Note: Well, look who's back on the wagon! Um… let's see Happy: whatever winter holiday you celebrate, YAY for 2010, Easter, Mother's Day, St, Patrick's Day, and all the missed bdays! Wow… I feel like a bad parent.
I know it's been almost a year since my last post (yikes) but here I am with a nice and rewritten chapter 14. I really want to apologize for the terribly long wait. I promised myself I wouldn't go MIA on all you fellow fans but reality really put me off fan fiction for a while. Between family being deployed and school being an absolute drag, I was ready to kick the story to the curb. I must thank all of you devoted readers who filled my inbox with the encouragement I needed to continue this. Oh! And I'm sorry for not responding to your questions or comments; I'll start on that ASAP.
Now that I revisited this story, my love for it is renewed and endless. I can't say I regret leaving it for a while because, in the mood I was in, I was a chapter away from killing our boys in a rad missile attack. ;P
Unrelated, but I'm also thinking about writing some Criminal Minds fic (been a fan for years so I owe it to the show to contribute some stories!) and as for whoever asked, I don't have any plans for a Twilight/HP story but you never know!
Yeah, I'll shut up in a sec but did you all see the jaw dropping, whiplash-inducing, balloon inflating Supernatural Season Finale? Like WOW!
Previously on You'll Stand Alone Now, You'll Make it Somehow:
"We want to know something and you're going to tell us," he said, suddenly, instinct telling him this demon had information they needed.
The demon smiled widely at him. "Of course, Harry Potter. What can little ol' me do for little, dead you."
He laughed as Harry joined the Winchesters in their shocked silence. It seemed the wizard's instincts were correct; Harry never told it his last name.
Now:
Time came to a screeching halt in that tiny, dungeon of a room. The demon's words hung in the space between the trapped thing and the trio on the other side of the room, not quite reaching the protective bubble of disbelief surrounding two hunters and a young wizard.
Harry (young wizard mentioned above) vaguely noticed this strange occurrence shortly before wondering if he had gone into shock. It was difficult to say because his brain seemed to have short-circuited along with time. Maybe, he though to himself, he was in too much shock to realize that he was in shock. Now, that would be fascinating. Such a thing, of course, was more cause for intrigue than the smirking mad demon before them.
Now, you may wonder why Harry and Harry's brain were in such a state at this moment. Well, you see, the demon seemed to know Harry's surname without having been told by Harry himself. Why the overreaction, you ask? Well, knowing Harry Potter is Harry Potter wouldn't be so shocking if Harry had existed in this here world of theirs a few months ago. But he didn't. And we all know how cautious Harry is with his personal information after being hunted by a Slytherin all his life so he wouldn't go and give a stranger any information about himself to begin with. So, you ask, then how did one mister demon know that Harry was Harry Potter?
Well, that is exactly what Harry's fizzled mind should be wondering right about now.
"Who are you?" Oh, nice one, Harry. That's an even better question.
The demon, ever so helpful thus far, smirked so viciously that Harry broke out of his confused fog a little more to wonder how Les's face hadn't yet cracked like crushed stone. The impossibly handsome features pulled grotesquely over themselves, forming something that rivaled the most ghoulish of Hogwarts creatures.
Harry cringed inwardly, partly to keep from showing emotion but mainly because his brain was only just kicking into gear so it had no time to broadcast a command for more 'disgust' from his facial expression. Still, he managed to force out coldly, "Answer me."
Les's face contorted to something akin to human in order for him to respond with glowing eyes the color of tar.
"I'm only a humble demon with friends in high places," he said, gaze flickering over the still silent Winchesters he laughed again. "What's the matter, boys? Run out of clever one-liners?"
Harry didn't have to look to know that Sam and Dean were making an effort at regaining their composure so he ignored them and moved closer to the figure pinned harshly to the wall by the magic flowing from his raised hands.
"Who would these friends be?" Harry asked, curiosity coating his every word while, inside, his magic growled at the obvious answer: Bella. He knew something like this would happen but he expected Bella to try and seek revenge before finding another deranged master to hand her evil soul over to.
Les' smirk softened considerably as he stared down at Harry. "She doesn't like you at all but I have no idea how she could not. You seem so," here his gaze swept the length of Harry's body so intensely that Harry felt his toes curl and his stomach churn in revulsion. Les parted his mouth, presumably to say something lewd and inappropriate but all he got was a mouthful of what Harry's mind referred to as "magic water".
He turned his head from the hissing and cursing that the water and demon were doing, respectively, and found Dean glaring hatefully at the demon, green eyes narrowed and shiny metal flask held up threateningly. Here Harry's mind supplied the word "sexy".
"Thanks for that," Harry said, turning his gaze back onto the now twitching demon. He looked a lot more psychotic now that he was thoroughly soaked in the magical acid water. "This would go a lot faster if you answered properly."
Les glared at the pair of them, although the hostility was directed more toward the smirking Winchester. Dean just shook the half-full flask and raised an eyebrow.
"What does the yellow-eyed demon want with us?" Harry had almost forgotten the youngest Winchester was still in the room with them. From the sound of him though, he was a ways back from where the interrogating was going on but the soft question still managed to reach the demon.
Les gave Sam one of those calculating looks everyone was so fond of then smiled at the wary Winchester. "He has his reasons, Sam. You'll know when he wants you to."
And, just like that, Harry's minds cleared. He spread his fingers and brought them curling slowly toward his palm, keeping his hands facing the demon while he let his magic burst forward to do his bidding. Les cringed away from the power that slowly, almost lovingly wrapped around his demonic core and squeezed.
"I'm not in mood for games. You will tell us what we want to know. Now," Harry said, coldly, his magic continuing to squeeze at the demon's power in what he imagined was the same way the exorcisms in that possession book described. He gave a Malfoy-patented smirk when Les' eyes widened and the demon had to make a conscious effort to keep from crying out. Harry's fists uncurled and he eased up on the magical torture. "You should start talking," he suggested with an encouraging nod toward the gasping demon.
"Well," the demon gasped out with a lot less cockiness, "I never thought you had it in you."
Harry merely raised an eyebrow and made a great show of preparing to torture the helpless demon again. Les's eyes widened in panic and he shook his head almost frantically.
"I don't know what Azazel's plans are. I'm not that high up on the food chain to have that kind of information. I just do what I'm told," he said, urgently, his eyes turning from black to blue, making him look very much like a human about to have a panic attack.
"You just do what you're told," Dean repeated, words dripping with disbelief. "Harry," he gestured for the wizard to continue.
"It's true," Les exclaimed, all pride forgotten. "I was told to lure you out here while they execute their plans undisturbed!"
"And who told you to do this?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, showing that he was willing to consider keeping Les in one piece.
"The woman like you. Bellatrix. She's gotten real comfy with the boss."
Harry shared a look with Dean. "With Azazel?" Les nodded, eyeing Harry warily. "What did you need to lure us away for?"
Les shook his head. "They didn't say." Harry's eyes narrowed. "They didn't! They just wanted you out of South Dakota for a few weeks. That's all I know!"
Silence as everyone absorbed this new piece of information. Then Sam stepped closer.
"They wanted us out of South Dakota? How did they know we were in South Dakota?"
Les shut his eyes in an attempt to remember. "Bellatrix said Harry Potter would be looking for her so I only had to stir up trouble to get you away while they did their thing."
"What could Bella possibly want in South Dakota?" Sam's pondering was cut short by Harry's low hiss. Sam and Dean turned their startled stares onto the glaring wizard whose narrowed gaze was fixed somewhere over the terrified demon's head.
"Sirius."
The partygoers had long since abandoned the barber shop, leaving behind a graveyard of red plastic cups and half-eaten food among the cardboard cutouts of skeletons and ghosts. The large space, formerly filled with angels and devils drinking and dancing, had an air of eeriness, as if still in the Halloween spirit. The black and orange lights situated among the hovering bats seemed to have dimmed in the absence of life. They barely gave Harry enough light to see by and, had he been in a better mood, he would have stopped to appreciate the haunting atmosphere that had invaded the room.
As it were, however, Harry was in no mood to admire the decorations. He rushed by the once-bursting buffet table, his magic clearing his path in a rush, and made his way out the open door where he caught sight of Sam's back just past the threshold. He stepped out into the cold night air and approached the other man just as Sam closed the cell phone in his hand with an angry snap.
"Anything?" Harry asked, trying to keep the anxiety to a minimum for the sake of the nearly panicked hunter.
"No," Sam forced out through clenched teeth as he turned to face Harry. "What if they're already at Bobby's?"
Harry took a deep, useless breath in an attempt to clear his mind before he did something pre-training Harry would do. He couldn't let his emotions lead him; that would only make things more dangerous for all of them. That was easier said than done, however. The mere thought of Bella getting to Sirius and following through with her promise sent a cold, raw terror straight through his chest, making his breath short and his mind dangerously numb. He couldn't do this, couldn't lose Sirius, not again. He had to do things differently this time to make sure he got a different result. He shook his head before taking hold of Sam's forearms and giving him a firm shake once he noticed the panic in the other man's gaze.
"Sam," Harry said, forcing the hunter to look at him, "Sirius knows she's out there and I know he'll have warded Bobby's house. Even if Bella managed to find him, he can handle her."
Sam nodded but his eyes were still wide and scared beneath the strands of hair falling onto his face. "What about the demon? Harry, it killed mom and then Jess. It's not gonna think twice about killing either of them."
Harry shook him again. "Come on, Sam. Your dad knows more about this demon than all of us put together. If anyone can handle this, it's him and Sirius. We need to focus on other things right now, all right?"
Sam looked away for a moment but gave a small nod. "Has the demon said anything else?"
Harry frowned and motioned for Sam to follow him back inside. "Only the reason why he picked Les's body to possess."
Sam watched curiously as Harry shut the door behind them and muttered a series of charms that made the wood glow faintly for a moment. "Really? Why?"
Harry's frown deepened. "The bloke's full name is Leslie Hope and he's a barber who works on Fleet Street." Harry gave Sam a pointed look.
Sam grimaced as he caught on. "Like Sweeney Todd?" Harry nodded. "And his name is," Sam stopped gave Harry a incredulous look as the wizard opened the door, revealing the stone staircase, "Les Hope. How convenient."
Harry snorted and started up the stairs. "Exactly what I said," he said, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
Sam shook his head and followed the wizard. As they reached the landing and moved to open the shabby door in front of them, they heard a loud screech and a sizzling like cooking bacon in a pan which could only mean that Dean was being generous with the water.
"What's that magic water Dean's using anyway?" Harry asked, reaching out to stop Sam from pushing the door open.
"Magic water?" Sam gave a quiet chuckle. "It's Holy Water."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Like blessed water?" Sam nodded with a smile. "And it actually works?"
"Of course," Sam answered. They could hear Dean's voice get louder as the demon spluttered after the latest bath. "Don't tell me you don't believe in stuff like that."
Harry shrugged and let go of Sam's hand, motioning for him to open the door. "I can do magic. Praying and the like weren't so appealing when I could turn water into wine with a spell."
The hunter looked a little surprised at the comment but he had no response so he pushed the door open with a creak and found his brother sitting comfortably on a cushioned chair he had dragged in from one of the other rooms. He was looking dispassionately at the demon stretched out on the floor in the middle of the room.
"I don't know anything else!" The demon hissed weakly through chattering teeth.
Dean smirked at the creature. "That's fine but I'm just having too much fun here."
It hissed again as the holy water met the skin of it's exposed chest. It convulsed a few times then opened it's pained eyes to glare at Dean. The beginnings of a smirk were forming on the demon's face.
"You think you're so much better than us, yet here you are - torturing like the best of us," he said with a glance in Harry and Sam's direction.
"We don't kill innocent people like you cowards do," Dean said coldly.
"No, you claim not to. You're just righteous dicks on a mission to save the world, aren't you? That supposed to make you feel better?" Another mouthful of water nearly sent the demon into cardiac arrest, if that was possible.
"We are nothing like you," Sam said in disgust. He put his own flask of holy water back in the inside pocket of his jacket. Harry really needed to get one of those handy flasks.
Les laughed harshly and focused his attention entirely on Sam. "Not yet you're not."
"That's enough," Harry said stepping forward. "Can you get rid of it?"
Dean left his seat and crouched by the smirking demon. He pulled the creature's forearm up to the dim light so they could see the irritated flesh.
"This is sealing the demon into the person. It must be why the Devil's Trap didn't work on it. The demon put a down payment on the suit."
"But it's not permanent, right?"
"No," Sam answered. He crouched beside Dean and took the demon's arm. Dean stood but stayed beside his brother, eyes trained on the immobile creature. "We just need to break it. I think there's a fireplace downstairs. That should do it." He stood and took long strides out the door before Harry could ask him any more questions.
"Fireplace?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
Dean grinned at him. "Fireplace."
"NOOOOOO!" The demon roared as Sam advanced on him with a flaming hot poker. Harry and Dean winced at the volume.
"You sure no one can here him, Harry?" Sam asked as he knelt and took the demon's arm while it continued to yell and struggle to gain movement in its limbs.
Harry nodded and cringed as the thing let out a particularly harsh cry. He had cast a charm to keep the noise level from waking the state but decided against silencing the demon itself; stress could break even the toughest of creatures and Harry wanted to hear everything the demon said before it was sent back to wherever demons were sent back to.
Sam winced as he placed the heated object directly onto the raised flesh of the forearm. As soon as the poker met skin, Dean was there, dragging it into a newly drawn Devil's Trap. Harry steered clear of that area of the floor and promised himself he would figure out how to use his own magic against demons so they wouldn't have to use the Trap again; it really made him nauseas.
The creature hissed angrily but Sam had already started chanting in Latin, making the demon turn its head away from the sound. It couldn't do much else with Harry's spell still in place. It was a few lines of terribly put together Latin, in Harry's trained opinion, that Les's head snapped back and his mouth opened as wide as was possible. There was a soft churning sound like a blender on slow and then black clouds of thick smoke were pouring out of Les's mouth with the force of a hurricane. The smoke spiraled in an orderly fashion and sped off into an open vent near the door. Harry shivered as it passed by him and he tried to commit the foreign power to memory; he had a feeling they would be dealing with demons more often than not.
The sound of exorcised demon stopped as quickly as it had started and the trio were left staring hesitantly at the unconscious man on the floor in front of them. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when the man stirred. He hurriedly ended the immobilizing charm and cast a cleaning charm on the various pools of water on the floor around them. Harry glanced around at the Winchesters and saw Dean motion for Harry to speed it up so they could leave without being noticed. Sam was already going down the stairs.
Harry had just reset the cracked floor and had his back to the man when he heard the muttered, "What the hell?" from the real Leslie Hope. He glanced at Dean who just shrugged and followed his brother out.
Harry glared after him and turned to find the Roman soldier shaking the water out of his eyes and struggling to get to his feet. The wizard stepped forward to help him stand.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, mind going a mile a minute to get a plausible excuse together.
Les nodded then looked at the wizard strangely. "How did I get up here?"
"Wow," Harry said, letting surprise lace his words. "You really had that much to drink? You should probably get some rest, Les. And maybe don't call that girl back," he added once Les noticed his soaking wet hair and face.
"Right," Les answered with a frown, clearly trying to piece together the night. He looked down and was startled to find himself in a costume. "What the hell?"
"Seriously, man," Harry said, making an effort to imitate an American accent. "You should get to bed. Great party by the way." He let the man go and hurried to the door. He was on the landing when he heard Les mutter "party?".
The wizard met the Winchesters at the still locked front door and gave them a glare before taking the spells with a wave of his arm.
"How'd he take it?" Dean asked, teasingly as they headed for the car.
"Don't worry about it. I gave him your number," Harry said innocently.
"What's the plan?" Harry asked quietly. The silence in the car put him on edge even more now that they were all packed and heading back to Bobby Singer's place. The Winchesters certainly had a destination but that was all they seemed to have.
"We head back to Bobby's," Dean said, stepping on the gas as if the extra burst of speed would make the states go by faster.
Harry turned his frown away from the window and onto the tense hunter. Sam was still trying John's phone and, from his frustrated sighs, Harry guessed he wasn't having any luck.
"What to we do when we get there, Dean? Even if Bella and the demon haven't arrived in the time it takes us to get there, they'll know their plan went wrong as soon as we show up."
"I know," Dean burst out. Sam flinched beside him, hand clenched tightly to keep the phone steady against his ear. "I know," Dean repeated in a calmer voice while gripping the steering wheel tightly. "But we can't do nothing."
Harry watched as Dean took a sharp left onto a back road opening onto a highway filled with tall trees all around. "Going in there without a plan is worse than doing nothing!" He was really starting to sound like Hermione.
"Dad!" Sam's relieved shout stopped any angry retort from Dean and Harry leaned over the front seat eagerly. Dean motioned for Sam to turn the speakerphone on.
"Sam, what's going on?" John Winchester's voice floated over their heads and they all had to take a moment to breath before answering.
"Are you and Sirius still at Bobby's?" Sam asked urgently.
"What? Sam, what's going on?"
"Bella teamed up with the yellow-eyed demon and they're on their way to South Dakota. Are you still there?" Dean said clearly, giving the panicked Sam a look.
"We just got back from a demon hunt in Iowa," John answered grimly.
"Demon hunt? That can't be a coincidence," Sam said. "What happened?"
"Sirius got thrown around a bit but they were in a hurry to get out of there." Silence. "Or maybe they wanted us out of there."
"Did Sirius put wards up? Paprika isn't going to keep Bella out," Harry said, then scowled in confusion when Dean choked on a laugh.
"Sirius wasn't in any shape to be doing anything. Didn't help that he refused to step foot in a hospital." If Harry didn't know better, it almost sounded like John was complaining.
"So, you're holed up there without any protection," Harry concluded.
"Son, we have enough arsenal here to rival the entire state of Texas," John said, sounding a tad bit insulted.
Harry shook his head at the phone. "You need to get Sirius to ward the place. Even a quick alarm ward will let you know if she steps onto the property."
"I'll see what I can do," John said. After a moment, "She's with the demon now." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah," The word came out of Sam's throat along with a barely audible choking sound. John heard it.
"We'll talk about this when you get ba-"
Silence.
"Dad?" Dean and Sam said at the same time. Sam checked the phone and grimaced.
"No signal."
Dean groaned. "Our luck just keeps getting better."
The words had just left his mouth when a blur cut in front of them, leaping out of the trees and directly into the middle of the road in front of the Impala. A gasp barely managed to escape Harry before Dean let out a curse and stepped on the brakes, pulling the steering wheel to one side.
They were going to flip.
No matter how well built Dean's baby was, they were going to catch air and probably not make it out alive. Well, that just didn't sit well with Harry or his magic. There was a split second where the wizard's mind went blank and his magic took complete control, flaring out in geysers of strength never before felt by Harry. He reined the car in to avoid hitting whatever was in their way but the force of the stop pulled Harry forward and straight into the front window. He heard Sam and Dean yell as glass shattered around him and his body flew through the window with the force of a bullet.
It was about the time he was flying through the air that Harry noticed the crouched figure with long dark hair ahead of him. Blood seeped into his eyes from a gash on his forehead and he raised his arms to avoid hurting whoever it was but his magic was behind him, trying to stop the Impala from meeting with a tree so he was helpless to stop a human collision. He shut his eyes in preparation and grimaced as he heard the unmistakable sound of metal rocketing into nature.
Then Harry promptly flew through the figure and met the road with a deadly force.
Note: There it is. You've waited 5 months for it now what did you all think? Now, I must warn you that, however unintentionally, I seem to have filled this chapter with lots of foreshadowing, parallels, and just plain out clues to future and very MAJOR events. I'm thinking it's the useless stuff that's the most important.
I have no idea if any of you read these thinks but I'm popping some questions because it's always so much fun to include your ideas in the story!
Our gorgeous Sirius Black needs some love. Tell me your favorite mate for our guy, no matter how unlikely, and I'll see what I can do. ;)
On a similar note, the middle section of this story isn't set in stone although I did change Spn canon around A LOT. If there's someone or something you would like to see just let me know and I'll love you for the input.
I'm forgetting something but oh well, I must post this NOW. So, any comments complaints, and suggestions are more than welcome and infinitely appreciated. Pinky promise you won't have to wait too long for the next chapter!