Unfound
Chapter Fifteen
Season 12, Episode 14 – The Raid: The BMOL actions have not gone unnoticed by supernatural creatures. Some of them attack the compound while Winchester's are inside.
Sometimes, as the Minister of Magic, Hermione had to pretend to care about things that were downright silly. There was a bill that was about to be introduced by her political enemies – one that would hand a great deal more power and autonomy to the Men of Letters, that she needed to never see the light of day.
Of course, they were trying to say that her opposition to the bill was anti-Squib (it was a new, creative way for blood purists to try to claim the moral high ground), but she knew the truth of it. But in order to get Pleven over to her side, she had promised to attend this meeting. But the regulation of the length of broom bristles was terribly dull.
And it wasn't just that it was boring – the politics behind these regulations were continuous and cut-throat.
In her pocket, she felt her mobile vibrate.
She had never been both so relieved and so worried at the same time. It was rare for anyone to call. At least, if she wasn't expecting it.
"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to excuse myself," Hermione said, standing up. "Something quite urgent has come up."
She didn't bother to try and explain herself further, she just hurried out of the room.
As quickly as she could she rushed to her office, where no one would see her answering what looked to be a Muggle mobile in the middle of the Ministry, where it shouldn't be possible for her to have one.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hermione," came a deep voice on the other end of the phone.
"Dean?"
"Yeah. Look, I know you're kinda a big deal but…"
"Oh, please don't worry about that. Are you alright?" She desperately wanted to ask if this was about Harry, but she didn't dare mutter the name where she might be overheard.
"Yeah. But, uh, well, it's a long story, but Harry found out that Teddy is working with the British Men of Letters and he kinda…he kinda lost it. He flew off and Sam followed closely after. We got a Patronus from him but it's been radio silence since. No one's answering their phones."
"Fuck," Hermione swore. "Do you know where they are?"
"Generally. At their American compound. I have the coordinates if you need them…"
"No, I am quite aware of where they are. Thank you, Dean, for calling, I'll take care of this." She hung up.
"PAULINE!" She yelled out.
Her assistant came running into the room.
"Minister?" She asked, sounding alarmed. Hermione wasn't one to yell, even in her most stressed-out moments. At least not at the administrative staff.
"I need Joanne Hess and Euclid Oliphant here. Ten minutes ago. I don't care what they're doing, get them here. Now."
"Of course, Minister," she squeaked out and ran out of the room.
Hermione sat down on her chair, hard. She hesitated for a moment, before conjuring her otter Patronus. "Ron, something has happened with the Men of Letters and Harry. I'm afraid I'm going to have to call in all resources on this one. Including the one I don't know about. I have a meeting in a moment, but expect me within the next hour or so." It bounded off in a flurry.
She hated to end the ruse that she didn't know what her husband was up to, but honestly, plausible deniability would only have stretched so far, in any case. And this seemed like an all-hands-on-deck sort of situation.
III
"Son of a bitch," Dean said.
"What did she say?" Mary asked, anxious.
"She hung up on me," he said. "Said that she'd 'take care of it,' whatever the hell that means!"
"Oh. Is that normal for her?"
Dean snorted. "Yeah. She's kind of a dick." It was possible that Dean had still not forgiven Hermione for trying to keep Harry away from him. Or for her trying to control his brother's life.
Mary cocked an eyebrow. "You don't get along with Henry's friends?"
"Eh. They're alright, I guess," Dean conceded. "Sam knows most of them better than me. Except Ginny," he thought for a second, "actually he knows Ginny a whole lot better too."
Mary knew that Dean wasn't particularly happy with her at the moment, so she felt the need to tread carefully. "What would you like to do?" She was itching to hop in the car and drive the Men of Letters compound. She knew there was a big mission briefing soon anyway and she didn't want to miss it.
"Let's go," he decided.
"Together?"
He shot her a look. "Yeah. Seems dumb to take separate cars." His phone rang.
"Cas?" He answered when he saw who was calling on the screen.
"Dean, is Harry with you?" He was using his no-time-for-human-nonsense voice.
"No," Dean answered.
"He's in danger. I heard on angel radio – they found him. They've been searching for him for weeks, actively sending patrols down to Earth. But he's quick and doesn't stay in places where he is easily detectable."
"What are they gonna do to him?" Dean asked.
"Nothing good. They want him dead – but I'm not sure that they have the capability."
"Can you get to him?"
"I'm in South Carolina, following a lead on Kelly."
Dean swore. "Alright. Sam's with him. Mom and I are on the way. Keep me updated if you hear anything more from angel radio." He hung up. "Angels are after Harry too."
That was all she needed the two of them headed to the garage.
III
The first part of the drive was silent.
But Mary wasn't one to give up easily.
"Dean, I'm really sorry that I…"
"Don't," Dean snarled.
"No. You have to listen to me. The Men of Letters – I thought they were doing good. That we were doing good. The number of monsters we killed and the people we saved. It was a Hunter's dream."
"Yeah, and how many people did you torture?"
Mary recoiled. "I've never tortured anyone."
"Yeah? What about Teddy? You watched your grandson get hurt. What does that say about you?"
"That's not fair, Dean," Mary said. "And I barely know him."
"Oh, is that the criteria now? You barely know Sam, Harry, or I either, does that mean that it was alright for that British bitch to torture Sam?"
"You know I don't think that," Mary said, pleading.
"And you knew it was wrong. Otherwise, you wouldn't have kept it a secret from us."
"You're one to talk about secrets," Mary muttered.
"What was that?" He asked incredulously.
"You and Sam don't exactly have the best track records at telling me the truth. If Billie hadn't turned up you would have continued to allow me to think that Henry was dead."
Dean gaped at her for a moment. "We didn't know that you knew about him at all, why would we bring it up?"
It was remarkably like the line of logic that Mary herself had used to not tell Sam and Dean about her search for Henry when she had first returned. But she wasn't in the mood for being reasonable.
"You told me about your lives and you just left out that you had another brother? One who was dead?"
"There are plenty of things we don't tell you," Dean said. "Things you don't need to hear. Harry was just one of those things. Don't forget that Sam and I met Samuel. He hated Harry – who was to say that you wouldn't have reacted the same way? You've heard how Harry died, right? Do you think rejection from another family member would have done him any good?" Dean was being unfair, and he knew it, but he was pissed.
"I think I've done more than enough to prove that I'm not my father," Mary said. Although her heart hurt a little to here that her dad – a man that she hero-worshiped had hurt any of her boys.
Dean grunted. "You care about the ends rather than the means. That seems like a Samuel Campbell move if I've ever heard one."
Mary didn't want to hear anymore. She turned on the stereo.
Dean was surprised – that was his move. But he didn't know anything except crank it up and push a little harder on the gas.
III
"Minister, I must say that this is highly unprecedented and I protest the manner in which I was brought here," Dr. Joanne Hess said, sounding very annoyed at being summoned to the Ministry of Magic.
"Highly unprecedented is recruiting a 19-year-old wizard to work on your team in the United States – which I personally authorized – without my prior approval. And not just any 19-year-old, of course, my nephew." Hermione was not going to allow herself to be bullied by this woman.
"You're a Weasley, doesn't that make half the wizarding children in the country your nieces or nephews?" Doctor Hess shot back.
"Doctor Hess," Head Auror Oliphant reprimanded. She was his direct report, after all, and that was not how one spoke to the leader of the British wizarding world.
"I apologize," she backed off, without a hint of sincerity. Oliphant accepted it with a nod.
"Minister, why don't you fill me in on the current situation, as I clearly have not been consulted on any decisions made by Doctor Hess?"
He wasn't pleased. His relationship with the Minster had never been on solid ground (she couldn't seem to handle having anyone who wasn't her best friend in his position), and it had only deteriorated since she had found out about the American Hunter that had been tortured by one of their agents. He didn't care for Americans or Hunters in general, but he didn't understand why the Men of Letters seemed to be specifically targeting those who were close personal friends of the Minister of Magic.
"I have heard from a reliable source that my nephew, Edward Lupin, has been working with the Men of Letters stationed in the United States. This is quite unacceptable."
"The werewolf's child?" Oliphant asked, surprised. He didn't think that the Men of Letters would deign to work with someone so afflicted.
"The war hero's child," Hermione said sharply. "Remus Lupin died in service to this county at the Battle of Hogwarts. I don't seem to recall seeing you there at the time."
Euclid blushed. He, as a half-blood junior Auror at the time the war started, had fled the country after he had realized You-Know-Who had taken over the Ministry. The Minister had never brought it up before – he assumed out of politeness, and it wasn't as if they had all been friends with those in the center of the war. He had done what he needed to do to survive.
"Quite so," he said, realizing that speaking ill of the dead – even a dead werewolf, was a bad idea. "Doctor Hess, I believe it was your directive to get approval for every member of the team. This is highly irregular."
"My team has to have the flexibility to hire locals as needed," she said, thinking of one Mary Winchester who was also not on any official roster available to witches and wizards.
"Teddy isn't a local," Hermione pointed out.
"He has spent a great deal of time in the United States as of late, has he not? He ran into one of our operatives not that long ago. I assumed that he had relocated to the States to be closer to family," this was all said carefully and as if every single word had a purpose.
"Surely, he doesn't have American family?" Oliphant asked, clueless. "His mother was a Black – I suppose his grandfather was a Muggle-born, so perhaps…"
Hermione, of course, had not missed the double meaning in anything that Doctor Hess had said. Not only was she insinuating that she knew about Teddy's connection to Sam and Dean, but also if Hermione was not mistaken (and she almost never was) that the Men of Letters were aware that Teddy had been hunting. Which was illegal.
"And how would he have run into our operatives?" Neither woman was paying attention, but the man continued to speak as if anything he said had merit. "We didn't send any witches or wizards on the team – they're all squibs and Muggles, are they not?"
"Teddy was on a road trip for an extended period of time," Hermione said with equal measure and care to Doctor Hess' words. "However, at the request of his uncles and close family members, he cut his trip short. I'm sure that he ran into your agents while he was still on the road. He is no longer participating in that activity."
"Is that so?" Doctor Hess asked. "He had an agreement with Mr. Davies – he was lent something in a time of need and agreed to work to pay back his debt. Only temporarily, of course, but I'm sure that you expect the young man to follow through on any promises made. Failing to do so would reflect not only badly on his person, but also on the family that raised him."
Hermione was doing everything she possibly could to maintain her composure. What had Teddy gotten into? And why hadn't he told anyone about it? She swore the boy was getting to be more and more like Harry every day.
"I see. I still should have been made aware of the situation," was what she finally came up with.
"Understood. Is that all?" Doctor Hess asked.
Hermione frowned. "For now. You're dismissed."
Doctor Hess nodded and stood. So did the Head Auror, although he looked like he had whiplash, having not followed the conversation in the least. "Not you, Euclid," Hermione said sharply. "We are going to have to have a discussion on my expectations on the oversight of the Men of Letters. It seems some changes may be necessary."
The Head Auror sat back down and Doctor Hess huffed as she walked out. It seemed that they may need to move their plans forward. She just hoped they were ready – she wanted to be free of the yoke of the wizards. At any cost.
III
"What did you do to my wings?" Harry demanded when they were once again gathered in the conference room. Sam and Teddy had agreed to come with him, even though they were both openly angry with him for having left them in the room to play hero again. If the situation wasn't what it was, he was sure that he was in for quite the talking to.
"Didn't do a thing to your wings," Mick insisted. None of the heavily armed, heavily armored security guys were in the room. They were back to just the motley crew of Harry, Sam, and Teddy as well as Alton Morehead and Serena with Mick. Harry knew that the second that things went south that the small army would appear again as if out of nowhere. So, he kept his wits about him.
"I can't fly," Harry said.
The British Men of Letters looked at each other.
"The angels that just attacked might have put up something that prevents you from leaving," Morehead hypothesized.
Harry hadn't thought of that. A little bit of fear coursed through him. If whatever the angels did to prevent his escape was still there, it meant that they were likely to return shortly. He needed to get himself, Sam, and Teddy out of there as soon as possible. For the moment, however, there was no immediate threat, so he stayed seated in his char.
"Mr. Potter," Mick said, "I want to assure you that we are not your enemies. I know that the relationship between you and our organization was strained while you were Head Auror, but we have the same goals."
"That's Winchester," Sam corrected with a scowl. He was sick of people using the wrong last name for his brother. For forgetting who his brothers are – because he was under their protection now. And that was not something that should be taken lightly.
Mick looked surprised and shot a glance at Harry to see if that as right. Harry smirked.
"You heard him."
"Alright. Mr. Winchester, then," Mick said, although he appeared to be unsettled with the new name. "I have always been a big fan of yours. Not even mentioning your war record in keeping all of Great Britain safe, but you were also the best Head Auror that our country has ever seen. Do you know how much easier our jobs got when you cracked down on Muggle hate-crimes? It allowed us to focus our efforts on…"
"On slapping dirty magic on children?" Harry finished for him, just as unimpressed with this speech as he had been with the recruiting one Mick had given Mary not that long ago.
"Hey!" Teddy protested.
"Earth magic isn't dirty," Morehead said. "Just because you wizards can't do it doesn't mean it's inferior. The avenues it opens up are revolutionary. Performed at a high level, it has proven time and again to be the best against Supernatural creatures. Working with the magic of the Earth…"
"I don't care," Harry said, cutting the man off. "You used illegal magic on my godson."
"It's not illegal," Teddy muttered.
"Excuse me?" Harry asked. "Last I checked, it was very much against the law."
"Yeah, well, that was what, five years ago?" Teddy said. "Laws change."
"Is that true?" Harry looked at Sam. Sam shrugged.
"It's true," Serena said. "Just two years ago the Decriminalization of Earth Magic Act was passed by the Wizengamot. Minister Granger-Weasley gave it her seal of approval."
"No," Harry said.
"Yes," Mick disagreed. "The world has changed Mr. Pot – Winchester. We cooperate fully with both the DMLE and the government of Great Britain. You will find that all of our activities are legal and above board."
Harry highly doubted that, but he had no leg to stand on. He had no idea what would have led Hermione to agree to a law that, arguably, made witches and wizards less safe.
Judging that there was space for movement, Mick went on, "And Mr. Lupin has been invaluable in our research and has proven to be a strong member of the team. But he's still in training. We know that. I assure you – the safety of our people is of the utmost importance to us."
Harry felt something touch the wards of the compound, putting him on high alert. The angels should not have been able to return so fast. But before he could say anything, Serena was staring, wide-eyed at the computer monitors on the wall. They showed the exterior of the compound.
"Where's McGillicuddy?" She asked.
All of a sudden, a body (who they had to assume was McGillicuddy) was slammed in front of the camera.
"Aah!" Serena called out.
"What's happening?" Mick asked.
Sam ran forward to get a better look at the security footage. "Vampires," he breathed. Several vampires appeared on the screen and one of them used the dead security guard's hand to palm to make the outside gate open. There were shouts, beeping, and growling all at once.
"We gotta lock this place down, ASAP," Sam said urgently.
All the Men of Letters in the room looked frozen.
"Lock this place down now!" Sam shouted.
Finally, Mick sprang into action and got on the intercom. "Fall back," he said. "Secure all exits. Do not engage. Fall back now."
Harry tried to fly out again – but found himself blocked by whatever had stopped him from doing so earlier.
"I can't leave," he hissed to Sam.
"Can you apparate?" Sam asked in response, thinking quickly.
That hadn't even occurred to Harry. He pulled out his wand blade. 'Destination, determination, deliberation,' Harry thought to himself trying very hard not to focus on what the air felt like on his back as he flew but rather on the squeezing feeling that came with traveling the magical way.
He got to the other side of the room.
Sam grinned.
Harry got ready to go and fight, but Sam stopped him.
"Harry – wait," he called out. "Take me with you."
"You got your wa – weapon?" Harry corrected himself quickly, not sure if the Men of Letters knew that Sam was a wizard.
"Yeah. But I'm counting on you to conjure a machete."
Harry quickly did so and walked across the room and handed it to his brother.
"Thanks," Sam said.
Harry side-along apparated the two of them to meet the vampires that had gotten through the gates.
"You ever fight vampires before, Harry?"
"Not this kind," Harry returned, "but there's a first time for everything," three of them came running towards them.
With a swift, heavy, stroke, Sam beheaded the one in the front, while Harry came up close behind him and placed one hand on each of the two other's heads, filling their bodies with green light and burning out their eyes, making them fall to the ground, dead.
Sam looked impressed. "Nice."
"Not too bad yourself. Oh – another one incoming," Harry said, ready to smite it as well.
"No, don't," Sam protested as Harry raised his hand. "Just knock it out."
Harry didn't question it and did as he said before apparating all three of them back into the compound.
III
Ron stared at the space where the otter had been not sure if he should be excited or scared. If Hermione was ending this ruse something serious had happened. Even more serious than Sam Winchester getting tortured.
He was currently meeting with Luna and Charlie Bradbury at Luna's cottage that she kept in Norfolk. Some unexpected hiccoughs had occurred in their project.
"You alright there, Ron?" Charlie asked, casually. "Was that an otter? How cute!"
"Yeah. I'm just worried."
Luna patted him on the back. "The angels are causing trouble again," she said. Which would have sounded like complete nonsense to Ron not that long ago. He didn't know what it meant that he almost always understood what Luna was talking about these days. Maybe he was mad.
"You can hear them?"
Luna nodded gravely. "Yes. And they are not happy with Harry's return."
"Of course not," Ron sighed. "Can't have anything be easy, can we?"
"That wouldn't be very interesting, would it?" Charlie asked.
Ron groaned. "I wish things were significantly less interesting."
"Nah, you love it," Charlie teased lightly. "You'd be bored, otherwise."
Ron felt like he could use some boredom in his life. But that did not seem to be in the cards for him. But he wouldn't trade having Harry back for anything. "Maybe," he admitted out loud. "Since I have a feeling that Hermione will have a lot to add, why don't we talk through your moving plans while we wait for her."
Moving to the United States was proving to take longer and be a little trickier than any of them had anticipated. Partially because they wanted to keep it under the radar as much as possible.
They were discussing properties and what warding was legal in which states, when there was finally a knock on the door.
Ron opened it, knowing who it would be.
Hermione, of course, was standing there, looking exhausted.
"What's going on?" Ron asked urgently.
Hermione looked grim as he moved slightly out of the way to let her in. "Trouble," she said.
"I'll make the tea," Luna said immediately. "Have a seat," she called as she went to work in the kitchen.
Hermione removed her coat and scarf and sat down heavily on Luna's sofa. Ron sat down next to her.
Charlie was in an armchair across the way looked like she was about to explode.
"You're Hermione Granger?" She asked, excited.
Hermione looked up at her. "Yes. My apologies, how rude of me. You must be Charlie Bradbury. I've heard so much about you from Ron and Luna. And Sam told me that you're a genius."
"Me?" Charlie squeaked. "No. Not compared to you. Oh my Uhura, I can't believe I'm finally getting to meet you. I've read so much about you. You know, I don't think that Ron and Harry would have survived their first year at Hogwarts without you. You're so brave. And smart. And a just a badass bitch."
Hermione blushed, unused to this level of enthusiasm. "Thank you…I think," she said.
"Don't mind her," Luna said, coming back into the room, a tray with kettle and cups following behind her magically. "She's just American is all. They're an excitable people."
Charlie scoffed. "Come on, babe! Anyone would be excited to meet Hermione! I read your paper about the correlation of physical wand movements to spell efficacy, and I've been dying to talk to you about it. Do you think that it's more than just the physicality of the spell? The use of non-Western language also seems to play a factor, but you only briefly touched on the intersectionality of linguistics and physical movement."
Hermione beamed. "I wrote that ages ago before I was Minister of Magic, so I haven't had the time to develop it further, but I'd love to hear more about what you think about it. Of course, I've seen at least some of the technology that you've built using magical currents, and I'm kicking myself for not seeing the connections earlier. Could you tell me more about how…"
At that point, the conversation got too theoretical for Ron and he turned to Luna. "We've lost them both, haven't we?" He asked as Hermione and Charlie were seemingly competing to see who could be a bigger fan of the other.
"I prefer to think that they're just taking a detour," Luna said with a smile. "Charlie's got a crush on Hermione."
Ron looked at Luna with surprise. "Should I be worried? Because I think that Hermione might have one on her too."
"Well, we do know that Hermione likes gingers," Luna said thoughtfully but with no concern. "But I think that Charlie sees herself as more of the Gabrielle to Hermione's Xena, you know?"
Ron did not know but he was at least a little relieved that Luna was no longer making sense to him again. It made him question his sanity a little less.
"It's a television show, dear," Hermione said, turning from her conversation with Charlie. "You must excuse us, Charlie, wizards don't have much in the way of popular culture. I remember, when I was on holidays from Hogwarts, just spending entire Saturday mornings catching up on television I had missed."
Charlie frowned. "That's tragic," she agreed. "But I've been catching Luna up, in any case. And babe, you know that you're my Gabrielle. And you know my OTP is Xena/Gabrielle. No offense, Hermione."
Luna grinned. "I knew you loved me."
"Of course, I do!" Charlie agreed.
Ron shook his head. He accepted years ago that he wasn't going to be the most intelligent one in the room when his wife was around, but adding in Charlie and Luna, he felt like the village idiot.
"Hermione, you said that something happened with Harry and the Men of Letters?" He asked, trying to bring them all back to the matter at hand.
The temporary light mood vanished.
"Yes. I got a call from Dean – Teddy's been working with the Men of Letters. Harry was, understandably, upset about this and stormed into their compound. But Dean hasn't heard from him since. Luna – have you still been intercepting their messages?"
"They've blocked us," Charlie said. "That's why we wanted to talk to Ron today. I don't know how, but we've lost the signal. But we know that they've been experimenting with angelic magic."
"And with wizards," Hermione said, the implications making her stomach turn.
"Do you think they've kidnapped Harry?" Ron asked, alarmed, and ready to try and apparate across the Atlantic.
Hermione shook her head. "That's not what I'm worried about."
"What in the bloody hell are you worried about then?"
"If they find out that he's back…" Hermione's breath hitched. "And if they have been carrying out soul bond experiments on Teddy – I don't know what Harry will be willing to do to keep Teddy safe. We need to get over there. Soon."
"Merlin's saggy shorts," Ron said, thinking it through. "We need to get to the States, don't we?"
Hermione nodded solemnly.
III
In the conference room, Harry noticed that the hunter, Pierce, was now in the room. He briefly wondered where the man had been.
Sam secured the vampire to a chair.
"Doors locked?" The odd hunter asked.
"For now," Morehead responded.
"How'd they find us?" Mick asked, looking truly ruffled. "How'd they even know who we are?"
The vampire started laughing. "He told us. He's back to save us all. Our father."
Sam, of course, figured it out immediately. "Your father? The – the Alpha?"
"No, that's impossible," Serena frowned. "Our intel has him in – in Morocco. He's been there for at least a decade."
"Wrong," Sam said. "I met him five years ago in Hoople, North Dakota."
Harry loved the looks of surprise on the faces of the Men of Letters. That served them right for underestimating his brothers.
"You're dead. You're all dead," the vampire yelled with delight.
"Harry?" Sam asked, looking at his brother.
"Oh right," Harry moved forward and smote the vampire.
"Woah," Teddy said with wide eyes. "Did you just…"
"I took care of it," Harry said.
"Could you do that to the Alpha?" Mick asked him urgently.
"I don't know," Harry answered honestly. "Probably." He had killed the Alpha shape-shifter, after all, and he had been more human than an angel then, so he imagined that he could do the same for the Alpha Vampire. But he didn't want to advertise this.
"Probably isn't good enough," Morehead said. "Mick…"
"Your, uh, extermination plan, did you have contingencies for this?" Sam asked.
"No," Mick responded.
"Comm's still out. What about a scrying spell? If we can get a message to England – "
"No, we can't wait for backup," Sam said. "This place doesn't seem to be built for defense. How long do you think the doors will last?"
"Not long," Mick said sadly.
"Alright, we need to arm up," Sam started taking command. He was pretty sure that Harry could take care of anything that came through the door, but he was still only one person and if there were enough of them, he might get overwhelmed. "Everyone, weapons on the table. Blades, guns, spells…"
Every placed what they had on the table.
Or, at least, that's what they had thought, when Pierce moved from looking like he was going to place a gun-like device on the table to aiming it directly at Harry.
Before anyone could do anything, he had pulled the trigger, but it wasn't a bullet that came out. It was a delicate, silver, mesh net that covered Harry's entire body. As soon as it touched Harry's skin, he started yelling out in pain, before convulsing and falling to the ground.
"Harry!" Teddy shouted, running over to his godfather, as Sam tackled a grinning Pierce to the ground.
Teddy went to remove the net, when Mick shouted out, "No! Don't touch that." He pulled back. Sam had successfully knocked Pierce out and turned his attention back to the Men of Letters.
"What was that? And why can't Teddy touch it?"
Mick looked uneasy.
"GET IT OFF HIM!" Sam roared because although Harry didn't seem to be conscious, he was still writhing on the ground.
Morehead quickly moved to remove the net. Sam quickly secured Pierce before joining Teddy at Harry's side.
"What the hell was that?" He barked. Every part of Harry's body that had been in direct contact with the net had red welts. And he still wasn't awake. Sam patted his cheeks. No response.
"A weapon to contain angels," Morehead said. "I guess we know it works now."
Sam glared at him. "What is it?" he repeated.
Morehead looked to Mick, who gave a slight nod of approval.
"We created the net using holy fire. It's meant to incapacitate them, not kill them," he said the last part quickly because it looked as though Sam was ready to attack him. "He'll be fine."
Knowing what kind of power Harry had and seeing that he had not woken up again, Sam was not convinced.
"Yeah, well your non-deadly weapon has taken out our best chance of defeating all these vampires. Not to mention if the Alpha is actually on his way," Sam snapped. He looked at the weapons on the table. "This it? It's not enough."
"Most of our weapons are in the Armory, including the AVD," Mick said.
"What's an AVD?" Sam asked.
"Anti-vampire device," Teddy said. "It kills them with smoke. We could set it off in the vents."
Sam gave him a sidelong look. The kid was sharper than he had given him credit for.
"Will it kill the Alpha?" Mick asked.
"Kill?" Sam scoffed. "Doubt it. Hurt? Maybe. You got anything stronger?"
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"Come on, Mick," Serena said. "It could be our only chance to get out of this alive."
Mick slowly and reluctantly pulls a case up from under the table. He opened it and Sam peered inside and exhaled sharply. "Where'd you get this?"
"It was stolen from the demon Ramiel," Mick admitted.
Sam felt like he had been slapped. His mother had taken this gun.
"But it doesn't work," Mick said quickly, "We've no bullets."
"Right. Right." Sam thought quickly. If he had to, he would reveal that he was a wizard in order to get Teddy out of this situation alive, but if didn't seem quite that desperate yet. And who knew if there was another fox in the chicken coop. "Ok, we make some, then. Got the recipe from my buddy. We're gonna need holy oil, which I now know you have, sage, and myrrh. Do you have the other ingredients here?"
Mick nodded.
"Ok," Sam continued, nervous, hyper-aware that Harry was still out cold. Whatever they had done to him – it made him reluctant to share any of this knowledge with them. But there was no time to think about it too hard. "Make a tincture, coat a silver bullet. Use this spell. It'll mimic the original etchings."
"And that'll work?"
Sam scoffed. "It better. If not, not even prayer will save us now. You got something to get our resident angel back online? Because he's our only shot if this goes south."
"Water should help," Serena piped up. "To put out the holy fire."
"Get on that then. Where's the armory?"
"I know the way, Uncle Sam," Teddy said.
Sam hesitated. But only for a fraction of a second. 'Forgive me, Harry,' he prayed without realizing that's what he was doing.
He inclined his head to indicate that Teddy should follow him. "Get to work," he barked at the rest of the group. "Keep that door locked. And Mick?"
The man looked up at him.
"If another bad thing happens to my brother, you won't need to worry about the Alpha vampire. I will tear you apart with my bare hands."
He and Teddy went into the hallway.
III
Mary's phone started buzzing. She turned off the stereo to answer.
"Yes?"
Dean gave her a look and tried desperately to hear whoever was on the other side of the call. He couldn't make out anything meaningful.
"At the compound? Are you sure?"
More talking.
"I don't care. My boys are in there. You get your sorry ass…"
The person on the other end cut her off.
"I will be there as soon as possible." She hung up. "There are vampires attacking the compound. All their communication has been cut off. How much faster can you drive?"
Dean grinned grimly and applied more pressure to the gas.
III
When they left the room, Sam went to the right.
"Uncle Sam, the armory is this way," Teddy said, indicating that they should have gone straight.
"Yeah, we're not going to the armory."
Teddy looked at him with surprise but didn't question the decision. He figured he was in hot enough water as it was and he didn't want to waste any time away from Harry.
Sam quickly led them to a somewhat random and remote part of the compound and pulled out his wand.
"This is a blind spot for the security cameras," Sam explained. "I noticed it when we were watching the movements of some of the security team earlier."
"Ok," Teddy said. "But…"
"Accio AVD," Sam said. They stood there for a couple of moments. Sure enough, it was soon flying towards them.
"Careful Sam!" Teddy called out as his uncle caught it. Sam looked at him curiously as he held the device in his hand. "That doesn't hurt you?"
"Should it?"
"I can't touch it," Teddy admitted. "It burned my hand. And…when the smoke comes out of it – it hurts."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "It's not doing anything to me," he said. Then he frowned. "Why would you suggest it if it hurt you, Teddy?"
Teddy shrugged. "If it could save everyone else then a little pain just…"
"Edward Lupin!" Sam said sharply. "There is no acceptable amount of pain for you to suffer. We'll find another way."
"That's not what you, Dean, or Harry would say about yourselves," Teddy protested.
"Yeah, well, we're idiots," Sam said. "Come on, let's get back to the others."
"Wait!" Teddy said.
"Yes?"
"Could you summon my wand too?"
Sam gave Teddy an appraising look. Another smart decision. He was a little ashamed that he hadn't thought of it himself. "Accio Teddy's Wand," he said.
Sure enough, it was only a couple of seconds before the wand came rushing toward them. Teddy stuck his hand out to catch it. "You're good at that spell, Uncle Sam," he said as he clutched his wand to his person. He wouldn't be giving it up as easily the next time that the Men of Letters wanted him to train without it.
"Yeah, well, I've read everything there is to read on Harry – and I know that this spell saved his life."
"The portkey."
"Yes. Let's go."
"That was quick," Mick said when they got back to the conference room, surprised.
"We're fast," Sam brushed off. He threw the device over to Morehead and went over to Harry, who was still out cold.
"We tried dousing him in water," Serena said.
"Yeah, I can see that," Sam replied dryly. Some of the marks appeared to be fading. "You get anything out of this creep?" He asked looking to Pierce Moncrief, still tied to the chair where he had left him.
The door suddenly crashed open, blowing out and knocking Morehead to the ground. Within seconds the Alpha vampire was on him, and he stabbed him in the back with his claws. He dropped to the ground – dead.
"No!" Serena said. The Alpha approached her just as quickly and drained her of blood. He went over to Moncrief and freed him from his bonds.
"I see you found my hunter," the Alpha said smoothly to Mick. "Pierce and I have an arrangement. He keeps me off the radar, and I pay him very, very well."
During all of this, Sam had scrambled to his feet, pulled Teddy behind him, and stood squarely in front of Harry. He also grabbed the Colt from its resting place on the table. It might buy him just enough time to get out of here if need be.
"Alimony's a bitch," Moncrief said as he stood up and stretched off his bonds.
"I'm old. I like living quietly," the Alpha started to monologue, not paying any mind to Sam, focusing solely on the only living British Man of Letters in the room. "You've been making my life awfully noisy lately. You've killed so many of my children. I've seen your work. In England, I didn't get involved because, well, it's England. But America? Yes. America is my home. And it's time you get off my lawn."
The AVD had fallen to the floor when Morehead had died and so the Alpha stepped on it, crushing it into being useless.
Moncrief was smirking when a single gunshot ripped straight through his head. When he fell, Ketch was standing directly behind him. The Alpha was on him in an instant, claws wrapped around the British hunter's throat.
Ketch made choking sounds. Sam didn't feel all that bad about it. He was desperately trying to make eye contact with Mick, who seemed too transfixed on the vampire to pay him any mind.
"Here's what you're going to do," the Alpha said, his hand still tight on Ketch's throat. "We will bring your communications back online. You will make a call to your superiors in London. You'll admit defeat. You will tell them to cancel this American incursion." He squeezed a little tighter. "Then they'll watch as I devour you, live, onscreen. Hmm, yes, it's a bit messy, but sometimes one does have to make a point."
Mick finally met Sam's gaze during the speech, he made a slow movement to show that he had a bullet in his hand.
Sam cocked and pointed the gun. The Alpha turned his attention to him. "Sam," he said simply.
"Drop him," Sam ordered. The vampire let go of Ketch's neck and let the Brit fall to the ground, sputtering.
"Ah, my, my," the Alpha said, chuckling. "The Colt. Powerful weapon. Sam, you are aware that there are five creatures on this Earth that gun cannot kill. I'm one of them."
"If that were true, I'd be dead already," Sam smirked.
"That gun can't save you."
"Who said I was here to save all of us?" Sam asked. "My family and I, we kill vamps when they get out of line. And you've let us."
"I have many children, Sam," the Alpha said magnanimously. "What's one, two, here or there?"
"Exactly," Sam agreed. "So? Let me, my brother, and my nephew go. We'll walk away, go back to the way things were, to the way things are supposed to be. Hunters and vampires, cops and robbers, a fair fight."
"Is that young Harry behind you there? My, you've kept him hidden, haven't you? And the Brit?"
"You can have him," Sam said simply.
Harry started to stir a little behind him. He hoped that the Alpha didn't notice.
Mick did. "You bastard!" He shouted and lunged toward Sam. At the same time, Ketch finally regained enough of himself to try and tackle the vampire – who just knocked him straight to the ground. In the meantime, Sam briefly wrestled with Mick, who placed the bullet in his hand. Sam quickly loaded the gun and pointed it again.
The Alpha looked at him. "Sam, you and I both know that gun isn't loaded," he said condescendingly.
Sam laughed. "You sure?"
Realization dawned in the Alpha's eyes. "No." He laughed himself. "Clever, clever boy."
Sam fired the gun as the Alpha laughed one last time before impact. He collapsed to the ground – dead.
"Sam?" a groggy voice came from behind him.
Sam turned to his brother. "Harry! Are you alright?"
"Uh, yeah," he started struggling to his feet. Teddy and Sam were at his side, helping him up. "What was that?"
No one answered him. Sam gave him a look and guided him into a chair.
"I'm fine too," Ketch said. "And I took out the stragglers, in case you were worried," he drawled.
"I really wasn't," Sam replied. Although he was happy to hear that no other vampires would be finding their way inside.
"Did you – did you kill the Alpha Vampire?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Yeah, we don't all need your magical abilities to get the job done," Sam said. He focused his attention solely on Harry. "Are you ok? That thing you were attacked with – it was a net that they somehow imbued with holy fire."
"Well, it sure burned," Harry said. "My wings are a bit singed. I guess I understand why Castiel was such a little twat about it when my wards did that to him. It hurt." Harry did a full body shake off, healing himself. "Much better." He stretched his wings out behind him. There was a thunderclap and the whole room saw the outline of them.
"Woah," Teddy said.
Harry stood. "Well, I believe that concludes our business here," he said. "I trust you to leave my godson alone from now on." He nodded to Sam and Teddy and started to head out of the room, trusting that they would be behind him.
"Not so fast, Mr. Potter," Ketch said.
Harry's eyes flared green.
Ketch put his hands up in mock surrender. "You can't take the boy."
"Like hell, we can't," Sam said. "Come on, Teddy," he put his arm around Teddy's back and went to pull him out of the room.
Teddy shook him off. "No, Uncle Sam," he said quietly. "I have to stay."
"You are forbidden to stay," Harry growled. "Stop this nonsense, Teddy, let's go."
"If you take him, he will lose his magic," Ketch said matter-of-factly. "Have you forgotten that soul bond that you were in a tizzy about earlier? He is bound to us. For a year. If he goes against the terms of the contract, he will lose his magic."
"Teddy?" Harry asked.
He nodded miserably. "It's true, Harry. It's alright – I can help here."
Harry wasn't going to take this lying down, he rounded on Ketch and pulled on the lapels of the stupid suit he was wearing. "Release him. Now."
Ketch looked unimpressed. "I know that you are technically an American, Mr. Potter, but I wasn't under the impression that you had also picked up on your brothers' uncivilized ways. Unhand me."
"I will smite you," Harry said, raising his hand.
"If you do that, it will be the same as Teddy breaking his contract," Mick said quickly.
Harry paused and turned to Mick. "What?"
"If you kill the bonder of the spell, in this case, our Mr. Ketch, with the intention of freeing someone from their contract, it is seen as in violation. He will lose his magic. The agreement was quite ironclad."
"What if Ketch just died?" Sam asked, horrified. If Teddy's magic was resting on the smarmy asshole staying alive, that was not good news.
"That's different, of course," Ketch said, sounding bored, even though he was currently being held by one of the most powerful beings in the world. "It's all about the intent."
"That's not how magic works!" Harry protested.
"It's how Earth magic works," Ketch responded. "Now, I won't ask again. Unhand me."
Harry let him go. "Fine. Then I'll stay here with him. As long as he is under contract he is also under my protection."
"Harry, you can't," Sam said.
Harry turned to him.
"It's not safe. The angels already found you here once," he said. "And they aren't going to be caught off guard this time."
"Let them come."
"Harry…it's too big of a risk," Sam was using his full puppy eyes to try and convince his older brother that this was a bad idea.
"Do you have another base?" Harry demanded of Mick and Ketch. "We could go there. Until I can get Gabriel over here to ward this place properly."
"This is our headquarters in the States. While young Mr. Lupin may travel with our agents, this must be the base of operations," Mick said firmly.
"But if the angels know that he's here, he's in just as much danger!" Harry tried to argue.
"We can ward this place to keep out angels. All angels," Ketch said pointedly.
"If you could do that, why didn't you do so already?" Sam wanted to know.
Ketch shrugged. "Didn't seem necessary. The angels have locked themselves away – they haven't been a threat to us in quite some time."
Harry was at a loss. He couldn't – wouldn't leave Teddy to these vultures. He was a child. His child.
"Harry, I'm old enough to take care of myself," Teddy said as if he could read his mind. "Go. We don't know how much longer it will be before the angels come back. I want you to be safe."
"Teddy…"
"Harry, please. I can't lose you again," Teddy said sadly. "I – I'd die too."
Harry's heart clenched. He didn't believe that for a moment. He couldn't.
Sam wished desperately that he could pray to Harry right now to tell him that they would start researching ways to get Teddy out of his contract as soon as they left. They would find another way. He wouldn't have to be on his own for long. He tried to convey that all to Harry with eye contact, but Harry wasn't Dean, and their silent communication wasn't strong enough.
"I assure you, it's in our best interests to keep Mr. Lupin happy and healthy," Mick said.
"That's true," Ketch agreed. "If anything happened to him, we would no longer be protected from you."
"You are not safe from me now," Harry snapped.
"Harry, please. It's just a year. Then, I promise, if you ask me to, I'll never set foot in this country again," Teddy pleaded.
Harry snorted. He didn't believe that for a single moment.
"Harry, we can't have much more time," Sam begged.
"Fine," Harry spat. "We'll go. But I expect check-ins. Every day. And if you hurt one hair on his head…"
"Yes, yes, you'll smite us all," Ketch said.
Harry ignored him and went over to Teddy. "You sure, Teds?" He asked, looking his godson in the eyes.
"Yeah. I'm good, Harry," Teddy said.
Harry pulled him in a hug. "You call me the second one of these wankers tries to pull something."
"Yes, of course, I will," Teddy said.
"And you will keep your wand on you at all times," Sam added, looking at Ketch and Mick.
"He didn't have his wand?" Harry asked.
Sam shook his head. "They wanted to train him without it. But we don't have time to discuss it. You don't do that to him again, are we understood?" The threat was evident in his tone.
"Understood," Mick agreed immediately.
Ketch rolled his eyes. "Sure."
The warding alarms started going off. "Harry!" Sam yelled out. "Come on," he tugged on Harry's sleeve. "We've got to go."
"I'll distract them," Harry said. "You get those wards up, immediately."
"Yes, sir," Mick said automatically at the commanding voice.
Harry nodded. He side-along apparated him and Sam a safe distance from the compound, but not far, before letting out a flare of magic. "That should get their attention," Harry said.
They waited. It was only a matter of minutes.
"Abomination," they heard from behind them. They turned, where an angel stood, blade at the ready. "You can't outrun us," he threatened.
"Yeah. Well, I can outfly you," Harry countered. He had been careful to get beyond the wards the angels set earlier. Without waiting any longer, hoping that was enough time for Ketch and Mick to get the wards up, he took Sam and flew back to the Bunker.
AN – Teddy's in some deep shit, no?
From the comments from last chapter, I'm thinking this one is going to surprise a lot of you. Hopefully in a pleasant way. Sadly, Harry can't just yeet the Men of Letters into the sun as someone suggested, at least not yet. What fun would that be?
I'm just beginning to write the end of this section of the fic now. As seems traditional, the plan is for it to be 25 chapters total. But, in me style this is just a Part 1 of 2 for the sequel, lol. I will be going into Season 13. I will, however, be greatly departing from the plot of that season because I don't like the Apocalypse World storyline. I have something else brewing that I am quite excited about and have already been planting the seeds.
As always, thank you so much to everyone who has interacted with this story. I really appreciate it; it keeps me going. Also, again, a thank you to my HP Writer's Discord who helped me with the conversation between Charlie and Hermione and made my damn night.