Fic: Damned Demented Demons 10/32 (SPN/HP)
May. 7th, 2009 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreTitle: Damned Demented Demons 10/32
Author: ME!
Fandoms: Supernatural/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13 (for swearing)
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, Spoilers up to 4x17 for Supernatural. (Though the story is set around 4x10/4x11)
Disclaimer: Sam and Dean belong to Kripke, Harry Potter belongs to Rowling.
A/N: I thought that the Battle of Hogwarts took place in Spring 1997...so that's what I based my timeline on. Since then I've seen that most sources have it in 1998. Ah well. In this story it's 1997.
A/N to chap 10: Yay for chapter 10! I'm away all weekend, so I'm not sure when I'll get chap 11 up, I'll aim for Wednesday, maybe. I really can't tell if these chapters are too long or too short anymore, I try to pick good cut off points...and damn, I wanted to end this one at the first break, but that was WAY too short.
Summary: In which the plan is revealed, a favour is called in, and Sam and Dean travel wizard-style.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Once they were back at the hotel room, and Harry had cast warming charms on all their coffee and pancakes, he began to outline the plan.
"It's relatively simple," Harry said. "The Ministry actually doesn't have that much security. Once you are passed the security desk, you aren't supervised or watched in anyway. If we go at night, there will only be one security guard at the desk and no one in the hallways who would have the required security clearance to be suspicious."
"So, could you just get us fake Wizard-badges to get passed the desk?" Dean asked.
"No. If I brought you down there, you would have to be registered as visitors. What's more, you'd have to present your wands for inspection at security. You don't have wands, so it would be obvious you were Muggles."
"Your team seems to have bought the cover story that you gave them about knowing us from the war. Couldn't you just feed that story to anyone who asked?" Sam wondered.
"Yes and no. I could, it's true. But it would still bring far too much attention to you. When I came up with that story, I didn't know..." Harry paused, not wanting to say, 'I didn't know what Department was after you', so he continued as vaguely as possible. "Well, the point is, I think we need to attract as little attention as possible."
Harry could tell by the way Dean was looking at him that he had noticed the vagueness of his reply. He held his breath for a moment, but Dean just looked at him and said,
"So, tell us the plan then."
"We'll go in with just four of us - You two, Phil, and I. We'll leave the rest of the team here with instructions to monitor the Dementors. They won't know where we are going, only that we are not to be disturbed and will report back in the morning. The four of us will apparate to Boston. It's a long jump, but Phil and I have done it before and should be able to handle taking one person each. Once in Boston we'll head to the Ministry...and this is where it'll get a bit complicated and you'll have to trust me."
Harry paused, and made sure to focus his attention on the Winchesters to gauge their reactions to what he was about to say.
"We'll 'disguise' you," Harry said. "Dean will be me, and Sam will be Deacon."
"Uh..." Sam said, just as Dean said, "What?!"
"Harry, I mean, besides the green eyes, Dean looks nothing like you...and I'm twice the size of Deacon," Sam stated slowly, as if Harry had perhaps lost his mind. It would have made Harry laugh, if he wasn't so preoccupied with how he was going to explain this.
"Maybe 'disguise' is the wrong word" Harry said. "I really mean that you will be me, or, well, have my body..."
"I'm going to possess you?" Dean asked in confusion. "Dude, that's impossible. I'm not a demon."
"No, no," Harry said. "There's this potion. It can change you into someone else. I'll still have my body too, so essentially, there will be two of me walking around, only one of them will be you. Does that make sense?"
Both Winchesters wore identical expressions of concerned confusion.
"I guess," Sam said. "but won't having two of you be even more suspicious than just keeping us the way we are?"
"I'm going to be invisible," Harry answered with a wave of his hand.
"Why don't we all just go invisible?" Sam asked.
"Disillusionment charms are easily noticed by trained security, but I have an invisibility cloak," Harry answered. "It's not perfect either, but it's better than any spell I could do, and you guys will be enough a distraction that they won't even be suspicious."
"Alright," Dean said. "When do we move out, and where's Phil?"
"We'll go tonight," Harry replied, "that way there will be no one around once we are through security. Phil is currently in New Orleans. He's got a contact with Louisiana's magic government and can get us the potion we need. It's better for him to get it there than in Boston, even if there's record of him requesting the potion, by the time it goes through the proper channels between the two governments, we'll be long gone. Sometimes red-tape works to our advantage."
"You've lost us again," Sam said.
"Sorry...umm, how can I explain this," Harry wondered. "The United States, well...it's not exactly United, at least, not for Wizards. North America has 5 different magical countries and a handful of Independent magical territories. Louisiana is a territory, New Orleans is where they have their administration and school. The countries all belong to the North American Magic Union, so they cooperate on intelligence, education and so on. Anyway, I'm here because the British...well, the American Ministry - which is, at least officially, considered a dominion of the British Ministry, asked me to come help with the Dementors, but I'm allowed to travel freely and operate around the entire continent because I fall under "security" which is a shared resource under the Union."
"My head hurts," Dean stated.
"It's not important. The point is, Phil is in New Orleans getting us the potion we need," Harry smiled.
"So, what do we do in the meantime?" asked Sam. Harry glanced around at all the books.
"More research?" Harry answered, and nearly laughed at the identical groans the Winchesters made. "If it makes you feel any better, I've got a much more unpleasant task."
Dean and Sam both stilled, and then Dean spoke.
"What's that?"
"I've got to call in a favour," Harry sighed with dread.
Harry excused himself from the room. He had argued with Phil about it all last night, but to no avail. In order to get at the files in the Department of Mysteries to find out why they were interested in the Winchesters, Harry needed an inside man. He needed the help of an Unspeakable. Harry also needed someone that could be underhanded enough to break into the files and would never tell a single soul that he had helped Harry Potter.
Harry didn't just need an Unspeakable, he needed Draco Malfoy.
* *
Once Harry had left the room. Dean and Sam shared a glance.
"Well, that was vague and slightly ominous sounding," Dean muttered. Sam huffed in response and shook his head.
"Wizards, man. Just when I thought we had seen everything," Dean continued. "I don't think I can take another day couped up in here reading these weird useless books."
"Well, it sounds like we're going to Boston tonight," Sam said. "Why don't you use the laptop figure out if there's anything in Boston we should be aware of."
"Like what?" Dean said. "You looking to do a job on the side when we already got all this Crazy going on. I thought you were the one that wanted me to slow down."
"I don't know, man," Sam replied. "Maybe I just want to do something that I understand."
"I hear ya," Dean answered. "Alright, I'll look into Boston. How about you look through these books and see if anything mentions the magic political situation - now that we know these people exist, I want to know whose territory I'm driving into from state to state."
The Winchesters split up to their separate tasks. Dean didn't find anything particularly supernatural about Boston, but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't anything there, so he kept looking. He tried checking for demonic activity, but the problem was that weather patterns were screwed up all over the eastern sea-board due to the Dementors.
"Hey, Dean," Sam broke the silence a half hour later, "check this out...After the war, there was much speculation about how Lord Voldemort had survived his first defeat at the hands of the infant Harry Potter. Indeed, it is still unknown to this day, how it was that Potter was able to survive the killing curse nor how it was that Voldemort was defeated. Potter's official statement is that it was not him who defeated Voldemort on that Halloween night, but rather his mother, even though by all accounts, including his own, his mother had already been killed...uhh, hold up, where's the part that...oh here: In statements taken from Harry Potter in the months after the war, it was revealed that Voldemort used dark magic known as a "Horcrux" in order to stave off death. Horcruxes store a part of someone's soul allowing them to live without body. Although the exact number of Horcruxes used by Voldemort is unknown to anyone but Potter, Granger, and R. Weasley, the wording of their statements suggest that it there had been several. Potter having claimed that Neville Longbottom destroyed the final Horcrux when he slew the snake Nagini."
"Uh, fascinating, Sam, but why are you telling me this?" Dean asked, eyebrow knit together."We already know that Harry killed that evil bastard and that's why he's all famous and shit."
"But the part about the Horcruxes, Dean!" Sam said. "This Voldemort guy was the last one to use Dementors, maybe Harry didn't get all of him...maybe there are still parts of his soul out there."
"So...are you admitting that this might have absolutely nothing to do with Lilith?" Dean replied, raising his eyebrows. Sam grimaced.
"Nevermind," Sam muttered. "Just thought maybe we could ask Harry if he's sure the dude is dead, that's all."
"Sam, as much as I agree that it's a reasonable explanation," Dean began. "That Voldemort guy killed Harry's family...killed his mom. I think he would have made sure the son of a bitch was completely dead."
Sam looked down at the book in his hands and sighed, "yeah...yeah, you're right."
Dean just turned back to the laptop, but he wasn't really paying attention to the screen anymore. He couldn't help thinking about Harry losing his parents when he was just half a year older than Sammy had been when...and Harry had said that the family he lived with after had abused him. Dean started to wonder if maybe Harry's wirey physique and short stature weren't actually hereditary. They had lived in a lot of crappy neighbourhoods growing up, and Dean had seen kids who didn't have people looking after them properly. He glanced over at Sam - the friggin giant - and remembered all the times that their Dad went away and Sam ate all the food within two days and Dean had to figure out how to earn enough money to buy more. Maybe he had failed Sam in other ways, but he had done right sometimes - there was no denying that.
"Dude," Dean spoke up, suddenly in the mood for joking, "what the hell kind of name is Neville Longbottom anyway? The British sure know how to pick sissy sounding names."
Sam snorted a laugh, shook his head, and, at the exact same moment Harry popped back into the room, said "I don't know, the Snake-Slaying part makes him sound pretty badass."
"Are you talking about Neville?" Harry asked bemused, as he took a seat at the table across from Dean.
Sam flushed as if caught out on something, and Dean bit back a smile.
"Neville Longbottom is just not a name I would associate with some badass guy who slays snakes, that's all I'm saying..." Dean replied.
Harry rolled his eyes, but smiled.
"Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily describe Neville as "badass", I mean, he's a Professor of...Botany," Harry then continued in a more serious tone, "but that doesn't mean you should undestimate him. He and I...have a lot in common. If things had gone a little differently, he'd have been the goddamn Chosen One."
"How do you mean?" Dean asked.
"Nothing...sometimes decisions are made for you, that's all I'm saying. Anyway, Neville's a war hero. And at least he wasn't named after a girl."
Sam snorted another laugh, as Dean's mouth gaped open.
"How'd you...? What is IN that file that you have on us?"
"Just a crude family tree. It doesn't take a genius..." Harry laughed.
"You have a file on us?" Sam interrupting.
"Uh, yeah," Harry said. "Bloody useless though. Thought it would tell me why the Ministry was interested in you two, but it's just the basics - you know, we keep tabs on Hunters, can't be too careful."
Dean narrowed his eyes at Harry, he already knew from their conversation that morning that it wasn't a 'standard report.' Harry had been vague about why it wasn't standard then, and now he wasn't even letting on to Sam that there was anything special about it at all. He glanced down at the scars on Harry's hand, and wondered not for the first time what had caused them. Were the words there as a statement of fact, or as punishment. They were in Harry's handwriting too it seemed. It was easy to compare when Harry had his crazy spellwork notes spread all over the table the night before.
"I'm not lying," Harry said, and Dean realized that he had been caught staring at the words. Harry clasped his hands together, brushing the scars with his fingertips. "The file really doesn't give me any information as to why the Ministry is interested in you. It's why I called in the favour...it's a guy who can get me more information."
"That why you were gone for so long?" Dean asked, because it really was the longest Harry had been out of his sight since that night he had woken to Harry shoving chocolate down his throat.
"Yes...yeah," Harry replied. "Uh, he's meeting us tonight."
"You don't sound particularly happy about it," Sam observed from where he sat on the bed.
"We went to school together," Harry said. "We um, weren't exactly friends."
"Yet he's willing to help you?" Dean asked.
"He feels indebted to me. Believe me, he doesn't like it, and I've tried to convince him that I don't care about any of it, but umm...when I say that he tends to get even more angry with me, so it's just easier to agree that he owes me one...or several," Harry explained, shrugging.
"What did you do for him?"
Harry shrugged. Dean was surprised when it seemed that Harry actually had to think of the answer.
"I did what I would have done for anyone," Harry finally answered. "I guess he just figured that he didn't deserve it."
"Alright, man," Dean said. "But you trust him, right? He's not going to turn on us, is he?" That's all that mattered to Dean at this point, screw getting into the eccentricities of Harry's interpersonal relationships.
"No, he's not very likable, but he won't turn on us."
"Good. That's all I care about," Dean said.
"I have to go give the orders to the team," Harry said, standing. "It's too bad we need Malfoy, breaking into the Ministry would be much more fun with Ron or Hermione." And with that, Harry turned and disappeared.
"I'm not sure I like this, Dean," Sam said, once Harry was gone.
"I'm not sure it matters whether we like this or not, Sam," Dean replied.
Harry returned hours later, this time with Phil in tow. Phil had with him two hip flasks and a ziplock bag with a lock of hair in it. Dean didn't ask, but the dread building in the pit of his stomach increased.
They researched the rest of the day, only stopping to walk to the diner for supper. Everyone mostly ate in silence, their own thoughts churning in their heads. Dean wondered if maybe he should try asking Cas about it all, or maybe he should call Bobby. In the end he decided against it - not wanting to involve Bobby and not wanting to rely on friggin' angels for his intel.
Around 11pm, Dean threw the usual assortment of weapons into a pack. Harry made a noise as if to tell Dean that they were unnecessary, but Dean cut him off with a sharp glare. He made sure Sam had his gun, and then slung the bag over his shoulder. Instead of heading towards the door, the two wizards came over and stood beside Dean and Sam.
"Ok," Harry said. "Umm...remember what I said about Wizard transportation being uncomfortable?" Harry said from his position next to Dean.
"...yes," Dean replied.
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you two did your best not to vomit," Harry stated, as he grabbed Dean's arm and gave a nod to Phil.
Dean had enough time to throw a wide-eyed look to Sam, who caught his eye in an equally concerned look, and then suddenly the inside of the motel room was swirling away and he felt like he was being pulled through an extremely small opening - thinning out and stretching impossibly. Dean felt like screaming, but he wasn't even sure he had a mouth.
Then, just as suddenly, he was standing in an alleyway under the clear night sky, surrounded by buildings. Harry still beside him, the hand on his arm now steadying instead of pulling. He was grateful for the help as the world swayed around him. He swallowed against the rising bile. Leaning on the short wizard was one thing, but Dean absolutely refused to vomit.
A second after Dean and Harry had appeared in the ally, Sam and Phil arrived. Sam looked like Dean felt, and if Dean had been able to move, he would have run over to steady Sam himself. Luckily, Phil already had a steadying hand on Sam's arm, though even Phil looked a little green.
"Guh," Sam said. Dean turned a disbelieving glare at Harry.
"Really?" Dean said. "You guys choose that over driving! You should all be killed."
Harry laughed, but Phil remained serious. Dean wondered if maybe the other wizard didn't realize he was joking.
"Well, it is faster," Harry explained. "Good job on not throwing up, guys! I know it's not easy."
"Is it like that every time?" Sam asked in a shaking voice. Harry shrugged.
"You get used to it."
Harry and Phil both released their holds on the Winchesters now that they seemed to be steady on their feet. Dean moved over towards Sam, while Phil crossed over to Harry.
"You ok?" Dean asked Sam out of habit.
"I'm fine, you?" Sam replied, just as Dean heard Phil say, "He felt wrong, pulled oddly... I nearly splinched him" in a hushed tone behind him. Dean didn't think Sam had heard, he kept his face neutral even though his heart skipped a beat.
"I'm good," Dean replied, while listening to Harry's dismissive "I'll take him on the way back."
There was a clap of hands that had Dean whirling around to face Harry and Phil again, and if he hadn't heard their whispers, he would have thought nothing was wrong. Phil looked serious, but he always did, and Harry looked down right happy.
"Ok, let's get started!" Harry said. Dean hitched his pack higher on his shoulder and nodded. Phil reached into his robes and took out the two hip flasks and the ziplock bag. Harry reached a hand into his mop of black hair and yanked.
"Do I even want to know?" Dean asked warily.
"You really don't," Harry replied with a sheepish grin, but the two continued to work in plain sight, and Dean could only groan when his suspicions were confirmed as Phil took the hair out of the ziplock bag and added it to one of the hip flasks, while Harry put his own hair in the other.
"Cheers, mate," Harry said, handing the hip flask to Dean. Phil handed the other to Sam. "Just one good gulp should give us enough time."
Dean looked at Sam, perhaps hoping that he would suddenly come up with some brilliant plan that didn't involve drinking hair, but Sam just gave him a resigned little shrug.
Sighing, Dean raised the flask to his lips just as Sam did the same beside him.
Chapter 11
Masterpost
Author: ME!
Fandoms: Supernatural/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13 (for swearing)
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, Spoilers up to 4x17 for Supernatural. (Though the story is set around 4x10/4x11)
Disclaimer: Sam and Dean belong to Kripke, Harry Potter belongs to Rowling.
A/N: I thought that the Battle of Hogwarts took place in Spring 1997...so that's what I based my timeline on. Since then I've seen that most sources have it in 1998. Ah well. In this story it's 1997.
A/N to chap 10: Yay for chapter 10! I'm away all weekend, so I'm not sure when I'll get chap 11 up, I'll aim for Wednesday, maybe. I really can't tell if these chapters are too long or too short anymore, I try to pick good cut off points...and damn, I wanted to end this one at the first break, but that was WAY too short.
Summary: In which the plan is revealed, a favour is called in, and Sam and Dean travel wizard-style.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Once they were back at the hotel room, and Harry had cast warming charms on all their coffee and pancakes, he began to outline the plan.
"It's relatively simple," Harry said. "The Ministry actually doesn't have that much security. Once you are passed the security desk, you aren't supervised or watched in anyway. If we go at night, there will only be one security guard at the desk and no one in the hallways who would have the required security clearance to be suspicious."
"So, could you just get us fake Wizard-badges to get passed the desk?" Dean asked.
"No. If I brought you down there, you would have to be registered as visitors. What's more, you'd have to present your wands for inspection at security. You don't have wands, so it would be obvious you were Muggles."
"Your team seems to have bought the cover story that you gave them about knowing us from the war. Couldn't you just feed that story to anyone who asked?" Sam wondered.
"Yes and no. I could, it's true. But it would still bring far too much attention to you. When I came up with that story, I didn't know..." Harry paused, not wanting to say, 'I didn't know what Department was after you', so he continued as vaguely as possible. "Well, the point is, I think we need to attract as little attention as possible."
Harry could tell by the way Dean was looking at him that he had noticed the vagueness of his reply. He held his breath for a moment, but Dean just looked at him and said,
"So, tell us the plan then."
"We'll go in with just four of us - You two, Phil, and I. We'll leave the rest of the team here with instructions to monitor the Dementors. They won't know where we are going, only that we are not to be disturbed and will report back in the morning. The four of us will apparate to Boston. It's a long jump, but Phil and I have done it before and should be able to handle taking one person each. Once in Boston we'll head to the Ministry...and this is where it'll get a bit complicated and you'll have to trust me."
Harry paused, and made sure to focus his attention on the Winchesters to gauge their reactions to what he was about to say.
"We'll 'disguise' you," Harry said. "Dean will be me, and Sam will be Deacon."
"Uh..." Sam said, just as Dean said, "What?!"
"Harry, I mean, besides the green eyes, Dean looks nothing like you...and I'm twice the size of Deacon," Sam stated slowly, as if Harry had perhaps lost his mind. It would have made Harry laugh, if he wasn't so preoccupied with how he was going to explain this.
"Maybe 'disguise' is the wrong word" Harry said. "I really mean that you will be me, or, well, have my body..."
"I'm going to possess you?" Dean asked in confusion. "Dude, that's impossible. I'm not a demon."
"No, no," Harry said. "There's this potion. It can change you into someone else. I'll still have my body too, so essentially, there will be two of me walking around, only one of them will be you. Does that make sense?"
Both Winchesters wore identical expressions of concerned confusion.
"I guess," Sam said. "but won't having two of you be even more suspicious than just keeping us the way we are?"
"I'm going to be invisible," Harry answered with a wave of his hand.
"Why don't we all just go invisible?" Sam asked.
"Disillusionment charms are easily noticed by trained security, but I have an invisibility cloak," Harry answered. "It's not perfect either, but it's better than any spell I could do, and you guys will be enough a distraction that they won't even be suspicious."
"Alright," Dean said. "When do we move out, and where's Phil?"
"We'll go tonight," Harry replied, "that way there will be no one around once we are through security. Phil is currently in New Orleans. He's got a contact with Louisiana's magic government and can get us the potion we need. It's better for him to get it there than in Boston, even if there's record of him requesting the potion, by the time it goes through the proper channels between the two governments, we'll be long gone. Sometimes red-tape works to our advantage."
"You've lost us again," Sam said.
"Sorry...umm, how can I explain this," Harry wondered. "The United States, well...it's not exactly United, at least, not for Wizards. North America has 5 different magical countries and a handful of Independent magical territories. Louisiana is a territory, New Orleans is where they have their administration and school. The countries all belong to the North American Magic Union, so they cooperate on intelligence, education and so on. Anyway, I'm here because the British...well, the American Ministry - which is, at least officially, considered a dominion of the British Ministry, asked me to come help with the Dementors, but I'm allowed to travel freely and operate around the entire continent because I fall under "security" which is a shared resource under the Union."
"My head hurts," Dean stated.
"It's not important. The point is, Phil is in New Orleans getting us the potion we need," Harry smiled.
"So, what do we do in the meantime?" asked Sam. Harry glanced around at all the books.
"More research?" Harry answered, and nearly laughed at the identical groans the Winchesters made. "If it makes you feel any better, I've got a much more unpleasant task."
Dean and Sam both stilled, and then Dean spoke.
"What's that?"
"I've got to call in a favour," Harry sighed with dread.
Harry excused himself from the room. He had argued with Phil about it all last night, but to no avail. In order to get at the files in the Department of Mysteries to find out why they were interested in the Winchesters, Harry needed an inside man. He needed the help of an Unspeakable. Harry also needed someone that could be underhanded enough to break into the files and would never tell a single soul that he had helped Harry Potter.
Harry didn't just need an Unspeakable, he needed Draco Malfoy.
* *
Once Harry had left the room. Dean and Sam shared a glance.
"Well, that was vague and slightly ominous sounding," Dean muttered. Sam huffed in response and shook his head.
"Wizards, man. Just when I thought we had seen everything," Dean continued. "I don't think I can take another day couped up in here reading these weird useless books."
"Well, it sounds like we're going to Boston tonight," Sam said. "Why don't you use the laptop figure out if there's anything in Boston we should be aware of."
"Like what?" Dean said. "You looking to do a job on the side when we already got all this Crazy going on. I thought you were the one that wanted me to slow down."
"I don't know, man," Sam replied. "Maybe I just want to do something that I understand."
"I hear ya," Dean answered. "Alright, I'll look into Boston. How about you look through these books and see if anything mentions the magic political situation - now that we know these people exist, I want to know whose territory I'm driving into from state to state."
The Winchesters split up to their separate tasks. Dean didn't find anything particularly supernatural about Boston, but that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't anything there, so he kept looking. He tried checking for demonic activity, but the problem was that weather patterns were screwed up all over the eastern sea-board due to the Dementors.
"Hey, Dean," Sam broke the silence a half hour later, "check this out...After the war, there was much speculation about how Lord Voldemort had survived his first defeat at the hands of the infant Harry Potter. Indeed, it is still unknown to this day, how it was that Potter was able to survive the killing curse nor how it was that Voldemort was defeated. Potter's official statement is that it was not him who defeated Voldemort on that Halloween night, but rather his mother, even though by all accounts, including his own, his mother had already been killed...uhh, hold up, where's the part that...oh here: In statements taken from Harry Potter in the months after the war, it was revealed that Voldemort used dark magic known as a "Horcrux" in order to stave off death. Horcruxes store a part of someone's soul allowing them to live without body. Although the exact number of Horcruxes used by Voldemort is unknown to anyone but Potter, Granger, and R. Weasley, the wording of their statements suggest that it there had been several. Potter having claimed that Neville Longbottom destroyed the final Horcrux when he slew the snake Nagini."
"Uh, fascinating, Sam, but why are you telling me this?" Dean asked, eyebrow knit together."We already know that Harry killed that evil bastard and that's why he's all famous and shit."
"But the part about the Horcruxes, Dean!" Sam said. "This Voldemort guy was the last one to use Dementors, maybe Harry didn't get all of him...maybe there are still parts of his soul out there."
"So...are you admitting that this might have absolutely nothing to do with Lilith?" Dean replied, raising his eyebrows. Sam grimaced.
"Nevermind," Sam muttered. "Just thought maybe we could ask Harry if he's sure the dude is dead, that's all."
"Sam, as much as I agree that it's a reasonable explanation," Dean began. "That Voldemort guy killed Harry's family...killed his mom. I think he would have made sure the son of a bitch was completely dead."
Sam looked down at the book in his hands and sighed, "yeah...yeah, you're right."
Dean just turned back to the laptop, but he wasn't really paying attention to the screen anymore. He couldn't help thinking about Harry losing his parents when he was just half a year older than Sammy had been when...and Harry had said that the family he lived with after had abused him. Dean started to wonder if maybe Harry's wirey physique and short stature weren't actually hereditary. They had lived in a lot of crappy neighbourhoods growing up, and Dean had seen kids who didn't have people looking after them properly. He glanced over at Sam - the friggin giant - and remembered all the times that their Dad went away and Sam ate all the food within two days and Dean had to figure out how to earn enough money to buy more. Maybe he had failed Sam in other ways, but he had done right sometimes - there was no denying that.
"Dude," Dean spoke up, suddenly in the mood for joking, "what the hell kind of name is Neville Longbottom anyway? The British sure know how to pick sissy sounding names."
Sam snorted a laugh, shook his head, and, at the exact same moment Harry popped back into the room, said "I don't know, the Snake-Slaying part makes him sound pretty badass."
"Are you talking about Neville?" Harry asked bemused, as he took a seat at the table across from Dean.
Sam flushed as if caught out on something, and Dean bit back a smile.
"Neville Longbottom is just not a name I would associate with some badass guy who slays snakes, that's all I'm saying..." Dean replied.
Harry rolled his eyes, but smiled.
"Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily describe Neville as "badass", I mean, he's a Professor of...Botany," Harry then continued in a more serious tone, "but that doesn't mean you should undestimate him. He and I...have a lot in common. If things had gone a little differently, he'd have been the goddamn Chosen One."
"How do you mean?" Dean asked.
"Nothing...sometimes decisions are made for you, that's all I'm saying. Anyway, Neville's a war hero. And at least he wasn't named after a girl."
Sam snorted another laugh, as Dean's mouth gaped open.
"How'd you...? What is IN that file that you have on us?"
"Just a crude family tree. It doesn't take a genius..." Harry laughed.
"You have a file on us?" Sam interrupting.
"Uh, yeah," Harry said. "Bloody useless though. Thought it would tell me why the Ministry was interested in you two, but it's just the basics - you know, we keep tabs on Hunters, can't be too careful."
Dean narrowed his eyes at Harry, he already knew from their conversation that morning that it wasn't a 'standard report.' Harry had been vague about why it wasn't standard then, and now he wasn't even letting on to Sam that there was anything special about it at all. He glanced down at the scars on Harry's hand, and wondered not for the first time what had caused them. Were the words there as a statement of fact, or as punishment. They were in Harry's handwriting too it seemed. It was easy to compare when Harry had his crazy spellwork notes spread all over the table the night before.
"I'm not lying," Harry said, and Dean realized that he had been caught staring at the words. Harry clasped his hands together, brushing the scars with his fingertips. "The file really doesn't give me any information as to why the Ministry is interested in you. It's why I called in the favour...it's a guy who can get me more information."
"That why you were gone for so long?" Dean asked, because it really was the longest Harry had been out of his sight since that night he had woken to Harry shoving chocolate down his throat.
"Yes...yeah," Harry replied. "Uh, he's meeting us tonight."
"You don't sound particularly happy about it," Sam observed from where he sat on the bed.
"We went to school together," Harry said. "We um, weren't exactly friends."
"Yet he's willing to help you?" Dean asked.
"He feels indebted to me. Believe me, he doesn't like it, and I've tried to convince him that I don't care about any of it, but umm...when I say that he tends to get even more angry with me, so it's just easier to agree that he owes me one...or several," Harry explained, shrugging.
"What did you do for him?"
Harry shrugged. Dean was surprised when it seemed that Harry actually had to think of the answer.
"I did what I would have done for anyone," Harry finally answered. "I guess he just figured that he didn't deserve it."
"Alright, man," Dean said. "But you trust him, right? He's not going to turn on us, is he?" That's all that mattered to Dean at this point, screw getting into the eccentricities of Harry's interpersonal relationships.
"No, he's not very likable, but he won't turn on us."
"Good. That's all I care about," Dean said.
"I have to go give the orders to the team," Harry said, standing. "It's too bad we need Malfoy, breaking into the Ministry would be much more fun with Ron or Hermione." And with that, Harry turned and disappeared.
"I'm not sure I like this, Dean," Sam said, once Harry was gone.
"I'm not sure it matters whether we like this or not, Sam," Dean replied.
Harry returned hours later, this time with Phil in tow. Phil had with him two hip flasks and a ziplock bag with a lock of hair in it. Dean didn't ask, but the dread building in the pit of his stomach increased.
They researched the rest of the day, only stopping to walk to the diner for supper. Everyone mostly ate in silence, their own thoughts churning in their heads. Dean wondered if maybe he should try asking Cas about it all, or maybe he should call Bobby. In the end he decided against it - not wanting to involve Bobby and not wanting to rely on friggin' angels for his intel.
Around 11pm, Dean threw the usual assortment of weapons into a pack. Harry made a noise as if to tell Dean that they were unnecessary, but Dean cut him off with a sharp glare. He made sure Sam had his gun, and then slung the bag over his shoulder. Instead of heading towards the door, the two wizards came over and stood beside Dean and Sam.
"Ok," Harry said. "Umm...remember what I said about Wizard transportation being uncomfortable?" Harry said from his position next to Dean.
"...yes," Dean replied.
"Well, I'd appreciate it if you two did your best not to vomit," Harry stated, as he grabbed Dean's arm and gave a nod to Phil.
Dean had enough time to throw a wide-eyed look to Sam, who caught his eye in an equally concerned look, and then suddenly the inside of the motel room was swirling away and he felt like he was being pulled through an extremely small opening - thinning out and stretching impossibly. Dean felt like screaming, but he wasn't even sure he had a mouth.
Then, just as suddenly, he was standing in an alleyway under the clear night sky, surrounded by buildings. Harry still beside him, the hand on his arm now steadying instead of pulling. He was grateful for the help as the world swayed around him. He swallowed against the rising bile. Leaning on the short wizard was one thing, but Dean absolutely refused to vomit.
A second after Dean and Harry had appeared in the ally, Sam and Phil arrived. Sam looked like Dean felt, and if Dean had been able to move, he would have run over to steady Sam himself. Luckily, Phil already had a steadying hand on Sam's arm, though even Phil looked a little green.
"Guh," Sam said. Dean turned a disbelieving glare at Harry.
"Really?" Dean said. "You guys choose that over driving! You should all be killed."
Harry laughed, but Phil remained serious. Dean wondered if maybe the other wizard didn't realize he was joking.
"Well, it is faster," Harry explained. "Good job on not throwing up, guys! I know it's not easy."
"Is it like that every time?" Sam asked in a shaking voice. Harry shrugged.
"You get used to it."
Harry and Phil both released their holds on the Winchesters now that they seemed to be steady on their feet. Dean moved over towards Sam, while Phil crossed over to Harry.
"You ok?" Dean asked Sam out of habit.
"I'm fine, you?" Sam replied, just as Dean heard Phil say, "He felt wrong, pulled oddly... I nearly splinched him" in a hushed tone behind him. Dean didn't think Sam had heard, he kept his face neutral even though his heart skipped a beat.
"I'm good," Dean replied, while listening to Harry's dismissive "I'll take him on the way back."
There was a clap of hands that had Dean whirling around to face Harry and Phil again, and if he hadn't heard their whispers, he would have thought nothing was wrong. Phil looked serious, but he always did, and Harry looked down right happy.
"Ok, let's get started!" Harry said. Dean hitched his pack higher on his shoulder and nodded. Phil reached into his robes and took out the two hip flasks and the ziplock bag. Harry reached a hand into his mop of black hair and yanked.
"Do I even want to know?" Dean asked warily.
"You really don't," Harry replied with a sheepish grin, but the two continued to work in plain sight, and Dean could only groan when his suspicions were confirmed as Phil took the hair out of the ziplock bag and added it to one of the hip flasks, while Harry put his own hair in the other.
"Cheers, mate," Harry said, handing the hip flask to Dean. Phil handed the other to Sam. "Just one good gulp should give us enough time."
Dean looked at Sam, perhaps hoping that he would suddenly come up with some brilliant plan that didn't involve drinking hair, but Sam just gave him a resigned little shrug.
Sighing, Dean raised the flask to his lips just as Sam did the same beside him.
Chapter 11
Masterpost
