Heey guys. Hope you liked the last chapter. Will Sirius go free? We still don't know [well, I do]. I know I'm horrible.
Just so you know, a bit of an explanation for the hospital wing bit: Ron is out cold because Madam Pomfrey magically sedated him to set his leg. Gabriel and Hermione, obviously, are awake. Michael woke up a bit later than them and was listening in bemusement and didn't speak up soon enough to go with them on their magical time travel journey.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter
You disloyal...
They are broken, flawed, abortions!
Brother, don't make me do this.
I know you think you're doing the right thing...but I know where your heart truly lies...
...Here
Amateur hocus-pocus...don't forget...you learned all your tricks from me, little brother.
His memories seemed very fuzzy. So did Gabriel's vision, when he managed to get his eyes open. The effects from the dementor ebbed away as Gabriel woke more fully, memories draining back into the corner of his mind.
Everything was white and Gabriel groaned when he realized he was in the hospital wing again.
Gabriel propped himself up on his elbows. Not much time could have passed, because everyone was still in their clothes and outside the window it was still dark. Hermione was lying in the bed next to his, Michael on her other side, and Gabriel could make out Ron lying in a bed opposite him, still out cold and leg now looking much more efficiently bandaged.
Hermione's eyes tracked Gabriel and he quickly lay back down as Madam Pomfrey passed by, not eager to be coddled. Two voices were talking and Gabriel recognized one of them as belonging to Dumbledore.
"Shocking business," said the unfamiliar one. "Miracle none of them died."
"And I assume the dementors are to be removed from the grounds?" That was Dumbledore, who sounded rather upset.
"Of course, of course, Dumbledore...never dreamed they'd try to do something like that to an innocent boy..."
"And what of Black?"
"He'll be going to Azkaban...he'd have been kissed already if you'd just let in the dementors-"
"Minister," Dumbledore sounded suddenly severe. "I will not allow the dementors into Hogwarts. I have already been proved in my belief that it was a bad idea to allow them here as guards in the first place."
"Yes, well..."
"We have already heard Professor Snape's side of the story, and we can only see what these students have to say when they wake up."
"You will alert me when that happens?"
Gabriel faked shifting around in his bed and sat up, glancing around. The conversation abruptly halted, and Madam Pomfrey rushed over.
"You're awake!" She was holding a block of chocolate that looked more like a small boulder. Madam Pomfrey placed it on the bedside table and began breaking it apart with a small hammer.
"Mister Potter." Dumbledore appeared at the end of Gabriel's bed, the same man in the pinstriped cloak from earlier trailing behind him. "What an adventure you've had. Is this to become a theme with your school years?"
"Hopefully not," Gabriel muttered. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, as the headmaster had obviously heard him.
"Well-" Dumbledore conjured a comfortable-looking armchair out of nowhere and Gabriel felt a stab of jealousy. He used to be able to do that. Damn Grace. "I believe the Minster - as well as myself - have several questions for you about what happened."
"Shoot."
The Minister looked confused, but Dumbledore only smiled. "Perhaps you could tell us exactly what happened?"
So Gabriel did.
The Minster's expression grew increasingly more incredulous as the story progressed, and when Gabriel reached the bit where Pettigrew turned back he actually interrupted.
"Mister Potter, you can't be serious."
"No," Gabriel said with a completely straight face. "That's the man you're trying to arrest."
The Minister gaped at him, while Dumbledore's eyes twinkled harder than ever and Christ how does he even do that. Eyes are not meant to do that.
"I'm talking about Black being innocent!" The Minister blustered eventually. "Everyone knows he's guilty-"
"Can't you dig up his old trial records?" Gabriel suggested. "See what got him convicted the first time?"
Both Dumbledore and the Minister looked surprised at that, and while the Minster seemed more nervous, Dumbledore is more thoughtful.
"Yes," he said, smiling slightly. "Cornelius, why don't you try and find the old evidence that convicted Sirius? I'm sure Madam Bones would be more than willing."
"I - er-" the Minister looked rather flustered. "I suppose - is there a Floo I can borrow?"
"This way," Madam Pomfrey told him, leading him off and taking a break from shoving chocolate down Hermione's throat.
"Well now," said Dumbledore once he was gone. "This is quite the twist."
"You believe me?"
"Oh, certainly. I doubt Minster Fudge does, however." Fudge? Gabriel is never going to be able to eat fudge again after this. The man is a disgrace to the name.
"So what do you think will happen to Sirius?" Gabriel asked. It's genuine curiosity, and not the need to pretend to be thirteen, that leads him to ask.
"Ah! Mister Potter. I have an excellent memory, and while Cornelius is Flooing Madam Bones I think he'll get an unwelcome surprise when he discovers that there are no trial records."
Gabriel took a minute to realize what Dumbledore meant. "He never got a trial?"
"Plenty of people were sent straight to Azkaban." Dumbledore, at least, looks slightly remorseful. "I must confess, though, I never imagined that your parents would use Peter as their secret keeper."
Gabriel just shrugged. A shout suddenly came from the room Fudge is flooing in, and a moment later Madam Pomfrey comes back out. "He's gone through to the ministry," she told Dumbledore. "Something about a fault in the records."
Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Then I shall leave you to your patients, Poppy." He got up. "Might I have a private word with these two first, though?"
Madam Pomfrey, though she looked rather put out at not being able to force-feed Gabriel any chocolate, nodded and retreated to her office.
"Miss Granger." Dumbledore said pleasantly. "While Minister Fudge can be convinced, he has convinced himself that the Sirius Black case will make or break his career, and he will not think that declaring him innocent will do him any favors."
Hermione looked puzzled, but was listening intently. Gabriel swung his legs over the side of the bed to get closer.
"What we need," said Dumbledore, "is more time."
Hermione's mouth made a little O of surprise, but strangely enough she seems to understand.
"Now pay attention," Dumbledore continued. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, both of you; you must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law - you know what is at stake."
Hermione nodded quickly. Gabriel looked between the two of them, wondering whether he was missing a piece of the puzzle, or if he'd even started putting the puzzle together yet.
"I am going to lock you in," said Dumbledore, holding up a tiny key. He consulted his watch. "It is five minutes to midnight. Three turns ought to do it, Miss Granger."
Dumbledore swept away and closed the door. Hermione dug something out from under the collar of her robes.
"Harry, come here, quickly!"
"What the hell is that?"
Hermione threw the chain over his neck as well. There was a small, golden contraption hanging as a pendant from it which held a tiny hourglass full of sand.
"What-"
"Not now!" Hermione spun the contraption around one, two, three times and then they were at the center of one of the wrong energy storms that Gabriel had so often sensed. Things were blurring past them and Gabriel gasped as they landed in the Entrance hall, gold light spilling through the windows. Hermione dragged him into a storage closet just as two people entered the hall.
As Gabriel and Hermione sat in the closet, Gabriel tried to recover from what had to be the most uncomfortable time travel he'd ever done. Even that man with the box had done better than that. He could have done better than that, even if it did exhaust his Grace.
"Hermione what the hell is that thing."
"It's a time-turner," Hermione explained. "I've been using it since the start of the year-"
"You what?" No wonder he'd been bothered by them all year. "Hermione, do you have any idea-"
"Sssh!" she hissed, and in the sudden silence Gabriel heard what was unmistakably Hermione and Ron arguing about Hagrid's.
"Yes, that's us..." Hermione whispered, her ear to the door. "And there's you offering the cloak..."
Light, slow footsteps came past the closet.
"We've gone down to Hagrid's..."
Hermione looked at Gabriel. "You're taking time travel very well."
"I already knew people could time travel. What I didn't know was that you thought it would be a good idea to do so for your classes."
"Harry..."
"What are we doing here?" Gabriel cut her off. Time travel. So she could take all the classes offered. Really.
"Dumbledore told us where Sirius was," Hermione whispered, "So we must be supposed to rescue him, since Fudge won't declare him innocent...but he said something about two innocent lives."
Hermione suddenly gasped and clutched Gabriel's arm. "Harry! Buckbeak!"
"The Hippogriff?"
"We can save him! We can use him and fly up to the window where Sirius is!"
"I thought the point of this was to not be seen?"
Hermione looked conflicted. "But - that had to be what he meant-"
"Hermione, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying we'll need a d-" Gabriel almost slipped and said 'dad' again. "-damn miracle."
"Harry! Don't swear!"
Gabriel put his ear to the door of the closet.
"Sounds like we're gone...we'll need to go straight into the Forest to avoid being seen.."
"Around by the greenhouses," Hermione decided. "We'll have to get near Hagrid's, but we'll have to be very careful...we might see us..."
Gabriel opens the door and steps back out into the hall, Hermione following. Looking back as she closed the door, Gabriel felt a smile tugging at his mouth.
"Why are you grinning?"
"We've just come out of the closet."
It took a minute for Hermione to understand and smack Gabriel's shoulder.
"That's not funny."
"Let's go, we're running out of time."
The Forest is dim in the light of the setting sun and Gabriel and Hermione creep closer to the hut, where the door closed with a thump behind four invisible entities.
"Where's Buckbeak?" Hermione whispered.
"In the yard, I saw him earlier - but we can't yet."
"What?" Hermione stared incredulously at Gabriel. "Why?"
"If he's gone before the appeal or whatever can start, who d'you think they'll blame?"
He can see the moment Hermione understands. "They'll think Hagrid let him go," she breathes. "But that's going to give us about sixty seconds!"
"We'll have to make it."
There was a group of people making their way down to Hagrid's hut, the same group of people Gabriel had seen earlier. Gabriel watched as their past selves pulled on the cloak and vanished, and then as the group of older men [including the pinstriped Fudge] entered the cabin.
Gabriel hurried out of the forest and up to the tethered creature. It watched him with sharp amber eyes, and Gabriel slowed down slightly as he got closer. Would just walking slowly.
"You've got to bow to it!" Hermione hissed at him. Oh hell no. He was not bowing to this weird horse eagle thing.
But it was eyeing him ominously...and Gabriel really didn't feel like getting mauled...so...
He managed a sort of head bow. It didn't seem to work.
"Come on, what is this going to take?"
"Be polite to him!" Hermione whisper-yelled. "And hurry up!"
Finally, though, it bowed back. Gabriel took that as permission and hurriedly unlocked the collar, pulling the stubborn Hippogriff away into the forest just in time.
They had gone deep enough to not be seen, but were still close enough to hear the faint sound of voices stop. Then-
"Where is the beast?" asked a reedy voice. "Where has it gone?"
"It was tied here, I saw it!" said someone furiously.
"How extraordinary," said Dumbledore, sounding slightly amused.
There was a swish and a thud - whoever the executioner was, he had swung the axe into what sounded like the fence.
Hagrid started howling in delight, and the Hippogriff started straining at the lead to try and go back and it took most of Gabriel's considerable strength to keep him still.
"Someone untied him!" The same angry voice was snarling. "We have to search the forest-"
"Macnair, if someone really has taken the hippogriff, do you think they will have gone on foot?" Dumbledore still sounded amused. "Search the skies, if you will...Hagrid, I could do with a cup of tea."
"O - o' course, professor."
The door closed again.
"We'll have to wait until Sirius gets into the castle," Hermione said into the silence. "We'll have to hide in here...he won't be there for another couple of hours..."
"We've got to move towards the willow, then, if we want to know what's going on."
Hermione worried her lip in between her teeth. "Alright," she decided. "But we'll have to be-"
"Careful, I know. We can't be seen." This isn't the first time I've time-traveled, you know.
The Hippogriff trailed behind them as they navigated through the forest, drawing closer to the willow as the sun set completely. Gabriel, as he looked through the branches, winced as he saw Michael get knocked back by the branch.
There were the shouts, Animagus Sirius, and then the tree froze and their past selves descended into the tunnel.
"How long do we have to wait?" Gabriel whispered.
"A few hours, at least," Hermione muttered back. "We only went back three hours, and it's been about thirty minutes at least."
The wait was incredibly boring. The only thing that happened was Hagrid wandering by halfway through, going towards the castle and obviously drunk.
Then, someone - a lot of someones - came out from under the willow.
Gabriel seized Hermione's arm. "Hermione, we need to move."
"What?"
"Lupin is going to be coming right towards us in about a minute, move!"
Hermione did move, and they both tugged the Hippogriff as they navigated the undergrowth of the forest and ended up somewhere around the shore of the black lake, where it was thickly growing with trees and nearly impossible to see.
People were walking nearby, though, and soon Gabriel felt the typical cold that announced the dementors. They seemed to be ignoring him and Hermione, for whatever reason - maybe the time travel, maybe they were too far away. Whatever the case, all of them were descending on the small group on the other side of the shore.
Gabriel frowned as something occurred to him. He'd seen a silver shape right before he blacked out...had that been a Patronus? Someone must have cast it. But who? Scanning the shoreline and the lawn up to the school, there was no one in sight, and already his past self appeared to be on the ground.
Then it hit Gabriel.
Who was the nearest person who could actually cast the Patronus charm?
Gabriel was standing up and shoving his was through the bushes before Hermione could do anything.
"Harry, wait-"
"Expecto patronum!"
Something silver-bright burst out of the end of his wand and swooped at the dementors, who scattered before it. The Patronus [which was definitely winged] circled over the group, as if making sure all the dementors were gone, before swooping back over to Gabriel. And that was when he recognized it.
"Of course."
It was a magpie.
It dissipated soon after it got rid of the dementors, and Gabriel ducked back into the bushes as someone new came onto the scene.
Hermione looked a bit surprised. "That was you?" Obviously she would have seen it before - only Sirius and Gabriel had collapsed.
"Yeah. Apparently."
Hermione glanced back to where their past selves were sitting. "There's Snape - he must have woken up, he was the one who took us up to the school."
"So now we wait another half hour and go get Sirius?"
"I guess." Hermione tugged the Hippogriff away from the shore. "No, Buckbeak, you can't go that way!"
Eventually it was deemed late enough to risk flying up to the tower. The Hippogriff was convinced to let them on, and while Hermione seemed mildly terrified, Gabriel was just annoyed that he had to rely on it to be able to fly.
"No, you're going south - to the right a bit!" Hermione shouted directions over the wind from her seat behind Gabriel while he did his best to steer the Hippogriff towards where Sirius was locked up. Eventually, they were flying past the west tower, and Hermione was hurriedly counting windows.
"There!"
Luckily, they were unlocked. Sirius jumped up from a chair inside as the window clicked open.
"What-" He seemed lost for words.
"No time, get on." Gabriel inwardly cursed as he realized he just lost the perfect opportunity to quote Mean Girls.
Bewildered, Sirius managed to balance on the window ledge and haul himself onto the Hippogriff behind Hermione. The Hippogriff took off again, and when they finally landed it was in the courtyard below. Hermione slid off eagerly, feet hitting the stone as Gabriel swung himself off.
Sirius was staring at them in astonishment. "How can I-"
"Go, you idiot, they're going to realize you're gone any minute." Gabriel had to tilt his head back to look at him because of the added height from sitting on the Hippogriff.
"Thank you," Sirius said hoarsely, and with a loud flap the Hippogriff took off again, soaring away until it was too far away to see.
Hermione tugged on Gabriel's arm. "We've got to go back inside, it's nearly midnight!"
The hallways were dark and empty - even Filch didn't seem to be out and about. Peeves swooped by them at one point, but Gabriel put a single finger to his mouth and the poltergeist went completely silent.
It didn't matter that Hermione noticed - she and Michael were going to have questions anyway.
Dumbledore was standing outside of the hospital wing doors when they arrived.
"Ah," he said cheerfully. "I assume you've managed it?"
"Yes," Hermione panted, since they had run most of the way to make it in time. "Yes, we saved both of them."
"Wonderful." Dumbledore opened the door wide enough for them both to get in. "Now, I think you have just left, so it should be safe to go in. Goodnight, Miss Granger, Mister Potter."
Michael was sitting up when they walked in. "What the hell?" ne asked blankly. "You were over there just a second ago!"
"You explain," Gabriel said quickly to Hermione.
Snape, of course, was furious that Sirius had escaped, and he showed it by being even more unbearable than usual. But with the exam season over, and classes easier than they had been all year, no one could be that bothered by it.
Hermoine had explained the time-turner to Michael and Ron [ "How come you didn't tell us about this? We're your friends!" "I had to swear I wouldn't, Ron, or else I wouldn't have been given it!"] and what they had done with it, setting Sirius and the Hippogriff free. They were both suitably impressed, and disappointed that they hadn't been able to come as well.
There was, however, still one more hurdle to get over.
The three of them had cornered Gabriel in an abandoned classroom the day afterward.
"What's this for?" Gabriel asked as Hermione shut the door behind him.
"About yesterday," Michael said determinedly. "Harry, I really think you owe us an explanation."
Gabriel looked at Ron, who looked to be as stubborn as possible, and Hermione, who was magically locking the door. "Is that really necessary?"
"We're going to get answers," was all she said as she turned to face Gabriel. "Come on, Harry, we're your friends!"
"Yeah, I know you are." Gabriel sighed. "Okay, before I say anything, I'm going to need all of you to swear that not a word of this leaves this room."
The three of them looked at each other, curious and slightly wary.
"Alright." Michael said first. "I can do that."
"Swear it."
"I...swear I won't tell anyone about what you tell us in here."
Gabriel looked expectantly at Hermione and Ron.
"Is this really necessary?" Ron asked.
"The door's over there, if you'd like to leave."
Ron was obviously torn between doing that and satisfying his curiosity. "...I swear I won't say anything about what you tell us."
Hermione echoed him. "I swear I won't say anything about what you tell us."
Gabriel sat down on top of a dusty desk. "...It's a really long story."
"We've got time." Hermione pulled a chair over and cleaned it off before sitting down as well.
"Well..." Gabriel considered how he could go about this. "I guess it really started Halloween, 1981."
There was absolute silence as Gabriel finished talking.
Ron's mouth had dropped open at some point during the explanation, and Michael was staring at Gabriel in what might have been outright disbelief. Hermione had her fingers on her forehead and looked like she was getting a migraine.
"Merlin's underpants."
"Ron!"
"Angels?"
Well, Gabriel really hadn't been expecting a better reaction.
"You're serious," Michael said. "Totally serious."
"Yeah."
"This is insane!" Ron said, shaking his head.
"More insane than finding out your rat is an Animagus in hiding?" Gabriel asked, raising on eyebrow.
Ron grimaced. "Don't remind me."
"But..." Hermione looked lost. "Angels don't exist."
"That's not true. I'm sitting right here."
"Harry, come on!"
"Hermione, look at what happened!" Gabriel spread his arms. "You know what you saw me do, that's why you cornered me in here. What other explanation do you have?"
"But if you're seriously...an angel...then why come to Hogwarts?" Michael asked. "Shouldn't you have, I dunno, some sort of special power?"
"Technically, I do."
"Technically?" Hermione questioned.
"I told you that the whole 'ending up as Harry Potter' thing was an accident. Whatever that accident did, I'm having a bit of trouble getting back to full power." Gabriel gestured at himself. "Thus, here I am."
Hermione still looked doubtful. "But aren't angels supposed to have wings?"
"I do have wings. You just can't see them. Your senses literally can't comprehend them."
"This is crazy," Ron muttered again.
"What about that thing you had last night?" Hermione interrupted. "The sword thing you used."
The angel blade slid out of Gabriel's sleeve and into his hand. "You mean this?"
Michael jumped slightly as it appeared. Hermione, however, eyed it critically. "What is it?"
"It's an angel blade. Every angel has one."
"Where did it come from?"
Gabriel grinned and put a finger over his lips again. "Secret."
"Harry...er-" Hermione paused in what was obviously about to be a reprimand. "Should we call you something else?"
"I've been called Harry for the past thirteen years. It's fine."
"Do you have another name?" Michael asked, seemingly getting on board with the whole 'angel' thing.
"Yeah."
Hermione looked curious now. "What is it? I mean, from what I know of Christianity there are hundreds of angels, so you could be any one of them."
"Usually I go by Gabriel."
Hermione stared. "Gabriel? But that would mean you're-"
"An archangel? Yes, it would."
Michael and Ron looked lost - obviously, since both of them were wizard raised, they had no idea of the meaning of the word. "What's an archangel?"
Hermione was still staring at Gabriel. "They're the most powerful angels," she explained. "There are seven, I think-"
"Seven? Where'd you hear that?" Gabriel snorted. "There are three - counting me, of course."
Now all three of them were staring at him. "Who are the other two?" Ron asked.
"Michael and Raphael."
"So..." Hermione leaned forward, obviously enjoying her new source of knowledge. "They're your brothers?"
"Yeah."
"Are you older?"
"Out of the archangels, no. I'm the youngest."
"And where are your brothers, then?" Ron asked. "Do they know what happened to you?"
Gabriel gave Ron an are you kidding look. "Well, considering one of them is trapped and the other's dead, no, I don't think they do."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. Michael elbowed Ron and gave him a now look what you've done glare.
"Oh." To Ron's credit, he did look rather sheepish. "Sorry."
"Archangels can die?" Hermione clapped her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"It's fine." Gabriel leaned back and propped his feet up on a nearby chair. "Not like I've seen either of them in the last few millenia. And yes, we can."
The three of them looked unsure how to react to the word millenia, so Gabriel decided to change the topic.
"So," he said, sitting upright again. "How'd you like to see the place I found in first year?"
Hermione was absolutely thrilled with Muriel's room, and even more so once she was told that Ravenclaw had actually been one of Gabriel's siblings. ["So does that mean technically you could access her vault?"] and had to be practically dragged from the room, just like Gabriel had predicted.
One thing Gabriel hadn't predicted was Lupin tracking him down on the last day of term.
"Harry?" Gabriel turned around and saw the teacher standing behind him, suitcase in hand and two new scars on his face parallel to the old ones.
"I just thought," Lupin said, holding up the blank map, "that since I'm no longer a teacher I have no regrets in giving this back to you." He held it out to Gabriel.
"Thanks." Gabriel tucked it into his robes.
"I'm not going to ask about last night," Lupin said after a moment. "And I'm also not going to ask why you haven't got a name on the Map. I'm curious, I assure you, but - I understand the right to keep your secrets."
"Alright." Gabriel was honestly surprised that Lupin wasn't asking any questions. "Sorry about last night, by the way, professor."
"It's fine. I don't blame you in the slightest."
"Why are you leaving?" Gabriel nodded towards the suitcase. "You know everyone thinks that you're the best defense professor."
"Yes, well." A small smile tugged at the corner of Lupin's mouth. "Snape didn't take Sirius's escape well, of course. Dumbledore managed to assure Fudge that I didn't mean any harm, but Snape let slip at breakfast this morning my...condition."
What an utter asshole Snape was. "That sucks."
Lupin smiled a little wider. "It does, I suppose, but I'll be fine. Goodbye, Harry."
"Goodbye."
Hermione, though she seemed to have endless questions, was oddly wary about asking them.
"I'm not going to smite you for asking too many questions," Gabriel told her exasperatedly on the train ride home.
"I didn't think you would, but-" Hermione paused. "Who else knows?"
"About me being Gabriel, you mean?"
"Yeah. What about your guardian?"
That was what this is about? "Trust me," said Gabriel, rolling his eyes. "He knows."
"You told him before you told us?" Michael looked a little insulted. "But I thought you just moved in with him over the summer."
"On paper, sure, he's my guardian. In reality? Not so much."
"...What's that supposed to mean? Did he just leave you on your own?"
Gabriel looked away from the window and back at Michael. "Balthazar's actually my little brother."
"You found one of them?"
"Technically, he ran into me and I took advantage of the situation."
"So - wait - you ran into one of your brothers and made him fake being your guardian? Why?" Hermione asked.
"I couldn't stand the people I was dumped with before."
"Er-"
King's Cross was as noisy as usual. Also per usual, Hermione made him promise to write over the summer and dashed off to join her parents.
And again, as usual, Gabriel was left to find his own way home.
"I cannot wait for my wings to start working again."
It took a lot of creative storytelling and charm to find a map of bus routes that could get him out to the place Balthazar had gotten, and then another hour of traveling to actually get there. Balthazar was waiting when Gabriel kicked the door open and dragged in his things.
"Hello." Balthazar was lying on the sofa with a glass in one hand.
"You lazy shit, you could have given me a ride here."
"You made it here, didn't you?"
Gabriel glared halfheartedly and let his trunk thump onto the floor. "What are you drinking?"
"I have no idea."
"Seriously?" Gabriel picked up the bottle. "Is this - Balthazar, you're drinking this rot?"
"It's wine. It's always good." Balthazar took a careful sip from his glass. The bottle was already half empty.
"It tastes horrible."
"More for me, then."
Gabriel rolled his eyes and tossed the bottle at his brother, who caught it easily. "Where've you been all year?"
"About. Why do you care?"
"You felt it when Raphael bit the dust, right?"
Balthazar sat up slowly. "Yes."
"What happened?"
"You expect me to know?"
"Yeah, I do. Because there's no way you would have just sat here when something like that happened."
"...As far as I know, Castiel succeeded in opening Purgatory."
"He what?"
"That's not all." Balthazar looked unusually grim. "Not all of it went back in."
Gabriel felt something twist inside him. "Tell me he didn't let them out."
"He did." Balthazar took another gulp of wine. "Why d'you think I'm avoiding that Earth? I'm not stupid enough to go somewhere the Leviathans are running about."
"Jesus Christ."
"Are you going to do anything?"
"The way I am now? They'd kill me in a second."
Balthazar was silent for a moment. Then-
"I suppose I never liked that Earth anyway."
Aaaaaaand there we go!
I added the bit on the end so we can still keep up with the events in the supernaturalverse. Lucky thing Balthazar's around, or Gabriel would have no idea what was going on.
Hope you're all ready for Goblet of Fire!
Read and review.