Dean tears his eyes from the rearview mirror to focus back on the road, clenching his fists against the wheel. The brats finally went to sleep a few miles back. He can't help glancing at them in the mirror once more, looking at the way they're curled around each other in the backseat of his car. Who are these kids?
His attention is drawn to his brother as Sam reaches forward and turns the radio down, causing Queen to fade into the background.
"Are we gonna talk about this?"
Resisting the urge to groan, he throws an annoyed look at Sammy. "What's there to talk about?" Dean forces himself to keep his eyes on the road. He can feel his brother's gaze boring into the side of his head.
"Dean!"
He shushes Sam with a hiss, glaring before tossing a look over his shoulder to make sure their extra passengers are still asleep. The kids are practically on top of each other, the girl letting out soft snores.
"Don't be so loud."
"Dean, we have to talk about this."
"There's nothing to talk about. Not yet, anyway."
"You seriously don't think they're Dad's?" Sam's voice holds obvious disbelief at Dean's continuous denial.
"Look, Sammy, all we know for sure right now is that they're human and claim to be Dad's kids."
"Have you looked at Harry, Dean? He could be your twin if you were the same age! Scrap the glasses and the scar and that's Dean the second. And even you can't deny the fact that Lea's so suspicious and prickly that she could have been raised by Dad himself."
"We will discuss this when there's proof to back them up." Dean speaks through his gritted teeth, pressing down harder on the accelerator. Sam huffs and turns to face the passenger window.
Sammy can pout all he wants, but he's not going to change Dean's mind. He'd done the tests; the kids aren't demons or shifters or any other creature he can think of. But just because they're human, doesn't mean they're telling the truth. So, Dean will get them to Bobby's and they'll find a way to test their blood or whatever. If it turns out that they're Winchesters, they'll deal with it.
Several minutes later, Sam's breathing evens out. Glancing at the three kids (because Sam is always going to be his kid brother, no matter how tall he gets), he eases the volume of the radio back up. The Beatles have replaced Queen on the station for the moment, the lyrics of 'Blackbird' filling the quiet car.
Releasing a breath, Dean relaxes back into his seat. Everything is fine. They're all in the car and they're all safe. Of course, now he has to figure out how to raise two British runaways, but could that really be any harder than hunting?
Lea releases a muffled groaning, readjusting in her sleep. Dean watches in the mirror as Harry scrunches his nose and shifts, shoving his sister slightly. The twins settle after another moment.
Who is he kidding? Those two definitely look like Winchesters. If they act anything like him and Sam then Dean will be gray before he's thirty-five. But he can't exactly kick them to the curb, can he? They're just kids. Kids who look younger and smaller than they are, that were willingly given up by their aunt, who lived in a cupboard . Shit, it sounds like they almost would have been better off raised by their dad.
Dean takes a deep breath, attempting to lower his rising blood pressure.
Yeah, there's no chance that he can send them away.
-
Lea jerks awake to the slamming of a car door. Her hand is already grasping for her wand and coming up empty. The sound of her brother grunting causes her to pause, blinking blearily as she tries to wake fully.
"Rise and shine!" The car door beside her opening startles her. It takes a moment to register the elder Winchester looking down at her. "Get out my car."
Lea scowls, brain finally catching up to her surroundings. Snatching her pack from the floor, she shoves Harry's shoulder and climbs out.
"Wha's happenin'?" Her twin's question is voiced through a wide yawn as he stretches in the backseat.
"It's time to draw some blood, that's what." Dean's words cause Harry to flinch. Lea glares at their older brother, trying not to take notice of her twin subconsciously brushing his fingers over the arm where Pettigrew stole his blood hardly a month ago.
Reaching back into the car, she grabs Harry's bag as well. He climbs out the vehicle a moment later, stretching upward until Lea hears a faint 'pop' from his back.
"Let's move it." Dean turns and marches toward a house that Lea hadn't noticed before. Looking around, she finds that they're in a car lot of some sort. Though, not many of the cars look drivable. She and Harry share a look. She raises her brows and he shrugs in reason. With a sigh, the two follow after their newfound brother.
Sam is already waiting inside for them, standing beside an older man that stares at Lea and her twin brother suspiciously. Lea suppresses a shiver as they enter the house, feeling something similar to wards covering the home.
"Bobby, meet Harold and Azalea Potter." Dean jerks his head toward his younger siblings before glancing back at them. "Meet Bobby."
"Nice to meet you, sir." Harry steps forward, offering a hand. Bobby stares at him for a moment before slowly shaking his hand. He turns his gaze to Lea as Harry steps back.
"It's Lea, not Azalea." Her voice is firm as she tilts her chin up, maintaining eye contact with the wary bloke. "We're just here for Sam to sign some papers."
The two stare at one another for another moment before Bobby nods and turns his attention back to Dean. "You weren't lying. He looks like John and she acts like him."
"Told ya." Their brother smirks as he walks further into the house. He enters a doorway, disappearing only to reappear with a beer a moment later. "You got someone that can do a blood test?"
"'Course." Bobby's voice is gruff, looking offended at Dean's lack of faith. He looks back at the twins. "You two queasy with blood?"
Lea fails at suppressing a snort. "Being scared of a little blood would have made life much harder. You got a knife? And a vial to put it in?"
The men stare at her for a moment, blinking. "You kids wait in the kitchen and I'll be back." Bobby lumbers off further into the house.
"This way." Sam nods, gesturing toward the room Dean had entered before. Harry and Lea take seats at the small table. They're hardly settled in their seats when Bobby reappears. He sets two knives and six glass vials on the table.
"Three vials each."
Harry furrows his brows, causing Lea to voice the question he must have. "How much blood does it take to prove parentage?"
The Winchester brothers stare at Bobby in question as well as he answers, nodding toward the knives. "Three vials worth. Now, do you need one of us to do it?"
"No." The twins speak in tandem, answering before Bobby is able to finish the question. Lea knocks her foot against Harry's under the table, trying to offer him a bit of comfort. She's sure that images of that wretched graveyard must be going through his mind with the thought of someone cutting into his arm to take his blood.
She rolls up her right sleeve and snags one of the knives, holding the handle out to her twin. Harry stares at her blankly.
"I'm not slitting my own wrist, Harry." She states as if it's the most obvious answer to his unasked question. With a sigh, Harry takes the blade in one hand and Lea's wrist in the other. He flicks his eyes up to hers.
"You sure?"
Lea rolls her eyes. "Can't be any worse than the snake or Vernon."
Her brother frowns at the mention of both her near death experience and their uncle. Taking another breath, he presses the blade of the knife into her wrist and makes a cut. Quickly, Lea grabs a vial and sticks it under the edge of the wound, not wanting to drip blood everywhere. She nods at Harry.
"Get ready and I'll slice you next."
Even as he pushes up his own right sleeve, Harry shakes his head. "I can cut myself without your help, Lea."
She scoffs. "You can barely slice po- cooking ingredients according to Professor Snape."
"I don't see you being his star student either, 'Zalea." He mutters, shooting Lea a glare.
"What the fuck kind of scars arm on your arms?"
Both twins snap their heads up, suddenly remembering the other occupants of the room. The three men seem conflicted on which of them to look at, gazes stuck on their exposed arms. Looking back down, Lea wants to curse. Taking up most of her forearm is the puncture scar left by the basilisk fang she was stabbed with two years prior. Glancing at Harry, she can see the fresh scar on his own arm from Wormtail stealing his blood just a few short weeks ago.
"We're a little clumsy." Lea keeps her face carefully blank as she looks at their brothers and Bobby, topping off her second vial. She presses her knee to Harry's under the table as she grabs the third, willing him to lie.
"You both fell on a knife?" Sam seems stuck on Harry's arm, his scar still red and healing compared to the white stretched skin of Lea's own arm.
"Er, yes?"
Sighing, Lea shakes her head at her twin's less than perfect lying skills. Setting her final vial aside, she holds her bleeding limb up. "Can I get a towel or something."
A second later and Bobby tosses a roll of paper towels on the table. Cleaning up the excess blood, she then turns to Harry. "Let's cut you open so I can put some pressure on this."
They repeat the process, roles reversed and soon Harry's three vials are filled. Bobby collects the samples and shuffles out the room, casting a suspicious glance at the twins over his shoulder.
Sam and Dean slide into the seats across from Lea and Harry, eyes still scanning both of their arms. Lea holds a wad of paper towel to her wrist to stem the bleeding, making sure that Harry does the same.
"Spill it." Dean glares at them over the tabletop, seeming to try and intimidate the information he wants out of them. Lea blinks at him innocently.
"I think I've spilt enough blood over Mister Bobby's table, Dean."
Sam huffs a laugh across from her as their older brother directs the full effect of his glare at her. "Don't play dumb, Azalea , it doesn't suit you."
Lea's eyes narrow into her own glare as Harry sighs and shakes his hanging head beside her. Her brother mumbles under his breath. "Bloody death wish."
"We don't owe you any explanation." She states firmly, squeezing her wrist tighter in an attempt to not raise her temper.
"And Sammy doesn't owe you his John Hancock."
Dean's victorious smirk is met by two blank stares. Beside him, Sam sighs. "He means my signature."
Fucking blackmail? Lea can feel the static of magic raising the hair on her arms. Just as she opens her mouth, Harry speaks over her.
"Lea was bit by a snake and I was stabbed."
The other three stare at him, the Winchesters raising their brows in surprise and Lea gaping in shock.
"So you're telling me," Dean starts, disbelief obvious on his face, "that a snake did that ," he jabs his finger in the direction of Lea's arm before pointing at Harry's, "and that's only a stab wound?"
In technical terms, Harry did not lie to their brothers, he just didn't tell the whole truth. Lea finally nods.
"Yes actually."
The two stare at them for another moment before Sam groans and buries his face in his hands. Dean stands, walking to the fridge.
"I need another beer."
Lea hardly sleeps that night, struggling to feel safe in a strange house with strange people. The wards-that-aren't-actually-wards keep brushing up against her magic and sending a chill down her spine. She's not sure how she's supposed to find rest in a house full of men that would murder her and Harry without a second thought if they knew what they were.
Her twin shares no such compunctions, collapsing onto the guest bed and letting his eyes fall shut the moment the door closes behind Lea. Harry's breathing evens out before she even has a chance to take her shoes off. She spends the night tossing and turning beside her brother, trying to keep a tight grip on her ever wandering magic. It's when the barest hint of dawn's early light slips through the window curtains that she decides she can't lay alone with her thoughts any longer.
Grabbing her bag, she slips out of the spare room and into the bathroom down the hall and across from Dean and Sam's room. A quick shower later and she finds herself padding quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen. Fresh clothes on, hair braided back, and trainers on her feet, she sets her backpack in a chair at the table and just stares around the room for a minute.
She's not planning on staying with the Winchesters and what seems to be their godfather longer than she and Harry have too, but it would be easier if their time together was a bit more peaceful. Making herself useful is a great way to keep under their radar and prove that she and Harry are great temporary house guests. Plan decided, Lea opens the fridge and begins pulling out ingredients she'll need for breakfast.
As she scrambles eggs, fries sausage and bacon, and flips pancakes, she thinks about what led them here, to their brothers. (It's still hard to think of the two Winchesters as such but easier than thinking of them as strangers at this point.) Sirius told them about John last summer, not long after they rescued him from a dementor's kiss and returned back to Privet Drive from Hogwarts. The news had been a shock, but also was just added to the pile of information everyone has ever withheld from or forgotten to tell Harry and Lea. They didn't talk about it much after Sirius left, mostly just wondered if their mum and dad had ever told John that he had a set of British twins that happen to have magic. They decided that they hadn't.
Then Harry's name came out of that thrice damned goblet and there wasn't time to think of anything besides the tournament that seemed engineered to kill her brother. It wasn't until Harry came back from the graveyard, goblet in one hand and Cedric's dead body clutched in the other that she wondered if a mystery American father might be the answer to all of their problems, namely the one called Voldemort.
Despite the fact that their parents' murderer was back from the dead and looking for Harry, despite the obvious trauma Harry was dealing with, despite how the twins always come back to Hogwarts worse for wear after a summer spent with their relations, Dumbledore sent them back to the Dursleys for the summer holidays. It took two nights back under that roof for Lea to decide that they were leaving. She told Harry to pack their things while she tracked down the needed paperwork from the local library.
It was easier to intimidate their aunt into signing than she thought it would be. Let some magic loose, throw her dead sister in her face and apparently Aunt Petunia is quite willing to sign any paperwork needed to get 'Lily's Demons' out of her perfect house.
Using their dad's invisibility cloak to sneak onto a plane was even easier. It was when they landed in the States that the hard part began. It doesn't seem that the hard part will be ending anytime soon.
"Lea?"
She glances over her shoulder, spotting Harry rubbing his eyes sleepily as he stands in the doorway. She sends him a small smile as she flips another pancake. "Morning Har'. Find a cloth to wipe off the table and set it for me, please."
He looks lost for a moment before nodding and jumping into action. The twins move about the kitchen in harmony, falling into a decade old routine they developed slaving away in Aunt Petunia's kitchen. Lea has just set the food on the table when a voice sounds from the door. She looks up, Harry turning away from where he is making coffee as well.
"What in the name of Cinderella is going on here?"
Bobby stands in the doorway this time, looking at the breakfast spread in confusion before turning his eyes to the twins. Lea smooths nonexistent wrinkles from her tee shirt as she tilts her chin up.
"Breakfast. Call for Sam and Dean, would you Mister Bobby?"
The older man blinks at her for several silent moments before mumbling. "Just Bobby."
Without another word, he strides back out and Lea can hear his footsteps starting back up the stairs.
-
"Get up." Sam agrees with the groan Dean emits as Bobby stomps into their room, flicking on the overhead light.
"Bobby, it's the middle of the night."
"Idjit." He hears Bobby mutter under his breath. "Both of ya get up and some downstairs."
Sam forces himself into a sitting position, scrubbing a hand over his face and through his hair as he blinks at the intruder. Morning sunshine pours in through their bedroom window, mocking him.
"Bobby, what's going on?" He stands as he speaks, stretching upward and cracking his back.
"Your kids are down in the kitchen playing Martha Stewart."
Dean rolls over, furrowing his brows as he looks up at the man. "What?"
"You heard me. Now, come on and get your ass up."
Bobby turns and walks out the way he came, not waiting for a response. Dean and Sam share a look of confusion before following after him. As he descends the stairs, the distinct smell of bacon invades his senses. Entering the kitchen, it becomes clear what Bobby meant. Lea seems to be divvying up food onto plates while Harry pours mugs of coffee.
"Good morning." Their sister chirps, smiling at Sam and Dean warily takes a seat on either side of Bobby. The uncharacteristic cheerfulness of the girl puts his teeth on edge. What the hell is going on?
"What the hell is going on?" It's as if Dean read Sam's mind. His brother looks just as unsettled as he feels, watching the twins take their own seats.
"Breakfast." Lea says simply. She doesn't explain any further, picking up her utensils and cutting into a pancake instead. Sam turns his gaze to Harry.
Their younger brother shrugs a shoulder, taking a sip of his coffee. Should fourteen year olds have coffee? "She was already cooking when I came down, I just set the table."
Dean, Bobby, and Sam look between each other for a moment, Bobby obviously looking to them on how to proceed with the two strange teenagers they've brought home.
"Okay." Sam speaks slowly, feeling as if he's walking on eggshells. "Everything looks great. Thanks."
"Not a problem." Lea smiles again. Sam can feel Dean's leg twitch under the table from where he sits. When it seems as if she's not going to say anything else, everyone carefully begins eating. Sam can't help but roll his eyes at the way Dean prods his food with a wary look, taking a drink of his own coffee. He spots their sister rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't poison pancakes , that would be daft." Dean glances up, staring at the girl for a moment before seeming to relax. "I would poison the coffee, obviously." The kitchen is filled with Dean's choked coughs.
The mischievous amusement shining in Lea's eyes soothes the part of Sam that immediately wanted to grab a gun at even the thought of a threat against his older brother. He watches Harry roll his eyes this time.
"Well, I made the coffee so there's no worry there. I failed poison class at school."
Dean isn't the only one choking then, Lea having snorted coffee up her nose when she laughed at their brother's words. It's a few minutes before the noise quiets down once again. Bobby watches the Potters as everyone eats, seeming like he's trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together.
"Why did you cook breakfast?" Sam eventually breaks the silence, seeing that everyone is almost done with their plates. Lea swallows her last bite of sausage before answering.
"As a peace offering." She sets her knife and fork down on either side of her plate before pressing her napkins firmly at the corners of her mouth. "I figured the next few days would be easier if we aren't fighting the entire time we wait on the test results."
Even Harry looks surprised at her reasoning, but he recovers quickly. "Of course, we'll do our fair share of any work regardless of peace." He grins nervously at the three of them, eyes lingering on Sam and Dean.
"So, you got up at the ass crack of dawn to cook us breakfast so we wouldn't fight with you?" Dean doesn't yet sound convinced. Lea offers her unsettling smile once more, though her teeth seem gritted this time.
"Yes. Or continue to pry into our private lives." While her tone is perfectly polite, Sam can't help but notice the flash of annoyance (and possibly fear?) in his sister's eyes. Dean huffs.
Bobby stands before an argument is able to break out, taking his plate to the sink. Harry and Lea immediately stand. The confident front that had been on both of their faces seems to diminish all of a sudden.
"We can do the washing up, Mister Bobby." Lea speaks, almost sounding earnest as she and Harry begin gathering empty plates. Bobby casts them an odd look before shaking his head.
"Nah. You two took breakfast duty, these two idjits can take the dishes." He waves his hand toward Sam and Dean. Dean's exclamation of 'Hey!' is muffled by the eggs in his mouth. "And it's just Bobby."
After a moment of hesitation, Lea nods. Sam watches as Harry brushes his hand against her own, casting her a look. Staring at her twin, she seems to relax after a few seconds. The two set the dishes back down.
"Why don't you guys find a movie or something to watch while we clean up in here?" Sam suggests, glancing meaningfully at Dean and Bobby.
"Um, okay?" Lea sounds unsure but she and Harry both nod. She reaches down and grabs the backpack Sam hadn't noticed. Is she just carrying her bag around?
"Let us know if there's anything we can help with." Harry tugs Lea out of the kitchen as he speaks.
Once the twins are gone, Sam raises his brows at the remaining two. What kind of change in dynamic just happened in this house?