Warnings: Season 7.13 spoilers.
Characters: Dean, Sam, Harry, Bobby, a brief showing of a Reaper.
Summary: When Bobby is shot, ripples are sent that Harry feels. Fearing Bobby's stubbornness will trap him as a ghost, Harry goes to investigate. Set probably about eight years after Harry moves to Lower Tadfield.
A/N This is something which I'm not sure really fits in with this series. It does, but there isn't a huge amount of focus on Harry being Master of Death in this particular story line. I am, however, working on a HP/SPN story where him being MoD is a huge deal, more than anyone knows which this would fit in better by. But I'd like people's thoughts on it, if you care to give them so I know whether it's going down well.
Enjoy
Harry stiffened as he felt the familiar ripples. Courtesy of being the Master of Death, he could feel it when someone died, but luckily, unless he was trying, he would only feel those he had met and felt some level of emotion for. This was the ripple of someone desperately trying to hang onto life, someone who was evading his Reaper, someone who Harry had met and worked with several times over the last few years. And while he normally stayed out of Reaper business, he owed it to the man to visit.
With a thought he was at the centre of the ripples, seeing Bobby arguing with one of the Reapers, a man Harry knew as Gregory. Harry stepped up to the Reaper and put his hand on the being's shoulder, gaining the attention of both participants in the conversation.
"Thank you, Gregory," Harry said quietly. "I'll take it from here." The Reaper turned to him angrily and then, seeing who was ordering him, lowered his eyes and disappeared. Bobby looked at him with hope.
"Harry! You've come to get me out?" Harry shook his head sadly. Bobby frowned. "What d'you mean, you idjit? Just jam my soul back in my body and heal my melon." Harry sighed and sat down to join Bobby.
"I can't do that, I'm sorry."
"Why not? You've healed us all enough times!" Harry shook his head slowly.
"That was different. None of you were ever at this point." He looked directly at Bobby and the old hunter was taken aback at the glow in his eyes. In fact, Harry wasn't look particularly human at all with his glowing eyes, skin and hair that appeared like a vacuum for colour. There was a hum coming from his hand on which appeared a ghostly ring and there was an impression of a cloak around the wizard's shoulders, though he was wearing normal clothes.
"Bobby, you're dead. The only reason you're technically still here is because you're too stubborn to let go. Back in the real world, you've been declared dead. Your boys are mourning you. It's time to move on." Bobby scowled.
"No. I'm not leaving them alone. I've got a job to do! I've got information I've got to tell them. The idjits probably won't realise the importance of that spot like I did. You're this big Master of Death or something, aren't you? The Reapers obey you. That Reaper jammed Dean's soul back in his body didn't she?" Harry breathed in and out deeply, hating what he was having to say.
"Yes, she did, but she shouldn't have. The only reason she did it was because she had been possessed by a demon. Dean's soul was damaged. Anyone who could see souls could see that. The difference now is that it was damaged enough by Hell to mask the initial cracks. Bad things happen when you mess around with death. Look at what happened to Sam! No, Bobby. It's either come with me now or stay as a spirit." Bobby's mouth set.
"I've got a job to do and information to hand over." Harry's mouth also thinned.
"Listen, Bobby. You're a friend of mine, so I'll give you this information that doesn't normally get given to souls on the brink. You don't want to stay as a spirit. If you want information to be given over, tell me and I'll pass on the message. Hell, if you want, I could summon you with the resurrection stone so you can give it to Dean and Sam yourself. But you don't want to become a ghost."
"Why are you so sure about that?" Bobby asked, but not as belligerently as before. It seemed like he was thinking over Harry's words more closely now that he had an option of dying and passing on the information.
"Because I know what happens to spirits. Look, say, you become a spirit to help Dean and Sam, say you manage to master a ghost's ability to move objects within record time and so are actual use on their hunts, say you help kill the Leviathans, what then? You'll be stuck on Earth, always the same age, always the same stage of development, slowly deteriorating until you are either a poltergeist, if you let the rage control you, or a shadow of your former self, incapable of doing more than lowering the temperature and flickering a few lights." Harry could see his words were having an effect so he brought in his big guns.
"Imagine Dean and Sam. Imagine them not knowing whether to mourn or not: you're dead, but you're still around. Imagine what they would feel like, knowing one more of their father figures has sacrificed his place in Heaven to help them. Imagine if you start becoming a vengeful spirit and they have to kill you. Imagine it if you don't and you just keep hanging around while they try to move on with their lives. If you choose not to come with me now, you will be on Earth until you are set loose by your anchor being burned." Harry fell silent then and let Bobby think about it.
"Ah, Hell," he sighed finally. "Dammed if I do, dammed if I don't." Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I've already pointed out you're going to Heaven if you choose to die, so there isn't the dammed if you do side of things." Bobby shot him a sideways glance.
"You don't know the angels like we do." He paused. "You will summon me, won't you?" he checked with Harry. The wizard nodded. "OK, fine. I'll go with you. Happy?" Harry smiled.
"Very. Even I can't drag an unwilling soul into the afterlife, so I'm glad I don't have to try." With that, he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and they walked into the light together.
Two Weeks Later
A knock fell on the door. Dean and Sam both picked up their guns and Sam went to open the door, Dean covering him. In stepped Harry, walking straight through the devil's trap, over the lines of salt. Without needing to be asked, he splashed himself with a bit of Holy water, Borax and cut himself with a silver knife. The hunters relaxed and Dean threw Harry a beer.
"What bring you here, Harry?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, and how did you actually find us?" Dean added. Harry cast an amused look at Dean.
"As good as your warding is, there's only one item that can hide beings from Death, and it's mine." He turned to Sam. "In fact, it's my connection to Death that brings me here today. Two weeks ago, I took on the role of Reaper to a rather stubborn soul who seemed determined to hand over the information, even if it meant he had to become a ghost. Any idea who I might be talking about?" Sam drew in a sharp breath and he shared a look with Dean.
"Bobby," he said. It wasn't a question. Harry smiled.
"Bingo. Now the only way I managed to get him to come with me was by promising to summon his soul once he was dead so he could hand over the information himself." Sam nodded.
"So that's why you're here. You're going to summon his soul."
"Exactly."
"What do you need? Herbs? A ritual design on the floor? Some of Bobby's bones?" asked Dean, a bit of disgust colouring his voice as he said the last one. Harry shook his head.
"No, I've got everything I need here, thanks." In his pocket, he turned the resurrection stone three times, closing his eyes and thinking of Bobby and everything he remembered about the hunter. A shifting of movement and two gasps later, he realised he'd succeeded. Nodding to the small group, he told them they had twenty minutes and then walked outside, not wanting to intrude.
Checking his watch, Harry realised it was almost time to finish. He walked back to the house and quietly opened the door. The three were poring over yellowed parchments, Bobby dictating and instructing as he wasn't corporal enough to do things for himself.
"It's time," Harry said, making them all jump slightly. Dean frowned.
"Can't you just give us five more minutes? We're almost done." Harry shook his head sadly.
"I warned you, twenty minutes. If Bobby stays here any longer, it'll damage his soul. The dead aren't supposed to visit the living." Dean looked as if he wanted to object, but Bobby sent him a look.
"Thanks for bringing me here," he said gruffly. Harry smiled.
"A deal's a deal. Ready?" Bobby nodded his head.
"Wait-" Sam said abruptly, but Harry had already dismissed Bobby's spirit. The two hunters turned to the wizard.
"What d'you mean, the dead aren't supposed to visit the living? What about ghosts, then?" Harry shrugged.
"They're not technically dead." Sam gave him a funny look.
"As far as I know, the process of making ghosts involves dying." Harry nodded with an easy smile.
"Sure, but soul only becomes dead when a Reaper has transformed it. Ghosts are living souls without a body. Not dead souls." Dean shrugged.
"What's the difference? They're both dead, aren't they?"
"Completely different, Dean," Harry chided. "Living souls have to be enclosed in flesh, in a body. If they're not, they start losing parts of themselves. That's why demons become what they are, though the torture helps. Their souls are torn and blackened until nothing's left but the desire to hurt. Ghosts are the same. Their essence is lost until all that's left is whatever kept them in the living world to start with. Ultimately, even that goes and they're left as a whisper of being, not even enough to lower the temperature or flicker the lights. Dead souls are supposed to be without a body and so don't deteriorate, but they can't exist in the living world either. So, ghosts are stuck between life and death, not really belonging to either and dead souls, such as Bobby's, are hurt by being in the living world."
An alarm went off and Harry cursed. Hermione was going to kill him. "I'm late! I'll have to catch you boys later." With that, he spun on the spot and disappeared in a sharp crack, leaving Dean and Sam a bit bewildered by the quick turn-around.
"So," Dean said finally, turning to the information Bobby had given them. "Cattle farming, eh?"
A/N Short and hopefully sweet. I've an idea of what my next instalment will be and it's a long one, though I'll need a bit of help with the second part.
