Harry walked away from the board and headed upstairs to bed. Everyone was already passed out. He thought it would be better to stay here tonight and let Dean calm down.
Harry woke the next day with everyone still asleep. He showered then headed for his family's rooms.
He spoke the password and walked into the room finding Dean asleep on the couch. He couldn't see anyone else so he walked to the room Dean and Sam usually shared. Sam was sitting on his bed reading.
Sam narrowed his eyes when he saw Harry in the door way. Harry mimicked waving a flag. "I swear I had nothing to do with it."
Sam sighed. "I hate Gabriel sometimes."
Harry walked over flouncing down on the bed. He rolled over and smiled at Sam. "Loki is… Loki."
Sam snorted.
"If you would just…"
Sam snarled at him. Harry looked up to his uncle and smiled. Sam looked like he was going to snarl again so Harry dropped it. Harry really looked at his uncle. Sam looked tired. He had black circles under his eyes and he looked like he had lost a little weight. Bobby and Castiel were wrong. Sam knew something. He'd seen his uncle strung out, soulless and worried. Sam was worried. Sam knew something was wrong with Dean. Harry felt his heart take another lurch. How was he the last to understand?
Sam looked at him reading the expressions flitting across his face. Harry reined it in and smiled again. "When does team free will begin their classes?"
"Today."
"What?"
"I talked to Dean. We decided to do it on Sunday night. We are going to ask to use the great hall."
Harry watched as Sam stood. "I need to talk to Dumbledore. He should be awake now. Are you coming to watch me and Dean make an ass out of ourselves?"
"Wouldn't miss it, but I will probably bring a book. I've heard everything you will be willing to talk about."
Harry pulled out his phone. He slid it over to Sam and they laughed at the pictures Harry had taken from the night before.
Dean looked around the room as Sam sat at the teacher's table. Everyone had come. He didn't think this many people would show up for this. He wanted to mentally groan but stopped himself. Castiel and Gabriel were sitting next to Harry at the Slytherin table. Balthazar was standing on the wall talking to Snape. Dean's eyes searched the room again for Harry. Harry sat quietly ignoring everyone his eyes focused on the book in front of him.
Dean whistled. The room became silent.
Dean stood at the front of the room under Dumbledore's podium. His eyes went through the room making sure everyone could see him. Someone walked up to him handing him a wand and motioning him to speak into it. He rolled his eyes but took the wand.
"You are in no obligation to sit here and listen to anything we speak about. If you at any time feel uncomfortable or want to leave, do not think anyone here will be upset if you do so. Sam and myself will be using this time every Sunday to speak about hunting."
Dean moved walking down the aisle of the students so he could be more easily seen. "I want this understood now. This is not recruitment. I expect you to use the knowledge we give you to protect yourself if you are threatened. If we find out you are using this knowledge to go seeking out trouble, I can promise you one of the angels on the wall will punish you. I assure you, you would probably die before that became an issue."
"There are a lot of questions about what we are so today I think we should start with that." Dean moved closer to the Slytherin table and looked at Harry who was still looking at his book. "Hunters are men and women who have either been born into this life or have lost someone else too it. There are always exceptions of people who stumble into it but they are few."
Harry looked up from his book and Dean caught his eyes. They smiled to one another and Harry turned back to his book.
Someone from the Ravenclaw table raised their hand. Dean turned to him. "Yes."
"How did you get into the life?"
Dean looked back to Sam. "We were born into it and lost people to it."
Sam raised an eyebrow at his answer but didn't speak. The boy looked like he was going to ask another question. Dean turned away from him cutting him off.
"Hunting in not something normal people would volunteer for. No one retires. We simple fight through the muck until we are shredded. No one chooses this life willingly and I want you all to remember this if you get curious."
Someone from the Gryffindor table raised their hand. Dean turned to them.
"You keep saying hunter, what do you hunt?"
"Ghosts, witches…" The room flinched. "The witches from where we are from are different. Muggles, as you call them, can make deals with demons. They can sell their souls to demons and be given demonic magic. Witches only get on our radar if they are killing people. Witches and wizards like you all here would never get on our radar in the first place. We find creatures by looking through newspapers and police reports by the carnage left behind."
Sam spoke. "We also hunt werewolves, wendigos, demons, shifters, lesser gods, vampires, just to name a few."
More hands shot up. Dean looked around the room. He heard Sam snicker behind him.
Dean turned to the girl closest to him. "What is the worst thing you've hunted?"
Dean didn't speak. Harry's voice could be heard coming beside him. Dean flinched.
"Angels." Every eye turned to Harry. Harry was looking at his dad.
Sam stood up looking at Harry. Harry closed his book and walked out of the great hall with every eye following him.
Dean's eyes moved from the doors and Harry's retreating back to Castiel. Castiel was still watching Harry leave. Castiel eyes whipped back around to Dean. Dean looked around at the other students and watched Cas get up and follow Harry. Gabriel was half off his seat but Dean motioned him to sit down. Gabriel nodded.
Dean ran his hand over his face through his hair then laughed nervously. Sam moved standing beside Dean. "Anymore questions about hunters?"
Hands shot up around the room. Dean took a step back and let Sam studious voice fill the room.
Gabriel stood walking to the corner of the room and Dean moved to him with Balthazar and Snape joining him.
"Should we go get him?" Gabriel asked.
Dean shook his head. "Cas will make it better."
"Do you really think he believes that?" Balthazar asked.
Dean looked back at Sam who was talking about Bobby from the snippets he could hear. He looked back to Balthazar but he didn't have to answer. They already knew.
Harry was fuming. He should have kept his mouth shut. What was he thinking? He hated himself for saying it. He loved his family and half of them were angels but the rest of them…
Castiel found him as he walked outside and sat on the large front steps of the castle.
Castiel sat quietly looking at the grounds with Harry.
Harry broke first. "I'm sorry."
Castiel turned to look at Harry who refused to look at him. "Harry, I understand."
Harry turned to him. "I said it before I thought of the implications. I don't mean our family. All I could think about was Lucifer, Azazel, Metatron, Michael and Abaddon. Azazel and Abaddon were fallen angels before they turned to demons. Dad taking the mark and becoming a demon, Sam jumping into hell. All of the really bad stuff started because of angels."
Castiel was still uncomfortable about physical contact but snaked his arm around Harry's shoulder. "There is dark and light in everything."
Harry leaned into Castiel and he knew his mom understood.
They stayed there for a few more minutes before heading inside. They stopped at the great hall to look inside. Castiel and Harry froze. There was a Wendigo standing behind Dean inching closer. Was everyone else blind? Harry without thinking whipped the angel blade from his boot and threw it. It zoomed through the room going straight for the heart of the Wendigo.
The image wavered. Everyone gasped. Gabriel popped out into view behind Dean holding the blade. Harry looked at him and blushed to his toes. He stomped into the room and grabbed the blade from Gabriel.
"Sorry." Harry mumbled then ran back out of the room.
Gabriel broke into laughter. "Or, you could just throw an angel blade through the heart of it like Harry did."
Dean looked back to Gabriel and the image of the Wendigo. Gabriel snapped his fingers and it disappeared. Would today get any worse, Dean thought.
Gabriel snapped his finger again. A clown appeared beside Sam who immediately yelped then turned back to Gabriel. Gabriel smiled and fluttered away conveniently leaving the clown.
The weeks following were filled with classes during the day, studying everything he could find in the evenings and learning spells in the war room.
Draco and Harry had pulled Neville further into their secret after finding a hidden way out of the room into the castle. They would have never been able to sneak Neville in without throwing up red flags but once the entrance was found, Neville could sneak in and meet them. It also made it easier on Draco and Harry because they didn't have to wait until the common room was empty.
The passage was located on the second floor beside the girl's bathroom behind a picture of the school when it was first founded. The passage could only be opened by saying open in Parseltongue so Neville and Draco learned the word quickly. The information he'd pulled from the bunker was interesting but the spell Castiel had used to open the portal would not work. Now, much of his time was spent on finding another way in. Draco and Neville were concentrating on hell and what they could learn from the notes and books from the men of letters.
Working together, all three of them had mastered the spells of their first year books. Draco got the theory faster explaining it to Harry and Neville. Then, Harry would cast the spells and turn around and help them master them. They had already swiped second year books and were reading them along with whatever spells they could find in the library.
They each made sure they would join everyone for movie nights and the hunting classes to make sure no one suspected them. Harry also convinced Snape to let Neville and Draco into the simulations once a week with him. Harry would start a simulation for them to have fun while Snape watched from the sidelines. Snape would always get bored half an hour in and leave then Harry would change the simulation. He'd begun to train them on gun safety and knife training. Dean and Sam would kill him if he saw them doing this.
After they learned gun safety, Harry talked Draco and Neville into dueling. Neither of them knew what they were doing. They would only use simple stunning charms. They couldn't take the chance of anyone seeing them injured and trying to explain.
Harry knew he wasn't ready but with every wave of his wand and every blister he got from running, fighting, knife throwing and the pull of the trigger, he was one step closer to Adam. Every night as he laid down completely exhausted, he repeated it over and over, this was all for Adam.
It was finally Halloween. He'd been so excited. He wasn't excited anymore.
Harry was going to kill Gabriel.
His utter humiliation had started Saturday night. Gabriel cornered him on his way to movie night and begged him to play in one of his rooms. Harry was so exhausted he really didn't want to and they were playing the Despicable Me movies. He was not going. Gabriel pleaded and begged and Harry ignored him. They made it to the great hall before Gabriel got really dramatic and flung himself to the ground and wrapped himself around Harry's legs. Harry turned puppy dog eyes on Draco and was being pulled away when Gabriel made his last plea.
"I will make a bet with you. If you beat me tonight, I will do anything you ask."
Harry perked up hearing that, he was so stupid. He planned to win and demand Gabriel ask out his uncle again. "What happens if I loose?"
Gabriel smiled. "Halloween you have to spend with me."
And with one stupid smile, he was screwed.
The night was one of the best he could remember. The usual gang had all joined them along with Dean, Castiel and Sam. To make it up to Harry for pulling him away from the movie, Gabriel conjured a room full of minions and gave them all jelly guns. It was chaos. They were all covered in jelly. Minions ran around making crazy noises slamming into people who were slick and sticky who then slid across the floor when hit. Harry hadn't laughed so hard in his life and was having so much fun, he forgot about the bet.
They'd stayed in the room for hours. Everyone had jelly in places they never thought was possible. Gabriel refused to snap his fingers and clean them and made it to where no angel could do it either, so to add insult they filed through the castle covered in strawberry jam.
They'd made it back to the common room when Gabriel barged into the showers and reminded Harry of the bet. Harry could do little more than slam his head against the tiles.
The time for punishment had arrived. Gabriel made Harry dress up for Halloween. Everyone in the dorm was snickering as they looked at his costume. Harry snarled before he smiled at them with just a little of the tricksters glint in his eyes.
"So help me, I will tell Gabriel you all love my costume and I will have him put you all in one."
The laughter stopped immediately. Harry snarled again as everyone ran out of the room with that threat. He was going to kill Gabriel. He'd tried to change his clothes several times but no matter what he put on his clothes would change to this outfit. He thought briefly about walking around in just boxers but knew Gabriel would just poof the outfit right back on him.
Harry groaned and looked around his trunk for his gun. He was at least going to shoot him before the night was over, he promised himself. It was only fair.
Harry stopped digging when he saw the bag Crowley left him. He'd forgotten about it with the uproar when he'd received it. He could only think about his dad and going home everything else was a blur that night.
He slid out the bag and dumped the contents on the floor. Crowley had packed him an iPod, several boxes of candy he knew were Harry's favorite and the first blade. Harry's eyes stayed glued to the blade. He didn't hesitate and grabbed Crowley's emergency summoning bag and called him.
Crowley took several minutes but came.
"How is my favorite nephew?"
Harry still couldn't speak. Crowley took in the bag on the floor and smiled. "Didn't think I'd give you something this dangerous, did you?"
Harry shook his head. "Why did you have this and why would you give it to me?"
Crowley sat on the bed and grinned. "I made a deal with Moose awhile back and they gave me the knife as collateral. I'm trusting you with it."
Harry just stared at him.
"I'm still me. I know if I keep the blade, I will eventually try to use it as leverage with your dad. If I did that, it would cause a rift between us I wouldn't be able to repair. I thought about it. I can't keep it and I can't give it back to Squirrel. I'm going to leave it in the safest hands I know. You have to promise me you will keep if from your father unless it is absolutely necessary."
Harry took in Crowley and looked back to the blade. He thought about what he'd overheard his mom saying to Bobby. His father was losing it. If he knew Harry had the blade, he would demand it back. Harry was not going to let that happen. He would hide it in the war room and make sure no one but Crowley knew of it being in Hogwarts. Harry nodded.
Harry turned his eyes back to Crowley. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course, pet."
"Can you tell me about hell? Every time I bring up hell everyone freezes up on me or refuses to speak about it. Will you tell me?"
Crowley looked at him measuring how he should respond. Harry watched as the decision flitted across his face.
"Hell is a very different place for different people. Your father was in my domain when he was in the pit. Think of hell as a huge building. I'm in the top floor. I'm in the new hell. It consists of people who have made deals. The lower hell, the bottom floors, is the hell even I won't enter. It's the hell everyone that is destined to enter descends, if they haven't signed their way into the one above."
That made no sense to Harry. "Deals keep you out of lower hell?"
Crowley smiled. "Most of the deals I make are damned souls already marked for the lower pit, I just relocate them."
"Where is the cage?"
Crowley looked upset his calm demeanor was shaken just enough Harry could see his reluctance. "In the very bottom of lower hell."
"Have you been down there?"
Crowley shook his head. "I have no dominion there. Very few have gone to the lower levels and walked out again. I have no intention of taking that trip."
Harry nodded. He knew where Adam was.
"May I ask, why do you look like batman?"
Harry groaned. "Loki."
Crowley laughed.
A/N- I know it is a short chapter but I wanted to post something. I'm working on three stories right now so my updates may be a little slow but I promise… I WILL NOT ABANDON THIS! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, followed or faved. Thank you for taking this journey with me. Please review and let me know how I'm doing so far.