In other, non-fic related news, I can now get married in whatever fuckin state I want. Our Supreme Court is on a roll lately.

In news that is fic-related, I've been working on this thing for exactly a year. I checked the publication date; July 14 2014. Oh look, that's tomorrow! My only remarks are holy shit, it's been a year already?

And man, is this thing long. I mean I knew it was going to be, but sixty-five chapters and still in progress. Who knows how long the rest of it will take to finish - definitely not another year, though.

As for Adam, I wanted to incorporate that he'd read the books, but I can't have him go and tell Gabriel everything. That would ruin all my carefully laid plans. Which definitely exist. As more than just vague ideas. Definitely.

*Coughs* Anyway, it's up in the air whether he or Sam and Dean will meet any of the Hogwarts gang, so I'll see where that goes as the story continues.

As for the demons...well, we'll see. But as I'm sure most of you know, there's no way the Winchesters weren't involved in some way or another.

And you guys have had a bunch of ideas as to what Dumbledore's new plan could be. I'll definitely take them into account as I write! Though I should let you know, my writing camp is this month, so I'll have less time to write this and my other stuff. I agonized for ages over at least half of this chapter and then managed to write half of it in a day. That's motivation for you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter.

"Is Castiel gone?" Slepnir was draped over the sofa, hanging off the seat so that his head was pointed towards the ground. He had gotten a bit red-faced, but seemed determined not to move.

"Probably," Gabriel said idly from where he was sprawled out on the floor. Castiel hadn't returned from their adventure the previous day; from what Adam said, he'd stayed with the Winchesters when Adam left to return to Gabriel's house.

"Aw. I wanted to invite him to my birthday." Slepnir pouted, reaching down and pulling his hair into a ponytail, then giving up when he realized he didn't have anything to tie it wish.

"He might drop by if you pray." Personally, Gabriel was glad that Castiel had stopped haunting his house. In a non-ghostly way, of course. He could only be around so many of his siblings for extended periods of time, and Balthazar was more than enough.

"I don't know how." Slepnir said. "Does praying even work if you're only a little bit human?"

"No pagan god's ever tried before, but feel free to experiment." Gabriel shrugged. "Just make sure to use his name so it doesn't go shooting off for anyone to hear."

"How does it work, though?" Slepnir pressed. "If I just think it, how do you hear it?"

Gabriel tilted his head up to meet Slepnir's gaze. "It's addressed to an unspecified higher power," he said, "Which is what angels are. Adding a name just makes it a specified higher power."

"So you hear it just because it's meant for you?"

"It's how we're built, kid."

Slepnir considered that. "If I'm part angel," he said, "Does that mean I could hear them?"

"No idea." It wasn't like anyone like Slepnir or his siblings had ever existed before - save the Nephilim, and no one had been too fussed with asking them about the extent of their powers. Gabriel glanced down as he thought of that particular fiasco, wings shuffling uncomfortably, and put it out of his mind. "Your brothers have more angel in them then you do, but I don't think any of you would hear anything."

"Why?" Slepnir questioned, flipping right side up. "How come they've got more angel?"

"Long story." It was - Slepnir's parentage was a complicated tangle. "I'll tell you some other time."

Luckily, Slepnir seemed to accept that at face value. "When I turn a thousand," he said. "Then you can explain it. Promise?"

"Sure."

"Excuse me," Balthazar said, looking somewhat befuddled. "I must have misheard. A thousand?"

Slepnir shrugged. "I am part pagan. And you're almost as old as Dad. Why're you surprised?"

"How old are you?" Balthazar questioned. Evidently, the puzzle of Slepnir's age hadn't occurred to him before.

Slepnir considered the question for a moment. "It's two thousand fourteen," he said slowly, "So... I'm nine hundred and thirty eight. As soon as Christmas happens."

Balthazar stared. "Good lord," he said. "You're tiny for someone who's been around for nearly a millenium."

"I'm growing," Slepnir said defensively, making Gabriel laugh. "I'll be tall!"

"If your dad's any example, that's doubtful."

"Oh, please," Gabriel snorted. "I'm barely shorter than you are, even in my old vessel."

"You're still short." Balthazar said sniffily, as if reluctant to be proven wrong. "It doesn't help that you're stuck looking like a child."

"And yet," Gabriel replied, taking on a tone as if he were revealing some great secret, "I'm still older than you."

"Not that you act it," Balthazar muttered, and Slepnir's laughter was snorted and poorly muffled.

Gabriel raised one eyebrow, propping himself up on his elbows. "Oh, I see how it is," he said, sounding fakely wounded. "You're teaming up against me."

Slepnir just giggled again. "We have to," he pointed out. "You cheat."

"Everyone in this house cheats."

Balthazar didn't even try to protest the accusation, though it was more a statement of fact. Slepnir did. "Jor doesn't cheat," he said plaintively.

Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "He most definitely does. He's just good enough at it that none of you notice."

"I knew that last game was rigged," Balthazar muttered. "He's too quiet. I should have guessed."

"He's quiet because he doesn't like talking." Slepnir immediately jumped to his brother's defense. "Not because he's trying to get away with anything."

"Yeah, Balthazar," Gabriel said, just to be petty. "Don't be so rude."

Fenris appeared from over the back of the sofa, having wandered into the room at some point, and hauled himself up, over, and onto Balthazar's lap. "Yeah," he echoed.

"You don't even know what we're talking about," Balthazar told him with little real heat to the words.

Fenris shrugged, moving off the couch and flopping onto his stomach next to Gabriel. He pushed at Gabriel's side. "Turn over."

"Why?" Gabriel did anyway, moving onto his back. Fenris put his head on Gabriel's stomach. "Oh, you just want to use me as a pillow?"

"You're squishy."

Balthazar sniggered, making Gabriel throw him a look. "Damn right I am," Gabriel said, staring pointedly at his brother. "We can't all be stupidly skinny."

"My vessel is fine, thank you," Balthazar retorted. "Do you normally swear when they're around?"

Gabriel shrugged as well as he could with Fenris slumped over him. "They're of age. It's not like they've never heard someone swear before."

"Not in English," Slepnir said. "And Norse swear words don't count. No one speaks Norse anymore."

Gabriel opened his mouth to reply and was interrupted by a shrill, electronic rendition of the macarena.

They all stared at each other for a moment while it played.

"Did someone change the phone's ringtone?" Gabriel asked.

"Narvi did it," Fenris said immediately.

"We were bored," Slepnir added. "We made a competition to see who could change it and get it to stick."

"Fair enough." Gabriel glanced down at Fenris. "Since no one else seems to be making an attempt to get up and answer that, can you move so I can?"

"No." If anything, Fenris pressed himself down harder, throwing one arm over Gabriel. The tune played obnoxiously in the background.

Gabriel gave up and snapped his fingers, answering the phone as it appeared in his hand. "Dark Magic Emporium, here for your dastardly needs." Fenris giggled, stifling it in Gabriel's shirt.

"Very funny. I know what your voice sounds like."

"Hermione! I didn't expect a call."

"It's not like I can visit you in person." Hermione reminded him.

"You could always drop by. What'cha want?"

Hermione's exhale made the line crackle. "It's - well, it's sort of about Fleur. I...wanted to let her know about you. Being Gabriel, I mean."

That, Gabriel had not expected. "Tell her that angels exist," he said flatly. "It's bad enough the Dumbledore told the whole Order. I'm kind of trying to keep a low profile here." Balthazar had looked up sharply at the change in Gabriel's tone, and appeared to be listening intently. Gabriel made a face at him and mouthed shove off.

"I don't like lying to her, even if it's only by omission." Hermione retorted. "Why on Earth would you need to keep a low profile?"

"I don't know, because there's a war on out there and Voldemort doesn't need to know any more about me than he already does?"

"And, what, you think Fleur's going to tell him?" Hermione asked sarcastically. "I get not wanting to tell a lot of people, but she could help! Her family's big in the war effort. The Delacours have been sending in support from France. Mostly money, I think, since France as a whole seems to just want to leave us to deal with this on our own-"

"That doesn't change that I barely know her. And death eaters could get information by ways other than just telling her."

"They'd have their work cut out for them with Fleur. She may have come fourth in the Tournament but she could probably beat Krum in a duel one-handed." Hermione's voice took on a pleading edge. "Is it that important that you keep this so secret? It's one person, Gabriel."

"One person on top of how many?"

"The Order's more of a liability than Fleur is. If the risk of other people finding out accidentally is your only argument then you already haven't a chance of the information not getting out somehow."

She did have a point there, but Gabriel was still reluctant to just let Hermione tell someone else. "You don't even know how she's going to take it. What were you planning to do, expect her to just roll with the idea that angels are a thing and she's already met one without knowing it?"

"That's a stupid argument and you know it." Hermione said flatly.

"Well, so what?" Gabriel said defensively. "I haven't gone by Gabriel in ages. Excuse me if I'm a little uncomfortable with so many people knowing I'm an angel."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked eventually. "You 'haven't gone by Gabriel'?"

Shit. "I told you I was Loki," Gabriel covered quickly. "Can't really be an angel and a god at the same time. Most would see it as blasphemy."

"...Sure." Yeah, there was no way Hermione fully believed that, but she moved on. "So you're not used to many people knowing. That's your argument for me not telling her?"

There was another muted voice in the background, and Hermione made a strangled, distressed noise and swore under her breath. "I'll call you back," she hissed.

"Hermione-" Gabriel heard the click of her hanging up before he finished her name. "Aw, crap."

"What'd she say?" Fenris asked.

"She hung up." Gabriel sent the phone back to the kitchen. "Guess it's outta my hands now."

Fenris patted his knee sympathetically. "Hermione's okay," he said. "She'll do something smart."

Hopefully, but however Fleur might react wasn't a topic Gabriel felt like lingering on.

"I could invite Hermione," Slepnir mused.

"You want to invite a lot of people." Fenris rolled his eyes. "We're going to be there too!"

"You don't count. I see you every day."

"Yeah, but I'll still be there."

"Well having guests who aren't usually there is the whole point of a party!"

"Yeah?"

"I told her." Hermione said. "Sorry. But it was a bit unavoidable."

"I gathered," Gabriel said dryly. So it had been Fleur who interrupted their first conversation.

"She seemed okay about it, to be honest," Hermione told him. "The whole angels thing. She just seemed surprised that it was you."

"I'm offended by those implications." Gabriel said, completely deadpan. "How could she interrupt you on the phone? Are you in France again?"

Hermione hesitated. "Well...no. I'm staying with Fleur. She's got an apartment in the Alley."

Gabriel whistled. "You move fast!"

"Shut up! You know it's not like that." Hermione retorted. "I just thought I'd let you know. Fleur had some questions I couldn't answer."

"Are you trying to warn me that you're coming over?"

"Well..."

"Nah, it's fine," Gabriel laughed. "Slepnir wanted to ask you over anyway. His birthday's coming up."

"Oh - right! It's around Christmas, isn't it?"

"On Christmas. Same diff."

"No one says that anymore."

"I do."

"You don't count if you're the only one saying it." Hermione paused. "Thanks. For being alright with it."

"You kind of took it out of my hands when you hung up." He wasn't any more okay with it than he had been before, but the only other option was going back and messing with events.

"Yeah. Um. Sorry about that."

"Nah, I get it. Not wanting to lie to her. Probably should have realized you wouldn't want to keep that secret." Gabriel replied. ""Course, considering that's part of why Sigyn still hates me, I don't have the greatest track record with relationships."

Hermione snorted. "I'm not going to ask what you did. I get the feeling it's a long story." Well, she wasn't wrong. "Christmas it is, then?"

"Yep. See you then."

Knock, knock.

"I got it!" Slepnir bolted out of his chair, making for the door. He'd been running purely on adrenalin and excitement all day, wound up in anticipation of his birthday.

"Good. I wasn't planning on getting up." Balthazar was comfortably sprawled in an armchair and hadn't moved since that morning, occupied with a drink and whatever he was thinking so hard about. Gabriel had noticed the thoughtful staring into the distance, but hadn't commented on it; and Balthazar had still been too alert for Gabriel to draw a mustache on him, which was disappointing.

"You don't do anything around here," Gabriel teased him. "I really doubt anyone expected you to get the door."

"Excuse you, I'm a pivotal part of the household."

"I'll believe that when you start actually doing something."

"Are we interrupting?" Hermione was standing in the doorway, a smile pulling at her mouth. "Balthazar, right?"

"Yeah!" Slepnir answered enthusiastically for Balthazar, squeezing through the doorway past Hermione. "And Castiel was here before, but he left."

"Who's Castiel?" Fleur had completely lost her accent in the time since Gabriel had last seen her. Gabriel could see Balthazar's attention perk.

"My brother," he answered, kicking Balthazar in the shin before his other brother could do anything stupid. Balthazar gave him a dirty look, but Gabriel ignored it as he stood up, grinning at the two. "For someone who's meeting an angel for the first time, you seem pretty calm."

"Even if I didn't know before, we have met already," Fleur reminded him. "It does explain how you did so well in the Tournament."

"You weren't so shabby yourself."

Fleur smiled at that. "Thank you. Though I think this would be the part where I admit I've heard of you before."

"Everyone's heard of Harry Potter." Hermione pointed out, looking puzzled.

"Of Gabriel," Fleur corrected her assumption. "There were a few girls in my year who were Muslim. I asked them about their religion out of curiosity when I was younger."

Hermione looked startled. "Really? I thought angels were...well, a Christian thing."

Balthazar scoffed in the background, and Gabriel resisted the temptation to throw something at him to get him to shut up. "We're both," he said. "But I like to think I'm a fairly central figure in Islam. You wanna sit down?"

"Only if you keep explaining." Hermione replied. Gabriel backed up to let the two of them into the living room proper. "I see your tree's a reasonable size this year."

"I didn't buy it." Hel had forbidden him from doing it and kept him distracted while Vali and Narvi went out and got one. Gabriel had guessed that something was up, but let it slide. "Honestly, no one will let me forget that."

"Because it was ridiculously large." Hermione rolled her eyes as she settled onto the couch. "What about Islam, then? You left off in the middle."

"I did not, I barely started." Gabriel retorted lightly, pulling the footrest towards him with one foot and sitting on that. "Besides, Islam and Christianity both believe in one God and most of the same prophets. It's not that much of a stretch to guess that both believe in angels."

"Well, I don't know much about Islam." Hermione huffed. "Why are you such a central figure?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Islam's based around the Qur'an - or the ideas in it, at least. The Qur'an's a written version of what Muhammad told them. I told Muhammad all that."

"And Muhammad - he was prophet," Fleur said, thoughtful gaze telling Gabriel that she was thinking back to whatever she'd been told.

"Yup. That's the title you get when you get official Revelation from upstairs." Gabriel nodded. "I didn't stick around much after he died, but I didn't need to."

"So you told a man the secrets of Heaven and then whatever happened, happened?" Hermione sounded amused. "Is that how it always works?"

"Hey, I'm just the Messenger." Gabriel's grin resurfaced. "Anyone ever tell you not to shoot?"

"That's a horrible joke," Balthazar said.

"Shut up, you're not in this conversation."

"Heeeey." Slepnir, evidently tired of being left out of the conversation, tugged on Gabriel's sleeve. "We should eat."

"Now?" Fleur looked surprised.

"He made his own cake this year," Gabriel explained. It had been quite an undertaking and had nearly ended in disaster several times.

"Chocolate," Slepnir added. "And other stuff too. It's a chimera cake."

Fenris peeked in as if the mention of dessert had summoned him. "Can we?"

"I think the birthday boy should-"

"Cake time!" Slepnir didn't even wait for Gabriel to finish, racing into the kitchen with a delighted laugh. Grinning broadly, Gabriel followed.

Gabriel caught Hermione outside afterwards, just before she left. "Before you leave - there was something I wanted to mention."

"What about?" Hermione paused, Fleur glancing behind her when she realized Hermione had stopped walking. "You couldn't have mentioned it inside?"

"It's not party talk."

Hermione caught on immediately. "This is about demons."

"Demons?" Fleur echoed, startled.

"It's a long story," Hermione said quickly, "but yeah, they exist too. What about them?"

"You said you wanted to learn how to fight them." The blade Gabriel had taken from the ones that attacked him slipped into his hand easily and he offered it to her, handle-first. "Here's weakness number one."

Hermione stared at it. "Is that yours?"

"Please. I need mine. I had an extra lying around."

"I don't even know how to use that."

"Stab them with the pointy end."

That got a laugh out of Hermione, and she took it, but Gabriel could tell she wasn't sure what to do with it. "Thanks, I guess. Now all you need to do is teach me how to use it well enough that I don't make a fool out of myself."

Gabriel laughed, until the first howl reached his ears.

He could feel his smile get wiped away. Fleur and Hermione both looked around curiously, not realizing the gravity of it.

"What was that?" Fleur asked. Gabriel didn't answer. How the hell had they even gotten here?

"Gabriel-" Hermione was cut off when Gabriel finally zeroed in on what had been bothering him all day and snatched it out of her pocket. "Hey!"

"Where did you get this?" The coin was burning Gabriel's fingers. He ignored it. And he knew enough to realize that it was no coin.

"I don't - that's not mine." Hermione looked befuddled, and flinched as another howl echoed in the distance. It was closer than the last one. "What's going on?"

Gabriel threw the coin to the ground, grinding it beneath his feet. "It's a tracker," he said grimly. "A demon must have realized what you were and planted it."

Fleur stiffened, posture straightening as she glanced around. "So what was that noise?"

"Hellhounds."

Gabriel's wings were spread before he even finished speaking, taking off and bringing them with him. Both of them stumbled as they landed, and Hermione had to use Fleur to keep herself steady.

"What the hell-"

"It's not enough to throw them off, if they were that close then they already have your scent," Gabriel snapped over Fleur's startled exclamation. "Who could have gotten close enough to put that on you?"

"We took the Knight Bus," Hermione said. "Where are we?"

"Somewhere far away." A distant howl reverberated through the air, and Gabriel cursed under his breath. "Not far enough."

"We must be halfway across the city!" Fleur's wand had made its way into her hand.

They were quite a bit farther than that. Which was probably why both of them had looked a second away from being sick. Gabriel didn't have the time nor patience to explain that at the moment.

"I'm fast. They're almost as fast." Gabriel reached for both of them. "We need to go-"

"I'm not doing that again," Fleur said curtly.

Gabriel didn't have the time to argue with her. He could sense the hellhounds getting closer. "Then run!"

It was really annoying, having to deal with human counterparts that got tired much quicker than Gabriel did.

"I don't think we can go for much longer," Hermione gasped.

"Save your breath," Gabriel snapped back. He had to recalculate where to go every ten seconds - he could tell where the hounds were, but they weren't making it easy for him to avoid them.

"We need to stop-"

"We can't." And the whole time his mind was racing - who would plant a tracker on Hermione and send hellhounds after her? Because she was a witch? Or because someone had somehow discovered that she knew him?

"There's got to be a safe place somewhere!" Well, technically, his house was a safe place, but he was not risking hellhounds getting inside there. That, and he'd temporarily forgotten that he had a safe place to go to.

Centuries of instinct was hard to ignore.

They raced past a street sign. Gabriel got only a passing glance, but memory sparked in his mind.

"This way!"

The streets were nearly deserted, but they still had to shove past the occasional pedestrian. Gabriel began to regret the decision when a trio of snarling beasts appeared only a few blocks behind them.

They had to be faster than the hounds, or else...

Gabriel wished he were alone. Then, at least, he could take a stand and kill them in seconds. But if he tried that now, one of them might be able to get away. There was no telling what kind of damage they'd been ordered to wreak.

One of the two girls shrieked. Fleur shouted some spell colored with a French accent, and there was a pained yip. Gabriel didn't look back to see what had happened. Their destination was getting closer.

The door sprang open without any visible prompting, and Gabriel skidded to a halt next to it. "In, in, in!" Neither Hermione nor Fleur bothered to ask why, and Gabriel threw himself inside after them, slamming the door shut.

The wards visibly flickered as the hellhounds rammed to a half against it, sigils glowing and holding strong. The door rattled on its hinges, but held steady. With the kind of warding this place had, it was no surprise.

Gabriel glared heatedly through the glass at the demonic abominations. He didn't need any cue to use his Grace; it was directed, without him moving, at the three dogs.

They noticed immediately, making distressed growling noises and doing their best to lunge away, but they'd gotten too close to Gabriel. His Grace, slowly but surely, ground their essence to pieces.

When he finally looked away, both of the witches were staring at him.

"Did you just kill those things by glaring at them?" Fleur asked tentatively. There was a graze on the back of her shin, and Gabriel dispersed the taint the hellhound had left behind with a thought.

"I do a lot of things," Gabriel replied shortly.

Hermione, it seemed, had finally noticed their surroundings. "Oh, wow," she breathed at the sight of so many ancient-looking books. "Gabriel, this is..."

She reached out, as if to take one off the shelf for a better look.

"Don't touch that!" The man appeared seemingly out of thin air, blocking Hermione from the shelf. "These books are incredibly ancient, they need a very delicate hand and you could at least do the courtesy of waiting for-"

Gabriel coughed pointedly. The man looked over at him abruptly, most likely having just then noticed him.

"Er." His posture changed in an instant, managing to change the man from an imposing force into someone who looked entirely harmless. His appearance didn't hurt either; blond curls and blue eyes coupled with light skin gave him the most stereotypically angelic vessel Gabriel knew of. "Gabriel." He didn't sound thrilled to see Gabriel. "This is, ah, a bit of a surprise."

"Thought I'd drop by," Gabriel said. "Nice to see you too, Aziraphale."

Ehhh? Ehhhhhh? Let me know what you think - read and review, please!