Unfound

Chapter Forty

"You look terrible," Sirius said, not quite believing what he was seeing. The demon who had been so well-put-together and posh before was now a disaster. His normally perfectly ironed and starched designer suit was wrinkled and stained. He had dark circles under his eyes and appeared to have lost weight. Which Sirius didn't even think demons could do.

He also couldn't believe that he had left Harry at Hogwarts with that wanker of an angel for this. But the King of Hell had responded almost immediately to his feelers. A little too fast for comfort, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He felt a little guilty. But Harry should have known better than to think that Sirius could be side-lined. For weeks now Harry had been blowing him off and he couldn't stand it anymore.

"I'd say the same to you, but I can't stand to bring a handsome man down," Crowley said.

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Depends. Do you like it?"

"No," Sirius said. Although it wasn't that Crowley wasn't handsome. His vessel may even be Sirius' type. But there was just that. The demon underneath ruined everything.

"Well, then I'll have to up my game," he said.

"Why am I here, Crowley?" Sirius asked, regretting having made this trip.

"You called me, darling," Crowley responded. "I'm assuming this has something about getting back into Limbo. Did Do-Right send you to do his dirty work?"

That piqued Sirius' interest. That wasn't the excuse he had come up with for this meeting, but he'd always been fast on his feet. "Yes. But Harry doesn't know I'm here. He's pretty upset that his birth…" he stopped himself, "…that Mary is still stuck in Limbo. He's too proud to come to you, but I'm not."

"Interesting," Crowley said. "Well, it so happens that I think we can make a bit of an even exchange. First, though, I want you to come to the US with me."

"Why in the name of Merlin would I do that?"

"Because I'm currently doing more to protect your precious godson for a longer term than anyone has ever done for him before. And I'll throw in any information I have about Limbo in – to sweeten the pot, so to speak."

Whatever Sirius had been expecting to hear, it wasn't that. But that didn't mean that he was going to let Crowley think that he was too willing. He crossed his arms over his chest. "And why would I trust you? You've done nothing but lie to me since we met."

"How many times do I have to say this to people? Don't trust me. For the love that all things holy. I'm the King of Hell, only an idiot would trust me. And you're no moron, Sirius Black. But even you will see how what I'm about to offer you is mutually beneficial."

Sirius prickled. But his curiosity hadn't lessened.

"What are you doing?"

Crowley smiled. He had him. "Have you ever heard of the demon tablet?"

III

"I'm sorry, you're doing what now?" Dean asked, unable to believe what Harry had just said. He looked at Sam, who was looking just as concerned. So, he wasn't misunderstanding what he had just heard.

Harry sighed on the other end of the line. "I'm going to…"

"No, we heard you," Sam interrupted him. "We just can't believe that you're going to do something so astronomically stupid."

"It's not stupid, it's…"

"It's one of the dumbest plans I've ever heard," Dean said. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Of course not," Harry responded. "But…it's bad. The entire wizarding world is on the brink of collapse. This isn't just about Hermione's political career it's also giving people some hope."

"And you think that your returning from the dead is going to do that?"

There was a short, uncomfortable, silence.

"Yes," Harry finally said, not sounding too sure himself.

"And just how are you going to explain your resurrection? Gonna tell everyone you're an angel now too?"

"No," Harry said. "We're – uh, we're going to say that this was all the British Men of Letters' doing. That I was severely injured in the fight, and they took advantage. Made everyone think that I was dead when instead they really kept me sedated and brainwashed for the last six years. But I escaped and…"

"Wait, wait, wait," Sam said. "Harry, are you trying to convince the wizarding world that you're Captain America?" His tone left no room for interpretation of how he felt about that.

"I knew that sounded familiar!" Dean said. "You just ripped off the storyline from a Marvel flick?"

They couldn't see it, but both imagined that Harry turned bright red, starting with his ears. "More Bucky Barnes than Steve Rodgers…" Harry admitted.

"Great," Dean said. "Just great. This is your fault," he said, accusatorily to Sam.

"What? Why?"

"You're the one who insisted that we show him those movies. I would have stuck with DC, at least. He never would have gotten this idea from Batman vs. Superman."

"That's because Batman vs. Superman was stupid! And it didn't make any sense. If any of the characters had just taken a second to talk to each other then…"

"Uh, guys, I wasn't really calling to ask your opinion," Harry said. "I just – wanted you to know."

"And what does Cas think of all this?" Dean asked.

"I haven't asked him," Harry said. He paused for a moment. "Actually, I'm not even sure that I told him. You know, we're not friends. It's not like we're hanging out all the time."

"Awesome. If you and Cas aren't in cahoots, send him and the kid back here."

"Cahoots?" Harry asked. "And Jack is safe here. I took him flying earlier and…"

"You took him flying?" Dean asked. "Aren't you supposed to be training him? What use is flying?"

"Dean…"

"We are training him," Harry snapped. "But he's still a kid. We can't treat him like a soldier."

"Why not? That's how Dad raised us and we…"

"I don't think you need to finish that sentence," Harry warned. "Do you want Jack to turn out like you?"

"Why wouldn't I? I'm awesome."

Harry and Sam snorted at the same time.

Dean turned red. "Fine."

"Look, this is just a heads up," Harry said. "And I've really got to go. I'm going to London to tell my friends before the news breaks on Monday. I might be out of contact for a bit. They have this whole thing planned so I will probably be traveling around Europe quite a bit for the next couple of weeks. So, don't worry if I don't answer. I'm going to have a lot of eyes on me and people might ask questions if they see me on a mobile."

"I still don't like it," Dean said.

"I know. But – it's for the best. Also, um, enough of my powers are back that I can hear prayers again. So, if you need me, that's probably the best way to get in touch." He sounded very uncomfortable saying that. He sounded like he might say something more, but instead, he hung up.

"Crap," Dean said to Sam when they heard the click. "This ain't going to be good."

"No, probably not, but when is anything ever?" Sam asked. "I've been keeping up with the wizarding papers and as much as I hate to admit it and that it has to be Harry, I think he's right. This might be the rallying point that the magical world needs."

"It's just going to put another target on his back," Dean said. "And he doesn't need one of those."

"You're worried about him?"

"Of course! Aren't you? This – this is going to add to the perfect storm of issues for him. I think he was just beginning to believe that we wanted him, you know, as family, but this will split his attention again…"

Sam raised an eyebrow. He had no idea that Dean had even thought about these things. And, to his shame, he hadn't. At all. "You're worried about his…mental health?" Sam wanted to double-check.

Dean scowled. "That's not what I said."

"It is," Sam said. "He said Monday, right?" he asked, changing the topic.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"That only gives us a little bit of a window of time. Look, obviously the demons know that he's back. But maybe we can call their attention to us to give Harry some time to adjust."

"Yeah, I'd love to be able to distract the demons and figure out what the hell is going on, but we've been tryin' the whole time he's been gone and we've come up with nada."

"There's got to be something we're missing," Sam said.

"Yeah, a lot."

"No, come on, maybe we need to look at it differently. Wait here."

Dean put his hands up like what the hell else am I going to do? Sam dashed out of the room.

He was back in just a couple of minutes.

He had a large map of the United States and Canada that he lay out on top of the map table, which seemed a little redundant to Dean, but he didn't see anything. There was a spark in Sam's eyes that Dean knew meant that he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

"Ok, we've been dealing with two different sorts of demonic activity, right?" Sam asked.

Dean nodded.

Two types of kidnapping were occurring. There was the kind like the case they had just returned from, where there was a string of them from a specific geographic area. Often, it seemed like the demons were trying to gather some sort of critical mass of witches and wizards, before torturing them and draining their magic. Each case had one to two demons involved – sometimes, maybe three, but never more than that.

But there was a second type of kidnapping that Charlie and Luna had been following the leads on. This is where there was a larger group of demons – maybe ten to twelve, but they were trying to be stealthy. If it hadn't been for some classic demon signs, they would have missed them entirely. No missing persons. Just strong magical activity.

Sam pulled out a blue Sharpie and started circling cities. "These are the places where we've either heard of kidnappings or gone to try and stop them." Then he grabbed a red one and started circling a different set of cities. Dean recognized them as the ones that Luna and Charlie had been hitting up.

"What do you see?" Sam asked as he stepped back.

"We were in Boston," Dean said, trying to spot any patterns at all, "Luna and Charlie were in California."

"Yeah. And get this, when we were in Memphis. They were outside of Scottsdale." Sam made more circles on the map – this time in green.

"They're far apart from each other," Dean said.

"It's more than that. The majority of the cities that Luna and Charlie have been to are near Hell Gates."

Dean looked at the map with surprise. "You're right."

"I know. And there's more," Sam put a Men of Letters file on the table. "This file is about the Hell Gates all across the country. The Men of Letters tried to map them all. They are places where the separation between realms is the thinnest. But demons can access Hell easily enough. That's not where they're trying to go. But I'd bet a lot of money that they're trying to get to…"

"Limbo," Dean said.

"Exactly."

"Son-of-a-bitch," Dean said. "I hate it when Crowley is right."

"Yeah, me too. I think we've got to talk to him."

Dean wrinkled his face with distaste. He always felt dirty when they worked with the demon. "If you think it would help."

"He doesn't want them to get in there any more than we do," Sam said. "And if what he said about Cas being back allowing those gates to Limbo to be open again then…"

Dean sighed. "This is big."

"Yeah. But it's not all bad," Sam said.

"No? Letting Lucifer back into this world isn't all bad?"

"It's not just Lucifer," Sam said. "It's also Mom."

"Not this again," Dean groaned.

"Yes, this again. She's a survivor, Dean. I have to believe that she's alive."

Dean didn't say anything. He was sick of having this conversation.

"There's also something we haven't even considered," Sam continued. "It might not just be Mom who's alive there. Gabriel could have survived as well."

"No way man, you saw him. He'd been beaten to a friggin' pulp. No way Lucifer let him live."

"Lucifer isn't an idiot. If he thought Gabriel could help get him out at all, he wouldn't kill him. Torture him, sure, but he's resourceful and Gabriel is a resource. And if we can get Gabriel back then…"

"Harry can go back to normal," Dean finished.

"Exactly. And he can help us with Jack. Dean – if they're getting through to Limbo, we've got to figure out if we can follow them in."

"What? That's a suicide mission!"

"It's not. It may be our only chance."

Dean wanted to bang his head against the table. All of this was so theoretical there were too many what-ifs and maybes for him to be comfortable. But it was better than any plan that he had.

"Alright," he said. "Where do we start?"

Sam grinned.

III

Harry had not yet recovered from his conversation with the old DA. He was emotionally exhausted from a night of highs and lows. It had been a mostly joyful reunion. It had taken some convincing, but once everyone had realized that this wasn't some elaborate ruse or joke, the sheer relief of everyone in the room was overwhelming. It felt like, now that he was back, they didn't need to worry so much, which only added to Harry's stress.

Of course, they didn't tell them the whole truth of the matter. Harry was insistent that they didn't feed them the same lies they were going to give to the rest of the public, but he had been very upfront in letting them know that he couldn't and wouldn't tell them everything.

After the initial shock of it all had worn off, it was almost as if nothing had changed.

They had stayed up almost the entire night talking. Each person wanted to have an individual conversation with him which made things go on and on forever. While Harry appreciated all the love, having to face the grief of each and every one of his friends had exhausted him.

"We could try and postpone, if you'd like, mate," Ron said when he saw Harry on Sunday morning. "Another week may not hurt anything…you look terrible."

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said. "But I don't see the point. Let's rip off this band-aid."

"This should be easier, in any case," Ron said, not disagreeing. "Just the family. Just the children, really."

Harry nodded. He wondered if the other kids resented him in the way that Teddy seemed to these days. "It should make your life easier, in any case," he said. "Not having to keep this from Rosie and Hugo."

"That's not why we're having you do this."

"I know. It's just – " He stopped himself short.

"Just what?"

"I dunno." He didn't want to admit it aloud. That he was more scared of the kids than he was of the grownups. He knew what losing Sirius had done to him – and he had been far closer with the majority of the Weasley grandchildren than Sirius had been to him when he died. "Hey – did Sirius say if he was coming or not?"

Sirius had been spending most of his time with Andromeda. Apparently, while Harry was at Hogwarts, he wasn't as concerned about his safety. It annoyed Harry that he seemed to think that Sam and Dean were more of a threat to him than Castiel. But he tried his best not to hold the time that Sirius was spending with Andy against him. After two wars, there weren't many people left from Sirius' generation that he could talk to. His friends, in particular, had been decimated. Harry had no idea what that must feel like.

"He said that he couldn't make it," Ron said, shaking his head. "Which is good because I was a little worried about him and Castiel being in the same space."

"They'd've been fine," Harry said. "They survived being at Hogwarts together."

"Yeah. That's Hogwarts. It's a big place. I just didn't want any violence," Ron tried to explain. "All the kids are on edge. The whole world is, really, but some of their friends have come up missing. No one has been unaffected and we try to keep the Burrow as peaceful a place as possible."

"Yeah, I get it," Harry said. He sighed. "I wonder what's keeping him. I'll have to ask Andy – since they've been spending so much time together." He moved on thinking about how anxious Ron was to keep the Burrow a safe haven for the kids. "It's really been taking a toll on everyone, hasn't it?"

"Yeah. The wizarding population of Great Britain already took a big hit with two major wars within a generation of each other. To add this – I'm worried that our numbers will never recover."

At this moment, Harry was very glad that he hadn't shared any of the research he and Castiel had done with his friends. "Well, you and your family have done your part, at least," Harry joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Ron just shook his head.

"Alright – let's get over there. They're all gathered?"

"Yeah. Everyone's prepared their own kids. They know that something big is happening," Ron said.

"Will they even understand? I know that Teddy took to it alright, but he's on the older end. The ones that were toddlers will probably not even remember me."

"We made sure they didn't forget you, mate," Ron said. "They're going to be excited to have their Uncle Harry back. And none of them are toddlers anymore. Roxie is the youngest and she just finished her first year."

That blew Harry's mind. The last time he had seen Roxanne she hadn't even been old enough for nursery school.

"Ok, I'm ready."

They apparated to the Burrow.

Just like everything that involved Hermione, there was a well-thought-out plan for how the day was going to go. Of course, Harry expected that to have gone out the window almost immediately. Because Hermione's planning abilities never stood a chance against the chaos that was the Weasley family.

"They're all in the kitchen," Ron said as they went in the front door, without knocking. "Just – maybe stand just outside for a second?"

Harry nodded, a lump in his throat. Teddy appeared next to him, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Oh! Teddy, you startled me," he said.

"Yeah. You ready?" He asked with some sympathy.

"As I'll ever be, I guess. How are they?"

Teddy smiled. "They thought my return was the big surprise. At least, the younger ones did. Victoire and Molly know something else is up. They tried to get me to tell them, but I told them my lips were sealed." He made the gesture as if he were zippering them shut and throwing out the key. "You're going to give them all quite the shock."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Harry said. "Ted," he started. "I don't think – I don't think I've ever apologized to you."

Teddy looked at him with a blank face.

"What happened – all those years ago, leaving you like that? I didn't want to…but I know that it hurt you. I'm reminded a lot from spending time with Sirius just how painful it was and…"

"You don't need to apologize," Teddy said. "I forgave you a long time ago."

Harry didn't believe that.

"Alright, well here goes nothing."

III

Castiel had been reluctant to let Jack go to the Burrow without him. And it wasn't so much that he trusted Ted Lupin to watch out for him that had made him agree, but more than he thought that he was finally getting somewhere with his research.

He had spent hours reading – he had forgotten how beautiful the ancient Egyptian language had been. And the pure artistic value of the writing was unmatched by any of Earth's modern languages.

It was all fascinating but much of it was useless.

But, finally, in a back corner of the library, he had found scrolls that contained the writings of the eldest generation of wizards. Those who had first chosen to fall and be human. How foolish Castiel had thought they were. He had seen them as traitors and abominations. Now he had to wonder just how brainwashed he had been over the year by Naomi. He wondered how different his life might have been if he had followed that same path back then. Of course, it would have been long over, but…

It didn't matter.

These texts – the ones he had found, were about Death.

He remembered the ancient Egyptian funerary text – The Book of the Dead, as they had mistranslated it into English. He, who could read true ancient Egyptian what it really was. The Book of Coming Forth by Day. It was a guide to the afterlife. But this first generation of angels turned wizards – they had known what came after death.

These scrolls were filled with ideas of what magic they might need when they died. Not the Earthly magic that was created nor the Angelic grace magic that they had done before they had fallen.

Death seemed endlessly fascinating. Cas understood. He hadn't known what to expect upon dying either. Although he was more practiced at it now.

It was luck, that when he was putting aside one scroll to look at the next that he noticed the spell on the papyrus.

It was a simple disguising spell. Castiel was able to break it without much thought.

Below the text written in Ancient Egyptian, was Enochian.

But not just any angel wrote the hidden text. If Castiel wasn't mistaken – this had been written by Gabriel himself.

It was a reminder. Probably just for himself. It read, "Life and Death are one and the same," it read. "They are not naturally in opposition to each other. The Angel of Death is not a harbinger of destruction unless the Angel of Life…" There was no more writing. The rest of the papyrus had been ripped away.

Castiel's eyes went wide. That threw every theory he had out the window. He could feel his own world crumbling around him.

III

"You're sure?" Sam asked from the passenger side seat in the Impala. He was on the phone with Charlie. It sounded like she was giving him an earful for that question. "Of course, I'm not questioning you – it's just…feels too easy." Sam had to hold the phone slightly away from his ear to bring down the volume. "Alright, alright, we're on it," he said. "I know it wasn't easy. Yeah – you take care as well."

"What'd she say?"

"They think they know the next place where demons will be attempting to break through to Limbo," he said. After he had come up with his theory, he had run it past Luna and Charlie. Charlie had taken to it like a duck in water, writing an algorithm with the information that Sam had given her to predict where the demons would go next.

"Already?"

"Yeah. It's between two different places. They're going to one. We're about…four hours out from the other if you get off at the next exit and start heading south."

"Well, I guess we were due for some luck soon," Dean said. "Although I thought getting Cas back was going to set us back for a good, long time."

"Apparently not. Maybe because it was so short-lived. Ok, you ready for this?"

"Ready…" Dean took his eyes off the road to look at his brother, "who do you think I am?"

"I mean for the magical part of this. Dean – we don't want to engage the demons. We want to learn. Remember, this is an information-gathering mission."

"Yeah, yeah, you've already said that like ten times," Dean said.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna keep saying it until I think that you've actually heard it."

"What do you want me to do? Pinky swear? I get it. If everything goes to plan, we won't have to fight any of the demons. But since when have any of our plans gone right?"

Sam sighed. "Just – follow my lead, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah."

III

Ketch watched as the Impala left the Bunker. He had been doing surveillance on the place for a little over a week now. It wasn't glamorous but he was a professional and boredom wouldn't stop him from completing the task that he'd been paid handsomely for.

As far as he could tell, only Sam and Dean were there.

Which was strange because he was pretty sure that they had custody of the Nephilim. But he hadn't seen hide, hair, or feather from the kid. Their angel and brother were also missing. There was a slight risk that all three of those men were in the Bunker, hiding away, but that seemed unlikely. Everyone needed fresh air.

He was ready to take the calculated risk of entering the Bunker. He had tested the wards a couple of times since he had been doing surveillance. They had changed "the locks" on the wards for magical people and supernatural creatures (demons and angels specifically) but they hadn't bothered to change any of the non-magical ways of getting in.

Amateurs, Ketch thought. Did they forget that their young Mr. Lupin had spilled on every way that he knew to get into their little clubhouse? Did they not care – thinking that all the British Men of Letters were dead? It was sloppy, in any case.

Knowing what protection was already there made it easy enough for him to disable a couple of the lesser wards and sneak in through the garage.

The first thing he needed to do was make sure that he was alone. With one hand he held his gun out in front of him, his second hand stationed on the anti-magic device in his belt. Quickly and quietly, he did a sweep of the entire place.

No one.

Alright, onto the second step. Just a little snooping. Ketch methodically worked his way through the rooms of the Bunker for the second time trying to figure out just how much the Winchesters knew. The goal of this was to ultimately find the illusive Mr. Potter, but there was nothing here to suggest where the wizard-turned-Angel-of-Death may be. Nor was there any evidence that he had been here recently. Most intriguing, Ketch thought. He remembered Mary, one drunken evening, saying that sometimes her boys didn't get along. He wondered if there had been a falling out of sorts between the brothers.

Papers, books, and maps revealed that Sam and Dean knew that demons were trying to make their way back into Limbo. Ketch had suspected as much, but he had not actually been made privy to the information from Asmodeus. He smirked. Nothing like infiltrating enemy territory to get dirt on his employer.

Lastly, he made his way down to the computer room. The system was impressive – a mix of technology and magic to protect this most sacred of places. It must have taken a genius to set it all up. Ketch would place his bets on the illustrious Ms. Bradbury. And Ms. Bradbury was good but she hadn't planned for an attack from the inside. He made a change here and there – small enough that it should go unnoticed by the current occupants of the Bunker, but big enough that should Asmodeus decide that he wanted to descend from his throne and take care of this problem himself, he'd be able to get in.

That was it. For Asmodeus, at least.

Ketch always needed to look out for number one. He set up surveillance, careful to hide the devices in different places than the last bugs that had been placed here were. Sam and Dean weren't expecting them, so he was hoping that these might last a bit longer than those previously set up. Knowledge was power.

As easily as he had gotten in, he got out, leaving no evidence of his visit.

III

"Oh, those are demons alright," Sam said, pulling the binoculars he had been looking through down.

"Lemme see," Dean said, snatching them out of Sam's hands. Outside of the innocuous-looking office building, there were at least four security guards. "Yeah, that's a lot of security for a company that sells textbooks."

"Plus, I saw one of them flash their eyes," Sam said, annoyed that Dean hadn't just taken his word for it.

"Alright. So, we're surveilling. We have seen they are here – now do you want to get up a little closer?"

"And how do you purpose we do that?" Sam asked.

"The way we always do. Stealthily. We can see if there is a back door or something that we can sneak through."

"We could," Sam said. "Or, we could go into the building next door and try to look through the windows. More distance. Less danger of being caught."

Dean considered. "Fine. But do you wanna call Charlie and let her know that we've found the next place so that they can stop looking? I don't see the point of having two teams of us in danger."

"Sure," Sam said.

"Great," Dean got out of the car.

"Hey – where are you going?" Sam hissed.

Dean went around to the passenger side of the car. "I'm going to go check the place out first – I'll meet you in there. Fourth floor."

"That – " Dean didn't stay long enough for Sam to argue with him. Sam did his best to swallow his annoyance and pulled out his phone to call Charlie.

Dean double-checked to make sure that he had their demon-killing knife easily accessible. Swiftly, he made his way to the adjoining building, and flashed Sam a thumbs-up, before entering.

Of course, he wasn't going to go up to the fourth floor. If Sam thought that he had forgotten about the little plan that he had purposed – using himself as bait, he wasn't the smart Winchester after all. He knew his brother too well to know that he'd let it go. Especially since he hadn't mentioned it again, after Dean had told him how stupid he thought it was.

Moving quickly, knowing that the phone call wouldn't last very long, Dean made his way to the back of the building and exited through a side entrance.

He watched the demon security guards for a moment (he had figured out their pattern while they had been watching the building) and snuck into the back of the building.

He could hear voices coming from a floor or two up from him so he carefully found the staircase and started climbing.

"It's not enough!" One of them was shouting when he made it to the same floor as the demons.

There were four of them in a conference room. The outside of the room was all windows with nothing stopping someone from the office building next door from looking in. Dean would have to remember to give Sam credit for that idea later. They certainly had the set up for a spell. The one who was yelling had poured a glowing substance into a bowl.

"It's all we got," another growled. "And Asmodeus won't stand for another failure. You heard what happened to the team that went to Tampa."

"I told you we should have tried to find Crowley instead of taking a chance on someone new," a third one grumbled.

"Crowley is used up. No one's seen him in weeks."

"Focus!" The first one said. "There's no point in talking about Crowley. I'm pretty sure he's dead. Just – finish the spell," he said threatening the fourth person in the room.

It was then that Dean realized that there were only three demons in the room. The fourth must be a human. A witch. Of the demon variety. He looked scared and not-at-all sure of himself.

He began to chant, hands out in front of him.

A thin, glowing line appeared in midair.

It took all of Dean's training for him not to gasp or swear. He quickly moved himself to be hidden by the wall just outside of the room before sneaking a peek again.

The witch had a look of barely controlled concentration on his face. There may have been sweat on his brow.

Dean had a feeling that if that concentration was broken that the spell would end. He closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and ran into the room, gun a blazin'.

He shot the witch first. The man fell to the ground. He went to run and knock over the bowl, stabbing one of the three demons on his way. Demon number one, taken care of, Dean thought.

The demon that he had named, Demon Number Two, came barreling at him. This one was strong. She kneed him in the crotch. He rolled away on the floor, bouncing back on his feet to keep fighting. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone start to come through the portal, even though it was blinking. "NO!" He yelled.

He quickly dodged Demon Number Two's attack to go for the portal to try and stop whatever was coming through from being able to do so.

Demon Number Three tried to step in his way, but she wasn't fast enough, so Dean made it to the person that had just stepped through and stabbed her in the stomach with the demon blade.

Only, it wasn't a person. Whatever she was, sneered at Dean and pulled the blade out of her stomach. Her eyes glowed purple.

"What the…"

"Dean!"

Sam must have caught up with him.

The portal closed behind this new kind of demon.

"Here!" Demon Number Three yelled and threw something at the newly arrived occupant of the room.

Dean dove for the demon knife, that had, of course, skittered across the floor. He got it off the floor and made his way over to Sam.

"Go!" He yelled.

Sam didn't need to be told twice. He apparated them out of there to right by the Impala.

"What the hell, Dean?" Sam shouted. "We had a plan!"

"Get in the car," Dean said, having a bad feeling about this whole situation.

"No, we're gonna talk about it and…"

The thing that had come out of the portal appeared just behind them, with a large crack.

"Did she just…"

"Get in the car, Sam," Dean said, he was already in and fumbling with the keys.

Sam didn't need to be told twice.

Dean shot at the thing while Sam scrambled into the Impala.

The thing grinned and everywhere the bullets struck glowed purple before she fell to the ground.

Dean didn't take the time to notice anything else. He slammed his foot down on the pedal as quickly as possible and peeled out of there. In his rear-view mirror, he could see that they weren't being pursued. Instead, the thing just gave him a disturbing smile and waived. He didn't take the time to think about it. He got them the hell out.

III

"What the fuck was that?" Sam asked once they were a far enough distance away that Dean felt like he could drive normally.

"I don't know," Dean said. "But it wasn't good."

"Why'd you go in there without me man?"

"You know why," Dean said tersely.

"No, I don't. We had a plan, Dean. And yeah, those don't always work so well for us, but we still do them together. You can't just go switching things up like that."

"Oh, so you weren't going to offer yourself up as demon fodder just to find out what they are up to?"

Sam threw his hands up in the air. "You already told me that you thought that was a stupid idea."

"Yeah. I did – but you were gonna do it anyway, weren't you?"

"Dean – it's the only way. They're taking witches and wizards. Maybe, if I was on the inside…"

"Maybe, if you were on the inside, you'd get your magic drained out of you until you died. You're not Harry, Sam. You can't survive that procedure."

"Not everyone has turned up dead," Sam argued.

"No one has turned up alive. Other than the ones that we've saved. God – what do I have to do to convince the both of you to just stay friggin' alive?"

"The same thing we have to do for you."

"Well, I'm sick of it," Dean said angrily.

"Join the club," Sam said. "And it doesn't matter what I had planned. Because now we know don't we?"

"Know what?"

"What they're up to? That thing came out of a portal, Dean."

"It did. And it was a demon."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, sounding a little desperate.

"Do you think I don't know what a demon looks like? It wasn't like any demon we've ever seen before. Its eyes – they went purple."

Sam's stomach sank. "I was thinking that it might be some kind of crossroads demon, the way it was able to teleport after us. Could it have just been an unusual shade of red?"

"No!" Dean said. "I know what a red-eyed demon looks like and that wasn't it. And it didn't teleport. You heard that sound, you know what that means."

Sam didn't want to believe it. "You heard it too?"

"Did I – what is wrong with you?"

"It's just – it's impossible right?"

"I sure as hell hope so. But we need to get back to the Bunker. Like now."

"Yeah, I figured that's where we were heading," Sam said. "It didn't die when you stabbed it?"

"No," Dean said. "It pulled it out."

"Well – maybe it's another class of demon. The blade didn't kill Abaddon either."

They were thinking the same thing, but neither one of them was willing to admit it.

"There's something else I've gotta tell you," Dean said. His anger at Sam was dissipating and being replaced by utter and complete dread, thinking through what he had just seen and heard.

Sam waited.

"Those demons. They're working for Asmodeus."

"We knew that," Sam said.

"No. Like they are working with Asmodeus. Here. They talked about him and what he had done to his other followers. He's back from Limbo."

"Do you know that for a fact?"

"Do I – I'm not just pulling at straws here, Sam. One of them was saying that they should've gone with Crowley instead. Asmodeus is here."

"Fuck," Sam said, running a hand through his hair. "That's bad."

"No kidding."

"We've got to warn Harry!" Sam said.

"Call him," Dean said, agreeing.

Sam didn't need to be told twice. The phone started ringing.

And it rang. And rang.

Dean swore as it went to voicemail.

"Try Ginny," he said.

Sam did. Same thing. He didn't need Dean to prompt him to call anyone else with a phone. None of them answered.

"Try Cas," Dean said.

Sam was already on it.

"Hello?"

"Oh, Cas, thank god," Sam said. "We need to talk to Harry. Now."

"Harry's not here," Cas said. "He's in London."

"You didn't go with him?" Dean demanded.

"No. I didn't see the point. I had to bring Jack back to Hogwarts, in any case. It's not safe for him to be out of the castle's wards for too long. I actually thought that the visit yesterday at the Burrow was a bit much but…"

"Cas, no time for that. Can you get to Harry quickly?"

"No," he said. "Why?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other. This wasn't news that they wanted to share over the phone if it wasn't absolutely necessary. "Just – as soon as he's back, tell him to call us," Sam said.

"What's wrong? Why do you need to talk to him?"

"We'll tell you about it later, Cas," Dean said and Sam hung up the phone.

"What now?" Sam asked.

"I dunno," Dean said. "But if Asmodeus is back, you know that means that he's going to go after Harry again. He doesn't seem the type to give up on something like that. He'll want Jack too."

III

"Thank you all for your patience," Hermione said to a room of reporters. Cameras snapped left and right. "I know that these are very trying times." She took a deep breath. This was it. They had been scheming for a month. She hoped that it would be enough. She hoped that it wouldn't hurt Harry too badly. "I, however, have a development that I am very excited to share with you all. As you know, we recently disbanded the organization known as the Men of Letters. We've shared some of the reasons drastic action was taken, however, we had some intel that we didn't want to share with the public until we were absolutely sure it was true…"

Harry stopped listening from backstage. He had heard Hermione practice this speech over and over again and he could practically recite it. He felt vibrating in his pocket and pulled out his mobile to see who was calling him now, of all times. It was Sam. He put the phone back in his pocket, he didn't have time for it. He could hear his brother praying to him as well. Well, that was terrible timing. He turned off his angel radio.

To calm himself, he thought back on the day before. The reunion with his niece and nephews had been one of the sweetest he had experienced so far in the back-from-the-dead tour he'd been doing. Many of them had cried tears of joy and he didn't realize how much he had missed them all. And he shed some tears of his own – he couldn't believe how much he had missed out on.

"Harry, that's your cue," Ginny said. She had been waiting backstage with him. Ron was standing proudly behind Hermione.

"Oh, right," he had completely missed it. He took a deep breath and just…stood there.

"Harry," Ginny prompted.

"I know, I know," he said. At that moment, he really wished that Sam and Dean were there. What was he thinking? This was probably the worst idea ever. It was going to make his life so much more difficult. What if they wanted him to work again? He had to go back to the US soon – what would people think? What would they write? Would they try to follow him?

All the questions roared in his head and he swallowed nervously.

"Go," Ginny said.

He nodded. It was too late now. He plastered an all-too-familiar fake smile on his face and walked out.

He had been expecting an explosion of light as the flashes from cameras went off. He had been expecting about a hundred questions at once. He had expected…well, anything but this.

Utter and complete silence. No one moved. It almost seemed like no one was breathing. He looked to Hermione, who just shrugged and pointed toward the microphone. This was going out over wizarding wireless so he knew that all of Great Britain, and possibly the entire world, could hear this.

"Uh – hello," he said.

Still nothing.

He stood up a little straighter and adjusted his robes. (He had forgotten just how bulky wizarding clothes were and he missed his Winchester wardrobe of flannels and jeans.) "Thank you, Minister Granger-Weasley," he said, just as he had rehearsed, falling back on what he had practiced while everything else seemed so off. "I – I am very happy to be back. To have the support of my family and friends. I am sorry for the pain that my absence has caused," that last sentence hadn't been in the pre-written speech, but he felt compelled to say it nonetheless. "I know that we are facing very dark and dangerous times. While I was recovering, Hermione caught me up on what is happening."

There was still not a single sound in the room. His voice was echoing a bit through the microphone. He did his best not to let his voice waiver.

"I share in your horror and your grief over these most recent attacks. We are facing an unprecedented threat. Not just to our people but to our very way of life. But I know the strength of the people of this country. I know the strength of the entire wizarding world. And I'm letting you know," he took a breath, "I will personally not rest until we've caught, punished, and exterminated the threat."

The silence continued for another two seconds. Then, thunderous applause. Stomping and whopping and hollering.

Harry was stunned. Hermione came up to his side and grabbed his hand. "Thank you," she mouthed.

Ron was soon on his other side and took his other hand. The three of them stood there, as the lights finally started going off, standing together, strong. As they always had.

Happy Friday! I am very excited to post this chapter. It's really the beginning of the end and I can't believe we're finally here. I hope y'all are following the growth of these characters because, even though it's me writing them, I am so proud of them (especially Dean) in this chapter.

I've been tickled about the whole Captain America rip off conversation ever since I wrote it. It's actually far closer to what happened to Solider Boy than Captain America or Bucky Barnes, but since he's based on those, and it would be too meta to bring Solider Boy in here, that's what I went with. Dean's opposition to the MCU is my little wink and a nod to the fact that the CW is part of the DC universe. I also have probably thought way too hard about the fact that Harry identifies more with Bucky than Steve, even though, personally, I think that he's much more of a Steve.

I just started writing chapter 47 and my goal is to completely finish writing this fic by the end of the month. Thank you so, so much to those of you who have stuck with me through all of this – both people reading as I post and hopefully to those who read it when it is all complete. I know this isn't the best fic in the world, but I love it, flaws and all, and I so appreciate y'all who have joined me in this little world.

See you next week!