Lea is bored. She's so bored that she's considering doing her summer homework.
Well, maybe she's not that bored.
She sighs, propping her chin on her hand and her elbow on her knee. Harry and Adam are… wrestling(?) on the grass in front of her as she sits crisscrossed with her wand in her lap. They had said that they were going to practice sparring, but she thinks that they might just be practicing dancing. They're both lanky and awkward in a teenage boy kind of way. The fact that Adam doesn't seem too keen on punching his little brother and Harry rather fight like wizards than muggles means that their sparring session is going absolutely nowhere.
Bobby had sent them out of the house after their third movie of the day, claiming they were going to "run the damn tape player ragged." Lea had wanted to get out their brooms but apparently muggles live too close for them to fly safely. Adam hadn't seemed to like the idea of being flown in the air anyway.
Sam and Dean have been gone for a couple of days, adding to Lea's boredom. She had hoped that they would be allowed to join their brothers on another hunt, but Dean had only attempted to glare her into submission when she asked to go. When that hadn't worked, he had simply stormed out to his car with Sam in tow, muttering about casts or some other inane thing. That had left Harry, Adam, and Lea to their own devices. Adam had been working his way through the Potter and Winchester books, so Harry and Lea did spend some time answering his questions. Hermione and Ron called at least every other day, so the twins were able to speak with them and Sirius fairly often. Ron had told them yesterday about the ongoing search for them, how Dumbledore breezes in and out of 'Headquarters' (Sirius' house) with vague updates on their progress. Lea has taken that to mean that the Headmaster still has absolutely no idea where they are. In her book, that's a good thing. While Professor Dumbledore has never put her and Harry in outright danger, he's still done nothing to prevent them harm. Him sending them back to the Dursleys after what Harry had experienced in the graveyard was honestly her final straw.
Lea is able to let a lot of things slide, but hurting her brother is where she draws the line. Brothers, now, she supposes. Though, Sam and Dean and Adam don't need her to protect them in the same way Harry does. Dean needs her as a buffer between him and Sam, a position that she's still unsure how she's taken up. It wasn't too long ago that every conversation between her and Dean was hostile. Sam needs her to bounce cases off of and to help research. He reminds her of Hermione a lot of the time. Adam needs her for comfort. He lost both his parents back to back and seems to not know how to handle the grief. Lea has spent several late nights with Adam, speaking in hushed tones over mugs of hot chocolate in the kitchen, listening to him talk about his mother. Still, her older brothers don't need her to protect them, not when they're old enough to protect themselves.
Harry, though. Harry needs her. Without Lea, Harry would blindly follow the Headmasters every command. It makes her sick to her stomach to think about. Dumbledore has allowed Harry to throw himself into danger without a thought for his own well being. Did Lea want to protect the Sorcerer's Stone? Not particularly. She hadn't wanted Snape, as they had thought at the time, to have it, but she hadn't particularly wanted to face her professor down over a rock. She couldn't let Harry go off on his own, though. They always did everything together, she couldn't leave him facing evil by himself. Did she want to go into the Chamber of Secrets? Of course not! Especially knowing what creature awaited them. But, she didn't want Ginny to die, and she definitely didn't want Harry facing a mythical snake with death eyes without her by his side. She gladly stabbed the beast before it could eat her brother, taking a stab wound for her troubles. Lea and Harry had been together their entire lives. She can't remember a time when her brother wasn't by her side. She refuses to experience such a thing.
But all of what they have experienced? Their so-called adventures? Who was truly at fault for them?
The obvious answer is Voldemort. He murdered their parents and attempted to murder Harry. He made them orphans and is the root cause of all that's wrong in their lives. On top of everything, he continues to attempt to kill her brother. At least he's upfront about his motives and goals though. Goal: murder her brother. Motive: some crackpot seer predicted Harry might defeat the Dark Lord.
Lea's attention is drawn back to the clumsy punch Harry lands on Adam's thigh. Surely Voldemort isn't truly threatened by this gangly fifteen year old?
Albus Dumbledore, though? The wizard who left them in that hellhole of a house? He seemed to be much more of a threat to Harry's well-being. Dumbledore had abandoned them to their relatives, set a trap for Voldemort in a castle full of children, had allowed multiple students to be petrified without closing the school, depended on wards and magical creatures to keep out a supposed mass murderer who had already escaped Azkaban, had not even attempted to get Harry out of the Triwizard Tournament, and then sent her and her brother back to the Dursleys without even a 'sorry' to Harry for his trauma.
It is safe to say that Lea is not the Headmaster's biggest fan.
"Hey! We agreed on no magic!"
Lea turns her attention back to her brothers, just in time to see a few small rocks zoom through the air and hit Adam. The blond scowls at her twin, dodging another rock.
"There's not going to be rules in real duels, Adam." Harry sticks his tongue out at their older brother as he jumps out of the way of his fist.
"Shut up, Harry." Adam grumbles, lunging. The two fall to the ground together, rolling around as they struggle for the upper hand. Lea sighs.
While the boys are otherwise occupied, she gets to her feet and wanders back toward the house. She's sure that she can move quietly enough to sneak past Bobby. Surely there's a book or something in this house she can waste time on. She's barely made it through the back door when she hears Bobby's voice echoing from the kitchen.
"Damn, son." Lea freezes just outside the kitchen doorway, straining her ears to listen. She assumes the man must be on the phone. "What do you want to do about it?"
She's too far to hear the voice on the other end of the line, only making out a murmuring sound.
"Detox might be the way to go. No better way to end an addiction."
Addiction?
"Bring 'im home. I'll get the bunker set up for 'im."
Bobby has a bunker ?
"Okay, Dean. We'll see ya soon."
Dean? Is her brother bringing home an addict?
She hears the snap of Bobby's flip phone closing. After a few silent seconds, she enters the room. Bobby looks up at the sound of her footsteps from where he stands by the table, hands braced on the top. They stare at one another for a moment.
"How much did you hear?"
"Dean is bringing home an addict and you have a bunker somewhere." Lea shrugs. No use in lying when she's already caught.
"Dean is bringing home your brother." The sigh Bobby releases sounds tired.
Lea blinks at him several times, trying to process the words. "Sam's a drug addict?"
Dean is obviously an alcoholic but she never pegged Sam as an addict.
"Blood addict, more like it."
She blinks again. This conversation is only getting more confusing.
"Sit down, I'll grab us some beers."
"I'm fifteen, Bobby."
"Fine, I'll grab me a beer."
Lea takes a seat, fidgeting with her wand in her hands as Bobby returns with a soda for her and a beer for him.
"You read those books about your brothers?" Lea nods. Bobby takes a swig of his drink before he continues. "Well, the newest volume will be the most screwed up yet."
-
It's only as Adam gets to the bottom of the stairs that he hears screaming. It's muffled, but someone is definitely screaming. He pauses, listens and then picks up the pace.
Glancing in the living room, there's no one there. He decides to check the kitchen before trying to find the source of the screaming. He's met by four grim faces around the kitchen table. Harry notices him first and nudges Dean. Dean glances up, staring at Adam for a moment before sighing and kicking out one of the remaining chairs.
"Come on, I'll pour you a drink."
"It's eight AM, Dean." He sits as he says it, still accepting the shot of whisky that his older brother gives him.
"Yeah, and it's about to be a long fucking day."
He watches Dean lean back in his chair, scrubbing his face. He looks tired, exhausted. A louder scream distracts him from his examination. He flicks his eyes toward the doorway before looking back at the other occupants of the room.
"Is that Sam?"
"Mhm." Lea hums the answer, glaring down into her own glass.
"You gave them shots?!" Adam turns his eyes back on the elder Winchester, staring at him incredulously.
"Felt bad that me and Bobby were drinking in front of 'em." Dean tilts his shot glass toward Adam before draining it of its contents.
"I still don't understand why you like this stuff." Harry scrunches his nose in disgust from where he sips a can of pop, an empty shot glass sits in front of him. "It burned."
Dean snorts as he pours himself another shot. Bobby snatches the bottle away from him as he sets it back down. "What did you want me to give you? Wine Coolers?"
"Is somebody going to explain why we're sitting here day drinking while Sam is somewhere screaming his head off?" Adam sighs, downing his own shot before getting up and grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.
Looking around the table, no one seems prepared to answer him. Harry shrugs, seeming almost as confused as him. Lea continues glaring at her empty glass. Dean swallows his whiskey before setting the glass down and leaning back in his chair once more with his eyes closed. Finally, Bobby sighs and shoves his still filled shot glass and the bottle of whiskey away from him.
"Sam's detoxing."
Adam blinks, looks around the table at his siblings again, and blinks at Bobby once more.
"Detoxing?"
"Yup." Bobby throws back his own shot.
"Detoxing from what? Sam doesn't do drugs."
Adam watches as Bobby and Dean share a look.
"Demon blood."
His gaze snaps to Lea as she answers, sliding her empty glass from hand to hand.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Adam looks to Dean when no one seems willing to answer him.
"Sammy's been drinking demon blood so he can use his powers to gank the fuckers."
Silence descends upon the Winchesters as Adam absorbs this information. Then, "Like a vampire?"
"Sure as hell looked like one." Dean mutters, snatching the whiskey bottle back from Bobby to pour another shot. It's quiet for a few moments, other than Sam's muffled shouts. Dean glares at his glass as if it had personally offended him. " How long is this gonna go on?"
Bobby rolls his eyes. "Here, let me look it up in my demon-detox manual. Oh wait. No one ever wrote one. No telling how long it'll take. Hell, or if Sam will even live through it."
Dean flinches at the words, clenching his hand around his glass. The twins send identical glares toward Bobby. Just as Harry opens his mouth, a phone rings. Bobby sighs, pulling out his cell and answering it.
"Hello… Suck dirt and die, Rufus. You call me again, I'll kill you."
Bobby snaps the phone shut, glowering at it before pouring himself another drink. Adam shares a confused glance with Harry and Lea. Dean raises a brow.
"What's up with Rufus?"
"He knows." Bobby scowls. It's hardly a moment before the phone rings again. Bobby answers with a huff. "I'm busy, you son of a bitch. This better be important."
Adam watches as Bobby pales before standing suddenly, chair scraping the floor as it slides backward behind him. The older man walks out of the room quickly, disappearing to another part of the house.
"Well, I'm sure that's not something to worry about." Harry gives a nervous chuckle before taking a gulp of his cola.
"Harry Potter!"
The disembodied shout causes his younger brother to inhale his drink and begin a coughing fit. Lea sighs, shaking her head as she reaches over and takes the twins' magic mirror from Harry's pocket.
"Now's really not a good time, Ron."
Though he can't see the mirror's reflection at the moment, a shuffling sound comes from it.
"Azalea, this is dire. We need to talk to you and Harry." A girl's voice replaces 'Ron.'
Lea stares at the mirror for a moment before standing and dragging Harry up with her. She looks between Adam and Dean as Harry's coughing dies down. "We'll be back."
As the twins shuffle out of the kitchen, heads bent over their mirror, Bobby comes back in, slapping a stack of papers down on the table. Dean immediately snatches them up, flipping through the papers.
Bobby looks at them grimly. "The news. The news ain't good."
"This is what Rufus called about? 'Key West sees ten species go extinct'." Dean looks rather unimpressed. Adam looks through each paper as his brother sets them down.
"Yep. Plus Alaska. Fifteen-man fishing crew all stricken blind, cause unknown. New York, teacher goes postal, locks the door, kills exactly sixty-six kids. All this in a single day. I looked them up. There's no doubt about it. They're all seals. Breaking. Fast."
"How many are left?" Adams looks up as he asks the question, glancing between Bobby and his brother.
Bobby shrugs. "Who knows? Can't be many. Where the hell are your angel pals?"
"You tell me." Dean scoffs.
"I'm just wondering."
"What?"
Bobby looks away from them both as he speaks. "The apocalypse being nigh and all… is now really the right time to be having this little domestic drama of ours?"
"What do you mean?" Dean's glare almost seems lethal.
"Well, I don't like this any more than you do, but Sam can kill demons. He's got a shot at stopping Armageddon."
Dean stands, crushing one of the papers in his fist. "So what? Sacrifice Sam's life, his soul, for the greater good? Is that what you're saying? Times are bad, so let's use Sam as a nuclear warhead?"
"Look, I know you hate me for suggesting it. I hate me for suggesting it. I love that boy like a son. All I'm saying is maybe he's here right now instead of on the battlefield because we love him too much."
Adam watches them both, trying not to draw attention to himself. Dean continues glaring at Bobby for several seconds before he storms out of the room without another word.
Bobby sighs, filling his shot glass once again. "Fat lot of good that did."
-
Dean is pissed. He's pissed at Sam for lying to him. He's pissed at Bobby for suggesting they endanger Sam. He's pissed at himself for considering the same for even a second. He's especially pissed that Castiel can't bother poofing his feathery ass down here to talk to him.
"Cas!" He yells the name again, glaring at the ground. A frustrated noise rips from his throat when nothing happens. He turns around to continue pacing, only to stop short at the sight of the trench coat wearing asshole. "Well, it's about time. I've been screaming myself hoarse out here for about two and a half hours now."
Cas just stares at him blankly. "What do you want?"
Dean rolls his eyes with a scoff. "You can start with what the hell happened in Illinois".
"What do you mean?"
"Cut the crap. You were gonna tell me something."
"Well, nothing of import."
Yeah. 'Nothing of import.' That's real damn likely. "You got ass-reamed in heaven but it was not of import?"
"Dean, I can't. I'm sorry. Get to the reason you really called me. It's about Sam, right?"
Dean hesitates, second guessing why he's even bothered to call the angel. "Can he do it? kill Lilith, stop the apocalypse?"
Cas looks away as he speaks. "Possibly, yes. But as you know, he'd have to take certain steps."
"Crank up the hell-blood regimen."
The angel nods "Consuming the amount of blood it would take to kill Lilith would change your brother forever. Most likely, he would become the next creature that you would feel compelled to kill. There's no reason this would have to come to pass, Dean. We believe it's you, Dean, not your brother. The only question for us is whether you're willing to accept it. Stand up and accept your role. You are the one who will stop it."
Dean freezes. Him? Since when has it been him? "If I do this, Sammy doesn't have to?"
"If it gives you comfort to see it that way." The way Castiel shrugs in nonchalance makes anger fill Dean's gut.
"God, you're a dick these days." Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Dean paces for a moment. Eventually, he turns back to Cas with a heavy sigh. "Fine, I'm in."
Castiel straightens, staring intently. "You give yourself over wholly to the service of God and his angels?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Say it."
Dean shoots him another glare but does as requested. "I give myself over wholly to serve God and you guys."
"You swear to follow his will and his word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father's?"
Dean takes a few steps to close the distance between them. "Yes, I swear. Now what?"
"Now you wait, and we call on you when it's time."
Quick as a blink, the angel disappears to the sound of shuffling feathers. Dean sighs, crouching down to rest his arms on his knees and his face in his hands. Why is their life so damn complicated? Can't everything just calm down? Him and Sammy could have normal jobs. Adam and Sam could even finish college! Sammy would be a lawyer and Adam a doctor. Lea and Harry could go to high school and practice their magic shit on the side. Everything would be perfect. They would all be safe .
"He didn't look much like an angel."
Dean stands quickly, startled. His eyes immediately land on Lea standing a few feet away, leaning up against a stack of pallets.
"You should be asleep."
The redhead rolls her eyes, crossing her arms. "Kind of hard to do such a thing when two of my brothers are screaming their heads off."
Dean grimaces at the reminder of Sammy alone, screaming in the bunker. "Yeah, okay."
His little sister stares at him for a minute before sighing and straightening up. "C'mon."
"Hm?"
"Let's go inside. I'll make some coffee and you can explain angels to me."
She's walking away before he can refuse, heading back toward Bobby's house. Dean shifts his weight from foot to foot for a moment, looking around the salvage yard. With another sigh, he follows after Lea.
-
Harry wishes the screaming would stop. It's been three days since Dean locked their brother in the bunker and all he can hear are Sam's terrified screams. It reminds him of his own screams in the graveyard. Or the sound of his mother screaming when he's close to a dementor. Or his own screams when Lea was bitten by a basilisk. He hates screaming.
He feels on edge every minute of the day. Sam is in the basement screaming. Dean is stomping around and glowering at everyone. Adam is stress baking of all things. Lea is constantly on the mirror with Hermione, trying to get updates on the happenings of the Order. And Bobby is acting as if the world is ending. (According to him it actually might.)
Harry is so tired.
Even now, in the middle of the night when everyone is finally, blessedly asleep and not trying to tick his anxiety higher, he can't do anything more than stare at the ceiling and feel his exhaustion. Lea lays next to him, snoring. Harry wishes he was able to turn off all of his thoughts so he could sleep.
A shuffling noise from downstairs pulls him out of said thoughts. Harry sits up, careful not to jostle his sister. If he strains his ears, he can just barely make out the sound of someone walking on the floor below. With a sigh, he slips out of bed and pads out of the room. If Adam is making more muffins, Harry might join Sam in screaming.
He's halfway down the stairs when he realizes that the house is too quiet. Silent. Harry hurries down the rest of the steps. When did Sam stop screaming?
Panic tries to send Harry into a frenzy. Is Sam having another episode? Is he seizing? Is the demon blood making him fling himself around the room again? He's just started toward the basement when he realizes that the front door is ajar. He freezes, staring at the open door. His heart pounds in his chest as he changes directions.
Harry's barely left the porch when a car cranks. He's not fast enough to see who's driving, only catching sight of the headlights as the vehicle drives away. The car is not what stops him in his tracks, though. Instead, it's the sight of Bobby laying limply on the ground, a shotgun dropped beside him.
Harry stands behind Dean and Bobby, rubbing a hand through his unruly hair. He still thinks that they should have woken Lea to heal the gash on Bobby's head. He can't believe Sam really hit him with the gun. He stands back as they unlock the door to the panic room.
"How the hell did he get out?" Dean stares around the room in angry confusion as he enters. Bobby follows, looking at the markings on the floor.
"Maybe he had help. Room full of busted devil's traps."
"Demons? Ruby."
"That'd be my guess."
Harry steps forward, looking at the trap drawn in front of the door to the room. "How did she even touch the door?"
Bobby glances at him, the ruined trap and back at Dean. "You think she's got the mojo?"
Dean shakes his head. "I didn't think so. I don't know, man."
"What difference does it make? How he got gone ain't as important as where he got gone to."
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. At this point I hope he's with Ruby." Harry watches Dean clench his hands into fists.
"Why?"
"'Cause killing her's the next big item on my to-do list."
"I thought you were on call for angel duty." Bobby raises a brow.
"I am on call. In my car, on my way to murder the bitch." Dean begins to stalk out the room, causing Harry to jump out of the way. Bobby stops him.
"One thing."
"What?" Dean's tone is sharp.
"Sam don't wanna be found, which means he's gonna be damn near impossible to find."
"Trust me. I'll find the kid."
Harry watches Dean stomp back up the stairs. He's beginning to think that maybe his birthday wish should have been that the apocalypse wouldn't happen.