Harry's tenth year isn't too eventful as Harry learns more and more from his Auntie Rowena and keeps up with his studies. Aunty Jody becomes mom and possibly the last of his baby teeth falls out. Claire mellows out a little more and Alex uses her phone slightly less. All in all- a pretty good year.
Harry's introduction to the magical world comes when on his eleventh birthday when Castiel appears in their house, hunters in tow.
"Castiel! Uncle Dean, Uncle Sam!" The quite-a-bit-taller boy attempts to hug them all at the same time.
"Hey, Happy Birthday champ!" Dean pats the kid on the back, Sam mirroring him on the other side.
"Happy Birthday kid! Killed any monsters lately?" Jody cuffs him over the head and Castiel smiles just a little.
"Happy Birthday Harry- it's good to see you again." Harry smiles at the angel.
"You too Castiel." He releases the men who laugh good naturedly.
"Ready to go kid?" Harry nods, "Got your list of books and other boring crap?" Aunty Jody cuffs Dean around the head this time but Harry just grins excitedly.
"Yeah, I've got the list of all that 'boring crap'." Jody raises her eyebrows,
"Harry, today may be your birthday but tomorrow isn't and I'm not impressed by your choice of language young man." She smiles hugging him close, "You be careful today. You boys better keep an eye out for each other and come back for cake you hear me." Harry hugs her back.
"I'll keep an eye on them mom- I promise." Dean claps him on the back.
"We'll keep him safe Jody." Jody smiles, giving each of them a pat on the shoulder.
"Remember to pick me up some European warding sigils- never know when you'll need them." Cas nods,
"I'll keep an eye out for them." Jody rolls her eyes although she is slightly pleased that Claire hasn't asked for some kind of weapon again.
"And if you can find anything that keeps away vampires…" Sam nods as Alex glances up at them briefly.
"Yeah, we'll look." Claire knocks her fist gently into the kid's shoulder.
"Don't get yourself killed- you're my future hunting partner remember?" Harry smiles as she steps back and Alex gives him a flicker of a smile.
"Have a good day kid."
Then the three of them are standing in the middle of London. Cas instantly starts directing their day.
"So you need to go in there, show your scar to some guy wearing a turban and then we have to get your supplies and you have to be in the clothes shop at the same time as a blonde child." Harry nods, already well prepared for this. Quickly he ducks inside the run down looking pub, Cas following after tapping Sam and Dean's heads. It takes him merely a second to manifest a field of nonchalance around himself and so he easily makes it to the weird looking guy.
"I'm Harry Potter." He flips his fringe up and jogs back towards Sam and Dean who stand well above the crowd, leaving Mr. Garlic behind. The four of them then leave through the back opening courtesy of Castiel and his angel power- apparently even magical walls can't stand up to a good smiting.
It takes little time for them to retrieve everything once they have the appropriate money- again courtesy of Cas and his angel power. It's not like it wasn't Harry's to spend anyway.
The blonde- apparently Draco Malfoy- isn't too bad. Quite obnoxious and obsessed with his family history but Harry probably won't have to deal with him much.
To Harry the best part- well second best, his favourite part was when all four of them had taken a trip into Knockturn Alley and picked up things for Claire, Alex and their own hunting- was when he got his wand.
The shop had been filled with boxes piled up to the ceiling, nothing but them in fact, excepting a single spindly chair which Sam and Dean fought over. Then the shop keeper had scared the hell out of them by creeping out of nowhere. He didn't particularly like being measured up but it was soon over compared to the actual choosing of the wand- that had taken hours.
The strange man had passed him wand after wand and the pile had grown higher and higher until finally- in a triumphant stream of sparks- the wand chose him.
"Curious… curious…" Castiel had tilted his head to the side and asked the grinning shopkeeper what was curious.
"I remember every single wand I have made, angel," Ollivander flicks his wrist and the knives in Sam and Dean's hands clatter to the floor. He continues on as if uninterrupted, "Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather- just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother- why, its brother gave you that scar." Sam and Dean's guns drop to the floor this time. Castiel peers at his scar intently and looks ready to say something when the shopkeeper keeps talking.
"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter… After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things- terrible, yes, but great." The shopkeeper continues on in a conversational tone, "At first I had planned to place that feather inside holly wood but it didn't seem quite right. The wand chooses the wizard after all." Harry looks down at the length of black walnut in his hand uncertainly as Sam and Dean carefully pick up their weapons.
"What are you?" The shopkeeper smiles.
"I am nothing but a wizard with an expertise in wandcraft." Dean doesn't take his eyes off the man.
"Cas?" The angel nods.
"He's telling the truth Dean." Until they leave the shop neither hunter removes their gaze from the decrepit shopkeeper.
"I don't like him." Dean says around a mouthful of ice cream once they are all safely ensconced in the ice cream shop, Dean having ordered a bowl of everything including all the toppings. Sam looks on in disgust. The angel nods seriously.
"Yes. The way his measuring tapes moved was quite intimidating." Sam still says nothing, merely patting Cas on the back.
When they have all finished- yes, even Dean- they troop outside to find somewhere quiet to disappear from.
"Weren't we going to-" The angel begins only to be cut off by Sam.
"Yes- we're about to." He turns to Harry and smiles, "We were going to get you a broomstick but then Dean pointed out that that you'd probably get shot by amateur hunters who don't know what witches are yet. So instead we decided we'll get you a pet." Harry's eyes light up in excitement as Dean searches around for the shop over people's heads.
Harry really hoped he could be tall one day.
"Over there. Let's go get you an albino crocodile-unicorn, kid." Cas stares after Dean for a moment as he heads for the shop. He frowns.
"But Dean I don't think-" The shop swallows them both. Sam gestures to it wincing slightly.
"Think we should follow them so Cas doesn't buy an army of enchanted bees?" Yes. Harry does- so they do.
As soon as he goes inside he is greeted by numerous birds, cats, snakes and what he thinks might be a dog all sat in rows upon rows of cages.
"So- take your pick. I mean I don't advise getting a giant spider because Claire would probably kill it but if the shop has it and that's what you want…" Sam trails off noticing that Harry is no longer listening, instead focused intently on a snowy white owl which stares back at him with glowing eyes in the gloom of the shop.
He steps closer and the bird seems to nod, chirruping slightly. Harry walks up to the front of the cage and reads the small placard in front of it.
'Snowy Owl
Female'
Well that's incredibly helpful.
The owl stares into his eyes.
Minutes later Harry leaves the shop with a huge cage containing a snowy owl currently trying to sleep upon it's realisation that it's the middle of the day. Dean seems put out that he didn't buy one of the more exotic creatures like the talking rainbow tiger with a horn which kept babbling about 'The Chosen One'.
"What're you gonna call her?" Sam asks.
Harry thinks for a moment, looking at the owl.
"I think I'll call her Hedwig." Sam smiles.
"After the saint?" The boy nods with a wry smile.
"I thought it was fitting. After all she'll be helping us out a lot if I'm going to be in Hogwarts for any amount of time." Sam ruffles his hair.
"You'll be fine." Harry laughs.
"I know- it's you guys I'm worried about- think they'll let me have a few bodyguards?" They keep walking and Dean smiles.
"Cas'll have us there the moment you need us- won't you Cas?" The angel nods frowning slightly.
"Of course. Your years at Hogwarts aren't going to be easy Harry," The boy nods, eyes steeled at he remembers Cas' recount of his destiny.
"Then I'll just have to screw fate won't I?" Dean claps him on the back with a laugh.
"That's the Winchester spirit!" Finally they find a quiet spot and in less than a second are back in America. Hedwig hoots indignantly- disturbed by the change of time zone- and glares at Cas.
"I'm sorry. I doubt you will have to experience that for a while now." The owl does not respond, turning it's back on the angel. Jody comes around the corner at this point.
"Oh- you're back… And you have an owl?" Hedwig stares at her and Jody gets the impression that if the owl could speak it would currently be not speaking and raising an eyebrow at her sassily.
"You might want to let her out to hunt." Harry opens the window and unlatches the cage. Hedwig flaps up onto the windowsill, giving the boy's fingers a friendly nip as she leaves. Jody smile is a little strained.
"I hope she's house trained." She swears she hears an irritable hoot from above their house.
"Anyway- are you boys staying for cake?" Dean grins.
"I think we can manage that."
Harry sits to the table as the seven of them eat smiling.
Yes- this was the best birthday ever.