Raven (black_raven) wrote in crsvr_fics, @ 2009-10-14 16:20:00 |
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Current mood: | amused |
Current music: | Ride the Wind~ Poison |
Guarding Death (Supernatural/Harry Potter) Rated R
Title: Guarding Death
Author: Black_Raven
Characters/Pairings: Castiel, Dean, Harry, Sam, Bobby
Word Count: 5741 (whole story so far: 22000)
Rating: R
Summary: What if Castiel had one more charge, other than Dean. All those times Dean needed the angel, but he wasn't there, what if Cas were aiding someone else in their great times of need. SPN AU. Work in Progress.
Spoilers: Supernatural Season 4, All Harry Potter Books
Warnings: Foul Language, smoking, Slash (Pairings undetermined), Slightly Dark Themes
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything having to do with the tv show Supernatural, or the books Harry Potter. I make no profit from this story.
Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
~^Chapter 5~^
The next morning found Harry and Bobby trekking through a forest in the heart of Grand Island. The wizard felt, and Bobby thought he looked, like a zombie. The dark bruises under his eyes had seemed to double over night, and his head pounded as if some god were hammering away inside. His hands were steady as he carried the army duffel loaded with their weapons and supplies, but his feet stumbled with every uneven patch of earth he came upon.
Normally he would not have a hangover from just whiskey, but the rate at which he had guzzled it the night before had sealed the deal. At the very least he was thankful the sun was covered by clouds and the bright gray sky further obscured by the dense canopy of trees over head. Otherwise there would have been no force short of the apocalypse that could have dragged him from the motel room. He glared silently at Bobby's back as the older man took point. No force short of the apocalypse, aside from the older hunter. The man was vicious with hangover victims.
Shaking his head, Harry turned his attention to their surroundings. They had already interviewed some campers as they were leaving on the ferry back to the mainland. They had reported strange noises at night, and one hiker had mentioned stumbling upon the remains of a grizzly bear towards the northern shoreline. According to the man, the bear had looked like it was flayed alive and then torn apart. While Harry didn't have much knowledge of American wildlife, he knew that a grizzly bear was a bitch to take down for a human, or even other bears.
The human deaths had occurred on the nights of the full moon, however after talking to local authorities, they discovered that two more bodies had turned up in the past forty-eight hours, breaking the pattern. As of eleven in the morning that day, all campers were accounted for and safely back on the main land. A small handful of rangers remained on the island investigating. For the most part, Harry and Bobby had the run of the place. FBI badges were wonderful things.
The young man froze in his tracks, something in the bushes catching his eye. Crouching, he gingerly reached out and picked up the object. Opening his fingers, Harry frowned. Bobby back tracked and stood over him looking solemn. He was staring grimly at the discovery.
“Is that what I think it is?”
A silver pendent glittered innocently from his palm, catching light from a non-existence source and reflecting it out. Harry stared at the symbols carved in the smooth metal. A feeling of dread encompassed him as he slowly nodded. Grinding his teeth, Harry dropped the coin as though burned and reached into his back pocket for a handkerchief, then proceeded to carefully wrap the coin up in the cloth without touching it further.
“It's the seal of Janus. What the hell is it doing out here?” Harry spat in the dirt and climbed to his feet, stuffing the concealed coin in his pocket. He ignored Bobby's look of surprise as they continued their hike.
“How did you know that? It's a fairly obscure legend, and in most of 'em he's referred to as Bifrons.”
“While searching for ways to kill Voldemort, I read some fairly obscure books. In my world, 'Bifrons' and 'Janus' are interchangeable with each other. I remember the general reference to him, but not the specific facts...”
Bobby nodded, recognizing the prompt. He cleared his throat and explained, “I can't say for sure without double checking my books, but from what I remember, Bifrons is a lesser demon. He was worshiped as a god by the Romans, sometimes called Janus. He's two-faced. Metaphorically at least.”
The man paused and took out a flask, handing it to Harry. “Here, douse that coin in this and see what happens. Holy water. I don't believe in coincidences, 'specially with people turning up dead and the sigil of a demon showing up.”
They stopped as Harry fished the kerchief from his pocket and tipped the flask over it. Almost immediately the cloth began smoking, emitting hisses and sizzling noises as if the coin beneath had become super-heated. Luckily it was not the actual case. They shared a look of grim acceptance before continuing on. Harry kept the coin out this time, occasionally dribbling more holy water over it when the cloth started becoming too dry for comfort.
“Now, Janus is a pretty nasty piece of work. He appears to people in the guise of a youthful, friendly man, offers to show them the location of buried treasure or some such nonsense. And if the person accepts his offer.... It's basically the same as a cross-roads deal. He leads them out into the middle of nowhere, then legend goes, he conjures their treasure, then changes. Becomes the monster straight out of nightmares. He devours their souls and then desecrates the corpses.”
Harry nodded, some knowledge coming back to him as Bobby spoke. A snapping twig ahead of them on the trail prompted them to freeze in their tracks and draw their weapons. Bobby cocked his shotgun menacingly, slowly and silently creeping forward. Harry kept pace, pistol trained at the ground, eyes trailing over the forest at their sides and back. Their position was perfect for getting ambushed.
Movement became apparent ahead, as a body moved through the underbrush. Bobby tensed at Harry's back, the wizard turned and stared over the man's shoulder, trying to glimpse the thing. A neon orange vest was the first thing they caught sight of, followed swiftly by dark green jacket and tan khaki pants. Neither of them relaxed as the recognized the outfit of a forest ranger, but they did lower their weapons.
The man glanced up from a GPS unit in his left hand and blinked in surprise at them, stuttering to a halt. The hunters didn't recognize him from the station near the dock, but Harry recalled that two of the seven resident officers on the island had been dispatched to do rounds of the camp sites to make sure there were no stragglers. Suspicion colored his mind as he also recalled that those two officers had supposedly ridden out in a golf cart early that morning.
The ranger dropped his right hand to his side-arm, but did not draw as he stepped closer. His eyes narrowed on their guns.
“Who are you? State your name and business!” The ranger was demanding, but understandably so. Bobby and Harry slowly reached into their pockets and procured the fake badges. Harry stepped forward, hurriedly stowing the coin, and extended his hand. He forced a friendly grin to his face.
“Sorry 'bout that. I'm Agent Freeman, this is my partner, Agent Smith, of the FBI. We're with the Marquette resident agency. We heard about your troubles and were dispatched to see if it's our kind of trouble. You wouldn't happen to be Kenny or Alec would ya?”
The ranger relaxed and shook Harry's hand, nearly crushing it. The ranger was not a small man. He vaguely resembled a bear in the wizard's opinion. Certainly he was big enough to be mistaken for one. His voice, contrary to appearance, was a light, pleasant tenor as he responded to Harry's question.
“I'm Alec. Sorry to surprise you. Kenny and I got separated a bit ago. I'm trying to get back to the office to see if he's radioed in. The cart battery died so we had to walk from the northern camp. Weirdest thing. Kenny wandered off a ways to take a leak; never came back. It's easy to get turned around if you go off the trails though, and he went in pretty far.”
Bobby shuffled up to stand next to them and took over the questioning. Harry was not familiar with standard procedure of local game and wildlife officers. They had agreed that Bobby would handle that aspect of things.
“What happened to your radio unit?”
“We only had one radio and one GPS between us. We didn't expect to run into any trouble with all the campers gone. It was a routine inspection. Kenny has the radio, and I have the GPS.”
Frowning, Bobby motioned for them to start walking. Harry trailed slightly behind, flanking the ranger with his pistol still out by his side. The story was probable, but unlikely. One thing Harry did know was that all officers were required to carry at least a radio with them. The older hunter had the same thought.
“If you don't mind me asking, why only one radio?”
The ranger laughed it off. “Mine was charging in the cart. Battery died on it shortly after we inspected the second camp area. It didn't have enough juice to bother bringing it with us when we left on foot. We got ahold of HQ on Kenny's and let them know about it.”
The answer set Harry on edge. The way the man laughed about it, the way he seemed in high spirits despite his partner being missing, the relaxed swagger to his walk. For being on an island where people were being murdered, the man seemed... happy. Luckily the walk back to the ranger station went by quick. Nerves were screaming at Harry to douse the officer in holy water, just to be sure. He would have too, if the building hadn't come into view.
Only one ranger remained at the station. They were informed that the others had formed a search party for their two missing comrades after losing radio contact with Kenny. The hairs on the back of Harry's neck pricked up and a chill ran down his spine. For a moment, the coin stashed in his pocket seemed to grow heavy as he leaned against the edge of the door frame, keeping an eye on the surrounding forest while listening to Bobby and the two rangers talk inside.
Things were heating up faster than Harry had thought possible. This was only supposed to be a routine werewolf hunt, now it was a possible case of demonic presence. The hunter shuffled his feet and glanced around uneasily as the wind picked up. His mind turned to possible exorcisms or summoning spells that could be used to take out any demons in the area. Finding a sigil of Janus out in the middle of the woods was not normal under any circumstance.
What he and Bobby needed to do, was go back to the motel and call in reinforcements. Or if all else failed, a good ol' summoning ritual to call the demon to them. There were devils traps and powerful binding spells laced throughout their room. They should be able to hold a lesser demon long enough for the Resurrection Stone to do its work. Prior experience told Harry that it would be the easiest, fastest rout to taking care of the problem. The issue was that they now had several civilians in the mix and possibly being led into the slaughter at that very moment.
Harry glanced up as Bobby exited the building. The man did not look happy, which set the wizard on edge even more. Before he could ask, Bobby shook his head and motioned to a spot away from the building before moving there himself, Harry following. They spoke in hushed voices, Harry watching the building for signs of movement.
“What's going on?”
“Apparently one of the men radioed in claiming that he'd found Kenny's body at the bottom of a cliff. But when the rest of the search party got there there was no body, and the man who reported it was missing. There's talk of calling in reinforcements.”
“Which isn't good for us.”
“Exactly. I told 'em we'd go back to the mainland to inform the local Sheriff.”
Harry pondered this a moment, remembering his previous thoughts on drawing the demon out. It was a risky prospect, but they didn't have much choice it seemed. Bobby agreed after hearing Harry's idea. They would take one of the patrol boats back to the mainland before heading back to the hotel. Luckily Bobby had anticipated the need to bring a book of exorcisms with him.
~ ~ ~
The trip across the lake seemed to take longer than it had going to the island. The coin felt like a lead weight in Harry's pocket the closer they got to the city docks. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and bumps spotted his arms by the time he stepped foot back on dry land. Bobby was shooting him strange looks, but seemed to understand.
As a precaution against unwanted attention, Bobby stopped at a payphone to call the police department while Harry continued on to their hotel room. He would feel a hell of a lot better once the coin was safely situated in the center of a devil's trap.
Out of curiosity, as well as paranoia, Harry collected the rooms ashtray and emptied it of spent butts before washing it and filling it with holy water. Taking it to the center of the largest devil's trap he sat it down, careful not to spill water on the chalk. This time when he removed the coin from his pocket it really did heat up. It felt like a brand was searing the flesh of his palm.
Quickly, before the nerves in his fingers caused him to drop it outside the make-shift bowl, he plopped it into the holy water, handkerchief and all. As before, the coin hissed and sizzled, this time with accompanying heat. Luckily the thick glass held firm against the metal.
Harry stumbled out of the circle and checked his hand. It was angry red, blisters already forming. Thankfully the sigil markings had been blocked by the cloth, or they would have had a whole new set of problems to deal with. He glanced up as Bobby returned.
“Good thinking with that.”
Bobby nodded towards the trap before scavenging in one of his bags. An old journal and small first aid kit were tossed to the wizard before the older man camped at the small table with a battered looking book. Harry gratefully used the time to bandage his hand before flipping open the journal. He recognized Bobby's sloppy scrawl immediately.
He quickly thumbed through the pages, browsing the contents for anything referring to Janus, or demon summoning. The passage he was looking for was near the back of the journal, hidden behind a news paper clipping. The ritual was non-specific and generalized, ensuring that it could be altered to fit which ever demon the caster needed. Harry had to wonder why Bobby would have such a potentially dangerous spell in his journal.
He didn't question it though, as he read over the components they would need. Now that the older hunter knew of his wizard status, Harry could easily conjure most of the items; the rest he kept in stock in the false bottom of his trunk. To summon Janus specifically, they already had the demon's coin and sigil.
He glanced up as Bobby growled. “Damn it! Someone ripped out the page I need for the exorcism!”
They exchanged a wary glance. Harry knew that Bobby would never be so careless about his books; and no one would have had the opportunity to steal the page before they left for Grand Island. It was certainly bad news.
“The demon. Or someone working for the demon? If he knows we're here....”
His gaze snapped to the coin and he had to wonder at the unlikely coincidence of them being the ones to find it. They had been set up. But for what? Harry focused on Bobby as the older man snapped open his cell phone and jabbed at the buttons.
“Dean, put Sam on, I need information on an exorcism.... Don't be smart with me, boy! Just get me your brother.... Sam, I need a specific exorcism from John's journal; should be near the beginning, the Binding of Lesser Daemons.... Yeah well, me and Harry ran into some trouble. Yeah, turns out it was a demon involved, and it looks like he caught wind of us.... I'll explain later, just read me the exorcism.”
Bobby grabbed up the hotel stationary pad and a pen and began jotting down what ever passage Sam was reading him. Harry, wanting to feel useful, brought out the Elder Wand and began quietly conjuring the required items for the summoning. Very technically it was stealing, since conjured items had to come from somewhere, but Harry had long ago taken to not caring about such rules. He ignored a look Bobby shot his way as he began setting up, tuning out the conversation over the phone until something caught his attention.
“What? You're tellin' me that John's calling you from beyond the grave? It can't be John....”
Alarm jolted up his spine as Harry strode over and snatched the phone from Bobby. Studiously ignoring the older hunter's glare, he pressed the phone to his ear, “Hey Sam, it's Harry. Listen, there are many creatures that can mimic the human voice.”
“I know, but Dean's not listening.”
“Put him on. I believe I have something to say that he needs to hear.”
“Alright, hang on.”
There was a thump on the other end of the line, followed by faint swearing and a scuffle. Harry winced and held the phone away from his ear as someone, definitely Dean, yelled at Sam, using a few choice words which Harry wasn't even sure were real. Finally the line clicked and a very disgruntled Dean spoke up.
“Yeah, Harry, what d'ya want?”
Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing. The brothers reminded him faintly of the Weasley siblings.
“Dean, Sam told us about how your hunt is going. Listen, what ever it is can not be your dad. There are creatures out there that can easily mimic a person's voice; they do so to either lure people into danger, or to lure them into death, or both.”
There was a pause so long that Harry feared the Winchester had hung up on him. “How do you know though? Sure, you met our dad a couple times, but I'm his son, I'm pretty sure I can tell his voice from a damn creature's.”
A low growl to Dean's voice informed Harry loud and clear that the man was highly agitated, but he held fast. He glanced over at Bobby and saw that he was going about setting up a second Devil's trap on the ceiling of the room, overlapping, but not parallel to the one on the floor. He knew the other hunter was listening in on the one-sided conversation. He fidgeted a moment before striding into the bathroom and closing the door. He trusted Bobby with his life, but some things he wasn't ready for the man to know.
He spoke quietly into the speaker.
“Dean, you've been hunting for how many years now?”
“....”
Taking the silence as an answer, Harry continued, “You know that such things don't just happen. When a dead person begins calling you during a hunt where people have been killing themselves, nothing good can ever come from it.”
“How do you know?”
Harry drew out a long sigh. There was the question he had been anticipating, and the reason he had retreated into the semi-privacy of the lavatory.
“Dean... you remember what I told you, about my life before hunting?”
“...Yeah.... But what's that gotta do with-”
Harry cut him off sharply. “I had visions of what Tom was doing. I watched as he and his followers tortured and murdered countless innocent people, and every single time, our intelligence revealed that my visions had come true. The problem with this is, that Tom eventually realized that I was seeing what he was doing and planning. When I was fifteen, I began having visions that Tom was torturing my godfather. I thought that the visions were of real events.... I left the safety of my school and went after Tom and his followers, foolishly not waiting for backup, save five others my own age.
“We went to the place where Sirius, my godfather, was supposedly being held, only to find out that it was all a set-up. A trap. Sirius was in no danger before I went off half-cocked believing what my visions were telling me. My friends were all injured, a couple of them nearly dying. And in the end, my godfather showed up to save the day. He died because of it.
“Tom had found out about our connection, and was manipulating it by sending me false visions to lead me into danger. And Sirius died because I didn't check my information; I didn't even think of the possibility that Tom could manipulate me so effectively; all I could think about was that my visions were always true, and that my only family was being tortured to death.”
There was another long pause on the other end. Harry blinked rapidly and pinched the bridge of his nose, taking the time to compose himself. Sirius was still a very touchy subject, even after all these years. No matter what anyone said about it, Harry still firmly believed that his godfather's death was his fault. Voldemort may have been manipulating him, but he had run to the Department of Mysteries of his own volition.
“I... get what you're saying, damnit!”
“Good. Then heed my warning. Believe what you wish, but don't go running blindly into a situation just because your dead father tells you to. Stick close to Sam, and work as a team on this. I know you don't know me as well as you do Bobby, but believe me when I tell you that you will regret it for the rest of your life if someone dies because of your blind faith that this creature really is your dad.”
Harry startled as a loud bang sounded over the line, wincing, he realized that it was the sound of a phone being thrown against a wall. He waited patiently for a few seconds before Sam's voice gingerly inquired if he was still on the line.
“Harry? You still there? What the hell did you say to him?”
The wizard coughed. “I gave him some sound advice. See that he follows it. His judgment is clouded right now. Keep him from doing anything stupid that the phone tells him to do. Once Bobby and I are finished up here I'll make my way to you.”
“Alright. I'll keep you posted.”
As Harry stepped out of the bathroom he shot Bobby an apologetic look, handing him the phone. The older man simply shook his head. Glancing around the room, Harry was pleased and slightly guilty to see that Bobby had set everything up himself. Putting his conversation with the brothers to the back of his mind, Harry mentally prepared himself as he gave Bobby the go-ahead to begin the summoning.
As Bobby began chanting, Harry quickly surveyed the set-up. The summoning circle was situated just below the Devil's trap, ensuring that when the demon appeared it would have no where to go. Harry reached over and snagged the exorcism from the table next to Bobby. As soon as a body or black smoke appeared, he would begin reading. He wanted to get this hunt over with as quickly as possible in case the Milan hunt went south for the Winchesters.
A thought occurred to him however, as Bobby reached the peak of his chanting. Janus may be a lesser demon, but he was still vaguely popular in the modern era. The entire situation with Dean's deal and Harry's visions may be connected, and here he and Bobby were, summoning a demon who may have information.
It was a risky move on Harry's part, but he readied the holy water as Bobby's voice tapered off. The room was still for a moment, as if the very air were holding its breath. Harry's neck itched at the sudden silence. He and Bobby exchanged a look as a knock sounded at their door.
They readied their weapons as Harry creeped silently towards the door. Peering through the peephole he spied a young man loitering in front of the door. Harry couldn't remember ever seeing him before. Nodding to Bobby, he stepped to the side of the door, hiding his pistol behind his back, and opened the door.
The man blinked down at Harry and grinned sheepishly. It would have been a cute smile, if the feel of the man hadn't set Harry's skin to crawling. He pasted a friendly smile on his face and shrugged the unease away.
“May I help you?”
The man blushed and nodded. “Yeah, um, this is a bit embarrassing. I locked myself out of my room, and the manager isn't in the office. My wife has my cell phone and the other key. Could I possibly use your phone to call her?”
“Yeah, sure. Come on in.”
Harry stepped aside and tightened his grip on the pistol. While they were talking, Bobby had creeped over to stand behind the door. The second the man entered the threshold, Bobby slammed the door shut and Harry shoved the man from behind, sending him careening under the Devil's Trap. His eyes turned black, and Harry nodded, locking the door and reaching for a canister of salt to re-secure the room. They didn't know of Janus had any friends with him, and they didn't need any unexpected interruptions.
“Well this is quite embarrassing. It seems I'm out of practice when dealing with hunters. I forgot that you're all quite a bit smarter than regular folk.”
Bobby looked to Harry and gestured towards the exorcism still clutched in his fist along with the gun, but Harry shook his head. Bobby didn't look too happy when the wizard stepped up to the invisible barrier and stared at the demon. The demon stared back, looking thoughtful, which did not bode well in Harry's opinion.
Janus broke the silence, “Do I know you? You look eerily familiar.... Oh....”
The demon threw his head back and cackled, causing Harry to take a step back. Janus jumped up and down, still laughing, as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. Harry spitefully wished it would kill the demon.
“Harry, we should just do the exorcism and be done with it.”
The wizard shook his head sharply, still eying the demon. “No, he may have information we need.”
“Harry-”
“No, Bobby. Dean's deal is almost up, and I'm tired of the visions.”
The demon quieted suddenly, still focused on Harry. “Oooh, poor little, baby Harry having visions again? Bella sends her regards, by the way. She says she enjoys her time with her cousin on the rack. Apparently he screams so prettily. Too bad I wasn't stationed in his section. Sirius is prime entertainment for not breaking. Even after all these years, he still calls out for his Harry to come rescue him.”
Harry felt as if he were doused in ice water and red began filling his vision. “You shut your mouth about Sirius, you arsehole!”
Janus laughed again, “Oh, so fierce! I can see why that wand of yours will chose no other master. Did that old coot ever tell you the full story behind those Hallows of yours? Such a fascinating tale!”
“Harry! Just do the exorcism! He's trying to bait you into making a mistake!”
Harry ignored Bobby, pacing in agitation around the trap. His thoughts raced, head pounding from trying to reign in his temper. He knew the demon was trying to bait him, but the barbs about Sirius hit too close. Drawing in a deep breath, his brow furrowed as he forced his thoughts to the comment about the Hallows. What could a demon possibly know about the Hallows history that he or Dumbledore did not. Beedle and the Bard had contained the full tale when Luna's father had directed them read it.
He spun on his heel to face the demon once more, glaring into its black eyes. “What do you know of the Hallows?”
“Oh, I thought that would catch your attention. But tell me, what's the information worth to you?”
Harry rolled his eyes and opened the cork on the bottle of holy water before flinging the contents at the evil minion. He screamed as the first droplets made contact with his skin. Harry watched dispassionately, setting the flask and his gun on the table before fiddling with the Resurrection Stone. The movement caught the demon's attention, and for the first time, Harry witnessed a demon truly afraid.
Of course, the evil bastard didn't give much physical indication, but a nervous tick in his jaw gave him away. It was Harry's time to smirk as he lifted his hand and held it just shy of passing through the trap's barrier. This time the demon flinched. Bobby made a thoughtful noise at that.
“This stone is part of a set of three Hallows. It has the ability to briefly summon souls from beyond the veil of death. Or it has the ability to snuff out and consume the soul of any person, or thing, that touches it while the wearer wishes it.” He explained for Bobby's benefit, and as a reminder to the demon.
“I'll make you a deal, Janus. You tell me what you know of the Hallows, and of Dean Winchester's deal, and I will simply exorcise you, rather than destroy you.”
The demon looked down right rebellious until he glanced at the second Devil's trap next to his, and spotted his coin. He licked his lips nervously and nodded. His eyes flickered between Harry and the coin. Bobby, mostly silent up until then, growled.
“Don't even think about it. You get that coin, ain't no way you're getting out of here either way. If the traps don't hold, Harry kills you anyway. I suggest you sit tight and start singing.”
Janus glared and began pacing. “Fine! You have a deal! I don't know much about the Hallows, but I do know that there is nothing on this planet that could have made them. I know that before they came into the hands of the Peverell brothers, they belonged to another 'being' of great power. No human, not even wizards,” He sneered, “can 'master death'. Old Voldy tried, and look where that got him. Guy was in rough shape towards the end. Whoo terrible skin.”
He grinned and chuckled at his own joke. Seeing that neither Bobby or Harry were amused, he sighed. “Wow, tough crowd. Listen, that's all I know about the Hallows, I swear. Now, Dean, on the other hand.... I know that the only way to break his deal is to kill the demon holding the contract. Lilith, she's the one. I don't know where she is though. Kill her, and you'll free Dean, save his soul. Of course, you'd have a bounty on your head if you did. She's quite popular in Hell.”
He clapped his hands together and looked expectantly at Harry, who frowned. “That's it? That's all you know? That's not worth anything to me.”
“Hey! We made a deal, now follow through!”
Harry tilted his head to the side and smirked slyly at Bobby. The older hunter shrugged and shook his head. He didn't care which rout Harry took, so long as it ended in a dead or exorcised demon. Although, after this he and Harry were going to have another long talk. The kid had a lot of explaining to do about those Hallows. Being a wizard, Bobby could understand, but carrying around a stone that can steal souls was entirely another can of worms.
Harry dropped his hands to his sides and stuffed them in his jeans pocket, causing Janus to relax. He grinned impishly at the demon though, and fear flashed across his face once more. “I'll tell you what. Tell me what you know of a demon named Ruby, and we'll exorcise you.”
The demon looked outraged and lunged at Harry. The wizard laughed in his face as he struggled against invisible bonds. He snarled at Harry, “We had a deal!”
“I'm sorry, I thought we were playing your game, Janus. May I call you Bifrons? Anyway,” Harry chuckled and stepped away, turning his back on the demon as he picked up the flask of holy water again. He was firmly in interrogation mode, emotions suppressed, and his only goal was getting the demon to talk. Another thing the English Ministry had coerced him into doing for them after the war.
“I believe that the game of demons is to up the stakes. Isn't it?” He turned and glanced at the enraged minion with a smirk. “So, how about you tell me about Ruby, and we all go about our day in bliss?”
“Ruby's just a lowbie bitch! She broke out of the pit, has a bounty on her head! She use to be one of Lilith's! Now let me the fuck out of here!”
Harry sighed and hung his head for a moment, pretending to think about it. Bobby shifted uncomfortably at his friend's sudden shift of behavior. The wizard could be a cocky son of a bitch sometimes, but he's never before witnessed Harry in this state. Despite his up-beat attitude at the moment, Bobby could see that the boy's eyes were blank.
Before hunter or demon could react, Harry whirled around and doused Janus in the rest of the holy water. Stepping into the trap, quick as a snake, his hand snapped out and latched onto the demon's face, ring pressing firmly against his forehead. In less than a second the ring's power flared, blinding Bobby and the demon, paradoxically, in a flash of black light.