Remember how I said I almost made an ending where Gabriel ended up human?

Yeah. Here you go.

Some of it is fanon for this story, but there's still changes due to Gabriel not being there at all. Some of it is what will actually happen, some of it isn't. And just so you guys know, I did put up something resembling sequels - check out 'Hyacintho Luna' and 'Modern Legend' and let me know what you think!

Honestly, this turned more into 'Hermione doing random stuff' than 'Gabriel being human' but whatever maybe I'll write more later

Thunder rumbled, fiercely enough that it seemed like it might shake the castle apart around it. Hermione glanced at the sky outside the window nervously. Rain was pounding down from a pitch-black sky, occasionally illuminated by bolts of lightning that looked close enough to set the Forbidden Forest ablaze.

"Michael's pissed," Balthazar said. He was one of the few that she already knew - Muriel had been a surprise, and Castiel she'd never met before.

"That's obvious enough," Aziraphale said. He looked worried, and kept glancing out the window at the sky, like he was expecting more than just a thunderstorm.

It was hardly just a thunderstorm, though.

"How come he can't find Gabriel?" Hermione asked. She hadn't dared to before, not with the way the angels were acting, but she couldn't stand not knowing. Thunder punctuated her sentence with an even more ominous rumble, barely preceded by a flash of lightning.

Castiel still looked stricken. "Gabriel's gone," he said. "There's nothing to find."

"That's not true," Muriel shot back. She looked like she was trying to convince herself of the same. "We know where his Grace is."

"Just his Grace?" Hermione asked sharply.

Balthazar nodded slowly. "That," he said, "and an empty vessel. Wherever the rest of him is..."

He didn't finish. Thunder crashed again, sounding like an avalanche descending on the school.

"Then what can we do?" Hermione demanded. This couldn't be the end of it. Gabriel was her friend. There had to be some way to get him back.

"Nothing," Balthazar said sharply. "There's nothing to do. None of us have any idea what happened, and the only one who could tell us is fucking in the wind and left behind a vessel and a bloody trail through the forest."

"Balthazar," Muriel said softly, "enough. She's only human."

Hermione didn't think it was meant to sound like an insult, but it still stung. "Who cares if I'm human?" She said hotly. "I'm still his friend! And I don't think you should just be giving up on this!"

"None of us are giving up." Castiel's voice was surprisingly steady as he looked up to meet Hermione's accusatory gaze. "If Gabriel has been parted from his Grace, then the rest of him is somewhere else in a situation similar to Michael's."

It took a moment for Hermione to understand. "Human," she said. "You mean he's human."

"He's not dead," Muriel said, "so yes. Somewhere. We have no idea of knowing where. The only thing we can do at the moment is see if he finds his way here again."

"What if he doesn't?" Hermione asked. "What if he never remembers?"

A particularly loud rumble of thunder broke over their heads. Hermione felt the tower shake. All of them glanced nervously at the ceiling. Hermione guessed that they were all wondering if Michael might bring the school down around their heads on accident.

"Well," Baltahzar said, "there's a reason Michael's furious."

Hermione tried not to linger on it. Fleur helped - even though she hardly knew Gabriel, she'd known how much losing a friend would affect Hermione.

"He's not really gone, though," she said one night, curling around Hermione in a comforting embrace.

"No," Hermione sighed, twining her fingers around Fleur's. "But there's no guarantee any of us will ever see him again."

Fleur was quiet for a few moments. "I know a little of religion," she said eventually. "The girls at my school - some of them were Muslim."

"You mentioned that before," Hermione said. She could feel Fleur shrug against her back.

"I learned a little from them," Fleur continued. "They prayed often, to a God they fully believed in. I don't know if I do, but...if there are angels, there must be God, right?"

"I guess," Hermione said. "I've never asked any of them about it."

"So if God is real," Fleur said, "then my classmates would also be correct when they say that He has a plan for everything. Wouldn't He eventually lead Gabriel back to you?"

Hermione pressed her face into the pillow. "I don't know." It would be nice to think that there was some plan in motion, some higher power directing everything to a happy ending. "Wouldn't He have stopped Gabriel from ending up human in the first place?"

"God is supposed to have a reason for everything."

"It sure doesn't seem like this was done for a reason," Hermione said. "It just seems like Gabriel nearly getting killed and none of us being able to help him."

Fleur's arms tightened around her. She pressed a kiss to Hermione's neck. "I think Gabriel will be fine," she said. "And you will see him again. Bad things do not last forever for good people."

Hermione wished she could believe that as wholeheartedly as Fleur seemed to.

Even without Gabriel, life went on.

Hermione visited his family a few times every year, or at least made an effort to remember to. She figured three or four times a year was probably enough - they had a very different concept of time, after all.

The first year, his kids seemed morose, quiet and mostly keeping to themselves. Even the twins had been affected by it - they did a better job of hiding it, but Hermione thought they seemed just as shocked.

"It's just weird, you know?" Vali told her once. "He was the kind of guy that nothing could take down."

"I know what you mean," Hermione said. "Invincible, in a way."

"Yeah." He had stared moodily at nothing in particular for a few seconds. "It sucks. I barely got to know him again."

Hermione had frowned at him. "Got to know him?"

"My mom and him split up when I was a kid," Vali had told her. "I hadn't seen him in, like - well, I was about thirty when it happened, and I'm a little over nine hundred now."

"Oh."

"It hit the other guys hard," he'd said. "Hel, especially. She's basically the only one of us who's had any regular contact with him for...I dunno, the last few centuries or so."

From his tone, Hermione got the feeling she didn't want to know why the rest of them hadn't had any contact.

A few years after Voldemort's death, Hermione got a job at the Ministry.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement!" She was practically vibrating with excitement when she got home, throwing her bag to the side and going straight to Fleur.

"C'est magnifique!" She hugged Hermione. "Now the house-elves have their defender, yes?"

"Well, I'll have to wait until I'm a bit more senior for that," Hermione said. "I'm just hoping I'll be able to get into the Wizengamot eventually. I still don't know how anyone gets chosen for that-"

"That can wait." Fleur kissed her, pulling back with a wide smile. "We should go out. Tonight. Somewhere nice, to celebrate."

Hermione couldn't help but smile back. "That sounds like a great idea. We haven't been out in ages."

"We should go back to France some time," Fleur said, winding an arm around Hermione's waist. "We can stay with my parents. I can show you all the best places to be."

"I've been to France before." Hermione leaned into the casual embrace.

"You've been to tourist France," Fleur said dismissively. "The real thing is much more impressive."

Hermione had met Fleur's parents once before - briefly - but being a guest in the Delacour house was a little overwhelming.

"Your parents are really nice," Hermione said.

"They like you," Fleur replied. "And why shouldn't they? You're quite accomplished, especially with Britain's prejudice against Muggleborns."

"You're forgetting my amazing hair," Hermione said.

"That, too." Fleur laughed, closing the distance between them to prop her head on top of Hermione's and lean over her shoulder. "What are you working on?"

"Just Ministry stuff." Being in the DMLE meant bringing work home - and on vacation.

"Oh, not now." Fleur looped her arms around Hermione's shoulders. "Amoureux, work can wait."

"It's for a case."

"For us," Fleur said, "it can wait."

After Isabelle was born (which only happened after a few years that had managed to be the best years of Hermione's life), Hermione made a habit of inviting Gabriel's three boys over.

They seemed fascinated by Isabelle - or Izzy, as she had been officially dubbed after the first visit. Fleur had been worried about how they would handle being around a much more fragile, human baby, but they were very adept at making sure Izzy didn't hurt herself.

"I helped take care of Hel a lot when she was a baby," Slepnir said when Hermione asked him about it. "And Fenris and Jor, a little bit."

Last time Hermione had checked, Hel had looked older than the three of them. It was frustrating not to know what had happened - the three of them had gotten maybe a year or two older in the time that she'd known them, so there was no way that was just natural aging - but Hermione had been warned by Gabriel the first time she'd met them not to ask.

Either way, they were good playmates and, on occasion, babysitters, when Hermione and Fleur needed to go out. It wasn't as though none of them were old enough. Fleur worried that they'd get into mischief, being related to Loki and all, but Jormungand was apparently very good at reining in any of their siblings' crazy ideas.

The three boys became just as much a part of Hermione's life as Izzy was - and if they were a constant reminder of Gabriel, well, she could deal with that.

Luna would stop by sometimes, as well. She'd adopted two boys around the time Izzy had been born, which Hermione didn't think was just because her father had been dropping not-so-subtle hints about grandchildren.

"Not two boys," Luna had corrected her at one point. "Lillian's a girl. Her name isn't Lorcan."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize."

"It's alright," Luna said. "I didn't realize either until she told me, which was a little awkward. Imagine if you'd adopted someone and spent a week calling them by the wrong name."

"I hope she didn't mind." Hermione poured out two cups of tea.

"I don't think she did. Isn't Fleur coming?"

"She's busy with work," Hermione explained, over the sudden rise in volume from the living room.

Luna glanced towards the door, through which they could see all six children draped over various pieces of furniture and talking animatedly. "I should come by more often."

"It might give the twins someone else to play with other than just each other," Hermione said. "I'd heard you interviewed for the Astronomy position, actually?"

"Oh, yes," Luna said cheerfully. "It's a shame Professor Sinistra's retiring, isn't it? I thought she was quite good."

"I didn't know she was retiring." Hermione sipped at the tea. "Is anyone else?"

"I don't think so," Luna replied. "But Hogwarts is getting more crowded, you know. More people around to have more kids. I think they're going to start hiring more than one professor for each subject, so no one gets overcrowded with students."

"Really?" Hermione couldn't imagine a Hogwarts so crowded - then again, the castle would forever be full of empty rooms and drafty hallways in her memory. "I suppose we never took up much space in the castle."

"It's because we were a war generation," Luna said. "Voldemort killed a lot of people."

"I suppose." Hermione glanced warily into the living room, in case anyone was eavesdropping. They looked too absorbed in whatever game they were constructing to be paying attention. She was pleased to see that Jormungand was sitting to one side with Izzy carefully propped in his lap. "Why Astronomy?"

"Well, it was the only open position," Luna said, "and I wanted to be at Hogwarts when Gabriel came back."

Hermione nearly spilled her cup.

"When what?"

"He's going to find his way back eventually," Luna said matter-of-factly. "That's his power in that tree in the Forbidden Forest, isn't it?"

"What does that-" Hermione felt entirely off-kilter. What did Luna know that she didn't?

"Power draws to power," Luna said. "The Grace is Gabriel, and wherever he is is him too. It's all a part of him."

"How are you so sure?" Hermione demanded. Luna shrugged.

"It's just something I know," she said. "It makes sense. He'll be back eventually."

If Gabriel was coming back to Hogwarts, he didn't seem to be in any hurry.

Lysander and Lillian were going into their second year, and Hermione's life was practically split between taking care of Rose and Ministry duties. She wasn't an Auror, luckily, which meant more regular hours at the Ministry and more opportunities to be at home instead of at work.

Her life was busier than it had ever been at Hogwarts, which meant the years passed quickly enough that she only stopped and fully realized how long it had been when something came up to remind her. When Izzy had first gone to Hogwarts - it seemed impossible that she was eleven already.

Izzy had managed to befriend almost everyone, it seemed, except those in her year, which led to her complaining best friend was graduating. Fenris, who had looked about six the first time Hermione seen him and now appeared to be somewhere in the vicinity of twelve despite seventeen years having passed, was offering to send her letters so she'd have someone to talk to.

"It won't be the same," sighed Izzy. "I'm only going to be in my second year and she's graduating!"

"You can still send her letters," Hermione said. "It isn't as though you'll never see her again."

"I'll be at school all the time." Izzy flopped onto her side dramatically, legs hanging off the sofa. "I won't be able to see her until summer and she might be busy."

"Well, you can figure something out when we see her today." Hermione flicked her wand at the dirty dishes in the sink, and they leapt up and began cleaning themselves.

"You're going to see her today?" Fenris asked curiously.

"It's graduation today," Izzy said.

"Your friend is not the only one graduating," Fleur reminded her, walking in from the other room. "It's Lysander and Lillian's big day, too, so don't spend the whole time with Anna."

"I woon't. But it's the last time we'll ever be at school together!"

Fenris looked mystified. "I thought school was already over."

"Graduation takes place after term ends," Hermione told him. "I'm afraid we're about to leave, though. Are you alright getting home on your own?"

"Yeah." Fenris hopped down from the sofa. "I don't live that far away. I'll see you later, Izzy!"

"Bye!"

"It's odd to think that it's been seven years already," Luna said, making Hermione start.

"Luna - I didn't see you there!" Hermione tried to cover her surprise. "Er - I suppose it has been."

"It's only Izzy's first year, right?" Luna smiled down at Izzy. "How did it go?"

"Good," Izzy said.

Luna nodded, and then her eyes moved to something just behind Hermione. "Oh, hello, Muriel."

"It's nice to see you two again," Muriel said as Hermione turned to face her, startled again. She was wearing robes instead of what Hermione remembered as her usual Muggle jacket.

"You as well," Hermione replied automatically. She'd seen almost nothing of any of the angels since Gabriel had vanished. "I didn't know you were still teaching at Hogwarts."

"Muriel took over from Headmistress McGonagall," Luna provided. "It would be a bit difficult to run the school and teach Transfiguration."

"I believe that was most of her motivation," Muriel said with a smile. "Minerva seemed quite loath to give up the position she'd been teaching for so long."

"I can understand that," Hermione said. "I don't remember anyone teaching it but her."

"I think she held the position for a while," Luna said.

Izzy suddenly tugged on Hermione's hand, dragging her attention away from the conversation. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "There's Anna! Can I-"

"Go ahead." Hermione watched Izzy dart through the crowd.

"I didn't know you had a daughter," Muriel said, following Hermione's gaze as Izzy squeezed between two boys in Ravenclaw ties.

Hermione resisted the urge to retort with something like Well, if you wanted you had plenty of time to visit. "Fleur and I agreed about kids," she settled on. "Though persuading her to use a Muggle method took a while."

"A Muggle method?" Luna questioned.

"Well, we can hardly both of us have a child biologically by natural means-" Hermione's sentence was cut off as Izzy wound back through the crowd towards them, Anna in tow.

"Anna, this is my mum," she said so quickly that there was barely any space between the words. "MumthisisAnna."

"Nice to meet you," Anna said, grinning. "I guess now I know who Izzy got her hair from."

"My hair's cool." Izzy said. "Oh, and that's Anna's brother Luca." A boy had slipped up and seemed to be mostly hiding behind Anna. He looked like he was in between Izzy's age and Anna's. He wasn't wearing robes, just a tee shirt and jeans. He was wearing some sort of pendant, which was a strange addition.

"What year are you in?" Hermione asked, trying to make conversation.

"I'm not magical," Luca said. "'S why I've got this." He pointed to the pendant.

"I'm Muggleborn," Anna explained. "I'm the only one in my family. They gave him that so he could go around the wards."

"I didn't know they could do that." Luna seemed fascinated.

"I helped a bit," Muriel admitted. "Since I know the wards well." She was staring at Luca with furrowed brows, but Hermione couldn't see whatever Muriel found so odd about him.

Luca grinned broadly at her. "Thanks, then," he said. "It feels weird, though. It was all tingly when I came in."

"Really?" Izzy leaned around Anna to get a better look at the pendant. "That's so cool! Maybe we could go down by the edge of the wards and see what happens-"

"I hope not," a new voice said. A woman had come up behind them out of the crowd. "I don't want either of you down by that Forest. I've been told it's called Forbidden for a reason."

"Mama," Anna said in what was almost a whine. "We weren't going to go down by the forest!"

"Either way, I'd like you both somewhere I can see."

"What if I get someone to turn me invisible?" Luca said in a falsely innocent voice.

"I'm not going to turn you invisible," Anna said.

"But you're allowed to now!"

"No one will be turning invisible," the woman said firmly. "Lord knows you cause enough trouble as it is." She held out a hand to Hermione. "You're Isabelle's mother, correct?"

"Yes." Hermione shook it. She noticed that the woman was wearing a pendant identical to Luca's. "It must be quite something for you to be here."

"Magic is not something I thought I'd ever have to deal with," the woman agreed. "I'm Teresa."

"Hermione Granger. This is Luna," Hermione said, gesturing to Luna, who waved.

"I think I'll leave you to your conversation," she said. "I had better go find the twins. I promised them I'd take them to Weasley's as a graduation present." She drifted off through the crowd.

"Weasley's?" Teresa looked puzzled.

"It's a joke shop," Hermione explained. "They sell things you can use to set up harmless pranks. It's run by a few old classmates of mine, actually."

"It's really cool," Anna said.

"I wanna go," Luca said.

"Absolutely not," Teresa replied. "The last thing you need is magical supplies."

Luca pouted, scuffing his sneakers on the lawn. "Aww."

The sound of heavier feet on the ground alerted Hermione to the fact that someone was behind her. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Michael?"

Michael smiled at her, but nir attention was somewhere else. "I heard there was a celebration I shouldn't miss."

Hermione didn't miss they way nir eyes flickered to Muriel, like Michael was wondering exactly why ne was there.

"I didn't think you'd be here," Hermione said. "It's graduation, not a reunion."

"Just thought I'd drop by," Michael said. "Can we speak privately for a moment?" Ne seemed like ne was talking more to Muriel than to her.

Hermione gave Teresa a winning smile she'd perfected on the idiots at the Ministry. "Excuse us for a second."

"What was that all about?" Hermione hissed.

"Muriel's the one who called me," Michael said sharply. "You said this was important."

"It is," Muriel said.

"Then what?"

She tilted her head back towards the group they had just left. "Doesn't he look familiar to you?"

It took Hermione a moment to realize she meant Luca, and another moment to realize what Muriel meant. "Oh, my God."

Michael had gone completely still, looking caught between longing and restraint. Nir blue eyes were fixed on Luca - Gabriel.

But was he Gabriel?

"His Grace is in the forest," Hermione said without even thinking.

"He's barely a teenager," Muriel said. "Would it - he's just a child."

"Age doesn't matter," Michael said. "We...could explain." It was a weak retort.

Hermione was caught between two options. They could find a way to lead Gabriel back to his Grace...but what would the consequences be?

"Wait." Muriel had held out her hand, and her eyes were on Luca as he slipped away from the crowd, Izzy just behind him.

"Where are they going?" Michael's forehead creased.

Towards the edge of the wards, as it turned out, which due to the location of the graduation party was right at the edge of the forest.

Luca went inside.

Michael followed him.

Ne hadn't been on Earth in ages - mostly ne had stayed in Heaven, trying to sort out what had gone wrong. Muriel contacting nem had been what brought nem back down - and ne was glad ne had.

Gabriel was important enough that Heaven could wait.

Impatiently, Michael flicked nir wings out, stirring the air into a sudden wind that startled Luca - Gabriel - forward a few steps when he paused. The tree wasn't that deep in the forest.

Michael wasn't thinking of the sister or the mother that Gabriel had found himself with.

Ne was thinking of a dead Knight and a destroyed warehouse and no sign of a brother.

When Gabriel saw the tree, he paused again, staring up at the canopy that arched a seemingly impossible distance over his head (to a fourteen-year-old, at least). His expression was full of curiosity, and Michael saw nothing but exactly what Gabriel had been when he'd only just been created.

Gabriel approached carefully.

Stumbled.

Put his hand on the trunk to catch himself.

Haha guess what I'm gonna end it there.

Review please (and remember guys I wrote two whole new stories so please review on those too)