Chapter 10: Helping Hunt

It wasn't that Harry hadn't ever been grounded before; I was grounded all the time when I used to live with the Dursleys, it was the reason why he was grounded that he was so pissed off. "All I said is that I wanted to help on a hunt. I can handle it; I'm not some fucking little kid…" He muttered to himself as he walked home from school. The wind stung his face as he hiked his bag over his shoulder and trekked up the winding hill on Maple Street toward the apartment. Normally he liked the walk home from school-it's nice to get fresh air every once in a while, after all-but he was too busy dwelling on his ongoing grounding to care about much else. It was the fourth day of it, all I have to do is get through until Thursday and then I'll be free to blow off Sam and Dean for a while. He sighed, conflicted. While he was angry at Sam and Dean for forbidding him from hunting, he didn't really want to blow them off… But fuck it, if they're going to treat me like a little kid I'll act like one.

The afternoon and early evening were routine enough, even if Harry was a fair bit more sarcastic than usual. Harry and Sam had worked on some spells for some trickier transfigurations, then he'd worked with Dean on learning more about werewolf lunar cycles, then homework, then dinner. Neither Sam nor Dean liked having to ground Harry, especially given how it had led to him being surlier and more withdrawn than he normally ever was. He was picking at his meatloaf when Dean cleared his throat.

"So, I grabbed some black cherry soda on the way back from the records office…" He nodded toward the fridge, "I think I might have one as a chaser. Harry, you want one?"

It was clearly a peace offering. Dean knew that Harry's favorite soda was black cherry, specifically Vernon's Black Cherry, and Harry had seen the six pack in the fridge earlier when he'd grabbed a water bottle. Dean had always been a bit closer to Harry, not that Sam didn't normally have a good relationship with the teen, and having his-well, sort-of-son-brush him off wasn't making him feel great. I mean, shit, I didn't want to ground you… let's just get this behind us, okay? Dean had a pleading half-smile, wanting to smooth things over.

Harry looked down, "No thanks. I'm fine." He pushed his chair back as he got up to rinse off his plate. As he did so Cas flashed into the room. No one was surprised, Cas had called earlier that day to apologize for being busy and say that he was intending on trying to make more time for Dean and the others.

"Hey Cas." Dean smiled, "How's everything going up there?"

"Hello Dean." The angel almost looked exasperated for a moment before he stood more fully up, an indication that he'd just ruffled his wings, a tic that Dean had picked up on a few years prior, "If it is alright with you all I would prefer not to talk about work at the moment."

"Gotcha." Dean nodded.

"You can join us for family board game night. That should help take your mind off it for a bit." Sam offered.

Game night was a tradition that had started one boring February day when the three were snowed in a cabin in Wyoming. The power had failed in the early morning, so the three Winchesters had huddled around the wood stove in the living room for warmth while another foot of snow piled against the walls outside. With no conceivable way of leaving in the near future they'd ended up trying to keep themselves busy, with Harry finding a monopoly game in a cabinet. One game had turned into five as they waited for the snow to stop and Harry discovered he was surprisingly good at the game. Ever since then they'd tried to have game nights on a semi-regular basis.

"That may be nice, the four of us playing." Cas replied.

"Can't, I'm grounded, remember?" Harry huffed as he turned to go to his room. He paused for a second, turning to face the angel, "Cas, to be clear I'm not mad at you. You're cool. We'll catch up some other time." Before donning again his dour expression and shutting his door loudly. Shortly afterward music was heard through the thin walls as Harry fiddled with his phone.

Sam sighed as looked down at the table, then gestured for Cas to sit down and join them. The angel complied, glancing at the door before looking back at the brothers. "What was that about?"

"We grounded Harry last week and now he's pissed at us." Dean replied.

"What did he do to deserve punishment?" Cas asked, "Normally he is quite well behaved."

Sam scratched his neck, "He said he wanted to go hunting."

"So you grounded him for that?"

"He also said some other stuff…" Dean added, sighing, "But honestly, I think we may have overreacted."

Cas nodded, the spinning thought icon practically visible in his expression, "I understand you are his guardians, and I am not telling you how to raise him, but why is it that he was grounded for asking to go hunting?"

"We've told him before that he isn't allowed to, but he kept pushing it, and in the heat of everything we just ended up grounding him. I don't even remember what any of us said, really…" Dean rubbed his palm across his hair, "I mean, fuck, none of us wanted to ground the kid. Now he's pissy, and I can't blame him…" Dean exhaled, "Why can't this parenting shit be easier?"

Cas smiled slightly and placed a hand on Dean's forearm, "You did what you thought at the time was best." He paused, addressing both the brothers, "I am surprised that you still are enforcing the no hunting rule. I had thought that was just to minimize risk of harm at a young age. I have seen him train; he should be capable of handling most basic creatures with some assistance."

Sam looked guilty as he and Dean again had a silent sibling conversation, a few quick glances later he replied, "We just want to keep him safe. Harry might be a Winchester, but that doesn't mean he has to end up like us."

Cas looked between the brothers, "As far as I am concerned ending up like you both is not the worst outcome." He looked at the shelf of games behind them, "While Harry may not join us I think it may do some good to have some diversion for the three of us. How about a game of Scrabble?"

***SPN-HP***

Wednesday morning was the day of the hunt. Sam and Dean had prepared everything the night before as Harry blared more music from his room. They waited until after he'd left for school to leave the apartment and head for the access tunnel under the Granite Ledge Hotel. The Impala pulled out from the parking lot and rounded the corner as Harry poked his head out from behind the brick wall that enclosed the churchyard a few lots down from the apartments. He palmed the signed excuse note he'd forged and started off toward Crescent Street. The tunnel under the old miner's graveyard is a much straighter shot toward the middle of the disappearances…

Harry slung his bag over his shoulder, the canvas sack holding contents much different than the usual notebooks and school papers. Let's see, I've got the flares, the lighter fluid, two packs of matches… He mentally double checked all he'd packed …and my wand. He felt the smooth wood hidden in a pouch hanging from his hip. "Let's do this."

Harry's choice of tunnel had turned out to be poorer than he'd thought. While it was a straight shot to the center of the disappearances, it was also extremely long. As his shoes were soaked from the moisture he circled his shoulder, stiff from holding his wand up and using lumos for nearly a half-hour. "I should've brought a fucking headlamp…" He whispered as he continued walking forward, glad he'd remembered a thick jacket at least. He double-checked the map and saw that there should be a sharp bend ahead, then he'd be in the center of the mine tunnels, where he suspected the wendigo was hiding out. He tread carefully as he neared, a sudden shout made him nearly jump out of his skin. Harry poked his head from the tunnel and saw Sam and Dean mid-battle.

"Alright you ugly motherfucker!" Dean roared while standing in front Sam, who staggered slightly while holding a jagged cut across his forehead-indicative of how he'd recently been brained by a rock. "Let's see how you like a little butane!" Dean flipped a switch on a large butane torch but was greeted with only a slight hissing sound. His eyes widened as he realized that it might've been a good idea to inspect their fire-starting equipment more than once a month.

Harry realized that the creature hadn't spotted him and quickly drew his wand, "Incendio!" He shouted as a plume of fire erupted from the wand and hit the creature's back, causing it to quickly catch fire and dissolve into a pile of ash.

"Harry?!" Dean blinked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Um…." It hadn't occurred to Harry what he was actually going to do once they discovered he was there.

Sam groaned as he sat up and held his head. Harry quickly ducked his head from Dean's and walked over and held his wand to Sam's forehead, "Episkey." The gash closed as Sam got up to his feet, Harry decidedly looking at his instead of either brother.

Dean sighed, "Harry, did you seriously skip school, sneak into the tunnels, and try to track down the wendigo all on your own? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" He rubbed his hand across his scalp. "That thing nearly had us. If you'd've gotten here first it would've been you."

Harry looked up, clenching his fist tightly, "I wouldn't have had to sneak out and track it on my own if you would've let me hunt with you! I still managed to kill it!"

"Because it was distracted. One fourteen year old on his own isn't much of a threat, even with training and magic." Sam replied.

"I wouldn't be on my own! I just want to do what you guys do!" Harry stated.

"We know, but what we do is dangerous." Dean looked at Sam before turning back to Harry. "Both of us have died before. More than once. If not for Cas and some other crazy bullshit neither of us would be here. We've already used all our get out of jail free cards, and you don't have one."

"We don't want you to die. We've already lost enough people." Sam replied.

Harry was silent, "Wait, you guys died?"

"Yeah." Dean exhaled.

Harry stood up and rolled his shoulders, "I'll take that risk."

"Harry…" Sam chided.

"No, no, no! I'm not a little kid. I'm Harvey fucking Winchester, hunting's my legacy. That's what you guys do-you always say, 'Saving people, hunting thing, the family business'. Right? Well, I'm part of the family and I want to be in the business. I can't live forever, even with magic!" Harry stomped his foot.

Harry held his gaze as the two brothers exchanged a quick look, "Fine." Dean conceded.

"Really?" Harry beamed.

"Yes." Dean continued. "But-only small hunts we pick, none of the riskier stuff."

"And only if we're there." Sam added.

"And if it gets too intense and we say you have to go, you get the fuck out of dodge." Dean added.

"Yeah! Awesome! Of course!" Harry grinned.

"Good, now let's get out of this mine, I don't want to breathe any more asbestos…"