Thank you to those who reviewed! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and so I'll try to get this one up as quickly as the others!
To the other not-so-nice reviewer, Lovegood: ? There isn't any copy-and-pasting here. I admit I'm trying to not be so dependent on the books, but the only copy and pasting is when I'm moving one bit of the story somewhere else to make it fit better.
ATTENTION! PLEASE READ THIS IT'S ABOUT THE STORY: I know earlier in an author's note I said that his second year took place in 2013, but because of reasons I've needed to change that [also I'm too lazy to go back and edit the author's note]. Anyway, since obviously there was a bit of a time mix-up during Gabriel's interplanetary journey before he was stuck in Harry [Balthazar is still alive, therefore it hasn't been 12+ years on Earth 1 since Gabriel 'died'] and so the events below take place in 2011, since season five ends approx. May 2010. There's a whole mess dealing with the year in between those two seasons that we don't see but I'm not going into that. To recap, third year takes place in 2011, not 1993.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter
Defense Against the Dark Arts had quickly become everyone's favorite class, Lupin becoming one of the most popular teachers they'd ever had. Only some of the Slytherins disliked him, and as the majority of those were the rich pureblood type, they seemed to dislike him purely on principle. The rest of his classes had gone as well as the Ravenclaw's, and soon a story swept the school about how one of the Gryffindor's Boggarts had been Snape, and the boy had forced it into his grandmother's clothes.
With the Boggart incident behind them, Gabriel was looking forward to the upcoming Halloween feast, remembering the treats from last year. As an extra treat, before that was the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. Michael in particular was looking forward to it, practically vibrating with excitement the night before Halloween.
"Settle down you idiot or you're going to sleep in tomorrow." Michael was not intimidated in the least by Gabriel, mainly because Gabriel wasn't actively trying to be.
When October thirty-first finally did arrive, Michael was already awake and dressed when Gabriel came downstairs. He practically pulled Gabriel out the door and they met Hermione in the line to leave for the village, the people around them talking excitedly about all the places they were going to see.
Unfortunately, things did not go their way.
"Mr. Potter!" Flitwick was striding towards them. "May I speak to you for a moment?"
Bewildered, Gabriel followed the man out of the line. He hadn't spoken to his head of House much, besides that one time in first year, and he wondered what Flitwick wanted.
"Mr. Potter." Flitwick had led him to the side, in an adjacent hallway. "I have a bit of a question about your Hogsmeade permission slip."
"What about it?"
"The man who signed it..." Flitwick brought out a piece of parchment and regarded it. Gabriel recognized Balthazar's sprawling signature. "Who is he?"
"He's my guardian."
"Yes, about that...I was under the impression you lived with your mother's sister? Petunia Dursley?"
"They signed over custody." Gabriel wondered where this was supposed to be going. "All legal, if that's what you're getting at."
"And what about the magical side of things?"
"The what?" Gabriel stared at him. "You're telling me the Dursleys were my magical guardians as well?"
"No, of course not. But there are several things that needed to be done that were not, and so.." Flitwick looked rather apologetic. "Dumbledore, honestly, is trying to make sure that your guardian is suitable."
It took Gabriel several moments to process this.
"Why's it his business?" He asked, getting rather irritated.
"The headmaster is in charge of the wellbeing of all the students in Hogwarts-"
"If Balthazar was an unsuitable guardian then the Dursleys wouldn't have signed over custody." Well, they might have. "And he's related to my mum too, if that's the problem! He was her cousin."
Flitwick seemed surprised by the news, but he stood his ground. "I'm sorry, but until we can be assured that your new guardian is suitable, I'm afraid this signature doesn't count."
That was what this was all about? They didn't want him going to the village? Gabriel glowered at the man.
"None of that," Flitwick said severely. "We're just trying to keep everyone safe." For what it was worth, he did look slightly regretful, but Gabriel just stormed off.
He could just go down to the village anyway, but then he'd have to be under the cloak [which the dementors could see through] and he'd still have no way of actually getting out of the castle.
Fuming, Gabriel walked for several minutes before realizing that he hadn't told Hermione and Michael about being forbidden to go. They were probably wondering where he'd gotten to, unless Flitwick had explained things to them.
"They don't care about my guardian," Gabriel muttered, kicking the wall lightly. "They're just worried about Sirius Black. The dementors are more of a problem than he is, and they're stationed all 'round the school but no, we've got to watch out for a man who probably killed himself escaping the place from how little's been seen of him-"
"Harry? What are you doing here?"
Gabriel swung around. It was Lupin, who was staring at him oddly and had probably overheard him.
"I've been forbidden from going to Hogsmeade." Gabriel told him.
"Ah." Lupin seemed to understand. "Would you like to come up to my office?" He offered. "I've just gotten a Grindylow delivered for the next class."
"A what?" There were all sorts of strange magical creatures, Gabriel mused as he followed Lupin. They had learned about a lot of them in his classes, but they weren't nearly as deadly as most of the ones Gabriel already knew of. And they were mostly animalistic. The grindylow, for example, was a weird octopus-like creature with long legs and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
"A type of water demon," Lupin explained as Gabriel tapped on the glass of the tank. The grindylow snarled at him. "The trick is to break its hold on you...their legs are very strong, but very brittle as well."
"Hm." Now that he mentioned it, Gabriel thought he could see what the teacher was talking about.
"Harry." Lupin sounded unusually serious. Gabriel turned around to see the man leaning on his desk. "I actually had a few questions for you, about the Boggart."
"Oh." Of course he'd had an ulterior motive.
"Well, I think you can understand that it was a bit alarming-" Lupin shifted so that he was standing up. "But I thought it was a bit more alarming that the Boggart was very concrete - it was a person. And well, I looked the man up and didn't find anything on him, so I know he's not some famous serial killer you might have heard of and developed a fear of, so-"
"You think I met him," Gabriel finished. Well, at least Lupin wasn't an idiot.
"Yes," Lupin agreed. "And based on not only his appearance but the fact that he tried to attack you with what looked like a sword, I feel like I have to ask-"
"Why do you care?"
Lupin looked at him in shock. "Well generally, when I think someone's been in a life-threatening situation-"
"No, no, you'd report it to Dumbledore if that was the case." Gabriel said confidently. "Not bring me into your office for a chat."
Lupin looked nonplussed. "Harry, why would I have a higher motive for trying to make sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine," Gabriel said, repressing the urge to roll his eyes. "Really, I am. I haven't been traumatized or anything by the Boggart."
Lupin tried changing tactics. "How about we each answer a question?" he asked. "You ask me one and I'll answer, but then you have to answer one of mine - honestly."
Gabriel considered it. "Fine," he said shortly, taking the seat in front of the desk. Lupin took the one behind it.
"Me first." said Gabriel before Lupin could begin. "Do you have another reason for caring?"
Lupin smiled slightly. "I knew your father while we were at school," he admitted. "We were in the same house - Gryffindor. We were quite good friends." He leaned closer slightly. "My turn. Is the Boggart a real person?"
Gabriel considered the question, trying to figure out how to phrase it so as not to send Lupin into a panic. "Yes," he said slowly.
"Have you-"
"I get to ask a question next," Gabriel interrupted. He tried to think of something to ask, but nothing came to mind immediately except-
"Why is Sirius Black after me?"
That made Lupin sputter a bit. "How did you find that out?"
"You don't get a question yet, but if you'd like me to answer that-"
"No," Lupin hurried to say. "It's fine. It's just-" He took a deep breath. "I didn't expect you to ask that."
"Do you know the answer?"
"...Yes."
"You promised to answer honestly."
Sigh. "I did. I know. But it's a very long story." Lupin ran a hand over his face, and Gabriel got the sense that the question had been more personal than he'd expected. "I suppose I should start at the beginning...
"I said your father and I were friends, but there were four of us in total; Me, James, Peter...and Sirius." Gabriel didn't react, letting Lupin go on. "We all knew each other very well, and when we graduated we all kept in touch.
"I'm not quite sure where it began to go wrong. The war was getting worse - you of course have heard of the things Voledmort did, but it was very different living through it. And at one point, Lily and James were convinced to go into hiding, just after you were born. They used something called the Fidelius - very tricky ward - basically, it makes everyone except those who are in on the 'secret' forget about whatever is behind the wards.
"The problem with the Fidelius is, you need someone to keep the secret of the location. Lily cast the ward, I believe, and they used Sirius as the secret keeper." Lupin sighed heavily, and Gabriel held up a hand.
"I think I understand - he gave them away, didn't he."
"Yes." Lupin looked more worn than usual. "They were dark times, but I don't think any of us expected Sirius to betray your parents." Lupin suddenly seized one of Gabriel's hands. "Harry - I probably shouldn't have told you that story at all, but promise me - you can't go looking for Black."
"I'm not going to go looking for him!" Gabriel had better things to do with his time.
"Harry, I know you might say that, but if you get any sort of ideas about revenge-"
"I'm not about to go looking for a serial killer, I think you can trust me to be that smart." Lupin finally let go, but he didn't look wholly convinced. "Are you going to ask your question?"
That seemed to remind him of what they were doing. "Oh, yes. Er-"
Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," Lupin called as Gabriel twisted around in his seat.
It was Snape who walked in, carrying a steaming goblet. He paused when he saw Gabriel, eyes narrowing.
"Hello, Severus," Lupin said politely. Snape didn't reply, but just set the goblet down. "Thanks."
"I made an entire cauldronful, in case you needed any more," Snape said in his usual dark tone as Gabriel tried to lean away from the steam leaking off of whatever potion was in the cup.
"I should probably take some tomorrow as well. Thank you again, Severus."
Snape said nothing and simply left, shutting the door behind him.
Gabriel was still watching the potion. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but only a few potions smoked when they were done and having read his entire potions book once when he was really, really bored...
Lupin took a sip and grimaced. "I've been feeling a bit off-color," he said by way of explanation, obviously having noticed Gabriel staring. "I've never been much of a potioneer, and Severus is kind enough to make this for me...pity sugar makes it useless, though," he added, taking another swallow with a disgusted expression. His words only cemented the idea for Gabriel.
He'd thought something was a bit off about Lupin. It was nothing in his demeanor, but archangel, anyone? Gabriel had a bit of a talent at seeing more than just the exterior.
Lupin cleared his throat as he set the now-empty goblet back on the table. "In any case. My next question...where did you meet the man your Boggart took the shape of?"
Well, that wasn't too loaded a question. "A place called the Elysian hotel," Gabriel answered. "It was out in pretty much the middle of nowhere."
"I see."
"You know, I think I've got another question."
"Oh?"
"When were you bitten?"
If Gabriel thought Lupin had reacted badly to the Sirius question, it was nothing to his now.
He sat there, openmouthed, and Gabriel felt like he should explain. "There are only so many potions that smoke like that," he said, nodding towards the goblet. "Coupled with the fact that you just mentioned being ill..."
Lupin seemed to have recovered slightly, but he still didn't say anything.
"I'm not going to say anything, you know." Gabriel told him. "It's October. School started a month ago, which means this has already happened once before, and since no one's been horribly murdered I'm going to assume that you've got ahold of yourself. Plus I know what wolfsbane is for, and if you didn't care about other people's safety you wouldn't be taking it."
"Yes, well-" Lupin glanced down at the goblet which had given it away. "I suppose I'll have to be more careful who I drink this around, if they are half as knowledgeable as you. I was actually-"
"I don't actually want to know, I was just making sure." Gabriel cut him off. "Go ahead and ask another, I suppose."
Lupin was looking at him in mingled surprise and thoughtfulness. He cleared his throat again. "The man...did you get into a fight with him?"
That would be trickier to answer. Gabriel considered it carefully trying to figure out how to answer without lying. "Yeeees?" Technically they had stood around while Gabriel talked and then been stabbed, but it did count as a fight.
He did not seem to be reassuring Lupin at all. "And where is this man now?"
"That's two questions in a row, but I suppose I can answer. I'm pretty sure he's locked up." Gabriel had left the Winchesters a hint after all. Hopefully they had managed to throw Lucifer back in the cage and not botched the job.
"Well." Lupin was still looking at him awkwardly. He seemed unsure how to carry on the conversation.
Gabriel scooted his chair back and stood up. "Nice talking to you, professor. I'll see you in class." Lupin didn't stop him as he left the room.
Halloween was as good as it ever was. This year, amid the usual decorations of huge carved pumpkins and live bats, there were thick orange streamers which snaked around the ceiling and gave off the impression of being on fire. Michael and Hermione had returned from Hogsmeade with armfuls of sweets each for him, but that didn't stop Gabriel from eating half the tin of lollipops.
When they finished up it was to entertainment from the Hogwarts ghosts. Nick had performed a reenactment of his own bungled beheading, which was well appreciated, and they did a bit of formation gliding, silvery and nearly invisible in the bright candlelight.
It all seemed to be going well, and Gabriel was beginning to wonder where the usual Halloween bad luck had gone. First year there had been the troll, and then last year the Chamber had been opened and Mrs. Norris petrified and found on their way back to the Tower, but even as they entered the dormitory afterwards there seemed to be nothing wrong, and Gabriel allowed himself to think that maybe nothing would happen.
He was wrong, of course.
They were all woken an hour or so later [Gabriel had taken to actually sleeping at night, to see if that would have any affect on his Grace, which so far it hadn't] by some sort of commotion in the common room. Gabriel pulled on a shirt and went down with the rest of them to see what was the matter, and the entire House was sent back down to the great hall.
"What's going on?" Michael had squeezed through the crowd to get to Gabriel, coming up behind him.
"No idea, they just said we all had to go back downstairs. It's ten PM!"
"Something must have happened."
"Something always does, Michael, it's Halloween."
The Gryffindors were already there, and the other two Houses arriving to the Great Hall. Everyone but the Gryffindors were in their pajamas or some sort of casual clothes. Michael started looking around for Hermione, and someone else came up behind Gabriel. It was Draco.
"What in Merlin's name happened?" he demanded.
"I'd like to know just as much as you would."
"There she is!" Michael made a beeline for Hermione, who was near the other end of the hall. She looked up as she saw them approaching, Ron sitting next to her.
"What happened?" Gabriel asked once they got close enough. "The teachers just told us all to come down here and left us at the door."
Hermione looked rather pale. "It's the Fat Lady," she said.
"The what?" Draco asked with one eyebrow raised.
"The portrait guardian for our common room," Hermione explained. "We got up there after the feast and the painting was all slashed up, and she was gone. Peeves said...Peeves told Dumbledore that Sirius Black did it."
"Black?" Michael exclaimed. Ne looked horrified. "But how'd he get in the castle?"
Dumbledore spoke up at that exact moment. "Students!" He called. "For tonight you are all to stay in the great hall. Prefects, make sure to keep a watch over things and make sure that no one leaves!" He paused. "Oh, you'll be needing..."
A wave of his wand and the House tables vanished, causing some people to drop to the floor abruptly. Gabriel caught Hermione by the arm before she fell. One more wave of Dumbledore's wand, and hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags covered the floor.
Dumbledore left with the other teachers. Most people immediately found a sleeping bag, and Gabriel grabbed several and dragged them into a circle.
"Thanks," Michael muttered, slipping inside one, still in his shirt and sweater. He was the only one besides Hermione and Ron [who had dragged his bag up] still in his uniform - even Draco was wearing a set of green pajamas.
"By the way," Draco was the one who spoke up. "What are you wearing?" He was looking at Gabriel.
Gabriel glanced down at himself. He was wearing a shirt Balthazar had snapped up for him as a joke at one point in the summer which featured a bad, stick figure version of a wizard. "What's wrong with it?"
"What's wrong-"
"Just because it's not fancy like your pajamas," Gabriel huffed in fake irritation. "Hermione's still in her robes and you haven't said anything."
"No more talking!" said a nearby prefect sharply. He was that one Weasley whose name Gabriel could never remember. "It'll be lights-out soon."
As he spoke, the candles abruptly flickered and went out, casting darkness over the hall. With the ceiling overhead lit by starlight, it was almost like being outside.
Gabriel lay awake, pretending to sleep in hopes of catching part of a conversation if one of the teachers happened to come by. As luck would have it, someone did, at around three AM.
Dumbledore swept by, walking towards the Gryffindor prefect. "How have things gone here?"
"All well, sir. Nothing out of place. Any sign of him, sir?"
"No, unfortunately. But it's good that all is well here. There's no point in getting them all back to their dorms now. I've found a temporary guardian for the Gryffindor portrait hole - you cane move back in tomorrow."
"And what about the Fat Lady, sir?"
"Hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the third floor. She's understandably scared - I'll have Filch restore her once she's calmed down."
Another set of footsteps came up. "Severus. Have you located Black?"
"No, headmaster. He's not in the dungeons, nor the third floor."
"And what of the Astronomy Tower? Professor Trelawney's room? The owlrey?"
"Not there either. Headmaster, if I may be so bold - you remember what I spoke of at the beginning of term-"
"I do, Severus."
There was a beat of silence.
"Then you do remember what I said - when you appointed-"
"Severus," there was a warning note in Dumbledore's voice. "I do not believe that anyone in this castle helped Black to enter." He said it in such a way that even Snape could tell that the conversation was over.
There was another moment of silence.
"I must inform the dementors," Dumbledore said. "They asked to be told if we had found Black."
"Didn't they want to help, sir?" the prefect spoke again.
"Oh, yes," Dumbledore said coldly. "But no dementor will cross the threshold while I am headmaster."
After that, there was only the sound of footsteps fading away. Gabriel opened his eyes slightly and saw Snape, a figure only slightly blacker than his surroundings. He stood for several moments before turning and walking away as well.
What was that about?