Stranger Roads Have Been Walked

Abby Ebon

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Disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter. I do not own Supernatural..

Beta: the fantastic artscribler (as of 12/23/09).

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Twisting Paths

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Harry snuggled closer to the warmth beneath his cheek, hoping it would lull him back into the safety he had felt in sleep. Harry opened his eyes. His vision had always been blurry to nearly impossible to see something without it being fuzzy around the edges. Except when something was really close up and Sam was really close up, in person, though somehow still asleep.

Sam's fingers were tangled up in his hair, in a grip that could almost be called possessive. It made Harry feel safe – cared for. His cheek –as well as the rest of the whole side of his face - was pressed up against Sam's chest. If Harry closed his eyes and listened he could hear that heart beat – soothing, steady. Like Sam would always be there.

Somehow their legs had gotten tangled up together with Sam's thigh wedged between Harry's own legs, and his knee hooked around Sam's leg. It was a mess, and Harry didn't have the faintest idea at how to go about unraveling himself without Sam taking notice and waking up – possibly at the worst possible time. They were holding hands, Harry realized in the next moment while he was figuring out which limb belonged to whom. Harry's other hand had a grip on Sam's shirt.

Harry couldn't imagine a more embarrassing though strangely comforting moment in his life. Then, of course, Sam woke up.

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It took Sam a moment to realize the wary green eyes looking up into his own were not Jess'. That the body tangled with his own was male, that his fingers were tangled in familiar messy hair. It had been his idea to climb into Harry's bed and in this moment it didn't seem to matter that it had been to maintain physical contact so the other wouldn't have nightmares.

"You know," Sam began while Harry stilled, seeming to fear what would happen next, "it's a very good thing Jess isn't here to blackmail us with a camera and pictures." His musing had the desired effect. Harry chuckled, relaxing against him.

It was then that Sam felt his thigh smugly between Harry's legs. The heat and feel of his groin…Of course, Harry was young, and it was a natural response. Sam looked aside, breathing shallowly as he tried to think of how to disentangle them with the minimal embarrassment, because Sam knew it was only a matter of time before he became affected by Harry's presence as well… if he wasn't already.

"How…why…" Harry trailed off, not meeting his eyes. Despite that, Sam knew what he was asking.

"You were having…night terrors. You seemed to need…" Me. Sam trailed off before he said that, and Harry met his eyes then. Something passed between them, and Sam knew that it was acknowledgment – and reassurance. Sam wouldn't tell of Harry's weakness, not even to Jess if he could help it.

"Yeah…" Harry murmured softly, seeming to be thinking of a different time and place. Perhaps that, Sam mused, was the reason he had such nightmares. Whatever had happened, had changed something, and Sam couldn't help but wonder what that was. He wasn't paranoid about it being monsters or something supernatural. He knew better, people often did worse things to each other than mere killing or haunting.

"How long have you…?" Sam asked as he untangled his fingers from messy black hair and both of them untangled their legs. For some reason that neither of them spoke of, they untangled their fingers last.

"Since before I was a teenager," Harry admitted, acknowledging the truth of it in that moment. Harry knew he'd never slept well, even before finding out he was a wizard. Even after. He just hadn't known it was nightmares.

"I'd rather not …talk…about it," Harry continued before Sam could think to ask. It was the first day of classes; and he didn't need to be worrying about what Sam thought throughout all of them. Sam only nodded, throwing Harry's bag to him as he shuffled to the dresser and pulled out his own clothes from it. As he dressed, Sam wondered if Jess would have better luck pulling what had happened in Harry's past from him.

Before Harry left for the day, he made sure the other boy had his and Jess' cell phone number just in case he got lost, or needed one of them.

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"I'm so sorry Mr. Potter. It does show you were registered, but I'm afraid when you didn't show up yesterday to claim the room, we thought you'd found somewhere else or had decided not to come all this way…" The receptionist's features clearly showed what she thought of his sanity at having gone from Europe to America for his education.

"So…there isn't anything at all available?" Harry asked, unable to keep some of his doubt from his tone. The receptionist's fingers danced across the keyboard, though her frown lingered. If it was because she was displeased at being disturbed by him, or that they had been wrong to give away his room, Harry didn't want to think on it.

"Not this semester. Though your schedule is still clear, if you can find a place in the dorms, please alert us to the room number and we'll assign it to you until something becomes available," She mused doubtfully. It was clear she expected him to pack up and leave, if only to make her life easier. Harry tried not to snarl.

"In next semester – spring, I believe – will there be any apartments available?" He had learned that it never hurt to ask. Scowling at the screen – or rather, Harry suspected, at the fact she had made such a poor choice of career – her answer was dry and rather sarcastic.

"Yes. One loft, two bedrooms – and one loft with one bedroom." Harry tapped his fingers along his pocket, resisting the urge to fry the computer with magic. With his luck it would be a school system wide crash instead.

"I'll take the loft with one bedroom," Harry murmured darkly, wondering what her response would be to such a statement. A raised eyebrow showed her doubt at his ability to pay rent and go to school. Harry counted slowly to ten in his head. It didn't help much.

"Could you please reserve it for me?" Harry asked slowly, as if he thought her an idiot. Her lips pressed into a thin line. They were clearly getting on each other's last nerve. Harry knew he should cut her some slack, but it wasn't going to get any better for whoever came after him later in the day.

"Of course, please be aware there is a penalty payment if you do not release your reservations one week before you're scheduled to move in." Harry wasn't surprised. After signing a "reserve" form, and an acknowledgment of penalty form – though still more forms than he wanted to remember in the next day – he received his copies of said forms. Only then did the receptionist ask the dorm room he would be staying at in the meantime.

He took a shaky breath, and wrote in Sam's room number, knowing the other boy wouldn't be pleased by the development. He only hoped he could explain to the other's satisfaction, with the promise of being gone by spring.

Harry was also glad his first class wasn't until this afternoon.

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"We might have a problem," Harry announced, settling down beside Jess and Sam for lunch. It had been Jess who led him to this table, but he knew at a glance that it was Sam who hadn't wanted to hear those words come out of his mouth. Harry glanced away from both of them, after the rush in the office this morning, he'd forgotten what – or rather who – he'd woken up to.

"Oh?" Jess asked, moving her fork about to swirl her veggies, glancing to Sam and then to Harry, knowing that something had happened between the two though unable to put her finger on just what.

"Yeah, spoke with the office receptionist this morning…." Harry began, trailing off awkwardly. His eyes glancing down to the bit of food on his plate that looked oddly like pudding though with the "wiggle" of jello.

"Ms Hitch, the office bitch?" Jess asked, interrupting for amusements sake. Perhaps she did not have the best of timing, because Sam had been drinking some juice at the same time and snorted it up, burning his throat and nostrils on the way up. He coughed, giving an unfeasible look to Jess. She hardly ever cursed, and when she did, it somehow always managed to surprise him.

"That might be the one," Harry mused, his accent pulling at things Sam didn't want to linger upon.

"Anyway… I've got no dorm room reserved, so…I, uh, was hoping…" Harry trailed off, carefully not looking to Sam. He knew the other boy would put the pieces together for himself.

"Of course you can stay with Sam, he loves you – don't you Sam?" Jess' expression was somehow pleasantly threatening. Sam gave a shrug and exchanged an easy smile with Harry. He knew he had to face facts and that was Harry wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Yeah, that's…great," Sam muttered softly, rolling his eyes heavenward as Jess jabbed him in the side.

"Well, thanks, but don't worry…it'll only be till spring." Harry promised licking his lips from the leftover cookie crumbs. Sam was careful not to stare when he looked up to nod in acknowledgment.

Sam didn't mention to either of them that Jess looked relieved at his easy agreement, or that she seemed almost to jump at shadows, only to look reassuringly for Sam and Harry. He had a feeling that Harry hadn't been the only one to have nightmares last night.

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"Jess," Sam called her attention back to the homework they were working together on in his room for what felt like the umpteenth time, "is there anything wrong?" He asked to finish, knowing he didn't have much time before Harry came back to the dorms from class and wanted to get this over with before then. Harry was a great friend to Jess he was sure, but some things were personal.

"No, nothing…I'm fine." It was a lie, and they both knew it. Mostly because Jess had started to sniffle back tears. Sam gathered her to his chest, soothingly brushing his fingers through her hair.

"This isn't after first-day of school shakes," Sam stated, knowing that much at least was the truth. Jess snuggled against him, tucking her feet beneath her so she could curl around him and his lap.

"Could be…." Jess shivered in his arms, tucking her face against the corner of his arm, letting his shirt become damp with her tears. She couldn't help herself. She'd been strong since waking up. She was tried and frayed – and she knew it. Sam wouldn't make fun of her fears, would protect her. He was her rock…

"I don't think that's it…please, Jess, please tell me what's the matter so I can fix it?" Sam asked of her, hating to see her like this – helpless in the face of her tears. All he could do was be there for her. As she told him, there wasn't anything else he could do. Not all the monsters that haunted humans could be "taken care" of; he'd learned that early in life.

"It's…it's this stupid dream I had, well – two of them really. About you, about Harry…" Jess began shakily, sorting out her feelings and impressions of the dreams for the first time while she told them to her beloved. Throughout her explanation Sam remained silent, letting her get it out, soothing her in little ways. A kiss on the forehead or cheek, his grip tightening around her protectively, a touch. It was all she needed, but it had meant so much to her at the same time.

That was how Harry found them, cuddling together on the beds that Sam and Jess had pulled together to make more comfortable. Harry knew he should have closed the door and left to let the couple have their time together. But before he could, Jess spotted him and smiled in such a way that Harry thought that the tears and rumpled clothes made her look all the more enchanting. She motioned him to come further into the room, and when Harry glanced to Sam for confirmation, Sam only nodded with a half smile.

Hesitantly, Harry made his way over to them. It shocked him some that Sam and Jess hugged him in welcome. While he sat there a bit confused, though willing to hug her back, Jess muttered the dreams she had had and Harry could only rub her back soothingly, hoping that in some way it helped. With homework and knapsacks forgotten on the floor, they curled about each other like puppies, talking late into the night about things that happened in the light of day. It wasn't really a surprise to any of the three that they fell asleep that way.

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Note: I have a idea, since this is already in the direction of Sam/Harry/Jess, I'm wondering if anyone would like me to continue on this line until Dean comes in the spring, or skip ahead till at that point.

It would have them be confronted with the magical community, who are displeased with them having a relationship with Sam. Maybe some other things, like a haunted dorm, or the Trickster arriving on the scene early. Or questions answered to who those other students were to Sam and Jess. I think this option mostly unfurled because of my blooming like of Jess, who I hadn't considered such a big character in their lives until I started writing her.

So I suppose its time for a vote – 1) who wants the story to continue at this pace - or 2) who wants to skip ahead to when Dean gets here.