Chapter Text
Cas hurried through the winding hallways, up the back flight of stairs and down another hallway until he reached his sixth year English Lit class. His parents weren’t very pleased that he’d chosen to go for a degree in teaching English and Creative Writing instead of Magical History but this was his life, not theirs, and history was only so interesting before it all became repetitive. He wanted to instill a love of books on younger generations, to see at least a few of them every year fall in love with reading, and be able to share his passion with them, so that one day, at least one of them might want to teach English too. Creative Writing was an extremely wonderful outlet for expression, and he was eager to share another passion of his with his future students, and see what wondrous things they could dredge up from the depths of their imaginations. It was going to be so exciting! His brother Mike called him naïve and at times even delusional in thinking that children today would be eager to learn anything but he didn’t care. He wanted to teach and there was nothing that was going to stop him.
He settled into his seat at the back of the lecture hall and listened as the professor started talking about The Faerie Queene, and the different allegorical interpretations of the epic Spencerian poem. It wasn’t his favorite period for English literature, but it was pretty close. As the professor droned on, Cas looked around the room. This particular room was semi-circular, with seats going up to ten rows, filling ¾ of the teaching space. This gives Cas a fairly good view of the other students. Some were dutifully taking notes, as if it were vital to write down every novel and poem in excruciating detail that ever came out of that period. He already knew all of the works the professor was talking about because he was the type to study as far ahead as he could possibly manage. For this course he’d practically studied the entire syllabus before the class had ever even started. English had always come easily to him. It was spells and enchantments that were a real bitch.
Looking around, he saw several students sleeping, and a bunch more were typing away on their phones. He idly wondered if they had also studied the material ahead of time or if they were just lazy. In the end it didn’t matter, only his own grades did. A student two seats over was working on magic, he could see the sparks of electricity flashing between her fingertips. Students weren’t supposed to practice magic outside of the designated classrooms, unless they were a fourth year or higher. He wondered if she was a fourth year. He happened to be in his sixth year and if he wanted, he could pass the time with minor spells, but he happened to like this class and didn’t want to distract the professor. The young lady caught his eye and smirked before dropping her hands back to her desk. Probably not a fourth year then if she stopped after being noticed. He turned away from her and sought out a familiar head of light brown hair down in the front row. Dean Winchester had been here as long as he had, though what the man’s major was, Cas had no idea.
Their paths had only crossed a half dozen times in six years, and Dean wasn’t in any of his magic courses. That meant he wasn’t a witch. But what was he? This was something Cas had pondered for years now. Was Dean a vampire? No, they tended to take the night classes. It wasn’t because they would burn up in the sunlight, contrary to mythology, but because they tended to party a lot, and waking up before two in the afternoon was next to impossible for almost all of them.
Maybe Dean was one of the demigods. They didn’t need magic classes as most of them couldn’t practice magic even if they tried. Cas had dated a demigod his third year, and boy, talk about an ego! It had been short lived, and he’d decided after that to avoid the demigods as much as possible.
Dean had the most vibrant, beautiful green eyes and he loved the moments when they’d skim over him, even if he wasn’t really seeing Cas, it still made his stomach flutter and his heart beat faster. The man was beautiful and always had a bevy of beauties clamoring to be close to him. Dean was incredibly polite though, and always let them down as gently as possible.
Maybe he was Fae. Fae tended to draw people in with their beauty. Dean didn’t move like the Fae did though. He walked assuredly, boots heavy on the ground, and with a purpose whenever Cas saw him. No, he wasn’t Fae. They liked to wear as little clothing as possible and their feet were bare whenever it was socially acceptable. When it wasn’t, they wore flip flops everywhere. His friend Charlie was dating a fairy, Gilda, and Gilda always dressed in these short, light sundresses with flip flops when she was at school. Charlie said that when she was at home, the clothes and shoes came off, and she wouldn’t put them back on until she absolutely had to. So not Fae. Was it possible he was just a human?
Humans didn’t tend to really want to go to a school of magic, but there were sometimes a few that did. They were rare and usually pretty easy to spot.
“Oh, stop guessing.” He chided himself softly as he pulled out his phone. Two new messages, one from Charlie, inviting him over Saturday to play video games with her and Gilda (that meant being around a very naked fairy for hours as they played whatever new game Charlie happened to be enchanting at that time. She was only a fifth year but she was extremely gifted, having cast her first spell at the tender age of two. Cas hadn’t even cast his first until he was four! He decided he would check the message from his mother before telling Charlie he would be there, and boy was he glad he did. He’d plum forgotten what this weekend was!
This was the year he got his very own familiar. Looking around again he could see several others with theirs. Lucy Donnelly sat with her phone in hand, staring at the screen while her familiar, a rather intimidating looking screech owl sat on its perch beside her desk, its head swiveling constantly as it watched the other familiars in the room.
Jake Tally was trying to take notes, but his snake Zelda had other intentions. She was draped around his shoulders, reaching down with her tail to steal his pen every few minutes, and frustrating him endlessly.
Bela Talbot’s familiar was a crow named Crowley that mostly sat perched on the back of the empty chair next to hers, but every now and then, if he grew bored, or saw something shiny, he would fly off to investigate. Cas had lost a silver pen to the bird that Bela had embarrassingly returned at the end of class two months prior. He didn’t mind though, Crowley was actually kind of cool.
Chuck, whose last name Cas just could not remember, had a mouse as his. Cas thought maybe that was fitting, considering how skittish Chuck was.
Andy, another one whose name he couldn’t completely recall had a hissing cockroach as his familiar.
Lucifer Morningstar had a vicious looking, absolutely enormous, black pit bull that was actually the sweetest, friendliest dog Cas had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Lucifer had gotten a bad rap, mostly because people made assumptions about his familiar, but Cas had seen past the lies, and he’d made friends with Luke, and with his dog, Miss Molly.
The last student in here with a familiar was Hannah Hyde. Hers was not permitted in any classrooms though since hers was a grizzly bear. Cas couldn’t imagine having one of those as his familiar! The bear, his name was Fred, was rather gentle, which was not at all indicative of the species. Cas chalked it up to the fact that he was a familiar and not just your average, run of the mill grizzly.
He was curious what his familiar would be. There was no way to know before the ceremony was completed, and even after it was done he still had to wait for his familiar to find him. The magical pull would be irresistible once the spell was complete. The natural laws of magic dictated what familiar a witch would have and once the link had been made, it could be broken only by death of the witch or the familiar. It was because the spell made for a much longer than average lifespan for the familiar, one that would match the length of their witch. The only way a familiar could die before their witch was if they were killed. He planned to never let that happen to his, whatever it may be. It was exciting knowing he was ready to accept his. This was, after all, the eve of his 25th birthday.
After texting Charlie to tell her why he couldn’t come this weekend, he sent Hannah a message, excitedly telling her this was finally his time. She read the message and smiled at him from her seat across the room. Had the professor not seated everyone himself, he’d have sat with his friends, but alas, he was made to sit between Gordon Walker, a vampire with an incredibly bad attitude who actually took day classes because he was not into partying in the slightest, and Josie Rinkle, another witch who was in her third year. She had an affinity for English and languages, so she was plowing her way through all of her English courses.
When class ended, Cas gathered his things and with a snap of his fingers, his books were transported back to his dorm room. This was his last class of the day and he hated carrying them. Hannah made her way over as he started for the door and patted his shoulder.
“Are you excited? You could end up with anything, you know.”
“I am very excited. I’ve been thinking. Is there any truth to what they say about what previous family members had as their familiars would determine what I might get?” He asked. “Because my brother Gabriel has a ferret, which is very fitting actually, she’s as mischievous as he is, and my sister Anna has a wolf. It’s a timber wolf and incredibly docile, considering. My brother Michael’s is a bird though, a bird of paradise, to be exact. It’s odd that his is not a mammal.”
“No, I don’t think it makes a difference. My mom’s was an eagle, my dad’s a turtle. I ended up with a bear. Who knows what my sister will get?” She shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Whatever you get, it will be loyal and very eager to help you when you need it.”
He nibbled thoughtfully at his lower lip as they made their way out into the hall. They lingered, walking slowly as they talked and when Dean came out of the room and headed in the other direction, he couldn’t help but stare.
“You should ask him out.” Hannah broke through his thoughts and he blushed deeply as he looked away from Dean’s retreating figure.
“I can’t. I’ve never asked anyone out, they always ask me out because I’m just so awkward. Do…you know what he is, per chance? I find myself wondering quite often.”
She smiled knowingly as she hooked her arm through his and pulled him down the hall.
“No, I do not, but he is awful handsome, isn’t he?”
He sighed as he thought again about Dean’s bright green eyes, those plush lips, that body…
“He’s gorgeous. I wish he’d look my way.”
“Well, as far as I can tell, he’s very focused on his studies. I hear his brother is a second year and is a bit of a genius. Rumor is, he’s in here to become a lawyer, intending to work on behalf of the state to persecute those using magic in an unlawful manner. In other words, he wants to crack down on those using dark magic. It’s an admirable career choice, especially for one so young to make. I still don’t know if I want to apply to be a healer or if I’m better suited to teaching.” This time it was her that sighed. He grinned and squeezed her arm lightly as they walked down the stairs together.
“You’ll figure it out when you’re ready. Let the fates guide you. As soon as I know what I have, I’ll message you. I really hope it’s not a cockroach, they creep me out.” He shuddered and she laughed at his joke.
“You just work on your thank you to your familiar for when they do finally arrive.”
“I already have it planned out.” Of course he’d written it years ago. She rolled her eyes fondly.
“Of course you do.”