I wake up and there are like twenty more reviews on this. Nice.

And yes, that is an obscure Good Omens reference in the beginning of the chapter. Sue me.

This might take a while for me to post, since I'll be in California for the rest of winter break and won't have a lot of time to write - I had to leave my own laptop behind and am currently writing this on my dad's computer. If so, sorry to all of you guys.

To those who will complain about the train scene: what about Hermione doesn't scream enthusiastic feminist?

Also yes I killed Michael's mom of discreetly what are you going to do about it. Does anyone even remember that? Maybe I was too discreet. It was just before ne got their Grace back.

Some of you might recognize the name Angrboda from earlier author's notes or, if you bothered to read it, the side story Second Chances and Endings, which is a sort of prequel to this story. In any case, as a general reminder, she is the mother of Jormungand, Fenris, and Hel. I'll assume that serves as an explanation for all of you for the beginning of this particular chapter.

And we're finally getting around to the beginning of sixth year! I kind of dragged this summer on, didn't I? *Sings AVPM aggressively* BACK TO WITCHES AND WIZARDS AND MAGICAL BEASTS, GOBLINS AND GHOSTS AND MAGICAL FEASTS, IT'S ALL THAT I LOVE AND IT'S ALL THAT I NEED AT HOGWARTS, HOGWARTS, I THINK WE'RE GOING BACK!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter

Gabriel was in a park.

He hadn't really meant to be in the park, or any park at all - he'd just sort of landed anywhere and was now sitting on a bench, the resurrection stone in one fist and staring at the duck pond without really seeing it.

And kind of wishing he'd bothered to read the story that supposedly explained all of these hallows and why Death had given them away in the first place.

The stone was a lot heavier than it had any right to be, and Gabriel had to resist the urge to move it around in his fist in case he accidentally 'turned it thrice' or whatever the hell Dumbledore had said. He was definitely thinking of someone, and it wouldn't do to have her show up in the middle of the park. Or anywhere.

Well, less 'it wouldn't do' and more the fact that Gabriel wasn't sure whether or not he actually wanted to - that, and Angrboda didn't deserve to be pulled out of Valhalla just because Gabriel could.

In any case, she'd been dead too long.

"Tempting, isn't it?" Gabriel jumped only slightly as Death sat down next to him, the latter looking at the same invisible distant thing. "Even for angels. There aren't many who don't have the urge to use it."

"I suppose you'd know who those people are," Gabriel muttered, resting his head on the fist with the stone in it and watching a MI6 agent discreetly feeding the ducks and trying not to look too much like a secret agent.

"Some of them." Death said mildly. "Your vessel, for one."

Gabriel shot him a startled look. "What - Harry Potter?"

Death smiled, more a simple - and brief - movement of his lips than anything with any real emotion behind it. "Your interference was the most unplanned accident I've seen in a while. Why do you think I took so much interest?"

"I hadn't seen you around."

"Well, with your power that low, I'm not surprised."

Gabriel wasn't as creeped out as he felt like he should be by the idea that Death had been watching him. "So what?" He asked. "I wasn't supposed to posses the kid? Because that wasn't my choice."

Death hmmed. "More like he wasn't intended to die at all, but...something changed."

"Something." Gabriel said flatly.

"Yes. And then Someone intervened and brought you into the mix, to make sure certain things happened." Death's eyes gleamed momentarily as he turned to look at Gabriel. "If not the boy himself, then whoever was watching must have decided that someone possessing him would do."

"And they chose me."

"Oh, that I very much doubt. You were, most likely, simply the most convenient person to steer out of their way who would unwittingly be ensnared in Lily Potter's little enchantment."

Gabriel scowled at the idea of him being 'unwitting' or ensnared in anything, despite knowing the truth in Death's words. "You sound confident."

"I know some. I guessed other parts." Death shrugged. "And my guesses are fairly accurate. But I don't need to guess that you have something for me."

He held out a hand, somehow imperious without changing his body language in a single way, and Gabriel dropped the stone into Death's palm.

"That's that, then." Gabriel said. "You've got all three of them back."

"Indeed. And I thank you for that."

"Why not do it yourself?" Gabriel asked. "You could."

"Could I have?" Death asked knowingly. "I gave them away freely, to those three men. There are some rules even I can't break - or at least, it would be too much trouble to, so it was much easier to just ask you."

Gabriel would have rolled his eyes if he was talking to anyone other than Death. "So that's it? No more of me looking for these long-lost stones and cloaks of yours?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were sorry we wouldn't talk anymore."

Death was a dangerous being to get attached to, but Gabriel was an angel, and angel's didn't change that quickly. "Nah. I'll miss some actual intelligent conversation."

"No one at that school of yours to talk to?" Death sounded partly sarcastic and partly like he thought Gabriel must have overlooked someone.

Well, Michael was technically there, but Gabriel wasn't exactly going to go out of his way to talk to them.

"Not about this kinda stuff," He replied after a moment. "They're only human. And most of them like magic more than they do angels and demons. Makes more sense to them, I guess."

"It would." Death said with a certain finality - and he would know, Gabriel guessed, since there wasn't really a way to tell how much older than him Death was. "Humans nowadays get so uncomfortable when confronted with their own insignificance."

"Not all of them."

"No, some just get defensive." Gabriel had no doubt that Death was thinking of Dean Winchester. 'Defensive' was practically his middle name, at least in some cases.

"You know about Cain, don't you?" Something was still nagging at Gabriel.

"Of him? Indeed. It's difficult not to." Death glanced at Gabriel, a little too low to meet his eyes. "I assume he's responsible for that nasty wound?"

Gabriel shifted. "It's not that bad."

"Whatever you say." Death didn't seem to believe him, not that Gabriel expected the Horseman to - Death was one of those few who could see right through Gabriel if they wanted to. "Why the abrupt change of topic?"

Gabriel hmmmed again. "He said something - I managed to get roped into helping Dean with that Mark, which is why I was talking to Cain in the first place. But...he mentioned Abbadon, and then the other two."

There had been more than just four Knights of Hell, but the other three were dead, so Gabriel didn't include them in his count.

"Oh?" Death sounded not at all surprised, but then again he never really did. "How interesting." That attracted Gabriel's attention, because Death didn't find anything interesting, even when he made it sound like he was just making conversation.

When you're as old as the being who created the Universe, you don't feel a lot of obligation to 'male conversation'.

"Something's up, isn't it?" Gabriel accused, sitting up straight. "And you know."

"I've no idea what you're talking about," Death said, standing so that he towered over Gabriel and damn this short vessel. "I will warn you, though...don't let down your guard simply because it seems like all your problems are gone."

Then he was gone.

Gabriel huffed and sat back on the bench. "What a drama queen." Still, Gabriel now watched his surroundings with an extra measure of wariness.

What had Death been warning him about?

The first thing Gabriel did when he got onto platform nine and three-quarters was to track down Hermione.

She wasn't difficult to find, since he was an angel and her soul wasn't exactly common - but surprisingly enough, when he did find her she was in the company of Fleur Delacour.

"Harry!" Hermione wrapped Gabriel in a hug once she noticed him, then stepped back with a grin. She was wearing a patterned bandana in her hair which did a much more admirable job of keeping it out of her face than her usual method, which Gabriel had observed to be 'continually shoving out of the way and getting progressively more frustrated'.

"Hey, Hermione." Gabriel nodded at Fleur. "Guess you didn't come back from France alone."

Hermione blushed, but Fleur smiled at the joke. "I am in England for my job," She explained in marginally less accented English. "Bill - you remember him, the eldest Weasley? He offered to get me a job at your bank."

"Gringotts?" Gabriel shrugged. "Sounds interesting, but I can't say working at a bank would thrill me."

Fleur only grinned even wider. "It is an opportunity to be in England, is it not?"

Before Gabriel could reply to this fairly confusing statement, a whistle blew somewhere, accompanied with a burst of steam from the scarlet engine.

"Oh - we have to go!" Hermione ducked down to grab one end of her trunk, popping up with her hair askew.

"I'll find a compartment," Gabriel volunteered. "You've got prefect stuff, right?"

"Yes - see if you can get one near the prefect's, alright? I don't want to have to cross carriages." Hermione suddenly frowned. "What about Michael?"

Gabriel waved a hand dismissively. "They'll be able to track us down."

Hermione seemed to take this in stride and turned to Fleur, hugging her quickly. "'Bye!"

Fleur seemed to find this unsatisfactory, since she pulled away and then bent down to kiss Hermione.

Gabriel's eyebrows shot up, and he half-turned away to give them as much privacy as could really be found on a platform this crowded.

When they broke apart, Hermione looked flushed and slightly embarrassed. "I'll write," She promised as she grabbed Gabriel's arm and set off towards the train.

"You know," Gabriel said as they stepped into the nearest train car, "I think I underestimated you."

"Oh shut up," Hermione hissed, still flushed and suddenly looking uncomfortable. "You're not, um..."

"What?"

"Going to say anything?" Hermione fiddled with a curly strand of hair. "I mean, since, you know...we're both girls."

Gabriel shook his head, grinning at her reassuringly. "Hermione, if I said anything about that, I'd be a giant fucking hypocrite."

"You're gay?" Hermione looked abashed. "Or, you know, if you like both."

"Labels," Gabriel said dismissively. "I could go for anyone, really. Depends if they're attractive. Don't worry, though, your girlfriend's safe from me."

"I think she'd be safe anyway." Hermione was smiling again. "Veela apparently take relationships very seriously, even if they're not full veela."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Hermione had to rush off to the prefect's carriage after that, so Gabriel went and found somewhere to sit.

Predictably - since they were not a prefect and therefore not duty-bound - Michael got there first.

Ne entered the compartment, stopped, looked carefully at Gabriel, then sighed and yanked the door shut.

"Why is it," Ne said without preamble, "That whenever we see each other you've managed to injure yourself - again - in some way?"

"Hello to you too," Gabriel muttered from behind the first book he'd yanked out of his trunk.

"What have you been doing?" Michael pulled the book out of Gabriel's hands.

"Hey-"

"This is not something you can just leave and hope it will get better," Michael said evenly, to Gabriel's disappointment - if Michael had gotten angry he could have at least yelled back.

"I haven't," He retorted, and he was telling the truth - Gabriel had been trying to heal it periodically, having been utterly fed up with the constant sore spot that sparked into pain every time he tried to move, but it hadn't worked.

Michael pressed nir lips together, looking like ne was trying to judge whether or not Gabriel was lying, and then dropped the book on the empty seat next to Gabriel. "Let me help."

"Piss off, I can help myself."

"What even did this?" Michael challenged. "'Cause it wasn't an angel blade. That's a dark stain, Gabriel, and you can't get rid of it on your own."

Damn.

Gabriel had been hoping that the fact that it was the First Blade that made the wound wouldn't have too much of an impact, but apparently that was too much to wish for. He hadn't noticed anything off about the injury - except for the fact that it was fucking annoying - but he couldn't see it that well.

"Might've been the first blade."

Michael stared.

"You know what," Ne said, "If I wasn't kind of pissed off right now I would be kind of impressed that you manage to get into so much trouble."

Then ne slapped nir hand onto Gabriel's side.

Gabriel jumped and would have pushed Michael away, but his attention was suddenly focused mostly on staying upright because fuck, ow, that burns.

Michael might have been able to heal, but ne - in the most basic terms - was fire, and fire might have its uses but it burned.

When ne pulled away Gabriel realized he was bent forward and had sort of crunched part of the window frame where he'd grabbed onto it. Yanking his had away [and repairing it in the same move because he wasn't an asshole unlike some people] Gabriel snatched his book back up and very determinedly did not hide behind it and stew at Michael.

He heard Michael sigh, and then the elder archangel took a seat opposite Gabriel and didn't say anything.

When the door slid open again a few minutes later, both of them looked up to see Luna standing in the doorway and staring at Michael.

"You've changed," She said, sounding surprised.

Michael looked almost equally startled, and then understanding washed over nir features. "Of course," Ne said, "I forgot that you'd notice."

"Forgot?" Gabriel asked dryly.

"Well it didn't exactly apply to me before."

Luna's eyes darted between them. "If you're both..." She gestured between them. "Are you related?"

Gabriel sunk behind his book again.

"Yes," Michael answered after a moment's pause.

"Oh." Luna's interest overrode her surprise, and she plopped down next to Gabriel without any hesitation. "Did you know?"

"No." Gabriel answered shortly. A part of him wondered how he would have reacted if he'd realized who Michael was right at the start of things, but he refused to continue along that trail of thought for long.

He paid only the barest attention to the conversation going on next to him, mostly because it was hard not to.

"So you're an angel too?"

"Yeah, I just didn't realize until over this summer. I was human before, though."

"Like a fallen angel."

"...Exactly."

"Are you as powerful as Harry?"

A laugh. "More so, actually."

Luna seemed taken aback, when Gabriel glanced over momentarily. "Really?" She asked, fascinated.

"Well, I am older."

Luna only nodded at that. "Mhm. Your wings are bigger, I suppose."

"Whose wings?" Hermione chose that moment to open the door.

"Hello, Hermione." Luna beamed. "I was talking about Michael, actually."

Hermione seemed nonplussed for a moment before she appeared to remember the events of the summer that had just ended. "Mich - oh, right." She eyed the seat next to Michael. "You don't need extra space, do you?"

Michael shook nir head, even as Luna looked down at the space in between her and Gabriel and scooted over to make room. "No, it doesn't really work like that."

"How does it work, then?" Hermione looked fascinated.

"To put it simply?" Michael looked like ne was searching for the right word. "They just...exist separately from the vessel."

"That sounds like you're oversimplifying it."

"I am. It's difficult to explain."

"Difficult because you're trying to make it simpler for me?" Hermione gave Michael a look that promised nothing good if ne said yes.

Michael got the gist of it right away, grinning at Hermione as she finally took a seat next to nir. "Difficult because I've never had to explain it before."

"You could say that humans just can't comprehend them," Gabriel put in from behind his book.

"Oh, put the book down, Gabriel, you're not even going to say hello to Hermione?"

"We talked on the platform," Hermione informed nir.

"That's a nice bandana," Luna said from nowhere, when it became apparent that Michael wasn't going to say anything. "Where'd you get it?"

"Oh - Fleur gave it to me." Hermione reached up and adjusted the bandana absentmindedly, pulling the knot to the side of her head.

"Fleur?" Michael said. "Wasn't she one of the champions?"

"She was, from Beauxbatons, remember?" Hermione reminded nir. "I ran into her in France."

"Funny coincidence."

"I think it was near where her school was, actually. Apparently her parents are involved a lot in running it, which is part of the reason she went there."

"You must have talked a lot, if you got around to that topic." Luna mused.

Hermione must have blushed, because then Michael said "What? Is there something you're not telling us?"

Hermione muttered something quietly that was barely loud enough for Gabriel to hear.

"You," Luna said after a pause, "Are going to make a lot of people at Hogwarts really jealous if they ever find out."

"That's because everyone is judged on their physical appearance before anyone bothers to find out what they're really like," Hermione immediately replied, making Gabriel snort.

"True," Luna acknowledged. "But what about Krum?"

"It's possible to like both," Hermione replied defensively. "I'm bisexual."

"Oh - I didn't mean to be rude." Luna said quietly. "I've just never heard the term before."

"Not many people have." Gabriel could sense a rant building up. "Because everyone seems to be convinced that the default sexuality is straight, and then they concentrate so much on gay people that the other minority sexualities are either ignored or ridiculed even by other non-heterosexual people-"

"Hermione." Michael said, interrupting. "I don't mean to be rude, but no one here's maligning your sexuality."

"...Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, just..." The edge of a grin entered Michael's voice. "Save that for someone who actually needs reminding, alright?"

"Sure."

Barely half an hour into their trip, Hermione lost her patience and grabbed Gabriel's book.

"I was-"

"You haven't turned a page for the last ten minutes, now quit pretending," Hermione said exasperatedly. "We're not that boring, are we?"

"That's not-"

"Good, then." Hermione turned to Michael. "You've still got your Exploding Snap set, don't you?"

Michael looked surprised [and a little hesitant] but obligingly produced a set.

"It's sort of a tradition," Hermione explained to Luna as she crowded Michael over to reach the built-in table by the window. "We always end up playing Exploding Snap on the train. No, this isn't working, can we use someone's trunk as a table?"

Luna volunteered and her trunk was hauled down, then rejected because of its color. ["No, it's not that, it's just I wouldn't want you to end up with a trunk covered in scorch marks."] and Gabriel's black trunk was decided on as a substitute, and then the game finally got underway.

It was some time later and more explosions than were strictly normal for a game that depended on them for certain cues before the conclusion was drawn that the magic on Michael's old set had probably gone a bit wonky after so many years.

Luna had hauled out a battered-looking notebook and started scribbling away in it, which left Michael, Hermione, and Gabriel to talk amongst themselves.

Which would have been fine, except Michael was Michael.

"Soo." Hermione said, in an effort to start conversation. "Did you have a good summer?"

"Good enough." Michael shrugged.

"Did they, uh..." Hermione suddenly looked reluctant, like she was regretting bringing up the topic but couldn't turn back. "Find your mum?"

Michael's face shuttered closed, blanking so that it was impossible to tell what ne was thinking. "No."

"Oh." Silence. "She's still your, uh, mum, right?"

"Why would that change?" Michael snapped, and then took a deep breath, covering nir face. "Sorry. It's just..."

"Yeah." Hermione seemed unsure how to deal with an upset archangel, but Gabriel pretended he didn't see her glance over at him.

"Sorry," Hermione said quietly.

"It's not your fault, Hermione."

Cue an awkward next few hours.

"Aren't you two supposed to be bro - siblings now?"

Gabriel glanced up when he noticed that the question was mostly aimed at him. "Yeah," He said, wondering where the question had come from. "Why?"

Hermione, who had asked, was frowning again. "Just wondering."

"Just wondering out of nowhere? I thought you heard all of this from the Order."

"That's not what I meant." By now Luna had looked up from her writing, curious at Hermione's vehement reply. Hermione sighed. "I just mean - you haven't spoken a word to each other since you got on the train."

"Not true. Just because you weren't here doesn't mean it didn't happen."

"We've been on the train for three hours, and I've been here for two of them!" Hermione shot back.

"Hermione-" Michael began.

"You haven't said anything either," Hermione interrupted, rounding on nir. "What is up with you two?"

"Well," Gabriel said, not giving Michael a chance, "For starters, I found out Michael was my sibling Michael. That kind of changed things."

"So?" Hermione demanded. "Wouldn't that make you get along better?"

Gabriel didn't have to look to know Michael looked just as skeptical as he did.

Hermione faltered, the looks obviously getting the point across. "What about that other one?" She asked. "I've seen you get along with him. He lives at your house!"

"That's because Balthazar is a cheapskate and can't be bothered to leave." Gabriel replied dryly.

Michael looked like ne wished the subject hadn't been broached. "It's more complicated than-"

"More complicated?" Hermione interrupted again, sounding incredulous. "How complicated can it be?"

"When both of the people involved have been around since before your species was so much as an idea in our Dad's head?" Gabriel snapped. "Very."

There was a long, suffocating silence during which Hermione looked abashed, Luna looked fascinated despite herself, and Michael stiffly looking out the window as if pretending ne hadn't noticed the conversation going on around nir.

"I don't think that gives you an excuse," Hermione eventually said, making Michael turn back around and Gabriel's eyebrows raised.

"An excuse?" He said incredulously. "No one's-"

"Yes, you are making excuses!" Hermione practically shouted. By now Luna had put down her book, and Gabriel didn't blame her for looking fascinated [but he was a little annoyed]. "So you're both incredibly old, that doesn't mean you get to ignore each other and just tell me that I won't get whatever reason you have!"

"It's not that you wouldn't get it-" Michael tried to explain, speaking before Gabriel could.

"Then why?" Hermione asked, hair flying out as she spun around.

Michael met her gaze evenly. "It's that I'm not comfortable sharing the amount of history between us that would be necessary to explain it. And I doubt Gabriel would be either."

"Necessary to explain it?" Hermione repeated incredulously. "Michael, I'm not asking for your history! I'm just asking why you and Harry - Gabriel have been ignoring each other for two hours! It's not exactly a complicated request! I'm just trying to figure out what happened to my friends!"

Silence.

"Nothing's happened to us," Michael said quietly.

"Maybe we should stop shouting," Luna suggested, speaking quietly, "And this will be a lot easier to solve."

A voice of rationality was always a good thing to have in an argument, especially a three-way one.

Hermione took a deep breath and sagged back in the seat, squinting against the setting sun which was flashing through the trees. "Fine."

"First off," Luna said serenely, "I think you're all overreacting."

Hermione looked like she was getting prepared to be offended, but Luna kept talking. "And also, you and Michael are both being kind of unreasonable."

"Excuse me?" Now Michael looked offended too, but Luna looked completely calm for someone who had just told the third oldest being in the universe that they were being unreasonable.

"Well-" Luna shrugged. "You're being a little stubborn. I mean, if you and Gabriel don't like each other, you could just say so."

"I don't dislike him."

"Speak for yourself," Gabriel muttered, making both Michael and Hermione shoot him exasperated and surprised looks, respectively. Luna, as ever, remained completely calm.

"All I'm saying," Luna continued, "Is that maybe you should compromise."

There was another pause, and then Hermione drew in a breath.

"I know you said you don't really get along with your siblings," She said, addressing Gabriel. "I guess...I sort of hoped you didn't mean Michael too."

Gabriel grinned tightly, more just pressing his lips together than actually grinning. "Sorry to disappoint."

Michael glanced away from Hermione and didn't reply.

By the time the train pulled into the station, they had mostly gotten past the initial awkwardness that followed the end of the argument.

Hermione had jumped when they first approached the carriages, and Gabriel had looked around for what might have caused it before he realized that she was staring at the Thestrals.

She swallowed nervously. "Those aren't...?"

Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder, because humans found touch comforting and he wasn't sure what else to do. Sorry I killed two death eaters in front of you at the end of last year? "Yeah."

Michael was looking, too, but said nothing and simply climbed into the carriage. Hermione, after a moment, followed.

Gabriel sat next to Luna again in the carriage and was immediately pulled into a conversation that involved a creature with a really strange name that sounded vaguely like a rusalka, but Luna was talking excitedly and it was easier to just listen than to try and interrupt to correct her.

In that manner the ride up to the castle went quickly, even if there was an ominous air about things - Gabriel reminded himself that, for the magical world, it was the first year they'd really dealt with the impact of Voldemort's revival. Bridges breaking, murders, trolls - even if he'd heard about them only after Hermione informed the rest of them, other magical families had no doubt been hearing about the consequences all summer.

Hogwarts was the same as ever, which was pretty much exactly what Gabriel had expected - two months or so wasn't a huge amount of time, especially since the castle had stood for centuries without much change.

The crowd of students was somehow more annoying than Gabriel had remembered, even though it was also more quiet than he thought it would be [no doubt some students were more subdued with the threat of a supposedly dead Dark Lord over them], and he contented himself with the thought that it was only two more years until he'd be able to ditch the magical world permanently.

Gabriel and Michael ended up next to each other at the Ravenclaw table again, because the last thing Gabriel needed was for people to gossip about him even more. That alone might not have been enough, but there was an informal rule at the Ravenclaw table where if you sat somewhere for long enough, that was Your Seat.

This was pretty strictly enforced, and so Gabriel and Michael took their usual seats.

"At least no one's looking at you like you're crazy this year," Michael muttered, and Gabriel tried not to agree with nem and failed.

The first years looked tiny, but then again they always did, and Gabriel dutifully clapped whenever Ravenclaw gained a new student but his mind was miles away with what both Death and Cain had said.

Something was coming.

Something old.

And whatever it was, Gabriel didn't think he'd have the time or patience to so much as care about Voldemort while dealing with that.

Yes, I am seriously going to end it there.

I have more spare time than anticipated on this vacation, even sans laptop, so we might actually be up to more frequent updates. Lucky you.

Read and review, please! I love hearing what you thought of my writing.