A/N: This story will progress rather slowly. Most of it will be set in 2005 with flashbacks to tell Harry Potter AU story. Since it is AU and I am not the type to write out what happened in the books exactly, this will vary from the books and/or TV show. If I get details wrong and you must correct me, let me know and I will either fix them or explain why I changed stuff.
Disclaimer: I am making no money off of this work. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Supernatural is Kripke's baby.
The Third Task, Triwizard Tournament, June 1995
Maze, Hogwarts Grounds, Somewhere in the United Kingdom
Harry fired a spell at the acromantula charging a shocked Cedric. It was pushed back and stunned for a moment, but then continued charging.
"That's impossible!" Cedric shouted, referring to the rare species currently trying to eat them.
"There's a nest in the forest. It started back in the '40s."
Cedric was recovering and started firing spells along with Harry. "Its exoskeleton is reflecting our spells. Keep it distracted!" Cedric directed and disappeared around behind the massive arachnid. Harry fired a couple of disarming spells and tried a levitating spell to no avail. The beast was closing in and clicking its huge pincers. Venom was dripping in anticipation of the lethal bite.
From behind, Cedric attempted to stab the overgrown spider with a conjured sword. The part of the abdomen Cedric stabbed at was too tough to penetrate and just caused the acromantula to avert its attention to the other wizard.
"Here!" Harry shouted, waving his arms. His fellow Hogwarts student tossed the blade up and over the beast and drew his wand. Harry deftly caught it, child's play after playing as a seeker on his house team for three years. Without hesitating, Harry Potter dove under the massive wolf spider and stabbed up into the underside of the abdomen, piercing the vital organs. The beast shrieked and clicked in agitation. Harry rolled out from under it just as it was collapsing. The boys stood together, a true champion and a true hero, looking at the dying, rare arthropod. They had completed the maze and before them sat the prize. The golden Triwizard's Cup beckoned the groomed athlete and the reluctant boy-wonder.
"Look, without you, I wouldn't have been able to fight that thing. You deserve the cup," Cedric smiled, sadly. To give this up was very hard on the Cedric. All of his life, he had been pushed to be the best and nothing he did was good enough for his father. If he was the victor of this match, he would have achieved something his father had to give him credit for. Harry looked like he was about to argue, but Cedric cut him off. "Seriously, you have been the true Hogwarts champion. You have been brilliant with each task. Take the cup."
"Let's do it together." On the count of three…
After the Triwizard Tournament, June 1995
Infirmary, Hogwarts, Somewhere in the United Kingdom
Moonlight shone on the lake. The Whomping Willow swatted a bird. A young deer stepped out of the forest and nibbled on a small bush. A green flash and a dead boy. Tied to a tombstone. Red blood shining. Voldemort.
"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione approached her friend in the infirmary. Her friend had been set up in the furthest bed from the door. He was sitting in the window with his back to her. He didn't move. He didn't acknowledge her. Her doe eyes were too much to look in to. He was ashamed, terrified that he was see rejection. He was terrified that his best friends would condemn him. Ron and Ginny had come in with her, both stopping at the foot of the bed. They didn't speak, neither knowing what to say to Harry. He had been through so much tonight.
"Just go away." Harry's voice was bleak. Hermione shook her head slightly. She sat down on the bed and Ginny joined her. Ron stood awkwardly behind them. They all stayed silent until Harry finally turned to them with tears on his cheeks. "It's my fault that he's dead."
"You can't blame yourself, Harry. It's V-voldemort's fault. And it was Pettigrew's curse. Blame them, not yourself." Ginny spoke softly. She still had trouble saying the Dark Lord's name.
"You don't understand." He looked away from his friends into the moonlight again. Ginny stood and walked around the bed.
"How can you say that? After all the things that I did? You are the one who told me not to blame myself." She stopped when she was in front of him.
"Voldemort is back and Cedric is dead. That is my fault."
"No, you are a fourteen year old boy and he is the most powerful Dark Lord this century, possibly longer. You are a powerful wizard, Harry, but you have a lot to learn." Hermione spoke from the bed. She stood up and stood on his other side. Harry looked around at his friends. None of their faces condemned him. They looked worried. Sad, even. Ginny stood in front of him and opened her arms. He accepted the hug and dried his cheeks. Hermione rubbed his back.
"Is that Dumbledore?" Ron walked to the window. The other three turned to where Ron was looking. "What's he doing out there?" They clearly saw the old wizard strolling to the lake.
"Maybe he wanted to get some air." Harry shrugged. He was about to turn away, but something pulled him back. Suddenly, there was a woman walking with Dumbledore.
"Was she there before?"
"No…" Hermione answered Ron, her voice as surprised as his.
"I thought you couldn't apparate inside the wards," Ginny looked at Hermione. She shook her head.
"You can't."
"Let's go." Harry jumped up. Not even Hermione argued against it, though her eyes were wary.
"Four of us can't fit under the cloak," Ron pointed out.
"What cloak?" Ginny looked between them but they ignored her.
"It doesn't work on Dumbledore, anyway." Harry shrugged and pulled on his robe.
"I have an idea," Hermione the genius spoke up. They all knew she would. "There is a charm I read about in an old text to make a person nearly invisible except in direct light. It was designed to work perfectly in moonlight. We would be moving pieces of air."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Harry asked. She looked at all of them to make sure they all were ready.
"Lunae." And they were gone.
"Dumbledore." A woman's lilting voice came from his right, where there hadn't been a person before. Dumbledore continued his walk, ignoring his new companion. She was an attractive, dark haired woman. They walked in silence for quite a while. It would be amusing to the old man that he felt relaxed walking with this warrior had it not been for the news weighing on him. "Dumbledore, you know why I am here."
"What is it, Castiel?" He continued to not look at the woman, however. The angel had appeared to him at various times throughout his life. Always in a different form, although the forms always resembled one another. When Albus had been younger, he had inquired about the resemblance. The angel had answered frankly that each angel had a line of vessels. The resemblance came from family ties. The possession of bodies bothered Albus, even if it was by a servant of the Judea-Christian god.
"The Dark Wizard rose tonight."
"I am aware."
"Harry Potter must know his fate."
"I will tell him in time." Dumbledore saw a ripple in the air near a tree but sensed nothing out of the ordinary.
"I know the future, Headmaster. You do not tell him in time. The path he is on will lead to his death and the end of the European Wizarding World. The angels of the Lord will wipe it out. We need Harry Potter in the future. He is instrumental in preventing the apocalypse."
"Castiel, I refuse to tell him now and end his childhood. Let him fight when he is an adult."
"He will die before his eighteenth birthday and Voldemort will reign. It will trigger another war to end all wars amongst the muggles. This is a future you must prevent."
"How can I make that child fight against pure evil? Voldemort is too powerful. Harry is just a child." Dumbledore looked at the moonlight on the lake.
"You need time."
"Yes, exactly. He is too inexperienced."
"You misunderstand me. You need time. You can create time."
"There are only a few beings that can manipulate time. Elves are nearly extinct and haven't had contact with humans for years. Goblins refuse to help us. They are neutral and would rather see the humans destroy themselves." He turned away from the angel, looking out on the lake.
"Helga Hufflepuff was half elf." The woman informed the Headmaster. A light dawned in his eyes.
"Hogwarts still holds her magic." Dumbledore looked to his right at the dark Irish woman, but Castiel was gone. Thoughts of creating a time space flickered quickly through his head. Only the four teenagers hiding along the tree line heard his next words. Harry was thankful that his three friends couldn't see his shocked face. "How can I tell Harry that it's his destiny to kill Voldemort?"
May 1995
North Platte, Nebraska, United States of America
"Dean, watch out for your brother, stay out of trouble, I left money on the table…" John Winchester shot orders like a commanding officer at his 16-year old son. They were in some rinky-dink town in the western central part of Nebraska. They had arrived in North Platte a couple of days before looking into an old Ice House legend but it had been a bust. The citizens of the small city were great story tellers, but the old building just didn't pan out. John had gotten a call from someone in Minnesota and was taking off for a few weeks. He had quickly enrolled the boys in the local public school and paid the old grouchy Hispanic woman in advance. Their western-themed motel was out on Rodeo Road north of the tracks. It was old but clean and the price was right.
"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill." His older son gave him a bored look, but he was a good solder. Sammy was out talking to the motel owner's grand-daughter, Angie, who worked as a maid. "I just don't get why we have to stay here."
"I told you, I have to go help out a friend. I don't need you kids getting in the way," John zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
"We wouldn't get in the way. We could help you, I could help." Dean followed his father out to the Impala.
"Look, Dean, just do what I ask, alright? I will be home in a few weeks, tops. Take care of yourself and check in." And then their father was gone. Sammy rounded the corner just in time to see the car's taillights disappear on Highway 30.
"He didn't even say goodbye." The twelve-year old looked crestfallen.
"Hey, Sammy, it's going to be great. HBO, hot chicks, fast food, freedom." Dean ruffled his kid brother's hair and put on a brave front. "I even think there are a few libraries." Dean laughed and Sam smacked at him but his big brother was too fast. "C'mon, let's check out that Taco John's down the street."
It had been a few days and they hadn't heard anything from John. This wasn't the first time he had gone up alone to Minnesota. This wasn't the first time that he had left them alone for awhile. Dean was good at taking care of himself and Sammy, but the long stretches without their father took it's toll on Sam. His relationship with John was deteriorating.
Their routine in North Platte was pretty typical. Go to their respective schools, Sammy's was Adams Middle School and Dean went to North Platte High, after school Dean would hang out with a girl and Sam would bury himself at whichever library held his interest and about dinnertime, they would meet up and pick a place. They had found a nice, cheap, home-style food joint called Merrick's on 4th Street that they tended to frequent.
"So, I heard about another ghost story here." Sam spoke around a mouth full of mashed potatoes. "Dodge Hill Road. Legend is that two lovers in the '50s were going too fast and rolled. Both of them died and were completely mangled. The road is prone to accidents, but on nights of full moon in the month of May, there have been fatal accidents every year for the last forty-five years."
"The full moon has already past at the beginning of the month," Dean pointed out.
"And there was a fatal accident on the full moon. Ever heard of a blue moon? There are two full moon this month. It's a really rare event. The last time this happened was forty-two years ago. On the night of the second full moon, multiple accidents occurred. I think that something bad will happen next week on the second full moon."
"Wonderful, I'm going to call Dad."
"Dad's still not answering."
"Dean, the full moon is tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Alright, we need to figure out who the ghost is that's causing this."
" I think I have that covered," Sam started shuffling around in his bag. Dean gave his brother a look that was a mix of surprise and pride. Sam didn't see the look. "Melissa was the girl that was killed. Her sister, Ann, was arrested later in the same year for breaking and entering into the deceased boy's house. Within her statement, she revealed that she was using personal objects of the dead lovers to place a protection spell on the road. However, on another occasion, she admitted to a guidance counselor that she had cursed the road because it had stolen her best friend. She hated North Platte and she wanted to get revenge on the town. She was killed on the full moon that next May."
"She was a witch?" Dean crammed his last fry in his mouth.
"Yeah."
"And her own spell killed her."
"Apparently."
"So, to remove the curse, remove the ties of the witch to Earth?"
"Yeah, that's what I read."
"So we burn the bones?" Dean signaled the waitress for pie.
"To purify and destroy a witch, you have to use holy water and salt, before you burn."
"Lovely. Any Catholic churches here?"
"Alright, where's Ann buried?" Dean jammed the holy water, salt, lighter fluid and matches into his bag. They were going to ride bikes that they were borrowing from Angie, the grand-daughter of the motel owner, to the cemetery. Sam was looking at a funeral home's index.
"Uhh…" Sam looked concerned.
"Uh?"
"She's buried at Dodge Hill Cemetery. It's on Dodge Hill Road."
"Of course, it is." Dean looked out the window at the full moon that was visible in the fading dusk. They got everything packed up and rode out of town. Their motel was on the far north side of the spread out city and Dodge Hill Road was outside of North Platte to the south. It was a few miles. By the time the boys got to the road, it was dark. As they got on the stretch of road that seemed to be cursed, they started pushing their bikes. On either side of the road, there was a sharp, steep drop off.
"This is a really dumb idea. We are on a cursed road on the one night of the year that there are guaranteed fatal accidents."
"But if we don't do it, who will, Dean? We have to help these people."
"You better not make me regret this." Just as Dean finished his sentence, a speeding car's headlights blinded the boys. It was flying down the narrow road, right at them. They ditched the bikes and jumped off their sides of the road. Dean caught a root with his hand and got a foothold. He heard Sam cry out on the other side. "Sam!" The car had completely vanished.
"I'm okay, Dean. Just landed on a soap weed." They climbed up their respective sides. The bikes lay in the middle of the road, completely unharmed.
"What the hell was that?" Dean pulled up his bike.
"I guess that's the curse. Hey, there's the cemetery." Up the road, about a hundred feet, there was an iron gateway.
"Let's burn that bitch." They made their way to the cemetery and found the family plot. "Found her, Sam." Her grave was only marked by a small headstone. The plot next to hers was a much larger headstone. Her sister had apparently been the favorite.
"Start digging?" Sam asked, looking around.
"Um, with what?" Dean rubbed the back of his neck. He spotted the caretakers shed and ran over to it. After picking the lock, he grabbed a couple of shovels. Between the two of them, they made the grave short work.
"I loved him."
"Did you hear that, Sammy?"
"Huh?" Sam was digging through the bag, pulling out supplies.
"That's why I killed her. I was doing him a favor. I didn't mean to kill him."
Sam and Dean locked eyes. Sam tossed his brother the holy water. As Dean sprinkled the blessed water on the exposed bones, a steaming apparition stood at the head of the grave.
"I saw him first, but she always had to steal the things that mattered to me. I just meant to scare them, but misjudged the curse." Her red eyes fell of Dean. "Please, Michael, forgive me." Sam dusted salt on the grave.
"She thinks your Michael?" Sam gawked. Dean sluiced lighter fluid on the body.
"I was out on the road that night. I just wanted to scare her. Show her how powerful I was. The car lost control and just flipped. It disappeared." Her eyes flashed up to look at Dean. "You were dead. She was covered in blood, gasping, dying. I could have saved her. I could have but I lift my hand to her head and whispered a curse. The life left her body. Because of that, I cursed myself and the road."
"Crazy-" Dean murmured and Sam was frozen, watching her.
"You were dead!" She screamed at him as she rushed Dean. Moments before the witch-ghost sliced into Dean, Sam scurried for the matches and lit one. His hand was shaking so bad that he dropped the match into the open box and the box became a fire ball. He dropped the lit box on the corpse and fire shot up from the grave.
The ghost hit Dean as the fireball hit the body. Fire shot around the teenager and stole his breath, knocking him to his knees. He looked up at Sam, who started laughing.
"What?" Dean choked out.
"You have no eyebrows!"
"Mature, Sammy, real mature."
