Damn, this chapter really didn't want to be written. I changed the POV, the pacing... everything. It just didn't cooperate.
Cats
"I think we need a couple of cats.", Harry declared, his head thoughtfully cocked to the side.
Sam sighed, wondering where to start with this one.
"Why a couple and not just one?", he asked carefully, as Dean kept on munching down on his second portion of scrambled eggs. Harry had started to put peppers in them, so Dean would at least eat SOMETHING healthy. Cas meanwhile looked around the kitchen, as if trying to assess where to put scratching posts.
"Cats shouldn't be kept by themselves. Especially not, if they don't get to go outside. And we have space…"
"Do we now?", Dean asked his voice heavy with sarcasm.
"You would be the first one to let them sleep in your bed and you know it.", Harry told him sternly and Sam secretly agreed with the man.
"Harry is right. Something is missing.", Cas mused, "I've been thinking that for a while."
"Why not a dog?", Sam wasn't actually considering it, but he wanted to hear what the two millennia-old celestial beings would come up with.
"A dog needs to be taken for walks and needs his humans around more. If a couple of cats are alone for two days and have food and water, they'll be pissed at you, but they'll be okay.", Harry shrugged.
"Dogs need you. Cats want you. That is an important difference.", Cas agreed and Sam was pretty sure they were gonna get cats now.
If those two actually agreed…
"Exactly. This family has enough people needing them. But wanting, that's nice.", Harry doubled down.
Sam felt his face grow hot at the mention of them being a family and he cast a careful glance towards Dean, who stared at Harry. Unblinking.
"We could go to the local shelter.", Cas mused, just as Dean's phone interrupted their talk.
"Job.", he declared and answered the call as he exited the room. Sam wondered briefly when it had happened that their lives now too… noisy to just answer the phone. But Harry and Cas were fighting over the possible number of cats (10 vs 20) and soft music was emanating from Harry's new sound system. Apparently, music was the best way for him to get "back into an era", as he called it.
The mood had been a little weird, since the whole Harry being divine and scaring everyone and their grandma and Cas apparently no longer being an Angel of God thing and if discussing cats and possible names like Hunter, Booty, and Pirate made both Cas and Harry happy, Sam would take it. He'd step in once those two moved to turn plans into actions.
"What's up?", he asked, as Dean returned to the kitchen.
"That was Donna."
"Fatsucker Donna?"
"Samuel!", Harry's voice was so scandalized, Sam turned around to see what had happened, before Harry's use of his full name registered with him.
"What? No! I mean… we met her while hunting a Peruvian Fatsucker. She's not fat or anything! Not that that would be a bad thing, but she's not!"
"Oh." Harry sighed, "I'm sorry. I was just a little… well, I apologize. I should never have doubted you even for a second."
Sam was too perplexed by the whole thing and honestly didn't know how to react. Maybe Harry was a little more affected than he had thought?
What a weird idea. They hadn't known him that long! But deep down Sam was pretty sure he knew Harry well enough to make that call. He had just… clicked into their group, like he had always been meant to be there.
"Are you okay, man?", Dean asked, his voice casual, but only superficially so.
"Yes.", Harry declared, which earned him three very skeptical looks.
"Fine. I am… frustrated."
"Do we need to visit a bar?", Dean asked and Harry threw him a dirty look.
"I've been trying to figure some things out about my new… powers if we want to call it that. Until now, they just happened and I would really like to be able to control them. And… well, I want to know if I'll continue to time and dimension travel now that you have killed death."
"Ready to leave already then, eh?", Dean huffed and Sam wasn't even surprised to detect a barely hidden note of hurt.
"Oh, don't be daft. I wouldn't leave you, even if I could. You are stuck with me now. But I am immortal and I REALLY don't want to outlive this whole universe."
"Well, you'd probably have Cas, since he is an Angel of you now. Or whatever."
"I'm not really fond of the idea of outliving everyone, either.", Cas declared.
"If you were to travel again, would that severe your connection to Cas? Would he be pulled with you?", Sam didn't dare to wonder out loud, if it might kill the Angel outright.
"Excellent questions I would really like the answers to. I just don't know where to get them."
"I've been helping Harry to find new possible sources all over the world.", Cas explained, finally answering the question of what he did, when they slept or went on a local hunt, "But we've come up empty."
"Maybe the Angels will come up with something soon.", Sam hoped.
"They have no leads.", Harry sighed.
"How do you know that?", Dean frowned and Harry blushed. Blushed. That wasn't good.
"Ehm… they have started praying to me."
"Wait… seriously?!", Dean looked like he was about to start laughing, but Sam saw his own worry reflected on Cas's face.
"Since when can you actually hear them?", Cas wondered quietly.
"Last week. I can tune them out when I want to, but suddenly they were just there. And they have no leads. But they hope I will still 'hear their prayers'. And all they pray for is guidance."
"Your powers are still growing.", Sam realized, "That's why you can hear them now."
"Exactly."
So it had been weeks now since Harry had raised thousands from the dead and that had been before his power-up nap and before all that other growths. Where exactly was this going?
Suddenly everyone seemed to be done with breakfast and Harry just waved his hands, leading the dishes to go wash themselves. Even that wasn't unusual anymore. How had they grown so used to Harry so quickly?
"Well…", Harry started, "I think, I'll go find myself a quiet place far from any people. I want to do some power assessments and that's difficult now with… souls around. Maybe I'll find myself an island or something.", and without any sound, Harry vanished into thin air.
Cas sighed loudly.
"I think it's time to look for another lead. We know God won't help and since there are no archangels to ask…"
"Oh, please tell me you aren't…", Dean started, but Cas interrupted him.
"Yes, I think it's time I start looking for Metatron."
And with that, he, too, was gone, leaving only the brothers behind.
Dean sighed loudly and looked at Sam, "Next supply run we better bring some cat food and litter. Just in case."
"You really think that's a good idea?", Sam frowned.
"No. But we better be prepared."
They spent the next couple of hours calling in with their usual sources, putting the word out on Metatron, searching the web, and just generally grasping at straws, when Dean's cell rang and he looked at the caller-ID and cursed loudly.
"What?", Sam asked, confused.
Dean didn't respond and just answered the call, "Sorry, Donna, so, so sorry. We forgot! How is your case going?"
Shit, Sam thought, they had really forgotten her call for help, totally distracted by praying Angels and scheming scribes.
He couldn't hear Donna's answer, but Dean's face got darker and darker as he listened.
"That just sucks. I'm sorry, Donna. You are right. Most likely the mask was possessed. Salt and burn it, that should take care of the whole mess."
Another answer.
"Yeah, just like that… Wait a sec…", he frowned as if deep in thought, then a small smile crossed his face, mischievous enough to scare Sam a bit, "Okay, Donna? Yeah, find a quiet place and pray to Harry Potter, Master of Death, wearer of the holy apron and wielder of divine oven mitts."
Sam snorted into his drink and started coughing.
"No, that's not a joke. Just… say it out loud and think of him. If nothing happens, call me back in ten minutes, okay?"
Sam was still coughing, when Dean hung up, grinning widely.
"Seriously?", he wheezed.
"What?", Dean shrugged, very much looking like the cat that got the cream, "If he doesn't show up, we can still ask Cas to go over and make sure everything is taken care of."
Neither of them tried to make it obvious, but they were impatiently staring at the clock, waiting to see, if Donna would call back. Ten minutes passed. Then 15. Still no call.
"Huh. Maybe Harry really did show up.", Sam admitted disbelievingly.
After half an hour, Dean got so anxious, he tried calling Donna, who didn't pick up, which worried both of them a little.
Their anxiety got to the point where Sam felt like walking around the room when Harry and Cas both appeared right in front of the table together, causing a nervous Dean to throw his cell up in the air and almost fall backward with his chair.
"Guys, come on!", he yelled and dug under the table to find his cell.
Harry plopped down on one of the chairs and put his feet on the table, which really wasn't like him. Cas remained standing, a pensive look on his face.
"Could you help Donna out?", Sam asked, as Dean reemerged.
"Yes.", Cas replied, casting Harry, who was just causing several bottles of beer to float in his direction, a nervous glance.
"Was it a ghost?", Sam tried again, hoping someone would finally tell them what had happened.
"Yes.", Cas repeated, while Harry downed a whole beer at once.
"Guys, come on…", Dean groaned, "This is torture. What happened?"
"A guy got murdered and it was framed as a suicide, he got vengeful and possessed masks, one kid was possessed, attacked Donna, and was shot.", Harry sighed, "Then I got pissed and brought the kid back to life."
"You… okay… on purpose? Did you control it?", Sam tried to stay calm.
"Yes. I chose to put his soul back into his body. It was still there, hovering."
"That's good, right?", Dean asked, his gaze darting between Harry and Cas.
"It is.", Cas declared, earning himself a dirty look from Harry, who took another sip and groaned.
"I interfered. On purpose. That goes against everything I believe in.", Harry sighed.
"You brought back a kid that died of supernatural causes.", Dean reminded him.
"I know that. He looked so sad and… I looked at him and I could see his whole life. Everything he was. Everything he could be. So I brought him back."
"You… you saw his future?", Sam asked in awe. He had expected many things, but that was… not it.
"No. I saw everything he COULD be. That's different."
"Doesn't sound that different.", Dean's eyes were wide in awe.
"It's very different. And besides the point. I brought him back. On purpose. I decided his fate because I WANTED to. No one should have that power. No one. It goes against everything I believe in."
"Harry, you did a good thing…", Sam tried, mindful of Harry's personal history.
"And who decides that?", Harry snapped, his eyes blazing with anger, "So how long until I mess up and cause harm? Maybe I already have."
"We all mess up, Harry.", Cas spoke up, "Certainly the people in this room do. We've all messed up more than most."
"That's right. But in the end, we do more harm than good.", Dean agreed.
"Harry…", Sam tried carefully, "You've been powerful for what? Millenia? This won't suddenly change you as a person, man."
"No one should have the power to decide over life and death. No one.", Harry sounded more defiant than anything else.
There was a moment of silence, before Dean leaned forward in his chair, fixing his eyes to Harry's.
"You do. We all do. Every day. We decide to help someone. We decide to shot someone. We use medicine or spells. Technology. We all make those choices. Yours are just bigger."