Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related affiliates thereof belong to JK Rowling. Supernatural and all related affiliates thereof belong to Eric Kripke. This is purely for entertainment purposes only, no profit is being made. In other words, please don't sue me! Recognizable quotes are from Supernatural's episode "Simon Said". I got the transcripts from TwizTV. I also don't own the songs!
AN: Okay, here's the next part. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing and giving me awesome ideas. Seriously, I read some of your reviews and I think, "Why didn't I think of that?!" So I thank you for the plentiful plotbunnies that sprout becuase of your comments. Also thanks to my awesome beta Kirallie for keeping my comma obsession in order. Any last minute mistakes are mine.
Summary: Harry Potter has always wanted a family that cared about him, that loved him in the proper way a family should. He'd long since given up hope his dream would one day become a reality, content that the dream was enough. A startling discovery on his seventeenth birthday will change all that, sending him to America where he will meet a man and his sons no one knew existed. How far will Harry go to protect his new found family? How will the Winchesters react to a family member showing up on their doorstep just as the hunt for the demon is heating up? They're all about to learn that family is everything, no matter how messed up it is.
~*~*~
Ash was set up at the counter of the bar with his homemade computer waiting for Sam to finish the drawing he was currently working on. Dean was watching Harry who kept smiling at him innocently, every once a while taking a sip of his drink. Frustrated, the older man turned towards his younger brother. "It doesn't have to be perfect, Picasso!"
Sam didn't even bother replying but laid his pen down on the counter after another few minutes and pushed the napkin across the table towards Ash. Harry's little smirks and his earlier comments were messing with Dean who in turn was taking it out on Sam. Besides the prank wars, Sam hadn't ever tried to mess with Dean or their father's head. He'd just said what was on his mind and that was that. Harry on the other hand liked to smirk innocently at Dean occasionally, his green eyes glistening in mirth and hidden secrets. This led Dean to assume he'd done something wrong when in fact he hadn't. Sam didn't want to think how he'd act when he actually did do something. God help them if they ever get into a prank war with this kid. Unlike his brother, he recognized a devious person when he saw one and Harry was slowly learning to let out his more Machiavellian tendencies since he'd met them.
"So, I got a match," Ash said breaking through his thoughts. "Let's see… it's the logo for the Blue Ridge bus lines – Guthrie, Oklahoma."
"Okay, do me a favor," Sam said urgently. "Check Guthrie for any demonic signs or omens or anything like that." Ash began typing away on his computer.
"You think the demon's there?" He asked. Harry watched his cousin's face and noticed Sam was trying to hide any emotions besides detached interest.
"Yeah, maybe," Sam responded.
"Why would you think that?" Ash continued.
"Just check it, all right?" Dean interrupted before Ash could continue or Sam could respond. His questions were hitting a little too close to home for his comfort. Harry smiled encouragingly at the older computer hacker while running a finger around the edge of his glass absently. Research had never been his thing back at Hogwarts and it wasn't his thing now, especially computers. Ash turned back to the computer and Dean caught his brother's eye. Sam's lips upturned slightly in appreciation.
"No sir, nothing. No demon," Ash said quietly. Sam scrunched up his face thinking before leaning forward.
"All right, try something else for me," he paused before stealing himself and continuing. "Search Guthrie for a house fire. It would be 1983, the fire's origin would be a baby's nursery, the night of the kid's six-month birthday." Ash turned to stare at him in consternation while Dean glanced around them nervously making sure that no one was listening in. Harry felt his heart rate increase but kept his movement steady while his green eyes flickered around the room. Jo looked towards them but Harry minutely shook his head and she went back to what she was doing.
"Okay, now that is just weird, man. Why the hell would I be lookin' for that" There were some things that he didn't understand about hunters or the information they requested. Sam leaned back in his seat, not at all worried about Ash's question. He grabbed his bottle of beer that he'd bought but hadn't drunk from and slammed in front of him.
"Cause there's a PBR in it for ya."
"Give me fifteen minutes," Ash responded, turning resolutely to his computer. Then again, there were some things he didn't want to know.
~*~*~
Dean and Harry wandered away from Sam and Ash, both for every different reasons. Dean couldn't stand anyone knowing about their family's business and Ash's search was coming far too close; it was better for him to walk away before he dragged his brother and his cousin from the Roadhouse and never looked back, Sam's vision be damned. Harry on the other hand was simply bored; he figured he would get more fun out of annoying Dean than he would Sam.
The younger boy and older man had fallen into silence, fortunately for Harry. While he'd been hoping his cousin would distract him, Harry was happy Dean wasn't taking this time to lecture him on underage drinking. He smiled a little at his oldest cousin's indignation, reminding him of Hermione when Ron had suggested getting a firewhiskey at the Hog's Head. It felt almost like how he imagined a parent would act, but Dean wasn't his father. Harry shook his head of his thoughts. Sure, the older man took care of him but he was his cousin. Best to remember that so he wasn't disappointed later.
Dean sipped his beer while Harry slumped forward, nursing his soda. He figured Jo's offer of a drink didn't extend to refills and since he'd recently learned he really liked soda, not having been exposed to it before, he was savoring his drink. He glanced up as Jo wandered over but she was determinedly ignoring them. Putting some money in the juke box, a soft piano melody filled the emptying bar. Harry watched as his cousin's head lifted, a disgusted look on his face. He glanced around before taking a strong pull of his beer. Jo brought over her tray of empty glasses and turned toward the pair. Dean raised his eyebrow while Harry looked between the two deciding to stay out of it.
"What?" Jo asked, her hand on her hip in a stance Harry recognized as one Ginny adopted whenever she was defensive.
"REO Speedwagon?" Dean asked indicating the jukebox.
"Damn right, REO," Jo responded as she stepped forward. "Kevin Cronin sings it from the heart."
"He sings it from the hair," Dean responded smirking sardonically. "There's a difference."
"Who's REO Speedwagon?" Harry piped up from where he was sitting next to Dean. While he didn't want to get between their not-quite flirting, he was curious about the music. Not because it sounded very good but he hadn't been exposed to too much muggle music and he was sick of Dean's. It wouldn't have been so bad, Harry supposed, if he had more than a few albums. The repetition was grating on Harry's last nerve, he didn't know how Sam hadn't killed his brother before now, he was sure he would have cracked ages ago. Jo looked appalled while Dean smiled, clinking his beer bottle with Harry's glass.
"You're forgiven," Dean said as Harry took a sip. He nodded in acceptance before looking at them both.
"No but seriously…?" Jo and Dean glanced at each other as they realized Harry had no clue who the group was. They both shook their heads, the kids these days…
Jo looked over her shoulder towards her mother who was wiping down glasses before turning back to face them. "That profile you've got Ash looking for…?" Dean raised his eyebrow in acknowledgement. "Your mom died the same way, didn't she? A fire in Sam's nursery?" Dean straightened and swallowed. He glanced toward Harry before responding.
"Look, Jo, it's kind of a family thing." Harry felt her eyes on him as well and knew she was questioning his involvement and while he may enjoy antagonizing his cousin, he knew to leave this well enough alone.
"I could help," Jo responded ardently.
"I'm sure you could," Dean said. "But we've gotta handle this one ourselves. Besides, if I ran off with you, I think your mother might kill me." Ellen looked towards the trio and a hard look crossed over her face. Dean smiled genially before turning back to Jo who was smirking at him.
"You're afraid of my mother?" she asked.
"I think so," he responded with a smile still on his face.
"Why?" Harry asked again. "Ellen's great!" Jo nodded in approval while Dean thought for a minute how to describe the exact way in which Ellen inspired fear in him.
"Just wait until you piss her off," Dean finally said. Harry thought of Mrs. Weasley and her anger during the last battle when Ginny was in trouble, or any time the twins were in trouble, or when she argued with Sirius, or…perhaps he should stop thinking about this. He swallowed compulsively and glanced towards Ellen who was now surveying them uncomfortably.
"Um, I think I get it now," Harry said quickly ducking his head and hastily drinking from his glass, trying to appear as if he'd been doing anything. Jo smirked at both men. Harry was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike most hunters who came in here, Harry smiled and laughed, at least with his cousins. He seemed to enjoy winding Dean up and yet he genuinely looked up to his older cousins. She'd seen the looks both Sam and Dean had given hunters who'd looked cross eyed at the boy and knew they'd kick anyone's ass who even considered crossing the younger kid.
Sam hurried over, stopping briefly beside the shorter woman. "We have a match. We gotta go."
"All right, Jo," Dean said tapping Harry's chest. The younger boy was gulping down the last of his soda before running the back of his hand across his mouth. "See you later."
~*~*~
"And even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight. You're a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter's night. And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might—" Dean sang several hours later as the Impala sped down the highway towards Oklahoma.
"You're kidding, right?" Sam asked incredulously. His brother was not seriously singing that song.
"So that's REO Speedwagon," Harry said thoughtfully. Sam glanced back at him. "No wonder you don't like him, that was bloody awful!" Dean glared at his cousin in the rearview mirror who shrugged his shoulders before a smirk spread across his features. "Or it could just be you." Sam snorted and Dean felt heat rising in his cheeks.
"I heard the song somewhere; I can't get it out of my head. I don't know, man. What do you got?" Dean asked in an attempt to change the subject. "And I sing like an angel!"
Harry nodded his head in apparent agreement, his smirk still firmly in place; Dean's scowl deepened. Sam smiled one last time catching Harry's eye before looking back down at his notes.
"Andrew Gallagher – born in '83, like me. Lost his mother in a nursery fire exactly six months later, also like me," Sam responded.
"You thinking the demon killed his mom?" Dean asked. Harry leaned forward in his seat. The younger boy knew there were other families affected by Voldemort's reign but none of them had been like him, no one else had survived the curse like him. The only one who had an inkling of what he'd gone through was Neville and even he didn't completely understand. It was odd that there were others like Sam.
"Sure looks like it," Sam said shuffling the papers together.
"How'd you even know to look for this guy?" Dean asked.
"Every premonition I've had – if they're not about the demon, they're about the other kids the demon visited. Like Max Miller, remember him?" Harry thought that sounded plausible. Every one of his visions was linked to Voldemort; it's only reasonable that Sam's were linked to the demon or the other children linked to the demon. So why was he getting them?
"Yeah, but Max Miller was a pasty little psycho."
"The point is, he was killing people, and I was having the same type of visions about him. Now it could be happening all over again with this Gallagher guy."
"How do we find him?" Dean asked. Harry, feeling his attention wander, pushed his pillow against the door behind Dean and stretched out in the back seat, being carefully not to get his shoes on the leather; he'd learned that lesson the hard way. He closed his eyes but didn't immediately drift to sleep letting his cousins' voice wash over him. Harry had found that their steady cadences and deep tones along with the gentle rocking of the Impala lulled him to sleep better than any dreamless sleep potion could.
"I don't know. No current address, no current employment. He still owes money on all his bills – phone, credit, utilities."
"Collection agency flags?"
"Not in the system."
"They just let him take a walk?"
"Seems like it. There's a work address from his last W-2, about a year ago. Let's start there." By the time Sam finished his sentence; soft snores could be heard coming from the backseat. Brown eyes watched the steady rise and fall of the younger boy's chest before lifting higher to his face. Sam smiled noticing Harry was actually sleeping. The brothers had learned quickly that Harry was really good at feigning sleep and they'd been more careful to be sure he was actually asleep than they'd been before.
"How's he doing?" Dean asked softly. Harry hadn't been sleeping well since their father's death but thankfully his nightmares appeared to be tapering off. Whenever he fell asleep in the car, he seemed to sleep better than in any of the motels they stayed at.
"Asleep," Sam responded. "I think Gordon really shook him up." Dean clenched his jaw tightly as he thought of that crazed bastard cutting into his cousin's arm to feed the vampire. "You don't think the demon'll come after him because of this, do you?" He knew it was his brother's greatest fear.
"He said he had ways of cloaking himself and us if it ever came to that." The pair of them had a big fight about where Harry would go if the demon ever came after him. Dean had wanted him to go stay with Bobby while Harry had vehemently refused, said he was done running and hiding. It was one of the worst fights they'd had yet and Sam had to step in before either said something they'd both regret. While Harry might have hit the older man in anger, Dean wouldn't have laid a finger on his cousin, not wanting to bring back memories. Neither brother had forgotten what the demon had said in the cabin before it had tortured him. John's not the first uncle to hit you. Dean shook his head to get rid of the direction his thoughts were taking him.
"Let's hope it never comes to that," Sam said softly. If his decision to go to school had been hard on Dean, Harry's absence would probably kill him. Sure, Sam was his brother and he'd practically raised him but the younger Winchester could see the way Dean treated their cousin. The age difference and lack of true parents made it incredibly easy for Dean to take that role, whether he realized it or not. Sam got to be the older brother for a change and it felt kinda nice. Scary as hell but nice.
~*~*~
The next morning, Sam and Dean were sitting in a diner where Andy had worked waiting to be served. Both were dressed in their suits and watching avidly as the waitress poured coffee into their cups. Having driven straight through the night, both were in need of a pick-me-up. Harry was sitting beside them invisible under his cloak as it would seem weird for them to be toting around a kid.
"You won't get anything out of Andy, guys," she warned as she turned to refill another customer's mug. "I'm sorry but they never do.
"They?" Sam asked curiously. The blond waitress smiled up at them from beneath her bangs.
"You're debt collectors right? Once in a while, they come by. I don't know what Andy says to them, but they never come back," she finished, a thoughtful look on her face. Dean smiled genially.
"Actually, we're lawyers, representing his great-aunt Lita," he explained professionally. "She passed, God rest her soul, but left Andy a sizable estate." Sam glanced towards the waitress.
"Yeah. So are you a friend of his?" Bored, Harry decided to test his wandless and nonverbal magic again. He concentrated on the sugar dispenser and kept repeating accio in his head. The dispenser began to rattle slightly before moving towards him. Sam's eyes got wide before he grabbed the dispenser as Tracy turned back to the table. He smiled at her while stomping down on Harry's foot. Dean coughed to cover Harry's sharp in-take of breath before glaring in the boy's general direction.
"I used to be, yeah," she said a little sad. "I don't see much of Andy anymore." Another employee who was bussing a table nearby walked around behind the waitress.
"Andy?" Harry scrambled back as the other man took his seat while Sam and Dean repositioned themselves, scraping their chairs trying to distract the two civilians. The younger boy glared at the man who stole his seat before smiling and wandering away. "Andy kicks ass man!"
"Is that right?" Dean asked a large fake smile on his face. He swallowed nervously as he realized he had no idea where his cousin went. They couldn't see him and they couldn't hear him as he put a silencing spell on his shoes. He hoped the idiot didn't do anything stupid.
"Yeah!" The brothers noticed the waitress' unamused look she was directing towards the man. "Andy can get you into anything, man. He even got me backstage at Aerosmith once. It was beautiful, bro."
"Uh-huh. How about bussing a table or two, Webber?" The uncomfortable silence that followed had all three men glancing away.
"Yeah, you bet boss," he said smiling. As he was getting up to leave, Webber took some empty mugs he'd set down earlier and turned. A loud crash was heard and Dean saw Webber sprawled on the floor, cups and glass everywhere. When he got up, coffee was quickly staining the front of his shirt. Webber blushed and tried to brush it off as Tracy bent to help him pick up the broken pieces. Dean glared around him and saw the chair shift slightly. He reached under the table and grabbed his cousin's arm tightly.
Tracy turned back towards them when she was done helping Webber. She seemed confused as to how two empty cups could have produced that much coffee when Webber tripped but she brushed it aside quickly.
"Look, if you wanna find him, try Orchard Street. Just look for a van with a Barbarian queen painted on the side." Dean raised his eyebrows.
"A Barbarian queen?"
"She's riding a polar bear. It's kind of hard to miss."
The brothers thanked her and she returned to work. Dean quickly repositioned his hand, keeping a firm grip on his cousin as he dragged him from the diner. Once they were outside and away from enough people, Dean pulled the cloak off. Harry smiled up at his cousins innocently.
"Dude, what part of secret do you not get?" Dean started as he stormed towards the car, still holding Harry's arm. He didn't like not being able to see his cousin and it had unnerved him slightly.
"Oh, c'mon, bloke totally deserved it," Harry exclaimed. "He took my seat!"
"He didn't know you were there!" Sam said reasonably. Harry rolled his eyes. Dean spun him around to face them with his back to the Impala and fixed him with a steely glare.
"Look, no more magic in public. No more wandering off under the cloak. And no more harassing people who can't see you. Got it?" Dean stared the younger boy down until Harry nodded.
"Yeah, yeah I got it." Harry got into the car while Sam wandered around to the passenger side. Dean turned to look towards the restaurant, a huge shit-eating grin spread across his face. C'mon it had been a pretty awesome prank.
~*~*~
She was right, the van was very hard to miss, polar bears and all. Harry was eying it carefully as was Dean who seemed to find the whole thing amusing. "I'm sorry, I'm starting to like this dude. That van is sweet."
"I quite agree," Harry said. "I personally think a design like that would look awesome drawn on the trunk of—" Dean caught his cousin's eye in the rearview mirror.
"You paint anything on my Impala and I will end you!" Harry merely smirked.
"Who said anything about the Impala?" The younger boy asked innocently. He knew he shouldn't be baiting Dean so soon after the diner fiasco but it was just too easy. "I was just going to suggest we try to spruce up that van of Bobby's we ditched."
"Hm-hmm," Dean responded. He turned to Sam expecting support but his jovial expression dropped upon the look Sam was giving him: his brow was furrowed and his lips were pressed into a thin line. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," came the low reply.
"Sam, you look like you're sucking on a lemon. What's going on?"
"This Andrew Gallagher," Sam responded, glaring at the van as though it's done him a personal wrong. "He's the second guy like this we've found, Dean. The demon came to them when they were kids, now they're killing people."
"We don't know what Andrew Gallagher is, okay," Dean said, for once being the logical one of the pair. "Could be innocent."
"My visions haven't been wrong yet," Sam said immediately. Harry huffed in annoyance.
"Yeah, well there's a first time for everything," Harry said, remembering the vision of Sirius he was sent. "Maybe it's a false vision." He'd learned not to trust visions; particularly those he knew were coming from his worst enemies. Trelawney's prophesies were a little harder to ignore but Harry knew they weren't due to any connection to Voldemort.
"False vision?" Sam asked turning towards him.
"Yeah," Harry replied biting his lip nervously. "Maybe the demon planted it, wanting you to think this bloke was evil when really he's just an average guy."
"Why would he do that?" Sam countered. He was obviously not believing Harry and just figured he was trying to make him feel better.
"I don't know!" Harry huffed in annoyance again as he threw his hands up in the air dramatically. "Do I look like an evil mastermind?" Sam rolled his eyes and was about to retort when Dean broke in.
"Well, we know you're an evil mastermind," he said jokingly. He turned back to his brother seriously. "What's your point? About this Andy guy?" Sam paused for a moment before continuing.
"My point is I'm one of them." Silence followed Sam's words before Dean smiled as though Sam were joking, or rather hoping Sam was joking.
"No, you're not," Dean said. Harry was fully ready to back him up but Sam spoke before he even opened his mouth.
"Dean, the demon said he had plans for me and children like me."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, maybe this is his plan," Sam responded. Harry could tell his cousin was getting agitated. Not knowing why something was happening to you, what part you were expected to play in the grand scheme of things was the scariest thing, even more than knowing you just had a part. Harry refused to believe that Sam didn't have any choice in this, in his role. "Maybe we're all a bunch of psychic freaks! Maybe we're all supposed to be—"
"What, killers?"
"Well, yeah," he said uncertainly.
"So the demon wants you out there killing with your minds, is that it?" Harry could hear Dean's sarcastic tone. "Oh, give me a break. You're not a murderer, Sam! You don't have it in your bones! "
"Dean's right," Harry added. "No matter what the demon wants with you, you always have a choice and you wouldn't choose to be a murderer. You're not!" Sam may know how to protect himself and his family but he wouldn't kill someone for the hell of it. He's not a monster.
"No?" Sam asked. "Last I checked, I kill all kinds of things." Dean had a ready reply before he'd even finished his statement.
"Well, those things were askin' for it. There's a difference." Sam wanted to argue but glancing behind him at Harry, he clamped his mouth shut. He didn't want his cousin to be exposed to this, hell he didn't want him exposed to hunting but he didn't have to listen to them argue about him becoming a murderer. Sam turned to watch out the window for any sign of this Andy guy as Dean turned away.
Across the street, a guy matching Andy's description caught Sam's eye and he knew without a doubt that it was him. He was leaving an apartment building wearing jeans and a t-shirt as well as a silk robe. "Got him." He motioned towards Andy and Dean and Harry watched him saunter down the street. Sam felt his eyebrows rise when a beautiful blond woman waved from a window above.
Harry felt himself frowning as he watched Andy greet people jovially on the street, stopping one guy who handed him his cup of coffee. Either Andy was everybody's favorite guy or something more sinister was going on. He had a bad feeling he knew what it was but he didn't know how he was doing it.
Andy stopped at the corner to talk to a dark skinned older man dressed rather smartly in a suit. Harry's eyes widened as he recognized him but he swallowed nervously, praying Sam did as well.
"That's him. That older guy, that's him. That's the shooter," Sam said. Dean concentrated harder on the older man and what was happening but it looked like Andy was just talking to him.
"Well, you keep on him, Harry and I'll stick with Andy. Go." Sam slid from the car as Harry scrambled around to the front. He rarely got to sit in the front seat and he wasn't going to bypass such a perfect opportunity. Dean smiled to himself recognizing Harry's desire seeing as Sam had done the same thing when he was younger before pulling away from the curb following the van, keeping an eye on Andy but also tracking Sam's movement as far as he could.
Harry relaxed into the seat allowing his eyes to follow the van, wondering where the hell they were going but comfortable Dean would make sure nothing happen to him. Andy stopped at a stop sign and before either of them could do something, the driver's door opened. Dean grabbed the gun laying beside him, sliding it under his coat and keeping a tight grip on it. Andy leaned on the open window smiling but Harry felt himself growing more nervous.
"Hey!"
"Hey," Dean responded his voice a tad shaky. Andy just continued to smile.
"This is a cheery ride." He stood slightly to look at the hood before bending again.
"Yeah, thanks," Dean said politely. Harry smiled tightly.
"Man, you know, '67 – Impala's best year, if you ask me." Dean slid his hand out of his coat and rested it on his thigh. Harry rolled his eyes. Dean and his bloody car; honestly couldn't he tell the bloke was just flattering him? "This is a serious classic."
"I just rebuilt her too," Dean bragged running his hands along the steering wheel. "Can't let a car like this one go."
"Damn straight…Hey, can I have it?" Harry's jaw dropped when Dean continued to smile and cheerfully agreed.
"Sure man!"
Harrystared at Dean in shock. "Dean!" His cousin didn't appear to notice simply held the door open for the younger man to get in. No way would his cousin actually let a stranger drive his car, least of all with him still inside.
"Sweet!"
"Hop right in there," Dean slammed the door shut. "There you go."
Andy turned to Harry and said, "You can go with your brother." Harry glared at the older man. Andy was smiling at him and didn't appear to be threatening him in any way but there was something about the way he said it that made him expect to be obeyed.
"Get out of the car!" Harry growled and Andy seemed surprised for a moment.
"No, leave!" Harry felt the familiar sensation of someone entering his mind but pushed the weak attempt out as quickly as it came. The younger boy noticed that Dean was already heading away from the scene and Harry knew he couldn't let his cousin wander off so he quickly got out of the car and ran after Dean.
Harry quickly caught up with Dean and spun him around. The older man caught sight of the Impala driving away. "Dude, what the hell?"
Dean's eyes grew large. "Sonofabitch!"