Chapter 10 Biblical Monster Fish
Sam was sitting in his favourite chair in the room of requirement with Cas, getting a head start on his homework before Dean showed up with everybody else and started playing twenty questions about what was going on. While it was a nice surprise to see Jo again, both her and Gabriel's arrival was unexpected, and unexpected things happening were never good in Sam's experience.
Over the course of them using the room over the last year, the room itself seemed to slowly merge each of their individual preferences, so that the final result whenever they came up here was a cross between Bobby's living room, The Burrow, the Hogwarts library, and the Gryffindor common room, except for the fact that the view out the windows seemed to be from below the surface of the Black Lake.
He didn't have to wait long at least before the ever growing Gryffindor contingent showed up with their sole Slytherin. It wasn't that Sam wanted to be in another house, just did most of the people he knew have to have personality's that meant they were in the house of brave idiots? It was that kind of leap into the fray before you think about the consequences logic that led to Dean selling his soul. But if Sam was being honest with himself, it was his logical, rational Ravenclaw thinking that led to him drinking demon blood, so really, he didn't have a leg to stand on.
His friends and brother made their way into to the room and flopped on various pieces of furniture without pausing in the argument they seemed to be having.
"No Hermione, just no. It doesn't matter how pretty he is or how many books he's written, He, Is, A, Fraud! He is Lying!" Dean told Hermione while Harry laid back with and arm over his eyes and Ron shifted into a puppy and got himself comfortable on a pillow while Jo watched him with wide eyes.
"And how would you know Dean? Hum? What proof do you have?" Hermione bit back.
Sam looked at Illyria, raising his eyebrows at her questioningly, she just rolled her eyes and mouthed 'Lockhart' at him.
"You want to know what my proof is? I used to lie, professionally. As in 80 percent of my job was making people believe I was something I wasn't, and I was good at it. Very good. That idiot? He's not good at it." Dean told her.
"You're just jealous that Gilderoy is far better at stopping dark forces than you were." Hermione told him tartly. Which was the wrong thing to say, because Sam could see that Dean was ready to explode at that comment.
Thankfully Dean had some common sense, so instead of unleashing his rage on Hermione, he simply took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Hermione" Dean said in a deadly calm tone, the girl in question looked like she suddenly realised how badly she had messed up and took a step back. "I get that you don't even have a fraction of my life experiences, and I pray to God that you never do. But that... idiot, if he had done even half the things he had written about, he wouldn't have been hiding under his desk from something as simple as Cornish pixies." He told her before walking away from the now shocked girl.
"Dean.." Hermione tried to say before Dean cut her off.
"Don't worry about it" he told her abruptly, obviously peeved, but not wanting to continue the discussion.
"Nice to see you're still as charming as ever." Jo sassed. Dean just snorted and Sam could only shake his head at their antics.
"So, moving on from that awkward topic, are you guy's going to introduce everyone?" Jo asked.
"Right." Sam coughed clearing his throat. "So, the dark haired boy wonder is Harry Potter." Sam said gesturing at Harry.
"Harry appears to have the ability to find trouble in a locked room." Dean added while Harry vehemently denied the claim.
"Hermione and I went to primary school together." Castiel said nodding to the girl in question. "We were friends before coming here." He explained.
"You went to primary school?" Jo asked. Castiel simply nodded. "That must have something to see." She commented.
"The puppy hiding under the pillow is Ronald. He's our cousin." Sam told her. Ron just waged his tail.
"And of course we have the only child of our illustrious potions master, have you had him yet?" Dean questioned, Jo shook her head. "Anyway this is Illyria." He introduced.
Jo narrowed her eyes for a moment, looking at Illyria.
"Dean said something about you eating angels this morning, what was with that?" Jo asked the dark haired girl.
"Technically it's absorbing their grace or essence which in turn leads to their death, not eating them." Illyria said looking awkward.
"You ate Angels?" Harry squawked. "How could you?"
Illyria fiddled with her fingers for a moment, not looking at anyone, before taking a deep breath.
"I told you I had never eaten a human being, I didn't lie about that. But Harry, you have to realise, I wasn't always like this. I was in purgatory for a reason." She told him.
"Purgatory? I thought it was just a myth?" Jo said questioningly.
"I wish, purgatory is where monsters go when they die, it also has leviathans, which are apparently the original monster." Dean explained.
"The biblical monster fish?" Jo asked, Illyria scowled at the comparison.
"The closest comparison is a sea serpent, but even that is, lacking." Illyria tried to explain.
"So you are…?" Jo asked.
"I am a Leviathan" Illyria told her. Jo just side eyed Dean and Sam, obviously looking for an explanation as the why the monster in the room was still standing.
"I'm not a threat to you, unlike the rest of my kind I have a human soul. Human emotions. The idea of attacking and eating a sentient being is abhorrent, even though I remember doing it the past, before I was like this." Illyria explained. Jo didn't look convinced.
"Look I get why you're twitchy about this, but we're stuck with her, so play nice with the biblical monster fish." Dean told Jo. Illyria didn't look impressed with the new name though.