The moment Adam was resurrected, Bobby shot out of his bed with a loud curse. He had been taking a nap after the headache he had dealing with Gabriel's yelling at him for being so damn reckless around the likes of Kali and the others.

Recently though, Bobby had been having nightmares...or what some might call nightmares.

He called them flashbacks of his own personal hell.

The angels (Castiel, Cassie and Gabriel) were aware that for some bizarre reason, he had been reliving his past life as Harry for the last two weeks...and it was starting to get to him.

It wasn't Death doing it... Death was in the Caribbean enjoying a much needed vacation. It wasn't Pestilence, the lone Horsemen left to deal with. Pestilence knew that Death would take it personal if he interfered with his brother's equal, never mind what Bobby would do to him if he caught the bastard.

Which left one avenue that could be considered.

Lucifer.

It wasn't inconceivable that the fallen angel would try to use Bobby's past against him. The issue was that the brothers didn't have any dream root to go into Bobby's head and help him out again.

Castiel arrived later with a not-so-happy Adam Winchester. Though Bobby disliked the brat immediately. Adam clearly took more after his father than Dean had.

"Necromancy... Which angel sent you down, and don't lie," asked Bobby gruffly, clutching his coffee cup like a lifeline.

"Zachariah. He said that he needed me to act as Micheal's vessel," said Adam. There was something about Bobby's eyes that freaked him out into telling the truth.

"Bullshit. There can only be one arch angel vessel at a time, and that's Dean. You're more like a cheap replacement since those feathered morons couldn't break these two idjits. No offense," said Bobby to Gabriel.

"None taken. I went pagan, remember?" said Gabriel amused.

"And we were disconnected," said Castiel.

Cassie however was seriously considering tying himself to Bobby. While being an angel of the lord was great, being an angel of death might be easier for someone like himself who had delved too deeply into the darker side of humanity and barely come out alive. Plus it would help him regain his Grace much faster.

Adam stared at Bobby with confusion.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the one who told Zachariah to keep his damn hands off the Winchesters. I should have known he would try to use you eventually to draw Dean out. Though this goes against my order to leave the idjits alone," said Bobby growling.

"Wait, if you told him to leave the brothers alone..." said Gabriel.

"He's going to be one dead seraph if he shows up on Earth. I explicitly stated that the Winchesters were under my protection, and that includes their half-brother," said Bobby, "Much as I would like it otherwise."

"Who are you?" said Adam, disliking how he had added that last bit.

"I'm Death, or to be more precise the 'Acting' Death. I'm the one that the Reapers answer to since the real one is on vacation rather than deal with some pissy arch angel having a bitch fest because he didn't like the new kid in the family," said Bobby.

Gabriel didn't hide his guffaw of laughter from Bobby's rather blunt description of what Lucifer was.

A few hours and a much needed sleep later (Bobby had taken a shot of dreamless sleep) and he was ready to deal with the idiots of heaven.

She smiled. She was glad that the little wolf had escaped his captors and found his family again, but there was a danger there. The tall one with the brown eyes would need training and help if he was to be of any real use to his brother and father. The boy was a natural Seer, just like her, but his power had been perverted by that blasted demon.

At least Bobby wouldn't shoot her on sight. She was one of the few who hadn't turned on him before he left.

Adam was taken, but not before Bobby did something to him.

What the youngest Winchester wasn't aware was that Bobby had left a few sigils in his ribs not to keep him from being seen by angels (like Castiel had for the boys) but so that demons could find the idiot easily. Like someone shining a beacon in the night screaming 'here I am, kill me!'.

Before they could go and get the idiot, there was a knock on the door.

Outside was a woman, about Bobby's real age with pale blue eyes and the lightest shade of blond hair they had ever seen. It was almost white.

"Luna?" said Bobby in surprise. Teddy took one look at the woman and tackled her into a hug.

"Aunt Luna!" he squealed.

"Bobby, who is this?" asked Dean.

"Luna Lovegood. Natural Seer and an old friend. How did you find me?" asked Bobby.

"I have always known where to find Death's Equal, Bobby Singer. But I respected your wish to be left alone by our world. I am sorry about what happened to your wife."

"Come on in. What brings the only naturally born Seer into my house?"

"He (Luna points at Sam specifically) needs training. That demon nearly wrecked the pathways with her so called special training and tricking him into becoming a demon-blood addict. If something isn't done soon his ability could be wasted. Besides, I missed the little Wolf," said Luna, patting Teddy's head fondly. The half-werewolf hugged her tighter.

She was the only one outside of Bobby who had been kind to him.

"Wait... I thought Sammy got those visions from the demon's blood?" said Dean.

Luna shook her head.

"Sam is a natural Seer, like me. Azazel might have amplified it with his blood, but Sam can see things no one else can if trained properly. Beside...the Fae want to help the Acting Death deal with Lucifer before he finds a way to get into their realms. Maeve, Titania and Oberon were most displeased when the angels allowed him out."

"I always knew there was something different about the creatures you spoke about," snorted Bobby.

Bobby looked irritated when Micheal took Adam by force. On the plus side, he did deliver the punishment on Zachariah for disobeying his direct order...besides the angel was an asshole.

Luna had taken Sam aside and started his real training to keep his gift of being able to See into the future from being lost. She had to be a better teacher than Trelawny.

It had been a week, and right as they were about to find Pestilence, Europe reared it's ugly head once more. Fifty Aurors in bright red robes appeared in the salvage yard, all ready to capture or kill Bobby.

What they found was a slaughter. Bobby, Dean and Sam all took careful aim and fired. The sound of guns and the smell of gunpowder filled the air, followed by the distinct cry of pain as the auror's found themselves without hands as the sharpshooters aimed for their wand hands.

When the last shot rang out, Bobby was breathing hard. He had been summoning ammo to each of the boys while he aimed, so that they didn't run out in the middle of the fight.

The aurors were all carried off to a jail cell, after being given a quick triage to insure they wouldn't bleed out.

After the incident when Death was forced to use necromancy, the sheriff was much more inclined to believe Bobby's story of magic and the like. They fact they had barged in didn't have any passports and were clearly from 'across the pond' as Bobby put it, meant that she could legally arrest them and have them in jail for some time.

Long enough for Bobby to move everyone to the bunker at any rate. Clearly his home was no longer safe except for short term stays.

Dean and Sam were worried. Bobby had been hitting the sleep potions more than they did, and they wanted to know why.

Gabriel told them.

"We think Lucifer or someone from Europe is trying to drive Bobby off the deep end by forcing him to relive his life as Harry. Most of those memories were rather painful the first time around."

"Damn it... and we have no idea where to get dream root," said Dean, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

"You don't need dream root. With your connection, you might be able to go into his dreams without it and drag him back from the brink. Remember, he tied his humanity directly to you and Sam," Castiel reminded him.

"How?" asked Sam. He wanted to help Bobby.

"First we're going to keep Bobby from drinking those potions. Then all we have to do is put you into a sleep when his magic starts to spike," said Gabriel.

Sam and Dean were leaning against each other in the room that Bobby had claimed. Gabriel had been nice enough to snap up some recliners so they wouldn't have a crick in their back.

Bobby's magic spiked thirty minutes into the REM cycle, indicating that something was interfering with his sleep from outside. The two brothers were put to sleep by Cassie, and within seconds they found themselves in Bobby's dream.

Though it felt more like a nightmare.

Bobby's memory/nightmare...

Dean heard crying under the stairs. The house was horrifyingly bland, and had many, many pictures of something he could only assume was a pig in a wig. Closer inspection revealed that it was a kid, though why any parent would let the boy get that fat he had no idea.

It was Sam who found the crying child and it took Dean ten seconds to realize that it was a seven-year-old Bobby.

The bright green eyes were dim with pain from multiple bruises and what was clearly a broken arm. There was a weird lightning-shaped scar on his head. The hair was much shorter than they remembered, but it was still the same face they had grown used to over the past couple of months.

Dean didn't hesitate. He knew this was the man he called father, and someone was clearly trying to break him by doing this.

He hugged the kid, and to his surprise the green-eyed child responded.

When the kid's crying stopped, the dream suddenly shifted.

The boy had grown, and was at least twelve. Sam and Dean felt the glares and suspicion leveled at the young wizard. They spoke cruel things behind his back because he could speak to snakes.

Sam and Dean glared at these children. They had nothing against snakes, but it was clear that their words cut the boy deep, though he hid it well.

The brothers had lived with Bobby for years, growing up. They could see the pain in his eyes clear as day.

They put their hands on his shoulder, comforting. Young Bobby didn't turn, but he did relax. Following him into the cave, they came face-to-face with a massive snake. Just looking at it gave them shivers.

Gabriel appeared then, placing a shield over them to keep them from being affected second-hand from the basilisk's deadly gaze. Even in a memory, those eyes were powerful.

Sam and Dean stood by the child's side, and without warning the scene shifted.

This time they were in what they could only assume was the great hall. Bobby had longer hair than before, but there was no mistaking that he was still in pain.

Seeing the entire school turn on him, not believing him, hurt the brothers. Bobby never wanted to be in this tournament, but they forced him anyway.

Without warning, Bobby woke up, dragging them out.

"What in the hell do you two idjits think you're doing?" he yelled.

Dean woke up first.

"We're trying to help."

"Help? The last thing I want is for you two to get trapped in my memories!" shouted Bobby.

"Tough luck. If we don't stop the bad memories from overwhelming you, then we're the ones who pay the price," snapped Gabriel.

"I take it that I have no say in this?" said Bobby glaring at the arch angel.

"Not if you want to sleep without potions again, no."

"Fine. But you two are going to go through the memories properly and not through the dream sequence. Dreams would only make them worse, since they can shift without warning...something you should have known, Gabriel!" barked Bobby. He only called the arch angel by his real name when he was pissed.

Sam and Dean relived Bobby's memories as Harry from the earliest. But it was the last days that had them pissed.

Flashback...

Harry was tired. Everyone was pressuring him to marry Ginny, but in all honestly he had lost any spark for her years ago. Ever since he overheard her talking about him to Luna, who seemed distinctly unhappy with her friend, he had lost any interest in her.

Ginny didn't love him...she loved his money, fame and the power being Lady Potter would give her.

Even Hermione wanted him to marry Ginny and to get on with his life.

Harry sighed. Head Auror had seemed like a dream job, but then he found out what hell was really like.

They didn't care about his skills...they had turned him into their own pet Savior to parade around Diagon and fill out endless paperwork.

He wondered what it said about him that he willingly hide behind the endless stream of boring paperwork to avoid even looking at his so-called fiancee.

Finally, at the end of the day he went out to a local muggle pub to escape even going near the magicals. He hated his own people...they always seemed to want something from him.

So when a man challenged him to a round of poker, Harry went along unaware of who the man was or what his ability could do.

When Harry folded, tired of playing, he was a little surprised when he felt himself growing older.

He cursed and finally realized what happened.

"Dammit... You're Patrick aren't you?" he said irritated. How the hell had he gotten roped into the Irishman's game without realizing who he was?!

"And you're Harry Potter. So what?"

"How long does this last?" asked Harry tiredly. He was sick of England and sick of magicals. He needed a break before he went on a killing spree.

"Unless you can beat me in a game, it can't be reversed," said Patrick.

Harry took a long look at his new face. His friends wouldn't recognize him unless he said something...and then an idea struck.

If they didn't recognize him, they wouldn't try to stop him if he were to leave England and not come back. There was nothing for him here, aside from Teddy who was safe with his grandmother and Luna.

He could be free of this living nightmare if he took a chance.

"So mate, you gonna try to win back those years?" asked Patrick, expecting him to say yes. He could tell that Harry hadn't really been paying any attention to his cards and had just been playing along.

"Perhaps later. Should be interesting to see how this works out," said Harry.

A few days later, Harry left Gringotts feeling lighter than he had in years.

He was leaving England far behind. Thanks to the fact Patrick had stolen 25 of his years, only the goblins had known who he was.

Even after Dumbledore's death, Harry had noted his friends watching his every move...they just didn't have any one to report to now.

So they had no idea Harry had just started a transfer to a series of dummy accounts all the way to America under a new name.

He didn't know why, but the name Robert Singer just felt right.

It wasn't until he was about to leave that Hermione tracked him down.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Harry? Are you going to just leave Ginny like that, all alone?"

"She's young, she can find someone new to fall for. I've had enough Granger. I can't stand you people anymore. All you've ever done to me is take and take without giving me a damn thing in return."

"What about the gold? The fame? All that glory?" said Hermione.

"Gold? Gold doesn't buy me what I've always wanted. Fame? I've never wanted the fame I have from this damn scar. And glory? What does glory give you aside from unwanted attention? So no, England has never given me a damn thing I've wanted. I'm leaving and not coming back," said Harry flatly.

"And what about Ginny? She's been planning this wedding for months," said Hermione.

"Who cares about Ginny? She certainly doesn't give a damn about me... I've heard her talk Granger...she's only in it for the gold and the power being my wife would give her. I refuse to marry out of duty instead of love and there's not a damn thing I will do otherwise."

Hermione realized there was nothing she could do to stop him. If she tried to hex him, he would fight her every step of the way. They had been through too much for her to do that...and she wasn't an idiot like Ron.

Harry boarded his plane without once looking back. When he reached America Harry Potter died and Robert Singer took his place.

Eventually he married Karen, though the demon attack offered him the one thing he had been searching for since the war ended.

A purpose in life. Then everything changed when he first met John Winchester and his sons.

Sam and Dean left the memory. They had no idea just how worn down Bobby had been before he became Bobby.

They thought their father had seemed tired acting as Death...this was nothing compared to how he had been before he left England far behind.