

His expression sharpened.

Sam looked away.

Regulus noticed that too.

His eyes narrowed beneath Sam.

“You keep looking at Remus.”

Sam’s attention snapped back to him.

“No, I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I’m keeping track of everyone.”

“You look at him differently.”

Remus went rigid.

James raised his head.

Peter stared at Sam.

Sirius stopped arguing with Dean.

For one dangerous second, every trace of chaos vanished.

Dean saw it happen.

His eyes went to Remus automatically.

That was enough.

Regulus followed his gaze.

Sam shifted his body again, deliberately blocking Regulus’s view.

Regulus’s expression became furious.

“Stop that.”

“Stop looking.”

“I will look wherever I please.”

“Not right now.”

“You do not give me orders.”

“You were giving me orders two minutes ago.”

“I had the advantage.”

“You don’t now.”

Regulus stared up at him.

Sam realised what he had said.

So did everyone else.

Regulus’s legs tightened around Sam’s hips.

Not much.

Just enough.

Sam’s breath caught.

Regulus’s eyes narrowed with grim satisfaction.

“I disagree.”

Barty grinned.

Evan looked toward the canopy as if asking for patience.

Pandora smiled.

Dorcas sighed.

Dean’s face twisted in horror.

“Sam.”

“Don’t.”

“His legs are around you.”

“I noticed.”

“Then move.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re still pointing a gun at us.”

Dean looked down at his own hands as though he had forgotten the weapon was there.

Then back at Sam.

“Us again.”

Sam’s face heated.

Regulus’s did too, though his expression remained stubbornly blank.

Sirius struggled to his feet.

Dean turned the gun toward him at once.

“Stay down.”

“Lower it.”

“You first.”

“I do not have a gun.”

“You tried to take mine.”

“You were aiming it at Regulus.”

“And Sam is now lying on top of him!”

“To protect him from you!”

Dean opened his mouth.

Stopped.

Sirius looked equally startled by his own defence of Sam.

The two older brothers stared at one another.

Dean’s grip loosened slightly.

Sirius straightened.

Neither seemed to know what to do with the sudden fact that, for the first time, they were technically arguing the same point from opposite sides.

Sam watched Dean’s face.

Dean’s eyes moved over him.

Over the way Sam’s back covered Regulus.

Over the arm wrapped around the shorter boy’s head.

Over Regulus’s fingers clutched in the back of Sam’s jacket.

Over the legs locked around Sam’s hips.

Understanding did not arrive.

Something close to resignation did.

Dean’s gun lowered another inch.

Sam did not move.

“Sam,” Dean said again.

This time his voice was quieter.

“You really think I’d shoot through you?”

“No.”

The answer came immediately.

Dean flinched anyway.

Sam swallowed.

“I know you wouldn’t.”

“Then get up.”

“But you might shoot if I move.”

Dean’s jaw worked.

“I’m not going to shoot a kid.”

Regulus’s eyes flashed.

“I am sixteen.”

Dean stared.

“That is a kid.”

“Barely,” Sam muttered.

Dean’s eyes snapped to him.

“Whose side are you on?”

Sam looked down at Regulus.

Regulus stared back.

The gun between them remained untouched.

“I’m not sure.”

Everyone froze for a second time.

Dean looked wounded.

Sirius looked offended on principle.

Barty looked delighted.

Evan studied Sam with new interest.

Pandora nodded as though Sam had confirmed something she already knew.

Dorcas closed her eyes.

Lily stared at him.

James’s mouth dropped open.

Peter whispered something too quiet to hear.

Remus watched Sam carefully.

Mary and Marlene exchanged a look.

Alice’s brows rose.

Frank sighed.

Fabian grinned.

Gideon mouthed, “Oh, this is brilliant.”

Regulus’s expression changed.

Only slightly.

The irritation stayed.

The offence stayed.

But the uncertainty beneath it deepened into something warmer and far more dangerous to Sam’s ability to think.

“You should probably choose your brother,” Regulus said.

Sam looked at Dean.

Dean was still holding the gun.

Still tense.

Still angry.

Still Dean.

The person who had raised him.

Protected him.

Bled for him.

The person Sam trusted more than anyone in the world.

Then Sam looked back at Regulus.

At the stranger beneath him.

The stranger he had covered without hesitation.

“I’m choosing not to let anyone get shot.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

“It’s the answer you’re getting.”

Regulus’s mouth twitched.

Barely.

So quickly Sam might have imagined it.

Then Sirius noticed.

His eyes widened.

“Did you just smile at him?”

Regulus’s face went blank.

“No.”

“You did.”

“I did not.”

“I saw it.”

“You hit your head.”

“Regulus.”

“Sirius.”

“You smiled.”

“Be quiet.”

Sam stared down at him.

Regulus felt it.

His gaze returned to Sam’s.

“Do not.”

“Do not what?”

“Look pleased.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Maybe a little.”

Regulus looked murderous.

Sam smiled despite himself.

Dean made a sound of absolute despair.

“Oh, come on.”

Sirius rounded on him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, say it.”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“You made a noise.”

“I’m allowed to make noises.”

“Not about Regulus.”

“It was about Sam.”

“Sam is on Regulus.”

Dean stared at him.

Sirius stared back.

Behind them, Marlene started laughing.

Mary joined her.

James made a helpless choking sound.

Lily buried her face in the leaves.

Fabian and Gideon both began talking at once.

Peter looked as though he wished Kettleburn had abandoned them somewhere quieter.

Frank closed his eyes.

Alice whispered, “This cannot possibly become stranger.”

Pandora looked toward her.

“It can.”

Dorcas said, “Please don’t encourage it.”

Sam barely heard any of them.

Regulus was still beneath him.

Still holding the gun.

Still clinging to his jacket with one hand.

Still surrounded by Sam’s body.

Sam had meant only to shield him.

He had not considered what happened afterwards.

Apparently, neither had Regulus.

“You can let go of me,” Regulus said.

Sam looked at the hand gripping his jacket.

Regulus followed his gaze.

His fingers released the fabric immediately.

“I meant your arm.”

“Oh.”

Sam loosened his hold around Regulus’s neck.

He did not remove it entirely.

Regulus noticed.

“You have not let go.”

“Dean still has the gun.”

Dean threw one hand outward.

“I lowered it!”

The gun was still pointed roughly in their direction.

Sam looked at it.

Dean followed his gaze.

Then looked irritated.

“Fine.”

He lowered it toward the ground.

Sam’s body loosened by a fraction.

Sirius watched closely.

“Put it down.”

Dean’s head snapped toward him.

“Don’t push it.”

“Put it down.”

“You don’t get to order me around.”

“You are standing over sixteen restrained students with a gun.”

“You attacked me.”

“You attacked all of us first.”

Dean looked at the bound students scattered over the clearing.

The argument visibly weakened.

Sam waited.

Dean looked at him again.

Sam did not need to say anything.

Dean knew him too well.

He saw the answer in Sam’s face.

With a furious exhale, Dean bent his arm and lowered the weapon fully to his side.

He did not put it on the ground.

But he stopped aiming it.

Sam let out a breath.

Regulus did too.

The soft exhale brushed Sam’s jaw.

Sam became suddenly, painfully aware of how close they were.

Regulus seemed to realise it at the same moment.

His expression tightened.

“You may move now.”

Sam looked over his shoulder at Dean.

The gun stayed down.

Sirius remained upright, watching.

The others were still restrained.

No one was moving.

Sam looked back at Regulus.

He should have pushed himself up immediately.

Instead he hesitated.

Regulus stared at him.

“Sam.”

It was the first time Regulus had said his name.

Not because someone else had.

Not as part of an argument.

Directly to him.

Sam’s mind went completely blank.

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

“Move.”

“Right.”

Sam planted one hand against the ground.

He began to lift himself.

Dean shifted.

Only slightly.

A change in stance.

A scrape of his boot through leaves.

Sam dropped back over Regulus at once.

Regulus squeaked again.

Everyone froze.

Dean stared.

“I moved my foot.”

“You moved.”

“I am allowed to move!”

“Not with the gun.”

“It’s pointing at the ground!”

Sam remained pressed over Regulus.

Regulus’s fingers slowly curled into the shoulders of Sam’s jacket.

His face had gone bright red.

“This is becoming ridiculous.”

“You’re the one holding on.”

“You keep falling on me.”

“I’m protecting you.”

“From a foot.”

“From the gun attached to the person with the foot.”

Dean looked ready to throw the weapon into the nearest tree.

Sirius pointed at him with both bound hands.

“Don’t move.”

Dean turned on him.

“You do not get to say that.”

“I just did.”

“I swear to God—”

“Which one?”

Dean stopped.

Sirius lifted his chin.

Dean’s face went through several emotions before settling on fury.

Sam lowered his forehead briefly against Regulus’s shoulder.

Regulus stiffened.

Then, after a moment, did not push him away.

“This is your family?” Sam muttered.

Regulus looked past him toward Sirius.

“Unfortunately.”

“I heard that!” Sirius shouted.

“So did everyone else the first time,” Lily said.

Dean glanced toward the students.

Then toward Sirius.

Then down at the gun.

Finally, with the expression of someone surrendering a vital organ, Dean crouched and placed it on the ground.

He kept one hand close to it.

But it was down.

“There,” he said. “Happy?”

“No,” Sirius replied immediately.

Dean glared at him.

Sam raised his head.

The weapon lay among the leaves several feet away.

Dean was no longer aiming at anyone.

Sam slowly pushed himself up again.

This time he did not drop back down.

His chest lifted away from Regulus’s.

His arm slid from behind Regulus’s neck.

Regulus’s legs remained around his hips.

Sam paused.

Regulus looked down.

Then immediately released him.

His boots hit the ground on either side.

Sam moved back onto his knees, still between Regulus’s thighs.

Regulus looked at him.

Sam looked down at Regulus.

Neither seemed to know what the next movement was supposed to be.

The stolen gun remained in Regulus’s hand.

Dean noticed.

“Now get that away from him.”

Regulus’s grip tightened.

Sam held out his hand.

Regulus looked at it.

Then at Sam’s face.

“You did not attempt to take it before.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I was busy.”

“Crushing me.”

“Shielding you.”

“Very heavily.”

Sam almost smiled again.

Regulus’s eyes narrowed in warning.

Sam kept his hand extended.

After a long moment, Regulus turned the weapon carefully and placed it into Sam’s palm grip-first.

Dean stared.

Sirius stared.

Everyone stared.

Sam closed his fingers around the gun.

Regulus released it.

For one second, their hands touched.

Regulus pulled his away first.

Sam checked the safety.

Still on.

He exhaled.

Then tucked the gun into the back of his jeans.

Dean looked relieved.

Sirius looked less so.

Sam shifted his weight.

Regulus sat up beneath him.

They ended up face-to-face.

Too close again.

Regulus’s hair was full of leaves now. One dark curl had caught against the collar of his robe. His cheeks were still flushed, his expression deeply offended by the entire world.

Sam reached toward the leaf without thinking.

Regulus caught his wrist.

Fast.

Not violent this time.

Just firm.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ve got something in your hair.”

Regulus stared.

Sam stared back.

Slowly, Regulus released him.

Sam pulled the leaf free.

He held it between two fingers.

Regulus looked at it.

Then at Sam.

Behind them, Dean groaned.

Sirius made a threatening sound.

Barty said, “I am going to kill him.”

Evan replied, “You are currently tied up.”

“That is temporary.”

Pandora smiled into the leaves.

Dorcas muttered that she had known the lesson was doomed the moment Kettleburn walked away.

Sam dropped the leaf.

Regulus continued staring.

Neither moved.

Dean looked between them.

Then at Sirius.

Sirius looked between them.

Then at Dean.

For once, both older brothers appeared to reach precisely the same conclusion.

“No,” they said together.

Sam and Regulus both turned toward them.

Dean pointed at Sam.

Sirius pointed at Regulus.

Neither brother seemed to know what exactly they were forbidding.

That did not stop either of them.

“No,” Dean repeated.

“Absolutely not,” Sirius said.

Sam frowned.

Regulus’s face returned to perfect deadpan.

“You are both being remarkably specific.”

Dean’s mouth opened.

Sirius’s did too.

No explanation came.

Sam remained kneeling over Regulus.

Regulus remained seated beneath him.

The others stayed restrained across the clearing.

Dean stood beside the gun he had finally lowered.

Sirius stood with leaves tangled in his hair and murder in his eyes.

No one moved.

No one spoke.

The silence that settled over the clearing was different from the ones before it.

The first had been shock.

The second had been fear.

This one was simply uncertainty.

Dean stood beside the gun he had finally put down, shoulders rigid and hands hovering uselessly at his sides. He looked as though he regretted every decision that had led him into the forest but had not yet decided which one he regretted most.

Sirius remained upright several feet away, wrists still bound behind him, black hair tangled with leaves and his expression caught somewhere between fury and suspicion.

James was still on the ground beside Remus and Peter, watching Dean closely.

Lily, Mary and Marlene stared at the two brothers.

Alice and Frank stared at Sam and Regulus.

Fabian and Gideon appeared to be waiting for someone else to do something entertaining.

Barty had not stopped looking at Sam as though murder were merely delayed rather than prevented.

Evan looked tired.

Pandora looked interested.

Dorcas looked as though she wanted to take control of the situation but could not decide where to begin.

Regulus remained seated beneath Sam.

Sam remained kneeling between his legs.

Neither of them moved.

Regulus’s face had returned to its usual blankness, but Sam had already seen too much for it to work properly now.

He had seen the surprise.

The flush.

The split second of hesitation when Sam had offered his hand for the gun.

The almost-smile Regulus denied having given him.

Sam could not stop looking.

Regulus noticed.

Of course he noticed.

His eyes narrowed.

Sam looked away.

His gaze landed on Dean.

Dean was staring at the sixteen students again.

Not with the same certainty as before.

The gun was no longer in his hands.

No one had attacked since he put it down.

Regulus had returned Sam’s weapon rather than using it.

They had all watched Sam shield one of them without taking advantage of it.

But Dean still looked uneasy.

His eyes moved from wand to wand where they lay scattered across the leaves.

Then to Remus.

Then to Sirius.

Then back to Regulus.

His mouth tightened.

Sam knew that expression.

Dean was thinking.

That was not always reassuring.

Lily finally broke the silence.

“Well?”

Dean looked at her.

“Well what?”

“You ambushed us.”

Dean frowned.

“You tied us up,” Mary added.

“You accused us of being demons,” Marlene said.

“You threatened several of us,” Alice continued.

Frank glanced toward Sirius.

“And fought one of us.”

Dean pointed at Sirius.

“He started that part.”

“You pointed a gun at Regulus,” Sirius said.

“He was pointing one at Sam.”

“After Sam tried to restrain him.”

Dean opened his mouth.

Sirius lifted his brows.

Dean shut it again.

Lily’s gaze sharpened.

“So,” she said, “what happens now?”

Dean looked around the clearing.

Sam could see the honest answer on his face.

Dean had no idea.

None of them did.

The students were still restrained.

The hunters still did not know where they were.

The wands remained scattered through the leaves.

The forest remained impossibly quiet around them.

Even if Dean accepted that they were students, that did not explain the magic.

It did not explain Hogwarts.

It did not explain the forest.

It did not explain how two hunters had crossed wards they could not see and entered a world that apparently should have been hidden from them.

Dean’s eyes went back to the students.

Sam saw the suspicion returning.

Not as strong as before.

But still there.

Dean rubbed a hand over his jaw.

“They could still be demons.”

Every student reacted at once.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Lily said.

“We have explained this,” James protested.

“No, you’ve claimed it,” Dean replied.

“What possible reason would demons have to pretend to be students?” Frank asked.

“Demons do weird crap.”

“That is not evidence,” Alice said.

“It’s experience.”

Barty gave Dean a cold smile.

“Untie me and I will happily demonstrate exactly what I am.”

“No,” Evan said.

Dean pointed at him.

“See? Demon.”

“That was a threat,” Dorcas said.

“Demons threaten people.”

“So do people,” Mary replied.

“Especially when tied up in forests by strangers,” Marlene added.

Dean’s gaze moved toward Pandora.

She smiled at him.

Dean looked away almost immediately.

“Definitely suspicious.”

“She smiles at everyone like that,” Dorcas said.

“That doesn’t help.”

Sirius stepped forward.

Dean’s hand moved instinctively toward the gun on the ground.

Sam tensed.

Regulus did too.

Sirius stopped.

He looked at Dean’s hand.

Then at Dean.

“If we were demons,” Sirius said, “do you genuinely believe a length of cord would be restraining us?”

Dean hesitated.

Sirius lifted his bound wrists.

“We have wands.”

“Which are on the ground.”

“We have magic.”

“Which you do with the wands.”

“Mostly.”

Dean’s expression hardened.

“Mostly?”

Sirius looked annoyed at having offered him anything useful.

Remus spoke before he could answer.

“Do you know how to identify demons?”

Dean’s eyes snapped toward him.

Remus remained on the ground, but his voice was calm.

Almost deliberately so.

Sam noticed James and Peter shift closer again.

Dean noticed too.

“Yes.”

“Then identify us.”

The clearing went silent again.

Dean studied him.

Remus held his gaze.

Sam knew exactly what Dean was thinking.

There were tests.

Salt.

Holy water.

Devil’s traps.

Exorcisms.

Possessed people reacted violently to things that meant nothing to anyone else.

It should have been easy.

It should have been the first thing they had done.

Instead they had seen magic, assumed danger and acted.

Dean’s jaw tightened.

Sam looked at him.

“Test them.”

Dean’s gaze moved to him.

Sam repeated, “Test them.”

“With what?”

“Holy water.”

Understanding crossed Dean’s face.

Then embarrassment.

The faintest amount.

Because Sam was right.

They should have done that before pulling guns on sixteen students.

Dean glanced toward the inside pocket of his jacket.

Then at the group.

“Fine.”

He reached into his coat.

Every student tensed.

Sirius took another step forward.

Dean held up a small glass vial.

“Relax.”

“What is that?” James asked.

“Holy water.”

Fabian frowned.

“It looks like ordinary water.”

“It is ordinary water,” Gideon said. “Only holier.”

“That is generally what holy water is,” Lily said.

Dean uncapped the vial.

Sirius’s expression darkened.

“You are not pouring an unknown substance on Regulus.”

“It’s water.”

“You just said it was holy.”

“That doesn’t make it acid.”

“How would we know?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“That is precisely my point.”

Sam held out his hand.

“Give it to me.”

Dean looked at him.

Sam kept his hand extended.

Dean glanced at Regulus.

Then back at Sam.

Something deeply exasperated passed across his face.

“You’re really volunteering for this?”

“Yes.”

“Of course you are.”

Sam ignored that.

Dean crossed the small distance between them and handed him the vial.

Sam took it.

Regulus watched the exchange without moving.

He did not look frightened.

He looked unimpressed.

That somehow made Sam more careful.

Sam turned back toward him.

Regulus’s grey eyes dropped to the vial.

“What does it do?”

“If you’re a demon, it burns.”

“I am not a demon.”

“I know.”

Dean immediately said, “We don’t know.”

Sam glanced over his shoulder.

Dean spread his hands.

“That’s the point of the test.”

Regulus looked between them.

Then back at Sam.

“And you intend to pour it on me.”

“Just a little.”

“Why me?”

Sam opened his mouth.

No sensible answer came.

Because Regulus was closest.

Because Regulus was the only one unrestrained.

Because Sam was already kneeling in front of him.

Because Sam wanted to be the one to touch him again.

The last answer was not one Sam intended to say aloud.

Dean said it for him.

“Because you’re right there.”

Regulus’s gaze stayed on Sam.

Sam’s face warmed.

“Yes,” he said. “That.”

Regulus looked unconvinced.

But he held out his arm.

The gesture was stiff and almost regal despite the leaves in his hair and the fact that he was sitting on the forest floor.

Sam stared at the offered arm for a second too long.

Regulus’s brows lifted.

“Are you waiting for it to become more convenient?”

“No.”

Sam reached forward.

His fingers closed gently around Regulus’s wrist.

Regulus went still.

So did Sam.

The contact was different this time.

Before, everything had happened in movement.

Regulus grabbing him.

Sam catching Regulus around the waist.

Hands clenching in jackets.

Wrists pinned to the ground.

Now there was no struggle.

No weapon pointed at either of them.

No one moving.

Sam was simply holding Regulus’s wrist.

Regulus’s skin was cool beneath his fingers.

His pulse was steady.

Not completely.

Faster than it looked as though it should be.

Sam tried not to think about that.

He failed.

Regulus looked down at Sam’s hand.

Sam nearly let go.

Instead he adjusted his grip, careful and light, and used his other hand to push the black sleeve of Regulus’s robe upward.

The fabric caught at first.

Sam eased it higher.

A narrow strip of pale forearm appeared beneath it.

Regulus watched him the entire time.

Sam could feel everyone else watching too.

Dean shifted awkwardly behind him.

Sirius’s expression turned dangerous again.

“You do not need to hold him like that.”

Sam looked over.

“Like what?”

“Like that.”

“That explains nothing.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t.”

Sirius opened his mouth.

Regulus said, “Sirius.”

Sirius stopped.

Regulus did not look at him.

His attention remained on Sam.

“Proceed.”

Sam swallowed.

He uncapped the vial.

The holy water inside looked completely ordinary.

Clear.

Still.

Harmless.

Sam tilted it over Regulus’s exposed arm.

Only a few drops fell at first.

They landed against pale skin and slid in thin trails toward the inside of his wrist.

No smoke.

No hiss.

No blistering.

No reaction at all.

Sam poured a little more.

The water ran over Regulus’s forearm and gathered where Sam’s fingers circled his wrist.

Regulus watched it.

Then looked at Sam.

His expression was flat.

Completely unimpressed.

“Well?”

Sam stared at the wet skin.

Nothing.

No burn.

No flinch.

No black eyes.

No demonic scream.

Nothing.

He looked toward Dean.

Dean stared at Regulus’s arm.

Sam lifted the vial slightly.

“No reaction.”

Dean kept staring.

“No.”

“They’re not demons.”

Dean’s mouth opened.

Closed.

He looked at the other fifteen students.

Then back at Regulus.

Then at the scattered wands.

Then at Sam.

“Oh.”

The word landed awkwardly in the clearing.

Mary blinked.

“That’s it?”

Dean rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well.”

Lily stared at him.

Dean glanced away.

“So.”

Marlene’s eyebrows rose.

“So?”

Dean shifted his weight.

His usual confidence had vanished completely.

He looked like someone who had just realised he had broken into the wrong house and threatened the occupants.

“We may have…”

He stopped.

Sirius’s stare sharpened.

“You may have what?”

Dean grimaced.

“Misread the situation.”

“You tied sixteen students to the ground,” Lily said.

“I’m aware.”

“You pointed weapons at us.”

“I’m also aware of that.”

“You attacked my brother,” Sirius added.

Dean looked at Sam and Regulus.

Sam was still holding Regulus’s wrist.

Regulus was still sitting beneath him.

Dean’s expression became pained.

“Your brother threw mine.”

“Beautifully,” Barty said again.

Evan sighed.

“Stop praising it.”

“I will not.”

Dean pointed at Barty.

“You are not making the demon thing less believable.”

“The holy water proved we are not demons,” Frank said.

“It proved he isn’t.”

The entire clearing reacted.

Dean held up both hands.

“I’m just saying technically—”

“No,” Sam said.

Dean looked at him.

“No?”

“One test is enough.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they’re all the same kind of magic users.”

“They could be a mixed group.”

“Dean.”

“What?”

Sam stared at him.

Dean glanced around the clearing.

Every student was glaring now.

Even Pandora’s dreamy curiosity had flattened into something more pointed.

Dean exhaled.

“Fine.”

Sirius’s voice was cold.

“Untie us.”

Dean did not move.

No one else did either.

Sam barely heard them.

He was still holding Regulus.

His fingers remained wrapped around the slim wrist.

The holy water had run over the inside of Regulus’s forearm and down into Sam’s palm.

His thumb rested against the soft skin beneath Regulus’s pulse.

Sam felt it jump once.

His own thumb moved.

Not deliberately.

At least, he told himself it was not deliberate.

It brushed slowly across the inside of Regulus’s wrist.

The skin there was delicate.

Cool.

The pulse beneath it quickened.

Sam stared.

He had forgotten the vial in his other hand.

Forgot Dean.

Forgot the restrained students.

Forgot the forest.

His thumb moved again.

A small sweep over the inside of Regulus’s wrist, catching a drop of holy water and spreading it across pale skin.

Regulus looked down.

Sam did not notice.

He was watching his own hand.

Watching the contrast between his broad fingers and Regulus’s narrow wrist.

Feeling that quick pulse against his thumb.

He wondered whether Regulus’s hands were always cold.

Wondered whether the pulse would slow if Sam held him longer.

Wondered whether Regulus would let him.

Regulus tugged his arm back slightly.

The movement was small.

Barely more than a pull against Sam’s grip.

Sam’s head whipped up.

Regulus was staring at him.

Deadpan.

Perfectly still.

Except for the faint colour gathering high in his cheeks.

Sam realised what he was doing.

His thumb stopped.

His hand remained around Regulus’s wrist.

His face went hot.

“I—”

Regulus tugged again.

Sam released him immediately.

Regulus drew his arm back.

Sam’s fingers closed around empty air.

For one ridiculous second, he missed the contact.

Regulus lowered his gaze to his forearm.

Drops of holy water still shone against his skin.

Sam remembered the vial.

Remembered everyone else.

Remembered how to breathe.

Barely.

“Sorry,” he said.

Regulus did not answer.

He looked at the water on his arm.

Then, without changing expression, he lifted his wrist toward his mouth.

Sam watched.

Regulus extended his tongue and slowly licked the holy water from the inside of his arm.

Sam stopped breathing.

His eyes widened.

His mouth fell open.

Every thought vanished from his head so completely it was almost painful.

Regulus’s tongue passed over the wet skin in one smooth movement, gathering the droplets Sam’s thumb had spread there.

Then Regulus lowered his arm.

He swallowed.

His expression remained utterly blank.

Sam stared at him.

Bright red.

Open-mouthed.

Completely stunned.

Regulus looked back.

“What?”

Sam tried to speak.

Nothing came out.

Regulus waited.

Sam’s brain supplied a dozen words at once and none of them reached his mouth properly.

“You—”

He stopped.

Regulus tilted his head.

“I what?”

“You just—”

“Yes?”

Sam looked at Regulus’s wrist.

Then at his mouth.

Then back at his eyes.

Regulus’s deadpan stare did not change.

Sam’s face somehow became hotter.

“You licked it.”

“It was water.”

“Holy water.”

“It still tasted like water.”

Sam opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

“I—right.”

Regulus’s brows rose.

Sam stared at his lips.

Realised he was staring.

Looked away so quickly his neck hurt.

Dean had gone completely silent.

Sam could feel him staring.

Sirius was staring too.

Everyone was.

The clearing had become so quiet that Sam could hear his own heartbeat.

Regulus looked down at his arm.

One small drop remained near his wrist.

Sam saw it.

He wished he had not.

Regulus saw Sam see it.

His eyes lifted.

Sam’s mouth went dry.

Regulus slowly brought his wrist back toward his mouth.

Sam made a sound.

A small, strangled, helpless sound.

Regulus paused.

His eyes sharpened with faint interest.

Then he licked away the final drop.

Sam nearly dropped the vial.

His fingers fumbled around the glass.

He caught it before it fell, clutching it against his palm.

Regulus lowered his arm again.

“Is the test complete?”

Sam stared.

“Yes.”

The word came out too high.

He cleared his throat.

“Yes.”

Regulus nodded once.

“Good.”

Sam continued staring.

Regulus pulled his sleeve back down with deliberate care.

The black fabric covered his wrist.

Sam watched it disappear.

His brain remained useless.

Dean finally spoke.

“Sam.”

Sam did not look away from Regulus.

“Yeah?”

“What the hell was that?”

Sam blinked.

“What was what?”

Dean stared at him.

Sirius answered instead.

“He was touching Regulus.”

“I saw that.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Because I want him to explain it.”

Sam looked over his shoulder.

Dean’s face was caught between confusion, horror and something dangerously close to amusement.

Sam immediately looked away.

“There’s nothing to explain.”

“You were rubbing his wrist.”

“I was checking for a reaction.”

“The reaction would’ve been burning.”

“I know.”

“You kept going after he didn’t burn.”

Sam’s face flared again.

“I was making sure.”

Regulus looked at him.

Sam saw it from the corner of his eye.

The faintest narrowing of grey eyes.

Dean folded his arms.

“Making sure.”

“Yes.”

“How long does holy water take to work?”

Sam said nothing.

Dean’s expression changed.

Not much.

Just enough for Sam to know he had lost.

Sirius looked between them.

Then at Regulus.

Then back at Sam.

His face darkened.

“He was not checking anything.”

“No,” Dean said slowly. “I don’t think he was.”

Sam glared at both of them.

“Can we focus?”

“On what?” Mary asked.

Sam looked toward the restrained students.

All fifteen of them were staring.

Regulus sat in front of him, his sleeve lowered again and his expression composed.

Only the faint colour in his cheeks betrayed anything at all.

Sam held up the vial.

“You’re not demons.”

Lily’s eyes narrowed.

“We established that before Regulus drank your evidence.”

“I did not drink it,” Regulus said.

“You licked it off yourself,” Marlene replied.

“That is functionally similar,” Mary added.

Regulus looked irritated.

“It was on my skin.”

“You could have wiped it off,” Alice said.

Regulus’s gaze flicked toward Sam.

Sam’s entire face burned again.

Barty saw it.

His grin returned.

“Oh.”

Evan looked at him.

Barty continued staring at Regulus.

“Oh, you did that deliberately.”

Regulus’s expression went blanker.

“No.”

Pandora smiled.

“You did.”

Dorcas looked between Regulus and Sam.

Then closed her eyes.

“Of course he did.”

Regulus pulled his sleeve more firmly over his wrist.

“You are all imagining things.”

Sam stared at him.

Regulus looked directly back.

For one suspended second, neither of them moved.

Then Regulus’s gaze dropped to Sam’s mouth.

Only for a moment.

So brief Sam might have imagined it.

When Regulus looked back up, his expression was deadpan again.

Sam forgot every word he knew.

Dean groaned.

Sirius made a low, furious sound.

Barty laughed.

Fabian and Gideon began whispering rapidly to each other.

James looked as though he was trying not to smile.

Peter appeared deeply confused.

Remus had lowered his head, but Sam could see the edge of amusement in his expression.

Lily looked exhausted.

Mary and Marlene looked delighted.

Alice was staring at Regulus with new understanding.

Frank seemed to have given up entirely.

Pandora looked pleased.

Dorcas looked resigned.

Evan looked unsurprised.

And Sam remained kneeling in front of Regulus Black, clutching a half-empty vial of holy water, red-faced and open-mouthed, while Regulus stared back at him as though he had done nothing unusual at all.

Regulus moved first.

He planted one hand against the ground and began pushing himself upright, robes rustling over the leaves.

Sam reacted as though Regulus had announced he was about to walk into traffic.

The half-empty vial vanished into his pocket so quickly he nearly missed it.

“Wait.”

Regulus paused halfway up.

Sam scrambled to his feet.

His boot caught on the hem of his own jeans. He lurched, threw out one arm for balance and only just managed to avoid falling directly onto Regulus again.

Dean closed his eyes.

A long, suffering breath left him.

Sam ignored it.

Regulus had barely shifted his weight forward before Sam reached down and caught his hand.

His other hand settled around Regulus’s waist.

Regulus went completely still.

Sam did too.

For one awkward second, they remained like that: Sam bent over him, one broad hand wrapped around Regulus’s narrower one and the other spread carefully against the side of his waist beneath the folds of his robe.

Regulus looked down at Sam’s hand.

Then at the hand on his waist.

Then slowly up at Sam’s face.

His expression was perfectly deadpan.

Sam’s cheeks heated again.

“I’m helping.”

“I was standing.”

“You were getting up.”

“Yes.”

“From the ground.”

“That is generally where one gets up from.”

Sam swallowed.

“Right.”

He did not release him.

Regulus’s gaze dropped pointedly to their joined hands.

Sam glanced down too.

His fingers were curled around Regulus’s hand more tightly than necessary, his thumb resting across the back of it.

He loosened his grip.

Slightly.

Regulus waited.

Sam realised that loosening his grip was not the same as letting go.

His face warmed further.

“Sorry.”

He still did not let go.

Regulus’s brows lifted.

Sam finally pulled him up.

Regulus rose easily, without stumbling or needing the support at all.

Sam kept one hand around his waist anyway.

Once they were both standing, the height difference became impossible to ignore.

Regulus had looked small beneath him on the ground.

Standing beside Sam, he looked smaller.

The top of his head sat well below Sam’s chin. His shoulders were narrow beneath the black robes, and Sam’s hand covered a ridiculous amount of his waist.

Regulus looked up at him.

Sam looked down.

Neither moved.

The clearing returned to silence.

Dean stared at them.

Then he tipped his head back and looked at the trees as though trying to find patience somewhere among the branches.

“Oh, come on,” he muttered.

Sam glanced at him.

“What?”

“You know what.”

“No, I don’t.”

Dean looked at the hand still on Regulus’s waist.

Sam followed his gaze.

He took his hand away so quickly it nearly looked painful.

Regulus’s robes fell back into place.

Sam immediately missed the contact.

Sirius noticed everything.

His expression hardened.

“Why was your hand there?”

Sam stared at him.

“To help him up.”

“He did not need help.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I have known him his entire life.”

Regulus looked between them.

“I did not need help.”

Sam looked at him.

“You could’ve slipped.”

“I did not slip.”

“The ground’s uneven.”

“I am aware.”

“There are roots.”

“I have eyes.”

“And leaves.”

Regulus stared.

Sam heard how ridiculous he sounded.

He stopped talking.

Dean rubbed both hands down his face.

“This is painful.”

Mary tilted her head.

“For you?”

“For everyone.”

Marlene looked delighted.

“I’m enjoying it.”

“So am I,” Gideon said.

Fabian nodded.

“It has improved considerably since the guns went down.”

“Some of us are still tied up,” Lily said sharply.

The reminder cut through the clearing.

Everyone looked toward her.

Lily remained on the ground with her wrists restrained behind her, red hair scattered over one shoulder and her expression balanced between fury and disbelief.

“Right,” James said. “That.”

Peter shifted awkwardly.

“It would be nice.”

Alice held up her bound hands as far as she could.

“Very nice.”

Frank sighed.

Dean looked around at the fifteen restrained students.

Then at Sam.

Sam was still standing much too close to Regulus.

Dean’s mouth tightened.

“No one makes any sudden moves.”

Sirius stared.

“You have established that we are not demons.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re harmless.”

“We are students.”

“You have magic.”

“So does nearly everyone we know.”

“That sentence is not reassuring.”

Dorcas pushed herself more upright.

“You are currently surrounded by sixteen people who could have attacked you the moment you entered the clearing.”

Dean looked at the scattered wands.

“You dropped your weapons.”

“Because Remus asked us to,” Lily said.

Dean’s gaze moved toward Remus.

The shift was immediate.

Subtle, but sharp.

Sam saw it.

So did James.

Sirius.

Peter.

Remus was still on the ground between them, his wrists bound, his face controlled and pale.

James moved first.

He pushed himself up onto his knees and positioned his body slightly in front of Remus.

Sirius stepped sideways.

Peter scrambled upright as far as the restraints allowed and moved with them.

The three of them formed a wall.

Not an obvious one.

Not to anyone who did not know what to look for.

But Sam knew.

Dean knew.

James blocked the centre.

Sirius took the side closest to Dean.

Peter filled the gap near Sam.

Remus disappeared partly behind them.

Dean’s eyes narrowed.

Sam saw the moment the old suspicion came back.

Not demon.

Something else.

Werewolf.

“Dean,” Sam warned.

Dean glanced at him.

Sam gave the smallest shake of his head.

Dean’s jaw clenched.

Lily looked between the brothers.

“What?”

“Nothing,” James said too quickly.

Sirius kept his eyes fixed on Dean.

“Untie us.”

Dean did not answer.

Sam stepped away from Regulus.

Only one step.

Then he hesitated and glanced down at the ground between them, checking for roots before Regulus moved.

Regulus noticed.

His face remained blank.

Sam crossed toward Lily first.

He crouched behind her and reached for the restraints.

She looked over her shoulder.

“Are you going to attack me again?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

Sam winced.

“Yes.”

“That confidence would have been useful earlier.”

“I know.”

He loosened the restraints and pulled them away.

Lily immediately brought her hands forward and rubbed her wrists.

Sam moved to Mary.

Dean remained standing near the gun on the ground, watching every wand and every student at once.

“Slowly,” he warned.

Mary looked up at him.

“We are sitting down.”

“I’m being careful.”

“You are being paranoid.”

“That’s kept me alive.”

“It nearly got Regulus shot,” Sirius said.

Dean’s face hardened.

Sam looked up sharply.

“So did you wrestling him over the gun.”

Sirius rounded on Sam.

“He pointed it at Regulus.”

“And you grabbed it while it was loaded.”

“I did not know that.”

“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t have grabbed it.”

“He should not have aimed it at my brother.”

“He thought Regulus was going to shoot me.”

“He had no reason to think that.”

“Regulus had my gun.”

“Because he took it from you.”

“That is usually why people think someone might use a weapon.”

Regulus stood between them, listening with a faint frown.

“You are arguing in circles.”

Sam looked at him.

Sirius looked at him too.

Regulus’s expression did not change.

“He is correct that you should not have grabbed an unfamiliar weapon.”

Sirius stared.

Dean pointed at Regulus.

“Thank you.”

Regulus looked at him.

“That was not support.”

Dean’s hand dropped.

“Right.”

Sam untied Mary and moved to Marlene.

Marlene sat up the second her hands were free.

“You really thought we were demons?”

Sam avoided her eyes.

“At first.”

“Do demons often wear school uniforms?”

“Sometimes they wear people.”

Marlene’s amusement faded slightly.

Sam moved to Alice.

Alice watched him work.

“What exactly are you?”

“Hunters.”

“What do you hunt?”

Sam loosened the cord.

“Things that hurt people.”

Barty laughed from across the clearing.

“You began by hurting people.”

Sam looked toward him.

Barty smiled without warmth.

“Excellent work.”

Evan sighed.

“Barty.”

“What? I am still restrained. Sarcasm is all I have.”

“You have threats.”

“I am saving those.”

Sam freed Alice and then Frank.

Frank flexed his hands.

“You could apologise.”

Dean looked at him.

“I said we misread the situation.”

“That is not an apology.”

“It’s close.”

“No,” Lily said. “It is not.”

Dean glanced around at sixteen expectant faces.

Then at Sam.

Sam raised his eyebrows.

Dean glared at him.

“You too.”

“I know.”

Dean folded his arms.

Silence stretched.

Finally, he exhaled through his nose.

“Fine. Sorry.”

No one reacted.

Dean frowned.

“What?”

“That was terrible,” Mary said.

“It was an apology.”

“It sounded like a threat,” Marlene replied.

Dean tried again.

“We’re sorry.”

Sam added quietly, “We shouldn’t have ambushed you.”

Dean looked at him.

Sam continued, “Or tied you up.”

“Or pointed guns at us,” Lily said.

Sam nodded.

“Or pointed guns at you.”

Sirius lifted his chin.

“Or attacked me.”

Dean stared at him.

“You attacked me.”

“After you aimed at Regulus.”

“You tackled me.”

“You deserved it.”

Dean opened his mouth.

Sam cut in.

“Dean.”

Dean closed it again.

He looked deeply unhappy.

“Sorry for attacking you.”

Sirius’s expression became smug.

Dean immediately added, “You’re still an idiot.”

“And you are still an arse.”

“There,” Dean said. “We’re even.”

James sighed.

Sam continued working.

Fabian and Gideon were next.

The moment Fabian’s hands were free, he reached for Gideon’s restraints himself.

Sam let him.

Gideon rolled his shoulders when the cord came away.

“This has been educational.”

“No,” Lily said.

“It has.”

“We learned Muggles carry tiny metal wands,” Fabian said.

“They are guns,” Sam corrected.

“Tiny metal wands that throw metal.”

“Bullets.”

“Violent tiny metal wands.”

Dean muttered something under his breath.

Pandora was next.

Sam crouched behind her and freed her hands.

She turned to look at him once the restraints fell.

“You are very tall.”

Sam blinked.

“Yes.”

“You look taller beside Regulus.”

Sam felt his face warm.

Dorcas, still restrained beside her, closed her eyes.

“Pandora.”

“I am making an observation.”

“It is unnecessary.”

“It is true.”

Sam moved to Dorcas without answering.

Then Evan.

Then Barty.

When Sam reached for Barty’s restraints, Barty turned his head.

“Touch me carefully.”

Sam paused.

Barty smiled.

“I am very delicate.”

Evan stared at him.

“You threatened to remove his spine.”

“That does not mean I lack sensitivity.”

Sam untied him quickly.

Barty immediately stood and crossed toward Regulus.

Sam stood at the same time.

They nearly collided.

Barty stopped.

Sam stopped.

They stared at each other.

Barty was shorter than Sam too, though not by as much as Regulus.

His expression was sharp and amused in a way Sam did not trust.

“You are in my way.”

Sam looked past him toward Regulus.

Regulus had not moved.

“I’m making sure he’s okay.”

“He is.”

“You don’t know that.”

Barty’s smile widened.

“I know him.”

“So do I,” Sirius said.

Sam looked between them.

“You’ve known me for less than an hour,” Regulus said.

Sam’s attention snapped back to him.

“I know.”

“Then stop claiming expertise.”

“I’m not.”

“You are behaving as though I will collapse if left unsupervised.”

Sam winced.

“Right.”

Regulus stepped around Barty.

Sam immediately checked the ground.

A thick root crossed the path in front of Regulus’s boots.

Sam reached out and caught his elbow.

“Watch it.”

Regulus stopped.

He looked down at the root.

Then at Sam’s hand.

Then up at Sam.

“I saw it.”

“Okay.”

Sam kept holding him.

Regulus waited.

Sam let go.

Regulus stepped over the root.

Sam followed closely behind.

Dean watched him.

His expression became more and more tired.

“Sam.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to trail him.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re six inches behind him.”

Sam glanced down.

Dean was right.

He slowed slightly.

Regulus took three steps.

Sam followed.

Regulus stepped around a patch of mud.

Sam moved to his side and placed a hand lightly against his back, guiding him farther away from it.

Regulus turned his head.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping.”

“I avoided it.”

“You were close.”

“I was not.”

“You could’ve slipped.”

“I did not.”

Sam looked at the ground again.

The forest floor was uneven everywhere.

Roots, stones, leaves, dips in the soil.

Dangerous.

At least, it looked dangerous now.

Before Regulus, Sam would have crossed it without thinking.

Now every root looked like a broken ankle waiting to happen.

Regulus continued toward his wand.

Sam moved ahead of him and kicked a loose branch aside.

Regulus stopped.

Sam looked back.

“What?”

“You moved a branch.”

“You could trip.”

“I was not going to trip.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

“Because I have been walking since infancy.”

Dean groaned loudly behind them.

Sam ignored him.

Regulus walked again.

Sam stayed beside him.

When Regulus reached the place where the wands had been kicked away, he bent to retrieve his.

Sam immediately bent too.

Their heads nearly collided.

Regulus pulled back.

Sam did the same.

“Sorry.”

Regulus stared.

“I can pick up my wand.”

“I know.”

“Then why were you doing it?”

“You were bending down.”

“That is how one picks things up.”

Sam picked up the wand before Regulus could.

He held it carefully between two fingers.

Regulus looked at it.

Then at him.

Sam offered it.

Regulus took it.

Their fingers brushed.

Sam forgot the argument.

Regulus noticed.

His eyes narrowed.

Sam released the wand.

Across the clearing, Sirius was being untied by James.

James had already freed Peter and was now working at Sirius’s wrists while Peter stood in front of Remus.

Dean watched them.

Sam saw the line of his shoulders tighten.

They had reached the final restraint.

Remus.

James pulled the cord away from Sirius’s wrists.

Sirius immediately turned.

He moved in front of Remus.

James joined him.

Peter stayed where he was.

The three formed a solid barrier now.

No pretence.

No subtlety.

Sirius stood at the centre, shoulders squared, eyes fixed on Dean.

James took one side.

Peter took the other.

Remus remained behind them, still bound.

Sam’s attention shifted.

Regulus noticed and looked too.

“Move,” Dean said.

“No,” Sirius replied.

“We’re untying everyone.”

“James will untie him.”

Dean’s expression hardened.

“Why?”

“No reason.”

“That’s not believable.”

“It does not have to be.”

James knelt behind Remus.

Dean stepped forward.

Sirius stepped forward too.

“Stay back.”

Dean stopped.

The clearing tensed.

Sam instinctively moved closer to Regulus again.

Regulus glanced at him.

Sam barely noticed.

Dean’s eyes stayed on the three boys shielding Remus.

“He’s different.”

Lily frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“No one said he was different,” James replied quickly.

“You’re making a wall around him.”

“We don’t trust you.”

“You let Sam untie everyone else.”

“Sam did not nearly say something about Remus earlier,” Peter said.

Silence.

Peter’s face changed.

He realised too late that he had said too much.

Dean’s gaze sharpened.

James closed his eyes for half a second.

Sirius looked like he wanted to strangle Peter and protect him at the same time.

Lily stared at them.

“What did he nearly say?”

“No one said anything,” James replied.

Mary looked between them.

“Something happened.”

Marlene nodded.

“When Dean looked at Remus.”

Alice’s expression became concerned.

Frank stepped closer.

Remus remained still behind the wall.

Sam saw his face.

Controlled.

Tired.

Afraid.

Dean’s hand shifted toward the silver knife at his belt.

Sirius saw it.

His entire body changed.

“Touch that and I will kill you.”

Dean stared at him.

“You can try.”

“Dean,” Sam said sharply.

Dean looked toward him.

Sam stood beside Regulus, one hand hovering near the shorter boy’s arm without touching.

“Don’t.”

Dean’s jaw clenched.

“He’s a werewolf.”

The words dropped into the clearing.

Everything stopped.

Remus closed his eyes.

James turned his head toward him.

Sirius went white with fury.

Peter looked terrified.

The others stared.

Lily’s face emptied.

Mary’s mouth parted.

Marlene froze.

Alice looked from Dean to Remus.

Frank’s brows drew together.

Fabian and Gideon stopped whispering.

Dorcas stared.

Pandora tilted her head.

Evan’s expression sharpened.

Barty looked almost interested.

Regulus went utterly still beside Sam.

Sam looked at him.

His grey eyes were fixed on Remus.

Not afraid.

Not disgusted.

Simply shocked.

Remus opened his eyes again.

He looked at the people around him.

At the friends who had not known.

At the hunters who had.

At James, Sirius and Peter standing in front of him.

No one spoke.

Dean took one step forward.

Sirius moved with him.

James rose.

Peter squared his shoulders despite the fear in his face.

The wall held.

“You’re not touching him,” James said.

Dean’s voice was hard.

“You don’t know what he is.”

“We know exactly what he is,” Sirius replied.

Lily looked at him.

“You knew?”

Sirius did not look away from Dean.

“Yes.”

James reached behind him and began working at Remus’s restraints.

Dean stepped again.

Sam moved away from Regulus.

He crossed the clearing and stood in Dean’s path.

Dean stopped.

“Sam.”

“We tested them.”

“Holy water doesn’t test for werewolves.”

“He hasn’t done anything.”

“That doesn’t mean he won’t.”

Remus’s face tightened.

James pulled the restraints free.

Remus brought his hands forward.

Sirius caught one arm.

Peter caught the other.

Not restraining him.

Steadying him.

Keeping him behind them.

James stood close enough that their shoulders touched.

Dean looked past Sam at the four of them.

“They’re protecting him,” Sam said.

“That doesn’t make him safe.”

“It means they know him.”

Dean looked at Sirius.

Sirius stared back.

For all their earlier fighting, something passed between them.

Both older brothers understood walls.

Both understood standing between danger and someone younger.

Both understood that sometimes protection looked like aggression to everyone outside it.

Dean’s hand remained close to the knife.

But he did not draw it.

Lily moved first.

She stepped around Sirius.

Remus flinched.

Lily stopped in front of him.

Her eyes travelled over his scars.

His pale face.

The tension in his shoulders.

Understanding arrived slowly.

Not all of it.

Enough.

“You should have told us,” she said.

Remus looked down.

“I know.”

Mary moved closer too.

Then Marlene.

Alice and Frank followed.

No one reached for him.

No one stepped away either.

Dean watched.

His hand lowered from the knife.

“Fine,” he said.

Sirius’s eyes narrowed.

“Fine?”

“I’m not touching him.”

“You were never touching him.”

“I just said I’m not.”

“Say you understand.”

Dean stared.

“Understand what?”

“That he is not a monster.”

Dean’s face changed.

Remus looked up.

Sam watched his brother.

Dean had spent too much of his life learning that monsters wore human faces.

He had also spent too much of it learning that people could become things they never chose to be.

He looked at Remus for a long moment.

Then said, “I understand he hasn’t attacked anyone.”

Sirius’s mouth tightened.

It was not enough.

But Remus spoke before he could.

“That will do.”

Sirius looked back at him.

Remus nodded once.

The tension eased by a fraction.

Sam stepped away from Dean.

His eyes immediately searched for Regulus.

Regulus stood where Sam had left him, wand in one hand, watching the scene.

Sam crossed back to him.

Dean saw.

Of course he did.

He groaned.

“Seriously?”

Sam ignored him.

Regulus turned away from Remus and began moving toward Barty, Evan, Pandora and Dorcas.

Sam followed.

He checked the ground again.

Regulus stepped over another root.

Sam reached for his waist automatically and shifted him half a step to the side.

Regulus stopped dead.

Sam’s hand remained at his side.

“What?”

Regulus looked down at it.

Then at him.

“You moved me.”

“There was a root.”

“I stepped over it.”

“There was another one.”

“There was not.”

Sam looked down.

There was, in fact, no second root.

Only leaves.

He frowned at the ground.

“I thought there was.”

Regulus stared.

Sam took his hand away.

“Sorry.”

Regulus continued walking.

Sam stayed beside him.

Barty watched them approach.

His gaze dropped to the space between their shoulders.

Then to Sam’s hands.

“If you touch him again without permission, I will hex your fingers off.”

Sam looked at him.

“What’s a hex?”

Barty smiled.

“You will find out.”

“No one is hexing anyone,” Evan said.

“That is a disappointing policy.”

Pandora looked at Sam.

“You keep moving Regulus.”

“There are things on the ground.”

“There are always things on the ground,” Dorcas said.

“He could get hurt.”

Regulus turned toward him.

“I am not hurt.”

Sam looked him over.

His gaze moved from Regulus’s face to his shoulders.

His arms.

His legs.

His boots.

Nothing obvious.

But Regulus had been thrown onto the ground.

Sam had landed on top of him.

He had stood quickly.

Maybe too quickly.

Adrenaline could hide injuries.

Sam knew that.

Regulus took another step.

Sam watched closely.

His robe shifted around his ankles.

One foot came down slightly differently than the other.

Barely.

Sam’s stomach tightened.

“You’re limping.”

Regulus stopped.

“No, I am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I am walking.”

“Unevenly.”

“I stepped on a leaf.”

Sam stared at the ground.

There were leaves everywhere.

“That could make it worse.”

Regulus’s face became very still.

“What could it make worse?”

“Your ankle.”

“There is nothing wrong with my ankle.”

“You might not feel it yet.”

“I feel both ankles.”

Sam crouched.

Regulus stepped back.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking.”

“No.”

Sam looked up.

Regulus stared down at him.

“I do not require an examination.”

“You could’ve twisted it.”

“I did not.”

“When I flipped you—”

“You threw me onto my back.”

“Exactly.”

“My ankles were not involved.”

“Your legs were around me.”

The clearing went silent.

Again.

Sam realised what he had said.

Regulus’s face went red.

Dean made a strangled sound.

Sirius’s head snapped toward them.

James covered his face.

Mary and Marlene exchanged delighted looks.

Fabian elbowed Gideon.

Gideon nearly fell over laughing.

Barty looked murderous.

Evan looked tired.

Pandora smiled.

Dorcas sighed.

Sam stood too quickly.

“I meant during the fall.”

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

“I know what you meant.”

“That sounded bad.”

“Yes.”

Dean rubbed his temples.

“Can we please leave before this gets worse?”

“We are still lost,” Alice reminded him.

Dean looked around the forest.

“Right.”

Regulus started walking again.

Sam watched his feet.

One step.

Then another.

There.

A tiny shift.

A slight unevenness.

Sam was certain.

“Stop.”

Regulus did not.

Sam moved in front of him.

Regulus nearly walked into his chest.

He stopped and looked up.

“What now?”

“You are limping.”

“I am not.”

“You just did it again.”

“I stepped around a stone.”

Sam looked down.

There was a stone.

Small.

Barely larger than a coin.

“That still counts.”

“As what?”

“Something you had to compensate for.”

Regulus stared at him.

Sam stared back.

Dean’s voice came from behind them.

“Sam, he’s fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I have eyes.”

“So does he,” Sirius said.

Dean looked at him.

Sirius crossed his arms.

“I am repeating Regulus’s earlier point.”

Dean muttered something rude.

Regulus stepped around Sam.

Sam caught his wrist.

Regulus stopped.

Sam’s hand loosened immediately.

He remembered the holy water.

The pulse beneath his thumb.

The way Regulus had licked the drops away.

His face heated.

Regulus looked down at their hands.

Then up.

Sam let go.

“Sorry.”

“You have said that often.”

“I mean it.”

“You continue doing the things you apologise for.”

Sam had no answer.

Regulus took one more step.

Sam saw the slight change in his stride again.

That was enough.

He moved before anyone could stop him.

One arm slid behind Regulus’s back.

The other hooked beneath his knees.

Regulus’s eyes widened.

“Sam—”

Sam lifted him.

Regulus left the ground with a sharp, offended sound.

His wand hand flew upward.

His free arm locked around Sam’s shoulders on instinct.

His robes fell around Sam’s arms as Sam straightened, holding him securely against his chest.

Bridal style.

The entire clearing froze.

Regulus stared at Sam.

Sam looked down at him.

Up close, Regulus looked even more shocked than he had beneath Sam on the ground.

His dark curls had fallen across his forehead again.

One arm remained around Sam’s shoulders.

His other hand clutched his wand against Sam’s chest.

His legs rested over Sam’s forearm.

Sam adjusted his grip automatically, drawing him closer.

Regulus made a tiny noise of outrage.

“Put me down.”

“You’re hurt.”

“I am not.”

“You’re limping.”

“I am not.”

“You shouldn’t walk on it.”

“There is nothing wrong with my leg.”

“Ankle.”

“Either.”

Sam looked at his face.

“You could make it worse.”

Regulus stared.

“I could make what worse?”

“The injury.”

“There is no injury.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I inhabit the body in question.”

“You could be in shock.”

Regulus’s mouth opened.

Closed.

Opened again.

For once, deadpan failed him completely.

Dean groaned so loudly it echoed between the trees.

“Oh, for the love of—Sam!”

Sam looked over.

Dean stood with both hands on his hips.

“What?”

“Put him down.”

“He’s limping.”

“No, he isn’t.”

“You didn’t see it.”

“I was watching.”

“Why were you watching Regulus walk?” Sirius demanded.

Dean turned on him.

“Because Sam was following him like a lost dog!”

“I am not.”

Everyone looked at Sam.

He was holding Regulus against his chest.

Sam looked down.

Regulus looked back.

Sam’s face warmed.

Sirius stalked toward them.

“Put my brother down.”

“He might be hurt.”

“He is not.”

“You don’t know that.”

Sirius’s expression became dangerous.

“I have known him for sixteen years.”

“And I’ve known injuries.”

“Sam,” Regulus said.

Sam looked at him immediately.

Regulus’s arm remained looped around his shoulders.

His face was pink with anger and embarrassment.

“Put me down.”

Sam hesitated.

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

“Now.”

Sam looked at the ground.

Roots.

Stones.

Leaves.

Mud.

Absolutely unsafe.

“No.”

The clearing erupted.

Sirius made an outraged sound.

Dean shouted Sam’s name.

Barty surged forward.

Evan caught the back of his robe.

James grabbed Sirius’s arm.

Peter grabbed the other.

Lily closed her eyes.

Mary and Marlene began laughing.

Alice stared in disbelief.

Frank muttered, “Of course.”

Fabian and Gideon cheered.

Pandora smiled as if this were exactly what she had expected.

Dorcas pressed two fingers against her forehead.

Remus, standing behind James and Peter, looked caught between concern and amusement.

Regulus stared up at Sam.

“You said no.”

“You shouldn’t walk.”

“I am not injured.”

“You might be.”

“I am going to injure you.”

“That’s okay.”

Regulus went still.

Sam realised what he had said.

Dean stopped shouting.

Sirius stopped struggling.

Barty stopped trying to get free of Evan.

Everyone stared.

Sam looked down at Regulus.

Regulus’s expression had changed again.

The anger was still there.

The embarrassment too.

But beneath it, something softer flickered.

Brief.

Uncertain.

Gone almost immediately.

“That,” Regulus said carefully, “is an absurd response.”

Sam tightened his hold just enough to keep him secure.

“Probably.”

“You cannot carry me through the forest.”

“I can.”

“That was not a challenge.”

“You’re not heavy.”

Regulus’s eyes narrowed.

“Do not comment on my weight.”

“I meant it as reassurance.”

“It was not reassuring.”

Sirius pointed at Sam.

“Put him down before I make you.”

Dean stepped between them.

“Oh, no. We are not doing this again.”

“Move.”

“You tackled me last time.”

“And I will do it again.”

“Then he’ll just hold Regulus tighter.”

Sirius froze.

Dean realised what he had said.

Sam looked down.

His arms had, in fact, tightened around Regulus.

Regulus noticed.

His hand flexed once against Sam’s shoulder.

Dean stared at them.

Then at Sirius.

“See?”

Sirius looked deeply betrayed by the universe.

Barty leaned around Evan.

“Regulus, give me permission.”

“No.”

“I have several excellent curses prepared.”

“No.”

“He picked you up.”

“I noticed.”

“He refused to put you down.”

“I also noticed.”

“Then let me hurt him.”

Regulus looked at Sam.

Sam held his gaze.

After a moment, Regulus said, “Not yet.”

Sam’s heart did something strange.

Barty’s eyes widened.

“Not yet?”

Regulus looked away.

“That was not permission later.”

“It sounded like permission later.”

“It was not.”

Pandora tilted her head.

Dorcas sighed.

“We need to find Kettleburn.”

The practical statement cut through the chaos.

Everyone looked around.

The forest had not changed.

The same dark trees surrounded them.

The same uncertain paths stretched away in different directions.

Their professor was still gone.

The school was still somewhere beyond the forest.

Dean glanced at Sam.

Then at Regulus in Sam’s arms.

Then at the group.

“Fine. We move.”

Lily frowned.

“In which direction?”

No one answered.

James looked toward the path they had taken before the ambush.

“That way?”

“No,” several people said at once.

Regulus shifted in Sam’s arms and looked toward the trees.

Sam immediately adjusted his grip again.

Regulus’s gaze snapped to him.

“Stop rearranging me.”

“You moved.”

“I am allowed.”

“You could fall.”

“I am already being held.”

“Exactly.”

“That does not make sense.”

“It does to him,” Dean muttered.

Sam ignored him.

Regulus raised his wand.

Sirius tensed.

Dean did too.

Sam did not.

He watched Regulus murmur the same spell he had used before.

Silver light rose from the wand tip.

It curled upward, twisted through the air and split into three glowing paths between the trees.

Regulus stared at them.

Sam stared at Regulus.

Dean noticed.

“Can you look at the magic and not him?”

“I am.”

“You are not.”

Regulus glanced up.

Sam immediately looked at the silver light.

Too late.

Regulus had seen.

His mouth twitched.

Sam’s face warmed.

The three threads of light trembled.

Then one brightened.

Regulus pointed.

“That direction.”

James looked suspicious.

“Last time there were three.”

“There are still three.”

“Why that one?”

“It leads toward the strongest concentration of magic.”

Dean frowned.

“Which could be the school?”

“Yes.”

“Or something worse?”

Regulus looked at him.

“This is the Forbidden Forest.”

Dean stared.

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“It does.”

The group gathered their bags and wands.

James stayed near Remus.

Sirius stayed closer.

Peter remained at his side.

The others moved around them without asking questions yet, though Sam could feel them all thinking.

Lily watched Remus carefully.

Mary and Marlene whispered.

Alice and Frank remained nearby.

Fabian and Gideon seemed unusually quiet.

Barty, Evan, Pandora and Dorcas gathered around Sam and Regulus.

Sirius tried to do the same.

Dean blocked him.

“Give them space.”

Sirius looked murderous.

“You are defending this?”

“I am preventing another fight.”

“He is carrying Regulus.”

“I can see that.”

“Then make him stop.”

Dean looked at Sam.

Sam looked back.

Dean saw the answer in his face and groaned.

“He’s not listening to me.”

“He is your brother.”

“That has never meant he listens.”

Sam started walking.

Regulus shifted again.

“Put me down.”

“No.”

“I am not limping.”

“You were.”

“I was stepping around things.”

“You can stop doing that now.”

Regulus stared up at him.

Sam carefully stepped over the first root.

His arms remained secure beneath Regulus’s back and knees.

Regulus’s arm was still around his shoulders.

After several steps, Regulus seemed to realise it.

He began to remove it.

Sam looked down.

“You should hold on.”

“I am not going to fall.”

“You might.”

“You are holding me.”

“Exactly.”

Regulus stared.

Then, very slowly, he put his arm back around Sam’s shoulders.

Sam smiled.

Regulus noticed.

“Do not.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You look pleased.”

“I’m carrying you.”

“That is not an achievement.”

“It feels like one.”

Regulus’s face coloured.

Dean groaned behind them.

Sirius made an offended noise.

Barty threatened something under his breath.

Evan told him to stop.

Pandora smiled.

Dorcas muttered that they would never reach the castle at this rate.

Sam continued through the trees with Regulus held close against his chest, watching every step, every root and every patch of mud as though the forest itself had become a personal threat.

Regulus remained in his arms.

Annoyed.

Unimpressed.

Entirely uninjured.

And, despite every protest, still holding on.

They started walking.

Not neatly.

Not quietly.

And certainly not with anything resembling trust.

The sixteen students spread themselves through the trees in a loose, shifting formation, with Sam and Dean caught among them like two pieces from a completely different puzzle.

James, Sirius and Peter remained close to Remus.

Barty, Evan, Pandora and Dorcas stayed near Regulus.

Lily kept trying to push everyone into something approaching an organised line.

Mary and Marlene ignored her.

Alice and Frank attempted to remember which trees they had already passed.

Fabian and Gideon immediately began arguing over whether the silver path created by Regulus’s spell looked more trustworthy than the route James had chosen earlier.

Dean walked near the front with one hand resting close to his gun.

He had picked it up again before they moved.

He had not drawn it.

No one appeared reassured by that distinction.

Sam stayed in the middle of the group.

Regulus remained in his arms.

That distinction reassured no one either.

“You can put me down now,” Regulus said.

Sam stepped over a thick root.

“No.”

“You have been carrying me for several minutes.”

“I know.”

“I am not injured.”

“You might be.”

“I have felt no pain.”

“Shock can do that.”

“I am not in shock.”

“You were held at gunpoint.”

“So were fifteen other people.”

Sam looked around.

None of the other fifteen students were being carried.

He frowned.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

Regulus stared up at him.

“It proves your reasoning is inconsistent.”

“Maybe they’re all hurt.”

Dean glanced over his shoulder.

“No.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you’re not carrying sixteen people.”

Sam adjusted Regulus higher against his chest as the ground dipped.

Regulus’s arm tightened around his shoulders automatically.

Sam smiled.

Regulus noticed immediately.

“Stop.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You smiled.”

“I’m allowed to smile.”

“Not because I held on.”

“You did hold on.”

“Because you shifted me without warning.”

“You would’ve fallen.”

“I was already being carried.”

“Exactly.”

Regulus looked away.

The faint pink at the tips of his ears deepened.

Dean watched the entire exchange over his shoulder.

He walked directly into a low branch.

The branch struck him across the forehead.

Dean recoiled.

“Son of a—”

Marlene snorted.

Mary laughed openly.

Fabian and Gideon both applauded.

Sirius smiled with vicious satisfaction.

“The forest dislikes you.”

Dean rubbed his forehead.

“The feeling’s mutual.”

Pandora looked up into the branches.

“It was defending Regulus.”

Dean stared at her.

“From what?”

“Your disapproval.”

“I don’t care enough for the trees to get involved.”

The branch bent downward again.

Dean stepped away from it.

Pandora smiled.

Dean looked deeply unsettled.

Dorcas sighed.

“It is only a branch.”

“It moved.”

“It is windy.”

“There is no wind.”

The leaves above them remained perfectly still.

Dorcas looked at Pandora.

Pandora looked pleased.

Dean pointed at the tree.

“That is exactly the kind of thing that makes people think you’re evil.”

Lily turned around while continuing to walk.

“We have already established that we are not evil.”

“We established you’re not demons.”

“There are other kinds of evil,” Barty said.

Evan looked at him.

“Do not help.”

“I am being honest.”

“You are being threatening.”

“They tied us to the ground.”

“They apologised.”

Dean glanced toward Evan.

“Thank you.”

Evan’s expression remained cool.

“That was not forgiveness.”

Dean exhaled through his nose.

“Of course it wasn’t.”

The silver thread of light floated ahead of them, weaving between trunks.

Regulus kept his wand raised from within Sam’s arms, its tip connected to the narrow shining path.

Sam watched the spell with open fascination.

The light did not move like anything natural.

It drifted and curled without fading, bending around obstacles as though it could see them. Whenever the group reached a split between the trees, it divided into several thinner strands. Regulus would murmur another word, twist his wrist and force them back together.

Sam looked down at him.

“How does it know where to go?”

Regulus glanced up.

“It follows concentrations of established magic.”

“What does that mean?”

“The castle is protected by wards. The spell senses them.”

“The wards we somehow got through.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Regulus looked toward Dean.

“That remains unclear.”

Dean glanced back.

“Maybe your wards are bad.”

Sixteen expressions turned offended.

Dean stopped walking.

“What?”

“Our wards are not bad,” James said.

“They let us in.”

“They are some of the strongest protective enchantments in Europe,” Lily replied.

Dean spread his hands.

“Again, they let us in.”

“That should not have been possible,” Frank said.

“But it happened.”

“Perhaps they wanted you here,” Pandora suggested.

Dean stared at her.

“Why?”

“The castle becomes lonely.”

Dean turned toward Sam.

“Tell me she’s joking.”

Sam looked at Pandora.

Pandora smiled dreamily.

“I don’t know.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I’ve got.”

Dean muttered something under his breath and faced forward again.

Sam looked down at Regulus.

“Are castles alive?”

“Not generally.”

“Generally?”

“Hogwarts is unusual.”

Dean’s shoulders rose.

“Nope.”

“You have not even seen it yet,” Alice said.

“Don’t need to.”

“You crossed invisible wards and followed sixteen magical students through an enchanted forest,” Mary said. “I think the castle is no longer the strangest part of your day.”

Dean looked over his shoulder again.

“Your friend is a werewolf.”

The group fell quiet.

Remus’s footsteps stopped.

So did James’s.

Sirius turned.

Peter moved closer to Remus.

The brief ease that had begun to form snapped at once.

Dean saw it.

His expression tightened.

Sam looked sharply at him.

“Dean.”

“What? She said the castle was the strangest thing.”

“That does not mean you need to say it like that,” Lily replied.

Dean looked at Remus.

Remus stood between James and Peter with Sirius slightly ahead of them.

The others had closed around him too.

Not with the same deliberate wall as before.

Something broader now.

Lily on one side.

Mary and Marlene nearby.

Alice and Frank behind them.

Fabian and Gideon watching Dean.

Even Barty had stopped smiling.

Dean exhaled.

“I wasn’t threatening him.”

“You keep saying things in a threatening manner,” Alice said.

“That’s just how he talks,” Sam replied.

Dean looked offended.

“It is,” Sam insisted.

Regulus shifted in his arms.

Sam immediately looked down.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“I was adjusting my robe.”

“Do you want me to move my arm?”

“I want you to put me down.”

Sam considered this.

“No.”

Regulus closed his eyes.

Dean pointed at Sam.

“And apparently that’s just how he talks now.”

Sirius scowled.

“I dislike it.”

“You and me both.”

They started walking again.

The forest became denser as they followed the silver path.

Branches knitted together overhead, reducing the weak daylight to narrow shafts that cut between the trees. Ferns brushed their robes. Moss softened their footsteps.

Dean moved carefully now.

His eyes tracked every shadow.

Sam recognised the habit.

Dean checked the ground for tracks, the trees for claw marks and the spaces between trunks for movement.

The students noticed.

Frank was the first to ask.

“What are you looking for?”

“Signs.”

“Of what?”

“Anything that might eat us.”

James looked around.

“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”

Dean stopped.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the Forbidden Forest,” Peter said.

“Yes, you all keep saying that.”

“There are things in here,” Marlene added.

“What things?”

The students exchanged glances.

Dean’s expression hardened.

“What things?”

“Acromantulas,” Lily said.

Dean waited.

“Giant spiders,” Remus clarified.

Dean stared.