Unfound
Chapter Thirty-Five
Last time
At the end of the alley there was a man that looked very familiar. He was standing with his back to them.
Dean's heart skipped a beat.
"Is that?" Harry asked.
The man turned around. He smiled.
"Hello, Dean."
"Cas, is that really you?" Dean didn't dare believe the words coming out of his mouth. Or what he was seeing directly in front of him.
"Didn't you say he was dead?" Harry asked a little concerned. "Aren't you dead?" He asked the angel.
"Yeah, I was," he said in his usual monotone. "But then, I wasn't."
"Join the club," Harry muttered, confused and conflicted. Dean wasn't though.
"Welcome home, pal," he said moving forward to give his friend a hug, which the angel gladly returned.
"How long was I gone?" Cas asked as he pulled back.
"Too damn long," Dean said, the smile not leaving his face. This was it. This is what he – what they needed. A check in the win column.
"Where were you? In Heaven?" Harry asked.
"No," Castiel said. "I was nowhere. And everywhere. Then, I was here."
"Outside this phone booth?" Harry couldn't keep the skepticism out of his voice.
"No, I was with Billie, at first."
"Billie the Reaper?" Dean asked. He looked at Harry. "Didn't you say that Gabriel killed her?"
"He did," Harry and Castiel said at the same time. Harry scowled slightly.
"She's not a Reaper anymore," Castiel explained. "She was the first Reaper killed after Death died, which makes her…"
"Death," Harry completed with a breath. Something deep within him knew that. Like a spark of knowledge. It unsettled him.
"Yes," Castiel said.
"Was she the one that brought you back?" Dean asked, even though he didn't think that was even a remote possibility.
Cas shook his head. "No. But she did make sure that I woke up in her domain. She wanted to talk to me before I came back here." He looked around. "I have a lot to tell you – but where is Sam?"
"He's back at the Bunker," Dean said. "Harry and I were on a solo mission. We were just on our way back when you called."
"If Billie didn't bring you back, who did?" Harry was still not convinced.
"I don't know," Cas said. "I was nothing – and everything, sleeping, yet awake, and then I heard a voice that said my name, and I was…" he searched for the word, "whole," he concluded. "I thought you…had done something."
"No, we…we didn't think we could bring you back."
"Was it God?" Harry asked.
"No," Castiel said. "At least – Billie didn't think so. She said that He could have brought me back but she didn't feel his power on me."
"Then who…"
"Jack," Harry said, a lightbulb going off in his head.
III
"Jack," Sam said carefully, having brought the Nephilim into the dungeon where Teddy was waiting. "We wanted to talk with you."
"About what?" Jack asked, clueless.
Sam sighed. He didn't think that the kid was being deceitful. Harry shouldn't have asked him to keep any secrets, but this was going to make all of this more difficult. He considered his words, not wanting to spook the boy. "Did Harry…did Harry ask you to keep something from us?"
Jack froze. "No," he said a little too quickly.
"That arsehole!" Ted yelled. "He did, didn't he? What a complete and total knob! What was he thinking? I didn't want to believe that he could but…"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack said unconvincingly as Teddy continued to swear at his godfather.
"Jack," Sam repeated. "We're not going to be angry with you. But we think that Harry has hidden someone in the Bunker. Someone dangerous," he said. "And we think that you know how to get to him."
"He's not dangerous!" Jack said, giving it all up.
Sam sighed. "Is that what he told you?"
"No, Harry told me," Jack insisted. "He wouldn't put you in danger."
"Harry's a moron," Ted added to the conversation.
"Harry isn't able to think clearly when it comes to this particular man," Sam said. "It is someone he loves very much. I'm glad that he didn't hurt you at least. Look, Jack, we just want to talk to him. Could you get us into the magical part of the Bunker where he is hiding?"
"No," Jack said simply.
"No?" Ted asked.
"No. Harry asked me not to. I agreed. And in this family, we are men of our word, right Sam?"
"Yes, but…who said that to you?"
"Dean," Jack said. "Harry asked me not to tell you and Dean told me that he keeps his promises because that's what good guys do."
"That's true but there are moral gray areas that… look, you should listen to Dean and Harry, yes, but this is a little different and…"
"Is it different because I'm not family?" Jack asked.
"No!" Sam protested at the same time as Teddy. They looked at each other. Sam sighed again.
"Jack…"
"No," Jack protested. "I promised Harry and I want to be the sort of person that Dean thinks is good and you just…you want me to be something I'm not." Jack spun and left the room.
"At least he didn't fly away," Sam muttered, mostly to himself.
"He has a point, you know," Teddy said. Sam shot him a dirty look. "Don't give me the bitch face," he said. Sam hated Dean a little sharing the his name for Sam's pissed off facial expression. "You can't be mad at him about this. Do you think the antichrist would care about keeping his word that way?"
"I don't think he's the antichrist at all," Sam said, but Teddy did have a point. "It's just – did he have to pick up on Dean and Harry's most annoying personality traits?"
Teddy snorted. "What? Pure stubbornness? You think he didn't get some of that from you as well?"
"I'm not stubborn," Sam said stubbornly.
Teddy raised an eyebrow. "We're just going to have to come up with another way to flush him out," he said, a sly smile slipping on his face and a glint in his eye that just said trouble. "I grew up with stories about the legendary Marauders. I've heard about your prank wars with Dean too. Who says we can't out-prank a prankster?"
"What do you have in mind?"
III
Sam had to admit that Teddy was clever. He knew that his nephew could be mischievous but this was something different entirely. They had a plan that would trap Black, but now they needed to figure out how they were going to get him into it.
"We know that we can't get into him," he had said while they planned in the dungeon. "But we do know that he will come out. That's how you ended up with salt in your tea brewed in the coffee maker, right?"
Sam made a face. It had been truly disgusting.
"And that thing he did to the showers – just mean," Teddy said.
"What did he do to the showers?"
"You mean you didn't get hit with it? You must've used a stall that had already been tripped," Teddy said bitterly. "He cast a charm that made all the water that hit the floor just bounce back up, but in a freezing cold temperature," he shivered at the memory. "So, I was getting hit by both hot and cold water at the same time."
Sam laughed and Teddy gave him the evil eye.
"Alright. Well, he must have cast those spells while we were out, right? I don't think that he would risk coming out otherwise."
"That makes sense."
"So, we just need to leave again," Sam said. "Or, at least, he needs to think that we have left."
"How are we going to convince Jack to leave?"
"That shouldn't be difficult. He likes going to restaurants with you, right? You can just take him out. As an apology."
"Or maybe you could take him out as an apology. You're the one he's cross with."
Sam looked concerned. "Teddy – he's dangerous, I don't want to leave you alone with him," he said. "Harry would never forgive me if…"
"Harry trusts him. So, if anything happened to me, that would be on him, not you. Hell, I bet the old git wants to meet me. Aunt Ginny said he was one for nostalgia. Other than Harry, I'm all that's left of his best friends."
He had a point. But it made Sam uneasy. "I don't know, Teddy…"
"Come on, Sammy," Teddy responded in annoyance at the childish nickname. "You know this is a good plan. Foolproof. And I'm not a fool. I hunted with Dean. He said I was good. I think I can handle a wizard who will already have a soft spot for me. In any case, if he didn't hurt Jack, I'm sure he won't hurt me either."
"But Harry was with them…" Teddy gave him a look. "Fine," Sam agreed. "But, for the record, I don't like it."
"Noted," Teddy said. "I'll start setting everything up. You go talk to Jack. Distract him."
Sam, at the end of the day, did trust Teddy. Particularly with the magic that they were setting up. While his own abilities were improving, Teddy was a fully trained wizard who could probably cast more powerful magic than Sam ever would.
"Alright, Ted," he said, after thinking the plan over in his head. "But you call me the second things go south, you understand?"
Ted saluted him.
Sam suppressed his eye roll and went to go talk with Jack.
III
"That's all the time I've got," Gabriel said jovially to Mary.
"But – there has to be more to it than that," she said. This was the second time that Gabriel had checked in on her.
Life with the witches and wizards was better than being held prisoner by demons, of course, but it had still been a strange couple of days. They all wanted to talk about Henry and all that he had accomplished. And she was learning a lot. For example, she had previously had no idea that her middle son could talk to snakes. It seemed like a very random and not-all-that-helpful ability to her, but the wizards here spoke about it in reverent tones.
Some of them had even asked her questions about what she had eaten or done while she was pregnant with him. They had all sorts of theories about what would make the most powerful wizard. She had one particularly disturbing conversation with a witch who wanted to do some sort of divination to find out if she had John were related because she thought that only those that shared blood could produce strong heirs. She had gotten out of that conversation as quickly as possible.
The man that had rescued her had stayed close by her side at all times. And honestly, he kind of creeped her out. There was something…slimy about him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"There isn't," Gabriel said in response. "He's not making progress, which is both good and bad. And he's growing weaker and weaker every day. I can't get away from him for long, or he'll be suspicious."
"How are you getting away?"
"I'm a trickster," Gabriel said. "I play tricks."
Mary wasn't sure that she wanted to know what that meant.
"But, in the meantime, stay close to Peter. He'll keep you safe. You shouldn't trust any of these people, Mary. They were all sent to Purgatory for a reason."
"But I should trust Peter?"
A dark look passed over his face. "Absolutely not. He's a weasel of a man. A rat, through and through, but he knows what will happen if he double-crosses me, don't ya, Pete?" Gabriel asked as the man in question entered the space where they were talking.
Peter gulped. "Yeah," he said.
"And don't you forget." The switch from light-hearted and playful to dead, scary, and serious, gave Mary whiplash.
The wizard nodded furiously. "Of course. I'll make sure nothing happens to her."
"Good," Gabriel said before vanishing.
"What did he threaten you with?" Mary asked, out of curiosity.
Peter shuddered. "You don't want to know," he said, mysteriously.
"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't," she responded.
Peter stubbornly refused to say anything.
"Fine. Back to camp then?"
"Back to camp," he confirmed. He had scouted the path on the way here – they were in the clear.
They had a very clever warding system. Peter was sure that Sirius was instrumental in setting it up although he wasn't here when it had happened, but it reeked of both the sorts of pranks that his friend would play when they were in school and legendary Black family magic that Bellatrix had loved to brag about.
The wards were hard to spot and deadly. If someone who was not keyed into them tried to enter – there would be an explosion of holy fire, killing whatever creature, demon, human, or wizard on contact. There was no way to detect where these explosions would occur. And sure, the more powerful may be able to survive it, but very few were powerful enough. (He had no idea where Sirius had gotten holy oil from – but he had his suspicions about that too.)
Of course, the biggest mistake that the leaders of the camp had made was allowing him to have access to those wards. Meaning he could allow others to enter. Which was how Peter had gotten Mary into the camp. It was also how Gabriel could have gotten access if he had wanted. And, of course, the third. But that was a secret.
Peter never quite knew how he managed to get himself into these situations. All he wanted was an easy life. The only reason he had survived Purgatory is that he was pegged as weak almost immediately and had been kept as a captive magic dispenser to keep the wizards safe from the Leviathan. While it would have eventually killed him (he didn't know what happened then) it had kept him protected.
Weak as he was, magically, his specialty was aligning himself with those more powerful than himself. And making himself indispensable. Or, at the very least, useful enough not to kill. And those who took advantage of him because they underestimated him. They were fools. This Gabriel – knew exactly who he was and what he was capable of, and yet, he still thought that he could use him for his mechanisms.
All the better for him, really.
Because even Gabriel's threat that he thought was keeping Peter in line did little to the man. That if he failed that he would hand him over to Sirius and Harry. And then he'd take a turn. But he knew Sirius and Harry – neither had what it took to make his life or death more miserable than his afterlife had already been. They were soft. Unlike him.
But he could play the coward just as well as the next person. He knew he was beginning to win Mary over. She wasn't so unlike her son. And then, he would have protection from three influential players. It wouldn't matter who won, in the end. He'd be safe. And back on Earth.
He wouldn't waste it this time. Peter wasn't going to spend another decade pretending to be someone's pet. And he sure as hell wouldn't be going back to Purgatory. No, he had been made promises that soon he would no longer be a weak wizard. He'd be an extraordinarily powerful demon. He'd sequester himself in some place remote and warm and live out the rest of his days in peace. And if anyone tried to come after him, he'd kill them.
Peter had seen what demon wizards could do and he couldn't wait to have that sort of power. He kind of hoped that Sirius came after him. He'd show him. Once and for all.
III
"You always say you're sorry," Jack said, once Sam had come to apologize. "You and Harry are always sorry," he said. "But…"
"I know," Sam said. "We – we're trying, Jack."
Jack didn't respond to that.
"Why don't you tell me more about what Ted's been teaching you?" Sam asked, trying to change the subject. He had brought Jack to one of his favorite places – a drive-in movie theater. The length of the move should be enough time for Teddy to execute their plan. It also allowed for conversation without fear of being overheard.
"Well, I'm almost to sixth-year Charms," he said. "But I think I like Transfiguration best of all."
"And Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Sam asked carefully. He hadn't seen Jack practice any defensive magic yet. But he also made a point of leaving him and Teddy alone since the younger wizard seemed to be so much more successful at teaching Jack than anyone else had been.
"Ted wants me to wait on those," Jack said. "He thinks that it shouldn't be offered until students are older, in any case, after they've understood the theory behind Charms and Transfiguration first. Hey – are those real?" Jack pointed up to the screen.
Sam hadn't been paying any attention to the screen at all. He laughed when he looked up. "No," he said. "That's Godzilla. I think that it would be hard for a monster that big to hide from the whole world."
Jack looked a little disappointed.
"But you know, there are other lizard monsters in the lore that he could be based on," Sam said, thinking. "There are kappas, for one. They are kind of like scaly monkeys. Dean and I have never come across one, but Harry once told me about one that they studied when he was in school."
"I'd love to see Hogwarts," Jack said dreamily. "Ted talks about it like it's the most incredible place in the world. It's a castle, you know. I thought that maybe the Bunker was like it, but Ted said that the Bunker is like the most depressing parts of the castle – the dungeons and the library."
Sam laughed. "Teddy wasn't the most studious when he was in school. I'm not surprised that he wasn't a fan of the library. But he's wrong, the library at Hogwarts – it's unlike any other place in the world." That gave Sam an idea. He tucked it away to bring it up to Harry later.
"Can we go to Hogwarts?" Jack asked.
The question surprised Sam, although he supposed it shouldn't. The thought of bringing someone as powerful and out-of-control as Jack into a castle full of schoolchildren seemed like a terrible idea. He tried to keep that from showing on his face, but the way that Jack looked away from him let him know that he wasn't successful. "Maybe, someday," Sam finally said. "Hey. I've seen this movie like a gazillion times. Why don't I get us some popcorn?"
Jack perked up slightly at that. "Yes, please!"
III
Lying in wait was not as much fun as Teddy had imagined it would be. When he had been planning this with Sam he had wondered if this is how Harry had felt before his adventures at Hogwarts, but if that was the case, his godfather had left out some details.
At least he had the invisibility cloak so he didn't have to hide in a closet or under a bed for this entire time. He glanced down at his phone and groaned. It had only been about ten minutes.
Since Sirius had already hit the kitchen and the bathrooms, they figured the bedrooms were next. At very least, Sam and Dean's bedrooms, at least. Teddy doubted that Sirius would go after Jack, Harry, or himself. Sam hadn't wanted him to post up in Dean's room though – he didn't think that the eldest Winchester would be too amused by someone being in his room without permission.
He was just about to start doing some snooping of his own when the door opened. Ted stayed as still as he possibly could.
The man that entered only slightly resembled the wizard he had seen pictures of growing up. Harry hadn't had many pictures of him from after he had escaped Azkaban. Some of them had just been the scary ones of him yelling on his wanted poster – gaunt and exhausted looking. But he also didn't look like the kid from Harry's scrapbook of pictures of their fathers growing up together at Hogwarts.
He was so occupied by staring at the man that he forgot about the trap until the man was swearing and trying desperately to move out from the carefully painted sigil on the ceiling.
"What the fuck!" He yelled as he tried to move. "Revelio," he said, wand out. Nothing appeared. He tried to move his hand through the invisible barrier only to have it forced back, making him hit himself.
Teddy couldn't help it, he laughed.
"Who's there?" The man demanded, with no lack of menacing in the tone. "Show yourself!"
Sam had told him not to reveal himself, just make sure that the wizard stayed trapped in the room, but Sam was an idiot if he thought that Teddy was going to do that. He pulled the invisibility cloak off.
"Wotcher," he said, tilting his head, and turning his hair bubblegum pink.
Sirius' eyes widened with surprise. He had expected a Winchester. But what appeared before him was just a kid.
"What did you do to me?" He asked the kid. The kid looked up at the ceiling, and so did Sirius. "What is that?"
"It's a modified angel trap," the kid said. "Uncle Sam said that they worked out how to make one a couple of years ago. This traps wizards."
That explanation calmed Sirius down a little. This wasn't some monster in disguise, it was just a kid. "Uncle Sam? Are you…did Dean Winchester procreate?" The hunter hadn't mentioned any children in their time together, but then again, why would he?
"Jury's still out on Ben," Teddy said. "But no, I'm not Uncle Dean's son either." Calling Dean "uncle" didn't come as naturally as calling Sam that. But what happened to the great and clever Sirius Black? Did he seriously not understand? Teddy changed his hair color again – this time to an electric blue.
Understanding flitted across Sirius' face. "You're Teddy," he breathed.
"Ted, actually," he scowled. When was Harry going to stop giving out the name that he had been called as a child?
"Ted, then." Sirius let out a bark of a laugh. "It's great to meet you, kid, I've been wanting to ever since Harry told me about you. Why don't you let me out of this trap so I can hug you? I see it now. You favor Tonks, I think, over Remus."
"Nice try," Ted snapped. "I'm not letting you out of there. You're lucky it's me and not Sam or Dean."
Sirius sat down, cross-legged, on the floor, no longer tense. This was Remus' kid. He doubted that he would do anything to hurt him. Plus, he was pretty sure he could convince the kid to let him go. "Oh yeah, why is that?"
"They want you dead," Teddy said. "Or, at least, Dean does."
"I'm not terribly fond of them either," Sirius shot back. "All I've ever done is help those two."
"You think killing Castiel helped them?" Teddy asked.
Sirius smiled fondly at the memory of the blade piercing that arsehole of an angel in the back. "In the long run, yeah, he killed Harry."
"But you know that Harry is still alive," Teddy said, although he could hardly disagree, having once plotted to kill the angel himself.
"I didn't at the time," Sirius said, "and even if I had known, I still would have killed him for what he did to him. Surely you can't have any love for the angel either? You do know he was responsible for Harry dying in the first place? He told me so himself."
"I know what he did," Teddy said. "But he's Sam and Dean's friend."
"And that doesn't bother you?"
"No," Teddy said, obviously lying. Sirius knew he had him.
"And what about this trap that you've got me in, huh? Did your "Uncle" Sam devise that just for me? Or did he already have that in his back pocket?"
Teddy hadn't thought about where the modification to the angel trap sigil had come from.
Sirius took Teddy's lack of response as an invitation to keep talking. "Because this seems to me like they were looking for a way to control wizards far before now. I know that they've bound Harry's magic. That doesn't seem like the actions of a loving family, does it? Come on, Teddy, you seem like a smart kid. You've got to know that Harry would be better off without them. Maybe, together, we can convince him to leave this shithole of a country and go back to England. Where his real family is."
"I'm Harry's real family," Ted said, an edge to his voice.
"You are," Sirius agreed. "So am I. Come on, Teddy. Harry's your godfather, right? Well, you know that he only wants what is best for you. I'm Harry's godfather. I only want what's best for Harry."
"You hardly know Harry," Ted said. "Not like I do. Not like Sam and Dean do." But he couldn't help but let the man's words seep into his brain. While he didn't always agree with what Harry thought was "best" for him, he did know that his godfather always wanted to do right by him. But he had grown up with Harry. He was more of a father than a godfather to him.
"My chance to know Harry was stolen from me," Sirius said.
"Not by Sam and Dean."
Sirius tilted his head. "No. Maybe not. But they are standing in my way now. What would Harry do if someone was trying to get in the way of being with you?"
Teddy knew the answer to that question. Because he had seen what Harry did to the British Men of Letters when they had used him as a hostage. But Sam and Dean had helped him with that. "Sam and Dean are my family too," he said. "Hurting them would hurt Harry."
Sirius sighed. "I know that, Ted," he said. "Why do you think I've lived here peacefully? I don't intend to hurt Sam and Dean. All I want is to take Harry home. He'll see in his own time that they're no good. He hasn't told me everything that happened after he reconnected with them, but you have to admit that even your life was better before he got involved with them."
That hit Teddy like a slap. He had never really stopped and considered what life would have been like without his uncles. Harry never would have left England. Maybe he would have finally married Aunt Ginny. Settled down with kids of his own – siblings for Teddy, more than the endless Weasley cousins that he had now. And he wouldn't have died…
Sirius knew that he had him. He could read the emotions on Teddy's face just as easily as he could read Remus'. It was incredible that even though neither of these young men had ever known their fathers that they both resembled them so closely.
"How about you let me out of this trap, kiddo, and we'll talk this all over with Harry when he gets back," Sirius suggested gently.
"You won't hurt Sam or Dean?"
"No," Sirius said. Not if I don't have to, he thought to himself.
"Or Jack?"
"Of course, not! I don't have any problem with Jack. I think he might be better off without the Winchesters too. We can bring him with us."
Ted liked the sound of that, which surprised him. If he was being honest with himself, he was tired. He had come to the US to be with Harry because he didn't believe that anything could convince his godfather to come and stay home. But, if Sirius was there, and he was there, plus the Weasleys, wouldn't that be enough? Couldn't that be enough? They could even get Jack trained up somewhere where he'd be safe. After all, Teddy had never been attacked by an angel or a demon in England.
"Ok," he said finally.
Sirius smiled at him, warmly. "Thank you."
Ted cast a quick spell to break the sigil that he had so carefully put on the ceiling just a couple of hours earlier.
Sirius stepped out of it and held his arms out. "Could I get that hug now?"
Teddy hesitated a second but gave him a quick hug. "Should I call you Granddad?" He asked somewhat cheekily, expecting the man, who didn't look over the age of 40, to recoil a bit. Instead, to Teddy's surprise, the man's eyes welled up with tears.
"I'd love that, Teddy," he said. "I never thought I would have a grandson."
Teddy was so surprised and grateful that his eyes started misting over as well. "Do you think my dad would have liked that?"
"I don't think he'd ever let me hear the end of it," Sirius said, "but yeah, I think he would've. Do you want me to tell you about Remus? I'm sure you've heard tons about Dora from Andy, but I knew your old man for a long time."
All Teddy could do was nod. He didn't trust his words to not come out as a watery mess.
"Come on back to my part of the Bunker then," Sirius said. "We'll have a right chat."
III
"Sam's phone," a voice that was definitely not Sam answered.
"Jack," Dean said, "why are you answering Sam's phone?"
"Because he is driving and he said that responsible drivers don't answer the phone while they drive." There was a slight pause. "But you talk on the phone while you drive all the time."
Dean heaved a sigh. "Could you put me on speaker then, Jack?"
There was mumbling in the background that Dean took to be Sam teaching Jack how to use speaker phone. "Did you get the demon, Dean?" Sam asked once it was all figured out.
"No," Dean responded. "It turns out that it's a lot bigger problem than we thought. We were on our way back to the Bunker to tell you about when something else came up," he glanced in the rearview mirror to check and make sure that Cas was still there. He was.
"Oh yeah, what was that?"
"I think it's something that you're going to have to see to believe," Dean said.
Dean could hear Sam's frown through the phone. "Is Harry alright?"
With a roll of his eyes, Dean put his own phone on speaker as well. "He wants to know if you're ok," he said to his middle brother.
"Oh, hi, Sam," Harry said. "Yeah. I'm good, although I could have done without getting a tattoo after a night of drinking."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have been drinking so much while on a case," Sam said.
"Whatever," Dean responded for Harry. "Why are you driving?"
There was a slight pause. "Jack and I went to the drive-in," Sam said.
That surprised both Harry and Dean.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Just needed to get out a bit."
"Where's Teddy?" Harry thought it was strange that Sam and Jack would go out without his godson.
"He decided to stay back at the Bunker," Sam said.
What the hell? Harry mouthed to Dean. Dean just shrugged.
"Is he alright?" Harry asked out loud.
"He's fine," Sam said. "Look, we can talk about this more when you get back. How far out are you because I'm just about to…oh."
Harry and Dean pulled in right behind Sam by the outer door of the Bunker.
Dean hung up the phone.
"Should I stay in the car?" Cas asked, having chosen to stay silent during the phone conversation.
"No use in delaying the good news," Dean said. "And Teddy not being with them may be a good thing."
The three of them stepped out of the Impala at the same time that Sam and Jack got out of their car. Sam turned to them and then froze.
"No," he said.
"Yeah," Dean said with a grin.
"Cas…" Sam couldn't believe his eyes. "But we saw you, you were gone."
"I was," Cas said seriously.
Sam didn't waste any more time. He jogged up and gave Cas a hug, which the angel gratefully returned.
"It's good to see you," he said when he pulled back.
"You too," Cas said. "In the car, you said that…" he peered around Sam, where Jack was standing, staring in disbelief. "Hello, Jack," he said.
"Castiel?" Jack asked, finally finding his voice.
Cas sighed. "Yeah, it's me."
"No," Jack said. "We burned your body, and what's burned stays dead. How…"
"Well, that's the question we've been askin'," Dean said.
"Jack – was this you?" Harry asked him. They all looked at the Nephilim.
"I don't know. I can only just do sixth-year Charms so I don't know how… I wanted him back," he admitted. "I…begged for him to come back, but…"
"Well, here he is," Dean said.
"Because of me?"
The brothers looked at each other. "We don't know," Harry said. "But we think maybe."
Jack walked over to Castiel and hugged him. "I missed you so much," he said from the embrace.
"Dean and Harry tell me you're doing well," Castiel said when they pulled apart.
"I am! I can make the flowers a different color!" Jack moved with his hand and conjured white flowers.
"Wow," Sam said, having not seen that Jack had gotten that far.
"That's great," Dean said, as a dismissal. "But maybe we should move this party inside? Probably not best to do magic out in the open. Especially after what Harry and I just discovered."
"Good thinking," Harry said.
Sam hesitated. With Castiel's reappearance, he had completely forgotten what might be waiting for them inside. "Uh, maybe we should wait a second before…"
But everyone was already striding towards the door before he could get them to stop. Quickly he ran to the front to go in the door first. He stood in front of it to stop anyone from going through.
"What the hell?" Dean asked.
Harry crossed his arms across his chest. He had an uneasy feeling about this all. "What's going on, Sam?"
"It's like this…" Sam started but he didn't quite know how to finish.
"It's like what?" Dean asked. "Move out of the way. I want to get Cas home."
"That's the problem you see…"
"What's the problem, Sam?" Cas asked, seeming a little hurt. "Do you not want me in the Bunker?"
"What? No. Of course, I want you in the Bunker. But this is all Harry's fault," Sam gave Harry a disapproving look.
Dread filled Harry.
"Sam…"
"Look, you're the one who decided to hide him from us. In our own house no less! What did you expect to happen?"
"What did you do?" Harry demanded, trying to push past Sam.
"Nothing bad, I promise, it's just that…"
Harry didn't have the patience. He needed to get in there. He thought that Sirius would be safe. How had Sam discovered him? Was he safe? The emotion built up in him and, all of a sudden, he felt a squeezing in his gut, and he was inside the Bunker. The magical part, specifically.
"Harry?" Sirius said behind him.
Harry quickly turned. "Oh, thank Merlin," he said. He ran and swept Sirius into a hug. "I thought that Sam had done something to you. Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?"
"He's fine, Harry," Teddy said. "Although, it was pretty stupid of you to think that you could hide him from us."
"Teddy," Harry said. "How did you get in here? Sirius did you…"
Sirius held up his hands to profess his innocence. "Not me." He hesitated for a second. "Well, actually, yes me. But he trapped me first before I brought him in here."
"He trapped…"
There was a banging on the door. Harry thought that he could hear yelling. They all turned to look.
"Cat's out of the bag, I guess," Sirius said weakly.
"What the fuck, Sirius? How did you get caught?" Harry spat. "I was gone for two days."
"Wait," Teddy said, ignoring the increasingly loud knocks on the door. "How did you get in here? Harry – are your powers back?"
That stopped Harry in his tracks. "I – I don't know. I panicked and then…"
"Did you fly?" Teddy asked.
Harry shook his head. "No. I…I apparated."
"Could you do it again?"
"Er – maybe, just…" he concentrated for a second. He wished to be on the other side of the room. Destination, Determination, and Deliberation, he thought to himself. Nothing. "No," he said quietly. Before he could say anything else, he heard his phone ring. Pointedly ignoring the looks of disappointment on Sirius' and Teddy's faces, Harry answered.
"HARRY!" Sam yelled from the other end of the phone.
"You got him on the phone?" The angry voice of Dean followed.
"I told you he was fine!" Jack said in the background. The pounding stopped.
"I am fine," Harry said.
"Then you better open the damned door," Dean growled.
"Er – no."
"Harry…" Sam said in a warning voice.
"Look. I'm fine. I'll come out in a second." Harry hung up.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
Harry winced. "That'd be Dean," he said to Teddy and Sirius. The pounding resumed. "They will break down that door, you know."
"Then let's go, Harry," Sirius said. "If you're so worried, let's go. You, Teddy, and I. We can come back for Jack later, but we're all together…"
Harry huffed. "Not this again," he said.
"Yeah, this again," Sirius said. "Come on, even Teddy agreed."
That caught Harry off guard. "Ted?"
Teddy looked a little shame-faced. "Grandad made a good point," he said. "Before you got involved with Sam and Dean you were safe. I mean, I know that you were an Auror, but you never came close to death. And with them, well…"
"Grandad?"
Sirius beamed. "He's your son, right? That makes me a grandfather."
"Wait, no, this is stupid," Harry said. "Ted, you know that I can't leave Sam and Dean, especially with…"
"Why?" Ted demanded. "They were fine without you for their whole lives and even after you died. They don't need a third wheel. You know who does need a third wheel? Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. They tried to hide it but they were devastated when you were gone. They're your real family. Like me. Come on, Harry, let's just go home."
It broke Harry's heart. "Ted, this is my home," he said gently. "Sam and Dean are my family…"
"Family, that want your godfather dead?" Teddy challenged. "Sirius, Harry. You talked about him so much growing up. Now you can have a family. A real family."
"I have a real, family, Ted, you know this. And so do you. You love Sam and Dean."
"I love the Weasleys more," Ted pouted.
"And they may not want Sirius dead anymore," Harry said, looking at his godfather, who was just letting Teddy make his arguments for him. Manipulative arse, Harry thought.
But that stopped Teddy's arguments. "Why? What changed their minds?"
Harry grinned. "Let's open the door and I'll show you." He moved over to the closed and warded door and pulled it open.
Dean came crashing through. Apparently, he had been throwing his whole body into the door. He crashed on the floor.
Behind him, Sam was shaking his head, but he had his wand out.
And behind him…
"You twat," Sirius growled, seeing the angel. He stormed out of the room and went straight toward the angel. "Do I need to kill you a second time?"
Sam quickly moved in front of Castiel and Harry ran up behind Sirius to pull him back. "Harry – you know what this…"
"I think I know better than anyone what he did, Sirius," Harry said, feeling like he'd had to say that one too many times at this point.
Dean was back up to on his feet. That came to everyone's attention when he cocked his gun. Harry quickly turned around, so that instead of pulling Sirius back, he was standing in front of him.
"Dean!" Sam reprimanded.
"What?' Dean said. "You wanna let him kill Cas again?"
"He's not going to kill Castiel!" Harry said. "You're gonna have to shoot me if you want to shoot him."
"Harry, no!" Sirius yelled, and all of sudden, he was standing in front of Harry.
Sam sighed. "Can we all just agree not to kill each other? Dean, put your gun down. Black, lower your wand."
Neither listened to him.
Sam and Teddy made eye contact. Teddy mouthed something to Sam, and Sam agreed, pulling out his wand.
"Expelliarmus," they said at the same time. Dean's gun zoomed into Sam's hand, while Sirius' wand came to Teddy.
Castiel cleared his throat. "Maybe we should talk?"
III
"What did I tell you, Harry?" Sirius hissed to his godson as they all sat around one of the tables in the library to talk. Harry had asked Teddy to hang out with Jack for a little bit, with the promise to fill him in later, because high emotions seemed to upset the Nephilim so much. And he couldn't imagine how this talk would be anything but charged with righteous anger and hurt feelings. "I told you that they don't care about you. Dean almost shot you!"
"Hey!" Dean said. "I wouldn't shoot Harry."
"I did once, it didn't work out," Sam added, trying to add a little bit of levity to the situation.
"What?" Sirius asked. "He shot you?"
Harry rubbed his temples. "Really, Sam? Do you think that would help?"
Sam shrugged. "Didn't think it would hurt."
"Sirius – Sam did shoot me. Because I thought it would be funny to pretend like it would hurt me and freak him out. And I was right. It was funny."
"Wasn't," Dean muttered.
Castiel cleared his throat. "I am hardly an expert on human emotion, but I believe that the reason that you two don't get along is that Sirius killed me with my angel blade. While it wasn't a pleasant experience, I understand why he did it. Once, I even wanted him to kill me, so, there is no reason to fight."
Everyone just stared at the angel.
"I need a beer," Dean said.
"Make that two," Harry called after him as he walked out of the room and into the kitchen. "Merlin, Uncle Cas, way to just lay that out there."
Castiel frowned. "I think we all have bigger issues than who killed and or shot each other. I have news from Billie that I need to share with all of you."
"Billie?" Sam asked. "The Reaper?"
"Not anymore," Harry said, tiredly. "After Gabriel killed her, she became Death."
"Like Death Death?"
"Yes," Castiel said.
"Great, 'cause she's such a great fan of us."
"What did she want with you, Cas?" Dean asked as he came back with beers that he handed out to everyone but Sirius. Sirius pretended that he didn't notice.
"Not much, honestly," he said. "She just wanted me to be a messenger, more than anything else."
"Great, one Angel of Death, one Messenger of Death, we're real lucky," Dean said, taking a sip of his beer. "Alright then, go on, what did Billie have to say?"
"First, she said that she is aware of Harry's lack of powers. And she's concerned."
"She can join the club," Dean said. Cas glared at him. "Right, right, no more comments from the peanut gallery," he said, mocking zippering his mouth shut.
"If only that worked," Harry said under his breath.
"Billie thinks that something more is behind Harry's powers not returning. Something is blocking them. She wants us to figure out what it is."
"She give you any clue as to how to do that?" Sam asked in frustration like he hadn't been trying ever since Harry had healed.
"She said it wasn't her place." Castiel hesitated. He wasn't quite sure how to say this. "She said that she believes in the balance of the universe. No more favors from her – that unlike the previous death she didn't find the two of you amusing."
"Great, just great," Dean said. "So, we're in exactly the same place that we were."
"Except we're not," Harry spoke up.
Everyone turned to look at him. "Just before – didn't you notice? I apparated."
"What?" Sam and Dean said at the same time.
"When I was worried about Sirius," Harry nodded to his godfather, who he noticed was being uncharacteristically quiet during this entire conversation. "I – I apparated."
"That's great!" Sam said. "What else can do? Can you fly? Can you – " he almost asked if Harry could open the portal to Limbo. But he stopped himself short.
"No. I couldn't do any magic after that," Harry said. He almost didn't dare hope and he didn't want to say it. But he was beginning to feel his magic again.
"I think you did magic on this last case, as well," Dean chimed in. "Not wizarding magic. Your eyes glowed when you were talking to that witch. Just for a second."
"Let me see," Castiel said, moving from his side of the table, hand out, ready to touch Harry's forehead. Of course, Sirius jumped in front of Harry, again.
"Don't you touch him," he growled.
"Not this again," Harry said, exasperated. "Sirius. Castiel doesn't mean any harm. He's an angel. He can help – he might be my biggest hope."
Sirius didn't look like he wanted to move but he reluctantly moved away from Harry.
Castiel very gently placed his hand on Harry's forehead and concentrated. He quickly pulled away. "Oh," he said.
"Oh?" Sam asked.
"I – that didn't…" he reached out again, with more determination. This time he lasted a couple more seconds before pulling back, shaking his hand. "That's odd."
"Don't leave us hangin'," Dean said.
"What did you say happened, Harry?"
Harry stiffened a little bit. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about.
"He was poisoned," Sam said. "Something Asmodeus gave him – it turned his grace against him. So every time he used it, it hurt."
"Anytime anyone used magic or grace on him, it hurt him," Dean added. "It's why we bound his grace."
"You bound his grace?" Castiel asked, horrified.
"Well, not us, per se," Dean said. "It was mostly Sam and Gabriel."
"Hey!" Sam protested.
"But whatever was in my system is gone," Harry said. "Jack healed me and it didn't even sting."
"Jack healed you?"
"Yeah. I was – uh, pretty beat up," Harry admitted.
Dean snorted. "That's one word for it, he looked like hammered crap." That sparked a memory. "Actually – he looked a bit like you did Cas, when you were stabbed with that spear thing."
Castiel looked alarmed. "He was rotting from the inside out?" The image of his veins turning black under his skin flashed into Cas' mind.
"Not quite like that – but kinda similar, actually," Sam said, wondering why he didn't make the connection earlier.
"I felt it – his grace corrupted. I think that's where we should start," Castiel said. "What do you have about the Lance of Michael?"
"I'm sorry, but what the hell is going on here?" Sirius couldn't stand this any longer. Here they were, calmly discussing Harry's lack of powers as if this was completely normal. As if they weren't the ones who had done this to him in the first place. All while the man that had murdered his godson sat with them calmly. None of this made any fucking sense.
Harry had kind of forgotten that his godfather was there. It seemed like everyone else had as well.
"It's a long story," Harry said.
"Well, you bloody well tell it to me!" Sirius said. Harry had given him some high-level highlights of what was happening with him, but none of this involved Death or being poisoned or anything about the Lance of an Archangel.
Harry sighed. "I will. Maybe that's our cue," he said. "I'm exhausted. Because even if I have a little bit of magic back, I still seem to be human. Why don't we call it a night? Reconvene in the morning?"
"You expect me to let that son-of-bitch stay in my home?" Dean asked. "No."
"He's been staying here for a full week without you knowing, I don't know what one more night would hurt," Harry snapped back.
"Harry, Dean," Sam said, he was also tired. There was so much to process. "Sirius, would you agree to stay where you have been? And not come out and mess with any more of our stuff?"
"He messed with our stuff?" Dean asked, alarmed.
"Just a few, harmless, pranks," Sirius said.
"Look, it doesn't matter. Will you or won't you?"
Sirius didn't say anything.
"Sirius…"
"Fine. I promise not to touch any of your precious 'stuff,'" Sirius said. "I'll stay where I have been. It's better than the rest of this poxy place anyway."
"What did you say?" Dean asked.
"Not the time, Dean," Sam said. "Thank you, Sirius. Then, I suggest that we all get some sleep. Sound good?"
Everyone nodded. Even Castiel, who obviously didn't need to sleep at all.
"Good. Cas – glad to have you back, man," he said. "We left your room the way that you did. But – Jack doesn't sleep much. Maybe you can use this time to catch up with him?"
Castiel nodded.
They all went to bed.
Hi friends! Like Cas, I'm back! Sorry for the cliffhanger. In my head, it wasn't that bad, but when I was editing this chapter, I was like...yikes. That was a mean place to leave things. (But fair warning - there are much meaner cliffhangers ahead.
Y'all – I had a great Nano. I actually double Nano'd – that's right, in the last month I wrote over 100,000 words. Most of them were for this fic and I am now 10, almost 11 chapters ahead. So, I don't believe that I will need another break before the end of this fic.
You may have noticed an end number of chapters. I'm aiming for 52 chapters, including the epilogue. It's pretty exciting to be wrapping this all up.
Thank you to everyone who is still reading – especially those commenting, kudos'ing, and reviewing. I am so happy to be back with all of you and sharing the end of this story.
