THIRD YEAR ALRIGHT SIRIUS BLACK REMUS LUPIN AKA WOLFY WEREWOLF MC WEREWOLFYPANTS
I'm sorry but I had to put that out there about his name. Even his parent's names are wolfy for God's sake.
Ahem. Anyway.
I hope you all are looking forward to this as much as I am! I imagine Gabriel and Balthazar would get on well. Like, too well. Especially if Gabriel was the proper age.
Also: nearly 160 reviews?! You guys are awesome.
Just got back from seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, and thought it was awesome! I was surprised that Lee Pace played the villain, though.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter
"Balthazar you forgot to lock the door again!"
"I don't fucking care Gabriel. What could possibly happen? We'll get robbed?"
Gabriel peered around the corner as the door shut behind him. "You're the one who agreed to this you know."
"I do and I'm regretting every second of it."
"Come on, I basically raised you! Be nice to your older brother."
"You're not much older than me now."
"Shut up." A conveniently located empty bottle was lobbed at Balthazar's head. "And clean up after yourself will you? I've been stumbling over bottles and discarded lingerie all summer."
"You're just jealous that I'm getting more action than you."
"I'm ending this conversation."
Balthazar raised himself up off the couch slightly. "What, do you have homework?"
"Goodbye Balthazar." Gabriel rolled his eyes as he made his way up the staircase towards the room he'd claimed for himself.
"Have fun with school!"
"Go back to sleep!"
Balthazar had come through on his agreement, especially since Gabriel assured him that it would only be for over the summer. He'd found a glamorous house out in the London suburbs - and why would they settle for anything less? - and promptly tricked the dealer into thinking she'd sold it to them and been paid already while Gabriel waited out of the way.
They'd been living there for only two months and it was better than the Dursleys in perhaps every way, except for Balthazar's parties, and those were only bad because Gabriel had been forbidden from attending. He'd pointed out that he was at least half a millenia older than Balthazar, and Balthazar had shot back that his vessel was still only thirteen and he wasn't going to get laid like that. Gabriel had then asked Balthazar what he thought of Gabriel hiding all the liquor in the house. Balthazar had just snubbed him and Gabriel made good on his promise to get rid of it all.
The problem of living with his brother was that his brother actually had Grace to spare.
Not the Gabriel didn't, but his didn't come back nearly as fast. Balthazar could snap up some wine and have the energy back in a few hours, while Gabriel [who was an archangel and should by all rights have been more powerful than someone who was barely higher than a seraph], if he did the same, would have to wait at least a month before it came back. The rate had improved, but not by much.
July was quickly drawing to a close and Gabriel was, indeed, sitting in his room doing homework. He'd done most of it already, hoping to get it out of the way, and all that was left was a long, boring essay on the history of witch-hunts. Gabriel didn't understand why the teachers were so fond of giving summer homework.
Hermione had written plenty of letters - her family was apparently traveling as well, since the last one had been written from France. She'd sent him a miniature model of the Arc de Triomphe for his birthday, which Gabriel only vaguely remembered - it wasn't like the Dursleys had ever celebrated it.
Michael had also sent letters, including moving pictures of nir and nir mother in various locations, which Gabriel stuck inside the cover of one of his books. He'd enjoyed the letters, thinking that Michael and Hermione had certainly had more exciting summers than he'd had.
There had been a report on the news one day, while Balthazar had been flicking through the channels, on some sort of armed robber who had escaped from prison. Gabriel wouldn't have paid it any mind if Hermione hadn't mentioned the man as well, saying that he was actually a magical criminal who had killed several Muggles and was the only prisoner to ever escape from someplace called Azkaban.
Gabriel had mentioned this to Balthazar, who seemed completely disinterested and continued lounging about. Gabriel wasn't entirely sure what Balthazar spent all his time doing and didn't really want to know.
His Hogwarts letter had come the morning of August first, and Balthazar had nearly struck the owl out of the sky in annoyance before Gabriel reminded him that that was how wizards sent letters. Balthazar spent the rest of the afternoon laughing as Gabriel was forced to get him to sign a permission slip of all things. Gabriel dumped a bottle of wine over his brother in retaliation, and Balthazar did eventually sign it in swooping cursive.
Plans to meet his friends in Diagon Alley were still tentative when Gabriel arrived there, Balthazar gone to who knew where until the next summer. He'd be staying at the Leaky Cauldron until September like he did every year, and Tom the bartender didn't even look surprised to see him.
"Thought you'd show up eventually," he said leisurely. "You're room's all ready for you."
Slightly surprised by the fact that he'd been expected, Gabriel had dumped his things in the room and immediately gone to see if anyone he knew was in the alley.
He found no one yet, and there was another crowd in the shops along the alley, though this time it was in the broom shop and not the bookstore. Gabriel spent all of three seconds wondering what was so interesting before moving on to get his supplies and possibly stop for ice cream. Maybe getting a bit of that first wouldn't hurt...
When he did find Hermione, it was with her arms clamped around a rather ugly ginger cat. She was much browner than usual, probably from her time in France.
"What on earth is that?" Gabriel asked, keeping a safe distance as he regarded the animal.
"'It' is Crookshanks," Hermione said huffily. "Mum and dad said I could get a pet."
"That's not a pet, it's practically a creature."
"Don't be so rude!"
"It looks like it ran face-first into a brick wall."
"He," Hermione snapped, and Gabriel realized that he may have gone a bit too far. A summer with Balthazar had done nothing for his brain-to-mouth filter. "And he's half kneazle, for your information."
"Half what?"
Hermione went on to explain the intricacies of magical species as Gabriel began walking with her down the alley. She still had a tight hold on Crookshanks, who was allowing himself to be carried quite placidly.
"I've still got to get all my books," Hermione said. "I've got some of them already, of course, and I ran into Ron when I was getting mine. We had both signed up for Care of Magical Creatures, the assistant nearly cried when we told him we wanted two of the course books..."
"You mean the sentient ones in the window?"
"Yes." Hermione seemed amused by his description. "You're not taking it though, right?"
"Nah. I signed up for Ancient Runes and Divination." Ancient Runes, at least, would be rather easy, seeing as Gabriel could probably speak all the languages already. "And speaking of courses, did you seriously go ahead and sign up for all of them?"
"I did," said Hermione in a dignified manner. "And it's already been cleared with Professor McGonagall, so you can't go telling me that it's impossible."
"You're going to have ten hours of homework a night, you realize."
"You're exaggerating, Harry."
They ended up sitting at Fortescue's - the ice cream place - together, waiting to see if Michael would come by. Several people passed that they did know, but usually only vaguely, though Ron Weasley waved as he passed.
Michael didn't show up until later, a bag stuffed full of packages by nir side. Apparently ne'd been forced to do all nir shopping first before ne went off looking for them.
"Well, it's a good thing you showed up before Harry tried to order any more ice cream," said Hermione, casting a glance at Gabriel.
"I refuse to regret enjoying it," said Gabriel. "You're just biased because of your parents."
"Too many sweets are bad for you, Harry."
"And so I'll regret it when I'm older." No I won't.
Hermione just rolled her eyes and turned back to Michael. "So how was your holiday?"
"Great," Michael said eagerly, drawing up a chair. "We went to see this place called the Giant's Causeway, it was brilliant. There weren't any actual giants, of course, the Muggles just call it that."
"I think I've heard of it," said Gabriel, who thought he remembered visiting the place before.
"It was awesome," Michael told him, going on to describe what the place had been like, while both Gabriel and Hermione listened. Hermione then went on to talk about the places she'd visited in France and how much she'd learned there.
"I had to rewrite my entire History of Magic essay to include some of it," she said, stroking Crookshanks. "I hope Professor Binns doesn't mind, it's two whole rolls of parchment more than he asked for."
Michael muttered something under nir breath which made Gabriel snort, and Hermione look at them both severely. "And what about you, Harry?" she asked. "I know you probably didn't go anywhere over the summer, but-"
"I got a new guardian," Gabriel said idly, stirring the melted ice cream in his dish.
Both of his friends did double-takes at that. "You what?" asked Michael, as though ne thought ne'd misheard.
"I got away from my relatives," Gabriel elaborated. "Apparently there's someone else who could have had custody and petitioned for it, some uncle on l-" He caught himself before he said Lily Potter. "-My mum's side. He's cool."
"And he got custody just like that?"
"The Dursleys were perfectly willing to let him. I don't think there was any love lost." Gabriel said sarcastically.
"So what's your uncle like?"
Gabriel had to quickly think of something about Balthazar that wouldn't make him sound like a poor guardian. "He's got this big house out in London. Not too close to the city."
"That sounds nice." Hermione looked unsure what to think of the sudden news. "Do you like it with him?"
Gabriel mentally compared Balthazar to the Dursleys. "It's much better."
When they returned to the Leaky Cauldron, it was to find that Michael and Hemione's parents had somehow been drawn into a conversation with the Weasleys, and they were all sitting together at one long table to the back of the pub.
The table of redheads was just as enthusiastic as they had been at the end of the last school year, and the pair of twins were particularly exuberant with saying hello in an overdone and obviously joking manner. Their mother, however, did not seem nearly as pleased with their antics.
"How are you, dear?" She said graciously to Gabriel, as they all sat down. It was a bit crowded, with thirteen of them [counting the parents] stuffed around two tables pushed together.
"Fine." Gabriel managed to squeeze himself into the only empty chair, between Hermione and someone he recognized as being one of the Gryffindor prefects. "Summer was good."
"Yeah," agreed one of the boys. "We were in Egypt for a month, you know."
"It seems like everyone's been traveling this year," said Mr. Granger, looking amused. "Hermione was quite enthusiastic, learning about Magical France."
"France, really?" asked the Weasley patriarch. "I've never been, though I've heard it's quite nice."
Gabriel tuned out the adult's conversation. They were grouped at one end of the table, all five of them, and all of the students taking up the rest of the space and chatting about various things.
"They still haven't caught Sirius Black, you know," Michael was saying as Gabriel's attention drifted back to the conversation. "It's insane, they still don't know how he broke out of Azkaban-"
"Azkaban?" Gabriel interrupted.
"The wizard prison," Hermione explained for him. "It's out in the middle of the North Sea, I think."
"No one's ever escaped before," one of the twins, Fred probably, put in.
"It's impossible," said George, with a dramatic gesture.
"And he's the first to ever get out."
"Maybe it's because he's bonkers."
"Enough," said Mrs. Weasley sharply. "There's no need to talk about things like Sirius Black at the table. How about we talk about the new third-year classes instead?"
After dinner, everyone who didn't get in their cars to go home retired to various rooms upstairs from the pub. A loud argument next door had begun, over a missing tonic or something and a lost badge. Gabriel rolled his eyes and wished he knew how to use a silencing charm. He rustled through his trunk and discovered that he'd left one of his books downstairs. The stairs creaked underneath him, seemingly louder now that it was later and so many people had left.
There were still two people downstairs, however - the Weasley parents were arguing over something.
"...insists on treating Harry like a child..."
Curious at the mention of his vessel's name, Gabriel drew closer.
"...the truth would terrify him!" Gabriel darted behind a pillar, now very interested in the conversation. "Do you really want to send the boy back to school with that hanging over him? Arthur, he was happy!"
"I don't want to make him miserable, I want to put him on guard!" Mr. Weasley retorted. "Molly, he saved Ginny's life last year, I'm trying to help repay that favor!"
There was a long pause. Mr. Weasley continued. "Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been a month now and no one's seen a hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer to catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after-"
"But surely Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."
"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of there-"
"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry-"
Something thumped loudly. Mr. Weasley must have hit the table.
"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black's been talking in his sleep for a while now, always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts'. Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years in Azkaban to brood on that..."
Gabriel leaned closer in the ensuing silence. This was something he hadn't at all expected when he'd heard of Black's escape. Who was Sirius Black? Just a Death Eater, or something more? So many of them had escaped prosecution, from what Gabriel had read, so what made this man any different?
"Well, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley eventually spoke. "You must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry while he's at Hogwarts, while Dumbledore's headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?"
"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationed at the entrances to the school. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed.
"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"
"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," Mr. Weasley said heavily, and Gabriel wondered what sort of people they had guarding the prison. "Nor am I, if it comes to that...but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."
"If they save Harry-"
"-Then I will never say another word against them. It's late, Molly, we'd better go up."
Chairs scraped and Gabriel ducked farther away. He listened as steps went up the stairs, fading away slowly as the two Weasleys left to wherever their room was. Coming out slowly, Gabriel retrieved the forgotten book and ascended to his own room.
So Sirius Black was after him, or at least his vessel, because of what had happened on Halloween. The man, according to one article Gabriel had read earlier in his stay at the alley, had murdered thirteen people with one curse.
While not very terrifying, Gabriel knew he'd have to be careful. If Black cornered him with other people around, Gabriel would be unable to use anything but magic, leaving himself rather helpless, and if Black did manage to get a lucky shot in he'd have a hard time explaining why he wasn't dead to any witnesses.
Gabriel sighed internally and wondered why his years in the magical world were always so fraught with peril. Maybe he had gotten the bad luck from the broken mirror in first year.
Tadaaaaa. I hoped you liked the bits with Balthazar. I've also decided that, while the Weasley's aren't a main part, they've all decided to sort of take in Gabriel since he saved their little sister. Basically they're not major players but they are going to play a larger part than they have been.
Read and review!