SuperPotterLock - The Order of the Phoenix

The Beetle at Bay

Dean woke late on Saturday morning, and found Cas dithering in the Entrance Hall. He hadn't been in the Great Hall for a meal since he'd come back.

'Hey, you okay?' Dean asked.

Cas shook his head. 'I don't want everyone to stare at me.'

Dean looked inside and saw most of the other students were gathered around copies of the Daily Prophet. 'I think they have bigger fish to fry,' he said. 'Come on.'

Cas reluctantly followed Dean inside, and breathed a sigh of relief when no one so much as glanced up from their papers as they sat next to Hermione at the Gryffindor table. It was soon evident why; the report of the Azkaban breakout had come out, and everyone was whispering, pointing at the pictures of the escaped Death Eaters, all wearing similar, frightened expressions.

In all, ten Death Eaters had broken out of Azkaban, including Bellatrix Lestrange.

'And there's more,' Hermione said in a low voice, turning the pages of her newspaper, showing them an article titled: TRAGIC DEMISE OF MINISTRY OF MAGIC WORKER.

'Remember Broderick Bode, with the Order?' Hermione said. 'Someone sent him some Devil's Snare. You can imagine what happened.' She looked utterly disgusted as she scanned the article again.

'Why would they do that?' Cas asked, horrified.

'To stop him from talking,' Sherlock said darkly. 'You-Know-Who tried to force him to break into the Ministry after hours. He knew too much.'

Dean shook his head. 'Well it's a creative murder if nothing else.'

Sherlock snorted, but Hermione frowned disapprovingly.

Just then Harry, who was also late waking, slid into a seat next to Cas. 'Hey, I had an idea,' he said.

'All right,' Cas said in surprise.

'I was thinking - you know how you're going to show me Occlumency? Well, why don't you teach it to the DA?'

Cas bit his lip. 'I don't know, Harry... I'm not that good at it, and I don't know Legilimency at all, so there's no way to tell if they're doing it right or not.'

'Yeah, I know, but wouldn't it be better to have an idea of how it works so they're better prepared if someone tries to read their minds?'

Cas looked doubtful, but nodded. 'I'll try.'

Harry grinned. 'Thanks, Cas. I think everyone's free this evening, if you're up for it.'

'Um...' Cas looked at Dean, who gave him an encouraging smile. 'All right. I can do it.'

Once they were finished with breakfast, Cas went straight for the front door and out into the grounds. He tried to breathe deeply, but it only pulled on his wounds.

'You okay?' Dean asked, having followed him outside.

Cas nodded, gingerly rubbing his chest, so he wouldn't dislodge the scabs.

'You don't have to teach the whole DA if you don't want to.'

'I know,' Cas said, smiling tremulously. 'I want to do it. I think it would be good for people to learn, like Harry said. I'm just nervous.'

'Don't be, you're a great teacher,' Dean smiled. 'So what do you wanna do today?'

Cas rubbed his arm. 'I want to walk for a while, then I want to play chess.'

Dean nodded. 'I can get behind no homework for the day. Let's go.'

Cas was quieter than usual through the afternoon, playing chess with anyone who would agree to it, but Dean could see he was just trying to keep himself distracted. He was pale and shivering by the time of the meeting.