Sam groaned, clutching his throbbing head, which seemed to be bleeding slightly. He looked up to see Castiel hovering over him, a quick touch to the forehead healing the pain. He glanced past the angel to see that Harry was wrapped in a blanket with a mug of something hot, sat by the fireplace with Dean. The poor boy looked pale and sickly, no doubt the explosion of power having had taken its toll on him.
Sam hobbled over, dropping to sit next to the boy, and patting him lightly on the back.
'I'm so sorry', Harry said, looking down, voice sombre.
'I already told you kid', Dean replied gruffly, cutting over whatever Sam was going to say. 'It's not your fault you were screwed over; you're allowed to react like that when hearing something so horrible'.
Sam nodded in agreement, Castiel smiling awkwardly at the upset boy – Harry could feel their sincerity shining through the words, so he flashed the older men a small grin.
'So Cas, any idea what to do here?' Sam asked the angel, instinctively knowing that the celestial being would know the most about what they were dealing with. It's not like they hadn't dealt with gods before, it's just that they hadn't been expecting to deal with one here, especially with other powerful beings around.
'Well, I believe we should attempt to fight fire with fire in this case', Castiel informed the brothers, aware that Harry was listening avidly to the plans. No doubt the young wizard would appreciate being involved in the planning, considering that he was always kept in the dark about everything (something that Ares would prefer, naturally).
'Wait, Cas, you can't mean to do magic or something like that right?' Dean asked, anger already evident in his tone. 'You know we don't get involved in that crap!' he argued, looking as if he was about to get up and storm out. Castiel placed a calming hand on his lovers' leg, looking at him steadily, making Dean sit back down and wait for an explanation.
'In this case, I don't know if we have a choice', Castiel sighed. 'Albus Dumbledore is a man with immense power, and Ares has had his claw in him for so long. Not only that, but Ares is one of the twelve Olympians. It will be very tough for us to beat him ourselves', he explained.
'So… what do you think we should do?' Sam asked him.
'I think we should attempt to invoke Hecate, the goddess of magic. I believe that she will feel personally wronged by Ares' actions, because the world of magic and witchcraft falls in her domain', Castiel said.
All of a sudden, the four in the room hear a bang, heads snapping towards the sound. Sam sees a flash of black flapping in the small space in which the door had been open.
'Shit!', he exclaimed, jumping up. 'Someone was eavesdropping!' he shouted, running for the door to give chase to the listener. He heard movement behind him, indicating that his brother was also running after him.
The tall man ran into the corridor and spotted Snape walking briskly away from their room. With his general direction, his speed, and his black cape, the hunter automatically knew that it had been the potions professor who had overheard their plans.
'Hey! Snape, stop!' he bellowed, running after the hook-nosed man. Snape looked over his shoulder, spotting his pursuer, and began to run too – towards Dumbledore's office.
Unfortunately, the professor hadn't realised that his students would be in that corridor too. Draco Malfoy had at that very moment cast a slicing hex at a young Gryffindor's bag, in an attempt to bully the young child, but the hex never reached the carrier. Instead, it was intercepted by the running potions professor, who ran straight into the line of fire.
The hex sliced right through his clothing, soaking the black with a deep red, and Snape grunted at the unexpected pain. He staggered towards the wall, trying to find something to steady him.
The next few events were just bad luck, considering the man's usually helpful and formidable cloak got caught in a suit of armour as he stumbled, and his already unsteady footing meant that he fell straight down the stone steps of Hogwarts. The fall seemed to last for eons until THUD.
Sam watched in horror as the professor he had been chasing fell, headfirst, down the stairs. He heard a girly scream (it was actually Draco Malfoy), and quickly instructed Dean to keep the students away from the area.
He ran down the stairs, picking up the limp black-clad professor, and ran to the infirmary. The matron jumped to assist him as soon as he burst in, and he waited nervously for the verdict. Sure, the man pissed him off, but Sam didn't wish him dead or anything.
Madame Pomfrey came towards him about half an hour late, where he was sat with his brother, his angel friend and young Harry.
'I'm sorry to say that Severus has passed away', she informed the men, sniffling. 'I tried my best to save him, but his spine had snapped. While this could have been fixed, unfortunately Severus lost a lot of blood. It seems that the cutting curse you described… removed his genitalia, which is why his blood loss was so high'.
Dean snorted in typical crassness, and Sam stomped on his foot to get him to shut up.
The three men looked up in shock however, when Harry jumped up suddenly.
'Why did you have to chase him like that, now another person is dead, and it's my fault!' he burst out, running away from the team. Sam looked as if he was going to go after the boy, but Dean stopped him. The young wizard probably just needed some time alone. It had been a long day.
A/N I'm finally done with the year at uni so I should be able to update more often. Please try not to get angry or whatever at what happens in this story, artistically, I can write what I want. If you don't like it, don't read it. But yeah... I have everything planned out, so nothing anyone says will affect the plot anyway.