HP/SPN: Touched by an Angel (Harry/Castiel)
Title: Touched by an Angel (XX)
Author: nilitara
Fandom: HP, SPN
Rating: PG
Charaters: Harry, Castiel
Summary: Harry is at King Cross and has to make his choice.
For: crossovers100
Prompt: 087. Choice.
Disclaimer: The characters are the property of their respective creator. I own nothing.
Touched by an Angel - Main entry
087. Choice.
The choice was easier than he thought it would have been.
The moment Harry found himself waking up at King Cross station after being hit, once again, by the killing curse, he really thought it would be the end. After all, he had to be killed for Voldemort to die - he knew that - and he could only hope that whoever killed Voldemort afterwards would use the device he had literally gone to hell and back to find. Yet, he was certain it wouldn’t be him who would use it. Death was the end.
Except that, apparently, it wasn’t. When Dumbledore appeared to him, he asked the questions he had always wanted and, for once, the old man answered without letting anything out. It was very nice to see him again. Harry had missed his mentor, no matter how many misguided things he had done. It wasn’t as if he had made mistakes on purpose and Harry knew that, without him, he would have been lost. He had given so much for the good of the wizarding world, it was a shame he had died before seeing the end of the war.
Yet, Dumbledore was a very old man, Harry knew that. It was better for him this way. He could finally rest in peace because, no doubt had he been still alive, he would have had to live up once again to the expectations of the wizarding world and they expected quite a lot from the great Albus Dumbledore.
He had thought it was the end for him too but, before long, Dumbledore told him exactly where he was at the moment. The crossroad, the place where he had to make his choice.
Going on in the afterlife or going back to the battlefield.
One may have thought it would be a hard choice. The choice between really dying or going back to a war where he could die within the hour. It should have been difficult, he should have been hesitating, but there was no moment of doubt in his mind.
It was the easiest choice ever.
He wanted to go back and finish what he had begun. He wanted to go back for all of his friends who were still counting on him, friends he had not told of his suicidal mission before setting on it because he had known they would have tried to prevent him from going. If he could spare them the pain of seeing him dead, of mourning him, burying him, he had to. If he could save their life in the process, he had to. It was the only way.
But that wasn’t what made the choice so very easy. No, what made his decision so obvious was Castiel, his guardian angel. He may never see him again, he may never have any contact with him again, but the one thing the angel had taught him above everything was to live.
He had to live for Castiel, for the one who transgressed every rule to make sure he stayed alive and happy. Giving up now would mean betraying him in the worst way possible. He knew that awaited him on the other side, he knew the wonder he would see, he would live in, should he chose to go on in the afterlife, he had seen it all and it was so very tempting but he just couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t betray Castiel. He couldn’t let his friends die on the battlefield without trying to help. There was only one option left it he wanted to protect them.
He just had to finish the fight now. Of course, it would be easy. All the horcruxes had been destroyed, Voldemort thought he had killed him which meant that he now had the effect of surprise on his side, and he had in his possession the object he needed to ensure Voldemort’s ultimate demise would stick. Before the end of the night, Harry knew that the reign of terror of the Dark Lord would reach its end.
And with that very thought in mind, Harry smiled and turned to Dumbledore, telling him his decision.
“I’m going back.”