Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There's also canon typical references to child abuse and the end of the world. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Just so everyone understands, each chapter of this is considered a different submission for the forums that I am a part of. Despite the similarities, the submitting information does change slightly with each chapter, and it does need to be in every chapter. Shockingly, I do actually know what I am doing.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 12); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC (x3); Immortal MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Booger Breath; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Above Average Natural; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 12 – Assignment 9
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [812](No using "Said"); 365 [57](Connected); Geek Pride [Supernatural] (Supernatural x HPverse)
Other MC4A Challenges: Sp Bingo [2E](Planting/Sowing); Tr Bingo [3E](Only Sane Man); Ship [Sp Medium 2](Sandwich); Chim [Doug] (Family/Friendship; "Human" by Rag'n'Bone Man)
Representation(s): Team Free Will as Family; Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Depressed Dean Winchester; Dean Winchester/Castiel QPR
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Middle Name; Mother Hen; Unwanted Advice; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Teat Juice; Zucchini Bread); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Tether); SN (Rail; Ameliorate)
Word Count: 818

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Needs and Wants
Chapter 8: Real Magic
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"Okay, so what—are you some kind of hunter's kid?" Sam asked. Dean leaned forward, preparing to interrupt. Sam just shook his head before pointing at Dean with his sandwich. "I know what you're gonna say, Dean, but it makes sense. Monsters exist all over the world, so there's gotta be hunters in other countries, right? Hunters are just people. They have kids. Angels, demons, and reapers aren't exactly run of the mill—which would explain why Harry hadn't heard of them—but werewolves and vampires make up as many of our cases as ghosts."

"And the magic?" Dean responded, curious now how far his brother would go with this. Sam wasn't completely wrong. At least, the basic logic he was using was sound. He had just skipped over a few pieces of information. Hell, maybe Sammy hadn't even noticed the way being near the kid felt a bit like being near a live current. His brother never did seem to have picked up the knack of noticing when someone had a bit extra going on with them.

Either way, Dean was willing to bet that the kid had some mojo of his own and major mojo at that. Death had declared him more important than the end of the world, after all, and Tessa had practically doted on the kid. Combined with Castiel's declaration about Harry's difference from others, Dean was more than willing to accept that the kid was something more than standard fare human, regardless of what the kid believed.

"You're not talking about hunting deer or pheasants," Harry muttered as if the idea was just occurring to him. "You…aren't wizards? You're Muggles?" He turned pale under his dark complexion. "And I just announced that—actually, you announced that magic was real, first. I can't be blamed for you knowing." Harry looked at them all with wide eyes, clearly desperate for them to agree with that last point. "I can't be blamed."

"Yeah, you can't be blamed," Dean agreed as the kid passed worried and began to barrel straight to full blown panic. Dean didn't have to know why the situation was causing this reaction to recognize how imperative reassuring the kid probably was. "I don't know what a 'muggle' is, but none of us are wizards. I mean, we all know some basic traps and sigils, and Cas is an angel—"

"—was an angel," Castiel interrupted. Dean raised an eyebrow at him. "My grace isn't replenishing. I may not have fallen, but I'm not an angel, Dean."

"The point just flies over your head, man," Dean announced as he shook his head in disbelief. Harry was still staring at them with green eyes that were just a touch too wide to be healthy. At least he seemed to be breathing a little more evenly than he had been just a moment before. "It's like you don't even try to get it as it goes by."

"I can tell that you are using a metaphor," Cas replied stiffly, "but I do not understand what you are trying to imply with it. Are you planning on throwing knives? I will endeavor to catch them."

"And that is why we love Cas," Sam declared, gesturing towards the angel with his sandwich. "He's just a barrel of laughs."

"You don't understand metaphors either?" Harry asked after he twisted himself to look at the angel. Castiel nodded solemnly. "I have a notebook where I have gathered a list of explanations. It's still rather short, because Hermione's really suspicious about me asking about things like that and Ron always gives this weird laugh if I ask him, but I am willing to share my research."

"I would appreciate that," Castiel replied. "Perhaps I will begin my own list and we could compare notes. Regardless of my deep connection with Dean, I will admit that he does not always make sense."

"I'm starting to see what you mean," Harry agreed far too readily to be anything but sassy. Dean was torn between being grumpy about the attitude or relieved that the kid was relaxing enough to show it in the first place. Bobby didn't seem to have the same mixed feelings.

"Oh, yeah," Bobby announced as he took a sandwich of his own and lifted the bread to examine the insides, "you'll fit right in with the rest of the family, alright. You've got all the qualifications: reckless, stubborn, and overall, just a plain idjit."

"Does that make you the head idjit?" Sam asked with a gleam in his eyes. Bobby threw a chunk of the cheese he had just pulled off his sandwich at Sam. Without thinking about it, Sammy caught it and popped it into his mouth. Then he grinned at the older man like the lunatic he was.

Dean sighed as he hid a grin of his own. The world may be ending, but at least he was facing it with family.

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To Be Continued

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