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hells_half_acreTitle: Vile Violent Vacations 9/30
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hells_half_acre
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Supernatural
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Genre: Gen
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, spoilers for Supernatural until 5x10.
Disclaimer: This is a transformative work of fiction for entertainment purposes only.
AN: Sequel to Damned Demented Demons and Bobby and Hermione - An Epistolary Fic . Updates every Wednesday (PST).
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Summary: In which games of Horsey get a little out of hand and Sam doesn't have the best night
Additional AN: I'm going to be in Germany next week. I'll have my laptop and (hopefully) internet access, so I should still be able to post the next chapter on Wednesday - but it'll be Wednesday Germany-time, not Vancouver-time...and there's a slim possibility I might forget or be delayed a day due to traveling.
Harry had just finished explaining to Andromeda and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about what were safe topics of discussion with the Winchesters and what were topics that were better left alone. Having lived through two wars, they immediately understood. Now instead of open curiosity about the Winchesters, Arthur had decided to join Molly in the sad “those poor boys” looks. Of course, once Arthur heard that the car was an encouraged conversation piece, he cheered up again.
Bill had wandered into the kitchen shortly after Harry had begun his explanation. Harry had noted the absence of Victoire, but Bill said she and Teddy were conspiring about school in the other room. Harry nodded and repeated some of what he had told the others to Bill – mainly, to just try not to ask about the Winchesters’ family or the apocalypse too much. They were meant to be on vacation.
“They sure know their stuff,” Bill said, once Andromeda, Molly, and Arthur had been distracted with helping Ginny set the table and prepare the food.
“How do you mean?” Harry asked.
“First thing they did was name what gave me the scars,” Bill replied, gesturing to his face. “Second thing they did was to ask if the bastard was dead. I can see why you’re having difficulty getting them to relax. I’m sure if I’d said he was still alive they would have gone out and killed him themselves.”
Harry shook his head at the thought of the Winchesters hunting Greyback. The thought of the werewolf still filled his stomach with ice even after so many years.
Suddenly, a distinct booming “RAWR!” was heard from the other room – even through the thick kitchen door – it was closely followed by the sounds of many children screaming. Everyone in the kitchen seemed to tense at once and turn towards the door.
“You said-!” Andromeda started, already hurrying towards the door. Luckily, Harry was closer and cut her off.
“And I’m not wrong!” Harry replied. “Everyone calm down, I’m sure it’s all perfectly innocent. I’ll go check – CALMLY – because there’s no need to worry.”
Besides Andromeda, who looked truly spooked, the other wizards just looked vaguely concerned and slightly curious. Harry opened the door and the screaming was clearly audible now, along with Dean’s deep voice yelling “Get’m!” Harry had to admit, it certainly didn’t sound good. He closed the door behind him, just as he saw Andromeda’s wand appear in her hand.
Harry didn’t have to muffle his footsteps, because they were drowned out by the noise coming from the living room. As soon as the door snicked shut behind him, Harry could hear how the screams dissolved into giggles.
He got to the archway into the living room in time to see Teddy launch himself at Sam’s couched back. As soon as Teddy had a grip around Sam’s neck and his legs wrapped around Sam’s middle, Sam straightened to his full height as though Teddy weren’t there at all.
“RAWR!” Sam bellowed. “What was that?!”
Harry had to stifle his laughter. Sam had Teddy hanging off his back, James wrapped around his right arm, both Albus and Rose were clinging to his left arm, and Hugo and Lily were sitting on each of his feet, laughing while they clung to his calves. Meanwhile, Sam was moving around the room, as though there weren’t six children trying to tackle him to the ground. He kept carefully turning in circles, mindful not to jostle the children hanging from his arms, as he tried to look at Teddy on his back.
Once that gag had played out, Sam started slowly walking across the room to where Dean and Victoire stood by the window. Lily and Hugo squealed in delight every time Sam lifted his foot to take a step.
“RAWR! I’m going to get you Dean Winchester!” Sam said with a smile. Harry decided this was too good not to share, and he sent a quick Patronus spell behind him to instruct the others to come out of the kitchen, but to do so quietly.
“Oh no!” said Dean in fake fright, then he reached beside him and grabbed Victoire by the shoulders, dragging her in front of him like a shield. “Quick, pretty girl, rescue me!”
Victoire turned around and smacked Dean in the arm, with laughing eyes, just as Harry felt the presence of more people behind him watching the scene unfold.
“You’re supposed to save me!” Victoire told Dean incredulously.
“Who says?” Dean demanded. Victoire furrowed her eyebrows at that, then Sam let out another roar.
“Well what am I supposed to do?!” Victoire asked as Sam approached, a wide disbelieving smile on her face as Dean comically tried to fold himself into the space behind her.
Harry could see the flicker of mischief in Dean’s eyes as he gave his brother a look before answering.
“Every monster has a weakness, Vicki,” Dean told her, “and I happen to know that the Sammy-monster is...” and then Dean dropped his voice to a loud whisper “...ticklish.”
“Dean, no!” Sam said with wide-eyes, as Victoire smirked and advanced on him. Dean just stood back and laughed. Sam added, “The kids! I’ll crush the kids!” just as Victoire’s fingers reached Sam’s middle. And then Dean was in motion as Sam started to laugh and involuntarily squirm away from being tickled.
“Disengage kids! Disengage!” Dean said, as he swooped in and started scooping children off Sam before they fell or Sam accidentally flung them. As soon as the children were on their feet, though, they just turned on Sam and started tickling him too.
“Oh god!” Sam said, dropping into the foetal position on the floor. “Stop! Please stop!”
“Alright kids,” Dean said, grabbing a couple of the kids around the waist and yanking them backwards. “You’ve successfully defeated the Sammy-monster. Now let my poor brother up before you kill him.”
The children reluctantly stopped their tickle attack, and Dean reached a hand down to a panting Sam to help him off the floor.
“Dude, you are such a pansy,” Dean said, laughing. “The angels are on crack, I mean – me I get, but you? No way, you’re Luci-”
“Daddy!” James said, spotting Harry in the doorway. “Sammy was a monster!”
Both Winchesters froze and turned towards the door. Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.
“I know, James,” Harry told his son, “I was watching. We heard you guys yelling all the way from the kitchen.”
Sam and Dean ducked their heads and blushed in unison, and then Dean straightened up a bit and gave Harry a smile.
“Sorry about that,” Dean said. “Um...our game of horsey sort of got out of hand...”
“I’ll say,” Harry laughed.
“Come on then,” Ginny said with a smile, “let’s all return to the kitchen to eat. Thank you for entertaining the children.”
“No problem,” Dean said, ruffling Teddy’s multicoloured hair as he walked by, “they’re good kids.”
As they all filed back into the kitchen, Harry made a point not to catch Andromeda’s eye – the “I told you so” would be too hard to resist.
*
It seemed Harry had had a talk with his in-laws about asking personal questions, because for a good portion of the evening, Sam found himself explaining how the internet worked to Arthur. Sam almost thought he’d prefer the awkward personal questions, though Arthur seemed to be genuinely fascinated by everything Sam told him.
Sam had managed to catch a bit of the conversation between Dean and Bill about the side-effects of severe lyncanthropic attacks – until Dean made a joke about Bill suffering from PMS, then Sam pretended he wasn’t listening so well that he actually stopped listening. When Sam did tune back into Dean’s conversation during dessert, he found Dean had switched to talking to Teddy about cars. Sam decided he’d skip out on that conversation as well.
Instead he asked Molly if it would be possible to come over to her house sometime to have a look around, in order to figure out what had provoked the ghoul. He tried to keep the disgust out of his voice while he talked about it with her, if only because she seemed genuinely heartbroken that she’d had to kill the thing. Sam ignored the fact that Harry had already told him that Molly had killed a witch before, and just treated her as he would treat any civilian after their first kill. It seemed to work, because before her and Arthur said their goodbyes, she said that Sam and Dean could come over for lunch on Wednesday and have a look around.
Once Molly and Arthur had left, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron gathered up the younger children to let them work off their sugar highs in the other room. Victoire and Andromeda were absorbed in a conversation about something Sam didn’t understand – so it was either a witch thing or a woman thing, but either way he decided it was probably best if he didn’t try to join in. Harry seemed to catch on, and pulled Sam into a conversation with Bill about the nature of curse-breaking in the wizarding world. It was extremely fascinating and Sam was so absorbed in asking Bill questions that he only vaguely noted Dean leading Teddy out of the room.
It was maybe twenty minutes later, that Andromeda asked where Teddy had gone. Sam didn’t think anything of it, and answered casually.
“Dean took him somewhere,” Sam said, and then turned back to Bill to ask more about the morality of Goblins.
“What?” Andromeda said in a voice that made Sam turn back to her in confusion. “How long ago? Why? Where?”
Suddenly Sam realized there was a tension in the room that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Victoire was looking between him and Andromeda with wide confused eyes. Harry seemed a little sad and exasperated, and Bill just looked concerned.
“Androm-” Harry tried to say.
“Outside,” Sam said, interrupting Harry. He wasn’t interesting in hearing Harry placate the woman, he was interested in knowing just what she was insinuating about his brother. He had a feeling he wouldn’t like it. “Dean took him outside.”
“Why?” she asked, moving to stand. “Whatever for?”
“Andromeda, you saw them earlier,” Harry said, “they wouldn’t-”
“How do you know, Teddy’s-” Andromeda tried argued back before Harry could finish.
“Teddy’s outside looking at my brother’s car,” Sam interrupted. “Worst he’ll do is take him ‘round the block. We don’t hurt children, ma’am. Hell, we stopped an angel of the Lord from killing the anti-Christ, just because he was an innocent kid. You really think we care that Teddy’s a Shifter?”
“Metamorphmagus!” Andromeda said angrily.
“Whatever he is, it doesn’t matter!” Sam said. “Dean wouldn’t hurt one of Harry’s kids. So don’t you dare even suggest it! What the hell do you think of us?”
“You’re Hunters!” Andromeda said.
“And you’re a witch!” Sam replied, “you don’t see me lumping you in with the demon worshipping-“
“That’s enough!” Harry said, cutting Sam off before he could get to the nastier part of the sentence.
“Dromeda, how about you and I go take a look at Dean’s car as well. I’m sure you’ll be wanting to say goodbye to Teddy before you leave.”
Andromeda seemed to pull herself together and she nodded at Harry and followed him out of the room without a backwards glance. Sam tried to breathe deeply to calm the rushing of his blood.
“You’ll have to forgive her,” Bill said softly. “It’s not easy raising a boy like Teddy. Until he could control his abilities, he had to be kept away from Muggles unless he was under a constant glamour. Metamorphmagi are rare, even for the Wizarding world. Children can be cruel sometimes, especially towards those who they consider abnormal.”
Sam sighed. His first reaction had been anger, but he could see Andromeda’s point of view too. Hell, overzealous Hunters had tried to kill him before.
“Well maybe Dean and I know a little about being abnormal,” Sam muttered, “not like you guys have the market cornered on freaks.”
Bill’s eyebrows drew together at that, but thankfully he switched his attention to his daughter. Sam had actually forgotten she was in the room she had been so quiet all this time.
“Alright, sweetheart,” Bill said, “Go start saying your goodbyes to your cousins. We’ll leave with Andromeda and take the floo to the Leaky – ok? It’s a bit late to take the underground Muggle trains.”
“Yes, Papa,” Vicki said, and slipped out of the room.
“How about I fix you a drink?” Bill asked, making his way over to the highest cupboard in the kitchen, and taking out a whiskey bottle.
“That sounds great, thanks,” Sam replied. He watched Bill pour two fingers of the amber liquid into two tumblers.
“My wife is part Veela,” Bill said as he sat down across from Sam and handed him one of the glasses. “Do you know what a Veela is?” Sam shook his head. “Eastern European creatures – sexiest women you’ve ever seen, until they get angry,” Bill laughed. “When they’re angry, they’re like harpies – beaked monsters, with scaly wings and an arsenal of fireballs.”
Sam maybe shouldn’t have taken a sip of the his whiskey while Bill was explaining, because not only did he choke on it a little, it was also apparently not normal whiskey, judging by the fire burning down his throat. Bill seemed to take it as solely a reaction to the thought that his wife might turn into a monster occasionally, which saved Sam’s male pride at not being able to handle the drink.
“Of course, first thing to go when they cross-breed are the beaks and wings and fireballs, thank Merlin,” Bill reassured Sam. “So you’re left with the sexiest woman you’ve ever seen – still not a good idea to get her angry though. My wife – she’s just a quarter-Veela, but it’s enough.”
Bill reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet. He held a small picture out to Sam, so that Sam could see the beautiful woman waving from it.
“She’s gorgeous,” Sam told him.
“She is,” Bill replied. “Met her before...” Bill waved towards his face, “I was...tainted. She married me anyway and I loved her all the more for it.” He sighed, “Now I worry a little though – our kids, they’re an eighth Veela, and who knows how the hell...” Bill waved at his face again, “...this might affect them. Mind you, Teddy’s dad was a full werewolf and Teddy’s just fine. I just hope no one singles them out for having a scarred freak for a father – even if he is handsome enough to make disfiguring facial scars seem attractive.”
Sam laughed softly, and let it echo off into the quiet of the kitchen. He knew Bill wasn’t looking for reassurance. He was trying to show Sam that he trusted him.
“When I was a baby...” Sam started, surprised at the sound of his own voice, surprised he was even thinking of just telling a stranger about how much of a freak he was. “There was this demon, and he...” Sam shook his head, remembering seeing the blood dripping into his own mouth. Back when Azazel had shown him, Sam hadn’t known what it tasted like – he wondered if as a baby he had felt that same rush. He couldn’t do this. “There are Hunters who want to kill me,” Sam confessed instead. “Hunters who have tried to kill me – because they...I’m not all...”
“Sam?” Bill asked, after Sam trailed off.
“I know what it’s like to be hunted,” Sam said. “We don’t take this lightly.”
The kitchen door opened then, and Victoire bounced back into the room. Sam thought maybe he could see it now – the more ethereal beauty to the girl.
“Hey sweetheart,” Bill said, “have you said all your goodbyes?”
“Yes, Papa,” Victoire said, just as the door opened again and Harry and Andromeda came into the room.
“Did you find Teddy?” Sam asked, and was pleased when Andromeda looked slightly abashed.
“Yeah,” Harry replied, “outside by the car – just as you said.” Sam nodded. “I see Bill managed to raid my secret liquor supply,” Harry nodded towards Sam’s drink. “How do like fire-whiskey, Sam?”
Sam took an exaggerated swallow, making sure to keep his face still.
“Smooth,” Sam answered, deadpan. Harry broke into a grin and shook his head.
“I apologize for my words earlier Sam,” Andromeda said, “but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still concerned about letting Teddy stay here.” Andromeda turned to include Harry in what she said, while she continued “It’s not that I don’t trust your judgment Harry, you know I do...it’s just the stories - it goes against all my instincts to let Teddy anywhere near Hunters. You have to understand, he’s...”
“He’s all you have,” Sam finished. “I understand...and I’m also sorry.”
Sam could tell that Andromeda still doubted him. It pissed him off, but he really did understand. Bill must have picked up on Andromeda’s doubts as well though, because he stood and patted her reassuringly on the shoulder.
“There really is nothing to worry about Dromeda,” Bill said, focusing solely on her. “Sam and I had a chat while you were checking on Teddy, and I assure you – Sam isn’t the type to throw stones.”
Sam paused in taking his sip of whiskey when the words sunk in, and he felt Andromeda’s eyes slide off Bill’s and over towards Sam. Sam looked over slow, catching her eye. He made no move, but he could tell that she had picked up on what Bill was saying – he could tell that just by meeting her gaze, he had confirmed it.
His eyes slide over to Bill, who offered him a small smile – kinship. Bill considered Sam to be like him somehow, even without the details – without knowing it wasn’t a simple case of Sam liking raw meat, and getting moody once a month. It was Sam drinking an innocent woman dry. It was Sam loving the rush of the blood in his veins, the power, and the control over the demons. It was Sam’s brother locking him in a cage like an animal, because that’s what he became – hungry, reckless, and stupid. Sam wasn’t like Bill at all – maybe she was right to be afraid of him. He took his sip of whiskey, and was saved from saying anything by the kitchen door opening again.
“Hey Sammy,” Dean said, from the doorway. “Check it out!”
Dean reached behind him and pulled someone into a room. Sam had been expecting it to be Teddy, but instead it was himself. Sam was looking at himself at the age of 12, only the eyes weren’t quite right. And maybe it was because he had just been thinking of his time in the panic room, but Sam did the only logical thing he could – he freaked out.
Chapter 10
Author:
hells_half_acre Fandoms: Harry Potter, Supernatural
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Genre: Gen
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, spoilers for Supernatural until 5x10.
Disclaimer: This is a transformative work of fiction for entertainment purposes only.
AN: Sequel to Damned Demented Demons and Bobby and Hermione - An Epistolary Fic . Updates every Wednesday (PST).
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Summary: In which games of Horsey get a little out of hand and Sam doesn't have the best night
Additional AN: I'm going to be in Germany next week. I'll have my laptop and (hopefully) internet access, so I should still be able to post the next chapter on Wednesday - but it'll be Wednesday Germany-time, not Vancouver-time...and there's a slim possibility I might forget or be delayed a day due to traveling.
Harry had just finished explaining to Andromeda and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about what were safe topics of discussion with the Winchesters and what were topics that were better left alone. Having lived through two wars, they immediately understood. Now instead of open curiosity about the Winchesters, Arthur had decided to join Molly in the sad “those poor boys” looks. Of course, once Arthur heard that the car was an encouraged conversation piece, he cheered up again.
Bill had wandered into the kitchen shortly after Harry had begun his explanation. Harry had noted the absence of Victoire, but Bill said she and Teddy were conspiring about school in the other room. Harry nodded and repeated some of what he had told the others to Bill – mainly, to just try not to ask about the Winchesters’ family or the apocalypse too much. They were meant to be on vacation.
“They sure know their stuff,” Bill said, once Andromeda, Molly, and Arthur had been distracted with helping Ginny set the table and prepare the food.
“How do you mean?” Harry asked.
“First thing they did was name what gave me the scars,” Bill replied, gesturing to his face. “Second thing they did was to ask if the bastard was dead. I can see why you’re having difficulty getting them to relax. I’m sure if I’d said he was still alive they would have gone out and killed him themselves.”
Harry shook his head at the thought of the Winchesters hunting Greyback. The thought of the werewolf still filled his stomach with ice even after so many years.
Suddenly, a distinct booming “RAWR!” was heard from the other room – even through the thick kitchen door – it was closely followed by the sounds of many children screaming. Everyone in the kitchen seemed to tense at once and turn towards the door.
“You said-!” Andromeda started, already hurrying towards the door. Luckily, Harry was closer and cut her off.
“And I’m not wrong!” Harry replied. “Everyone calm down, I’m sure it’s all perfectly innocent. I’ll go check – CALMLY – because there’s no need to worry.”
Besides Andromeda, who looked truly spooked, the other wizards just looked vaguely concerned and slightly curious. Harry opened the door and the screaming was clearly audible now, along with Dean’s deep voice yelling “Get’m!” Harry had to admit, it certainly didn’t sound good. He closed the door behind him, just as he saw Andromeda’s wand appear in her hand.
Harry didn’t have to muffle his footsteps, because they were drowned out by the noise coming from the living room. As soon as the door snicked shut behind him, Harry could hear how the screams dissolved into giggles.
He got to the archway into the living room in time to see Teddy launch himself at Sam’s couched back. As soon as Teddy had a grip around Sam’s neck and his legs wrapped around Sam’s middle, Sam straightened to his full height as though Teddy weren’t there at all.
“RAWR!” Sam bellowed. “What was that?!”
Harry had to stifle his laughter. Sam had Teddy hanging off his back, James wrapped around his right arm, both Albus and Rose were clinging to his left arm, and Hugo and Lily were sitting on each of his feet, laughing while they clung to his calves. Meanwhile, Sam was moving around the room, as though there weren’t six children trying to tackle him to the ground. He kept carefully turning in circles, mindful not to jostle the children hanging from his arms, as he tried to look at Teddy on his back.
Once that gag had played out, Sam started slowly walking across the room to where Dean and Victoire stood by the window. Lily and Hugo squealed in delight every time Sam lifted his foot to take a step.
“RAWR! I’m going to get you Dean Winchester!” Sam said with a smile. Harry decided this was too good not to share, and he sent a quick Patronus spell behind him to instruct the others to come out of the kitchen, but to do so quietly.
“Oh no!” said Dean in fake fright, then he reached beside him and grabbed Victoire by the shoulders, dragging her in front of him like a shield. “Quick, pretty girl, rescue me!”
Victoire turned around and smacked Dean in the arm, with laughing eyes, just as Harry felt the presence of more people behind him watching the scene unfold.
“You’re supposed to save me!” Victoire told Dean incredulously.
“Who says?” Dean demanded. Victoire furrowed her eyebrows at that, then Sam let out another roar.
“Well what am I supposed to do?!” Victoire asked as Sam approached, a wide disbelieving smile on her face as Dean comically tried to fold himself into the space behind her.
Harry could see the flicker of mischief in Dean’s eyes as he gave his brother a look before answering.
“Every monster has a weakness, Vicki,” Dean told her, “and I happen to know that the Sammy-monster is...” and then Dean dropped his voice to a loud whisper “...ticklish.”
“Dean, no!” Sam said with wide-eyes, as Victoire smirked and advanced on him. Dean just stood back and laughed. Sam added, “The kids! I’ll crush the kids!” just as Victoire’s fingers reached Sam’s middle. And then Dean was in motion as Sam started to laugh and involuntarily squirm away from being tickled.
“Disengage kids! Disengage!” Dean said, as he swooped in and started scooping children off Sam before they fell or Sam accidentally flung them. As soon as the children were on their feet, though, they just turned on Sam and started tickling him too.
“Oh god!” Sam said, dropping into the foetal position on the floor. “Stop! Please stop!”
“Alright kids,” Dean said, grabbing a couple of the kids around the waist and yanking them backwards. “You’ve successfully defeated the Sammy-monster. Now let my poor brother up before you kill him.”
The children reluctantly stopped their tickle attack, and Dean reached a hand down to a panting Sam to help him off the floor.
“Dude, you are such a pansy,” Dean said, laughing. “The angels are on crack, I mean – me I get, but you? No way, you’re Luci-”
“Daddy!” James said, spotting Harry in the doorway. “Sammy was a monster!”
Both Winchesters froze and turned towards the door. Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.
“I know, James,” Harry told his son, “I was watching. We heard you guys yelling all the way from the kitchen.”
Sam and Dean ducked their heads and blushed in unison, and then Dean straightened up a bit and gave Harry a smile.
“Sorry about that,” Dean said. “Um...our game of horsey sort of got out of hand...”
“I’ll say,” Harry laughed.
“Come on then,” Ginny said with a smile, “let’s all return to the kitchen to eat. Thank you for entertaining the children.”
“No problem,” Dean said, ruffling Teddy’s multicoloured hair as he walked by, “they’re good kids.”
As they all filed back into the kitchen, Harry made a point not to catch Andromeda’s eye – the “I told you so” would be too hard to resist.
*
It seemed Harry had had a talk with his in-laws about asking personal questions, because for a good portion of the evening, Sam found himself explaining how the internet worked to Arthur. Sam almost thought he’d prefer the awkward personal questions, though Arthur seemed to be genuinely fascinated by everything Sam told him.
Sam had managed to catch a bit of the conversation between Dean and Bill about the side-effects of severe lyncanthropic attacks – until Dean made a joke about Bill suffering from PMS, then Sam pretended he wasn’t listening so well that he actually stopped listening. When Sam did tune back into Dean’s conversation during dessert, he found Dean had switched to talking to Teddy about cars. Sam decided he’d skip out on that conversation as well.
Instead he asked Molly if it would be possible to come over to her house sometime to have a look around, in order to figure out what had provoked the ghoul. He tried to keep the disgust out of his voice while he talked about it with her, if only because she seemed genuinely heartbroken that she’d had to kill the thing. Sam ignored the fact that Harry had already told him that Molly had killed a witch before, and just treated her as he would treat any civilian after their first kill. It seemed to work, because before her and Arthur said their goodbyes, she said that Sam and Dean could come over for lunch on Wednesday and have a look around.
Once Molly and Arthur had left, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron gathered up the younger children to let them work off their sugar highs in the other room. Victoire and Andromeda were absorbed in a conversation about something Sam didn’t understand – so it was either a witch thing or a woman thing, but either way he decided it was probably best if he didn’t try to join in. Harry seemed to catch on, and pulled Sam into a conversation with Bill about the nature of curse-breaking in the wizarding world. It was extremely fascinating and Sam was so absorbed in asking Bill questions that he only vaguely noted Dean leading Teddy out of the room.
It was maybe twenty minutes later, that Andromeda asked where Teddy had gone. Sam didn’t think anything of it, and answered casually.
“Dean took him somewhere,” Sam said, and then turned back to Bill to ask more about the morality of Goblins.
“What?” Andromeda said in a voice that made Sam turn back to her in confusion. “How long ago? Why? Where?”
Suddenly Sam realized there was a tension in the room that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Victoire was looking between him and Andromeda with wide confused eyes. Harry seemed a little sad and exasperated, and Bill just looked concerned.
“Androm-” Harry tried to say.
“Outside,” Sam said, interrupting Harry. He wasn’t interesting in hearing Harry placate the woman, he was interested in knowing just what she was insinuating about his brother. He had a feeling he wouldn’t like it. “Dean took him outside.”
“Why?” she asked, moving to stand. “Whatever for?”
“Andromeda, you saw them earlier,” Harry said, “they wouldn’t-”
“How do you know, Teddy’s-” Andromeda tried argued back before Harry could finish.
“Teddy’s outside looking at my brother’s car,” Sam interrupted. “Worst he’ll do is take him ‘round the block. We don’t hurt children, ma’am. Hell, we stopped an angel of the Lord from killing the anti-Christ, just because he was an innocent kid. You really think we care that Teddy’s a Shifter?”
“Metamorphmagus!” Andromeda said angrily.
“Whatever he is, it doesn’t matter!” Sam said. “Dean wouldn’t hurt one of Harry’s kids. So don’t you dare even suggest it! What the hell do you think of us?”
“You’re Hunters!” Andromeda said.
“And you’re a witch!” Sam replied, “you don’t see me lumping you in with the demon worshipping-“
“That’s enough!” Harry said, cutting Sam off before he could get to the nastier part of the sentence.
“Dromeda, how about you and I go take a look at Dean’s car as well. I’m sure you’ll be wanting to say goodbye to Teddy before you leave.”
Andromeda seemed to pull herself together and she nodded at Harry and followed him out of the room without a backwards glance. Sam tried to breathe deeply to calm the rushing of his blood.
“You’ll have to forgive her,” Bill said softly. “It’s not easy raising a boy like Teddy. Until he could control his abilities, he had to be kept away from Muggles unless he was under a constant glamour. Metamorphmagi are rare, even for the Wizarding world. Children can be cruel sometimes, especially towards those who they consider abnormal.”
Sam sighed. His first reaction had been anger, but he could see Andromeda’s point of view too. Hell, overzealous Hunters had tried to kill him before.
“Well maybe Dean and I know a little about being abnormal,” Sam muttered, “not like you guys have the market cornered on freaks.”
Bill’s eyebrows drew together at that, but thankfully he switched his attention to his daughter. Sam had actually forgotten she was in the room she had been so quiet all this time.
“Alright, sweetheart,” Bill said, “Go start saying your goodbyes to your cousins. We’ll leave with Andromeda and take the floo to the Leaky – ok? It’s a bit late to take the underground Muggle trains.”
“Yes, Papa,” Vicki said, and slipped out of the room.
“How about I fix you a drink?” Bill asked, making his way over to the highest cupboard in the kitchen, and taking out a whiskey bottle.
“That sounds great, thanks,” Sam replied. He watched Bill pour two fingers of the amber liquid into two tumblers.
“My wife is part Veela,” Bill said as he sat down across from Sam and handed him one of the glasses. “Do you know what a Veela is?” Sam shook his head. “Eastern European creatures – sexiest women you’ve ever seen, until they get angry,” Bill laughed. “When they’re angry, they’re like harpies – beaked monsters, with scaly wings and an arsenal of fireballs.”
Sam maybe shouldn’t have taken a sip of the his whiskey while Bill was explaining, because not only did he choke on it a little, it was also apparently not normal whiskey, judging by the fire burning down his throat. Bill seemed to take it as solely a reaction to the thought that his wife might turn into a monster occasionally, which saved Sam’s male pride at not being able to handle the drink.
“Of course, first thing to go when they cross-breed are the beaks and wings and fireballs, thank Merlin,” Bill reassured Sam. “So you’re left with the sexiest woman you’ve ever seen – still not a good idea to get her angry though. My wife – she’s just a quarter-Veela, but it’s enough.”
Bill reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet. He held a small picture out to Sam, so that Sam could see the beautiful woman waving from it.
“She’s gorgeous,” Sam told him.
“She is,” Bill replied. “Met her before...” Bill waved towards his face, “I was...tainted. She married me anyway and I loved her all the more for it.” He sighed, “Now I worry a little though – our kids, they’re an eighth Veela, and who knows how the hell...” Bill waved at his face again, “...this might affect them. Mind you, Teddy’s dad was a full werewolf and Teddy’s just fine. I just hope no one singles them out for having a scarred freak for a father – even if he is handsome enough to make disfiguring facial scars seem attractive.”
Sam laughed softly, and let it echo off into the quiet of the kitchen. He knew Bill wasn’t looking for reassurance. He was trying to show Sam that he trusted him.
“When I was a baby...” Sam started, surprised at the sound of his own voice, surprised he was even thinking of just telling a stranger about how much of a freak he was. “There was this demon, and he...” Sam shook his head, remembering seeing the blood dripping into his own mouth. Back when Azazel had shown him, Sam hadn’t known what it tasted like – he wondered if as a baby he had felt that same rush. He couldn’t do this. “There are Hunters who want to kill me,” Sam confessed instead. “Hunters who have tried to kill me – because they...I’m not all...”
“Sam?” Bill asked, after Sam trailed off.
“I know what it’s like to be hunted,” Sam said. “We don’t take this lightly.”
The kitchen door opened then, and Victoire bounced back into the room. Sam thought maybe he could see it now – the more ethereal beauty to the girl.
“Hey sweetheart,” Bill said, “have you said all your goodbyes?”
“Yes, Papa,” Victoire said, just as the door opened again and Harry and Andromeda came into the room.
“Did you find Teddy?” Sam asked, and was pleased when Andromeda looked slightly abashed.
“Yeah,” Harry replied, “outside by the car – just as you said.” Sam nodded. “I see Bill managed to raid my secret liquor supply,” Harry nodded towards Sam’s drink. “How do like fire-whiskey, Sam?”
Sam took an exaggerated swallow, making sure to keep his face still.
“Smooth,” Sam answered, deadpan. Harry broke into a grin and shook his head.
“I apologize for my words earlier Sam,” Andromeda said, “but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still concerned about letting Teddy stay here.” Andromeda turned to include Harry in what she said, while she continued “It’s not that I don’t trust your judgment Harry, you know I do...it’s just the stories - it goes against all my instincts to let Teddy anywhere near Hunters. You have to understand, he’s...”
“He’s all you have,” Sam finished. “I understand...and I’m also sorry.”
Sam could tell that Andromeda still doubted him. It pissed him off, but he really did understand. Bill must have picked up on Andromeda’s doubts as well though, because he stood and patted her reassuringly on the shoulder.
“There really is nothing to worry about Dromeda,” Bill said, focusing solely on her. “Sam and I had a chat while you were checking on Teddy, and I assure you – Sam isn’t the type to throw stones.”
Sam paused in taking his sip of whiskey when the words sunk in, and he felt Andromeda’s eyes slide off Bill’s and over towards Sam. Sam looked over slow, catching her eye. He made no move, but he could tell that she had picked up on what Bill was saying – he could tell that just by meeting her gaze, he had confirmed it.
His eyes slide over to Bill, who offered him a small smile – kinship. Bill considered Sam to be like him somehow, even without the details – without knowing it wasn’t a simple case of Sam liking raw meat, and getting moody once a month. It was Sam drinking an innocent woman dry. It was Sam loving the rush of the blood in his veins, the power, and the control over the demons. It was Sam’s brother locking him in a cage like an animal, because that’s what he became – hungry, reckless, and stupid. Sam wasn’t like Bill at all – maybe she was right to be afraid of him. He took his sip of whiskey, and was saved from saying anything by the kitchen door opening again.
“Hey Sammy,” Dean said, from the doorway. “Check it out!”
Dean reached behind him and pulled someone into a room. Sam had been expecting it to be Teddy, but instead it was himself. Sam was looking at himself at the age of 12, only the eyes weren’t quite right. And maybe it was because he had just been thinking of his time in the panic room, but Sam did the only logical thing he could – he freaked out.
Chapter 10
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Date: 2010-07-15 05:03 am (UTC)I figure for every 99 times we see the Winchesters being angsty and destroyed, we deserve a scene with a tickle fight ;)