Love, Fate and Prophecy: Bloodright

Part Four: Chapter Twelve – Heart-to-Hearts and a Haunted Kidney

Season Six Episode 14 (Mannequin 3: The Reckoning)

"Dean," Harry said as he answered his phone.

There was silence on the other end.

"Dean, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just so shocked that I didn't get your voicemail that I was speechless."

"Ha," Harry said sarcastically. "Everything alright? Sam recovered from his…incident?" The last time the two of them had spoken, Sam had collapsed from memories resurfacing.

"Seems to be. But I'm worried about the kid. Look, Ben called me."

"Oh?"

"He said…well, let's just say that he said enough that I'm on my way to them right now. Have you heard anything from Ginny about something being off?"

"Uh – no. But Ginny doesn't talk much about Lisa to me. Says that I need to keep my nose out of their friendship. Do you want me to go check on them?"

"No. This is my mess to clean up. But could you go help Sam with the case? I don't want to leave him alone. I know that you are knee's deep in research with Bobby, but it'd be better if Sam had someone in the field with him."

"Yeah, that'd probably be for the best. Bobby and I haven't managed to turn up anything new about this 'Mother' in the last couple of days. Nothing about her in the wizarding lore either. Honestly, I think Ellen's about to kick me out anyway. Says I'm a bad influence. She said that no amount of magic would save me from her shotgun if I ever bring firewhiskey into this house again."

Dean chuckled. "You're scared of her, aren't you?"

"You're not?"

"Oh no, I am. Just nice to know that Mr. Master of Death is afraid of something."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll head out after letting Bobby know."

"Great." He hung up.

Dean had to admit that it was nice to have someone dependable to call to help out with Sam during an emergency like this. (Not that Bobby wasn't dependable, but he wasn't capable of teleporting.) Now he could let the worries about his youngest brother float to the back of his mind and he pressed harder on the gas pedal.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Sam frowned when Dean didn't pick up his phone. He had just spoken to Isabel. He was pretty sure now that her sister Rose was the vengeful spirit on a killing spree. But it would be nice to have his brother to talk it over with.

Someone came jogging up to him…was that? "Harry?" He had never seen Harry wearing a Fed suit before.

Sure enough, the wizard had just come around the corner to where Sam was standing.

"Hey, Sam," he greeted.

"I thought that you were helping Bobby?"

"I was. But I think I was driving Ellen mad. Possibly Bobby as well. Jo's there now, she's worth ten of me when it comes to looking through dusty old books."

Sam didn't buy it for a second. He gave Harry his patented bitch face. "Dean sent you, didn't he?"

"He might have called."

Sam rolled his eyes. "I could handle myself for twenty-four hours without a babysitter."

"I know that. But, you know, I have been the wizard equivalent of a cooper for over a decade. I know something about investigative work."

"Fine. Did Dean fill you in?" Sam didn't see the harm in giving him some details. He wondered if Harry knew what the general hunter opinion on cops was, though.

"No."

"Alright, get this, I just finished interviewing the sister of a girl who went missing, presumed dead, a year ago. She worked at the local mannequin factory, same was our two dead victims. We think that she is possessing the mannequins to kill people. What I can't figure out is how she crossed county lines. Most vengeful spirits stay in one place."

"So, what's the next step?"

"I was going to head over to the factory to see if I could dig up any clues there."

"Mind the company?" Harry was not willing to let Sam leave his sight – he knew what a big deal it was that Dean had sent him to help out.

Sam was of two minds. First, while Harry was certainly powerful, he knew that his brother had never really hunted before. It could be risky to everyone involved if he made a misstep, which was easiest for even the most experienced of hunters to do. On the other hand, he hadn't had much chance to spend time with Harry. When his brother had first come back, he had been so angry. Now that he could see how misdirected that anger had been, it was a little embarrassing. He had kept the wizard at arm's length until now but…

"Why not? Uh – do you have any sort of ID? I don't think we have time to make a fake badge for you."

Harry grinned and pulled out his Auror badge. Should he have returned it after he resigned? Probably. No one had dared asked him for it. He flashed it at Sam.

Sam grabbed it out of his hands. "This is…is this real?" It was the most impressive fake FBI badge he had ever seen. "Do you actually work for the FBI?" He was suddenly very convinced that Harry was an actual FBI agent. How is that even possible? But it must be true this badge clearly said...

Harry took the badge back and clapped Sam on the back. The large man shook his head. "What the hell was that?"

"Magic. This is my Head Auror badge. It looks like an FBI badge to you?"

"Uh, yeah, because it is. For a second, I thought you must be an actual agent. You really aren't, are you?"

Harry chucked. "I am not. There is a minor compulsion charm on this badge. Muggles will see whatever they expect to see and believe that I am so I say I am. You expected an FBI badge, so that is what you saw, even without my prompting. You were able to question it though – that's a sign of a strong mind."

"Do all wizards have something like that?" Sam was very concerned.

"No, of course not. Me still having this is highly illegal and I certainly shouldn't be using it in another country's jurisdiction. Hermione would be horrified that I'm using this kind of magic on unsuspecting muggles, but honestly, it's gotten me out of a lot of jams in the past. Plus, what kind of Winchester would I be if I didn't have a fake ID? Just fitting right into the family business."

"You want to be a hunter?" Sam asked, deeply skeptical.

Harry shrugged. "I probably shouldn't call myself that for legal reasons…" He thought for a second, "Actually, I have no idea if it is technically illegal for me to be a hunter. I doubt that any wizard would have ever deigned to call himself that before. Let's call it a grey area."

Sam thought that Harry was being entirely too flippant about this whole thing, but he could deal with that later, for now, they had work to do. "Alright, let's go."

xXxXxXxXxXx

So far, Harry thought, hunting wasn't all that different from Auror fieldwork. He and Sam were interviewing the workers at the factory to see what they knew about Rose, their presumed vengeful spirit. Well, Sam was interviewing him, Harry was doing his best to look intimidating and official in the background. Some of the workers had an idea of who she was, but no one had given them any very useful information. They were getting close to the bottom of the list when a young man with greasy hair wearing a baseball cap named Jonny sat across from them. He was certainly avoiding eye contact with either of them.

Sam started with the same question that he had asked everyone, "So, how long have you been here with the company?"

"I've been here about three years now. I'm sorry, w-what's this got to do with me?"

"Relax," Sam said. "Just a routine questioning."

Harry was beginning to see what Dean was talking about when he mentioned Sam's puppy dog eyes putting people at ease.

"Oh. Ok," Jonny replied.

"Did you know Rose Brown?"

The man got more nervous. Harry pretended to read the bulletin board on the wall. He was planning on stepping in if need be, but it appeared that Sam had it well in hand.

"Uh…Maybe. Uh, the name sounds kind of familiar."

"She was a seamstress here. She went missing about a year ago. Here. You mind taking a look?" Sam pulled out a photo of Rose.

The man barely looked at the picture, but Harry was pretty sure there was a flash of recognition in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah, I s—I saw her around."

"Anything you can tell me about her that might help?"

"Uh, look, I'd love to help, but I don't know anything. And, uh, I'm about to be late back from break, so –"

"You seem nervous, Jonny," Sam said, sounding compassionate. Harry had to hold back a snort. He now understood what Dean meant when he talked about Sam's puppy dog eyes.

"Well…those guys that died were my friends. O-of course I'm gonna be upset."

"I didn't say upset. I said nervous," Sam shifted his tone. "Here," he handed him a business card. "In case you remember anything."

He got up and gave Harry a short nod. The two of them left together. As soon as they were outside, Harry let out a breath.

"Well, he was lying."

Sam looked at him sharply. "Did you read his mind? What did he know? Is he connected?"

"Sam. I can't read minds," Harry said, annoyed. He had been over this enough times with Dean.

"But…with Brady…."

"That was different. He was a demon. And it's not mind reading, that implies that it is simple and painless, which it is not, especially when I do it. We have laws, you know. And while I'm willing to bend a couple here and there, I stand firmly that it is unethical to break into someone's mind. Especially an unsuspecting muggle. You didn't believe him either, did you?"

"No." It felt strange to Sam to have someone bringing up ethics to him. That was normally his job.

"Did you read his mind?" Harry asked pointedly.

"Of course not."

Harry was silent.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, stakeout? Watching him to make sure that nothing attacks?"

"That's what I was going to suggest. Maybe go change out of these Fed suits, come back towards the end of the shift?"

"Sounds good."

xXxXxXxXxXx

Harry and Sam were sitting under a warded area in the factory that made them invisible and allowed them to speak without being heard. Sam had to admit that it was far more comfortable than crouching outside the windows, which had been his original plan. But the silence was a bit awkward.

"So…what was it like?" Sam asked, unable to stand the silence anymore.

Harry looked up from his phone that he had been fiddling with. "What was what like?"

"That year. Before I came back. Dean said that you two spent a lot of time together. That you even moved in down the street from him and Lisa."

Harry looked at him warily. "I did. Just for the summer. I would have thought that Dean would have told you all about it by now."

Sam shook his head. "He told me some things. Mostly stories of the two of you drinking together. He is ridiculously impressed with your alcohol tolerance. I'm a little concerned. But he won't talk about Lisa and Ben. Won't admit what he gave up when I walked back into his life."

'Ah,' Harry thought, 'there is it.' "Look, Sam, I can't tell you exactly what happened with Lisa and Ben. For one, I don't want to trigger any memories. But also, I don't really know what happened between Lisa and Dean and if he didn't share it with you himself, I'm sure he wouldn't want me to either."

"But…"

Harry interrupted. "That being said, I think it's really important to know that he wasn't happy. Or rather, he wouldn't let himself be. He loved Lisa, probably still does, but it was like he was wearing nice clothes that didn't quite fit. That became more evident the more time went on. He might have found peace and happiness, in time, but he wasn't there yet. He was trying but I don't think that it would have lasted, even if you hadn't come back. What Dean really wanted was you back. Which is why I don't think a single day passed by without us planning or working to rescue you."

"Which isn't what I wanted," Sam complained.

"I know. But you had to know that there was no way he was going to give up on you. Never has, never will."

Sam wasn't sure what to say, but he felt a knot in his throat. "Thank you," is finally what he came up with.

"For what?" Harry asked, surprised.

"For dropping everything in the England and just being his brother. With me…well, we never really get that chance. He hasn't – we haven't had many people in our lives that we could depend on like that." Sam waited with baited breath, wondering what Harry would say. If he had just said that to Dean, there would be some sort of smart-ass response about chick flicks, but he still didn't know what to expect from his other older brother.

Harry looked him straight in the eyes. "I let you both down once. It won't happen again."

Sam believed him.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Lisa had asked Dean what he wanted before he headed up the stairs to talk to Ben. Honestly, he didn't know. He wanted a world where he was safe to have a family and have this family, but he knew that would never happen, and staying with them wasn't fair to anyone. It hurt. But as much as he admired his father, he would never wish his life on someone else. Especially not Ben.

He entered the room, where Ben was playing a game on his phone. A phone that had been his birthday gift from Dean, which felt like forever ago.

"Well, that's ridiculous. Plants could never kill a zombie."

Ben scoffed. "You think I'm gonna say I'm sorry?"

"And why would I think that? Because you lied to get me here?"

"It was an emergency," Ben insisted.

"A date's not an emergency, Ben."

"It is if it's the third one. I watch TV. I know what that means."

Yikes, that was more information than Dean needed to know. He cleared his throat. "Well, your mom's a grown-up. She gets to go out."

"He's a wizard, you know."

"What?" Lisa had not mentioned that when they were talking downstairs.

Ben scowled. "But he's nothing like Harry. He's a stuffy prick."

Dean suppressed a grin. "Not all wizards are the same." Dean had met quite a few of them now and found most of them lacking.

"Why won't you come home? Can't you just say I'm sorry and then come back?"

"I'm sorry. I can't." And he meant it.

"Harry always comes back to Ginny. In his last letter, Ted told me that even though they don't always live together, and even though work keeps him and Ginny apart, they've never broken up. Why won't you do the same?"

"It's not the same Ben." He also doubted that that relationship was as smooth as Teddy portrayed it to be, but rather that Harry and Ginny were good of keeping the child out of their personal problems. Just further proof that Harry was a better parent than Dean could ever dream of being.

"So, you hate Mom now?" Ben tried a different tact.

"What? No, come on."

"So, it's me. If I weren't here, you and mom could make it work. You could be happy."

"Ben, stop it."

"Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

Dean's heart broke. This was much worse than breaking up with Lisa. He knew what it felt not to be enough for a father figure. "Listen to me. You didn't do anything. I would never wish you didn't exist. You understand that? Look, one day you'll, uh…You'll get this when you're older."

"Don't talk to me like I'm six," Ben shot back.

"Okay, fine. It's like this then. Just 'cause you love someone doesn't mean you should stick around and screw up their life. So, I can't be here."

"But Harry's just the same as you. You both have dangerous jobs and are 'barely functioning, self-destructive, alcoholic man-children,' Mom and Ginny talk about it all the time. That's why they are such good friends. And Harry made sure that nothing can follow you home."

Dean winced inwardly when he thought of the conversations that Ben may have overheard between Lisa and Ginny. "We are not the same. Your mom and Ginny are also not the same. Even if nothing follows me home, I think my job turns me into somebody that can't sit at your dinner table. And if I stayed, you'd end up just like me." It was the most honest Dean had been to either Ben or himself.

"Why do you say it like you're so…bad?"

"Well, trust me, I'm not someone you want to aim to be." He meant it.

"Don't I get a vote?"

"No, you don't. I'm sorry, Ben. But, you see, this way you get a shot at living whatever life you want. You know, pick one. Pick five. 'Cause with me, there's just one road."

"You're a liar, Dean."

"Excuse me?"

"You say family's so important, but – but what do you call people who – who care for you, who love you even when you're a dick? You know you're walking out on your family, right?"

Dean knew. He walked out.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Dean caught up with his brothers at night.

Isabel, Rose's sister was sitting in the car while Harry and Sam got out to meet Dean.

"So, that the girl with the haunted kidney?"

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"Well, just when you think you've seen it all."

"Right."

"What do you want to do? Can't exactly burn the thing. I mean, she kind of needs it."

"Well, she can't just walk around with it, Dean. The spirit is attached. It's gonna use her to get close to anyone it wants revenge on. It's not gonna stop killing."

"Okay, so what are you suggesting, that we cut it out of her?"

"And then what? Leave her in a tub of ice with a phone taped to her hand?"

"Maybe we should call Dr. Robert. Might have some leads on some non-haunted, black-market replacement kidneys."

"He works out of a butcher shop."

"It's pretty clean. You'd be surprised."

"No. I think we have to go hoodoo."

All of a sudden both Winchesters remembered that Harry was there. Harry had just been standing in silent awe of the banter between the two of them.

"Hey, don't look at me! I'm not a mediwizard. You do not want me cutting into anyone."

"But can you like…magically exorcise the ghost?"

"Magic? Ghost? You are not feds!" Isabelle came out of the car to listen to what the brothers were talking about.

"Just let us explain," Dean said. The Impala's engine roared to life. "No, no way," he said, eyes wide. "No, no, no, no, no, no. She possesses sex dolls! This - this is not a sex doll!"

The Impala's lights turn on and it starts to move forward. Harry does the only thing he can think to do. He quickly grasped Isabel's arm and apparated both of them to London.

"W-what just happened?"

"Shh, just, don't say anything and follow my lead." Harry walked up to the reception desk at Saint Mungo's with determination. "I need to speak with Healer Macmillan, right away, it's urgent."

The attending wizard sitting at the desk looked up and immediately recognized Harry. "Of course, Head Auror Potter." Harry didn't bother to correct him.

It was early in the day or very late in the evening, depending on one's perspective in London, but Harry knew that Ernie spent more time at the hospital than not.

"He's in his office – do you just want to…"

"Yes, thank you. Follow me," he said to Isabel. Thankfully, the ghost did not seem to be manifesting itself. He was guessing all the magic was suppressing it, but he didn't know. He quickly navigated them to the back of the Spell Damage Ward.

"Harry, it's been forever," Ernie greeted him when they walked in. "Who is this?"

"Er – this is Isabel. She has a…haunted kidney."

"A haunted kidney?"

"Yes. She's a muggle."

Ernie looked like he was about to faint. "You brought a muggle to Saint Mungo's? What were you thinking?"

"What's a muggle?" Isabel asked, beginning to freak out.

"I was thinking that this was the only place that could help her," Harry said, ignoring her.

"It's a muggle ghost?"

"Yeah."

"Shit, Harry. I don't know anything about muggle ghosts. For that matter, I don't know enough about wizarding ghosts to be able to medically treat someone affected by one, other than to warm them up a bit."

"But you do know something about kidneys, don't you? Can you remove hers and get her a new one?"

Ernie blew out air. "I've never worked on a muggle before."

"Can't be all that different than a wizard, can it?"

"I suppose…"

"Hey! What the hell is going on?" Isabel's shock, which is what Harry presumed had kept her quiet for most of this, wore off."

"Stupefy."

She was out.

"Harry!"

"I know, I know, but she doesn't know anything about the wizarding world. Her sister was murdered by some arsehole men and she is now haunting her kidney. The only way to destroy a muggle ghost, that I know of, is to salt and burn whatever is holding it to this plane. But I am not equipped to remove her kidney. I don't know much about the human body, but I do know that kidneys are a vital organ."

"They are."

"Can you fix her then?"

"I suppose, but it will take breaking several laws…"

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Ernie, I owe you one. Er – you might want to remove the kidney sooner rather than later, I'm worried that the vengeful spirit will break through whatever is keeping it calm now."

He turned to leave.

"Wait! You can't just…" Harry left. "…leave her here," Ernie swore. "Damnit, Potter," he said, while he levitated the young woman to a conjured bed and rolled up his sleeves. Bloody Harry Potter and his sodding favors. If it had been anyone else…well, there was no use stewing over it. He set to work.

Harry flew back to Sam and Dean. Dean was inspecting the Impala, which was no longer running.

"Is the Impala alright?" He asked.

"Where is Isabel?" Sam demanded to know, seeing that the young woman was not with Harry.

"She's in London," he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and no further explanation was required. Sam and Dean looked at him in stunned silence.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Oh. I took her to my friend who is a mediwizard. A doctor. He'll get the kidney removed and grow her a new one. At least, I think that's what he'll do, I don't exactly know how it works. I once had all the bones in my arms regrown, so I think we can regrow organs as well. She's in the best place possible. Ernie is quite accomplished."

"What? You can grow new kidneys?" Dean asked, not quite believing where this topic of conversation was leading them.

"I can't. Magic can. Normally, we wouldn't do it for muggles, but Ernie's a mate, he'll take care of it. After we get back to Bobby's, I'll head over there, make sure that her memory is wiped and return her to regular life. No harm, no foul. Only a couple dozen international laws were broken. But for a good cause, right?"

Neither Sam nor Dean had a comeback for that. "Just get in the car," Dean finally said. "Let's get out of this hellhole."

Harry didn't argue. He just got in the backseat and they drove off.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Waiting for them back at Bobby's, was an irate Castiel. (Bobby and Ellen hadn't seem too thrilled at the angel's presence. Ellen had muttered something about how certainly didn't feel like she had stopped running a roadhouse as the two of them cleared out.)

"Cas," Dean said evenly. "What are you doing here?" He wasn't thrilled that his friend had revealed the truth to Sam.

"Hello, Dean," Cas responded. "I don't have much time. I would like to speak with Henry."

Harry came in right behind Dean.

"What about?" he asked.

Cas glared. "I think you know."

That put Harry on the defensive. "Look, I told you that you would meet defenses. No one has any jurisdiction over the Unspeakables, so Merlin knows what they have going on down there. You're no worse for wear."

This infuriated the angel. "Those wards burned my wings! And now, I can't even approach the Ministry. You blocked me out, somehow. I need you to tell me why. Now. You don't seem to understand – this war with Raphael is more important than anything else. If I lose, we all lose. You will let me in."

Harry bristled and he rooted himself to the spot. "I will not. I do not have the authority, in any case, and even if I did, I wouldn't."

Cas let his angel blade fall into his wrist from the sleeve of his trench coat. Harry had his own pulled out a millisecond later.

"Woah, woah, what is going on here?" Sam asked. He wasn't following at all and from the look on his face, neither was Dean. But he certainly didn't want a fight to break out between his brother and the angel.

Neither backed down.

"Ask him," Harry ground out, not taking his eyes off of Cas.

"Cas, Harry, enough!" Dean barked. "What the actual fuck! Put your weapons away."

The staring at each other continued for another moment or two. Finally, Cas stowed his blade and Harry lowered his.

"Now, what the hell is going on here?" Dean asked.

"Henry and I had an agreement. He was going to help me but it seems that he has changed his mind. I don't have time for this. But you have lived up to your kind's true legacy – disappointment and betrayal."

Cas left.

Harry let out a breath.

"What was that?" Dean asked, hating being the dark.

"You heard him," Harry responded shortly.

"You promised him something and then reneged?" Sam asked.

"I didn't promise him anything," Harry spat. "He demanded information from me. I shared that information with him because he claimed that it would save the world. In my research, I came to believe that his plans were ill-advised. He was warned about the warding and he ignored it. I had no idea it would burn his wings, but…"

"What did he want?" Dean asked, not one to beat around the bush.

"Something that he thinks would help with his war in Heaven."

"Wanna be a little more specific?"

"No."

"Cas is a good guy, if you can help him, you should help him," Dean said. "He's not told us a lot about this war in Heaven, but he's not a dick like the rest of the angels."

Harry scoffed. "He's been asking me to keep secrets from you for over a year. Still think he's a good guy?" Harry regretted saying that almost immediately.

"What secrets?"

"Does it really matter? He is the one that wants to keep information from you. It's not like he's been particularly forthcoming with information about the war, has he?"

"You listened to him! Both of you are acting real shady. And he's not here, so I'm asking you."

"And I'm telling you that it's not my information to share. Look, Gabriel thinks…"

"Gabriel?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Gabriel and I have been talking and we think…"

"You've been discussing Cas with Gabriel?" Dean, asked, alarmed.

"Well, of course, he and Castiel are working together. We both warned him though, about the Ministry, and he didn't listen…"

"You can't trust Gabriel!" Sam exclaimed.

"I don't. But I trust him more than Castiel."

Sam shook his head. "He's a trickster. If anything, I bet he knew what the booby trap was that got Cas's wings burned. That sounds like something he would find funny."

"It does," Dean agreed.

It was also something that Harry found funny, as Gabriel would say, just desserts for not listening to him.

"Gabriel warned him. I warned him. Whatever happened was his fault."

"Are you sure that Gabriel isn't working with Raphael?"

"I don't know why he would be. He doesn't want the total destruction of mankind. He helped us put Lucifer back in his cage, didn't he?"

Harry's mirror went off in his pocket. He frowned slightly. If it had been Ron, Hermione, or Ginny, they would have used his mobile number. He pulled it out.

"Andy?"

"Harry, I'm so happy I got you. Do you have a moment?"

Harry looked up at his brothers and decided, yes, he did. This argument seemed pointless. He walked out of the room. "Of course, is everything alright?"

Sam turned to Dean. "I don't like this."

"No, neither do I. I know Cas can sometimes be a bit prickly, but this is Cas we're talking about. He has had our backs for so long now."

"And Gabriel's track record is iffy, at best. I'm sure Harry thinks he's doing the right thing, but he doesn't know Gabriel like we do."

"He doesn't. We'll talk to him, make him see reason," Dean said. He had seen how sheltered Harry's friends kept him from those outside of their direct social circle. He assumed that this was because, while pretty sharp, Harry trusted too easily. Who knew what lies Gabriel had been feeding him in the last year? He was sure that his younger brother just didn't have enough experience with angels to understand what total and complete pricks they were.

Harry came back into the room. He didn't seem to be in any better of a mood. "I've got to go," he said.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"That was Andy. Teddy was just caught sneaking out of Hogwarts. He got halfway to London before they found him."

"Is he alright?" Dean asked, he was pretty fond of the kid. "Why would he run away from Hogwarts?"

"He got an upsetting letter from Ben, and was determined to come to the US to help him."

"My…I mean, Lisa's Ben?" Dean asked, worried. "What's wrong with him?" The kid had seemed physically fine when Dean had left him.

Harry had to bite his tongue a bit. "He was pretty distressed after your visit."

"Oh."

"Yeah. But Teddy has no idea how dangerous his actions were…if the wrong people had caught him…anyway, I have to go talk to him. Andy doesn't think that he'll listen to anyone else. I've been wanting to check the Hogwarts library for any information about 'the Mother,' anyway. If any place would have it, it would be there."

"A library in a school for children would have books about monsters?" Sam asked. It was clear what he thought of that.

"Sure, in the restricted section, of course. Hogwarts has the biggest collection of…you know, it doesn't matter. I'm going to go and speak with my godson. Dean, I recommend that you give Ben a call."

Dean nodded woodenly, having no intention whatsoever of doing so. He knew that he was no good for the kid.

"In the meantime, if you can get a hold of him, I recommend that you ask Castiel about what exactly he was seeking in the Department of Mysteries. I won't share his secrets, but I think it's time that he did. Then you can judge who is in the right."

Harry flew out.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Later that evening, Dean had just about had it with looking through Bobby's books and was pretty miserable to hear that Ben was so upset. The thunderstorm outside seemed to mimic his mood. To make matters worse, they were out of alcohol, which he assumed was Ellen's doing. Sam came into the room.

"Where's Bobby?"

"In town, supply run."

"In this?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Yeah, man's a hero. We were officially out of hunter's helper." He tipped an empty bottle upside down for effect.

Out of nowhere, Balthazar appeared. "Hello, boys," he greeted. "You've seen 'the Godfather,' right?"

"Balthazar…"

AN – I'm back! Thank you everyone for your patience and words of encouragement when I took the short hiatus. I believe that this time has helped me shape and write a better story than if I had tried to rush things. On that note, this story is going to run into the beginning of Season 7, because it will produce a more complete arc of the story than if I ended it at the end of Season 6.

This particular episode is one of my least favorite in Supernatural, I think it ranks pretty low on everyone's list, so I thought it would be good background for allowing Harry and Sam to get to know each other better. Their relationship is just getting started, really, and it is going to quite different than Harry's relationship with Dean. I think Harry is a little more emotionally intelligent when it comes to others thoughts and feelings, which Sam will appreciate. (They are both quite fucked up though and have huge self-esteem and mental health issues, those will continue to come up, especially for Harry.)

As always, thank you to everyone who has commented/reviewed/liked/kudos'd/followed this story. I truly appreciate it and it is even beginning to make me change my ways and actually leave feedback on the stories I like! I am very grateful for all of you on this journey with me and I cannot wait to share the rest of the story with y'all.

I don't know what I'm going to call the next chapter (I deeply regret titling my chapters. I'm never going to do that again, lol.) I don't even like my temporary title enough to share. So – a quick teaser: Harry visits Hogwarts, Death has some words for Gabriel, and we learn a little more about this wizard Lisa is dating.