Children (028)
Title: Children
Author: sa-kun
Fandom: Harry Potter, Supernatural
Characters/Pairings: Castiel, Harry, Gabriel, Sam, Dean, Bobby, Sleipnir
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3151
Prompt: 028, children.
Summary: In which Sam has questions, Harry and Castiel bond, Dean tries to eat and Sleipnir just wanted to have some fun.
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Author's Notes/Warnings: Spoilers up to book 7 (HP), spoilers for season 4 & 5 (S05E08) of SPN. Part of my crossover series: start here. Masterpost is here.
Gabriel was at Bobby's when Sam and Dean finally got there. He was helping Bobby fix his wards, and using up an insane amount of candy in the process.
"So, um, I was wondering," Sam started, having followed Gabriel to the kitchen.
"What's up, Sasquatch?"
Sam pulled a face at the nickname, but didn't comment on it. "Cas has been acting kinda odd lately."
"You don't say," Gabriel drawled, snapping a lollipop into existence. He offered it to Sam, who shook his head, before popping into his mouth with a delighted hum. "Well, kid's been cast out of heaven, almost forced to fall and all that. Makes sense, don't you think, that he'd latch onto my fledgling, right?"
Sam frowned. "What are you talking about? Harry's human. And, anyway, what's that got to do with Cas spending an insane amount of time on the phone talking to him, or, or hoarding blankets and shit like the next ice age's about to go down, big time."
Gabriel smirked. "Ever heard the saying: birds of a feather, flock together?"
"Yeah, and that applies to this situation, how?"
"'Cause that's what Castiel and Harry are, Sammy. They're both at sort of the same stage in terms of maturity. If Castiel'd still been in heaven, he'd be busy flying all over doing exactly the same to some other angel his age."
"But Harry's human, Gabe!"
Gabriel made a grimace. "That, I'm not so sure about any more. When I first picked him up, yeah, as human as you, but these days… No, I don't think he's as human as he'd like to be any more. And you!" Gabriel poked Sam in the chest with a pointy finger. "Don't. Tell him. Got it? He'll know on his own when he's good and ready."
Sam frowned, rubbing his chest, looking a little worried, a little confused, a little curious. "So, okay, I won't ask about that, I guess. But, still. What's the deal with Cas trying to start his own branch of IKEA?"
Gabriel's smile was soft and almost tender. "They're flocking, kiddo. Nesting. Me and my brothers did it, all four of us. Some garrisons do it, but I guess Castiel never fit in his. Other times, two angels do it. Angels are flock animals in that sense. We need others around us much more than humans do."
"So, what? They're…fucking?" Sam asked crudely.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "How should I know?" he exclaimed. "If they want to, fine, none of my business! But building a nest and creating a flock isn't sexual in itself. It's about companionship and stuff like that." He pulled his lollipop out of his mouth with a loud pop, then pushed it into Sam's when he opened his mouth to say something. "Look, it's strange, yeah, I get that, but it was obviously something the kids felt they had to do. Don't give them shit over it."
With a grimace, Sam pulled the strawberry flavoured lollipop out of his mouth. "I won't. I don't care. There was this other thing, though. Cas's been spending hours on the phone with Harry, right? So me and Dean wondered why he didn't just zap his way over to Harry instead of, you know, using up all our money, and Cas just said something about it not being proper or something. So I guess I just wanted to know what the deal with that was?"
"Hmmmm, well, think of it this way: Harry's under my protection. I'm his angel - archangel, in fact. Castiel, on the other hand, is another angel who wants in on the action, so to speak. But since Harry's a fledgling, strictly speaking, I'm the only grown angel he should be spending any real time with. There's a loophole in this situation, 'cause Castiel's still young."
"So you don't want other angels giving your kids bad impressions, that it?"
"Succinctly. Yes."
Gabriel leaned forward and licked the lollipop still in Sam's hand. "But Castiel's been naughty, using the phone network to talk to Harry. He's sneaky and inventive, for an angel. I think I like it. Where is he, anyway?"
Sam shrugged. "Last I saw him was about a week ago, when he vanished with another haul of blankets or whatever. We haven't seen him since."
-x-
"Well? I think I did it right, but, well, I don't really know, y'know?" Harry mumbled. "I mean, Gabriel approved." He nodded at the circle of feathers hanging by the ceiling as close to the centre of the room as possible. They were strung together with beads and pearls and pieces of glass. Gabriel had pulled them from his left wing, calmly and carefully, before creating a sort of wreath from them. Harry wasn't sure he knew what all of it - all of this; the room - was actually about.
Castiel stood pressed up close to him, one hand grasping Harry's tightly. Still, despite how close they were, Castiel was careful to keep his wings angled away from Harry. Harry didn't mind, not really, because he knew now that they weren't anywhere near close enough in terms of a relationship for Harry to have that privilege.
"Your nest is magnificent," Castiel said, his eyes busy taking in every little detail.
"Our nest, Castiel," Harry softly corrected. "I made the bed round for you. Gabriel says it's easier on the wings, though I don't really understand why since they're not really all that corporeal in that since, but, um, yeah."
The bed was lowered down into the floor, until it was sunk down just barely a foot beneath floor level, and the bed itself as well as much of the surrounding floor was padded with rugs and cushions and duvets. Magic was handy that way. Every corner of the room was filled with cushions and pillows. The windows and the sills had been adjusted so that one could sit on them, and had been padded appropriately. The light spilling in, as well as the soft glow from the oil lamps hanging from the ceiling created beautiful colours and patterns wherever they caught the beads or pieces of broken glass also hanging down from the beams.
Castiel stood very still, then he carefully removed his shoes as well as his socks. Harry had been the one to teach him all about tactile sensations.
"The rugs are wonderful," he declared.
Harry smiled. "I know. Come, let's try the bed."
He pulled Castiel with him, pulled off Castiel's trench coat as well as his jacket and tie, then…then Castiel took over. He relieved Harry of his thick jumper, then kneeled, so that Castiel was on the bed, while Harry still stood on the floor. Lifting one foot at the time, Castiel removed Harry's soft slippers and socks.
Join me, Castiel's voice echoed in Harry's head.
Show me.
So Castiel shifted backwards, wings splayed out, somehow never knocking into anything, simply shifting and reshaping every time they pressed into anything. He tugged Harry with him, until they were both kneeling on the bed.
Lie down.
Harry blinked, then smiled and lay down on his back. Castiel made a sound in the back of his throat, then shifted Harry until he was curled up on his side, facing Castiel. Then Castiel shifted, lying down as well, curled up so that his wings were pillowed on the soft duvets and cushions Harry had lined the floor outside the bed with. Resting his forehead almost on Castiel's chest, Harry closed his eyes and drifted.
Castiel was there, and he pressed his forehead to Harry's, their hands grasping each other tightly.
Do you know how-
Yes.
They communed.
-x-
When Harry entered the kitchen early the next morning, just after dawn, having come in from outside, he was covered head to toe in blood.
"Whoah, Harry!" Sam exclaimed. He stood up hurriedly from the table, sending the chair he'd been sitting on clattering to the floor. "What happened? Are you all right, man?"
Harry blinked. "What are you doing here, Sam?"
For some reason, Sam's ears tinged red. "No, nothing, Never mind. What happened to you? Are you hurt?"
Harry shook his head. His knees were a bit sore, but that was all. Well, and his arms and shoulders were strained and his back was aching something awful. "What're you doing here?"
"Gabriel…invited me over." Sam cleared his throat. "Um. Yesterday. So, what's wrong? I mean, that's a lot of blood, and-"
"Thestral give birth?" Gabriel casually wondered, sauntering into the kitchen behind Harry. His feet were bare and he was only wearing pyjamas bottoms and a tank top. "Thought you didn't have one due for a couple of weeks, yet."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, since this thestral had, like, six legs, I suspect divine interference of some kind," he muttered. "Your son is a sneaky bastard, Gabriel."
Gabriel blinked. "Six legs?"
"Mmmm. And wings. Feathered wings. The thestral looks like some strange Pegasus, or whatever."
"You have a son?" Sam came out with, looking all kinds of confused.
"Hello? Loki?" Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm gonna go geld that prancing prat," he declared, then was gone.
"Geld, who? And what's a thestral?" Sam narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Who are you?"
Harry took a measured breath. "Okay," he murmured, then snapped his fingers. He hated cleaning up that way, but chances were he'd be standing around drenched in thestral blood and fluids for hours otherwise. "Sleipnir. The eight-legged horse Loki gave birth to. That's who Gabriel's off to geld, or something. A thestral is a magical horse-like being. They're skeletal, carnivores, winged and only visible to those who've witnessed death. I've been keeping them hidden, but now that you're in on the 'secret' I guess you'll start seeing them as well. As for me?" Harry shrugged. "I'm just Harry."
"Yeah, right."
"Bobby knows. Ask him. Please? I'm hungry."
"So talk and cook. Multitask." Sam didn't sound as if he was asking, either. The bloke was a hunter, all right, Harry thought with a mental sigh.
"Just, no more tests, please. Bobby already carved me open I don't know how many times."
So while keeping busy preparing and baking scones and muffins, Sam sat back down at the table, cradling a large mug of coffee, Harry told Sam a little about himself. There were a lot of interruptions, a lot of questions and clarifications, but Harry eventually got through his story. It was basically the same tale he'd told Bobby, but with a few more details.
Wouldn't do to let the Master of Death business slip, after all.
Castiel trailed into the kitchen sometime during the explanation.
"Cas. You're, like, glowing," Sam murmured, his eyes wide with a sort of wide-eyed wonder he looked about twenty years too old for.
Castiel smiled a little. "I had a good night. Thank you, Harry."
Harry managed a grin. "You're welcome. You eating today?"
Castiel gave it a moment's worth of consideration, before nodding.
"So, the wands?" Sam wondered, prodding at Harry to start talking again, even though he was still sending Harry and Castiel both odd looks. With a small nod, Harry started up his tale again.
Just as Harry was pulling the scones and muffins out of the oven, the rumbling sounds of a car came from outside.
Sam grinned. "I swear, my brother's got some weird sixth sense when it comes to food."
Without missing a beat, Harry set the table for two more. "Castiel, could you let them in?"
"Of course."
Harry watched the angel wander off with a frown on his face.
"Harry?"
Harry shook his head. "Nothing. Well. Sort of. His wings are…a mess, to say the least. I should talk him into letting Gabriel groom them for him. It's starting to look painful, and I don't even have wings."
"Oh. I didn't know they needed stuff like that."
"They do. I've been grooming Gabriel for years now. It's the most obvious clue that they're flock animals: they can't fix their own wings."
"And most humans can't see them."
"Exactly." And even if they could, chances were the angels wouldn't trust the humans in question enough to let them close in the first place. Harry paused, then walked over and sat down next to Sam. "I… Could you tell Dean? About me?"
Sam's eyes were open, warm. They looked caring and honest, sort of like Hermione's had, once upon a time, before everything went to hell.
"You sure?" Sam wondered, voice low. "He can be a bit…"
Harry nodded. "You know. Bobby knows. Gabriel and Castiel do, obviously. I have this feeling that Dean needs to, as well. It's important."
"Are you, like, psychic?" Sam wondered, his eyes a bit narrowed.
Harry lifted a shoulder. "Not exactly. I get hunches, sometimes. Following them is beneficial."
Sam didn't get an opportunity to question him further, because Dean, Bobby and Castiel chose that moment to stomp inside the kitchen.
"Sweet!" Dean exclaimed. "Scones!"
Harry gave him a shy smile. "I thought you might approve."
"Dean does indeed favour food," Castiel gravely intoned, taking a seat next to Harry. "I would like that beverage again."
Harry's smile shifted into a grin. He snapped his fingers before he could think twice, magically preparing and fixing the drink in question for Castiel - hot chocolate with a bit of whipped cream as well as marshmallows. "Here- oh, bugger."
Dean was aiming his gun at him.
"I'm not a Trickster!" Harry blurted at the same times as Bobby rolled his eyes and Sam slapped a hand to his forehead.
"He's a wizard, Dean, lower your firearm," Castiel added.
"Not helping, Cas," Sam muttered. "Look, Dean, I was gonna tell you later anyway. Might as well do it now. Sit down. Eat."
"I'm not eating-"
"I watched him prepare the scones and the English muffins from scratch; he didn't even make them from a box. There's nothing 'Trickster' about them."
"Kid's a saviour in the kitchen," Bobby added, having already prepared a scone or two on his plate and was now busy fixing his coffee.
"And I didn't really snap Castiel's drink into existence, either," Harry said quietly. "I just mixed it really fast, s'all. I can't conjure food. Magic doesn't work that way."
"Magic?" Dean demanded loudly, scepticism and derision and disgust dripping from his tone and expression.
It really was the worst timing in the world. Outside, there was a loud commotion, like the sound of breaking windows and creaking wood and exploding stone. Then a horse started whining and neighing loud enough to wake the dead.
It was shortly followed by the sound of frantic shouting.
"Baby! Baby! Help me, Baby! Mama's gonna geld me! Help!"
Harry slumped down in his chair, closed his eyes, and groaned.
"Baby! Baby!" Sleipnir squealed. "Help!"
Sam's eyes were wide. "Is that…?"
"Sleipnir?" Harry muttered tiredly. "Oh, yeah."
"BABY!"
Harry took a deep breath. "Sam, Bobby, Castiel. Tell Dean. I-"
"HELP, BABY!"
"Bugger this," he mumbled, then vanished with a muted crack.
The scene he arrived to outside wasn't necessarily better. Gabriel was wielding a wicked sharp curved blade. He had trapped Sleipnir in a large circle of fire, and the horse was running around like crazy, screaming for help, the whole time trying to protect his bollocks. Not that anything was chasing the horse, because Gabriel himself was merely standing there, outside of the flaming circle, dark glower on his face, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Well, Winchester and company know all about your sordid past now," Harry murmured as he walked over to Gabriel. "And mine, sort of."
"Baby!" Sleipnir called out, catching sight of Harry almost immediately. His nostrils were flaring. "Protect me, Baby, Mama's gonna geld me!"
"I warned you," Gabriel calmly declared.
"But Flickerwing was waiting," the horse whined.
Harry was probably the only person in the world who was able to detect the faint glimmer of amusement in Gabriel's eyes, considering how well hidden it was behind all the displeasure and anger.
"Maybe you should only take one of his bollocks?" Harry asked seriously.
"No!" Sleipnir protested. "Baby, help me, not Mama!"
"Actually, I was thinking of taking his dick instead," Gabriel drawled coldly. "That way-"
"Sorry, Mama! I'm sorry, won't do it again, Mama! Please, I'm sorry!"
Slepinir was shaking on his legs.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Oh, relax, you blubbering pony," he snapped. "I won't touch your bits, you featherbrain." With a snap of his fingers, the fire disappeared. "You should know better, Slippy."
The horse hung his ears, looking completely miserable. "Sorry, Mama."
"Hmmm, well." Gabriel rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Why don't you introduce us?"
"Really, Mama?" Sleipnir's ears perked up.
"Really," Gabriel said drily. Between one breath and the next, a horse stood where Gabriel had been. It was a large horse, almost as tall as Sleipnir, beautiful and pearl grey with shiny fur and a white star on its forehead. The horse nosed Harry's temple, then it galloped after Sleipnir in the direction of the forest.
"Dude. What the fuck."
Harry's shoulders slumped. "Seriously?" He turned around a met Dean's shocked stare. It was either that or break down into hysterical laughter. "I've got no idea. What do you want?"
"Um." Dean ran a hand through his hair. "You know what? It don't matter anymore. Sure as hell can't remember what it was in the first place," he mumbled to himself.
"Still hungry?" Harry wondered, coming up to stand next to Dean.
Dean snorted a bit in laughter. "Yeah, yeah. I think I am."
"Good. Because when I'm nervous, I cook obscene amounts of food. Ask Bobby."
Inside the kitchen, Bobby and Sam looked just as shell-shocked as Dean had, so Harry gathered they'd seen the little display outside as well. Only Castiel look unruffled. Then again, he was busy working his way through a muffin smothered in nutella.
"So…Sleipnir calls you 'Baby'?"
Harry glared at Sam. "I'm Gabriel's fledgling. To Sleipnir, that makes me 'Loki's' latest baby. Now shut up and eat. All of you."
Castiel looked at him with his wide, affronted eyes.
"Not you, Castiel. You're doing fine," Harry murmured. By reflex, his hand was reaching out to fix the errant feathers on the ridge of the wing closest to him. By a reflex ingrained even deeper in Castiel, the wing immediately moved out of reach. Harry blinked, frozen with his hand hovering in the vicinity of Castiel's shoulder.
Castiel's glare was hard and cold. "Don't touch my wings, Harry."
"Sorry. It's just…I get sympathy aches just looking at them."
Castiel appeared a little appeased at that. "I'm fine."
"Except, you're not," Harry muttered. He reached for a scone, then drenched it in honey and cheese, before eating it.
"I won't let you-"
"Ask. Gabriel," Harry intervened before they could start up that particular discussion again. "Please."
Sequel: Birth
Author: sa-kun
Fandom: Harry Potter, Supernatural
Characters/Pairings: Castiel, Harry, Gabriel, Sam, Dean, Bobby, Sleipnir
Rating: PG
Word Count: 3151
Prompt: 028, children.
Summary: In which Sam has questions, Harry and Castiel bond, Dean tries to eat and Sleipnir just wanted to have some fun.
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Author's Notes/Warnings: Spoilers up to book 7 (HP), spoilers for season 4 & 5 (S05E08) of SPN. Part of my crossover series: start here. Masterpost is here.
Gabriel was at Bobby's when Sam and Dean finally got there. He was helping Bobby fix his wards, and using up an insane amount of candy in the process.
"So, um, I was wondering," Sam started, having followed Gabriel to the kitchen.
"What's up, Sasquatch?"
Sam pulled a face at the nickname, but didn't comment on it. "Cas has been acting kinda odd lately."
"You don't say," Gabriel drawled, snapping a lollipop into existence. He offered it to Sam, who shook his head, before popping into his mouth with a delighted hum. "Well, kid's been cast out of heaven, almost forced to fall and all that. Makes sense, don't you think, that he'd latch onto my fledgling, right?"
Sam frowned. "What are you talking about? Harry's human. And, anyway, what's that got to do with Cas spending an insane amount of time on the phone talking to him, or, or hoarding blankets and shit like the next ice age's about to go down, big time."
Gabriel smirked. "Ever heard the saying: birds of a feather, flock together?"
"Yeah, and that applies to this situation, how?"
"'Cause that's what Castiel and Harry are, Sammy. They're both at sort of the same stage in terms of maturity. If Castiel'd still been in heaven, he'd be busy flying all over doing exactly the same to some other angel his age."
"But Harry's human, Gabe!"
Gabriel made a grimace. "That, I'm not so sure about any more. When I first picked him up, yeah, as human as you, but these days… No, I don't think he's as human as he'd like to be any more. And you!" Gabriel poked Sam in the chest with a pointy finger. "Don't. Tell him. Got it? He'll know on his own when he's good and ready."
Sam frowned, rubbing his chest, looking a little worried, a little confused, a little curious. "So, okay, I won't ask about that, I guess. But, still. What's the deal with Cas trying to start his own branch of IKEA?"
Gabriel's smile was soft and almost tender. "They're flocking, kiddo. Nesting. Me and my brothers did it, all four of us. Some garrisons do it, but I guess Castiel never fit in his. Other times, two angels do it. Angels are flock animals in that sense. We need others around us much more than humans do."
"So, what? They're…fucking?" Sam asked crudely.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "How should I know?" he exclaimed. "If they want to, fine, none of my business! But building a nest and creating a flock isn't sexual in itself. It's about companionship and stuff like that." He pulled his lollipop out of his mouth with a loud pop, then pushed it into Sam's when he opened his mouth to say something. "Look, it's strange, yeah, I get that, but it was obviously something the kids felt they had to do. Don't give them shit over it."
With a grimace, Sam pulled the strawberry flavoured lollipop out of his mouth. "I won't. I don't care. There was this other thing, though. Cas's been spending hours on the phone with Harry, right? So me and Dean wondered why he didn't just zap his way over to Harry instead of, you know, using up all our money, and Cas just said something about it not being proper or something. So I guess I just wanted to know what the deal with that was?"
"Hmmmm, well, think of it this way: Harry's under my protection. I'm his angel - archangel, in fact. Castiel, on the other hand, is another angel who wants in on the action, so to speak. But since Harry's a fledgling, strictly speaking, I'm the only grown angel he should be spending any real time with. There's a loophole in this situation, 'cause Castiel's still young."
"So you don't want other angels giving your kids bad impressions, that it?"
"Succinctly. Yes."
Gabriel leaned forward and licked the lollipop still in Sam's hand. "But Castiel's been naughty, using the phone network to talk to Harry. He's sneaky and inventive, for an angel. I think I like it. Where is he, anyway?"
Sam shrugged. "Last I saw him was about a week ago, when he vanished with another haul of blankets or whatever. We haven't seen him since."
-x-
"Well? I think I did it right, but, well, I don't really know, y'know?" Harry mumbled. "I mean, Gabriel approved." He nodded at the circle of feathers hanging by the ceiling as close to the centre of the room as possible. They were strung together with beads and pearls and pieces of glass. Gabriel had pulled them from his left wing, calmly and carefully, before creating a sort of wreath from them. Harry wasn't sure he knew what all of it - all of this; the room - was actually about.
Castiel stood pressed up close to him, one hand grasping Harry's tightly. Still, despite how close they were, Castiel was careful to keep his wings angled away from Harry. Harry didn't mind, not really, because he knew now that they weren't anywhere near close enough in terms of a relationship for Harry to have that privilege.
"Your nest is magnificent," Castiel said, his eyes busy taking in every little detail.
"Our nest, Castiel," Harry softly corrected. "I made the bed round for you. Gabriel says it's easier on the wings, though I don't really understand why since they're not really all that corporeal in that since, but, um, yeah."
The bed was lowered down into the floor, until it was sunk down just barely a foot beneath floor level, and the bed itself as well as much of the surrounding floor was padded with rugs and cushions and duvets. Magic was handy that way. Every corner of the room was filled with cushions and pillows. The windows and the sills had been adjusted so that one could sit on them, and had been padded appropriately. The light spilling in, as well as the soft glow from the oil lamps hanging from the ceiling created beautiful colours and patterns wherever they caught the beads or pieces of broken glass also hanging down from the beams.
Castiel stood very still, then he carefully removed his shoes as well as his socks. Harry had been the one to teach him all about tactile sensations.
"The rugs are wonderful," he declared.
Harry smiled. "I know. Come, let's try the bed."
He pulled Castiel with him, pulled off Castiel's trench coat as well as his jacket and tie, then…then Castiel took over. He relieved Harry of his thick jumper, then kneeled, so that Castiel was on the bed, while Harry still stood on the floor. Lifting one foot at the time, Castiel removed Harry's soft slippers and socks.
Join me, Castiel's voice echoed in Harry's head.
Show me.
So Castiel shifted backwards, wings splayed out, somehow never knocking into anything, simply shifting and reshaping every time they pressed into anything. He tugged Harry with him, until they were both kneeling on the bed.
Lie down.
Harry blinked, then smiled and lay down on his back. Castiel made a sound in the back of his throat, then shifted Harry until he was curled up on his side, facing Castiel. Then Castiel shifted, lying down as well, curled up so that his wings were pillowed on the soft duvets and cushions Harry had lined the floor outside the bed with. Resting his forehead almost on Castiel's chest, Harry closed his eyes and drifted.
Castiel was there, and he pressed his forehead to Harry's, their hands grasping each other tightly.
Do you know how-
Yes.
They communed.
-x-
When Harry entered the kitchen early the next morning, just after dawn, having come in from outside, he was covered head to toe in blood.
"Whoah, Harry!" Sam exclaimed. He stood up hurriedly from the table, sending the chair he'd been sitting on clattering to the floor. "What happened? Are you all right, man?"
Harry blinked. "What are you doing here, Sam?"
For some reason, Sam's ears tinged red. "No, nothing, Never mind. What happened to you? Are you hurt?"
Harry shook his head. His knees were a bit sore, but that was all. Well, and his arms and shoulders were strained and his back was aching something awful. "What're you doing here?"
"Gabriel…invited me over." Sam cleared his throat. "Um. Yesterday. So, what's wrong? I mean, that's a lot of blood, and-"
"Thestral give birth?" Gabriel casually wondered, sauntering into the kitchen behind Harry. His feet were bare and he was only wearing pyjamas bottoms and a tank top. "Thought you didn't have one due for a couple of weeks, yet."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, since this thestral had, like, six legs, I suspect divine interference of some kind," he muttered. "Your son is a sneaky bastard, Gabriel."
Gabriel blinked. "Six legs?"
"Mmmm. And wings. Feathered wings. The thestral looks like some strange Pegasus, or whatever."
"You have a son?" Sam came out with, looking all kinds of confused.
"Hello? Loki?" Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm gonna go geld that prancing prat," he declared, then was gone.
"Geld, who? And what's a thestral?" Sam narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Who are you?"
Harry took a measured breath. "Okay," he murmured, then snapped his fingers. He hated cleaning up that way, but chances were he'd be standing around drenched in thestral blood and fluids for hours otherwise. "Sleipnir. The eight-legged horse Loki gave birth to. That's who Gabriel's off to geld, or something. A thestral is a magical horse-like being. They're skeletal, carnivores, winged and only visible to those who've witnessed death. I've been keeping them hidden, but now that you're in on the 'secret' I guess you'll start seeing them as well. As for me?" Harry shrugged. "I'm just Harry."
"Yeah, right."
"Bobby knows. Ask him. Please? I'm hungry."
"So talk and cook. Multitask." Sam didn't sound as if he was asking, either. The bloke was a hunter, all right, Harry thought with a mental sigh.
"Just, no more tests, please. Bobby already carved me open I don't know how many times."
So while keeping busy preparing and baking scones and muffins, Sam sat back down at the table, cradling a large mug of coffee, Harry told Sam a little about himself. There were a lot of interruptions, a lot of questions and clarifications, but Harry eventually got through his story. It was basically the same tale he'd told Bobby, but with a few more details.
Wouldn't do to let the Master of Death business slip, after all.
Castiel trailed into the kitchen sometime during the explanation.
"Cas. You're, like, glowing," Sam murmured, his eyes wide with a sort of wide-eyed wonder he looked about twenty years too old for.
Castiel smiled a little. "I had a good night. Thank you, Harry."
Harry managed a grin. "You're welcome. You eating today?"
Castiel gave it a moment's worth of consideration, before nodding.
"So, the wands?" Sam wondered, prodding at Harry to start talking again, even though he was still sending Harry and Castiel both odd looks. With a small nod, Harry started up his tale again.
Just as Harry was pulling the scones and muffins out of the oven, the rumbling sounds of a car came from outside.
Sam grinned. "I swear, my brother's got some weird sixth sense when it comes to food."
Without missing a beat, Harry set the table for two more. "Castiel, could you let them in?"
"Of course."
Harry watched the angel wander off with a frown on his face.
"Harry?"
Harry shook his head. "Nothing. Well. Sort of. His wings are…a mess, to say the least. I should talk him into letting Gabriel groom them for him. It's starting to look painful, and I don't even have wings."
"Oh. I didn't know they needed stuff like that."
"They do. I've been grooming Gabriel for years now. It's the most obvious clue that they're flock animals: they can't fix their own wings."
"And most humans can't see them."
"Exactly." And even if they could, chances were the angels wouldn't trust the humans in question enough to let them close in the first place. Harry paused, then walked over and sat down next to Sam. "I… Could you tell Dean? About me?"
Sam's eyes were open, warm. They looked caring and honest, sort of like Hermione's had, once upon a time, before everything went to hell.
"You sure?" Sam wondered, voice low. "He can be a bit…"
Harry nodded. "You know. Bobby knows. Gabriel and Castiel do, obviously. I have this feeling that Dean needs to, as well. It's important."
"Are you, like, psychic?" Sam wondered, his eyes a bit narrowed.
Harry lifted a shoulder. "Not exactly. I get hunches, sometimes. Following them is beneficial."
Sam didn't get an opportunity to question him further, because Dean, Bobby and Castiel chose that moment to stomp inside the kitchen.
"Sweet!" Dean exclaimed. "Scones!"
Harry gave him a shy smile. "I thought you might approve."
"Dean does indeed favour food," Castiel gravely intoned, taking a seat next to Harry. "I would like that beverage again."
Harry's smile shifted into a grin. He snapped his fingers before he could think twice, magically preparing and fixing the drink in question for Castiel - hot chocolate with a bit of whipped cream as well as marshmallows. "Here- oh, bugger."
Dean was aiming his gun at him.
"I'm not a Trickster!" Harry blurted at the same times as Bobby rolled his eyes and Sam slapped a hand to his forehead.
"He's a wizard, Dean, lower your firearm," Castiel added.
"Not helping, Cas," Sam muttered. "Look, Dean, I was gonna tell you later anyway. Might as well do it now. Sit down. Eat."
"I'm not eating-"
"I watched him prepare the scones and the English muffins from scratch; he didn't even make them from a box. There's nothing 'Trickster' about them."
"Kid's a saviour in the kitchen," Bobby added, having already prepared a scone or two on his plate and was now busy fixing his coffee.
"And I didn't really snap Castiel's drink into existence, either," Harry said quietly. "I just mixed it really fast, s'all. I can't conjure food. Magic doesn't work that way."
"Magic?" Dean demanded loudly, scepticism and derision and disgust dripping from his tone and expression.
It really was the worst timing in the world. Outside, there was a loud commotion, like the sound of breaking windows and creaking wood and exploding stone. Then a horse started whining and neighing loud enough to wake the dead.
It was shortly followed by the sound of frantic shouting.
"Baby! Baby! Help me, Baby! Mama's gonna geld me! Help!"
Harry slumped down in his chair, closed his eyes, and groaned.
"Baby! Baby!" Sleipnir squealed. "Help!"
Sam's eyes were wide. "Is that…?"
"Sleipnir?" Harry muttered tiredly. "Oh, yeah."
"BABY!"
Harry took a deep breath. "Sam, Bobby, Castiel. Tell Dean. I-"
"HELP, BABY!"
"Bugger this," he mumbled, then vanished with a muted crack.
The scene he arrived to outside wasn't necessarily better. Gabriel was wielding a wicked sharp curved blade. He had trapped Sleipnir in a large circle of fire, and the horse was running around like crazy, screaming for help, the whole time trying to protect his bollocks. Not that anything was chasing the horse, because Gabriel himself was merely standing there, outside of the flaming circle, dark glower on his face, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Well, Winchester and company know all about your sordid past now," Harry murmured as he walked over to Gabriel. "And mine, sort of."
"Baby!" Sleipnir called out, catching sight of Harry almost immediately. His nostrils were flaring. "Protect me, Baby, Mama's gonna geld me!"
"I warned you," Gabriel calmly declared.
"But Flickerwing was waiting," the horse whined.
Harry was probably the only person in the world who was able to detect the faint glimmer of amusement in Gabriel's eyes, considering how well hidden it was behind all the displeasure and anger.
"Maybe you should only take one of his bollocks?" Harry asked seriously.
"No!" Sleipnir protested. "Baby, help me, not Mama!"
"Actually, I was thinking of taking his dick instead," Gabriel drawled coldly. "That way-"
"Sorry, Mama! I'm sorry, won't do it again, Mama! Please, I'm sorry!"
Slepinir was shaking on his legs.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Oh, relax, you blubbering pony," he snapped. "I won't touch your bits, you featherbrain." With a snap of his fingers, the fire disappeared. "You should know better, Slippy."
The horse hung his ears, looking completely miserable. "Sorry, Mama."
"Hmmm, well." Gabriel rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Why don't you introduce us?"
"Really, Mama?" Sleipnir's ears perked up.
"Really," Gabriel said drily. Between one breath and the next, a horse stood where Gabriel had been. It was a large horse, almost as tall as Sleipnir, beautiful and pearl grey with shiny fur and a white star on its forehead. The horse nosed Harry's temple, then it galloped after Sleipnir in the direction of the forest.
"Dude. What the fuck."
Harry's shoulders slumped. "Seriously?" He turned around a met Dean's shocked stare. It was either that or break down into hysterical laughter. "I've got no idea. What do you want?"
"Um." Dean ran a hand through his hair. "You know what? It don't matter anymore. Sure as hell can't remember what it was in the first place," he mumbled to himself.
"Still hungry?" Harry wondered, coming up to stand next to Dean.
Dean snorted a bit in laughter. "Yeah, yeah. I think I am."
"Good. Because when I'm nervous, I cook obscene amounts of food. Ask Bobby."
Inside the kitchen, Bobby and Sam looked just as shell-shocked as Dean had, so Harry gathered they'd seen the little display outside as well. Only Castiel look unruffled. Then again, he was busy working his way through a muffin smothered in nutella.
"So…Sleipnir calls you 'Baby'?"
Harry glared at Sam. "I'm Gabriel's fledgling. To Sleipnir, that makes me 'Loki's' latest baby. Now shut up and eat. All of you."
Castiel looked at him with his wide, affronted eyes.
"Not you, Castiel. You're doing fine," Harry murmured. By reflex, his hand was reaching out to fix the errant feathers on the ridge of the wing closest to him. By a reflex ingrained even deeper in Castiel, the wing immediately moved out of reach. Harry blinked, frozen with his hand hovering in the vicinity of Castiel's shoulder.
Castiel's glare was hard and cold. "Don't touch my wings, Harry."
"Sorry. It's just…I get sympathy aches just looking at them."
Castiel appeared a little appeased at that. "I'm fine."
"Except, you're not," Harry muttered. He reached for a scone, then drenched it in honey and cheese, before eating it.
"I won't let you-"
"Ask. Gabriel," Harry intervened before they could start up that particular discussion again. "Please."
Sequel: Birth