Harry cut across the street checking to make sure there were no cars in the immediate vicinity. His destination was a small bakery whose open sign was prominently displayed in the window next to a display of curiously shaped breads and pastries. The door chimed brightly as it opened, alerting the woman running the front counter to the presence of a customer. Her eyes landed on Harry and she smiled in a welcoming way, going back to counting out money for her cash drawer.
Harry perused the front counter looking from one item to the next in an attempt to find the elusive treat he was searching for. He'd been to this bakery before years ago when it was under different management. He hoped the food hadn't changed much.
"How can I help you?" the attendant asked having finally sorted out her drawer.
"You wouldn't happen to have any treacle tart would you?" he said not lifting his eyes to the woman.
"I've got some coming out of the oven in about ten minutes if you want to hang around until then." She offered she glanced at his face and her eyebrows scrunched together. "Have we met before?"
Harry blinked at the unexpected question. "I don't believe so." He said honestly. If he had met the woman he honestly didn't remember her.
"Hmmm…I just feel like I've seen you before or something." She said with a thoughtful frown before she gave him another warm smile.
"I think I'll wait around." Harry said with a nod.
"Is there anything I can get you while you wait?"
"A coffee maybe…"Harry trailed off as she turned to make him a cup. He let his eyes scan over the shop. Racks of fresh breads stood against the walls and the fantastic smell permeated the air.
"Here you go." She said setting the cup down on the counter. "There're a few tables outside if you'd like to have a sit while you wait."
"How much?" Harry said indicating the coffee.
"On the house." She said turning back to her work and leaving him to his drink.
He took up her offer and went outside to sit and watch people passing by. He let himself be distracted by the sounds and sights of city life.
"It's been awhile since I last saw you. Especially around here."
The familiar Irish lilt threw Harry off for a moment, not having expected to hear it. A young man pulled the chair away from the table and sat down working a toothpick in his mouth. "Patrick…" Harry said his small modicum of surprise not really registering in his tone. "I don't usually make trips to London."
"I know. You always preferred Scotland whenever you visited the UK…which was only about twice in all the time I've ever known you." Patrick said with a frown. "What brings you back this time?"
"Nothing important if that's what you're thinking." Harry said taking another sip of his black coffee. It was doing wonders for giving him energy.
Patrick raised his eyebrows. "You're not busy then? That's not really the story that's been floating around about you."
Harry snorted giving Patrick a glance. "What's your rumor mill spouting about me this time? Probably nonsense as usual. You pick the strangest sources."
Patrick shrugged. "You can't take everything they say at face value, but everything they say has a bit of truth behind it." He offered. "From what I've gathered you're hanging out with the Winchesters these days. Interesting blokes; met them a few months back."
Harry raised a brow. "You didn't play one of your games with them, did you?"
"As a matter of fact…" Patrick said with a smile.
Harry groaned. "How many years did they lose?"
Patrick laughed at Harry's exasperation. "Well, at first the older brother, Dean right? He lost about fifty years. He was trying to win back some years for a friend and ended up losing twice the normal amount." He supplied when Harry looked ready to ask about the number. "It was absolutely hilarious. You should have seen."
"Let me guess, their buddy Castiel bailed them out?"
"Nope. They tried to do a spell and reverse the years." Harry looked caught between surprise and amusement. "Obviously it failed, otherwise I wouldn't be having this conversation. Sam tried to buy Dean time for the spell by playing a game. He actually ended up winning. Color me surprised. The guy actually has a decent poker face when he needs it."
Harry looked mildly impressed. He knew how much it took to outplay Patrick. He was a card shark for lack of a better term. He never cheated, but he could read even the most experienced human player. He had had centuries more experience than them after all.
"So what are you doing here?" Harry asked turning his eyes back to the slowly busying street. "I'd heard you made a jump across the pond a while back to skirt some trouble you'd gotten yourself into over here."
"That was nearly fifty years ago!" Patrick said sounding upset Harry had remembered.
Harry shrugged.
"Not all witches operate like me." Patrick huffed and Harry saw him cross his arms and lean back in his chair out of the corner of his eye. "Most of the ones I was having trouble with are either dead or so old they're not a threat anymore."
Harry snorted. "It sounds less like your buddies aged and more like some hunter did you a favor." He paused as if he'd only just realized something. "Where's Lia?"
The mood darkened almost instantly. Harry stopped sipping his coffee glancing over and taking in Patrick's stony silence.
"Hunter?" he asked nonchalantly.
Patrick glared harshly, cheerful demeanor abandoned at Harry's callousness.
"Guess not."
"Sir, it's ready!" the shop attendant said with a bright smile from the front door. Harry stood but Patrick caught his elbow.
"Is it really as bad as everyone's saying it is?" he asked not meeting Harry's eyes.
"What? The 'Apocalypse'?" Harry scoffed. "Well it's not all sunshine and daisies, and it probably means more to you than me."
Patrick gave him a questioning glance, not understanding the comment. Harry didn't bother elaborating on how if the world ended he'd probably be fine while the rest of the souls burned.
"Lia?"
Patrick sighed eyes darting away. His hand slid from Harry's arm.
Harry shrugged starting again for the store to grab his treacle tart.
"She was tired." Harry heard Patrick mostly mutter as the door clanged shut behind him.
"Aren't we all?" Harry said to no one in particular.
Patrick was gone by the time Harry re-emerged from the shop with a large bag of the treat in hand. He shook his head, but didn't fell like waiting around for the man. He figured he'd killed enough time here as it was.
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It had only been about an hour and a half since he left Bobby's, but when he popped back in the place was a completely different picture to behold than before. It seemed everyone was awake now at a scant six in the morning and they were bustling about like ants under a magnifying glass. His sudden reappearance seemed to upset the activity as Sam, who'd been walking not two feet from where he was now standing dropped a bowl of something he'd been carrying and yelled in surprise. The glass shattering against the floor seemed to bring all the other occupants to a halt as they swiveled in its direction.
"Morning all." Harry said popping a piece of his not so healthy breakfast in his mouth.
"Harry!" Anna came from round the corner looking concerned. "Where have you been? I couldn't find you."
"London." Harry said setting the bag on the table as the humans seemed to slowly come out of their stupor and all seemed to draw in toward him. "There was a nice little shop and I popped in for some nosh. Treacle tart?" He nudged the bag in her direction.
She was giving him an incredulous look. "You were gone for an hour and a half to London to get sweets?"
"Did I not just explain that?" Harry asked eyebrows raised.
"Why?" Ellen cut in sounding more disbelieving than Anna, and perhaps a little offended if truth be told.
Harry shrugged. "Is there a reason everyone appears to be on edge? You really should do more to relax. Stress does terrible things to the skin."
"Well for starters you were just possessed by the biggest douchebag in the world and we had to kill you to get rid of him." Dean said snidely having leant against the doorframe opposite of Harry's position.
"Who? Lucifer? Douchebag, yes. Biggest douchebag in the world? Probably not."
"He's the devil!" Sam shot back as if that answered everything.
Harry shrugged. "Regardless…I'm fine."
"Good, then I won't feel bad about this." Ellen said all of two seconds before she attempted to slap him.
He pulled back in time to avoid his left cheek coming into contact with her hand. "What was that for?"
"You take my recently injured daughter into the past to stop a murderous angel without even so much as a heads up and you're wondering why I tried to hit you? What are you, dense?!"
"Oh please, she's at least in her early to mid twenties by now. She's an adult. I trusted she could make her own decisions. Besides, she insisted." Harry tottered to a chair completely ignoring the fuming Ellen. He didn't fail to grab the bag of his sweets first though.
"You're sure it's…he's gone." Anna asked pointing to her own head indicatively.
Harry stared at her for a moment chewing. "I'm not sure how many times you intend to ask me variants of that same question."
"Well all we've got right now is your word and it's not much to go on." Sam replied hesitantly.
Harry leaned forward fixing the tall man with a piercing gaze. "You're right. All you have to go on is my word. There's no way for me to prove Lucifer's not directing every syllable I'm speaking right now. We've come to the conclusion now that, regardless of anything we do, the situation must rest as it is. So what's the point in worrying about it?"
"Well we don't know if Lucifer is talking through you." Dean quipped back. "I'd say finding some way to prove he's not there would be a good idea. It's not something we can ignore just because you said to."
"I hate to admit it…but Dean's right." Bobby said gruffly. Dean looked, at first, smug at the agreement. Then, ready to object at the way Bobby had phrased it when he worked out the insult.
"I'm sure it's not something you have to concede often." Harry said leaning back and fixing Dean with a smirk. "However unless you've a…"
He stopped midsentence making everyone glance about in worry.
"Harry?" Anna asked from her spot near the door.
"I've had an idea." Harry said seeming to snap out of his daze. He twirled his finger in the air and there was a slight shimmer in front of him before a small bottle that looked to be filled with something remarkably like water appeared. He grasped the bottle with three fingers giving it a stare.
"And that is?" Ellen asked eying the bottle skeptically.
"Veritaserum." Harry supplied lowering the bottle and fixing them whole lot of them with a measuring look. "Very rare. Very expensive. Very valuable."
"That's nice." Bobby said eying the bottle. "But what does it do? I assume it doesn't make you smell nice or you wouldn't have bothered magicking it up."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Veritaserum is a truth potion Mr. Singer. The strongest truth potion I've ever had the pleasure of coming into contact with."
"I've never heard of it." Bobby replied with a scowl.
"You wouldn't have." Harry sniffed. "Most of the ingredients used in its creation don't exist anymore. One of the reasons it's so valuable."
"So…what? We're supposed to take your word that some random bottle of liquid is really truth serum and if you take it and tell us Lucifer smoked out you're telling the truth." Dean, ever the half-witted skeptic bit out.
"Essentially, yes." Harry said with a smug smile. "But you don't have to take my word for it. We could use a small dose on someone else and have them reveal something they'd rather keep secret. You'll find it's not easy to keep quiet under veritaserum's influences."
"Sounds good to me." Bobby admitted eying the bottle more appreciatively now.
Sam shrugged. "We don't really have much other choice." He added when Dean seemed ready to shoot the idea down again. "I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would make him tell the truth or be able to check for Lucifer's presence."
"Fantastic." Harry said with a smile. "Who'd like to be the guinea pig then?"
Everyone shared nervous glances.
"How long does it last?" Bobby asked.
"Anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes for the small bit I'll be giving you." Harry said with a smile that wasn't at all disarming. "Once I've given it to you it's best to ask a few test questions to make sure it's kicked in. Try to lie as best you can."
"Alright." Bobby said with a shrug. "I'll do it."
Sam opened his mouth as Bobby sat down in a chair across from Harry. Harry stood and removed an eye dropper from his pocket uncapping the vial. "Say ah." Bobby opened his mouth and Harry let a single drop of the potion fall onto the man's tongue. Bobby grimaced obviously expecting a bad taste, but none came. Harry knew the potion to be tasteless.
Rather than an objection Sam said the first thing on his mind. "Why do you have an eyedropper in your pocket?"
Harry sent him an annoyed glare even though Sam felt it was a reasonable question. He recapped the vial and placed it in Sam's outstretched hands reluctantly. He shared a serious look with him ignoring the previous query. "Don't spill it." He turned back to Bobby and grabbed a completely black pen from the side table retaking his seat. "What color is this pen?"
Bobby's eyes focused on the pen. "Purple." Bobby said with relative ease.
Dean snorted. "Obv-"
Harry raised a finger to shush the Winchester. "What time is it?" he asked, knowing the clock was on the wall behind him.
"S-seven." Bobby stuttered out.
Harry glanced at the clock. 6:15. "What year is Dean's car?"
"How should I know?" Bobby said irritably.
Harry rolled his eyes. Fair enough. Still the fact that he hadn't spurted some random year meant the potion was probably worming its way in. "How many people are in the room?"
"Six."
Harry spotted Dean counting everyone in the room to make sure Bobby hadn't simply miscounted and tried to lie with the right number or something. Harry just grinned. He held up the pen again. "What color is this pen?"
"Black." Bobby said looking absolutely stunned that he was saying it.
"You can't lie right now Bobby?" Sam asked stepping forward.
Bobby shook his head. "It works."
"Do you really watch those daytime talk shows I always walk in on you watching in the afternoon?" Dean asked looking quite happy to abuse his power.
"Yes." Bobby said looking absolutely livid as he answered.
"What's your favorite color?" Dean burst out again absolutely amused by the whole situation.
"Red."
"Was it you who took Sam's football when we were kids even though you told Sam he'd probably misplaced it? You know he always swore I took it."
"Yes. It had a hole in it." Bobby said angrier with each answer.
"Told you!" Dean said smugly to Sam who had the confused look on his face that told Harry he had no idea which football Dean was talking about.
"You realize the truth serum does nothing to restrain him right?" Harry offered the jubilant Winchester. Dean stopped asking questions. "Now…before I take the serum I'd like to point out that a repeat of what just happened could cost someone a limb if they piss me off too much. I wouldn't recommend prying too much. Ask what you need to and leave it at that."
Sam uncorked the vial and got a bit in the eyedropper just as Harry had done. In seconds Harry was dosed with the stuff as well and he and Bobby sat idly for a second waiting for it to kick in.
"What's the color of the sky?" Sam asked trying to do what Harry had done.
"Magenta." Harry said taking a bite of his tart.
"Right…er…What's four times four?"
"Seventeen."
"What's your name?"
"Harry James Potter." Harry said blinking owlishly when the right answer came out.
"Are you lying?" Sam said sharing an unsure look with Dean.
"Nope." Harry said with a grin.
"What color are your eyes?" Ellen threw in obviously spotting that Harry's denial could itself be a lie.
"Green."
"Alright…" Sam said nodding. "We have to ask you something you wouldn't want to answer correctly in order to see if you're lying?"
"Yes." Harry said still truthful though he grew suspicious at the look the brothers shared.
A long beat of silence passed through the room as the Winchesters shared a knowing look before Dean stepped forward. "Why was your world destroyed?"
Harry felt the niggling sensation of the potion trying to wheedle the truth from him. He fixed Dean with an icy glare and grit his teeth together to delay the inevitable. "Because…of...me…" he said barely audible but in the quiet room he knew they all had heard him.
"Is Lucifer controlling your mind?" Sam said trying to hurry Harry away from his previous answer.
"No." Harry answered clearly still glaring daggers at them.
"Is Lucifer in your mind right now?"
"No." Harry replied again. "And I suggest you end your survey there."
"Just one more." Sam said and Harry could see a spark of something in his eyes that hadn't been there before; contempt…pity maybe? "Do you really intend to help us save this world? You're not just saying that to get on our side and try to kill us or something?"
"Yes."
"Yes to which?"
"I intend to save this world."
Sam heaved a sigh as if a certain load had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Are you quite done?" Harry asked glaring. When Sam nodded Harry held out his hand for the veritaserum. Sam reluctantly placed it in the outstretched palm. "Well…you've ruined my good mood."
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