Fic: Damned Demented Demons 16/32 (SPN/HP)
Title: Damned Demented Demons 16/32
Author: ME!
Fandoms: Supernatural/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13 (for swearing)
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, Spoilers up to 4x17 for Supernatural.
Disclaimer: Sam and Dean belong to Kripke, Harry Potter belongs to Rowling.
A/N: I thought that the Battle of Hogwarts took place in Spring 1997...so that's what I based my timeline on. Since then I've seen that most sources have it in 1998. Ah well. In this story it's 1997. The events of the story take place sometime in early 2009.
A/N to chapter 15: The numbers I use at the end of this chapter are specific cultural (or popcultural) references. Cookies to those who can name them.
Summary: In which we discover what kind of trouble Harry and Sam ran into.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
*Previously with Harry and Sam*
Harry flew out the door to the Departmental Library and into the foyer. Phil was standing just inside the entrance. The stairs had rearranged themselves again, but luckily they were just on the second floor. So Harry simply ran down the stairs until they ended midway to the ground and then jumped the rest of the way. Sam did the same two steps behind him.
"What's the problem, Phil?" Harry asked, wondering why Phil was just standing there when his Patronus had used the Phil-code for a high-level emergency. Harry already had his wand ready, but he was surprised when Phil raised his own wand.
"He's the problem!" Phil said calmly and a bolt of red left his wand, flew over Harry's head and hit Sam in the chest, before Harry could even get out a defensive spell.
Sam staggered backwards, but didn't fall much to Harry's amazement.
"Petrificus Totalus," Harry countered to Phil, but Phil rolled out of the way. Another Stupefy was sent towards Sam, but Harry was able to put up a quick blocking charm.
"What the hell are you doing?" Harry got out between blocks and counter-curses, keeping Sam securely behind him. Most of Phil's spells were going wide, which didn't make any sense for a skilled Auror. Sometimes he would make a movement and nothing would happen at all, while other times one of the wide spells would hit the wall hard enough to break the stone.
"They were supposed to keep you apart, not pull you together!" Phil growled back, sending another shot over their heads.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. He knew Sam had his gun out, and he desperately wanted to find out what had gotten into his friend before the Hunter decided to pull the trigger.
"Keep the Winchesters comatose, while we play with the Saviour," Phil sneered. "Separate, not together. You came too fast - to desperate to get away from the ball and chain and those brats she spawned."
"Christo!" Sam said from behind him, and Harry wondered briefly what spell Sam was trying to use, until he saw Phil's eyes turn completely black. Well, Harry thought, that explained what had gotten into him.
Phil tried to curse Sam again, but Sam quickly stepped out of the way. Harry saw Sam lower his gun out of the corner of his eye. He tried to fire another binding spell at Phil - the demon wearing Phil. Sam or Dean would know an exorcism, he just had to get Phil bound somehow.
"How many of you are there?" Sam asked in a cold tone, as though the demon was already bound - already at their mercy. Harry hadn't heard Sam use that tone of voice before, and it sent a shiver down his spine.
"We are legion," The demon responded laughing. Harry used the opportunity to try to Stupefy the demon again. The demon managed to avoid it and send another curse towards Sam, except the curse sputtered out to nothing at the end of the wand.
"Enough with these stupid magic tricks," the demon said frustrated, throwing Phil's wand away. It raised a hand and the next thing Harry knew he was flying through the air. His head hit the edge of a staircase and for a moment everything went black. Then Sam's voice filtered through.
"I'd get out of him, if I were you," Sam said evenly in the same cold tone as before. Harry marveled at how Sam still sounded as though they had the upper hand, even though Harry was disarmed, a gun would kill Phil - so effectively Sam was disarmed as well, and Harry could feel blood slowly dripping down his forehead.
"No, you aren't supposed to interfere...they were supposed to..." Harry vision finally swam back into focus, and he looked to see why the demon seemed to be having trouble completing sentences. What he saw made him wonder just how hard he had hit his head.
Sam was standing in the middle of the room, arm and hand outstretched towards the demon, his eyes hard and his mouth in an angry snarl. The demon meanwhile was standing as if frozen to the spot, clutching at its throat.
Drifts of black smoke began spilling out from Phil's mouth, swirling down to pool at his feet. Harry watched mesmerized as Phil fell to his knees after the last of the black fell to the ground. Then, as though he was watching a fire in reverse, the smoke curled into the floor and seemed to turn briefly to coals, before vanishing altogether, leaving Phil to collapse on the black stained stone.
Harry felt like his head was spinning, and he didn't think it had anything to do with the head wound.
*
Sam lowered his hand and then sprinted over to where Phil lay sprawled on the stone floor. The demon couldn't have been in him for long, so really he should only be shaken but not injured. Sam rolled him over and felt for a pulse, finding one easily. It was only then that Sam let himself worry about Harry. He found himself hoping that Harry had been knocked out by that throw and hadn't seen what Sam had just done.
Mentally crossing his fingers, Sam turned slowly to look at where Harry had fallen. Sam's heart sank when he discovered that Harry was not only awake, but was studying him so openly that Sam could practically see his thoughts, feel the conclusions he was already drawing.
"Shit," Sam muttered under his breath, then cleared his throat. "Uh, Phil's alright, just unconscious. Um, how's your head?" Really, Sam thought, he could have made that sound a little more confident.
Harry seemed to take a moment to decide how to respond. Sam wasn't surprised. Harry would treat him differently now, he figured. Now that he knew just how much of a freak Sam really was.
"I've had worse," Harry replied finally, and pulled himself to his feet. Sam watched him as he crossed the room, picking up his own wand and Phil's wand along the way. He joined Sam and knelt down beside Phil, then reached out and smacked the older man gently.
"Phil?" Harry said, as Phil groaned and cracked his eyes open. Phil looked around in confusion for a second, and then widened his eyes at Harry and scrambled to his feet.
"Fuck! You're bleeding! There's black smoke!" Phil said in a rush of words, looking around frantically, "Not smoke, black...black...shit, how'd I get here? What's going on?"
"Phil, calm down," Harry said, just as Sam spoke up.
"Phil, you were possessed by a demon. It's gone now. I took care of it," Sam explained slowly, this wasn't the first time he had done this after all, he practically had a speech memorized.
"Shit," Phil muttered, "demons aren't supposed to possess wizards! That's a goddamn Muggle problem!"
"Phil," Harry replied, and Sam was surprised to hear Harry's voice grow stern. A marked difference to the gentle voice Sam had been trying to use on Phil. "Demons are a problem for everybody. Don't make excuses for being complacent."
"Sorry, sir," Phil replied genuinely.
"Good," Harry said. "Now, Sam and I are going to return to the library before Malfoy gets nervous and makes his escape. Do you mind cleaning up after yourself, or well...not yourself?"
"No, sir," Phil said standing as Harry handed him his wand. Phil paused briefly, and then asked, "Harry...did you disarm me?"
"No," Harry said, much to Sam's confusion Phil actually looked relieved. "The demon was having the case-book trouble controlling magic. It chose to discard your wand."
Phil nodded and turned to catalog the damage to the room. Harry motioned for Sam to follow him, then proceeded to pull himself up on a staircase that didn't touch the floor. When they had successfully made their way back to the door of the library, Harry turned and faced Sam.
"Muffliato" Harry said with a wave of his wand, and Sam knew that whatever Harry was about to say, Phil wouldn't be able to hear it. Sighing, Sam prepared himself for the worst. It had been too much to hope that Harry would be distracted enough to let what he witnessed go unexplained.
To Sam's surprise though, Harry's face wasn't full of anger or suspicion, but concern. It made Sam think that there might be a chance to at least prevent the situation from becoming worse.
"Sam..." Harry started, but Sam spoke over him.
"You can't tell Dean."
Harry paused, looking at Sam in confusion, "Sam? D-"
"Dean...he doesn't like it when I...I told him I wouldn't....please," Sam said, and didn't care how desperate he sounded. Things between him and Dean were bad enough as it was, he didn't need to add more fuel to the fire.
"Ok, ok," Harry said, "but only if you answer one question."
Sam winced, "What?"
"Sam, are you..." Harry paused, wincing at whatever he had intended to say, and then started again. "What are you...besides human?"
Sam felt himself pale.
"What makes you- " Sam started in mock confusion.
"Sam," Harry said simply, but Sam could recognize that tone anywhere.
"Do you think Dean heard what was going on out here?" Sam asked, looking at the thick wooden door beside them instead of Harry's green eyes. "Maybe it doesn't matter if you tell him or not."
"The door is sound proof. We could have a marching band out here and they wouldn't know," Harry replied. "Answer the question, Sam. Because what I'm thinking doesn't make sense." Sam paused at that, turning his attention back to Harry.
"What are you thinking?" Sam asked softly, bracing himself for the words he hated - freak, monster...
"Demons can't invoke the name of God," Harry said in response, "yet, your reaction to magic...I didn't understand it before, but I didn't have anything to really compare it too, at least, I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes. In the Chamber, you made the magic unpredictable, hard to control...the Patronus spell is far more complicated than the stunners that the demon in Phil was trying to throw at us. The only thing that can go wrong with them is they hit too hard and kill, or they don't hit at all. The Patronus charm, well, a demon has never tried to cast one of those before, but I'd imagine that they might do something like-"
"Like try to turn their brother into a Patronus?" Sam finished for him quietly.
"Something like that, yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "Sam, I know you're human, but..."
Sam sighed heavily, glancing at the wooden door and then back to Harry again. Then glancing down to Phil who seemed to be directing a scrubbing brush across the stone floor and muttering about being an Auror, not a janitor.
"When I was six months old, a demon broke into my nursery," Sam began quietly, even knowing Phil couldn't hear and that the door was sound proof, Sam couldn't bring himself to say the words too loudly. "My mother...before she could stop him, he fed me his blood. I have these abilities..." Sam trailed off, hoping that Harry wouldn't ask anything more.
"The fire that killed your mother..." Harry let the question hang.
"The demon killed my mother," Sam answered, a little surprised with what question Harry had chosen to ask first.
"And your girlfriend in college?" Harry asked further.
"Her too," Sam replied.
"And Dean?" Harry continued. Sam furrowed his brow and then realized the connection Harry was drawing.
"Different demon," Sam replied. "Dean killed the one who got Mom and Jess...and Dad. It was Lilith that held Dean's contract."
"I see," was all Harry said. Sam wished Harry would give him some indication of what he was thinking, some indication on whether or not Sam had just lost an ally.
"I'm not evil," Sam said quickly. "I just have...this...inside me." Sam cringed inwardly at how pathetic he sounded. Sam found himself looking back at the wooden door, avoiding Harry's eyes again.
"Sam," Harry said, "I understand."
Sam's attention immediately whipped back to Harry - who was actually smiling.
"Trust me, I understand," Harry repeated.
"Um, thanks," Sam finally said, suspicious that it had been that easy.
"Listen, we really have to get back to Dean and Draco, but after we're done here, there's something I need to talk to you about." Harry said.
"Ok," Sam said, still not quite sure what was going on.
"Great," Harry replied.
* *
Harry could hear Sam explaining to Dean what had happened in the foyer. The brothers still stood by the door, while Harry had immediately gone over to see what Draco had found. Whatever it was, it had caused Draco to give Harry a rather significant look as soon as no one else had been looking.
"...finally Harry was able to stop him with that spell he used on you earlier, and I was able to exorcise him." Sam was saying.
"With the Latin?" Dean interrupted, and Harry risked a sideways glance over to the brothers.
"Yeah, with the Latin," Sam said with a small glare. Harry couldn't see Dean's face well enough to tell if he bought the lie. There was a significant pause, but Harry couldn't tell what it meant. He could just see Sam continue to glare at his brother.
"Did you find out how many there were?" Dean finally asked.
"No," Sam said with disappointment, "but I think it's safe to say that the security guard has been compromised."
Harry turned his attention back to the reports in front of him, scanning the information as quickly as he could. Malfoy hovered next to him, passing him more papers or using a long pale finger to point out particularly interesting passages in the files. It outlined a lot more than the Auror report did, that was for sure.
"Start making copies," Harry told Malfoy.
"Ok, just..." Malfoy said, "you might be interested in this one." Malfoy handed him another piece of parchment. Harry started to scan it and then stopped and started to carefully read from the beginning. Beside him, Malfoy started making duplicates of everything. He glanced over at the Winchesters to find them rummaging through their duffle bag and re-arming themselves - with flasks of water. Whatever keeps them busy, Harry thought.
"Copy this page too, but give the copy to me," Harry said, handing the parchment back to Malfoy.
"I'm not your secretary, Potter," Malfoy muttered, but copied the page nevertheless. Harry folded it and tucked it into his pocket. He then started stacking the copied into their own file.
"You going to let us see what has you two all worked up, or do I have to change my mind about not shooting anyone?" Dean's voice suddenly said from behind them. Harry felt Malfoy freeze, but he knew that Dean was just joking about that last part...he hoped.
"We're making a copy, so we can all read it somewhere a little safer," Harry replied. "Are you guys ready? Because I think getting out of here is going to be a bit different than coming in."
"Yeah, we figure they probably have that security kid, who knows who else," Dean answered. "It'd be pointless to drink that potion again, circumstances have changed - if Roger didn't suspect anything before, he's going to after Harry Potter exorcises a demon out of him."
Harry turned to face the Winchesters, shoving the copies of the reports into his shoulder bag. Thankful that for the moment Dean was too distracted by the presence of demons to worry about the contents of the report.
"Ok, you two will take point on this one," Harry ordered, "you're the experts. Phil, Malfoy, and I will be your backup."
"Potter, you are not volunteering me to fight demons," Malfoy practically hissed at him. Harry sighed.
"Malfoy, I'm going to need your help afterwards," Harry said softly. "You're a much better Obliviator than I am."
"Well, that might be true," Malfoy said, a hint of his usual condescension slipping back into his voice, "but it's only polite to ask first, before volunteering people for battle."
Harry pursed his lips and did his best not to smile.
"Mr. Malfoy," Harry began in an affected voice, "if it isn't too much trouble, would you be so kind as to assist me, and the brothers Winchester, in exorcising some demons and then obliviating the memories of whomever they've possessed."
Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"Well there's no need to be ridiculous about it, Potter," he said. Harry just raised his eyebrows in response. Malfoy sighed and continued, "Yes, I will help you."
"Thanks, Malfoy," Harry said.
"We good to go then?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, just...uh," Harry started, not sure how to pull this off. "I just have one more thing to do in this place. Let's go to the foyer and you two can brief Phil and Malfoy on demons, while I run one more errand."
"What else do you have to do?" Sam asked, as they all exited the library.
"I just need to have a look at something," Harry replied vaguely, as Malfoy directed the stairs to adjust. Phil was waiting for them by the exit, having successfully cleaned and repaired the room. "Malfoy, could you...?"
Malfoy waved his wand again and the stairs adjusted further. Now there was a staircase leading the Winchesters and Malfoy down to the foyer, and another staircase leading Harry to a corridor on the third floor. Harry took off at a sprint, not having to turn around to know that Sam's concerned eyes were still on him.
He jogged through the short corridor until he came to another large wooden door. Taking a deep breath, Harry pushed it open, revealing the seemingly never-ending shelves of pale glittering globes: The Hall of Prophecy. Harry took out the piece of parchment from his pocket and smoothed out the creases to re-read the subject heading on the report:
Winchester: Row 42, Shelf 66, Entry 4
Over his head, there was an unnoticed fluttering of wings.
Chapter 17
Masterpost
Author: ME!
Fandoms: Supernatural/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13 (for swearing)
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, Spoilers up to 4x17 for Supernatural.
Disclaimer: Sam and Dean belong to Kripke, Harry Potter belongs to Rowling.
A/N: I thought that the Battle of Hogwarts took place in Spring 1997...so that's what I based my timeline on. Since then I've seen that most sources have it in 1998. Ah well. In this story it's 1997. The events of the story take place sometime in early 2009.
A/N to chapter 15: The numbers I use at the end of this chapter are specific cultural (or popcultural) references. Cookies to those who can name them.
Summary: In which we discover what kind of trouble Harry and Sam ran into.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
*Previously with Harry and Sam*
Harry flew out the door to the Departmental Library and into the foyer. Phil was standing just inside the entrance. The stairs had rearranged themselves again, but luckily they were just on the second floor. So Harry simply ran down the stairs until they ended midway to the ground and then jumped the rest of the way. Sam did the same two steps behind him.
"What's the problem, Phil?" Harry asked, wondering why Phil was just standing there when his Patronus had used the Phil-code for a high-level emergency. Harry already had his wand ready, but he was surprised when Phil raised his own wand.
"He's the problem!" Phil said calmly and a bolt of red left his wand, flew over Harry's head and hit Sam in the chest, before Harry could even get out a defensive spell.
Sam staggered backwards, but didn't fall much to Harry's amazement.
"Petrificus Totalus," Harry countered to Phil, but Phil rolled out of the way. Another Stupefy was sent towards Sam, but Harry was able to put up a quick blocking charm.
"What the hell are you doing?" Harry got out between blocks and counter-curses, keeping Sam securely behind him. Most of Phil's spells were going wide, which didn't make any sense for a skilled Auror. Sometimes he would make a movement and nothing would happen at all, while other times one of the wide spells would hit the wall hard enough to break the stone.
"They were supposed to keep you apart, not pull you together!" Phil growled back, sending another shot over their heads.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. He knew Sam had his gun out, and he desperately wanted to find out what had gotten into his friend before the Hunter decided to pull the trigger.
"Keep the Winchesters comatose, while we play with the Saviour," Phil sneered. "Separate, not together. You came too fast - to desperate to get away from the ball and chain and those brats she spawned."
"Christo!" Sam said from behind him, and Harry wondered briefly what spell Sam was trying to use, until he saw Phil's eyes turn completely black. Well, Harry thought, that explained what had gotten into him.
Phil tried to curse Sam again, but Sam quickly stepped out of the way. Harry saw Sam lower his gun out of the corner of his eye. He tried to fire another binding spell at Phil - the demon wearing Phil. Sam or Dean would know an exorcism, he just had to get Phil bound somehow.
"How many of you are there?" Sam asked in a cold tone, as though the demon was already bound - already at their mercy. Harry hadn't heard Sam use that tone of voice before, and it sent a shiver down his spine.
"We are legion," The demon responded laughing. Harry used the opportunity to try to Stupefy the demon again. The demon managed to avoid it and send another curse towards Sam, except the curse sputtered out to nothing at the end of the wand.
"Enough with these stupid magic tricks," the demon said frustrated, throwing Phil's wand away. It raised a hand and the next thing Harry knew he was flying through the air. His head hit the edge of a staircase and for a moment everything went black. Then Sam's voice filtered through.
"I'd get out of him, if I were you," Sam said evenly in the same cold tone as before. Harry marveled at how Sam still sounded as though they had the upper hand, even though Harry was disarmed, a gun would kill Phil - so effectively Sam was disarmed as well, and Harry could feel blood slowly dripping down his forehead.
"No, you aren't supposed to interfere...they were supposed to..." Harry vision finally swam back into focus, and he looked to see why the demon seemed to be having trouble completing sentences. What he saw made him wonder just how hard he had hit his head.
Sam was standing in the middle of the room, arm and hand outstretched towards the demon, his eyes hard and his mouth in an angry snarl. The demon meanwhile was standing as if frozen to the spot, clutching at its throat.
Drifts of black smoke began spilling out from Phil's mouth, swirling down to pool at his feet. Harry watched mesmerized as Phil fell to his knees after the last of the black fell to the ground. Then, as though he was watching a fire in reverse, the smoke curled into the floor and seemed to turn briefly to coals, before vanishing altogether, leaving Phil to collapse on the black stained stone.
Harry felt like his head was spinning, and he didn't think it had anything to do with the head wound.
*
Sam lowered his hand and then sprinted over to where Phil lay sprawled on the stone floor. The demon couldn't have been in him for long, so really he should only be shaken but not injured. Sam rolled him over and felt for a pulse, finding one easily. It was only then that Sam let himself worry about Harry. He found himself hoping that Harry had been knocked out by that throw and hadn't seen what Sam had just done.
Mentally crossing his fingers, Sam turned slowly to look at where Harry had fallen. Sam's heart sank when he discovered that Harry was not only awake, but was studying him so openly that Sam could practically see his thoughts, feel the conclusions he was already drawing.
"Shit," Sam muttered under his breath, then cleared his throat. "Uh, Phil's alright, just unconscious. Um, how's your head?" Really, Sam thought, he could have made that sound a little more confident.
Harry seemed to take a moment to decide how to respond. Sam wasn't surprised. Harry would treat him differently now, he figured. Now that he knew just how much of a freak Sam really was.
"I've had worse," Harry replied finally, and pulled himself to his feet. Sam watched him as he crossed the room, picking up his own wand and Phil's wand along the way. He joined Sam and knelt down beside Phil, then reached out and smacked the older man gently.
"Phil?" Harry said, as Phil groaned and cracked his eyes open. Phil looked around in confusion for a second, and then widened his eyes at Harry and scrambled to his feet.
"Fuck! You're bleeding! There's black smoke!" Phil said in a rush of words, looking around frantically, "Not smoke, black...black...shit, how'd I get here? What's going on?"
"Phil, calm down," Harry said, just as Sam spoke up.
"Phil, you were possessed by a demon. It's gone now. I took care of it," Sam explained slowly, this wasn't the first time he had done this after all, he practically had a speech memorized.
"Shit," Phil muttered, "demons aren't supposed to possess wizards! That's a goddamn Muggle problem!"
"Phil," Harry replied, and Sam was surprised to hear Harry's voice grow stern. A marked difference to the gentle voice Sam had been trying to use on Phil. "Demons are a problem for everybody. Don't make excuses for being complacent."
"Sorry, sir," Phil replied genuinely.
"Good," Harry said. "Now, Sam and I are going to return to the library before Malfoy gets nervous and makes his escape. Do you mind cleaning up after yourself, or well...not yourself?"
"No, sir," Phil said standing as Harry handed him his wand. Phil paused briefly, and then asked, "Harry...did you disarm me?"
"No," Harry said, much to Sam's confusion Phil actually looked relieved. "The demon was having the case-book trouble controlling magic. It chose to discard your wand."
Phil nodded and turned to catalog the damage to the room. Harry motioned for Sam to follow him, then proceeded to pull himself up on a staircase that didn't touch the floor. When they had successfully made their way back to the door of the library, Harry turned and faced Sam.
"Muffliato" Harry said with a wave of his wand, and Sam knew that whatever Harry was about to say, Phil wouldn't be able to hear it. Sighing, Sam prepared himself for the worst. It had been too much to hope that Harry would be distracted enough to let what he witnessed go unexplained.
To Sam's surprise though, Harry's face wasn't full of anger or suspicion, but concern. It made Sam think that there might be a chance to at least prevent the situation from becoming worse.
"Sam..." Harry started, but Sam spoke over him.
"You can't tell Dean."
Harry paused, looking at Sam in confusion, "Sam? D-"
"Dean...he doesn't like it when I...I told him I wouldn't....please," Sam said, and didn't care how desperate he sounded. Things between him and Dean were bad enough as it was, he didn't need to add more fuel to the fire.
"Ok, ok," Harry said, "but only if you answer one question."
Sam winced, "What?"
"Sam, are you..." Harry paused, wincing at whatever he had intended to say, and then started again. "What are you...besides human?"
Sam felt himself pale.
"What makes you- " Sam started in mock confusion.
"Sam," Harry said simply, but Sam could recognize that tone anywhere.
"Do you think Dean heard what was going on out here?" Sam asked, looking at the thick wooden door beside them instead of Harry's green eyes. "Maybe it doesn't matter if you tell him or not."
"The door is sound proof. We could have a marching band out here and they wouldn't know," Harry replied. "Answer the question, Sam. Because what I'm thinking doesn't make sense." Sam paused at that, turning his attention back to Harry.
"What are you thinking?" Sam asked softly, bracing himself for the words he hated - freak, monster...
"Demons can't invoke the name of God," Harry said in response, "yet, your reaction to magic...I didn't understand it before, but I didn't have anything to really compare it too, at least, I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes. In the Chamber, you made the magic unpredictable, hard to control...the Patronus spell is far more complicated than the stunners that the demon in Phil was trying to throw at us. The only thing that can go wrong with them is they hit too hard and kill, or they don't hit at all. The Patronus charm, well, a demon has never tried to cast one of those before, but I'd imagine that they might do something like-"
"Like try to turn their brother into a Patronus?" Sam finished for him quietly.
"Something like that, yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "Sam, I know you're human, but..."
Sam sighed heavily, glancing at the wooden door and then back to Harry again. Then glancing down to Phil who seemed to be directing a scrubbing brush across the stone floor and muttering about being an Auror, not a janitor.
"When I was six months old, a demon broke into my nursery," Sam began quietly, even knowing Phil couldn't hear and that the door was sound proof, Sam couldn't bring himself to say the words too loudly. "My mother...before she could stop him, he fed me his blood. I have these abilities..." Sam trailed off, hoping that Harry wouldn't ask anything more.
"The fire that killed your mother..." Harry let the question hang.
"The demon killed my mother," Sam answered, a little surprised with what question Harry had chosen to ask first.
"And your girlfriend in college?" Harry asked further.
"Her too," Sam replied.
"And Dean?" Harry continued. Sam furrowed his brow and then realized the connection Harry was drawing.
"Different demon," Sam replied. "Dean killed the one who got Mom and Jess...and Dad. It was Lilith that held Dean's contract."
"I see," was all Harry said. Sam wished Harry would give him some indication of what he was thinking, some indication on whether or not Sam had just lost an ally.
"I'm not evil," Sam said quickly. "I just have...this...inside me." Sam cringed inwardly at how pathetic he sounded. Sam found himself looking back at the wooden door, avoiding Harry's eyes again.
"Sam," Harry said, "I understand."
Sam's attention immediately whipped back to Harry - who was actually smiling.
"Trust me, I understand," Harry repeated.
"Um, thanks," Sam finally said, suspicious that it had been that easy.
"Listen, we really have to get back to Dean and Draco, but after we're done here, there's something I need to talk to you about." Harry said.
"Ok," Sam said, still not quite sure what was going on.
"Great," Harry replied.
* *
Harry could hear Sam explaining to Dean what had happened in the foyer. The brothers still stood by the door, while Harry had immediately gone over to see what Draco had found. Whatever it was, it had caused Draco to give Harry a rather significant look as soon as no one else had been looking.
"...finally Harry was able to stop him with that spell he used on you earlier, and I was able to exorcise him." Sam was saying.
"With the Latin?" Dean interrupted, and Harry risked a sideways glance over to the brothers.
"Yeah, with the Latin," Sam said with a small glare. Harry couldn't see Dean's face well enough to tell if he bought the lie. There was a significant pause, but Harry couldn't tell what it meant. He could just see Sam continue to glare at his brother.
"Did you find out how many there were?" Dean finally asked.
"No," Sam said with disappointment, "but I think it's safe to say that the security guard has been compromised."
Harry turned his attention back to the reports in front of him, scanning the information as quickly as he could. Malfoy hovered next to him, passing him more papers or using a long pale finger to point out particularly interesting passages in the files. It outlined a lot more than the Auror report did, that was for sure.
"Start making copies," Harry told Malfoy.
"Ok, just..." Malfoy said, "you might be interested in this one." Malfoy handed him another piece of parchment. Harry started to scan it and then stopped and started to carefully read from the beginning. Beside him, Malfoy started making duplicates of everything. He glanced over at the Winchesters to find them rummaging through their duffle bag and re-arming themselves - with flasks of water. Whatever keeps them busy, Harry thought.
"Copy this page too, but give the copy to me," Harry said, handing the parchment back to Malfoy.
"I'm not your secretary, Potter," Malfoy muttered, but copied the page nevertheless. Harry folded it and tucked it into his pocket. He then started stacking the copied into their own file.
"You going to let us see what has you two all worked up, or do I have to change my mind about not shooting anyone?" Dean's voice suddenly said from behind them. Harry felt Malfoy freeze, but he knew that Dean was just joking about that last part...he hoped.
"We're making a copy, so we can all read it somewhere a little safer," Harry replied. "Are you guys ready? Because I think getting out of here is going to be a bit different than coming in."
"Yeah, we figure they probably have that security kid, who knows who else," Dean answered. "It'd be pointless to drink that potion again, circumstances have changed - if Roger didn't suspect anything before, he's going to after Harry Potter exorcises a demon out of him."
Harry turned to face the Winchesters, shoving the copies of the reports into his shoulder bag. Thankful that for the moment Dean was too distracted by the presence of demons to worry about the contents of the report.
"Ok, you two will take point on this one," Harry ordered, "you're the experts. Phil, Malfoy, and I will be your backup."
"Potter, you are not volunteering me to fight demons," Malfoy practically hissed at him. Harry sighed.
"Malfoy, I'm going to need your help afterwards," Harry said softly. "You're a much better Obliviator than I am."
"Well, that might be true," Malfoy said, a hint of his usual condescension slipping back into his voice, "but it's only polite to ask first, before volunteering people for battle."
Harry pursed his lips and did his best not to smile.
"Mr. Malfoy," Harry began in an affected voice, "if it isn't too much trouble, would you be so kind as to assist me, and the brothers Winchester, in exorcising some demons and then obliviating the memories of whomever they've possessed."
Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"Well there's no need to be ridiculous about it, Potter," he said. Harry just raised his eyebrows in response. Malfoy sighed and continued, "Yes, I will help you."
"Thanks, Malfoy," Harry said.
"We good to go then?" Dean asked.
"Yeah, just...uh," Harry started, not sure how to pull this off. "I just have one more thing to do in this place. Let's go to the foyer and you two can brief Phil and Malfoy on demons, while I run one more errand."
"What else do you have to do?" Sam asked, as they all exited the library.
"I just need to have a look at something," Harry replied vaguely, as Malfoy directed the stairs to adjust. Phil was waiting for them by the exit, having successfully cleaned and repaired the room. "Malfoy, could you...?"
Malfoy waved his wand again and the stairs adjusted further. Now there was a staircase leading the Winchesters and Malfoy down to the foyer, and another staircase leading Harry to a corridor on the third floor. Harry took off at a sprint, not having to turn around to know that Sam's concerned eyes were still on him.
He jogged through the short corridor until he came to another large wooden door. Taking a deep breath, Harry pushed it open, revealing the seemingly never-ending shelves of pale glittering globes: The Hall of Prophecy. Harry took out the piece of parchment from his pocket and smoothed out the creases to re-read the subject heading on the report:
Winchester: Row 42, Shelf 66, Entry 4
Over his head, there was an unnoticed fluttering of wings.
Chapter 17
Masterpost