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 is also continuing themes from previous chapters such as canon apocalypse setting & previous injury to a child. There's also references to past canon events from both sides of the crossover. Feel free to back out if need be.
Author's Note: This month is kicking my ass harder than usual. Have a chapter as I dig myself out of the whump hole towards my fluffy fam shelf again. Mostly via Tessa trying to get herself in trouble, apparently.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4); Whumptober 2021
Individual Challenges: La Vie Boheme; My Favorite Things; Xover Bae-Toven; Gryffindor MC; Magical MC; Hunter MC; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Rian-Russo Inversion; Ethnic & Present; Claimed; Booger Breath; Hold the Mayo; Zed Era; Old Shoes (Y); Old Shoes; Above Average Natural; Endings; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 12
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [21](Restless)
Other Challenges: Whumptober [D 21] (That's Where the Blood's Supposed to Be; Blood-Matted Hair)
Other MC4A Challenges: WiB [2E](Gold); Vocab [1E](Votive); Chim [Sulfa] (Emerald; Sweater/Jumper; "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas); Fire [x0](Green as Emeralds; Leaping Lizards; Bang Bang); Garden [Chores (Arguing/Debating); Flowers (Emerald); Tools (Sweater/Jumper); Behind Green Eyes (Race Bent); Personal Favs (Harry Potter); Mixed Bag (WC Less than 1K); Duties (Yelling/Shouting); Reader Digest (Fem Character); More Favs (Dean Winchester); Whump Fest B (Blood); Diversity Reader (Desi Character); Good Night (Crossover/Fusion); Palette (Green); Garden Beds (Nighttime); Junk Pile (Sweater/Jumper); Bulbs (Brown)]; Hang [Phrase 05] (n/a) Swap [Outer Wear (Purple Sweater)]
Representation(s): Desi & Autistic Harry Potter; Dean Winchester; Tessa the Reaper; Team Free Will as Fam; Reapers as Fam; Apocalypse
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Esbat; Hot Stuff; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Found Family; Nontraditional; Sneeze Weasel; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Grease Monkey; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Hot Apple; Bad Beans; Under the Bridge); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Turtle-Duck; Forked Path; Sitting Hummingbird; Some Beach)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble); SN (Rail; Ameliorate); FR (Satisfaction; Gestation); O3 (Oath); SHoE (Terse; Onus); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary); TY (Ntaiv; Enfant); Wings (n/a); Share (Ameliorate; Augur); DP (Terse; Immemorial; Keen)
Word Count: 820 words
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Needs and Wants
Chapter 16: Reading Between
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"Look, Tessa—" Dean stopped when the reaper leveled a glare at him. Clearly, any warm and fuzzy feelings she had towards the kid did not extend to him, at least not so soon after inadvertently putting Harry in harm's way. Harry swayed again. Dean's hands hovered over his sides, unwilling to risk causing more pain. "Can't you do anything to, I don't know, heal him even a little?"
"I'm a reaper," she told him tersely. "For my kind to heal, a votive must be given." She grimaced again. "And it must come from another human." Her dark eyes focused on Harry's small form. "The energy will always transfer traits as well as life, but Harry, you must understand, you are especially sensitive to these things."
"Because I'm a freak," Harry said dully but still accepting. Dean couldn't stop the growl that escaped him. Unfortunately, the sound made the kid flinch away from him. Weak as Harry was from blood loss, the motion tipped his balance a bit too far and he bumped into the side of the Impala. With as much blood saturating Harry's purple sweater as there was, Baby was definitely going to need washed before they left Bobby's again. Dean added it to the stupid list he kept in his head at any given time, right after maybe assigning the kid a writing assignment of some kind about how much he was not a freak.
Dean hadn't like Sam calling himself that, even after they had figured out that the psychic shit had been a side effect of the demon blood. He didn't like hearing Harry say it any bit more. In fact, with the inflection that the kid always gave the word, Dean was willing to bet he had heard it leveled at him like the barrel of a gun or the body of a nightstick.
(He ignored the voice inside him that whispered about all the times that his dad had complained about how slow Dean was when it came to reading or learning how to handle different things, how he complained about Dean not understanding simple instructions and missing vital information. Dean had worked harder to learn everything, practicing until he didn't mess up and honing his attention like it was the edge of his knives, so that maybe someday he wouldn't disappoint his dad so much. He ignored the whisper that told him that Dad had died before that had really happened, no matter what Dad had said in his final moments. Dean ignored it. This wasn't even close to the same situation, no matter how much Harry reminded Dean of himself.)
"You are not," Tessa countered, stepping closer. Her dark eyes were fixed on Harry's face. As she moved, the lights from the diner reflected there, making them flash the same gold that Castiel's would when he was actively using his grace for something. She reached out to let her hand hover just an inch away from Harry's cheek and looking like she wanted nothing more than to pull the kid in for a hug. "You are special, just like your mother before you and hers before that." Tessa gave a wry smile. "All of you, so, so special and beloved. Precious before all others. Treasured above all things."
"More important than the apocalypse," Dean added without thinking about it. Like it had just happened instead of happening a few days ago, he could see the serious expression that Death had worn as he had told Dean that very thing. Like tumblers in a lock, things were beginning to fall into place. Harry turned his emerald gaze towards Dean. Through numb lips, Dean repeated what Tessa had just said with the new addition he had put together. "Beloved of Death; precious to Death; treasured by Death."
"Yes," Tessa agreed. Harry looked between them, already shaking his head as he hunched in on himself. Tessa repeated herself with the same kind of insistence that Sammy used when declaring that he was leaving for college or that Harry had used before their apparently terrible idea of a pie run. "Yes, you are. Yes, they were. Your father's family was as well, but not nearly as much."
"If my mother was so loved by Death," Harry argued, sounding so angry yet resigned that Dean wanted to throw something, "then why did she die? Wouldn't Death had protected her?"
"He couldn't save her," Tessa protested weakly. "It doesn't work like that."
"Of course it doesn't," Harry said. He was leaning heavily on the back passenger side door of the Impala, even going as far as to lay his blood-matted hair against the window. Eyeing the kid's position, Dean was sure that the slight curve of it was the only thing keeping the kid upright. Dean met Tessa's gaze again, restless determination simmering in his gut.
"So what do I need to do for this votive shtick?"
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To be continued
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