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. This chapter references to the bloody injuries from the last few chapters as well as involves a blood ritual that creates a candy that is then given to an unconscious person as first aid. There is also yet another reference to John's A-Plus Parenting and the way it is comparable to the Dursleys' A-Plus Parenting. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: I got a comment on this fic that made it very clear that the reader and I watched two very different shows. Just so y'all realize, I'm firmly in the camp that thinks Bobby should have chased John off with his shotgun and kept the boys. Blood is all fine & dandy but it's meaningless without heart.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 16); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Old Shoes (Y); Old Shoes; Rian-Russo Inversion; Rian-Russo Inversion; Claimed; Hold the Mayo; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Endings; Above Average Natural; The Real MC (Y); Zed Era; Gryffindor MC; Hunter MC; Magical MC (Y)
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 16 – Assignment 01
Subject (Task No.): n/a
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [356](Catatonic); 1000 Prompts Challenge [91](Grey); Dates [Jan 17] (Not sticking to a resolution/plan); Play God Day [47] (Family-oriented); Appreciate a Dragon [07] (Healing someone); Colors [04] (Jade Green); Alphabetti [U] (Unity); Treat Yourself [Meditate] (Family)
Other MC4A Challenges: WiB [5C](Heart); Vocab [5A](Catatonic); Chim [Leci] ("Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas); Hunt [Wi Con (Candy/Sweets)]; Fire [x3](Leaping Lizards; Bang Bang; Green as Emeralds); Garden [Bulbs (Avocado; Orange; White)]; Hang [Phrase 05] (n/a); Swap [Clothing 1 (Charcoal Dress Pants)]
Representation(s): Dean Winchester/Castiel; Tessa the Reaper; Harry Potter
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Easy Zephyr; Second Verse (Under the Bridge; Bad Beans; Hot Apple; Rock of Ages; Muck & Slime; Most Human Bean; Lyre Liar; Grease Monkey; Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Unwanted Advice; Nightingale; Middle Name; Sneeze Weasel; Nontraditional; Found Family; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Hot Stuff; Some Beach; Forked Path; Turtle-Duck; Surprise!; In the Trench; Abandoned Ship; Creature Feature; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Eternal Boredom; A Long Dog; Tomorrow's Shade; Mouth of Babes; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: Share (Ameliorate; Nepenthe; Augur); DP (Immemorial; Terse); Wings (Scintillate); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary); SHoE (Onus; Terse); FR (Satisfaction; Gestation); SN (Rail; Negate; Ameliorate); T3 (Terse; Thimble)
Word Count: 935 words

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Needs and Wants
Chapter 17: Ring a Bell
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Dean would never get over how small Harry was. Getting the kid sitting on the ground with his back propped up against the Impala took next to no effort. He wasn't skin and bones, but he also wasn't far from it at the same time. Harry certainly didn't have the resources to fight the dizziness that went along with how much blood he had lost. The kid was practically catatonic, just barely conscious enough to not fall over with Dean holding him against the car as gently as possible.

Like a dark whisper in the back of his mind, Harry's wiry frame and bird bones reminded Dean of how he himself had looked for a few years when Sam was eating everything in sight and Dad had been pulling a bunch of longer hunts. It was back when Dean was too young to be taken seriously at hustling pool but old enough to draw suspicion in stores. It had been a lean time, one that Dean didn't like thinking about too closely but had been haunting the back of his mind since he had first laid eyes on Harry yesterday.

It wasn't the same thing, not at all.

"He's not the only one who is special," Tessa whispered, interrupting the way Dean's thoughts had begun to spiral. Dean could feel her gaze upon him. He frowned but couldn't make himself look away from Harry's slack face. She sighed as she knelt down next to them. The angel blade flashed white as she laid it against the charcoal fabric of her dress pants. "You and your brother are the culmination of two great bloodlines, even before being touched by Fate as you have been."

"True vessels," Dean muttered, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. The reaper laughed as if he had said something hilarious. Dean finally looked at her. She smiled at him just like she had while convincing him to cross over.

"Yes, you have the strength to host an archangel," she agreed readily. Her dark eyes sparkled like a summer night sky. "Heaven and Hell have long fought over both sides of your family like the squabbling children they are. They are not the only factions that have done so." She tilted her head to the side like she was listening to something that he couldn't hear. "Compassion is sometimes a greater weapon than any blade. Campbells are known for their hearts. You are your mother's son, Dean Winchester, and better named than you may ever know."

"I don't, I don't understand," Dean admitted. "Dad is the one with the angelic bloodline—he's the one Michael wore."

"And no one can stare long into an abyss without it staring back." She said the words as if they explained anything at all. Then she stuck out the hand she didn't have wrapped around the hilt of the angel blade. "Give me your hand, palm up."

"What?" Dean asked, confused by the abrupt change in topic. She huffed a long-suffering sigh and used the angel blade to gesture towards Harry. "Oh, right."

Tessa's hand was surprisingly warm. Dean had always imagine that reapers would run cold. Instead she felt like how he dimly remembered his mother's hand feeling when she would run her fingers through his hair. A similar warmth washed through him from the touch, this time definitely not invoking a memory of his mother. Instead it felt the same sort of energy that flashed through him when Castiel actually touched his skin. Distantly, he felt Tessa stroking her thumb over his wrist.

"Just a moment more," she soothed. She lifted the angel blade. Carefully, she cut four straight lines into the skin of his palm. The symbol—a perfect triangle bisected by the fourth line—looked vaguely familiar. As Tessa moved the blade tip in a spiral away from his hand, dragging out a pale jade green light that was coalescing into a glowing piece of hard candy, it hit him where he had seen it. With the circle being the setting of the stone, it was the same symbol on Death's Horseman ring. "That should be enough."

She released his hand and moved the blade away as well. The conjured piece of candy dropped onto his suddenly scarred palm. Dean felt flushed and out of breath but otherwise like he normally would. He looked up from the flat oval that was now strangely the exact color of an avocado. The stars dancing in Tessa's dark eyes had dulled from gold to a dull orange.

"A votive," she explained. "Just a sliver of your essence given of your own volition."

Her smile held an edge, something that made Dean think there might be something extra going on. He still didn't hesitate to slip into Harry's mouth while still taking care to make sure the kid didn't choke on it. Not that there was a chance for that to happen as the candy dissolved back into light the moment it was past Harry's lips. The same jade glow washed over the boy, healing the many cuts that Raphael had left on the scrawny body even if it did only a little for the gray hue that the blood loss had made his dark skin turn.

"He'll need rest and fluids," Tessa declared as she leaned forward to press a kiss to Harry's forehead. The kid shivered but didn't wake. She set the angel blade on Harry's lap and stood up. "Load up on natural sweets, for both him and your pet angel."

As suddenly as she had appeared, the reaper was gone.

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To Be Continued
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