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. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: This chapter is brought to you by Hogwarts Auction. As a reminder, yes, I do know what I'm doing when I include all of the meta data that I do.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 13); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); New Fandom Smell (Y); Above Average Natural; Endings; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 13 – Assignment 04
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Insane Prompt Challenge [46](Hesitate); 365 [157](Implication); Auction [29-4](Supernatural); Like a Skyscraper [1-06](Mesmerizing); Pick a Wick [05](Blanket); Build a Better Breakfast [27](Apocalypse AU)
Other MC4A Challenges: FaB [3C](Gathering); Set [1C](Daytime);Hunt [Fa Items](Blanket); Chim [Deke](Royal Purple); Ship (Mixtape)[Fa Big](Blanket); Fire [Hard](Imagine Chapters); Garden [](); Hangman [Phase 01](Family)
Representation(s): Bi Dean/Castiel QPR; Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Team Free Will as Family
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Hot Apple; Turtle-Duck; Second Verse (Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Oath); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui)
Word Count: 745
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Needs and Wants
Chapter 9: Rethink
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After they finished their makeshift meal of sandwiches and tea cake, they had drifted away. Dean had elected to help the kid get his trunk up the stairs to one of Bobby's guest rooms. Harry was going to have to share with someone. At least, Dean figured that was a bit more responsible than rearranging one of them to give the kid a room to himself. It was just a better idea to keep someone near the kid until they got a better handle on what his deal was.
Dean didn't hesitate at all as he led Harry into his own room.
The kid, however, hovered in the doorway. He had his hands tucked into the sleeves of the opposite hand. His brown skin looked washed out, almost gray. The royal purple of the sweater just highlighted that. He looked like he was going to either be sick or take off running.
Dean pursed his lips and set the kid's trunk at the foot of the twin bed shoved in the far corner. It was good that Harry knew better than to trust every situation as blindly as he had things so far. Of course, he could have done without the kid distrusting him, especially with that particular implication. None of them meant any harm to the kid. Hell, Bobby would already burn the world to keep Harry safe and they've known him less than six hours.
But a little distrust would do the kid a world of good, especially with the interest that Death and the reapers had in him. In all of Dean's experience, whenever a supernatural group showed an interest in an individual person, it was never in that individual's best interests alone. They always had an alternative motive, and it was usually something that ended with a whole lot of messy, messy bloodshed.
"So I figure that we can bunk together," Dean said as if the kid wasn't on the verge of a heart attack ten feet away from him. He smoothed down the already smooth blanket on the bed. "Having slept in the same room as Sammy and Cas, I can safely say that you'll appreciate it. Trust me when I say that you'll thank me. Sammy snores, and Cas, well, the dude sleeps with his eyes open. It's creepy."
"Is Cas really an angel?" Harry asked. Dean glanced at him. Harry seemed to be examining the stack of books on the dresser near the door. He stroked along the spine of one that was written mostly in some squiggly script that reminded Dean of Arabic or Sanskrit or maybe some combination of the two. Harry hissed something sounded like a question. The sound was actually kind of mesmerizing.
Dean shook his head to clear it of the odd feeling.
"Uh, yeah, Cas really is an angel," he answered after letting the silence go on a beat too long. "Well, like he said, the jury's out on it. He was an angel, and he, uh, he sort of blew himself up. We weren't even sure that he had survived until he called us from a hospital where he had been in a coma. He's sort of in between states right now. Not quite human but not really an angel. So he's still figuring out how it all works. You should have seen his face the first time he had a burger."
"I haven't had one," Harry said in a tone that sounded disinterested. Or at least it would have if Dean wasn't already well versed in all of the varieties of flatness Castiel could manifest. Also, Dean didn't need a tone for those words to stab him in the heart.
"Ah, man," Dean said as he threw himself back on his bed, "that just sucks. Next you'll tell me that you've never had pizza."
"That is my cousin's favorite food," Harry said, still rubbing the book with the strange writing. "It always looked and smelled good. I wasn't allowed any, though."
"Oh, we've gotta fix that," Dean declared. Harry looked at him in the same confused puppy way that Cas used when he didn't quite follow Dean's line of thought. Dean spoke without thinking. "Maybe after all this apocalypse business is over, we can take a trip up to Chicago. Deep dish pizza is their specialty."
"Sure," Harry agreed, but he sounded like he wasn't expecting it to happen. Well, there was only one way to prove otherwise, wasn't there?