ARE YOU READY FOR THIS
I'll answer that. No, you're not. You really are not. I doubt ANY of you were expecting this to happen. Let me know if I was right.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter
Gabriel and Cedric hit the ground with a thump and a few muffled curses.
"What the hell was that?" Gabriel demanded, rolling over and leaping back onto his feet.
"It must have been a portkey," Cedric said, glancing around. They were in some sort of cemetery, definitely nowhere near Hogwarts as the mountains which surrounded the school had vanished.
"Great," Gabriel muttered. "This task is even crazier than I thought."
"I don't think this is part of the task."
"Oh, well, that's much better."
The graveyard looked like it had come straight from the set of a bad horror movie. Wisps of fog, huge tree, ominous gravestones, that one cliche grave with a robed figure carrying a scythe - it was all there. There was even a house standing alone on the crest of a nearby hill, as if to show that they were far away from the town.
"Wands out, d'you reckon?" Cedric asked nervously, but Gabriel didn't answer. They were still in Britain, that much he could figure out - it was unlikely the 'portkey' [whatever the hell that was] had managed to take them overseas - but the graveyard didn't offer many clues as to their location.
Something crunched and both of them whirled around, Cedric brandishing his wand. There was a short, robed figure making their way towards them slowly, stopping next to the grave with the statue. It walked like it was holding something in both arms, some sort of bundle which had become slightly easier to see as the figure had come closer. Was it a folded pair of robes? A baby? It was hard to tell.
They stood there for several moments, just staring at each other. The figure, whose hood was pulled up so that their face fell into shadow, didn't make any move for a wand or any other weapon or move at all.
And then a high, cold voice spoke from the vicinity of the bundle.
"Kill the spare."
Gabriel yanked Cedric to the side and Cedric promptly tripped backwards, sending them both to the ground and Gabriel directly into the path of the green spell.
Shit.
"Okay," Gabriel said aloud, sending a look at the figure standing opposite him in the blank white landscape. "There is no way that spell actually worked. Or that this is at all a coincidence."
"What makes you say that?" asked the figure mildly. "Perhaps you're just rather unfortunate."
"Okay," said Gabriel skeptically, "So you're saying that Death just happened to be in the area the exact same time that I get hit with a curse like that. Plus, it wouldn't actually affect me."
Death nodded. "I may have influenced Peter a bit, but it most likely would have happened all the same. I'm surprised you tried to save Cedric."
"He's seventeen," scoffed Gabriel. "He's still a kid, really. So what do you want?"
"How rude," Death observed. "You'd think I'd interrupted something important. Don't worry, Gabriel, I'm not here to reap you."
"Then what did you want to talk so desperately for?" Gabriel frowned at the white area they were in. "And did you really have to borrow my mind to do it?"
"Well, I'm certainly not going to let you inside mine." Death walked forward, cane swinging. He was wearing the same suit he'd been in last time Gabriel had seen him, which didn't make a whole lot of sense considering suits hadn't actually been invented back then. "And it's come to my attention that you have something of mine."
"I what?" Gabriel raised his eyebrow. "I think I would have noticed owning something of yours."
"That cloak of yours is rather impressive, is it not?"
Gabriel paused. "Well. That explains a lot."
"Indeed. Have you heard of the Tales of Beedle the Bard?"
"I haven't read them, if that's what you're asking."
"Pity. Read them later. You'll know which one I mean. And I'd like my cloak back."
"Okay, except I kind of need it. I don't have a lot of power to waste on invisibility anymore, which you know already, don't you?"
Death gave an exaggerated sigh. "Yes. I do know. Which is why I'm willing to offer something in return, as long as you return to me the cloak and two other items."
Gabriel watched Death thoughtfully. Well, it wasn't like the Horseman didn't keep his word. "I don't have it on me at the moment."
"I know you don't. I will arrive later to retrieve it."
"What's your return offer?"
Death inclined his head, as if gesturing to something. "I believe there is someone who's been wanting to speak to you."
He vanished as Gabriel turned around. There was another person, this one looking barely as old as Fenris, and one who Gabriel recognized immediately.
He had seen the same face staring back from the mirror for over fourteen years, after all.
"Hello," said Harry Potter.
Gabriel was almost too surprised to answer. "Shouldn't you be younger?" he finally asked. He distinctly remembered Harry being a baby, not two or three years old.
"I was sharing a mind with you for months," Harry said. "My mind grew up - I guess my soul got affected to."
What was left of it. "How did you managed to convince Death to bring me here to talk?"
"He was the one who came and got me," Harry replied, shrugging. "He said I was interesting and when I asked about you he got all weird like he'd remembered something."
The cloak - he realized that I had it and that he could use Harry as a bartering tool. But for what? Did he think I desperately wanted a conversation with my vessel's soul?
"I wanted to talk to you because I thought a lot about it," Harry interrupted Gabriel's thoughts. "And I wanted to be and I was at first, but...I'm not mad at you."
What?
"I just..." Harry fidgeted uncomfortably in place, like he was embarrassed. "At first I was mad 'cause it was my body and you took it...but then I found out that you didn't really have a choice in it either, and I guess...I changed my mind. So you can still use my body, if you want, since I can't anymore."
It took Gabriel a moment to realize the magnitude of that simple statement.
"Oh," he breathed, while Harry watched curiously. So that was why Death had thought the conversation worth exchanging for his invisibility cloak.
Gabriel looked back at Harry. "Thank you," he said sincerely. Harry obviously didn't know the effect of his words, but he nodded anyway. The white surroundings and Harry began to bleed away, trails of darkness shooting through them until Gabriel found himself flat on his back, back in the graveyard and staring up at the sky.
Gabriel closed his eyes again quickly. If he had been out for long, there was no need to announce his return to the living immediately. Instead, he listened for a trace of what was going on.
Someone was talking, a low voice, moving around - whoever it was, they must have been walking around as they spoke. Gabriel didn't recognize the voice. There was also someone sobbing faintly in the background - again, an unrecognizable person.
Gabriel, however, was far more interested in the power slowly leaking back into him. It was as though a dam had been removed and everything he'd lost that Halloween had come rushing back to him, power welling up in the half-empty space where his Grace rested.
Consent is a hell of a thing. And even if it as a whole was a little reduced - he was still cut off from Heaven, after all - Gabriel wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Opening his eyes slightly revealed an interesting sight. He was lying to the side of a group of black-robed figures, all who had the same black magic on their forearms as Snape and Karkaroff - except now it was much darker, roiling nearly up to their elbow and black as pitch. The man in the middle was almost completely black, comparable to a demon - and his physical appearance wasn't much better.
He didn't even have a nose, for Dad's sake.
But his soul - oh, that was interesting. Darker than the magic which swallowed him, and oddly familiar...
And if Gabriel wasn't mistaken, he was now in the presence of Voldemort and his Death whatevers.
Cedric, pale and gagged, was tied to the ornate tombstone several feet away. He looked absolutely terrified, but for the moment Voldemort wasn't paying him any attention. Cedric also hadn't noticed Gabriel quite yet.
Gabriel let a grin creep across his face. He might be missing two of them, but the remaining four wings now worked perfectly.
With little more than a rustle Gabriel vanished and landed invisibly behind the tombstone Cedric was tied to. A single touch [and oh it was good to be back] severed the ropes and Gabriel was quick to fly Cedric to the other side of the graveyard before anyone noticed.
If anything, this scared Cedric even more once Gabriel stopped being invisible. "Harry - but you-"
Gabriel put a finger to his lips and winked, silencing Cedric. He summoned the portkey, which was still active with magic, and both it and Cedric vanished as soon as they collided.
Voldemort was still monologuing, but at that moment he happened to turn around and finally figure out that Gabriel had vanished.
Gabriel, who had turned himself invisible again, grinned as he watched the snakelike man scream at his followers. They really were idiots.
"Find him!" Voldemort screamed. "The boy was dead! He could not have been taken far!"
"Well, wrong on both counts, then, since I wasn't taken anywhere." said Gabriel conversationally, stepping forward and uncloaking himself to pretend he'd been hiding behind one of the tombstones. Every one of the robed figures whipped around to face him, revealing that Voldemort had red eyes and the rest of them wore silver masks.
As if that would protect their identity from Gabriel. He'd known who every one of them was as soon as he got a look at their souls.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort hissed. "Back from the dead."
"Voldemort."
A shiver went around the group. Wow, even his followers didn't like using his name? Wimps.
"So," Voldemort said softly. "You survived once again...but no matter...I have already returned...and whatever protections guard you will be useless, with your blood used to aid in my revival..."
What?
Gabriel's eyes flickered down, glancing over himself, and he finally noticed a long cut in his robes over the arm. Shit. Who knew what effects that might have.
Hopefully negative ones, considering the state of the guy's soul.
"But you," Voldemort continued, "There is something interesting about you. When I possessed Quirrel, you faced me with unnatural power...power which is now useless against me."
"I doubt that." Gabriel replied, spinning his wand in one hand.
"Why don't we see? Crucio!"
The Cruciatus curse turned out to be similar to the Imperius - in this case, it tricked the mind into thinking that the person was in intense pain. Gabriel, like with the Imperius, ignored the message.
"Nice trick," Gabriel said. "But I think mine is better."
Voldemort narrowly avoided the spell Gabriel sent out, and it hit a random death eater instead, knocking him out and sending his mask askew. He sent one in return which Gabriel smacked away and back towards him.
"You'll have to do better than that," Gabriel taunted, then ducked to avoid a stray spell from one of Voldemort's minions. "Rude!" A simple snap had them all crumpling to the ground.
Voldemort stared in shock. "You would kill so easily?"
"They're not dead, Einstein," Gabriel said snarkily. He really couldn't be bothered to waste Grace on those morons, and it was much easier to just knock them out. His Grace was still returning bit by bit, so why make the process even slower? He shot off another spell towards Voldemort, who dodged it easily.
Snarling, Voldemort sent back a barrage of spells, all soaring towards Gabriel.
Snap.
Every one of the beams of light froze in place, the closest one a few inches in front of Gabriel. He arched one eyebrow and snapped again, shattering the spells into tiny shards of light which faded almost immediately.
There was a sharp crack, and Voldemort vanished in a whirl of robes. Gabriel scowled at the place Voldemort had just been standing. "Coward."
The ground felt very strange. Gabriel bounced on his heels slightly before looking down and realizing he was standing on one of the unconscious death eaters. "Ah. My mistake." Gabriel looked around the graveyard again.
"I should probably head back to Hogwarts." He mused, and vanished with a faint fluttering sound.
When he returned to Hogwarts, Gabriel did not show up in a dramatic light show that could be reasonably passed off as accidental magic.
What he did do was find Dumbledore and eavesdrop on the conversation, which was being held in Moody's office. Apparently, the Moody who had been teaching all year was an imposter in Voldemort's service. That explained why he had the magic on his arm too, and now that Gabriel got a look at the actual tattoo he saw that it was a black version of the symbol which had been shot up at the World Cup.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed when the man - who was named Barty Crouch, the son of the man who was supposed to be a triwizard judge and was now apparently dead - confessed that he had been the one to enter Gabriel's name. He admitted to quite a number of other things as well, under influence of some sort of truth potion, the least of which was murdering his father. Retribution, coming up as soon as the teachers left the room.
The second thing he did [after finishing with Barty] was find Vali and Narvi, who were in the hospital wing interrogating Cedric. By now Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape had showed up, and Hermione and Michael were there as well, no doubt trying to get answers as to what had happened to Gabriel. There were two adults Gabriel recognized from earlier that day as Cedric's parents. Even Sirius and Remus had shown up, probably in the same group as Hermione and Michael.
"What do you mean, you don't know what happened to him?" Michael demanded of a still-pale Cedric. Madam Pomfrey looked outraged.
"Enough!" She practically yelled, shooing everyone farther away from Cedric's bed. "I will not have you interrogating my patient any longer!"
"So we're not allowed to try and find out what happened?" Narvi demanded.
"Madam Pomfrey-" Dumbledore raised his hand placatingly. "If I thought giving Mr. Diggory a night to recover would help dull the horror of what had happened, I would give you free rein. But waiting will only make it that much sharper tomorrow."
"Headmaster, I-" Madam Pomfrey looked entirely reluctant. "Are you sure?"
"Very." Dumbledore said solemnly. "Mr. Diggory - I am sorry, but I must ask you to tell me what happened tonight."
Madam Pomfrey shook her head and retreated to her office, muttering under her breath.
Cedric took a shaky breath and began to talk, beginning from when he and Gabriel both grabbed the cup. His father had a hand on his shoulder, and squeezed tightly as the story progressed. Cedric faltered when he reached the part just before the killing curse was fired.
"What happened next?" Dumbledore prompted gently. "What was the spell he used?"
"The..." Cedric swallowed. "It...the killing curse."
Everyone either gasped or clapped a hand over their mouths. McGonagall looked horrified. "But...if you're here then..."
Gabriel decided to go for the dramatic entrance. It wasn't like his brothers were going to find him here anyway, and if Dumbledore found out then that just increased the chances of Gabriel being able to skip out on the last three years. Besides, their reactions were going to be hilarious.
"I think you'll find that reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
All the people in the room whipped around to look at Gabriel, who was standing next to the nearest empty bed. Well, almost all of them - the three Diggorys simultaneously closed their eyes and fell asleep, causing them to miss whatever conversation might follow.
"Harry!" Hermione wrapped Gabriel in a tight hug as the adults in the room [minus Vali and Narvi, who both looked slightly murderous] looked in alarm at the Diggorys.
Gabriel waved dismissively as he disentangled himself from Hermione. "Don't worry, they're just asleep."
"You did this?" asked Remus incredulously.
"Well," Gabriel shrugged. "I figured you'd ask questions as to how I got here so suddenly, and it wasn't an explanation I felt like giving to complete strangers."
"You mean-" Michael quickly cut nemself off, but Dumbledore was looking at nir with a thoughtful gaze.
"You know what Harry is talking about?"
"Sort of..?" Michael looked questioningly at Gabriel out of the corner of his eyes, as Gabriel rolled his. Michael was a horrible liar.
"You couldn't have done that to the Diggorys," Snape sneered at Gabriel. "You didn't even move. Magic doesn't work that way."
"Who said I was using magic?"
Dumbledore was staring at Gabriel now. "I had hoped," he said softly, "that I was wrong." Now both McGonagall and Snape were staring at him.
"Albus?" McGonagall said sharply. "What do you mean?"
"I was speaking to the merpeople after the second task," Dumbledore said heavily, "When they used a rather strange word in reference to Mr. Potter. But then..." he looked incredibly old in that moment. "You aren't Harry Potter, are you."
Absolute silence.
"Dumbledore, what are you talking about?" Sirius said, smiling slightly, like he thought Dumbledore was joking.
"No, he's got it right," said Gabriel mildly. "I did wonder about the merpeople, though. Figures that they ruined the surprise."
McGonagall had taken a seat heavily, and Sirius looked like he was close behind. Snape was staring at Gabriel in outright surprise, which looked odd on his face.
"Not...I don't understand," McGonagall said after a long silence had gone by. "How did this happen?"
"That is a very long story and even I'm not entirely sure of the details," Gabriel answered, "But long story short, I was passing by the Potter's in 1988 and got mixed up in whatever ritual Lily concocted to protect Harry."
Sirius gave a disbelieving laugh. "What - Dumbledore, tell me you don't believe this!"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Why would he have a reason to lie?"
Sirius's expression changed in a heartbeat. The smile darkened into a snarl and his wand was at Gabriel's throat before anyone could move.
Remus grabbed Sirius's arm, as if to pull it away, but he was also staring at Gabriel with something akin to betrayal.
Gabriel just looked at Sirius. "If it will make you feel better, go ahead."
"Get. Out. Of. My. Godson."
"So what, you can be left with a dead body?"
Sirius recoiled as if struck, his wand clattering to the floor.
"A one year old can't survive that curse, no matter how much you'd like to believe it." Gabriel shrugged. "Sorry."
Remus turned to Michael and Hermione. "You knew this and didn't tell anyone?"
"We promised not to," Hermione said stubbornly.
"And you thought a promise was more important than us needing to know?" McGonagall questioned incredulously.
"It wasn't your business," Michael replied, a bit stiffly.
"Does anyone else know?" Dumbledore asked. There was a sort of sadness lingering in his eyes, and maybe guilt, and he looked his age for the first time that Gabriel could remember.
"Ron," Gabriel replied. "After what happened in the shrieking shack at the end of last year, they demanded an explanation."
"And I assume they know what you are as well?" Dumbledore was taking this very calmly, Gabriel thought, but then again he'd had time to think over it.
"They do."
"And what about you?" Sirius rounded angrily on Vali and Narvi. "You don't seem upset at all! Isn't he your cousin?"
"We're related to him, not this Potter kid," Narvi snapped back. "I don't see any reason we should be upset."
"Enough!" Dumbledore stood up. "There will be no more arguing. We have all received..." he took a deep breath. "A shock," Dumbledore continued eventually.
"Dumbledore-"
"Sirius," Dumbledore said over McGonagall's protest, "If you would like to leave, no one would blame you."
Sirius glared at Gabriel. "No," he said darkly. "I'm finding out exactly what possessed my godson."
"It wasn't willing, you know." Gabriel said irritably. "Whatever ritual was meant to protect Harry somehow decided that I was his soul or whatever and locked me in here. If I had a choice I would have been long gone, believe me."
"But what are you?" Dumbledore pressed.
"I think the technical term is angel."
"Excuse me?"
"But they don't exist," said Remus in shock, distracted from the news of Harry's death.
"Actually, I'm standing right in front of you."
"This is outrageous," Snape's expression had reverted back to a sneer, which seemed to be the default. "Headmaster, I refuse to believe-"
Gabriel decided to go for the usual method of proof.
The torches which lit the hospital wing guttered in their brackets, most of them going out as Gabriel's wings unfolded. Of course, all anyone else would be able to see were the shadows, extending along the walls and very clearly showing two pairs.
Gabriel tucked them back away. Even Vali and Narvi were staring at him - while they did know that he was a little more than just Loki, he'd never shown off like that in front of them.
Hermione eventually broke the silence. "Merlin's pants." No one even told her off for rude language - McGonagall appeared too shocked to say anything, much less reprimand her.
Even Dumbledore looked stunned silent. Snape appeared to be having a fierce internal battle.
"Are we done debating my existence yet?" Gabriel asked.
"I - I suppose," said Dumbledore, looking thoroughly bewildered. "Is it possible for you to give a more in-depth explanation as to how you ended up as Harry Potter?"
This was going to take forever.
No one spoke right away once Gabriel finished telling the story for the third time. Sirius was sitting down with his head buried in his hands. Remus was standing behind the chair, gripping the back of it tightly.
Dumbledore spoke after several minutes. "And what will you do now?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"What happens now? You must have had some reason for coming to Hogwarts - will you continue to do so?" That caused several people to sit up straighter.
"Depends," Gabriel said slowly. "The problem that convinced me to come here in the first place has been taken care of, but I do understand that Harry Potter can't just vanish from the wizarding world." He glanced at the sleeping Cedric. "I assume he told you about Voldemort?"
"He did," said Dumbledore evenly, ignoring the slight flinches that almost everyone else made at the name.
"He's another problem." Gabriel displayed the cut in his robes. "Normally, taking blood to aid in a ritual wouldn't be as big a deal, but in a ritual like this, as well as my blood...you can see why it's a little more worrying."
Dumbledore had sat up straight. "What sort of side effects might there be?"
"Hopefully only negative ones, considering how dark he was, but it's impossible to know." Gabriel shrugged, absentmindedly running a finger over the tear and repairing it. noticing that Michael was watching him discreetly. "It's not like I can speak from previous experience. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
"But you're willing to help?" Dumbledore's gaze had turned sharp as flint.
"I'm not taking orders from anyone, but it's partly my problem now." Gabriel's eyes flickered to Vali and Narvi. "I've got other people to worry about."
"I understand. I would expect nothing else."
Gabriel suddenly remembered something. "Oh, you should also probably check wherever that portkey went to - there's gonna be a load of unconscious death eaters there, unless someone came and got them."
Death was waiting for Gabriel when he got back to the empty dorm.
"Bit impatient, aren't you?" Gabriel kicked his trunk open and pulled out the cloak. "This is yours, then."
"Indeed." Death took it and swung it around himself, the cloak melting into his long jacket. "Don't forget about the other two that I mentioned."
"Course not."
"I mean it. No 'misplacing' anything once you've located it, or pretending you've got to conserve your power."
Gabriel held both his hands up. "I won't! It's like you don't even trust me."
"Why should I?"
Gabriel shrugged. "I've got one thing to ask of you, though."
"A favor?" Death didn't react beyond his tone becoming slightly incredulous. "I believe I already granted you one."
"Yeah, that for the cloak." Gabriel held out two worn pieces of parchment - two of the three letters he'd found in Muriel's room. "For two other items - two letters to be delivered."
Death didn't even blink at the names on the outside. "And you can't deliver them yourself?"
"You know you're the only one who can get in and out of the cage without opening it."
"Fair enough." Death tucked the letters into an invisible pocket. "I had better receive the wand and the stone, Gabriel."
"I'll get them."
"Make sure you do." Death walked around the corner bedpost of the nearest bed and didn't reappear on the other side.
The last few days of term were filled with whispering and pointing. No one but Gabriel and Cedric knew the full details of what had happened, and neither of them had told anyone save those who had been in the hospital wing, so of course rumors were rife.
Dumbledore, of course, gave a speech at the end of the year explaining that Voldemort had returned, but Gabriel didn't think that the majority of the student population had actually taken him seriously. They certainly didn't seem very concerned about it in the days that followed.
The train ride home was largely uninterrupted. Ron was there, but Draco didn't come over the entire time. His father had been one of the masked men in the graveyard, so it was understandable. If stupid.
Ginny was there as well, and sitting a little too close to Michael [who was blushing profusely, even if it was hard to tell against nir dark skin] but no one commented on it, not even Ron, who most likely didn't even notice.
Gabriel was just enjoying the fact that he could go straight home from the train station in seconds now instead of navigating his way through London.
He landed on the doorstep with his trunk and unlocked the door, stepping inside and closing it behind him. "|Hello?|"
There was a shriek from somewhere farther away in the house and the sound of rapid footsteps. Gabriel laughed quietly and put his trunk down before Fenris burst around the corner.
"Faðir!"
"|Hey!|" Gabriel caught Fenris and swung him up as Fenris giggled. "|You have a good time with Sigyn?|"
Fenris wrapped his arms around Gabriel's neck. "|Uh-huh! She's really nice. And so are Vali and Narvi.|"
"|Oh really?|"
More footsteps pounded in the hall and Jormungand skidded around the corner, closely followed by Slepnir. "Faðir!"
"|Hey! Fenris was just telling me about how good you all were while I was gone.|" Gabriel grinned. "|You were good, right?|"
"|Yeah!|" Fenris said enthusiastically.
"|Nooo,|" Jormungand protested. "|You spilled the chocolate powder everywhere.|"
"|No I didn't!|"
"|I'm sure it was an accident,|" Gabriel said as he hoisted Fenris higher in his arms. "|Anything else interesting happen?|"
Jormungand thought for a minute. "|We went to see a movie.|"
"|It was the dragon movie but different!|" Slepnir said excitedly.
"|A sequel?|"
"|Yeah, that.|"
"They were quite thrilled," said Sigyn's voice. Gabriel looked up to see her standing in the doorway. "I see you're back."
"I am." Gabriel nudged his trunk out of the way with his foot, careful to keep a hold of Fenris. "Are you going to bail on me until next year?"
"|Stop talking in other words,|" Fenris demanded.
"|Other languages,|" Gabriel corrected him. Sigyn was watching with a guarded expression.
"No," she said eventually. "But don't think this is some sort of invitation."
"Never crossed my mind."
"Good." Sigyn turned and left sharply, Slepnir staring after her with a puzzled expression.
"|Why doesn't Sigyn like you?|"
"|That,|" said Gabriel, ruffling Slepnir's hair, "|Is a very long story you are not nearly old enough to hear yet.|"
It was good to be back.
Well? What did you think? Please read and review!
PS: who would want a backstory as to why Sigyn hates Gabriel? let me know in a review or PM.