Trickster

Alright, you all know the drill. I own nothing. If I did, Gabriel would still be alive and I'd be filthy rich. I also do not own any rights to the song used in this story. I do own the CD, but that's it.

Some of this story is actually based on a dream my dad had. The spells, and the fact that they were used in Hogwarts, are from that dream. The rest of it is mine, though. Reviews are appreciated, but if all you want to do is hate and not give anything constructive, don't bother.

This takes place in Harry's 4th year, and between Changing Channels and Hammer of the Gods. I fiddled a bit with the timeline for Hogwarts, but not significantly.

Gabriel was bored. Bored bored bored. With a capital 'B'. The apocalypse thing seemed to be kicking off again for round two, Sam and Dean were being stubborn asses, and he just needed a break. It had been a while since anyone had gotten the jump on him, and the ring holy fire had rattled him a bit. He just wanted to have some fun, not be stuck here wondering which of his brothers was going to be ganked.

Well, he didn't have to be stuck here, did he? He could just take off and visit some other universe while he figured out what he wanted to do in this one, then pop back in and do it, no time wasted. Hell, he didn't even have to come back, if he didn't want to.

He thought for a moment, thinking of where he wanted to go. Then, mind made up, he snapped his fingers and vanished.

Fred and George were bored. Bored bored bored. Squared. The students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived, the Age Line drawn and proven insurmountable. Now that the Champions had been chosen, all the excitement was kind of gone from the school. Sure, there was a Task to look forward to, but the wait was just, well, boring.

"Hey, what is there to do around here that's actually fun?"

They turned as one to look at the speaker. A short kid, one of the Beauxbaton students, was standing there, a licorice wand in his mouth. He had short brown hair and green eyes that were already showing laugh lines in the corners.

"At the moment, not much, but I'm sure George and I will think of something," Fred told him cheerfully.

"So, nothing, then," the boy sighed. "I'm so bored. No offense, your school is nice, but a little short on the good stuff."

"The good stuff being…" George cocked an eyebrow.

"Mischief and mayhem, of course."

"Who are you?" Fred asked. The stranger was wearing the Beauxbatons uniform, but spoke with an American accent.

"Name's Gabriel. Gabriel Winchester. Family just moved to France in time for me to try out for this Tournament. Thought it`d be a laugh, but instead I`m bored."

Fred and George looked at each other, each knowing what the other was thinking without having to exchange a word.

"Well, just because there's nothing going on now, doesn't mean we can't get something started ourselves. My name's Fred Weasley and this is my sister George," he laughed and winced at the same time as George punched him in the arm.

"Boys, I like the way you think. Got any ideas?"

It had only been a month since the new kids had gotten here, but already Fred and George were having the time of their lives. Gabriel was awesome! He had a wicked sense of humour, and didn't mind getting his hands dirty with any of the pranks and jokes they wanted to do. He'd even taught them a few things.

"Okay, I get the idea, but where are we going to get the snakes? And how are we going to get them there?" George asked. The Unholy Trio, as some of the other students were beginning to call them, were holed up in the secret passageway behind the second floor mirror. It had caved in a couple of years ago, but still made a really good hideout. They had stashed food in there, and when one or both of them wanted to be alone, or needed to hide from Filch, that was where they went. They were currently going over the plans for a huge trick they were going to play on the Slytherins. Fred had lamented that they hadn't managed to play a house-wide prank on them, and Gabriel had come up with an idea.

"You boys leave those details to me. Just be ready when the time comes to pull this off, okay?" Gabriel asked them around a mouthful of chocolate. He was having a great time! He'd really needed this after the TV Land debacle. He'd shown his hand too soon, and now the Winchesters, and Castiel, knew all about him. This was just the little vacation that he'd needed. A pair of pranksters after his own heart and a truckload of sweets. He'd met up with the house elves and within five minutes had cakes and pies for the asking. And in return he'd dished out some just desserts for one or two of the more obnoxious professors and students who ordered the elves around like slaves.

"Sometimes I wish Percy was still here," George sighed wistfully. Fred stared at him like he'd said that he wished Sprout would perform a strip tease in the middle of Herbology.

"Why would you even say such a thing?" he asked. "Percy is a great big narc who always tells Mum when we're up to no good! Half the time we got in trouble with her it was his fault!"

"Yeah, but sneaking around Percy was half the fun. Trying to do something that he couldn't pin on us, even though he knew it had to be one of us. I just… kinda miss it."

Gabriel sat back, eyes narrowing. This was new. Normally the twins didn't talk much about Percy, or their mother. Mostly they just complained about Ron the way all older brothers did, like he was a pain in the ass that they wanted to get rid of, but Heaven forbid anyone else should ever say anything against him to their face. He could still remember what it was like when Michael and Lucifer had been like that. Before Lucifer had fallen. And now- Now it was too late to go back to that.

Stop thinking about it! He told himself fiercely. You came here to forget about home, and family. So leave it, change the subject back to the prank, tell them about the new spells you 'found', anything, just don't ask about Percy, don't talk about family, change the subject-

"I think this is the first you've mentioned Percy. He's older than you two, right?" FUCK!

"Yeah, he is. And he's Mum's little angel." Fred said bitterly.

"No he's not-"George started, before Fred interrupted him.

"He is and you know it. He's the one with a plan, the one that has made all the right decisions and has ended up further along in life than she could have hoped for. Whereas we are farting around doing the bare minimum and disappointing her at every turn. So," he said, abruptly changing the subject, "George, you get the mirror ready. Gabriel, work on the snakes. I'm going to schmooze the house elves."

Gabriel was wandering around the castle grounds, bored. There wasn't much to do here, now that all the planning was done for the prank. There was the Yule Ball in a couple of weeks, of course, and he figured he'd have some fun there (teenagers could be cruel when rejecting others, and some students had a night of explosive diarrhea ahead of them after the humiliating rejections they had given their fellow teens), but that was ages away.

He slowed down as he heard voices ahead of him, whispering as if they didn't want to be heard. He grinned, snapped his fingers, and ghosted forward, invisible to all mortal eyes.

The voices belonged to Draco Malfoy and Rita Skeeter. He'd met Rita; she'd tried to interview him about Harry Potter, tried to get him to lie about the kid and tell her something juicy. So far, he'd kept his mojo to himself, and avoided her, but if the opportunity arose…

He listened for a while. Draco was telling her all about Hagrid and his classes. Gabriel began to get annoyed. The kid had everything he could ever want, why did he feel the need to ruin other people's lives? Fred and George had told him all about the Hippogriff incident, and it was definitely all Draco's fault.

This would take some planning, but he could see himself giving both of them their comeuppance. He left, already plotting.

One week later, it was time for The Prank. It deserved the capitals, they had put a lot of time and effort into it.

Well, Fred and George put a lot of effort into it, Gabriel thought to himself. I'm just going to snap my fingers and will the snakes into being, but they actually had to get the distraction, enchant the mirror, bribe the elves, seal the doors, and cast the spell.

Everything was in place. The Slytherin common room was packed with students looking over the distraction: Five large crates of sweets, joke items, robes, and other assorted items, courtesy of a mysterious benefactor. A large mirror now hung on one of the walls, placed there by the house elves along with paintings and tapestries, also a gift for the 'most deserving house'. Everything was in place. Fred and Gabriel were waiting in a dungeon room not far away, watching the scene on mirror that was the twin to the one in the common room. Fred had an Extendable Ear (a current work in progress) in his ear, with the other end reaching out to the entrance to the common room. George had another one, with his running into the other room.

"Ready Forge?" Fred asked, slightly louder than necessary. He listened for a moment, and then nodded to Gabriel. "Alright Forge, seal the door!"

Thirty seconds later George raced into the room, grinning with anticipation. Fred grinned back, while Gabriel smirked at the Slytherins in the mirror.

They don't even question this; they just assume that it is their due as the 'pure blooded pride of the generation'. Wonder if they'll learn their lesson after this?

The three of them raised their wands, and simultaneously cast their spells into the mirror.

George's spell was another one to seal the doors, this time preventing the students from entering the dormitories, since the he'd just sealed off the house door.

Fred's was one that Gabriel had taught him, to slow time down for those in the room.

Technically, Gabriel wasn't casting any spell, since instead of a wand he had a disguised sword. What he did, instead, was remove the less douchy students from the room, as well as those with severe phobias. He didn't want to kill the suckers, just teach them a lesson and have some fun. And once those students were gone-

He turned every single gift, excluding the mirror, into a snake.

There were hundreds of snakes now in the room, slithering out of the crates (which were also now made of snakes), sliding off the walls, and hanging off of the students. He did leave the sweets actually in the kid's mouths alone, as well as anything digested, but everything else was fair game.

For the three of them, and the rest of the school, the chaos lasted five minutes. For those in the room, it lasted two and a half hours of being surrounded by snakes (nonvenomous, but they didn't know that). After five minutes, the spells automatically ended. The horrified students escaped the common room and went running for Snape, while Gabriel, Fred, and George cast vanishing spells through the mirror, getting rid of all the evidence.

The Slytherins never did figure out who had messed with them. For Fred and George, it was the best prank they had ever planned. For Gabriel, it was business as usual. But he still had a couple of karmic retributions to deliver. In January he locked Rita Skeeter in her beetle form for 24 hours and set Ms. Norris after her. The blasted woman had survived, but she seemed to be shaken, and hadn't written anything about the Tournament or the occupants of the castle until the Second Task. As for Draco, he decided to teach the twins a few new spells.

They were sitting at the breakfast table when the twins put the new spells to the test. Fred wandered over to the Slytherin table and cast the first spell at his victim. A mark appeared on the target's back, a small pair of wings. Fred carried a goblet that now had an identical mark on the rim

Gabriel grinned. He'd been thinking about this for quite a while, and this would be good. The spell was a twist on the Imperious Curse. It allowed the caster to make the target do what they wanted, like the original, but the commands had to be frivolous and silly. They were given by speaking into the marks, and anyone could give a command.

"Ready?" Fred asked when he got back. The other two nodded. "Want to do the honors Gabe? This was all your idea."

Gabriel murmured into the goblet, and sat back to watch the show.

Across the room, Draco stood up suddenly, holding an apple in his hand. He raised it to his face, and began to sing:

Don't give up; it's just the weight of the world

When your heart's heavy I, I will lift it for you.

Don't give up, because you want to be heard

If silence keeps you I, I will break it for you.

Everybody wants to be understood

Well I can hear you.

Everybody wants to be loved

Don't give up. Because you are loved!

The whole time he was singing, he had a panicked look on his face. His audience was silent for a moment, and then soft snicker began to spread. Draco finished the song, and dropped the apple as if it was on fire-

Before grabbing a muffin and singing to it, this time a love song played by the Weird Sisters at the Yule Ball. By the time that song was finished, the snickers had turned into giggles and muffled laughter, and Draco's face was redder than the twin's hair.

George overheard Lavender talking to Parvati about a song she had heard over the summer, and he quickly grabbed the goblet.

This time, the love song Draco sang was directed at Professor Snape, who was stalking towards the fourth year. The Unholy Trio decided that enough was enough, and ended the spell, listening to the sound of laughter echoing through the Great Hall.

It was fun, so much fun, but like all good things it had to end. Gabriel was more or less constantly tuned into Pagan Radio, and heard a message go out to all the gods about a week after Draco's… Incident. Well, he hadn't exactly been invited, but it was sometimes fun to crash their parties. But this one- this one was different, he realized, as he listened closely. The pagans were going to trap the Winchesters, and force them to summon Lucifer so they could kill him themselves. Normally he wouldn't have cared, but Kali was one of the ones organizing it, and he had a bit of a soft spot for her. He sighed. He wished that he could stick around in this parallel universe see the final Task, but now that he'd heard the message he was bound to its timeline; if he waited too long, the trap would be sprung and Kali would be dead.

He sighed, ate one last meal with the twins, and left. The spells he'd taught them wouldn't work once he'd left, but the memories would last. Hopefully some of the humans had learned a lesson. He wished that he could have stayed, but he had other things to do now, including getting two meatheads away from a group of man-eating gods.

So that's it. Again, anything nice or constructive to say, say it. If not, keep it to yourself. Hope you enjoyed it!

And, in case anyone is wondering, no, my dad did not see How I Met Your Mother.