I wanted to say thank you for all the well wishes. I wasn't aware that many of you guys even read my Author's notes. And reading all those lovely reviews certainly made dealing with the massive headache I've had for the last 48 hours more manageable.

Anywho I had fun writing this one.

Anyone who's read my story 'Spirits' is likely to notice a slight parallel this chapter. Why? Because I enjoy the concept of pensieves. It's a brilliant thought and I commend Rowling for it. Onward soldiers! To the chapter… I have to stop typing these things at two in the morning…

Lots of reveals this chapter. Try to hang in there. Maybe read it twice for clarification on anything confusing before complaining eh?

"What the-?" Dean muttered whipping around. The room, and everything in it, was completely white save for himself and a stirring Sam on the floor. He rushed to his brother's side confusion mounting but knowing his brother's safety was more important than his questions. "Sammy? Hey, Sammy! You okay?"

Sam sat up shaking his head to clear it. "Yeah, I think so." He glanced about. "Where the hell are we?"

Dean wanted to ask the same question, along with a list of others. He helped his brother stand and they both surveyed their surroundings, or rather non surroundings. What Dean had at first taken to be a completely white room actually seemed to stretch on forever. It was hard to gauge exactly where the ceiling was above them as there were no shadows. In fact, the whole place seemed to be lit by no apparent light source. It gave everything a flat appearance.

"What's wrong Lilly?" A rather familiar British lilt cut through the confused silence. Both brothers whipped in its direction hoping to gain some answers. More questions followed. Like for one, what was up with Harry's weird clothing?

"Dude… is he wearing a dress?" Dean asked his brother eying Harry who was standing feet from them and looking just beyond their backs.

"I hurt my hand daddy!" a young sobbing voice answered Harry's question. Both brothers tensed as the voice had come from right behind them. Quiet suddenly, and far too late to react, a figure ran through them. She was about three and a half feet tall with long red hair and she was wearing clothes quiet similar to Harry's. Around them a room began to materialize.

Dark brown woods and deep maroons decorated what looked like an entrance hall to a very nice home. Harry set down what looked like a briefcase next to an old fashioned hat rack.

Dean and Sam shared a glance, but both remained silent as Harry knelt next to the girl. "What did you do Lil?" Harry asked in a concerned tone that was so far removed from the cynicism they were used to that both were left reeling. Harry examined the small cut on the girl's hand. "Were you being mean to Aunt Mione's cat again?"

"No!" the girl sobbed, but it was obviously a lie.

Harry scoffed but he whisked the child into his arms anyway. "Let's go see if mommy has a plaster for it yeah?" Harry said with a kind smile. "I'm sure she has some snacks ready for you guys anyway."

Harry and the girl faded as they passed Dean and Sam and the room went with them until all they could see was the constant white again.

"That… was weird." Sam said eying the place where the two apparitions had disappeared.

"Understatement Sammy." Dean replied switching his gaze to his taller brother.

"Have I ever told you how much I hate it when you do that?" A woman's voice, still decidedly British spoke up startling both brothers again.

Both turned a bit more hesitantly toward the source. She was tall and ginger haired and exceedingly attractive wearing little but a lacy bra and a black skirt. She'd obviously been undressing.

"Hello Lucy." Dean said eying the woman.

She was staring just off to their right and Sam, following the hint, turned a bit to watch as Harry entered the scene smirking.

"Oh come on Gin." Harry said passing her and stripping off his shirt. "It was just a prank. You know how George gets around this time of year."

"How we all get around this time of year." She amended for him. "Fred was my brother too… and we're hardly the only family."

Harry fidgeted in the background looking torn. He wrapped his arms around the woman. "I'm sorry. The war was hard for everyone Gin. I know." He said and he kissed her neck. Sam felt like he and Dean were intruding on a really personal moment and shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.

The woman, Gin apparently weird name, smiled suddenly turning so her back was to the brothers. "I can think of a way you can make it up to me." She said with a laugh obviously teasing.

Harry's eyes went comically wide. Then they narrowed predatorily and Sam was very thankful that whatever they were watching decided to cut off there. There were just some things you couldn't see and look at the person the same way again.

"What the actually hell is going on?" Dean said looking about, waiting for the next odd appearance.

"It's weird." Sam said. "But I think we're stuck in Harry's memories."

"How the hell did that happen?"

Sam wracked his brain for a few moments. Something clicked. "The box."

"What box?" Dean asked then realization dawned on him. "The one from Death?"

Sam shrugged. "It's a possibility."

"Dude this feels wrong, just going through his head without him knowing."

"I don't think we're in his head… but I know what you mean."

Both stood in silence for a moment.

"How do we get out?"

"I don't know." Sam replied unsure.

"It's not like we can call Bobby either." Dean heaved a sigh.

Someone else heaved a sigh too. Sam jumped as it had come from right beside him.

An impatient Harry stood there checking his watch. He was dressed in a suit as they were used to. Pinstripes ran up and down the dark blue material. "He's late." Harry said with a frown.

"I'm here, I'm here." A man with flaming red hair said popping out of nowhere. "Sorry bout that."

Harry smiled a bit irately but not unkindly at the man. "Ron the meeting starts in three minutes."

"I know mate, I know." 'Ron' replied buttoning up his suit jacket with a bit of trouble.

"It's on the twelfth floor."

Ron nodded though he seemed a bit more apologetic now. "We can make it." He said unsurely. "I'm sorry. I'm rubbish at putting these things on. Hermione had to help me again."

Harry sighed again but the thought of a grown man being unable to dress himself was apparently amusing to him as well. The two disappeared through a door to their right and Sam could have sworn he saw another flash of red hair around a corner before the building faded.

"What's going on?" Sam said with irritation.

Dean shrugged.

"You're distant tonight." The voice they'd heard earlier belonging to one 'Gin' spoke beside Dean. She was dressed this time in a white slip. She had her arms draped around a despondent Harry's neck. The man in question looked stressed.

"Sorry." He said seeming not completely to snap from his reverie, but he turned his eyes to her anyway. "I've got a lot on my mind Ginny."

Ginny's nose wrinkled. "It's been awhile since you've called me 'Ginny'." She replied with a playful smile.

"Would you prefer Ginevra?" Harry shot back with a small smirk though the teasing didn't seem to reach his eyes.

Ginny face became one of disgust. "Absolutely not."

Harry smiled drawing the woman into a hug.

"What has you so worked up?" She asked from next to his neck.

"I spoke with Luna today."

"Luna?" Ginny replied pulling back a bit. "Luna has you this stressed out? You're not taking her seriously are you? I mean, don't get me wrong she's a fantastic person but she's spouted nonsense since we were kids."

"Ginny…" Harry said warningly.

She snorted and drew away from Harry. "So what did she say?"

Harry seemed to debate telling her. "She seems convinced that there's going to be another war soon."

Ginny might have picked up a brush as if she weren't going to take the subject seriously, but it clattered from her hand now. The brothers could see her face had gone ashen.

"I thought you weren't taking her seriously." Harry half mocked, but he sounded worried.

"I…" Ginny started but then seemed to stop and think. "It's silly, all of it. It has to be."

"You don't sound too sure."

"But Voldemort's dead, yeah?" Ginny said sharing a look with Harry.

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

"Then who would start another war?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know Gin." He said face still scrunched and tension poured from him. "I don't know."

Ginny knelt in front of Harry and lifted his face to hers. "What did she say? What exactly did she say Harry?"

"Fire." He said eyes averted even if his face wasn't. "All consuming fire. She said the world would burn and only one man would be left standing when everything had ended."

Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry. "I love you Harry." She said sounding desperate. "But she must be wrong. She must."

Harry nodded into her shoulder and the scene faded.

Sam swallowed thickly a sour feeling in his stomach. He turned to Dean. "You don't think…" he trailed off as the white transformed into a more colorful setting. It was a street, cobbled and ancient looking. Shops lined each side and people milled about below them. Sam and Dean found themselves on a second story balcony overlooking the crowded street.

Dean's head turned left, then right taking in the people. "They're all wearing dresses." Dean supplied looking down at the people. They were all indeed wearing something quite similar to what they'd seen Harry in earlier. Each one seemed to have their own color or other amendment to make the garment more personalized but they were undoubtedly the same style of clothing.

"I think they're robes." Sam supplied a bit confused. "And this street seems pretty old."

"So you think Harry was born in old times?" Dean asked watching the milling crowd.

"Maybe." Sam said unsure. His eyes caught site of a woman amongst the crowd in a modern business suit. "Maybe not." He said pointing her out to Dean.

"Okay…" Dean said eyebrows coming together to show his own confusion. "So what's up with the weird dress up then? Some sort of convention?"

"None I've ever heard of." Sam shot back. "But if what Harry said is true he came from a sort of alternate world. Like ours but rewritten. Maybe this is the norm here."

Dean shrugged not really finding it that important. "Or maybe they're some sort of cult."

With Dean's words supplied panic began to break out below them. The sound of shattering glass cam from further up the street and the brothers shared a look before instincts kicked in and they both jumped the guard rail and landed on the cobbled stone some eight feet below them. They took off through the street running through the panicked people, quite literally.

When Sam had misstepped and should have hit another man's shoulder he'd simply passed through the man shocking himself enough to stumble and nearly fall. Dean had seen it and they'd shared a confused look before heading off again.

Soon the crowd thinned to reveal the cause of the reaction. Three men stood wearing more modern clothing amongst the gaggles of oddly dressed ones. One of them had his hand completely through the chest of a robed man. Blood was gushing from the wound and a weird sort of spluttering was coming from the dying man's mouth.

Around the group of three several other men and women laid. Further down the street Sam could see men, women, and even children unmoving in a similar fashion.

"Hey! Dick!" Dean yelled and attempted to push away the attacker from his victim. He stumbled through the two bodies barely catching himself.

"Who are you?!" Yelled a determined, but reasonably frightened woman from a doorway. She held aloft a spindly piece of white wood.

The man Dean had attempted to shove dropped his victim and turned to the woman with a smile that was almost serene. "Your destruction." He said sounding almost sad.

"Lucifer." Sam and Dean snapped to attention at the sound of the name. "Don't play with them. We have a task to fulfill."

"Of course Michael." The man beside Dean replied. "I was just saying goodbye."

"Angels…" Dean said looking somewhere between livid, awed, and slightly terrified.

"Arch angels." Sam said with a shake of his head.

Michael and Lucifer left, walking in the way the crowd had fled. Only one remained and Sam could guess who it was though he inhabited a different vessel than the brothers were used to seeing. "Gabriel." Sam said staring at the angel who was taking in the sight before him with concern.

A child stumbled from the darkness sobbing and covered in blood before collapsing at Gabriel's feet. Gabriel knelt touching the kid's face. "Why father?" Gabriel said lowly. "Why ask us to do this?"

Sam and Dean found themselves yanked rather rudely to a new scene. The man ID'd earlier as Lucifer was running about slaughtering every person within sight. Michael followed picking off any stragglers and watching his brother.

They seemed to be approaching a wall made of bricks. People were tapping it with sticks but whatever they were expecting from the action wasn't happening. Lucifer dashed forward and as his hand hit the wall it exploded outward.

The brothers ran forward again. They clearly weren't seeing a private memory at the moment so they felt little remorse in satisfying their curiosity.

The angels had burst through the wall into a pub and from there onto a more modern looking street. Cars swerved to avoid the two.

Lucifer reached out to a woman on the sidewalk wearing jeans and a union jack. He had almost placed one blood covered hand upon her head when Michael stopped him and shook his head.

"Not these Lucifer." Michael said eying the people.

Sam heard the statement and glanced about wondering what made these people special enough to be spared.

"We're only to weed out the magical ones."

Lucifer hesitated. "The ones with our own blood?"

Michael nodded, no sign of hesitation came from him just resolute determination.

Lucifer frowned. "They make up so little of the population." Lucifer said eying his brother. "Why are we to kill only them?"

Michael stared at his brother for a long moment. "Because father wills it."

Garth had left shortly after Harry had checked on him. He'd left Harry a phone number and a promise of a favor if Harry ever needed it. Then he'd loaded up into his tiny car and was gone.

Harry'd followed Ellen out of a sense of responsibility. He didn't know the woman well enough to know if his presence was a burden or not, but he'd followed anyway. He would risk her snapping at him out of hurt if it meant he might save a potential ally in the long run. He'd found her halfway back to the motel and he'd trailed after her like a shadow.

She'd said nothing to him in the past few days. He'd helped her wrap Jo's body and place it in the bed of the truck and then he'd gotten in the cab without any prompting and waited for her. He was sure she needed a moment.

She joined him a little later and they'd drove for hours out to a field in the middle of seemingly nowhere. In the distance Harry had noted the burnt remnants of a building. Before them lay a headstone. William Harvelle, it read. Loving Father and Beloved Husband. Harry was sure the grave beneath was empty. He'd heard the man had been killed far from where they were now, and he'd probably been given a hunter's funeral.

It was here that Ellen set up Jo's funeral pyre. Harry had tried to help but Ellen had sent him a long hard look and he'd simply raised his hands and allowed her to take head of her task. He knew the thoughts grief could bare and he didn't particularly care to get in a row over something she felt she needed to do.

The pyre was set in a few hours. It was amazingly well built for the haste with which the woman had constructed it. Together they lowered Jo into its middle with care.

Harry stood at the side as Ellen reverently held the lighter that would set her daughter alight in both hands. Tears tracked down the woman's face and Harry felt pity and sympathy war inside him. He was sure Ellen didn't want his pity, but he couldn't just get rid of it either.

Then suddenly, with a whoosh, the flames went up. Ellen left the lighter next to the sticks and backed away just enough that the growing flames did not engulf her as well. Perhaps Harry's fear she might harm herself was unneeded.

They watched the fire together, silent. Harry wanted to interrupt, to tell the woman what he'd been holding back this whole time, but now wasn't the right time. Because if she chose 'no' this was the final goodbye, and she needed the time to make the right decision.

Long after the embers had gone cold Ellen turned from the pyre and her eyes alighted on Harry. She seemed to consider something for a long moment. "Why are you still here?" she asked. There was no anger or accusation in her tone. She was just curious. Curious and heartbroken.

'Because you need someone to be.' He'd felt like replying. Instead he turned and nodded with his head toward the truck. They both climbed in and together they sought out a place to stay for the night. Luckily, or perhaps more because Ellen knew where she was going, they found a hotel fairly quickly.

Ellen moved to pay, but Harry stepped in front and asked for their biggest suite. The man had told him the price with a skeptical eye and Harry handed him a card without hesitation. Cardkey in hand he turned back to find Ellen eying him and looking a bit flabbergasted.

He simply gave her a reproachful look and led her on their way. The room itself was inconsequential, he'd simply not wanted her to room alone and figured she'd be more comfortable if there was at least a thin wall between them versus sharing a double.

When they stepped inside she fixed him with an assessing gaze. "Kid, why're you doing this?" she asked tiredly. Her voice wavered just a bit and Harry figured it was because she was tired and had neither eaten nor drank in the past two days.

Harry didn't offer a reason. Instead he reached to the side and opened the mini fridge on the counter. He grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it at her. She caught it reflexively then eyed it with confusion. "I'm not a kid Mrs. Harvelle." Harry said finally. "And I know what grief does to people better than most."

She opened her mouth looking ready to protest.

"I haven't done everything I can." Harry said looking her full in the eye. "And I wanted you to know that."

Her mouth remained open and she took a moment to sort through that statement. Eventually she pulled herself together enough to reply. "Define 'everything you can'. Because if you just mean you're gonna try to hang around and play nanny for the next week you can beat it." She looked ready to walk out the door.

"I haven't done everything I can for Jo." Harry amended the statement.

"And you didn't say anything 'til now?"

Harry stared at her assessing for a long, hard minute. "You weren't in the right state of mind to make a decision." He told her firmly. "I'm not sure you are even now."

"It doesn't matter what state of mind I was in." Ellen said through clenched teeth. "Who are you to decide what state of mind I'm in regardless? You should've told me then."

Harry shook his head. "So you could disrespect her wishes?"

Ellen face twisted in anger. "Don't you dare!" she almost yelled only seeming to remember they were in a hotel and it was late halfway through her statement. "Who do you think you are lording it over we humans just because you have a bit of power?! She's my daughter!"

"And you have every right to want her to survive." Harry conceded not touching on the power trip comment. "But there are consequences for getting your way in this, and you'd have to be willing to accept them. It's not a decision to make rashly."

"Can you bring her back?" Ellen asked more levelly but it was clear she was watching him for any sign he was lying and her voice was still layered with anger.

"Maybe." He admitted.

"What do you mean 'maybe'?"

"It depends on where her soul ended up." Harry offered and he moved behind her to shut the door. It wouldn't do for some random passerby to overhear this delicate conversation.

"Where could it have gone?"

"Hell…" Harry started and Ellen looked panicked. "Or heaven… or even purgatory."

"Purgatory?"

"Like the monster version of the afterlife. I'm not sure if it's supposed to equate to heaven or hell for them… or if it's just there. It's certainly not as bad as human hell if that's what it is, but it's not a pleasant place by any stretch of the imagination." Harry rambled.

"Why would she be in hell?" Ellen asked both defensively and with no small amount of fear for her daughter.

"I'm not saying she is." Harry said, placating. "In fact I doubt she's in hell unless she pissed off a really powerful demon. She didn't lead a horrible life from what I gathered."

"So purgatory or heaven?"

Harry nodded.

"If you bring her back… would she be human?" Ellen asked tears being fought back from her eyes.

"If she's in hell? Yes." Harry replied. "But if she's in purgatory I can construct a human vessel, but the moment her soul touches it; it would just re-corrupt."

"What about heaven?" she asked, noticing his lack of mention once he'd trailed off.

Harry shook his head. "I'm incapable of pulling souls from 'heaven'. I've tried in the past, but it's never worked."

Ellen sat down on the small couch supplied in the room mulling over what she'd been told.

They stood in a bright kitchen ringed by cupboards. Ginny stood to their left searching through what seemed to be a spice rack. "Thyme…Thyme!" she said irately shoving several bottles back onto the shelf. "Where does all the Thyme keep going? I know I just bought some."

"Sorry mom." A young boy's voice called and Sam glanced behind him to see a table and the kid in question at it. "Albus keeps using it. He reckons he can make a new potion if he tries hard enough."

"I wish he'd ask first." Ginny said closing the cupboard door and turning her back to it. "That's the third time this week I've had to order more and he hasn't spoken a word about it."

The kid laughed. "He probably thinks you'll stop him."

"Where's your sister?" Ginny asked glancing at the book the boy was half reading.

"I think Lilly's upstairs sulking." He replied. "Albus and I'll be leaving soon for Hogwarts after all."

"Oh, she'll be going next year. There's no point moping about it." Ginny said with a chuckle.

"Dude…" Dean said nodding at the kid at the table. "Is it just me or does he look like Harry?"

Sam nodded after examining the kid for a moment.

"You don't think this is like his childhood or something do you?"

Sam shook his head. "We've seen her with Harry as an adult and she didn't look any older." He reminded his brother.

"What are you working on?" Ginny asked nonchalantly.

The kid tensed. "Just uh… just reading… you know… to read. Aunt 'Mione keeps telling me I should."

Ginny walked past the kid and smacked him in the back of the head eliciting a cry of surprise and outrage. "Aunt 'Mione would also be mortified you'd left your summer class work until a week before school starts James." She said staring at the book from over his shoulder.

"Only a little!" James protested.

"How much is a little?"

"Charms and transfiguration and po…an…" the kid started muttering under his breath obviously in a very lame attempt at keeping the woman from figuring out exactly how much he had left.

Ginny released a giant sigh. "We've raised a procrastinator. Ah, what will your father say?" She said melodramatically.

"Ah! You can't tell dad!" James cried seriously.

"Why not?" she said with a smile.

"He tells everything to Aunt 'Mione!" James reasoned. "She'll know for sure, and then she'll come over every day and badger me to get it done, and then she'll grade it and she's so much worse than the professors! She picks through it and tells you used words wrong and that you should write smaller and that you didn't go into enough detail about the goblin rebellions even though the paper's on trolls. It's a nightmare!"

Ginny was grinning broadly and obviously suppressing her mirth. "Alright, I won't tell Harry, but in return you have to get it done by tomorrow night. No exceptions!" She said when he'd opened his mouth to argue.

"Fine…" he sulked.

"Good, now go wash up. I'll have supper done in a bit so tell your sister and brother to make themselves presentable as well."

James scooped up his book and made for the stairs.

Both brothers turned back to Ginny to find her looking at the stairs serenely. She smiled wistfully as she vanished but Sam could have sworn she just barely made eye contact with him.

The remained in the kitchen but the light became less warm. A glance out the window proved that it was late. The sun was setting somewhere in the distance and the last dregs of its power barely made it through the window.

"Did you see that?" Sam asked glancing to his brother.

"What?" he replied answering the question for Sam.

"It was almost like…" Sam stopped and shook his head. "Nah, never mind."

A crash sounded from further in the house and Sam took off in its direction Dean shortly behind. They skidded to a stop in a parlor of some sort. Down the hall the front door was smashed open and Sam could see Lucifer standing there. The young boy, James, was dragging another, younger boy into the parlor as fast as he could with panic written all over his features. The younger boy, who Sam assumed was the Albus that James and his mother had spoken of earlier, was unconscious a large gash on his head. James was similarly injured but was helping his brother regardless. The small form of the girl they'd seen in the first memory, Lilly, was stood in front of them holding a broom threateningly at the invader.

Sam felt the need to protect these children even though instinctively he knew they were long dead. His hands balled into fists.

Lucifer came forward in no great rush and simply kicked out at the girl. The broom snapped in half and Sam could hear the crunch of her bones. He knew she was dead or dying as she struck the ground awfully close to her two brothers.

"Lilly!" James shouted voice laced with panic.

"Troublesome children." Lucifer said though he eyed them with delight. "Where're your mummy and daddy?"

James hugged his brother closer and eyed his fallen sister. Tears were starting to build up in his eyes. Still, he stood firmly and drew out a stick which Sam only then realized must be a wand.

"Stop!" James demanded with a shaky voice. "Stop or I'll hex you!"

"Valiant." Lucifer noted. "Your parents must be proud."

Sam could see the kid praying to anything that this would all end.

James moved his brother closer to his sister and stood in front of them wand held in front of him pointed at the angel who was eying him unmoving.

Lucifer was frowning as if contemplating something.

Ginny chose that moment to barrel into the room. "James!" she cried out spotting him and she immediately whipped out her wand facing the stranger in her home. Her eyes flickered to the two unmoving children. "Who are you? What do you want?"

Lucifer didn't deign to answer he just attacked all the while a scowl growing on his face. Ginny attacked with bolts of light and shouted words, but the angel ducked all but one of them. The landed curse cut a gash into Lucifer's chest but he continued on not noticing the pain it should have caused. Ginny, taken off guard by her inhuman opponent was struck. The hit knocked her into the wall. Her head hit first and she had to at least be sporting a concussion now. Still she wobbled to her feet and moved around so that she was in front of her children.

"Not them." She said with determined eyes though she wobbled on her feet. "Please not them."

Lucifer actually hesitated, but his next blow struck through her chest and sent her back down the hall toward the door where she laid unmoving except the rise and fall of her labored breathing.

"Mum!" James cried, tears coming freely now. He was torn between rushing to the woman and defending his siblings. He stared at the angel in absolute terror. "Reducto!" He shouted but the curse was flung wide.

Lucifer walked to him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Rest now." He said and snapped the poor boy's neck in one swift movement. James fell to the floor like a rag doll.

Lucifer turned to Ginny and examined her and she pushed herself once more from the floor eyes locked in hate on the angel. Her fingers sought numbly for her wand. Lucifer shook his head sadly, but must have considered her a goner for he swept past her and out of the front door.

The brothers stood there in shock and disgust. They'd just watched murder and could've done nothing to stop it.

"James…!" Ginny sobbed trying her best to move to the children but she simply lacked the strength. Every step made her falter. "Lil…ly?"

No sound came from the trio.

"Al…"

"Ginny!" Harry's voice rang through the house. He stood in the doorway a briefcase and bag in one hand a giant teddy bear in the other. He dropped everything and rushed to Ginny's side. "Oh god, Gin. Ginny!"

She toppled just as Harry came even with her and he caught her, lowering her to the floor. She tried to speak but all they could hear was gurgling and Sam was sure Lucifer's attack had punctured at least one of her lungs on top of ruining her abdomen. The woman was suffocating but somehow she was still clinging to consciousness. She raised one of her arms weakly and flung it in the general direction of the children and manic pleading in her eyes. She wanted Harry to check on them.

Harry caught the movement and looked up and his eyes locked on the kids. His face was twisted with confusion, fear, grief, and panic. He swung Ginny up into his arms and shuffled to the children.

Sam moved closer, just the tiniest bit. He wanted so desperately to help in some way. A glance at his brother showed that the same feeling of desperation lingered for his brother as well.

Harry had laid Ginny down and was nudging the children. The two boys almost seemed to be sleeping but Lilly's face was smeared with her own blood where she coughed it out. Her tiny chest was unmoving and Harry knew. He gathered the four to him and sobbed on his knees. Gut wrenching heaves came from the man and Sam wished the scene would change. He wished he could unsee Ginny's lifeless corpse staring back at him with dead eyes.

Somewhere in the midst of it all Sam spotted the younger son's chest move. Albus was still alive, but Harry didn't seem to notice in his grief and the boy was making no signs of moving.

As Harry knelt there, grief stricken something odd began to happen. Surges of something almost unseen except for a ripple in the air flowed from the man. They started slowly and weak, but grew in intensity and frequency. They ripped through everything. First the room collapsed around them and then the house was blown outward. The roof sailed far away.

The power wasn't effecting Sam or Dean and they watched as all but Harry and his family were destroyed around them. They could see the waves striking the houses down the block flattening them like they were made of cards.

The scene changed. They were floating. Sam saw Dean panic for a moment as they found themselves almost in a space like place and before them laid the Earth in detail. Sam spotted England, but not because he was searching. Angry red waves of something were erupting from the Island nation and ripping across the globe. One after another they spread across the seas and continents. Any green on the planet vanished in what Sam figured were dust clouds from the onslaught. The entire world was under siege.

"I… Dude… I think Harry's doing that… er… did that." Dean said eyes wide.

Sam turned back to the planet before them silently agreeing with his brother. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. Even though the man was destroying the planet, ending billions of lives, he couldn't blame him. It wasn't a conscious decision on Harry's part if what they'd seen was correct. And Sam had certainly felt like tearing the world apart when Dean had died.

They watched as the world seemed almost to catch itself on fire as the waves became more violent. Sam couldn't help but wonder what it felt like to be in the midst of that. To be Harry at this moment must be hell.

"Everyone died."

The brothers were distressed because the voice sounded them even though they were still clearly in 'space' watching the world burn. It couldn't possibly be a memory in space could it?

Ginny seemed to almost walk through the image as if it were a hologram suspended in front of them. The image flickered similarly and died returning them to the now familiar white, but Ginny stayed. Sam glanced behind him looking for the spectral figure she must be talking to.

"I'm talking to you." She said looking straight at Sam, then at Dean. "This isn't a memory. Well, not in the same way the others were."

"Does that make you a ghost?" Sam asked eying her warily.

She shrugged. "I suppose." She acquiesced. "I did die after all."

The brothers shared a mutually unsure glance. She was dead… but she didn't seem to be attacking them or anything.

"Calm down." She said with a smile. "I'm not here to hurt you or anyone else. If you've received this then it means you're deeply connected with my husband… or perhaps my ex-husband? Widowed husband? It's hard to think of what the superlative word should be considering the circumstances. I'm dead, the world was destroyed, we were never married in this reality, it's all so complex."

Dean snorted.

"Deeply connected?" Sam asked a bit unsure. "I mean we know Harry, but deeply connected? It is Harry you're talking about right?"

Ginny shrugged. "Yes, it's Harry. I asked Death to pass on the box but he must have had a reason to choose the two of you. Maybe he just likes you. Or maybe he couldn't be bothered to find someone else. I'm not entirely sure how his mind works."

"You know Death?"

"As well as the dead can." She said crossing her arms as if cold.

"Why are you trying to get in touch with someone who knows Harry? Why not just get Death the give the box to Harry directly?"

"He and Harry aren't on the best terms. If Death tried to give him a magic box he'd probably leave it on the table out of spite. I know the man, we were married for fourteen years. Besides, this wasn't a message for him. It was for anyone who got close to him. Anyone who formed a friendship with him." She said and her voice grew somber. "Harry is powerful; scarily, almost infinitely so to the rest of us. But he needs people on his side, people he can trust. Without that I'm afraid he could make the same mistake again, and if he did… I think it might destroy him."

Both brothers listened to her with steely gazes.

"Luna warned us weeks before all of that happened but I was an idiot. I wouldn't listen even though Harry had taken her words so seriously. We should have gone into hiding, put up barriers, anything." Ginny confessed darkly. "I realized she was wrong about it all you know, but not in the way we wanted. There was no war. What those people did, it was slaughter."

"Those men." Sam said then stopped when Ginny lifted her eyes to him. He wasn't sure what was making him want to share. "Two of them at least. We're fighting them."

Ginny's eyes were comically wide. "You're fighting the ange… how? You're muggles aren't you?"

"Er, muggles?" Dean asked confused.

"Oh, uh, non-magic." She supplied. "The wizards, my kind, were wiped out so easily and we possessed magic. How can you fight back without it?"

"Because we don't have a choice." Dean answered first. "We might just be ordinary little humans to you guys with your ability to blow stuff up just by thinking about it, but we're not about to roll over and take it just because we got the short end of the stick."

Ginny was grinning by the time Dean finished. "I can see why he would like you two."

Dean and Sam were taken aback by that announcement. "I hate to tell you otherwise, but Harry doesn't like us all that much." Sam said with a frown. "Well, at least not Dean." He threw in with a smirk at his brother. Dean looked ready to protest but Ginny cut him off.

"No, he might act like he doesn't like you, but Harry's always had a saving people thing. Hermione used to joke about it all the time. And something I learned is that he's drawn to the underdog causes. He can't resist a challenge and he won't turn away someone who needs help."

Neither of the Winchesters was sure how to respond to that because despite Harry's sarcastic quips and general belligerent attitude what she was saying made sense.

"Can he die?" Sam asked, the question popping from his mouth before he could stop it. Dean shot his brother a surprised look but then turned to Ginny expectantly.

She seemed to have been caught off guard by the sudden question, but she regained her composure and offered him a small, sad smile. "I don't know. I don't even think Death knows at this point."

"Do you want him to?" Sam asked a little more quietly. It was a personal question, extremely so. "I mean, if he did you guys could be together right?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think we could." She said turning and walking a town seemed to form around them as she did so. The brothers were pulled along its empty streets without any effort on their part. "I was informed, quite recently by my standards at least, that our existence hangs in a delicate balance. When the angels killed us they were trying to completely eradicate our souls."

Sam realized they were being dragged down the same street that had been packed earlier. The one that they had first spotted the angels on.

"But there was some sort of problem. Instead of ceasing to exist, our souls, if you would call them that, passed on like any normal human's does. The Creator, having noticed this forced us to the place where all blights were put, but we were sectioned off in a way." As if of its own accord a large piece of paper and a marker popped into existence. She drew a large circle on the paper. "Purgatory, as I've been informed it's called. It houses all of the previously failed attempts to populate the world." She drew another, smaller circle within the large one. "Emram, as those in the know have deigned to call it. It contains all of the wizarding population that was purged. Those outside its walls don't even seem to know it exists. It's like its invisible to them."

She flipped the paper and drew a stick figure man and then another circle and a line between them. Then there was another line arching away from the circle with an arrow on the end leading to another stick person. "When the rest of us were brought to Emram, Harry somehow ended up in Purgatory outside of Emram's walls. Any time the Creator tried to force him into Emram Harry's form and even soul would dissolve only to manifest somewhere else entirely." She drew another small stick person inside the circle laboriously. "The same would happen inside the walls any time one of the wizards were attempted to be removed."

"So in other words you're both trapped on opposite sides of a wall?" Sam said frowning.

"In less eloquent terms, yes." Ginny said capping her marker and making it disappear from her hands. "But it's much more complex than that. For starters our energy within Emram seems to feed from Harry's existence. I don't know how exactly. Hermione's been looking into it for ages and even she's still unsure about how it all works, but every once in a while we have a massive flux; everyone's magic stops working and the skies go dark. Needless to say it was alarming the first few times, and it's been happening more frequently"

"Is that why you really wanted the box to get to us?" Sam asked curiously.

"Well, knowing what's happening on this side differently would help us figure out why it's happening on ours, but no. That's not the reason I sent out this box." She said a bit heatedly. "I doubt I'd have been the person who's talking to you if it were. Hermione would know which questions to ask."

She shifted watching the two.

"Like I said, Harry needs people on his side. It might seem like an unimportant reason to set all of this up, but it really isn't to me. I'd go to him myself if I were capable. Death has told me about what's going on in your world right now. Harry'll probably try to stop it since he knows what's happening." Ginny said staring at them intently. "But even he needs help with that. I don't want him to face that angel alone. Not alone."

Sam returned her stare and for the longest time no one said anything. They all stood in their respective spots just staring at one another. "He won't do it alone then." Sam said resolutely with a nod.

"Sammy…" Dean said warningly. Dean didn't have any particular reason not to help Harry, but somehow he felt like saying they'd help to this woman would form some sort of contract.

Ginny just smiled warmly. "Thank you." She said. She turned to Dean. "You don't have to agree. You definitely don't have to help. I couldn't force you to do something like that. I wouldn't want to if I could. But if you could keep an eye on him for me I'd appreciate it."

She stopped and looked at her hands. Sam's face scrunched up in confusion. The woman's small hands seemed to be translucent now.

"The small bit of magic I put into the box is fading." She said, unsurprised. "I'd hoped for more time, but it was enough I suppose. Inside of the box you'll find a pendant. It's a protection charm. It's all I can offer in return, but use it. And do me a favor… don't tell Harry of our meeting."

"What? Why?" Dean asked suspiciously.

Ginny smiled wistfully. "Old wounds. I don't know how well Harry's recovered from everything but I can hazard a guess and say drudging it all back up wouldn't be our smartest move."

"Fair enough." Sam said with a nod. Dean only hesitantly nodded in agreement.

She smiled and offered them one last goodbye before the world of white dimmed dramatically like an old television screen turning off.

They'd sat across from each other for the longest time. Neither Harry nor Ellen moved except to take breaths. The hour grew later and Harry started to wonder if he should just tell Ellen to sleep on it and decide later. He felt it was more important that she make the right decision than a quick decision.

"You've lost someone before."

Ellen's words caught him off guard. He blinked thrice and turned toward her. She was surveying him distantly like she didn't dislike what she'd found upon observation, but wished she had.

"I've lost a lot of people." He said meeting her eyes. "I've been around long enough to have."

She shook her head. "I mean a child. You've lost a child."

Harry stared at her blankly.

"Why didn't you save them?"

Harry averted his eyes instantly. Those were memories he didn't want to relive. They were better off staying buried. "Because I wasn't strong enough."

"You say purgatory is terrible…" Ellen said accepting that her conversation partner didn't want to continue the previous topic. "You talk about it like you've been there."

Harry glanced back over at her. Apparently she wanted his life story and she was perfectly willing to pick apart his previous statements to get at it. "Yes, I spent several rather uncomfortable years trapped there before I worked out how to escape. Monsters roam all over the place and at even the slightest whiff of human they come running from miles off. Apparently when I landed there I still smelled mostly human."

Ellen watched the man shiver just slightly at what was probably a vivid recurrence of a less than stellar memory. "And Jo might be there?"

Harry regarded her warily for a moment. "Yes, but if she is she's not human any more. She'd be one of them."

Ellen shook her head. "She might have it in her, but she would still be Jo." Ellen said her eyes focused on the floor. "If you've lost a child then you understand why I can't just leave Jo in a place like that." She stared at him imploringly.

"There's no guarantee she's there." Harry reminded her.

Ellen just stared.

Harry stared back for a long moment before releasing a sigh. "What would you do for her if I brought her back from that place? She'd be dangerous. Any hunter who found out would try to kill her. Probably even the Winchesters."

"I'd find some place and lock her away at the full moon. I wouldn't let her hurt anyone." Ellen reassured him.

Harry stared into her eyes for the longest time before he sighed and shook his head. "That's not good enough and you know it."

Ellen moved to protest.

"It only takes one slip up for her to get out and hurt someone. You may forgive her if she did that, but she'd never forgive herself."

Ellen looked on the verge of tears.

"But I might be able to help." Harry drawing out and ancient looking paper from his jacket. "There's a potion called 'wolf's bane'. It helps with the symptoms of lycanthropy. She would be almost docile when she turned. She'd still have to be locked up but she wouldn't actively try to escape."

Ellen looked at him hopefully. "I've never heard of it."

"It's an old potion… from my world. I never passed on its recipe. I'm not even sure it would work on this version of werewolf, but if I do find her there and bring her back this would be better than nothing."

Ellen's eyebrows drew together as she puzzled over his words. "There's a drawback…"

"Shortened life… advanced cases of mental disease in some cases. But overall the biggest thing you have to consider is that all it takes is one missed dose and she could break free."

Ellen nodded slowly, less sure. The more he reminded her of the lives Jo could take the more she was sure that Jo would have said no to the offer. But could she be as strong as her daughter? She took a shaky breath.

"If you want…" Harry started drawing her eyes back to him. "I will go and check Purgatory and hell for her. I will draw her back up for you if you wish it… but I won't be held responsible for it. When she turns her questions of why she's back on us I won't be held liable."

Ellen swallowed thickly. "I just…" she started then swallowed again. "I need…"

"Take some time Ellen." He said softly turning from her. "Think on it. When you've made up your mind, I'll be here."

Sam woke first. He started from his slumped position against the doorframe and hit his head on the doorknob. "Gah!" he exclaimed reaching a hand up to rub the forming knot.

His movement must have startled Dean because his brother was soon jerking awake too and looking around in confusion for a second.

Their eyes met and both knew that they'd seen the same thing. It hadn't been some crazy dream or something. They'd both been pulled into the box they'd been puzzling over for the last three days and they'd both had a conversation with a dead woman.

Sam lifted his left hand with held the small box. The lid was open now revealing to hidden hinges inside the lid and a pendant sitting innocently in the middle of a cushion. The stone was scarlet, or perhaps maroon Sam had always been terrible with colors, and had a tiny lion etched into it. He pulled the tiny thing from its resting place and gave a long, hard stare.

Dean snatched it from his brother's hand. He scowled at it but it seemed innocent enough. There were no visible sigils or any other warding magic the brothers were familiar with placed upon the stone. That meant the stone itself must hold some sort of magic. This only made Dean more wary of the thing.

Sam took the pendant back from his brother and settled it in his upper pocket next to the amulet he'd taken. He hoped it was enough that it remain in his pocket to protect him because he doubted the band it had been placed on would fit around his neck without becoming a choker.

Dean nudged aside a book he'd been holding before they'd found themselves inside the box. The two of them had been researching lockboxes in Bobby's study while the man went on a food run. Had the thing just been waiting for them to be alone for long enough to act? He could hear Bobby's car engine approaching outside.

The brothers shared a look. They'd have a hell of a time explaining all of this to the older hunter.

Sam heaved a sigh and knelt to retrieve his own book from the floor before Bobby could lecture him on proper treatment of the tome. "I guess we'd better get a hold of Harry soon." He said replacing the book on Bobby's shelf, making sure it was in exactly the place he'd retrieved it from.

Dean shelved his own volume less exactly. Sam rolled his eyes, knowing Bobby would complain about the book being missing next time he needed it.

"I'm back." Bobby announced with the sound of rustling bags. "They were out of the good stuff."

That's right, Ginny made an appearance. I've been meaning to work that in for awhile. I kept flip flopping on how they got the box. I like Tessa though so I'm glad I chose her small cameo.

I'm on a roll with these chapters lately. It's mostly because the last three didn't take any research except for small stuff. I'm absolute shit at research… ugh.

Now then, fair warning, just as implied within the story Jo may or may not be coming back. I've decided but you have to wait and see. This was planned from the beginning so don't think you swayed me with a review or something. I'll laugh at you silently if you imply you have that kind of control.

A LAST REMINDER! I'm expecting brain surgery. I should be able to pop out at least one more chapter before anything happens, but recovery will undoubtedly be rough. That means a temporary hold on everything while I deal with life. No abandoned stories here but there could be a significant delay. Persevere my readers. I shall return.

It only gets crazier from here so strap yourselves in. And so we go!

'Til next time!

~Kanathia