I know I ended the last chapter a little abruptly, so I'll try to get this up quickly!

Ehehe, I think you'll appreciate what I've done.

Also, I received a review asking whether Michael was there for a reason or I was making him gender neutral as 'a mouthpiece for my social/political views'. Since I can't respond directly to you, your answer is here: I made Michael gender neutral because there are gender neutral people in the world and if one of them happens to come across this story, I think it would be awesome for them to see a character and go 'hey, that's like me.' Basically, representation is important. That's my reason.

[PS: If anyone could tell me who/what 'Terry Goodkind' or "Less Wrong' is, thanks]

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter

"What is going on in the bookstore?" Gabriel looked down the street, where people were piling into the store and forming a line that wound down the alley.

"No idea." Michael said. "Maybe those posters in the window will tell us?"

They wandered closer. Gabriel wrinkled his nose as he saw the posters advertising someone named Gilderoy Lockhart, who looked like he was entirely too self-promoting. "Who's this nut?"

"Lockhart," Michael explained. "He's a famous wizard - he's done all sorts of things, like taming werewolves or getting rid of ghosts who've been haunting someone."

"Huh." Gabriel examined the titles of the books he could see stacked against the glass. "And he wrote a book series about it?"

"I guess." Michael shrugged, nir tone conveying that he didn't know much more than Gabriel. "Mum likes him, though, we've got his book about magical pests lying around somewhere."

"Hey-" Gabriel suddenly spun around, a smirk on his face. "Don't you still have to buy your books?"

Michael glanced down to the money pouch in nir hands. "Oh, no."

The bookstore was absolutely packed full, people [mostly witches] lining up to see a man at the front of the store. It looked like it was Lockhart - he was wearing gold robes, as if needing to get across the idea of how amazing he was.

"I've already bought mine," Gabriel told Michael as they ducked out of the way between two shelves. "So I can tell you with absolute confidence that we have to get his entire set of books. I was wondering where I recognized the name."

Michael groaned. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. They're so expensive!" Ne glanced down at the bag in nir hands again. "I hope mum's given me enough to buy all that."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Gabriel said, still grinning. "But good luck making your way up to the register in this crowd, or even getting your hands on a copy. I think they're selling out."

Michael shot him a dirty look. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"It's not my fault you waited so late to buy your things."

"Come on, you're helping me find everything."

"What, why?"

"Because I'm not going to go through all this-" Michael gestured vaguely, waving nir hands, "-By myself!"

Of course, all of the Lockhart books were on a shelf near the front, which meant Gabriel and Michael had to shove their way through the very easily irritated crowd. There were seven mandatory Lockhart books to get, and Michael shoved at least half of them into Gabriel's arms.

"There is no way I'm carrying all that myself," he said, maybe a little too loudly as it attracted Lockhart's attention.

He zeroed in on Gabriel. "It can't be Harry Potter!" He practically shouted, leaping to his feet. The crowd all turned to Gabriel as well as Lockhart pulled him forward, sending the books crashing out of his arms.

Lockhart evidently was trying to get a picture. Gabriel yanked his arm away from the man and backed off. "Do you make a habit of grabbing twelve year olds out of crowds?" He asked acidly, picking up Michael's books again. Everyone went completely silent, and Lockhart looked a bit stunned.

"Come on," Gabriel muttered to Michael, walking off towards the back of the store. "We'll get your stuff later, I hate crowds."

"Since when?" was Michael's only response, but he followed Gabriel all the same. There was another boy leaning against the railing of the stairs which led to the second floor of the shop.

He was looking at Gabriel oddly. Gabriel thought he looked slightly familiar.

"I would have thought you'd love that," the boy said. "Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Shove off," said Michael defensively.

Someone spoke from behind them. "He didn't want all that!"

Gabriel turned around. It was a girl, maybe about eleven, holding a cauldron stuffed with slightly tattered books.

"Oh look, Potter," the boy said. "You've got yourself an admirer." He looked the girl up and down. "You must be a Weasley."

"There's no call for that," said Gabriel. "She's a kid."

"Obviously, you know nothing of wizard society." The boy sniffed.

"I know you're being a prick for no reason."

"What?" The boy seemed actually startled that he'd been called a name.

"Draco!" Someone called. A man came sweeping down the stairs. He was nearly a perfect, if older, copy of the boy Gabriel was talking to...or more likely, the boy was identical to him.

"Ah," he said in the same disdainful manner. Gabriel suddenly remembered where he's seen the boy before - he'd told him to try again when he'd stopped mimicking his father but holy hell, Gabriel hadn't expected them to be practically twins.

The man's eyes skimmed over Gabriel. "Harry Potter," he said softly. "I see you have met my son, Draco."

"We've encountered each other," Gabriel responded, equally coolly.

The man's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Gabriel was all-too-aware that he's stepped over the boundary of simple introductions. This man was a politician - cunning in its fullest, and perhaps richest, if the rings on his fingers were anything to go by.

"Perhaps a new start would be better," he said silkily. "I am Lucius Malfoy." Gabriel's eyebrows raised slightly, something which Malfoy Senior obviously took note of. "You have heard the name before, perhaps?"

"Nah," replied Gabriel. "I just speak French."

Something switched in the older man's eyes, and he became much cooler.

"I think I'll be going," said Gabriel lightly, smiling fakely at the man. "Crowds aren't really my thing." He strode past both Malfoys without paying them a second glance.

The door swung shut behind him and Michael, who let out a long breath. "What was that?" Ne asked, a tone of slight incredulity coloring nir voice.

Gabriel was about to reply when someone else yelled "Harry!" For the second time that day.

"Oh Hell." Gabriel had just gotten the words out when he was grabbed by the arm, spun around, and slapped across the face.

"A whole summer full of letters!" Hermione shouted at him as Gabriel tried to process the fact that she'd just slapped him. "And you never replied to any of them!"

"Hermione-" Even Michael looked a bit alarmed. "Calm down!"

"Calm down?"

"I never got any of them!" Gabriel told her, trying to get his arm out of her iron grip.

Hermione blinked in confusion, letting go slightly. "You what?"

Michael butted in again. "He's got a good explanation, trust me." Hermione waited patiently as the Gabriel explained [again] about Dobby and how he'd been blocking all of his letters.

Hermione looked abashed as he finished. "I suppose you didn't deserve that slap, then," she said awkwardly.

"It's fine." Gabriel waved her off. "If I'd been ignored all summer I would slap me too."

She still seemed anxious, but as they walked down the alley that wore off. Michael was spirited back to bookstore by a woman who was obviously his mother, promising to meet them in the pub later. Hermione introduced Gabriel to her parents too, who seemed nice enough.

"It's very nice to meet you," said Ms. Granger, but they both seemed slightly distant until Hermione rolled her eyes and explained [not in full detail] about the whole letter fiasco, after which they became much warmer.

"She was talking all about you during Christmas," Mr. Granger said as they sat in the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for Michael. Hemione blushed lightly.

"Daaad," she hissed. Gabriel repressed a smile and pretended he hadn't heard.

"And where are your parents?" Oh boy.

"I'm here by myself," Gabriel, said, hurrying to concoct an explanation. "None of them really like magic, so I usually stay here by myself for a week or so before school, then they come and give me a ride to King's Cross."

Neither of Hermione's parents looked very please with that, but they didn't push the issue again. Michael showed up soon afterward, laden with books and nir mother trailing behind nir.

She fell to talking with the Grangers, as Gabriel, Hermione, and Michael clustered around the other end of the table. "Have you seen Lockhart?" Hermione asked. "I was in there earlier, and his books aren't very well written but he's done so much!"

Gabriel eyed her in slight incredulity. "Sure. He grabbed me out of the crowd and tried to take a picture with me."

"Oh - well," Hermione seemed flustered and Michael jumped in and quickly changed the subject.

"Did you hear about what happened to Quirrel?"

Gabriel darted a glance at Michael. "No?"

"He's gone missing." Michael leaned forward eagerly to tell them about it. "He went on leave from Hogwarts but he never turned up at his house, and apparently it's been empty all summer. People are saying he's been killed."

"Don't talk about things like that!" Hermione looked scandalized. "I'm sure he hasn't been. Right Harry?"

"Right," Gabriel agreed slowly, hoping that Hermione wasn't any good at picking out lies as his mind flashed back to last June. He decided that another topic change was in order. "Why d'you think we need all of Lockhart's books for Defense this year?"

"Who says they're for defense?" Michael asked.

"Well all the other books we had to get are for the other classes."

"It's because he's teaching at Hogwarts this year," Hermione informed them. Gabriel stared at her.

"You're joking."

"I am not!"

"We have to deal with him for an entire year?"

"Should we add Lockhart to the 'Things Harry Hates' list?" Michael teased.

"Since when is that even a thing?"

"Since the train ride home last year."

"Is it an actual list? You seriously wasted time writing it all down? Give me that."

"No- hey!"

"Give it!"

"Hermione help!"

"Have a good time at Hogwarts!" Ms. Granger kissed her daughter as they waited on the platform. The Hogwarts express was sitting next to them, as red as usual and steam pouring from its small chimney. Gabriel looked away pointedly.

He'd hitched a ride with the Grangers to the station, after asking Hermione for her phone number and calling them on the thirty-first, pretending that something had come up with his family and he didn't have a ride to the station. Really, he just hated taking the bus. The Grangers were perfectly willing to drop by the Leaky Cauldron and get him on their way to King's Cross.

"Bye!" Hermione seized Gabriel's hand and pulled him towards the train, their trunks scraping on the ground. They piled their trunks onto the luggage racks and then Hermione went to find Michael while Gabriel saved their spot.

As she left, Gabriel spotted the group of redheads on the platform again. The girl who had defended him in Flourish and Blott's was carrying her own trunk - it must have been her first year. Gabriel let his gaze wander over the platform, taking in the crowd of students and parents and pets in cages and trunks lying haphazardly around the platform. He was sure that he recognized a few of them, but he'd barely expended the mental space to remember the teacher's names, much less other student's...and that was mainly because he spent an entire year around them.

Gabriel slid back into the seat of the compartment. He was back for another year. Gabriel wondered if he would really go for all seven years - he was steadily working out how to get the little magic core to work, and more schooling would definitely not go amiss - it was, for the most part, his only current method of defense.

His Grace, being the problem that it was.

Gabriel shifted and put the thought of his Grace away for some other time. Yes, school was necessary for now. Whether it would take all seven years to get a good handle on his magic remained to be seen - he hadn't had the time to try out any spells while in Diagon Alley, and he couldn't practice it at all while he was at the Dursley's, so for now school it was.

The compartment door slid open and Hermione came back in, Michael in tow.

"Hey," Michael greeted Gabriel.

"Where were you?" Gabriel asked. "It took you ages to get back."

"He was all the way at the other end of the platform," said Hermione, rolling her eyes. "Even though I specifically said to meet up here!"

"All of the fireplaces for Floo are at the other end!" Michael protested. "How do you think I get up here on time?"

"Alright, enough arguing," Gabriel said. "I don't wand to listen to you two bicker for nine hours while we ride into the wilderness."

"Hogwarts is hardly the wilderness, Harry."

"There's a forest on the grounds, how many schools do you see that at?"

"Anyone for Exploding Snap?" Michael asked out of the blue, holding up nir deck of the cards.

"No!"

The trolley had come around again and this time Gabriel had been forced to show a little restraint by Hermione - he would have bought far more if she hadn't snatched some of it out of his hands and returned it to the cart, saying "That's enough, Harry, honestly."

"I don't understand what you have against candy," Gabriel complained.

"My parents are dentists," Hermione explained. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Of course, that explains everything."

"It's not good to have so much candy!"

"Oh, and what is it then, bad for me?"

"Yes!" cried Hermione exasperatedly.

"Well, I don't care," said Gabriel, catching a chocolate frog before it leaped out of the window.

"Why don't we do something else," said Michael hurriedly.

As the train rushed past meadows and fields that grew steadily more untidy and wild, the trio in the compartment had several visitors.

First was the girl from Flourish and Blotts, who didn't come in but instead blushed and ran off when she noticed that they had seen her. Second, was the younger Malfoy.

"What do you want now?" Gabriel said exasperatedly.

"i was just coming in to ask if you'd reconsidered," he said stiffly.

"Reconsidered what, if I wanted to join you in 'the proper realm of wizards'?" Gabriel asked sarcastically. "Because no, I haven't, really."

"I came here without Crabbe and Goyle for a reason," Malfoy said stiffly. "And I meant if you wanted to be friends."

Gabriel stared. Michael and Hermione did, too.

Gabriel considered his options carefully. On one hand, Malfoy had been rude to him before, on the two occasions they'd run into each other, and he'd also been rude to the girl who he'd most likely never met. On the other hand, he was being completely honest right now, and he hadn't said a thing to Hermione, so...

"Sit down."

Hermione shot Gabriel a stunned glance as he swept the candy off the seat next to him like Hermione had done last year. Malfoy, with a glance at the other two people in the compartment, did so.

"Harry-" Hermione closed her mouth as Gabriel put a finger over his lips in example.

"So," Gabriel said cheerfully. "How about that Exploding Snap game?"

It turned out that Malfoy wasn't very good at Exploding Snap.

He'd been very different than Gabriel remembered through the entire ride - he hadn't gone out of his way to talk to Hermione, but he hadn't insulted her either. Obviously he'd actually thought about what Gabriel had told him. Michael and Hermione seemed wary of him, but after the third card blew up in Malfoy's face they seemed to take that as recompense for all of his rudeness and simply continued on.

Malfoy - or rather, Draco, now that they actually spoke to each other, was quiet for most of it, but talked more as it became clearer that no one was going to kick him out. He liked Quidditch, apparently, and as neither Gabriel or Hermione had much experience with it besides the school games they had been to he eagerly explained how it worked to them.

"I'm definitely going to be on the team this year," he told them. "First-years aren't allowed so I couldn't last year, but now I can actually try out."

"For what position?" Gabriel asked, having given up on remembering everything that Draco had explained at practically the speed of light.

"Seeker," Draco said proudly. "It's the most dangerous position - everyone targets them."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Er...because they're the most important," Draco answered after a moment. "If the seeker catches the snitch then the game is over and their team gets and extra hundred and fifty points."

"A hundred and fifty?" Hermione said. "That's ridiculous."

"That's Quidditch."

They separated once they reached the carriages, Draco disappearing to be with the other Slytherins. The trio found one for themselves, a thankfully empty one, and got in hurriedly.

"What do you suppose is pulling it?" asked Gabriel as the carriage lurched, following a path that presumably led to the school.

Hermione exchanged a confused look with Michael.

"Nothing's pulling the carriage, Harry," she said after a moment. "It must be enchanted to pull itself."

Gabriel glanced again at the front of he carriage to ensure he wasn't hallucinating. The weird horse thing was still there.

"No, there's definitely something pulling it."

"Are you alright?"

"Look, just-" Gabriel took Hermione's hand and pushed it against the side of the horse thing. Hermione shrieked as, to her eyes, her hand collided with something that wasn't there.

"What?" Michael had jumped at her yell.

"There's something invisible!"

"I just told you that!" Gabriel let go and Hermione snatched her hand away.

"Hold on," Michael said. "How come you can see them, then? I don't see anything."

Gabriel shrugged. "No idea."

"What does it look like?" Hermione had quickly graduated from 'scared' to 'curious'.

"Bit like a horse, really." Gabriel looked at the creature again. "Um, it's black. Bony-looking, like it's just a skeleton with skin."

"Ew," Michael interrupted.

"It's got wings, too," Gabriel carried on. Hermione was frowning.

"I've never heard of anything like that." She cast a speculative glance at her hand. "I'll have to look it up once we get to the castle."

Gabriel watched with interest as a flood of new students enters the hall, and he remembered what it was like to be the one surrounded by older kids in black combined with all sorts of colors and to look up and see the stars instead of a ceiling, and candles floating. Even the sight of Lockhart sitting at the staff table couldn't ruin the first night back in Hogwarts, with the now-familiar banners waving from the walls.

He noticed the girl from the bookshop in the line of new students, next to someone who had such pale blonde hair it looked almost white. As the Hat was placed on the stool and its brim opened wide Gabriel thought to himself that a singing hat was still incredibly weird.

"What's so funny?" Michael hissed as Gabriel grinned to himself.

"Nothing," Gabriel whispered back, clapping as the first student was sorted into Ravenclaw. The first years are gathered at the end of the table near where Gabriel is sitting - on the first night, at least, there appears to be a set order, the upper years sitting farthest from the hat and leaving a space at the other end of the table for the new students to sit.

There were five new Ravenclaws that year, the white-blonde-haired girl one of them. She had brought a magazine with her, stuck in one of the pockets, and was reading it upside-down at the table. Her yearmates seemed confused, and none made a move to talk to her. The redheaded girl was sorted into Gryffindor, and what looked to be a colony of them [the Weasleys, Gabriel remembered] started cheering and whooping as soon as the hat announced it.

Dinner was also the same, down to the dishes of mint humbugs. Michael started a conversation about Quidditch that turned into a contest of 'my team is better than yours' between nir and everyone sitting near enough to hear, or shout down the table, sans Gabriel of course.

Prefects chivvied the first years up to the dorms, everyone else leaving before them as the two fifth-year prefects did their best to organize the new students into lines. Gabriel smirked as he passed the knocker, and its eyes gleamed as he passed it. He still hadn't returned the paper to its hiding place, and had no intention to.

They had new dorms this year - Gabriel and the others had moved to the second-year boy's dorm, and Gabriel idly wondered what the new students would think of the witchlights that were probably still hanging in his old bed.

Michael said goodnight as ne moved off to nir own dorm, which had stayed the same since last year - there were no other students who felt like joining nem. Gabriel sat down on his new bed and wondered what sort of disaster the new year would bring.

Well? Read and review, please!