SuperPotterLock- The Prisoner of Azkaban

The Leaky Cauldron

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

'Castiel?' Harry said as he approached the stairs

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

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

Castiel rubbed his arm and looked around the room.

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

'Yeah, of course.'

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

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

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

Castiel shrugged.

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

'That's horrible!' said Harry.

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

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

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

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

Castiel's uninjured eye widened.

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

'Yeah. Unfortunately.'

Castiel sighed.

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

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

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

''Night.'

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