2008

Draco continued waving his wand over Harry and periodically tutting his tongue to the roof of his mouth for several minutes. Sam was sure it all meant something to the wizard but he couldn't begin to guess what. Hermione had begun toying with Harry's long hair. She'd undone the braid and was amusing herself by twisting it into various hairstyles. Harry seemed quite pleased with the attention and was mindlessly humming to himself. Sam along with Dean and Castiel could only watch.

"Inclusionis est intra mente? But that's impossible." Draco spoke softly but Sam heard him and his years fighting demons made the translation almost instant.

"Trapped within the Mind?" he asked horrified and Draco nodded.

"It was definitely cast on him but it doesn't make sense. The spell is only known to a select group of wizards and it's not supposed to react like this." Hermione turned to him and gave him a soft smile.

"But Draco you've forgotten the Harry factor." she told him and Draco laughed.

"Of course."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dean asked and Draco shook his head.

"Only that Harry has the most damnable luck and a brain like a pile of rocks. Literally any other human being hit with this curse would fall into a deep sleep trapped within their mind, probably not even realizing it."

"He's not asleep," Dean pointed out.

"No but he's still trapped. He's perceiving things the way one might in a dream. I suspect a good bit of his conscious mind is locked away as well. The parts you see flashing through are just like a more intense part of the dream, the sort that you would remember when you woke up."

"Can you reverse it?" Sam asked the question on everyone else's mind.

"I-I'm not sure I wish I knew what had caused the curse to malfunction. I know how to break the curse when it functions normally but I can't say how this will have changed them."

"It was his grace." Castiel spoke for the first time since the other wizards had arrived and everyone spun to stare at him.

"His what?" asked Hermione looking genuinely confused.

"When Harry was an infant he was blessed with a part of my grace. I suspect this is the 'Harry factor' you mentioned. My grace shielded his mind from the harmful influence of the filth that attached itself to him. It must have disrupted the spell." Castiel told them. Hermione blinked and looked at Castiel very closely as if examining and interesting specimen.

"And you are what exactly?" she asked after a long moment.

"I am an Angel of God." For a long silent moment Hermione gaped. Sam finally spoke and Hermione shut her mouth with a loud snap.

"Does that tell you what you need to know? Can you help him?"

"Normally someone close to the victim would enter their mind and search out where they are trapped. It's an intimate process, often you have to sift through memories and dreamscapes. It can also be dangerous, especially in a mind like Harry's -"

"Okay I get it lets just do this okay!" Dean cut Draco off. Draco turned to him.

"Excuse me?"

"Look I've been doing this whole supernatural helping people thing long enough to see where this conversation is going. Someone needs to go in. Preggers over there will want to go but can't for obvious reasons. You won't leave her unprotected, Cas isn't the sort to do it so ultimately it will be Sam because he like ridiculous in love with the guy and I'm sure as hell not letting my brother navigate some creepy dreamscape all by himself. So lets skip the long explanation, tell us what we need to do and get us in there." For a long moment everyone just stared at Dean but then Hermione broke into a wide warm smile.

"Harry's really going to like you."


"We'll have to put Harry to sleep, he can't stay awake for this. I can cast the spell that will join your consciousness. Once you're inside you will have to navigate Harry's mind. Likely you will encounter mostly memories and the occasional dream. It's important that you do not interact with anything until you find Harry. As long as you merely observe no harm can come to you. Once you find Harry you must explain what has happened to him. It's likely he knows at least that he is trapped and that he has been at least partially aware of what has been happening but he may not realize the exact spell. Once you've explained it to him he can use his magical core to break through the walls of the spell." Draco told them. Sam nodded his understanding as did Dean.

"Okay so how do we move through the memories?" Dean asked.

"Some will have doors others will simply fade away. As you get closer I imagine you'll be able to figure out which way to go." Hermione volunteered.

"And Sam you especially need to remember not to interfere with anything you see. These are figments, either they have already happened or they are dreams and can't really hurt Harry." Sam nodded clenching his jaw. He felt a bit like this was violation. Clearly there were many things Harry had never told him, Sam had known that before. Admittedly he'd never guessed the scope of it but he'd always known. Sam had let him keep his secrets since he had no intention of sharing his own. Now he was going to plunge into Harry's mind and probably learn far more about him then he could have even if they'd stayed together all this time.

"Alright Lets do this." Dean said sitting on one side of Harry and Sam sat down on the other. "Cas put him to sleep." Castiel stepped forward and tapped Harry on the forehead. Sam caught him as he fell back and lowered him to the bed.

"How did you do that?" Hermione demanded but Castiel didn't answer, instead gesturing to Draco to do his part.

"Each of you need to have physical contact with Harry and each other, otherwise you could end up in separate parts of his mind and become lost there." Draco told them and there were a few minutes of adjustment as Sam and Dean negotiated their hands so they were both touching Harry's hand and each others. "Ready?" Draco asked them after a moment.

Dean nodded and Sam did the same so Draco waved his wand. At first Sam felt nothing but then he was falling, he could feel Harry's fingers grasped smaller in his own and Dean's rougher ones. He clutched tighter hoping to ground himself or brace himself for whatever impact was coming. Suddenly there was a vibrant flash of purple light that seemed to envelop them completely, then darkness. Sam could feel the ground beneath his feet but could seen nothing. He no longer felt any hands in his and almost cried with relief when Dean's voice reached him.

"Sammy? You make it?"

"Yeah I'm here." Sam responded. There was another long pause while they waited for something to happen but there was only black.

"Gotta say, I was kinda expecting more." Dean said into the darkness and Sam couldn't help but agree.


Author's notes: Sorry this is even shorter than usual. I was super busy today and didn't get to start on this until late. I didn't want to miss a day though when I've been so good about getting one up every day!

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