Fic: Damned Demented Demons 26/32 (SPN/HP)
Title: Damned Demented Demons 26/32
Author: ME!
Fandoms: Supernatural/Harry Potter
Rating: PG-13 (for swearing)
Warnings: Spoilers for all Harry Potter books, Spoilers up to 4x17 for Supernatural (but takes place around 4x11).
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 chap 26: Remember that "deleted scene" a while back? I've managed to work it in from a different perspective!
Summary: In which they have some fun with an EMF meter and then go for a long drive.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Interlude | 24 | 25 |
The next day broke early. Phil dropped by first, to tell them the location of the safe-house, which was dutifully written out on small slips of parchment by the secret keeper. Hermione dropped by the Winchester room immediately afterward to inform them that she was apparating to the safe-house and then continuing on by Floo to the libraries. Dean nodded groggily at her and shuffled into the shower, yelling at Sam to get him some coffee. As they got ready, Sam would occasionally find a yellow feather and start giggling, while Dean made a show of scowling at him. Harry couldn't help but wonder how much of Dean's embarrassment over accidentally eating a Canary Cream was for Sam and Harry's benefit and how much was real; because, although Harry knew that Sam hadn't forgiven him for his comment the previous night, it was hard for Sam to give him the cold shoulder when he was the only one that Sam could team up with to tease Dean.
For good measure, Harry reminded Dean that it wasn't Ron's fault that Dean ate a strange candy from the floor. He wasn't entirely sure what Dean might have done to Ron, but by Harry's count he had now saved Ron from getting punched in the face twice.
Ron stumbled into the room a good hour and a half after Hermione had left, and seemed puzzled when Dean glared at him and Sam smiled widely. Harry gave Ron a shrug that meant, 'don't worry about it,' and Ron gave a shrug back that said, 'it's too early to worry even if I tried.'
As they watched the Winchesters pack up their weapons, Harry and Ron discussed the latest Quidditch trades. It wasn't until Harry saw Sam start packing up the laptop that Harry turned his attention back to the Winchesters.
"The laptop probably won't work at the safe-house," Harry said, "so if there's anything you want to look up before we go, I suggest doing it here."
"There's no wireless?" Dean asked.
"No, but that's not it," Harry replied. "I mean that if you try to turn on the laptop, you might fry the hard drive. Also, depending on the house, there might not be electricity."
"What?" Sam asked.
"You should probably leave your mobile phones off too," Harry added.
"They work off of batteries..." Dean started.
"I know, but there's still a possibility of them short-circuiting," Harry replied.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"Ever wonder why I use a mirror instead of a mobile?" Harry asked in return.
"Because you're a wizard," Dean guessed, "and wizards do weird shit like that."
"Well, yes," Harry laughed, "but it's also because I can't use a mobile. Magic interferes with electronics. You should see how many computers I go through in a year. Ginny keeps wondering why I bother trying."
"It's why my Dad has to keep all his Muggle things in the shed," Ron added. "When he tried to run some elec-trick-acy into the house the wires caught fire."
Harry watched as Dean's brow furrowed, and then he quickly rummaged through the closest duffle bag. He pulled out an odd looking piece of electronic equipment.
"I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner," Dean said, as he turned the device on, and then pointed it at Harry.
"What's that?" Ron asked, slightly concerned.
"It's an EMF meter," Dean answered, looking slightly disappointed at whatever the device was telling him. "It detects changes in electro-magnetic frequencies."
"Elo-what?" Ron asked confused.
"Sometimes spirits and demons - and some other supernatural creatures - affect the ambient electro-magnetic frequencies. It's why ghosts affect radios and television sets," Sam explained. "It's not detecting you guys though."
Dean moved it closer to Harry, it didn't seem to change. Ron was the same.
"Hold on, keep it on," Harry said. "I'm curious," then he drew out his wand.
"Wingadium Leviosa," the duffle bag resting on the bed began to hover a foot or two in the air. The EMF meter began to hum softly.
"Cool," Dean said, "try something else, something big!"
The bag fell unceremoniously back to the bed, and Harry smiled.
"Expecto Patronum," Harry said, and the Stag sprung into life out of the end of his wand. The EMF meter screeched.
"Awesome!" Dean said. Sam was smiling now too, though his attention was on the Stag and not the EMF meter. Dean turned to Ron, "Can you do one too?"
"Expecto Patronum," Ron said, and Ron's terrier ran around the Stag's feet. The EMF meter screeched louder.
"You two try!" Harry said. "Concentrate on your ring and bracelet."
Harry knew that he wouldn't be able to actually see the Patronuses, but he watched as Dean's ring and Sam's bracelet began to glow blue, if only a little bit. The EMF meter screeched louder then made an odd popping noise and fell quiet. Ron looked disappointed and the small dog vanished, Harry's dismissed his own Patronus as well.
"Uh," Dean said, "I think we broke it."
"Yeah..." Ron said, "that's why Hermione won't let me have get a computron."
"Computer" Harry corrected.
"That's what I said," Ron replied. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Can you fix it?" Harry said, motioning towards the dead EMF meter in Dean's hand.
"Yeah, not the first time something has blown it out," Dean answered, "besides, I got a back-up anyway."
"Where did you buy that thing?" Ron asked, "It would be a brilliant gift for my Dad."
"I made this one," Dean said with a huge smile. Ron's eyes widened.
"Wow..."
"Which is probably why it blew out," Sam added, as he turned to fetch his own duffle bag. Harry watched Dean's smile turn into a wounded pout, and couldn't help shooting a scowl at Sam's back in Dean's defense. Ron continued as though Sam hadn't said anything though.
"Do you think you could make me one for my Dad?" Ron asked. "I'll pay you, of course...for parts and labour and umm, whatever else you need."
"Sure thing man," Dean said, his smile returning.
"Dean," Sam said sternly, then turned to Ron apologetically. "Sorry man, we don't have time to build home-made EMF meters for people. We'll tell you where you can buy a real one though, okay?"
Harry was growing increasingly exasperated with Sam. Now not only was Dean not smiling, but Ron looked slightly disappointed as well.
"Oh, right, sorry," Ron said, "telling me where I can buy one would be great, thanks."
"I'm sure Dean could show you how to fix it if it breaks though," Harry suggested. "It's likely to happen if you let your Dad play with it."
Ron gave Dean a hopeful grin.
"Yeah, I could do that," Dean replied nonchalantly, but Harry could tell that Dean was happy to have someone take an interest in his skills.
"Brilliant," Harry said with a nod. "It's nearly noon, we should really get going if we want to make it to the safe-house by nightfall."
*
"You riding with us then?" Sam heard Dean ask Ron as Sam tried to stuff the last duffle into the trunk in an attempt to give the back-seat a little more leg room.
"I'd love to, mate," Ron replied, "but I thought it might be better if I were your eyes in the air. So, if it's alright with you, I'll fly."
Sam straightened out of the trunk so fast he nearly hit his head. He peered around the side of the car to see Dean looking at Ron as though he had just said that he'd swim back to England, and Harry looking as though he really wished that he were Ron instead of himself.
"Fly?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Ron shrugged, "on my broom." Ron looked around the parking lot cautiously for a second, and then, satisfied that there was no one else around, reached into his bag and pulled out an old fashioned broomstick.
"You actually fly on a broom?" Dean said slowly, "Seriously? A broom?"
"Well, yeah," Ron said as though Dean was the strange one. "How else would I do it?"
"Sammy!" Dean exclaimed, "They fly on brooms!"
Sam bit his lip to keep from smiling. "I know Dean, I'm standing right here."
"Brooms!" Dean was laughing full out now, doubled over with his hands resting on his knees. Ron looked confused at the reaction, and for a moment Sam worried that Dean might accidentally offend the wizards, but Harry just looked amused.
"Uh, I think that's a great idea, Ron," Sam said, trying to bring some order back to the conversation. Ron gave Sam a business-like nod, and then raised a confused eyebrow at Dean.
"Yeah, man, better you than me," Dean said with a wave of his hand, "alright, let's hit the road!"
Sam walked over to the passenger door. Just as he was about to open it, he saw Harry pull Ron aside quickly.
"If you see any Dementors, land immediately and call me, okay?" Harry ordered.
"Okay, Harry," Ron said, in a humouring tone.
"I mean it, Ron," Harry said, "If you fall on a highway-"
"Harry, I know!" Ron cut him off in a frustrated tone. "I'll land, but I don't need you to come to my bleeding rescue-"
"Ron," Harry said sternly.
"Okay, okay, I'll call you," Ron replied, then turned and spotted Sam. Sam looked away, but knew that there was no hope in pretending that he hadn't been listening, so he gave Ron an apologetic smile.
"Uh, if it gets too windy or something, there's plenty of room in the car," Sam offered.
Ron gave Sam a small smile, then looked up at the sky. The Dementors were far enough away now that the sun was shining, and there were only a few white clouds. Ron's smile increased.
"Nah, it's a brilliant day for flying," Ron said, then shot Harry an mischievous grin. "Have a good ride in the backseat Harry, it's too bad that car doesn't have air cooling!"
"Thanks..." Harry said sarcastically. Ron laughed and threw a leg over his broomstick, and then kicked off the ground and shot straight up faster than Sam could see.
"...and it's air conditioning, you twat" Harry finished. Sam huffed a laugh, and watched as Ron seemed to fade from sight, even though for some reason, Sam could still sort of tell where he was.
Sam shot a glance at Harry, who was looking up at the sky in envy.
"He going to be alright up there?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Harry said, "just as long as he doesn't run into any Dementors," Harry said, bringing his attention back to Sam. "He's a war-veteran...and..."
Sam nodded, trying to tell Harry he didn't have to say anything more. Harry glanced passed Sam into the car, where Dean sat, most likely giving them the 'what the fuck is taking so long?' look.
"...he was there when his brother was killed," Harry finished. Sam nodded again, while his hand tightened around the passenger door handle. "Sam," Harry continued, "about last night..."
Dean chose that moment to lean on the horn. Sam jumped and tore open his door violently.
"We're coming, for fuck's sake! God!" Sam yelled.
"You can just call me Dean," Dean deadpanned. "Now get your slow asses in the car."
* *
It was two hours into the drive and Dean was feeling pretty good. There was no traffic, a cool breeze through the windows, and Sam was letting him play Metallica Mix #5 on repeat, even though he had told Dean just last week that if Dean didn't give that tape a break he was going to...well, do some nasty things to either Dean or the Impala, neither of which Dean wanted to think about. Instead though, Sam had just rolled his eyes at the music choice, and then declared that he was going to have a nap.
Now, Sam was partly dozing, partly staring blankly out the passenger window as usual. Harry seemed content in the backseat. Oddly enough, it looked sort of like he was doing his taxes.
"Are you doing paperwork?" Dean asked in disbelief.
Harry looked at him through the rear-view mirror with a slight blush.
"Uh, yes," Harry admitted. "I'm head of...you see, I'm on an international..."
Dean couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.
"What your trying to say is that there's a catch to being legit?" Dean offered.
"That's one way to put it," Harry said with a sigh.
Sam rolled his head on the back of the seat, and raised his eyebrows in Harry's direction.
"What are you telling them?" Sam asked, "I mean, you aren't filling out a report saying that your a seal to the apocalypse and your riding around with the Winchesters..."
"Merlin, no," Harry replied.
"So, what's the excuse then?" Dean asked.
"I've got it all worked out!" Harry said with a grin, "I'm keeping it as close to the truth as possible, mentioning the increased demonic activity this past year, and hypothesizing that there may be a connection...that's not my department, so by the the time it goes through the right channels-"
"Harry," a muffled voice interrupted and Dean watched in the rear-view mirror as Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his flip-mirror. Sam sat up in the passenger seat and leaned his back against the door, so he was sitting sideways on the seat facing Harry.
"Ron?" Harry asked.
"Take the next exit and pick me up at the petrol station," Ron's disembodied voice filled the car.
"Ron, what-" Harry started to say, as Dean guided the car into the exit lane, and took a good look at the weather ahead of them.
"Dementors," Dean and Ron both answered at the same time.
Ron was easy to spot, being the only tall lanky guy with fiery red hair standing impatiently by the gas station. His broom was nowhere to be seen, but Dean guessed it was probably safely hidden in Ron's very ordinary looking backpack.
Ron opened the back door and threw a grocery bag at Harry, before climbing in.
"Bought some supplies then?" Harry asked, pulling a fistful of Snickers bars out of the bag.
"Ah Harry," Ron said wistfully, "It was such a beautiful day for flying..."
"Hm-mm?" Harry said, handing Ron a candy bar.
"And then I started to think..." Ron continued, with a sigh, slowly unwrapping the Snickers, "You remember how good Fred was at flying...Merlin, but they were unstoppable Beaters together, you know..."
"Yeah, Ron," Harry replied.
"Well, that's when I realized how cold the wind had gotten," Ron said, then shoved almost the entire candy bar into his mouth, and gestured violently out the front window of the car, "Bas-erds are compre-wy b-ockin m'way!"
"Were you able to see how many?" Harry asked, apparently practiced at understanding Ron when he had a mouthful of food. Dean looked over at Sam and was surprised to see Sam looking at him as if he were the one talking with his mouth full. Yeah, fine, Dean got the point.
"No," Ron said, suddenly annoyed, "I bloody landed, because you bloody made such a point of telling me too."
Dean and Sam both turned their attention to Harry, as though they were watching a tennis match in the backseat. But Harry didn't look bothered by Ron's annoyance.
"Good," Harry replied, which only seemed to piss Ron off more, though instead of raising his voice, he lowered it.
"I don't know how many, but they seemed to be heading North-West," Ron said, "from what I could tell from the cloud formations once I was on the ground, anyway."
"Damn," Dean and Sam both said at the same time, turning their attention back out the front window.
"Exactly," Ron said, flopping into a slouch in defeat.
The was a long pause in the car, and then Ron's voice broke the silence.
"Harry," he said in frustration, Dean looked at Harry to see him looking slightly confused, "that's the way we're going! Merlin, sometimes I'm not entirely sure how you managed to win that war."
"I had this complete git helping me," Harry replied seriously.
"That's no way to talk about Hermione," Ron deadpanned.
"Git," Harry rolled his eyes.
Dean smiled, he was really starting to enjoy these crazy British wizards. He wondered briefly what his Dad would think of all this...Dean being friendly with wizards. What kind of talking-to would he get for that, he wondered. But what would his Dad have done, killed them?
"What do you think we should do?" Sam asked, and Dean was momentarily concerned that Sam had just read his mind.
"We could turn back, defend from the motel, like we originally planned," Dean offered as an option.
"They could have planned this, planned for us to turn around," Sam said. "We turn around we could be heading into some kind of ambush."
"You could say the same thing about going forward," Dean pointed out.
"The safe-house would probably be better than a petrol station," Harry interjected.
"There's no way demons can get into the safe-house," Ron added. "We just have to make it there."
"Do I need to point out that this car is not a democracy?" Dean replied with a frown.
"Dean..." Sam said, and God, Dean hated that tone of voice.
"Fine..." Dean said, "but, I'm driving, so if those bastards get too thick, you better keep up the magic protection, unless you want to end up in a ditch."
"Understood," Harry replied.
"Alright then..." Dean said, and he pulled back out into traffic, pointing the Impala towards the ominous clouds in the distance despite his better judgment.
Chapter 27
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 (but takes place around 4x11).
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 chap 26: Remember that "deleted scene" a while back? I've managed to work it in from a different perspective!
Summary: In which they have some fun with an EMF meter and then go for a long drive.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Interlude | 24 | 25 |
The next day broke early. Phil dropped by first, to tell them the location of the safe-house, which was dutifully written out on small slips of parchment by the secret keeper. Hermione dropped by the Winchester room immediately afterward to inform them that she was apparating to the safe-house and then continuing on by Floo to the libraries. Dean nodded groggily at her and shuffled into the shower, yelling at Sam to get him some coffee. As they got ready, Sam would occasionally find a yellow feather and start giggling, while Dean made a show of scowling at him. Harry couldn't help but wonder how much of Dean's embarrassment over accidentally eating a Canary Cream was for Sam and Harry's benefit and how much was real; because, although Harry knew that Sam hadn't forgiven him for his comment the previous night, it was hard for Sam to give him the cold shoulder when he was the only one that Sam could team up with to tease Dean.
For good measure, Harry reminded Dean that it wasn't Ron's fault that Dean ate a strange candy from the floor. He wasn't entirely sure what Dean might have done to Ron, but by Harry's count he had now saved Ron from getting punched in the face twice.
Ron stumbled into the room a good hour and a half after Hermione had left, and seemed puzzled when Dean glared at him and Sam smiled widely. Harry gave Ron a shrug that meant, 'don't worry about it,' and Ron gave a shrug back that said, 'it's too early to worry even if I tried.'
As they watched the Winchesters pack up their weapons, Harry and Ron discussed the latest Quidditch trades. It wasn't until Harry saw Sam start packing up the laptop that Harry turned his attention back to the Winchesters.
"The laptop probably won't work at the safe-house," Harry said, "so if there's anything you want to look up before we go, I suggest doing it here."
"There's no wireless?" Dean asked.
"No, but that's not it," Harry replied. "I mean that if you try to turn on the laptop, you might fry the hard drive. Also, depending on the house, there might not be electricity."
"What?" Sam asked.
"You should probably leave your mobile phones off too," Harry added.
"They work off of batteries..." Dean started.
"I know, but there's still a possibility of them short-circuiting," Harry replied.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"Ever wonder why I use a mirror instead of a mobile?" Harry asked in return.
"Because you're a wizard," Dean guessed, "and wizards do weird shit like that."
"Well, yes," Harry laughed, "but it's also because I can't use a mobile. Magic interferes with electronics. You should see how many computers I go through in a year. Ginny keeps wondering why I bother trying."
"It's why my Dad has to keep all his Muggle things in the shed," Ron added. "When he tried to run some elec-trick-acy into the house the wires caught fire."
Harry watched as Dean's brow furrowed, and then he quickly rummaged through the closest duffle bag. He pulled out an odd looking piece of electronic equipment.
"I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner," Dean said, as he turned the device on, and then pointed it at Harry.
"What's that?" Ron asked, slightly concerned.
"It's an EMF meter," Dean answered, looking slightly disappointed at whatever the device was telling him. "It detects changes in electro-magnetic frequencies."
"Elo-what?" Ron asked confused.
"Sometimes spirits and demons - and some other supernatural creatures - affect the ambient electro-magnetic frequencies. It's why ghosts affect radios and television sets," Sam explained. "It's not detecting you guys though."
Dean moved it closer to Harry, it didn't seem to change. Ron was the same.
"Hold on, keep it on," Harry said. "I'm curious," then he drew out his wand.
"Wingadium Leviosa," the duffle bag resting on the bed began to hover a foot or two in the air. The EMF meter began to hum softly.
"Cool," Dean said, "try something else, something big!"
The bag fell unceremoniously back to the bed, and Harry smiled.
"Expecto Patronum," Harry said, and the Stag sprung into life out of the end of his wand. The EMF meter screeched.
"Awesome!" Dean said. Sam was smiling now too, though his attention was on the Stag and not the EMF meter. Dean turned to Ron, "Can you do one too?"
"Expecto Patronum," Ron said, and Ron's terrier ran around the Stag's feet. The EMF meter screeched louder.
"You two try!" Harry said. "Concentrate on your ring and bracelet."
Harry knew that he wouldn't be able to actually see the Patronuses, but he watched as Dean's ring and Sam's bracelet began to glow blue, if only a little bit. The EMF meter screeched louder then made an odd popping noise and fell quiet. Ron looked disappointed and the small dog vanished, Harry's dismissed his own Patronus as well.
"Uh," Dean said, "I think we broke it."
"Yeah..." Ron said, "that's why Hermione won't let me have get a computron."
"Computer" Harry corrected.
"That's what I said," Ron replied. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Can you fix it?" Harry said, motioning towards the dead EMF meter in Dean's hand.
"Yeah, not the first time something has blown it out," Dean answered, "besides, I got a back-up anyway."
"Where did you buy that thing?" Ron asked, "It would be a brilliant gift for my Dad."
"I made this one," Dean said with a huge smile. Ron's eyes widened.
"Wow..."
"Which is probably why it blew out," Sam added, as he turned to fetch his own duffle bag. Harry watched Dean's smile turn into a wounded pout, and couldn't help shooting a scowl at Sam's back in Dean's defense. Ron continued as though Sam hadn't said anything though.
"Do you think you could make me one for my Dad?" Ron asked. "I'll pay you, of course...for parts and labour and umm, whatever else you need."
"Sure thing man," Dean said, his smile returning.
"Dean," Sam said sternly, then turned to Ron apologetically. "Sorry man, we don't have time to build home-made EMF meters for people. We'll tell you where you can buy a real one though, okay?"
Harry was growing increasingly exasperated with Sam. Now not only was Dean not smiling, but Ron looked slightly disappointed as well.
"Oh, right, sorry," Ron said, "telling me where I can buy one would be great, thanks."
"I'm sure Dean could show you how to fix it if it breaks though," Harry suggested. "It's likely to happen if you let your Dad play with it."
Ron gave Dean a hopeful grin.
"Yeah, I could do that," Dean replied nonchalantly, but Harry could tell that Dean was happy to have someone take an interest in his skills.
"Brilliant," Harry said with a nod. "It's nearly noon, we should really get going if we want to make it to the safe-house by nightfall."
*
"You riding with us then?" Sam heard Dean ask Ron as Sam tried to stuff the last duffle into the trunk in an attempt to give the back-seat a little more leg room.
"I'd love to, mate," Ron replied, "but I thought it might be better if I were your eyes in the air. So, if it's alright with you, I'll fly."
Sam straightened out of the trunk so fast he nearly hit his head. He peered around the side of the car to see Dean looking at Ron as though he had just said that he'd swim back to England, and Harry looking as though he really wished that he were Ron instead of himself.
"Fly?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Ron shrugged, "on my broom." Ron looked around the parking lot cautiously for a second, and then, satisfied that there was no one else around, reached into his bag and pulled out an old fashioned broomstick.
"You actually fly on a broom?" Dean said slowly, "Seriously? A broom?"
"Well, yeah," Ron said as though Dean was the strange one. "How else would I do it?"
"Sammy!" Dean exclaimed, "They fly on brooms!"
Sam bit his lip to keep from smiling. "I know Dean, I'm standing right here."
"Brooms!" Dean was laughing full out now, doubled over with his hands resting on his knees. Ron looked confused at the reaction, and for a moment Sam worried that Dean might accidentally offend the wizards, but Harry just looked amused.
"Uh, I think that's a great idea, Ron," Sam said, trying to bring some order back to the conversation. Ron gave Sam a business-like nod, and then raised a confused eyebrow at Dean.
"Yeah, man, better you than me," Dean said with a wave of his hand, "alright, let's hit the road!"
Sam walked over to the passenger door. Just as he was about to open it, he saw Harry pull Ron aside quickly.
"If you see any Dementors, land immediately and call me, okay?" Harry ordered.
"Okay, Harry," Ron said, in a humouring tone.
"I mean it, Ron," Harry said, "If you fall on a highway-"
"Harry, I know!" Ron cut him off in a frustrated tone. "I'll land, but I don't need you to come to my bleeding rescue-"
"Ron," Harry said sternly.
"Okay, okay, I'll call you," Ron replied, then turned and spotted Sam. Sam looked away, but knew that there was no hope in pretending that he hadn't been listening, so he gave Ron an apologetic smile.
"Uh, if it gets too windy or something, there's plenty of room in the car," Sam offered.
Ron gave Sam a small smile, then looked up at the sky. The Dementors were far enough away now that the sun was shining, and there were only a few white clouds. Ron's smile increased.
"Nah, it's a brilliant day for flying," Ron said, then shot Harry an mischievous grin. "Have a good ride in the backseat Harry, it's too bad that car doesn't have air cooling!"
"Thanks..." Harry said sarcastically. Ron laughed and threw a leg over his broomstick, and then kicked off the ground and shot straight up faster than Sam could see.
"...and it's air conditioning, you twat" Harry finished. Sam huffed a laugh, and watched as Ron seemed to fade from sight, even though for some reason, Sam could still sort of tell where he was.
Sam shot a glance at Harry, who was looking up at the sky in envy.
"He going to be alright up there?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Harry said, "just as long as he doesn't run into any Dementors," Harry said, bringing his attention back to Sam. "He's a war-veteran...and..."
Sam nodded, trying to tell Harry he didn't have to say anything more. Harry glanced passed Sam into the car, where Dean sat, most likely giving them the 'what the fuck is taking so long?' look.
"...he was there when his brother was killed," Harry finished. Sam nodded again, while his hand tightened around the passenger door handle. "Sam," Harry continued, "about last night..."
Dean chose that moment to lean on the horn. Sam jumped and tore open his door violently.
"We're coming, for fuck's sake! God!" Sam yelled.
"You can just call me Dean," Dean deadpanned. "Now get your slow asses in the car."
* *
It was two hours into the drive and Dean was feeling pretty good. There was no traffic, a cool breeze through the windows, and Sam was letting him play Metallica Mix #5 on repeat, even though he had told Dean just last week that if Dean didn't give that tape a break he was going to...well, do some nasty things to either Dean or the Impala, neither of which Dean wanted to think about. Instead though, Sam had just rolled his eyes at the music choice, and then declared that he was going to have a nap.
Now, Sam was partly dozing, partly staring blankly out the passenger window as usual. Harry seemed content in the backseat. Oddly enough, it looked sort of like he was doing his taxes.
"Are you doing paperwork?" Dean asked in disbelief.
Harry looked at him through the rear-view mirror with a slight blush.
"Uh, yes," Harry admitted. "I'm head of...you see, I'm on an international..."
Dean couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him.
"What your trying to say is that there's a catch to being legit?" Dean offered.
"That's one way to put it," Harry said with a sigh.
Sam rolled his head on the back of the seat, and raised his eyebrows in Harry's direction.
"What are you telling them?" Sam asked, "I mean, you aren't filling out a report saying that your a seal to the apocalypse and your riding around with the Winchesters..."
"Merlin, no," Harry replied.
"So, what's the excuse then?" Dean asked.
"I've got it all worked out!" Harry said with a grin, "I'm keeping it as close to the truth as possible, mentioning the increased demonic activity this past year, and hypothesizing that there may be a connection...that's not my department, so by the the time it goes through the right channels-"
"Harry," a muffled voice interrupted and Dean watched in the rear-view mirror as Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his flip-mirror. Sam sat up in the passenger seat and leaned his back against the door, so he was sitting sideways on the seat facing Harry.
"Ron?" Harry asked.
"Take the next exit and pick me up at the petrol station," Ron's disembodied voice filled the car.
"Ron, what-" Harry started to say, as Dean guided the car into the exit lane, and took a good look at the weather ahead of them.
"Dementors," Dean and Ron both answered at the same time.
Ron was easy to spot, being the only tall lanky guy with fiery red hair standing impatiently by the gas station. His broom was nowhere to be seen, but Dean guessed it was probably safely hidden in Ron's very ordinary looking backpack.
Ron opened the back door and threw a grocery bag at Harry, before climbing in.
"Bought some supplies then?" Harry asked, pulling a fistful of Snickers bars out of the bag.
"Ah Harry," Ron said wistfully, "It was such a beautiful day for flying..."
"Hm-mm?" Harry said, handing Ron a candy bar.
"And then I started to think..." Ron continued, with a sigh, slowly unwrapping the Snickers, "You remember how good Fred was at flying...Merlin, but they were unstoppable Beaters together, you know..."
"Yeah, Ron," Harry replied.
"Well, that's when I realized how cold the wind had gotten," Ron said, then shoved almost the entire candy bar into his mouth, and gestured violently out the front window of the car, "Bas-erds are compre-wy b-ockin m'way!"
"Were you able to see how many?" Harry asked, apparently practiced at understanding Ron when he had a mouthful of food. Dean looked over at Sam and was surprised to see Sam looking at him as if he were the one talking with his mouth full. Yeah, fine, Dean got the point.
"No," Ron said, suddenly annoyed, "I bloody landed, because you bloody made such a point of telling me too."
Dean and Sam both turned their attention to Harry, as though they were watching a tennis match in the backseat. But Harry didn't look bothered by Ron's annoyance.
"Good," Harry replied, which only seemed to piss Ron off more, though instead of raising his voice, he lowered it.
"I don't know how many, but they seemed to be heading North-West," Ron said, "from what I could tell from the cloud formations once I was on the ground, anyway."
"Damn," Dean and Sam both said at the same time, turning their attention back out the front window.
"Exactly," Ron said, flopping into a slouch in defeat.
The was a long pause in the car, and then Ron's voice broke the silence.
"Harry," he said in frustration, Dean looked at Harry to see him looking slightly confused, "that's the way we're going! Merlin, sometimes I'm not entirely sure how you managed to win that war."
"I had this complete git helping me," Harry replied seriously.
"That's no way to talk about Hermione," Ron deadpanned.
"Git," Harry rolled his eyes.
Dean smiled, he was really starting to enjoy these crazy British wizards. He wondered briefly what his Dad would think of all this...Dean being friendly with wizards. What kind of talking-to would he get for that, he wondered. But what would his Dad have done, killed them?
"What do you think we should do?" Sam asked, and Dean was momentarily concerned that Sam had just read his mind.
"We could turn back, defend from the motel, like we originally planned," Dean offered as an option.
"They could have planned this, planned for us to turn around," Sam said. "We turn around we could be heading into some kind of ambush."
"You could say the same thing about going forward," Dean pointed out.
"The safe-house would probably be better than a petrol station," Harry interjected.
"There's no way demons can get into the safe-house," Ron added. "We just have to make it there."
"Do I need to point out that this car is not a democracy?" Dean replied with a frown.
"Dean..." Sam said, and God, Dean hated that tone of voice.
"Fine..." Dean said, "but, I'm driving, so if those bastards get too thick, you better keep up the magic protection, unless you want to end up in a ditch."
"Understood," Harry replied.
"Alright then..." Dean said, and he pulled back out into traffic, pointing the Impala towards the ominous clouds in the distance despite his better judgment.
Chapter 27
Masterpost