Another chapter already! Glad to see some of you took a look at 'Sigyn and Gabriel', since I was pretty proud of how that turned out. It still doesn't have a lot of reviews, though, so please tell me what you think!
I think things will be getting a little more serious, and most likely stray off the canon path more than they have in the past! I know several people have complained about that, but rest assured I'm not changing it because of said disgruntled reviewers.
Umbridge certainly won't last as long. I was going to try and bring Ron back into it, since he wasn't really involved in the fourth year shenanigans, and I like his character. But if I can't fit him in with Gabriel, then he probably won't make a reappearance.
Also, more Luna! Because she's awesome and I really wanted to have more of her last year.
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter
Once the feast was over, things did not go nearly as well as they had up to that point. Everyone seemed to be treating Gabriel like he was some sort of social pariah, and Cedric seemed to be receiving the same treatment from everyone save the other Hufflepuffs.
The same did not extend to the Ravenclaws, however. Gabriel had barely closed his trunk before a voice from behind him demanded "Well, is it true?"
He turned around, only to find the three boys he shared a dorm with all staring at him expectantly. Anthony was in front of both of them, arms folded and feet planted solidly.
"You might have to be a little more specific," Gabriel said dryly, internally raising an eyebrow at the defensive posture. "I'm not a mind reader." A blatant lie, but it wasn't like they knew.
"About You-Know-Who," Anthony said. He was looking at Gabriel slightly disdainfully, which almost made Gabriel laugh out loud. "And how Dumbledore's claiming you and Cedric saw him return."
"I don't claim anything," Gabriel retorted. "But if you want to believe whatever shit the newspaper is shelling out, by all means, go ahead."
This seemed to give the other two pause, but Anthony kept right on going. "Look," he said angrily. "I don't get what you're getting out of this, Harry. You're just trying to cause trouble."
"Well, let's go back for a minute." Gabriel met Anythony's glare evenly. "What would I get out of it?"
"Excuse me?" Anthony obviously hadn't expected his own words to be turned against him - but Gabriel hadn't been known as Loki Silvertongue for nothing.
"What point could there possibly be to lying like this? Like you said, there's no reason. Which means either a, I'm crazy, or b, I'm right." Gabriel shrugged. "Your choice, but I think we both know which one is more likely."
"More - you think someone coming back from the dead is more likely?" Anthony sputtered. He spun around to face Kevin something and the other boy who Gabriel thought might have been named Evan. "Don't tell me you believe this too!"
"I don't," Kevin said quickly. "But - he's got a point, doesn't he? What reason would he have to say something like that? And why would Cedric back him up?"
"Thank you," Gabriel said, whirling around to point at Kevin. "At least someone's got sense."
Anthony was shaking his head, staring at both of them with wide eyes. "You're both crazy," he said finally. "And You-Know-Who-"
"Oh, grow up and use his name," Gabriel snapped. "He's not going to magically appear in the dorm if you say Voldemort."
All three of them flinched violently at the name. "Oh, come on!"
"Look," Anthony said determinedly. "I don't believe you, okay?"
"What a surprise."
"You-Know-Who," Anthony took a breath. "Is not back. I don't know how you convinced Cedric to believe you, much less Dumbledore, but there's no way someone can come back from the dead."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Voldemort was the darkest wizard this society had seen this side of World War two. What made you think he was really dead?"
With his roommates gaping at him, Gabriel climbed into bed and yanked the curtains shut. Idiots, the lot of them. Idiots and cowards to afraid to face the truth - especially Fudge. He'd really have to do something about the Minister if he wanted to have a decent year.
It took exactly three minutes of Umbridge's class for Gabriel to leave a double in his place [he almost felt bad for inflicting her teaching on the construct] and get the hell out of Dodge.
"Basic principles my ass," Gabriel muttered as he walked down the staircase leading to Muriel's room. "Fudge is up to something, why else give us a teacher who refuses to teach? There's no way Dumbledore hired her on his own."
Which led to the question, why was she here?
Gabriel spent the entire period in Muriel's room, amusing himself, and when he came up later to head for lunch he was confronted by Cedric outside the great hall.
"Can I talk to you?" Cedric asked.
"Sure." Gabriel glanced around at the mostly-empty entrance hall. "What?"
"You haven't..." Cedric trailed off. "Have you run into anyone asking about...you know..."
"Last summer and the so-called outrageous claim about Voldemort?" Cedric flinched. "Oh, grow up. Yes, I have, a couple of my roommates asked about it." Well, if 'asked' meant 'demanded answers'. "Why?"
"I was just wondering." Cedric grinned slightly. "Because, you know, I thought you might have some problems - I mean, most of the Hufflepuffs believe me, but you're in Ravenclaw, so-"
"House of the Loyal and all that, I suppose." Gabriel interrupted. "I'm not being attacked or anything, though, the worst that's happened all day is our wonderful defense professor."
"Is she really that bad?" Cedric asked. "I haven't got her till Wednesday."
"As long as you're willing to do nothing but read the world's shittiest book for the entire class, she's fine." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "If you're not? Yes, she is." Gabriel moved to go into the hall, knowing that the double wasn't there.
"Er...I'll keep that in mind. And listen-" Cedric put his hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "If anyone gives you trouble, Hufflepuff will be behind you, alright?"
Gabriel glanced up at Cedric, surprised at the offer. The kid really was too nice. "...Right. Thanks."
"No problem."
Gabriel was not the only one being sought out, though. Draco's feet nearly left the ground when he realized that Gabriel was standing behind him.
"Merlin!"
"Not quite, Draco."
Draco didn't turn around to look at Gabriel. The only reason he'd noticed was because the archangel had positioned himself so that he was right next to Draco's reflection in the bathroom mirror - luckily, no one else was feeling the call of nature at the moment.
"What are you doing here?"
"I think we both know that."
"No, I don't," said Draco, a little more angrily. "And I'd prefer a warning before you pop up behind me. How did you get in here, anyway? The door was locked."
Like that would pose any challenge to Gabriel. "Don't change the subject."
"What do you want, then?"
"Whose side are you on?"
It was a far more complicated question than five words really deserved to be. Draco paused, perfectly still bending over the sink, and then slowly turned around.
"Who wants to know?" He asked.
"Me," Gabriel replied. "We both know your daddy was under one of those hoods in the graveyard, so I'm wondering if I need to watch out for you following in his footsteps."
"...And why do you care?" Draco sneered after a moment. "Trying to be a hero, saving the poor boy from the dark side?"
"I'm trying to ask which choice you're making." Gabriel spread his arms. "Unless you want to be a death eater. In which case, go ahead. It'll be me you're fighting against."
"I don't have a choice," Draco spat. "So I don't need your pity."
"You do have a choice."
"My father-"
"Screw him. What do you want?"
Draco stared at Gabriel for a minute or two. "Why are you so insistent?" He finally asked, not answering the question. "Why do you care if I have a choice?"
Gabriel let out a breath. "Free will," he muttered, more to himself than to Draco. "That's where this whole problem started, didn't it? Your answer," he said, raising his voice, "Is that everyone gets a choice."
The Winchesters had fought hard for that and Gabriel might not like them, but he did agree that they had a point. Also it would have pissed of Michael to no end.
"Some people don't."
"Well, they should have one."
"It's not that easy!" Draco shouted suddenly. "You make it sound like I can just say I don't want to-"
"Can't you?"
"Not to my father."
Well.
Gabriel could certainly sympathize with that.
"Distant, unforgiving type, huh?"
"He'd kick me out."
"So you can go stay with Dumbledore's little group or whatever. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear you've stayed away from the dark side."
"Wha - who says I have?" Draco demanded.
Gabriel arched one eyebrow. "So you do want to become a death eater?"
Draco just gaped at him.
"That's what I thought. Look, if you're that worried, go home for Christmas and I'll show you the way there from King's Cross." Gabriel clapped Draco on the shoulder. "You can show up or not, I'll take that as your answer. Sound fair? Good. Have a nice night."
He turned on his heel and left the bathroom without waiting for an answer.
Umbridge barely entered Gabriel's mind over the next few weeks, though Michael kept grumbling about how stupid the classes were, and he was content to simply refuse to subject himself to her 'teaching' until the year was over and she was kicked out or killed or however the so-called defense teacher curse manifested itself this time.
At least, he was until he ran into Luna late one day in the corridors, both of them on their way back to Ravenclaw tower.
"Oh, hello." She was holding her hands behind her back, and strangely, enough, was barefoot.
"There a reason you're not wearing any shoes?"
"Oh." Luna glanced down at her feet. "I go barefoot sometimes - my shoes go missing often, so I don't have any at the moment."
"Missing? What do you mean?"
"I'm sure it's just the Nargles," Luna said airily, but her eyes were faintly red. "Everything that goes missing turns up eventually, you know." She made to walk past Gabriel, but he quickly grabbed her wrist. Luna gasped as he pulled her hand up to eye level.
"And did the nargles write this, too?" There were thin cuts on the back of her hand, a single sentence still bleeding slightly; I must not make things up.
Luna was staring at him with wide eyes, and didn't answer right away, but she didn't try to leave either.
"Luna."
"No," she admitted softly.
"What happened?" Gabriel asked quietly, making a conscious effort not to sound at all angry - he'd just make her panic if he did.
"I had detention with Umbridge."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed, and he let his thumb rub over the cuts, healing them, and dropped Luna's hand. "Go back to the common room."
"What will you do?" Luna didn't move, still watching him carefully.
"Nothing you need to worry about. Go back to the tower. It's late."
"Harry-"
Gabriel left in a rustle of wings and found the defense classroom, which was empty so late at night. He landed in the adjoining office and grimaced - the entire room was shrouded in pink and all sorts of horrible decorations.
Snap. Plain stone walls. Thank Dad. Gabriel thought he might have been traumatized.
Now, where were the torture tools? There was no way Umbridge would lower herself to actually carving it into Luna's hand [though she might have hired someone - Filch would certainly be willing, except no human could be that precise. Demons, yes, humans, no].
Gabriel emptied three of the drawers, scattering their contents across the room, before he located a flat case with four quills inside it that held a very strange and angry enchantment. One of them, with a brownish-red substance drying on the tip, had been used more recently than the others and no one had bothered to clean it off.
They were very definitely illegal, considering what Gabriel knew of the stringent ban on Dark objects - and if quills that, apparently, used the writer's blood as ink weren't Dark, then Voldemort could have been voted in as Minister of Magic.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed as he picked one up, examining it carefully and the magic it held. He tightened his grip and the quill shattered, bits of metal embedding themselves in the wall and leaving chips in the stone as the feather burned up and left only ash behind. Gabriel didn't bother to clean up the black smudges on the desk as he did the same for two more, pausing when he came to the last one.
After spending centuries as a Trickster, making a copy of the quill was nothing. Gabriel paused to destroy the last one before duplicating the copy three more times until there were four quills again, one still smudged with [fake] dried blood. The desk was wiped clean, drawers fixed, and not a single trace remained of Gabriel having ever been there, however painful it was to bring back the pink decorations.
Gabriel replaced he box of quills and shut the drawer. Umbridge would be getting a surprised next time she tried to use them on someone.
As an afterthought, several symbols etched themselves onto the wall and then faded out of the visible range of sight, moving upwards to settle on the walls of where the bedroom must be.
No need to make things pleasant for her here at Hogwarts.
As he left the room, Gabriel made sure to scatter a few candy bars on the ground under her desk.
Surprisingly enough, Gabriel had to go no farther than the fourth-year girl's dorm in Ravenclaw tower to find Luna's lost shoes, once he got around to it. Still in a Trickster mindset from his little raid on Umbridge, Gabriel considered the trunk he'd found them in. "What the hell."
No less than every single trunk in the room had something of Luna's in it, so it wasn't like the prank was undeserved or something ridiculous like that. And besides, it wasn't nearly as fatal as the rest of his tricks tended to be. Sure, he might be slightly out of practice, since his last stint as the Trickster had been months before his little meeting with Lucifer, but it wasn't like he'd forgotten everything to do with it.
Fifteen years wasn't that long, after all.
He left a little pile of found belongings on top of Luna's trunk and returned to the boy's dorms, grinning at the thought of what might happen the next morning.
He'd missed doing things like this.
Okay, I know this is a pretty short chapter, but I didn't want to drag it out and I thought it would be a good place to end it. And anyway I'm the author here so I make the final decisions.
Also, please take a look at the poll I set up - it should be on the top of my profile, if you're interested in voting!
Read and review, and don't forget to please leave a review on 'Sigyn and Gabriel'!