This chapter is for everyone who reviewed the previous chapter… Ardy thanks you all. *snicker*
Chapter Nine
29th October, 2008. Idaho
Sam glanced in the rear view mirror and then back at the road, scowling at the image of Harry curled up into the side of Castiel, as he had been since they had left Colorado two days before, and Sam was getting a little fed up of it. Not that he could outwardly show that when Dean was awake. Especially now that Dean and Harry seemed to be on better terms. Apparently being almost scared to death was a bonding experience. Sam snorted and the shook his head, not noticing Harry and Castiel look over at him curiously, before going back to Castiel murmuring under his breath to Harry.
Sam was fully aware that what he was doing was cruel to Harry and just generally stupid, but he was scared of Dean's reaction and Ruby was too persuasive sometimes. He knew that neither of the angels liked him, Ardifiel even less than Castiel, but he couldn't quite grasp why they didn't understand that he was doing it to help them. To stop whatever plan the demons had, and to get revenge from Lilith. Sam was also confused over why Harry was so shaken up and why he and Castiel were so close. Sam had thought that Ardifiel was Harry's angel, and Castiel was Dean's. But he was beginning to rethink that.
"Where we goin'?" Dean's sleepy voice asked as he shifted in the seat next to Sam, making Sam glance over at him before turning back to the road.
"A guy died whilst choking on razor blades in Montpelier. I thought we should go check it out." Sam told him and Dean grumbled under his breath and then stretched as much as he could in the seat and turned to look at the two in the back.
"You two alright?" Dean asked them and both Harry and Castiel shot him warily confused looks, glanced at one another, before turning back to him and nodding. "Huh. Good. So, razor blade, huh?"
"Yeah." Sam told him, frowning and then sighing and pushing everything that was bugging him back, deciding to concentrate on the hunt and deal with everything as it happened. Which, given his phone had just vibrated in his pocket, was probably going to be sooner than he truly wanted.
"That's new." Dean muttered, yawning again and scrubbing his hands over his face in an attempt to wake up. "We got time for pie?"
"We've got a hunt, Dean." Sam told him and both Dean and Sam jumped when they heard Harry chuckled quietly from the back.
"The guys dead, we ain't gonna be saving him now." Harry muttered, shuffling slightly to get closer to Castiel and yawning, whilst Castiel moved his arm to pull Harry closer to his side. "Ardy's been teaching you to hug, get you."
"Ardifiel has taken to randomly attaching himself to any angel he passes. Only Yebemiah had not tried to smite him at least once. Michael looked quite ruffled." Castiel muttered darkly and Dean snorted in amusement and shook his head.
"I'm glad I got the sane angel." Dean muttered and Harry shifted to glare at Dean, then seemed to think about it and shrugged.
"You do have a point. Cas is far saner than Ardy. Can we pull in to stop at the next rest point? I need a drink." Harry muttered, gently pushing off of Castiel and moving to stretch in the backseat, looking out the window at the passing scenery.
"Sure. There's one coming up." Sam said, sounding a little strained and making Harry glance at him curiously, before he shrugged and sighed.
"Okay. Cheers." Harry said, keeping his voice as emotion free as he possibly could, though Castiel did tighten his hold around his shoulders for a brief second.
Harry sighed and almost silent sigh of relief when Sam pulled into a petrol station a little over thirty minutes later. He quickly got out of the car and stretched, noticing that Dean was doing the same on the other side, then tilted his head to the side when a man with bloody red, long hair and pale skin, walked towards them, long leather coat billowing behind him.
"Cas?" Harry whispered, seeing as he appeared to be the only one who had noticed the man, dressed as some sort of post-apocalyptic punk, walking towards them with a determined look on his face. Sam and Dean were too busy having a whispered argument and Cas was just getting out of the car, though when Harry whispered his name, he turned and looked at him, following Harry's gaze to the strange man and actually sighing.
"That is Ardifiel's closest friend within the angels." Castiel said, even grabbing the attention of the Winchester's who both turned to look at the approaching man… angel.
"Castiel." The man said, with a surprisingly soft voice in a barely there Scottish accent, dipping his head to the angel, whilst Harry gaped at the man's dark blue, almost indigo, eyes, when they were turned on him. "You must be Ardifiel's charge. He has sent me to you. The demons are trying to break three seals at once. Ardifiel is off trying to prevent one. Castiel, you are needed with him."
"Yebemiah. And what of you when I leave here?" Castiel asked him with narrow eyes, not moving, which shocked all three humans, given Castiel wasn't one to disobey an order.
"What business is that of yours, Castiel? You know I do not have to listen to anyone. Least of all you. However, I am… to stay near the next seal that is about to be broken. Being the Angel of Loneliness and Damage means I will have a job to do very soon." Yebemiah told him with a small smirk on his face, then looked at Harry closely, which made Harry want to give into the urge to fidget.
"Hey." Harry said, with a small wave of his hand and a weak smile. Yebemiah looked him up and down and then nodded his head in greeting.
"I can see why Fiel chose you as his charge. I feel we will get along. Castiel, you are needed. I suggest you stop stalling and leave." Yebemiah added as he looked at Castiel with narrowed eyes, making Castiel glare back at him and then turn to look at Harry.
"Ardifiel and Yebemiah should come to you if you need them and I cannot come." Castiel told him and Harry nodded his head in bemusement and then raised an eyebrow at Dean and Sam once Castiel had disappeared.
"Hey, don't look at us. He speaks to me and he's all 'You are doomed, you must do this, the world is doomed, I have no sense of humour.'" Dean said in a bad impression of the angel that had just left, making Harry's lips twitch in amusement.
"Dean's right. He's shown more emotion with you over the last three days, than he ever has before that." Sam muttered, then spun around and walked off to pay.
"Er… right. So will you be…" Harry trailed off when he turned to look at Yebemiah and saw that the angel had also gone. "One day, they're going to tell us when they leave."
"Don't bet on it. I think that's how they get their rocks off." Dean muttered, finally closing the door to the Impala, whilst Harry walked around the car and stood next to Dean.
"I know… I get that you don't like me… but thanks for not saying anything to Sam." Harry muttered, then walked away to the shop, to get some water. Dean just stared at him walk away and then shook his head and moved to a more comfortable position against the car.
30th October, 2008. Montpelier, ID
Harry glanced over at Dean, who was looking around the kitchen of the victim, whilst Sam was talking to the victim's wife, making Harry wonder what he should be doing. Shrugging, he walked over to the cupboards and opened them, pretending to know what he was doing, though the way Dean looked at him and snickered, then shook his head, he wasn't doing a good job.
"Now, how many razor blades did they find?" Sam asked the woman, whilst Harry started poking through her cans to see what they ate. Behind him, the woman, Mrs Wallace, sighed before answering.
"Two on the floor, one in his stomach and one was stuck in his throat. He swallowed four of them, how is that even possible?" She asked Sam, and Harry frowned, whilst also wrinkling his nose in distaste at the can of sweetcorn in his hands. He too, though, was wondering how that was possible. He put his bet on a witch. He hated unnatural, demon deal witches. Freaks. He hated them more than the Winchester's did.
Harry glanced over to where Dean was shuffling around on the other side of the room and raised an eyebrow when he saw him looking around the oven.
"The candy was never in the oven." Mrs Wallace said to Dean, making Harry smirk and go back to checking the cupboards, whilst Dean just smiled at the woman charmingly.
"We just have to be thorough, Mrs Wallace." Dean explained to her and Harry rolled his eyes and closed the last cupboard, turning on his heels and looking at Sam, giving a small shake of his head, when the taller man looked at him.
"Did the police find any razors in the rest of the candy?" Sam asked Mars Wallace, whilst Harry walked away from the cupboards and over to Dean, who glanced up at him and then continued to search around the oven.
"No, I mean, I don't think so." Mrs Wallace said to Sam, whilst Harry crouched down so that he was at Dean's level and hidden behind the kitchen island.
"What are we actually looking for here?" Harry hissed and Dean looked over at him again and shrugged with a smirk.
"I just - I can't believe it. You hear urban legends about this stuff, but it actually happens?" Mrs Wallace asked Sam and Harry stretched up and looked over the counter at the two.
"More than you might imagine." Sam told her sympathetically and Harry rolled his eyes and then dropped back down to crouch next to Dean.
"No idea. You not found anything?" Dean asked him back in just as low a tone. Harry looked back at him and wrinkled his nose, shaking his head.
"Nope. Not a bean. Well… I did find some beans. And sweetcorn too. Nasty stuff. No clue why people eat it. Doesn't do anything for you. Your body doesn't digest it." Harry muttered then frowned and dropped onto his stomach next to Dean.
"What are you doing?"
"I can sense something." Harry muttered, nibbling on his bottom lip as he began to feel under the oven, whilst Dean just sighed and left him to it. "Ah!" Harry quickly shuffled back out and sat up on his knees, holding a small hex bag in his hands.
"Son of a -"
"My thoughts exactly, Dean, my thoughts exactly." Harry muttered, standing up and holding out a hand to help Dean up, discreetly showing the hex bag to Sam when he looked over. Sam sighed and turned back to face Mrs Wallace.
"Mrs Wallace, did Luke have any enemies?" Sam asked her seriously, whilst Dean and Harry moved to stand behind Sam.
"Enemies?" Mrs Wallace asked, looking a little startled at the question and making Harry roll his eyes at the stupidity of the question.
"Anyone who might have held a grudge against him?" Sam prompted and Harry sighed quietly, making Dean look at him in amusement.
"What do you mean?" Mrs Wallace asked Sam, glancing past him at Dean, who smiled charmingly at her and Harry, who just stared at her flatly, before turning back to Sam.
"Co-workers? Neighbours? Maybe a woman." Sam wheedled and Mrs Wallace grasped what he was trying to say and looked at him, offended.
"Are you suggesting an affair?"
"Is it possible?" Sam asked and Harry coughed to cover his laugh, whilst Dean just turned to hide his grin away from Mrs Wallace seeing that he was amused by how uncomfortable Sam was getting.
"No! No, Luke would nev-" Mrs Wallace started, before Sam cut her off before she could become too incensed at him.
"I'm very sorry, we just have to consider all possibilities." Sam explained to her in an apologetic voice, wincing when Mrs Wallace just glared at him.
"If someone wanted to kill my husband, don't you think they'd find a better way than a razor in a piece of candy he might eat?" Mrs Wallace asked him, and Sam glanced over his shoulder at Harry and Dean, both of whom just looked amused, and Harry dipped his head in acquiescence to the widows comment.
"Sorry to have upset you, Mrs Wallace. We'll take your leave now. Should you need us, you know our number." Sam told the woman, whilst Harry and Dean turned around and headed out of the house, Sam following at a brisk pace behind them, looking for all the world, as though he had hellhounds at his heels.
Later that day, Harry stood in his room and glanced at the wall that separated his room and the Winchester's room. He had heard Dean leaving not long before and knew that Sam was in there alone. Harry just wasn't sure if he wanted to go and talk to Sam or not. He had been avoiding him, if he was going to be perfectly honest. Every time he and Sam had been in a room alone together, Sam had decided to bring up Vernon and ask who he was. Apparently the moron could not grasp that when a person did not wish to talk about something and asked you to drop it, you didn't bring it up again. So now, Harry disliked being with Sam without either Dean or an angel there as a buffer.
Dean had actually shocked both he and Sam, the night before, when Sam had brought up Vernon for the last time, by threatening to smack Sam if he didn't drop it. Since then, Harry had refused to be in a room without Dean there. And it was driving him up to wall. Not only was he acting like a complete pansy over something that he had accepted and put to the back of his mind years ago, but he was letting it affect his relationship with Sam, not that there was much of a relationship anymore.
"Ardifiel is worried about you." Harry gave a startled yelp and spun around, seeing Yebemiah leaning against the door, still wearing the same clothing, and looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"Really? Oh, well tell him he really doesn't have to. I'm fine." Harry reassured him with a weak smile, moving to sit on the bed and then sighing and placing his head in hands, resting his elbows on his knees. "I'm going to fail. Sam and I are going to go to Hell."
Harry felt the bed beside him dip and looked up to see Yebemiah sitting next to him, legs crossed in front of him and looking at him with a tilted head, which made him look quite innocent and adorable, and made Harry smile at him.
"I do not believe that Ardifiel will allow that. And if you do go to Hell, Ardifiel will get you out, he will not allow you to stay there. He loves you." Yebemiah told him, in his usual soft tone, smiling slightly at him. "And I would help him get you out. I know Castiel probably would as well. Sam Winchester however… He is not well liked in Heaven. Especially amongst the Summer Angels."
"Is that your's and Ardy's garrison, or something? I recall Ardy mentioning the Summer angels before." Harry said, choosing to change the subject, and clearly Yebemiah saw that need and obliged him.
"Neither Ardifiel, nor myself, actually belong to an official garrison. There are only a few of us out there that do not. We just do not work well with others, and were not assigned to a garrison. However, this made us higher up than those in a garrison, we only answer to God. Not even the Archangel's, though higher than us, can boss us around. They do not understand what our tasks are, and thus cannot see why we need to spend more time with humans than the average angel."
"And the summer angels are the ones that have no garrison?" Harry asked, wrinkling his nose as he tried to commit everything Yebemiah was telling him.
"Yes and no. In total, there are thirteen of us. Ardifiel and I are the only ones who share the same month in which we are strongest, however, the other three summer angels… they were a part of a garrison. However… since Lucifer fell, things within the angels have been becoming strange. The three that were within a garrison did not agree with their leader's orders in something. They were going to be struck down. Ardifiel, Rayel and myself stood in." Yebemiah explained, a distant look in his eyes as he remembered something that Harry could barely even begin to comprehend.
"So the other three, they do not belong to a garrison anymore? Were the promoted?" Harry asked, completely entranced by what the angel was telling him.
"No. It is not often that an angel is moved up the ranks. They have to do something fairly spectacular. No, these angels were not moved up. However, they needed a garrison. So Ardifiel and I made them part of our own garrison. We do not have set jobs together, but those three will work together." Yebemiah explained to him and Harry nodded his head.
"What about Ardy… so he's pretty high up? What are his duties? What are yours?" Harry asked eagerly, and Yebemiah smiled softly at him.
"I'm to be there when someone is feeling great loneliness, but I cannot show myself. I just have to give them a sense that they aren't alone. I was with you often when you were a child." Yebemiah told him slyly and Harry looked at him in shock and horror. "You shouldn't feel ashamed of that. Everyone feels lonely at times. It's human nature. I have another duty. When a great amount of damage is to be dealt, it is dealt by me. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by myself, Arragon and Amemiah."
"Well… that sucks. Are the other two in a garrison?"
"No. They are also free of a garrison."
"Huh. So what are Ardy's duties? I know he's the Angel of Strength and Challenges. So… what are his duties?" Harry asked playing with the laces on Yebemiah's boots and not looking up at the angel, who was looking at him with slight bemusement.
"He gives strength to those he has been charged to watch over, which, right now, is you. He'll help you in your challenges and will also boost your morale. He can also take away the morale of your enemies and sap them of their will to fight. Most seem to think that Ardifiel and other angels with positive sounding titles are the nice angels. They don't realise that they can use those abilities against anyone that annoys them." Yebemiah told him with a small smile, getting an equally amused one from Harry.
"Why are you telling me this? Ardy is really the only angel that talks about what he is. Not even Cas does that." Harry said and Yebemiah smiled at him and shrugged.
"Ardifiel and I… we have both been with you since you first defeated Voldemort. I would have taken you on as my charge, had Ardifiel not gotten there before me. As for Castiel. He is still very much under the control of his superiors. He cannot go against them for fear of falling. Things in Heaven are coming to a head, little wizard." Yebemiah told him, placing his hand on Harry's head and ruffling his messy hair.
"Why are you here, Yebemiah?" Harry asked the angel in front of him, narrowing his eyes at him in suspicion.
"We only listen to God. Not even Michael or Raphael can force us to do what they wish. I am to stay near where one of the seals is reported to break. Arragon and Amemiah are already nearby the seal."
"It's here. Isn't it. This hunt, it's a seal?" Harry asked and Yebemiah looked at him and then titled his head before vanishing without actually giving a conclusive answer. "Well fuck."
Harry jumped when, at that second, someone banged on his door loudly, making him look over at it suspiciously, sort of wishing that Yebemiah had still be there with him.
"Yeah?"
"Harry? Come on, we need to see if Sammy has found anything out." Dean called through the door and Harry sighed and glanced upwards, wondering when, exactly, Dean had realised that he was uncomfortable around his little brother. Sighing gustily, Harry got off of his bed, grabbed his wallet and a knife, and then walked out of his room to greet Dean, who was grinning at him. "Sammy won't bite you, you know."
"I wouldn't mind if he did, as long as he wasn't asking inane bloody questions. At least if he was biting me, his mouth would be occupied." Harry muttered grumpily, ignoring the horrified look, Dean shot him.
"Dude! That's my brother!"
"I'd like to point out that you started it. So, think Sam might have a lead on who the little witch is?" Harry asked before Dean could say anything to his defence.
"Who knows? He's like the Wonder Geek at times… but at the moment… his mind is elsewhere. I don't get what's wrong with him. Do you have any clue what is going on with him?" Dean asked him as they came to a stop in front of the door to the room Sam and Dean shared.
"I've got an idea, but I'm actively praying to God that I'm wrong. If I'm not… I think Ardy might actually kill Sam." Harry mumbled, ignoring Dean's startled look and snatching the bag of candy from his bag and grabbing a piece. "Just… I don't know what to do, Dean. I'm failing and it's partially Sam's fault."
"What are you failing? What have you been tasked to do that involves Sam?"
"I told you. I need to keep him away form Ruby. I think I've failed." Harry muttered and Dean inhaled quickly and turned Harry to look at him.
"He's been in contact with her? How do you know? Are you sure?"
"No, Dean, I'm not. That's the problem. If I was sure, I'd have asked you for that knife by now and stabbed her in her pretty little face." Harry muttered and then sighed and dragged his hand down his face. "Come on, let's go see what Sam might have found."
Dean nodded, took the bag of candy from him once more and opened the door to their motel room, unwrapping a piece of candy and popping it in his mouth as Sam looked up to look at them, gaping at them, when Harry also grabbed another piece of candy to eat.
"Really? After that guy choked down all those razor blades?" Sam asked them and Dean smirked at him, whilst Harry shrugged and grabbed a handful of candy, then walked over to a bed and flopped down on it.
"It's Halloween, man." Dean told him and Harry nodded in agreement.
"Yep. A time to forget what a sucky time of the year it is by trying your hardest to make yourself go into a diabetic coma. I plan to achieve that this year. I think 2008 may be my year." Harry stated, then stuffed two pieces in his mouth at once, whilst both Sam and Dean watched him in a mix of amusement and concern.
"I hate to point it out, but everyday for us is Halloween." Sam mentioned and Harry groaned and lobbed a piece of candy at Sam's head, smirking when it bounced off of his temple.
"Why can't life be like Buffy the Vampire Slayer's? The Big Bad's in the Whedon 'verse take the day off on Halloween." Harry moaned and Dean snickered and moved to sit on the arm of the couch in the room, looking at Sam's research.
"That would be too easy and boring. Find anything interesting, Sammy?" Dean asked Sam, reading through the papers.
"Well, we're on a witch hunt, that's for sure, but this isn't your typical hex bag." Sam told Dean and Harry sat up on the bed and then stood up and walked over to them. Sam motioned to the hex bag that was laid out on the table, the contents all placed on the cloth used to make the bag.
Harry glanced at the items, moving a silver piece that appeared to be about the size of an average coin, to the side and instead focusing on a small dried up herb that he had only read about in his herbology textbooks.
"This is Goldthread. Where the hell did the witch find this? It was last found over two hundred years ago. I knew people that would cut off their right leg for this small piece. Can I keep it?" Harry asked them, not taking his eyes off of the herb he was delicately holding.
"Er… yeah. That's my point. That herb is extinct and this," Sam picked up the piece of silver and showed it to Dean, who took it from his brother to look more closely at. "Is Celtic, and I don't mean some new age knock off. It looks like the real deal, like six hundred years old real."
"Shit! We could get a mint from selling that! I mean, we could survive on what we got from that for a while! I wouldn't have to go back to work yet." Harry muttered and both Dean and Sam turned to look at him.
"What?" Dean asked at the same time Sam gaped and stood up to look at Harry demandingly.
"Back to work?" Sam hissed at him and Harry stared up at him defiantly.
"Who are you to say otherwise? No offence, but you don't control me. We need money. Scamming credit card companies will only go so far. So either, you shut the fuck up or starve. I don't care. Either way, I'm going back to work." Harry told him and then turned back to Dean, who just blinked and then tilted his head in acquiescence. "And Dean will be my pimp."
"Huh. Er… Right. So… Witch?" Dean asked, looking at Sam and smiling anxiously when Sam just glared at him.
"Pimp?" Sam asked in a growl and Harry sighed and moved back to the table, picking up the small bone that he had missed the first time he had looked.
"Oh for God's sake, drop it! Now, what does this belong to? Some sort of small woodland creature?" Harry asked, waving the bone at Sam, who narrowed his eyes at Dean and then turned to look at what Harry was holding.
"That's the charred metacarpal bone of a newborn baby." Sam told him and Harry gaped at him and then dropped the bone and jumped back from it in disgust, wiping his hands down the front of his shirt repeatedly.
"Oh God. I'm never going to be clean again." Harry muttered, shuddering and glaring at the bone on the floor, whilst Dean snorted and then cringed when Harry glared at him.
"Harry, you can calm down. That was at least a hundred years old."
"Oh yes, that makes it so much better!" Harry asked him incredulously and then shuddered once more.
"Man, witches. They're so friggin' skeevy." Dean muttered, nudging the bone with the toe of his boot and then grimacing.
"With you on that one." Harry muttered and moved over to sit on the couch next to Dean, grumbling wordlessly under his breath.
"Yeah, well it takes a pretty powerful one to put a bag like this together. More juice than we've ever dealt with, that's for sure. What about you, Dean? Find anything on the victim?" Sam asked his brother and Dean shrugged and then shook his head.
"I can't find any reason why somebody would want this guy dead." Dean muttered and Harry winced and looked away.
"We should leave this job and get the hell out of dodge." Harry muttered, making both Winchester's look at him in confusion.
"Why?" Sam asked him and Harry shrugged and then sighed.
"I was visited by one of the angel's that destroyed Sodom. Gomorrah? There too. He's here. In this town. What does that tell you? Me? It sounds like bad news. I think we honestly need to leave." Harry told them and nibbled on his bottom lip as he looked between the two hunters.
"No. We can't leave now. No, we've got to stay and get this witch. We don't just quit on a job because it's getting too risky, that's not what we do." Sam said, shaking his head and Harry gaped at him and then turned to Dean, who looked just as determined as his brother.
"You two… 'too risky'? I'm talking about the destruction of a town, Sam! I do not want to be in that town when it happens! No! I refuse to be here!" Harry told them and Sam just looked back at him with determination.
"So leave. What's keeping you here?" Sam asked him and Harry flinched and looked away, deflating visibly and then sighing.
"I'll stay."
Harry followed behind Sam and Dean as they walked down the basement to where a young college student had been killed at a Halloween party only an hour before. Harry sighed and glared into the back of Sam's head, before looking down at the floor, feeling slightly guilty over blaming all of this on Sam. Wasn't like the taller man had forced him to stay. No, that was Ardifiel's doing, if anyone was to blame, and even then, Harry knew even the angel wasn't to blame for the fact that Harry was pretty certain they were going to be blown to kingdom come very soon.
Harry glanced over at where a police officer was interviewing the friend of the girl that had drowned whilst bobbing for apples, the young woman was wearing a skimpy cheerleader uniform, Harry looked at it and strained to hear what was being said.
"Have you been drinking?" The officer asked and Harry scoffed whilst the girl he was questioning looked at him blankly and then nodded.
"Yes." She said and Sam moved to join the questioning but stopped when Dean put his hand up to stop him, making both Sam and Harry look at him in question.
"I got this one." Dean told him, leering at the young woman and making Harry roll his eyes.
"Two words: Jail bait." Sam told him and Harry snorted in amusement, stepping up to stand next to Dean, whilst the other man looked affronted and insulted.
"I would never -" Dean started, but Sam just rolled his eyes and turned to walk away, Harry following behind him silently as they walked over to the couch in the room. Harry silently began to pick up pillows to search for a hex bag or any other sign of a witch being involved.
"Harry-"
"If what comes out of your mouth next has anything to do with Ghost Sickness, I'm going rip you tongue out and make sure that you become one of the first men to rim himself. Sound fun? I will do it. I don't want to fucking talk about it, accept it." Harry growled, savagely grabbing pillows to look under for the hex bag and then slamming them back down when he found nothing.
"I wasn't… Okay, I was. I just… I don't like that you're avoiding me now." Sam muttered quietly, moving and picking up one of the pillows to search inside of it for anything.
"If you… just forget what you think you heard a couple of days ago and I promise to stop avoiding you. Just… Sam, I don't want to talk about it. Okay?" Harry asked, glancing over at Sam, and getting a small smile and a nod from the younger man.
"Okay. Are you… are you okay, though? Really?" Sam asked him and Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair before picking up another pillow to look under.
"I'm… fine. You learn to deal with the shit life hands to you most of the time. And… Cas helped me. A lot." Harry told him with a small smile and a shrug.
"Why did you really call for Castiel and not Ardifiel?" Sam asked him with narrowed eyes and Harry sighed and grabbed another pillow in avoidance of the question.
"Castiel… Castiel came to me before Ardifiel did. He was the first angel of Heaven to actually see me as me. Admittedly, other than Ardy, the only other angel I had met was Uriel, and trust me on this one, you don't get a bigger dickhead than that angel." Harry muttered and Sam chuckled.
"So… you called for Castiel because he really was the first person you thought of?" Sam asked him, sounding a little… disappointed, which confused Harry greatly.
"Well… that and.. I was born on a Thursday. Cas is the Angel of Thursday. Dunno… he was the first one to come to mind." Harry admitted quietly with a shrug, then frowned and grabbed another pillow and reached down the back of the sofa, coming out with another hex bag in his hands. "Here, witchy-witch."
"You're very odd sometimes." Sam muttered, looking over Harry's head and catching Dean's eye, nodding his head sharply then looking back down at Harry.
"You knew I was odd from the start." Harry muttered, nudging Sam with his elbow, when Sam wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him to his side.
"Sure I did. It's why I kept you." Sam told him with a grin as they waited for Dean to finish questioning the girl.
"That, and I'm a good lay." Harry added with a smirk, which widened when Sam blushed and looked away. "Sam… you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
"Sure…" Sam agreed hesitantly and Harry sighed and pulled away from Sam, placing a hand on Sam's arm.
"Don't do something to bring an angel's ire onto you, okay?"
"I-I won't, Harry." Sam stammered and Harry narrowed his eyes at him and then nodded his head and looked over when Dean walked back to them.
Later that night, they were all sitting in Sam and Dean's motel room, Sam lying his bed, flipping through a book, whilst Dean was on the computer at the table and Harry was rummaging through Dean's bag of weapons, getting the occasionally glance from Dean when he made an interested noise.
"Where's the sword you won?" Harry asked, balancing a knife on his hand and then placing it back in its sheaf, before he put it back in the bag.
"Safe." Sam answered him vaguely, turning another page in the book he was reading and making both Harry and Dean look over at him in interest.
"Safe? Safe where?" Dean asked him and Harry raised an eyebrow when Sam huffed and looked over at them in annoyance.
"Safe. Have you found anything, Dean?"
"Nothing. Both the vic's are squeaky clean. There is no reason for a wicked bitch payback." Dean told him, dropping the subject of where Ardifiel's sword was for the time being.
"Maybe 'cause it's not about that." Sam told him and Dean looked at him questioningly before rolling his eyes.
"Wow, insightful." Dean muttered sarcastically, making Harry snigger and then pick up another gun when both brothers looked at him.
"Maybe this witch isn't working the grudge, maybe they're working a spell. Check this out." Sam said, sitting up on the bed, still looking at the book. "Three blood sacrifices over three days, the last before midnight on the final day of the final harvest. Celtic Calendar, the final day of the final harvest is October 31st." Sam said, getting up off the bed and walking over to place the book on the table between Harry and Dean.
"Halloween."
"I fucking hate this holiday." Harry muttered, sighing and running a hand through his hair.
"What exactly are the uh, blood sacrifices for?" Dean asked, clearly deciding not to question Harry on his mutter and instead choosing to stick with the safer of the two conversation choices available to him.
"Uh, if I'm right, this witch is summoning a demon, and not just any demon, Samhain." Sam said and Harry cursed vividly and stabbed the knife he was holding, into the table. Dean jumped and looked at him in shocked and then looked over at Sam in confusion.
"Am I supposed to be impressed? And what's up with the baby deer, over there?" Dean asked, making Harry glower at him and wonder why he had ever admitted to what his former name was.
"Dean, Samhain is the bloody origin of Halloween. He's the big bad that the Celts believed in, they thought that October 31st was the one night of the year when the veil was the thinnest between the living and the dead, and that was Samhain's night. People wore masks to hide from him, left sweets and other treats on their doorsteps to appease him and carved into pumpkins to worship him. What? I know stuff!" Harry exclaimed when he noticed that both Dean and Sam were staring at him in shock.
"Er… right. Well, Samhain was supposedly exorcised centuries ago." Sam told them and Dean nodded his head slowly and then frowned.
"So even though Samhain took a trip downstairs, the tradition stuck?" Dean asked and both Sam and Harry nodded, but it was, once again, Harry who answered him.
"Yep, only by now the real reason, as proven by you, has been forgotten and so instead of it being about demons and blood orgies, Halloween is all about kids, candy and costumes. Amusingly enough, if this witch succeeds and Samhain walks, then those little kiddies are gonna be the safest people around. Actually, I think I'm going to go shopping tomorrow." Harry muttered vaguely, and both brothers stared at him strangely.
"So some witch wants to raise Samhain and take back the night?" Dean asked and Sam glared at him for not taking this seriously, whilst Harry just watched the two in amusement.
"Dean, this is serious." Sam scolded and Dean held up his hands in a peace gesture and frowned.
"I am serious."
"We're talking heavyweight witchcraft. This ritual can only be performed every six hundred years." Sam told him and Dean sighed, looking like he didn't want to ask, but doing so anyway.
"And the six hundred year marker rolls around…?"
"Tomorrow night." Sam told him and Harry snorted when Dean sighed.
"You thought we'd get lucky and the witch missed it by a year? Come on. None of us are lucky." Harry told him and Dean nodded his head and looked morose, before looking down at the book Sam had placed next to him, flipping through the pages and stopping on one with a picture depicting a demon standing on a heap of bodies, holding a head in his hand.
"Well it sure is a lot of death and destruction for one demon." Dean muttered and Harry snorted once more, getting the attention of the other two in the room again.
"He doesn't come alone. He's like a package deal. Raise one demon, get a free handful of other fugly bastards to rip your innards out, too! He can raise his own little army." Harry told them dryly, and the rolled his eyes at their continued expressions of surprise. "Seriously, I grew up in a world that celebrated this shit. They actually called it Samhain, not Halloween. They knew why they were celebrating."
"Right, that's a little creepy. So… when you say 'raise his own army'. What, exactly, do you mean?' Dean asked Harry, who just shrugged and waved his hand negligently.
"You name it, chances are they're gonna be coming along to join the party." Harry muttered and Sam nodded his head, wincing at what he was clearly thinking of.
"So we're talking ghosts?"
"Yeah." Sam agreed with a nod of his head, and Harry nodded as well and then moved to take the knife out of the table.
"Zombies."
"Mm-hmm."
"Leprechauns?" Dean asked and Sam shot him a dirty look whilst Harry snorted in amusement.
"Dean -"
"Those little dude are scary. Small hands."
"Leprechauns' aren't evil. Just freakishly small." Harry pointed out, ignoring the scathing look Sam shot him for encouraging Dean.
"Look, it starts with ghosts and ghouls, this sucked keeps on going, by nights end we are talking every awful tin we have ever seen. Everything we fight, all in one place." Sam told them with a sigh and Harry shrugged and started picking at his nails with the knife in his hands.
"I know. I was the one that wanted to leave, remember?" Harry pointed out, pointing the knife at Sam before returning back to his nails.
"It's gonna be a slaughterhouse." Dean stated glumly and Harry sighed and nodded his head.
"Sounds about right."
31st October, 2008. Montpelier, ID
Harry glanced over at Sam and then nibbled on his lip and frowned when Sam pulled out his phone to ring Dean and find out how things were going, stalking the family of the victims.
"How's it going?" Sam asked, and Harry sighed and wondered what he was going to do. He sort of figured that either way he was screwed. He either died, and went to Hell here, or left, died later and went to Hell then. It all just depended on when he wanted to go into Hell.
"Sucky if you're asking me, but I know you're asking Dean. So who cares what the obsolete prostitute thinks." Harry grumbled, ignoring the admonishing glare Sam sent him.
"Look, Dean, someone planted those hex bags, someone with access to both houses, there's gotta be some connection." Sam said into the phone, which gave Harry an idea of what Dean had just said, making the shorter of the two, sigh and then roll onto his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Quit whining." Sam said and Harry lifted his head to look at Sam, wondering what Dean had said to get that response.
"Dean whines; it's his thing. That… and pie." Harry pointed out, getting an amused glance from Sam, who then frowned at whatever Dean, was telling him.
"Dean?" Harry cocked his head in silent question and Sam shook his head, then hung up the phone.
"So? What did he have to say?" Harry asked and Sam opened his mouth, then shut it again when his phone vibrated and he glanced down at the screen and frowned. He sighed and then placed the phone back in his pocket.
"Something about the cheerleader. He said he'd explain more when he got back, which shouldn't be too long now." Sam told him, walking over to the bed Harry was lying on, and moving to lie next to him.
"Sure you want to be doing that? Dean may come to the wrong conclusion about us." Harry stated, then paused and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Or the right one."
"Harry…"
"Doesn't matter, Sammy-Sam-Sam. Just forget it. I doubt we would have worked out, anyway. We're both too messed up for that." Harry told him with a resigned tone and Sam winced in guilt.
"It's not that-"
"Sam! Drop it before I force you to drop it. Christ, you don't half go on." Harry muttered, then turned on his side to face Sam, ignoring the wide-eyed look Sam was sending him. "So… who'd you think the witch is?"
"From what Dean muttered before he hung up? The cheerleader." Sam told him, opening up his laptop on the bed and shifting to lie on his stomach, to face it. Clearly he was smart enough to realise when Harry was deliberately changing the subject.
"Huh. Should have guessed that." Harry muttered and then sighed and turned back on his back and stared at the nicotine stained ceiling. "What are you doing?"
"Looking up the cheerleader." Sam told him absently and Harry sighed and then shifted to get a little more comfortable.
"Huh."
"Harry… How come you're so… composed around the angels?" Sam asked him after they had been lying in silence for a few minutes.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Harry asked him, frowning in confusion.
"Well… they're angels. Soldiers of God. Aren't you even a little awed?" Sam asked him, and Harry snorted and then shook his head.
"To be honest? When I first met them, they pissed me off. Then… the angels I have met since, either pissed me off, or amused me. The only thing that makes them different from me and you? Is the fact that they can smite us. And let's be fair, we can kill people just as easily as they can." Harry said with a shrug and ignored Sam gasping at him.
"That's…"
"The truth. Sooner you accept that, the sooner you get rid of that moony look in your eyes whenever you see an angel. It's almost vomit inducing." Harry muttered, then sat up and turned to look at the door when he heard a key turning the lock.
Dean walked in the room seconds later, and threw the keys on to the table as he passed by it, glancing at the two on the bed with a raised eyebrow and stood at the end of the bed.
"So, out apple-bobbing cheerleader?" Sam asked him, looking up at Dean, who shrugged and then nodded his head.
"Tracy?'
"Mm-hmm?" Harry snorted and shook his head at the two, shifting on the bed so that he was leaning against the headboard, feet pressing into Sam's side.
"The Wallace's babysitter, told me she never even heard of Luke Wallace." Dean muttered grouchily and Harry chuckled, making Dean look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What? You sound like she shouldn't have been able to dodge your wily charms and would have told you the truth. Come on. She's a, possibly six-hundred year old, witch. She probably saw you coming a mile off." Harry told him with an amused look on his face, whilst Sam snickered and then frowned.
"Interesting look for a centuries old witch. A high school student." Sam muttered and Dean gaped at him, like he couldn't quite believe he was related to Sam. Though, Harry was thinking the exact same thing.
"Yeah, well, if you were, what was it? Six-hundred year old hag and you could pick any costume to come back in, wouldn't you go for a hot cheerleader? I would, hmm…" Dean said, moving to sit on the other bed and looking a little glazed.
"Er… if she's a high school student, wouldn't that be illegal?" Harry queried, raising an eyebrow when Dean just waved him off.
"You're one to talk. You made your living from breaking the law." Dean muttered and both Harry and Sam gaped at him.
"I… one, I was a prostitute, not a paedophile and er… actually, no, that's my only point." Harry said and Dean looked over at him and sighed.
"It's not paedophilia. She's six hundred!"
"But you didn't know that when you first started to drool over her." Sam pointed out, making Dean look at him with a wounded expression on his face.
"You're sticking up for him? How is that fair? You're my brother!"
"Yeah… but even a freaking demon could see which side of this argument was morally corrupt." Sam pointed out, making Harry snort and shake his head.
"She's of legal age! And it's not like I was actually going to do anything with her. Dude! Give me some credit." Dean exclaimed and Sam snorted and then sat up on the bed and moved his computer to face Dean.
"Whatever, look, I did some digging on Tracy. She's not as wholesome as she looks. Apparently she got into a violent altercation with one of her teachers, got suspended from school." Sam told them, and both Harry and Dean shifted to look at the computer screen.
"I went to school with a Tracy Davis. She was a bitch." Harry muttered as he read over the file and ignored the looks the two brothers shot him.
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