Glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter - I wasn't totally sure about some parts of it.

I had to take kind of a break before writing any more Michael, because I was skimming through TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel's profile and ran across their Michael stories and however cool they are, I'm writing something different. So I had to sort of get my thoughts back in order.

Also, let me explain some of my reasoning here, to clear up any possible confusion.

At this point we've gone past 'Do You Believe In Miracles' aka the season 9 finale in the SPNverse. Therefore, Metatron's been taken care of. But there's something I've noticed in the more recent s10 episodes - one, Cas and Hannah are still driving everywhere. Two, they still use Metatron's circle spell thingy to get back into Heaven.

Which means a) they took care of Metatron but haven't reversed his spell and b) still no wings.

So if you're thinking that everything's going to be all well and good now because Metatron is in jail...yeah. no.

And as a personal aside before we get into the actual story, I've always wondered how alternate universes and the media concerning those alternate universes would be addressed, since in most fics it never comes up.

MAJOR SEASON 10 SPOILERS LATER IN THE CHAPTER! Probably do not read if you haven't gotten to at least the first few episodes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter

One thing Gabriel did not expect when he opened the door of his own house was to be greeted by a blond-haired boy who looked to be trying his best to leave.

"Whoa!" Gabriel stopped on the threshold and watched in bemusement as the boy reeled backwards, taking several hasty, stumbling steps away and brandishing what looked like one of Fenris's wooden swords. Gabriel stared in slight incredulity - since he'd immediately recognized the boy, and really he should have expected something like this to happen.

"Who the hell are you?" Adam demanded.

"You know," Gabriel replied, "Given that it's my house, I feel like I should be asking you that."

"You're the one who brought me here!"

"I didn't bring you anywhere." Gabriel frowned. "You don't know how you got here?"

"No!" Adam brandished the toy sword again. "I'm sick of it, okay? Freaking angels yanking me around and - and doing whatever the hell they did to me - I've had enough!"

"Adam, you're panicking-"

"How d'you know my name?" Adam demanded, stiffening and bringing up the toy again to point at Gabriel.

"I've heard of you-"

"You're another fucking angel, aren't you?" He was remarkably sharp, Gabriel would give him that.

"Look, I know my brothers aren't the greatest-"

"Aren't the greatest?" Adam repeated in a much higher pitch. "Do you even-"

"Yes, I know exactly what happened, but panicking is not going to do anything about it." Gabriel kept his voice calm, however much he'd like to snap at the kid and just tell him to calm down. "Deep breaths, kid, I didn't do anything to you."

Strangely enough, Adam took Gabriel's advice, gulping in a breath that probably wasn't as large as it should have been, but Gabriel never professed himself an expert on humans.

"Where am I?" He demanded again.

"You're in my house." Gabriel continued before Adam could retort. "Just outside London, I'm gonna assume you know where that is. I don't know how you got here and I definitely didn't bring you here myself."

"How'd I get here, then?" Adam obviously didn't believe Gabriel.

"I don't know."

"Guess, then!"

"Rude," Gabriel commented. "But it might be related to the fact that a lot of people seem to be popping out of the Cage."

"The what?"

Gabriel frowned. "The Cage," he repeated. "You know, where you were stuck with Michael and Lucy after all of you got screwed over in Stull?"

"I remember Stull," Adam said warily, toy sword still extended. "I don't know anything about a Cage."

Gabriel stared at the kid in front of him. He certainly didn't look like he'd been stuck in Hell for four years, or however long it would have been for them down there, but that was impossible.

"Could you stop staring at me like that?" Adam had begun leaning away slightly. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Gabriel."

"The archangel?"

Gabriel flashed Adam a grin. "Guilty."

"Let me out."

"Whoa, hold on, kid. Where are you gonna go?" Gabriel put his arms out so that he was blocking the door.

"Let me out!"

"I'm not trying to trap you, kid, but this London happens to be on an alternate planet. Even if you could somehow get back to America, there's no Winchesters here to help you out."

Adam stared at Gabriel in disbelief. "You're lying."

It was the same knee-jerk reaction Gabriel had had to Michael's explanation, but he ignored the parallel for now. "Why would I be?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Come on, Adam, my brothers may have been dicks but I've never done anything to you."

Adam's hands stayed tight on the hilt of the toy, eyes darting back and forth as though he were thinking hard.

"Let me out."

"So you can do what? No money, nowhere to go...what exactly do you plan on doing?" Gabriel's eyebrow was still raised.

Adam seemed like he was about to respond when his eyes flicked to Gabriel's forehead.

"What the hell is that?"

"So," Gabriel began conversationally an hour later. He and Adam were sitting at the kitchen table, the latter having finally calmed down and let Gabriel explain things further. "Your universe has a book series based on this one?"

Adam made an unintelligible noise. He was facedown on the table, having slumped over during Gabriel's explanation of what, exactly, this version of Earth contained.

Fenris poked him, since he was sitting next to Adam. "|Are we in it?|"

"|Of course not. I'm not,|" Gabriel pointed out.

"|So?|" Fenris stuck his tongue out at his father.

"Your vessel," Adam said, raising his head slightly and leaning away from Fenris's hand, "Is really Harry Potter."

"Yep." Gabriel was overly cheerful on purpose. "And I believe that means you're also familiar with Hogwarts."

"I don't believe this." Adam gestured vaguely. "Harry Potter is a freaking angel."

"Not really, he's actually dead, I'm just borrowing his body."

"Stop ruining my childhood." Adam's head thunked back onto the table.

"Your childhood? Adam, I'm touched."

"You shut the-"

"No swearing," Gabriel said severely, "In case you've forgotten, Fenris is sitting right next to you."

Adam looked over at Fenris, leaving his head on the table. "He's seriously yours?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Gabriel leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs.

"Isn't it illegal or something?"

"Technically yes, but do I look like one to follow the rules to you?"

"|I like him,|" Fenris declared randomly, hoisting himself up onto the table.

"|Oh, really?|"

"|He reminds me of you.|"

Gabriel looked at Fenris in surprise at the same moment Adam spoke up irritably. "Do you mind speaking a language I can actually understand?"

"I would, but Fenris is still learning." The door creaked open and Jormungand poked his head in.

"|Dad, have you seen - oh, there you are.|" Jormungand must have been looking for Fenris. "|Hey, Fen, you said you wanted to do something?|"

"|I wanted to play swords but I'm not bored anymore.|" Fenris swung his legs back and forth. "|This is Adam.|"

"...Hi." Jormungand cautiously greeted Adam, looking at him curiously.

"Hey." Adam waved without appearing to expend any real energy on it.

"|Who's he?|"

"|I just said,|" Fenris replied, sounding injured.

"|No, I mean, what?|"

"|He's human,|" Gabriel answered. "|Might be staying with us, if he wants to. Depends.|"

"|He should!|" Fenris excitedly leaped off the table, landing with only a stumble on the floor and ignoring the movement Gabriel had made towards him to catch him if necessary. "|Do you know how to play swords?|"

Adam blinked at being addressed. "Um...what?"

"He wants to know if you want to play." Jormungand, who had become quietly proficient in English once he understood the basics, translated in a soft accent. "You took his sword earlier."

Adam startled in alarm as Fenris snatched the wooden sword off the table and ran out of the room with it held over his head, shouting for Slepnir. The blond boy stared after him. "Uh, what would that involve?"

Jormungand wrinkled his nose, searching for the right words. "Playing?"

"He just means a play fight." Gabriel clarified. "They're just wood, they can't actually hurt you."

"I figured," Adam muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I mean, am I just going to end up staying here?"

"If you want." Gabriel grinned at Adam. "Probably the safest place on this planet, if you're looking to stay away from any other angels."

"Yeah, but there's you."

"What's so bad about me? I thought you liked Harry Potter."

"God..." Adam buried his face in his hands. "Don't, okay?" He was silent for a minute. "Can I make up my mind later?"

"Sure. Meanwhile, I think Fenris is waiting for you."

Adam did decide to stay, in the end, which turned out to be a popular decision. Not only did Fenris like him for whatever reason, but Vali and Narvi were happy to finally have someone closer to their physical age around.

Gabriel, meanwhile, was wondering how he had never noticed that Adam was his true vessel.

It's not like he'd ever paid that close attention to the Winchesters, though of course he'd known of Adam's existence [and hadn't the boy been dead before his own near miss?] but finding his true vessel in this kind of situation wasn't exactly expected.

Of course, when he'd found out the Winchesters had an estranged third brother, he probably could have guessed that this would be the result.

Adam was originally wary around Gabriel - which the latter didn't blame him for at all, knowing what had happened to the kid previously at the hands of his brothers - but as time went on he relaxed a bit, since Gabriel didn't have and showed no inclination to possess him or anything like that.

Angel radio had been mostly quiet ever since Metatron's message. Most of the talking was being done in person, Gabriel guessed, or else there was something else going on that made his siblings wary of speaking over the wavelength.

But there was one definite thing he had gathered - Metatron had been taken care of.

Gabriel considered going back to that Earth to figure things out, but he never had the time anymore, and he spent enough time away from home as it was. He could tell that no one had managed to reverse Metatron's spell yet - his wings were still gone - and yet he was reluctant to leave, but as it turned out the decision was taken out of his hands in the end.

Being summoned had never been very high up on Gabriel's to-do list, but even so people seemed to insist on doing it anyway.

"And what," He said, turning around as he spoke, "Can I do for - oh, Hell, not you!"

Gabriel was spending far too much time with Winchesters recently.

"...Gabriel?" If there was a picture next to the word incredulity in the dictionary, it would be Sam Winchester's face right now.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Gabriel gave his surroundings a cursory glance, stepping forwards.

"But-" Sam shook his head. "Cas didn't say you had a new vessel."

"So he did manage to figure out that was me?" Gabriel grinned. "Took you long enough. That was, what, six months ago?"

"How'd you end up as a kid?" Sam asked, tucking away the matchbox he was holding.

"Why'd you summon me?" Gabriel shot back. "I think I'm entitled to a few answers here, Samsquatch."

Sam took a breath, and Gabriel eyed his arm, which was in a black sling. "I need your help."

"Really." Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "And you didn't six months ago? I left a voicemail and all." If he'd left it while digging around in Castiel's mind, then those were just details - he'd left it all the same.

"We weren't sure if it was really you," Sam said, the words coming out in a rush when he exhaled at the same time. "Or if it was another trick, and we were...distracted."

"You say we, but I'm just seeing you." Gabriel took another look around at the abandoned clearing. "Nope, still just you."

"Stuff happened." Sam looked horrible once Gabriel looked closely, but determined all the same. "It's Dean."

"Of course it is." Gabriel rolled his eyes, spinning to face Sam fully. "What about him?"

"I need your help to get him back."

Oh, brother. "Back from where, Sam? You're going to need to be more specific."

"We-" Sam inhaled slowly, pain flashing across his features. "We went up against Metatron, and...he killed Dean."

"Great." Gabriel stilled, gaze sharpening as he met Sam's desperate stare. "I'm not a crossroads demon, Sam. You can't sell me your soul for your brother's life."

"No, that's not-" Sam cut himself off. "I didn't summon you for that. Someone else brought him back."

"What a surprise."

"I need your help finding him."

"Finding him?" That was a surprise. Gabriel frowned. "You don't know where he is?"

Sam held out a folded piece of paper. Gabriel took it, unfolding the legal pad paper to read the message written on it in scribbled letters.

SAMMY LET ME GO

"Mind explaining a little further, Sam? I feel like I'm not getting the whole story."

"It was Crowley." Sam practically growled the name. "I don't know what he did, but he's behind this, definitely."

"Crowley? The demon?"

Sam nodded, distaste on his features. "It's a long story, but...we sort of ended up temporarily working with him."

Gabriel's eyebrows raised. "Winchesters working with a demon willingly? Times have changed."

"He was the only one who could find the first blade-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up." Gabriel held up a hand. "The what?"

Sam seemed to realize what he'd said. "...Like I said, it's a long story."

Gabriel studied Sam intently, and realized the extent to which things had changed while he was gone. "How about we head back to your batcave and you explain things on the way."

Gabriel had known the Winchesters were stupid, but he hadn't thought they could possibly be this stupid.

"Gabriel?" Sam glanced over at the passenger seat where Gabriel had his head in his hands.

"I cannot believe," Gabriel said, voice slightly muffled, "That things could have possibly gone this wrong."

"Yeah, well-"

"Are you two mentally ill or something?" Gabriel threw his hands in the air, narrowly missing Sam's head. "Do you not learn? At all? The Mark of fucking Cain was your solution?"

"It was the only thing that could kill Abbadon-"

"Digging up her was stupid too!" Gabriel flicked Sam hard on the forehead.

"Ow!"

"I'd do a lot worse if you weren't driving!" Gabriel said, scowling. "What the fuck were you two thinking?"

"You know, maybe you could actually help instead of just criticizing me?" Sam shouted back, staring resolutely ahead as he drove.

"Help with what? Do you know what this means?" Gabriel demanded. "Dean died with the fucking Mark of Cain!"

"So?"

"So?" Gabriel said incredulously. "You were the one who was telling me about all the stuff it was doing to him three seconds ago! That Mark doesn't let go easily! If he died, no one brought him back, Sam, he came back on his own because of that godforsaken Mark!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Gabriel?" Sam sounded worried now, mixed with anger. "So the mark kept him alive?"

"What the fuck do you think it did to Cain? If Dean's out and about right now, he's a demon."

Absolute silence.

Sam was gripping the wheel so hard with his one working hand that his knuckles had gone white. "A demon."

"I'm sorry." Gabriel knew he didn't entirely sound like he was, but what Sam had told him - however good their intentions were, they were in the center of all of the problems that had so recently popped up, them and Castiel.

Sam let out a breath.

"You realize he's not coming back from this." Gabriel tested the waters, and was surprised when Sam let out a short bark of laughter.

"Yeah, I would have said too that if I didn't know how to cure demons."

"How to what?" Gabriel gave Sam a look that clearly conveyed his feelings that the younger Winchester might have gone a little bit loopy. "You can't cure a demon."

"The Men of Letters know how to."

"Men of - oh, those guys." Gabriel sagged back into the [uncomfortable] seat. "Of course you know about them."

"Apparently our dad-"

"Yeah, I know."

Sam sighed. Gabriel couldn't see his face, but he guessed that the former was making some sort of bitchface at the road in front of them. "Right. Of course you do."

"So that's where your batcave? Ex-Men of Letters headquarters?"

"Basically."

"Sounds fun." And Gabriel was only being partly sarcastic when he said that.

Gabriel whistled as he walked through the door ahead of Sam, who locked it behind himself. "Wow. Talk about old-fashioned."

"Well, no one's been here since Abbadon killed off the last of the old Men of Letters." Sam kept a hand on the railing as he walked down the stairs, not noticing Gabriel's eyes on him.

"So it's just you and Dean in here?"

Sam stiffened at the question, and Gabriel sensed that he'd ventured into unwelcome territory. "It was, yeah."

"Where's Castiel, anyway? I would have thought he'd be here, freaking out with you about Dean."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I think he took care of Metatron, but...I don't know where he went. I've called, but he's not answering."

"Huh." Castiel was definitely still around, but Gabriel didn't know where he might be. "So, what, now you just hope I hang around and help with Dean?"

"Will you?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Are you joking? Hello, Mark of Cain? Cain's not supposed to just give that away, it's an insult. Dean is not supposed to have it. Someone's got to set this mess right."

"What about heaven?" Sam was leaning on the table - which for some reason had a world map on it - so that he was nearly sitting on it. "Aren't you worried about that?"

"Sure." Gabriel shrugged. "I'll worry about that later, because I've got no fucking clue what I'm supposed to do about it. Meanwhile, you can show me this demon-curing thing."

Gabriel watched the black-and-white video [on a projector with actual film, for crying out loud] with interest, because curing demons was something angels had never considered before - at least, as far as he knew. They usually stuck with just smiting them.

In this case, though, a smiting wouldn't really work.

"Hey, Gabriel." Sam ducked into the room as Gabriel was shutting the projector off. "I've got a case, actually, and-"

"I don't feel like joining you, if that's what you're offering."

"What - um," Obviously Sam had not expected the immediate rebuttal. "I wasn't-"

"I'm going to go track down Castiel." Gabriel spun on his heel, brushing past Sam out the door. "He's got to know something about heaven, and besides, I haven't seen him in ages."

"Alright." Sam checked his phone as he followed Gabriel back into the main area and then hurriedly tucked it away again. "Do you need a ride?"

"A ride?"

"You know..." Sam gestured vaguely. "Since you, uh, got caught in the Fall..."

Gabriel grinned fakely at Sam, but the latter wasn't aware of the forced emotion behind it. "Archangel, Gigantor. I'll be good."

Unfortunately, it was Gabriel's failing wings that caused him to take so long before he found Castiel.

The other problem was that Castiel kept moving around, and even in a car or whatever he was using to get around he still stayed just that tiny bit ahead of Gabriel, who couldn't just pop to their destination and meet them there since he didn't know where they were going.

It was late at night before Castiel finally stayed still long enough for Gabriel to find him properly. There were other angels with him - two Gabriel didn't recognize, one sitting next to him and the other across from both him and the first unknown. There was a third angel somewhere, Gabriel had overheard Castiel and the one in the female vessel talking about it, and she was suddenly standing among the group with an unsheathed angel blade.

"We're not going back there. Not ever."

"Adina-" The second unknown, the only other one in a male vessel, sounded pleading.

"Stow the blade, please." Castiel's voice was as gravelly as ever, but he sounded almost hoarse as well.

"When she stows hers."

"Hannah, what-?" The first unknown - Hannah - had unsheathed hers in a flash of silver and was holding it tightly.

"We'll never get the chance to argue our freedom from the inside of a prison cell."

"You should've thought of that before slaughtering one of your own." Hannah's voice was cool.

"No, no." The only unnamed angel in the group sounded almost distraught. "We were talking, we were getting somewhere."

Gabriel decided that this would be a good time to intervene.

"I don't suppose I'm interrupting anything?"

His mild comment causes a variety of reactions.

All four of them spin around, the unnamed one jumping slightly from the chair he - or at least, the vessel was male - was sitting in. Castiel's eyes went wide, and Hannah's grip on her blade slackened and it fell to her side. Adina was still holding hers, but she was staring in shock at Gabriel as well.

"I'm gonna say one thing." Gabriel's voice went hard. "What. The fuck. Are you four doing?"

They all looked nervously at each other. Hannah opened her mouth to reply, but Gabriel held up a hand, cocking his eyebrow. "Well, Castiel?"

Castiel looked far less surprised to be singled out than the other three. "We just came to talk," He muttered. "Hannah asked for my help in persuading Daniel and Adina to return to Heaven."

"And I assume you're Daniel." The other angel with a male vessel nodded shortly.

"Going off of what I've heard, you two don't want to go back." Adina looked furious and resolute, nodding stiffly and glaring daggers at Hannah when she thought Gabriel wasn't paying attention. Gabriel turned back to Castiel.

"Two angels making their own choices and you came to force them back to Heaven? Bit hypocritical, isn't it, bro?"

"They killed the first one we sent to persuade them." Hannah's mouth snapped shut when Gabriel turned his attention on her, but she didn't seem to regret speaking up. Good. Gabriel hated it when other angels were afraid of him.

"So they fucked up. What were you going to do, kill them back?" Gabriel asked. Hannah looked taken aback.

"They needed to be punished."

"Oh, punishment." Gabriel rolled his eyes, inwardly grinning at the mass of confusion he could feel coming from all of them save Castiel. "Why are you all so fixated on that? What's so bad about these two staying on Earth?"

Daniel and Adina were staring fixedly at Gabriel. "We don't have to go back?" Daniel asked cautiously.

"You can't be serious!" Hannah turned to Castiel. "Castiel-"

The look he gave her quelled the rest of Hannah's sentence. "I don't see a problem with it," He said quietly.

"Are you - they killed our brother!"

"And why was that?" Gabriel asked, causing Hannah to wheel back around. "Because he was ordered to bring them back despite what they wanted?"

"You're taking their side?"

"I'm saying your both to blame." Gabriel pointed at Hannah. "You don't respect their wishes." The finger moved to point at Daniel and Adina. "And however much I'm for you two doing whatever the hell you want - within reason - you still killed another angel."

"We just want to be left alone," Adina burst out. "Is that too much to ask?"

"No." Castiel sounded almost relieved to say it. Hannah just looked incredulous. "Just - we have to make sure no one else will die."

"We won't kill anyone." Daniel had practically sagged with relief. "Karael - he wouldn't leave us alone. We just-"

"I get it." Gabriel held up his hand again. "Castiel, can I talk to you?"

Nodding, Castiel barely moved as Gabriel flew the two of them - and Hannah, for good measure, who knew what she might do to the other two when left to herself - near the car Castiel must have used to get here.

Inhaling sharply and leaning on the car, Gabriel glared fiercely.

"Gabriel-"

"Don't 'Gabriel' me. What the fuck have you been doing to yourself?"

"What do you-"

"Castiel you know exactly what I'm talking about do not make me fucking hit you now where the fuck is your Grace."

Castiel almost physically jerked back in surprise, and then hunched forward in resignation. "I don't know."

"Bull."

"I don't know. Metatron...used it for his spell."

"Used-" Gabriel understood what Castiel meant a second after he started talking. "Oh, Cas."

Hannah watched with a sharp gaze, but she didn't interrupt.

"What are you doing about it?" Gabriel let his eyes scan Castiel. "Castiel, that Grace isn't-"

"Going to last much longer. I know." Castiel avoided looking right at Gabriel. "I'm working on it."

"No, you're not." Hannah entered the conversation.

"Hannah-"

"What are you going to do, just let it kill you?" Gabriel demanded, grabbing Castiel's shoulder. "Why haven't you asked the Winchesters for help?"

Castiel stiffened under his hand, and Gabriel was abruptly reminded that as far as Castiel knew, Dean was dead.

Well, that explained a lot.

"Look - Castiel, look at me." Gabriel used his hand to pull Castiel's face around again, reminded of the time he'd spent in his brother's mind. "Ask. For. Help. When. You. Fucking. Need. It. Just because Dean's got a problem-"

"That's how you're referring to it?" Castiel sounded angry, actually angry, and of course Dean would be his weak spot.

"He's not dead you idiot now get in the car and I'll explain while we go find Sam and get this mess sorted out."

Ehehe. Double Winchesters! I think you guys will appreciate the amount of SPN characters making an appearance.

Read and review, please!