Last Time

Now Harry had found out about his parentage by himself, likely from the goblins who wouldn't have been subtle about such a delicate matter and had likely thrown it all on Harry's shoulders all at once. If that had happened then it was no wonder that Harry wanted some time to himself to absorb that information. Remus just hoped that wherever Harry was, he was safe and that he would come to them for the answers he sought and that he'd do it soon, he needed to know that Harry was alright and that he was safe.

Chapter Six – Recovery

Harry was feeling better in the next few days, when his stitches were removed and he was less tender. His bruises had cleared up, his cuts were healed, and he was feeling good.

Ellen, from the roadhouse in Nebraska, had called him up just to ask how he was and how he was getting on with 'those Winchester boys' and he was very pleased to be able to tell her that he was happy and that they were taking care of him like a family should.

Hedwig had recovered from her exhaustingly long trip over the Atlantic and she had started hunting and coming and going as she pleased. She kept bringing him presents though, which he wouldn't really mind, but her gifts were regurgitated frogs or half of a mouse. Once she had even brought him the head, part of a torso and a portion of wing of a bird…at breakfast time, while he'd been eating. So he appreciated the gesture, and he made sure to praise her and thank her for her gifts, but he really could do without the dead animals being left lying around. He was fed up of getting out of bed and stepping on a rodent skeleton, but he was glad that Hedwig was happy and recovered.

"Hey, Harry, focus. You're zoning out again." Dean scolded him.

Harry looked up and grimaced. "Sorry." He said.

He was supposed to be watching Sam and Dean fight with one another, something about learning self-defence. He just really wanted to go and sit under the bird feeding station and see if the black-backed woodpecker had come back. He'd never seen one before outside of a book, so naturally, seeing one in real life was amazing to him. He didn't really care about fighting or self-defence, but it was a way for him to bond with his brothers, both of them together, so he was willing to sit here and watch them, though it seemed that he wasn't really good at that either. He couldn't help but be distracted by the bird feeder behind him, with his thoughts going back to that woodpecker. He wanted to see it again.

"Harry, you zoned out again." Dean said, frowning at him.

"I'm sorry."

"Are you tired? Do you want to go and sleep for a bit?" Sam asked.

Harry shook his head. "No. I'm not tired, I just…I suppose I'm not really interested in fighting or anything."

"We just want you to know how to defend yourself." Dean told him.

Harry nodded. He understood that, even if he did want to be doing other things. He forced himself to watch his brothers, to take in what they were saying, how they moved and he had to stop his mind from wandering to other things.

They had purposefully sat him with his back to the tree, and the bird feeders, so that he wasn't distracted, but he still heard the fluttering of wings, the bird song, and he wanted so badly to turn around.

"Right, let's see what you've learnt."

Harry sighed and stood up. He took a quick peek at the bird feeder and saw that it was busy. He had to almost force his gaze back to Sam and Dean.

"Even we can take that hint. Give us ten more minutes and you can go back to your birds." Dean told him.

Harry nodded and rolled his shoulders.

"Right, plant your feet, dude. We want to teach you how to break a hold first." Dean told him.

Harry did as he was asked, Sam behind him, helping him to shift his position. He had to admit that it would be useful to learn how to break a hold on him.

"Right, we're going to start with a grab from behind. Come here."

Harry went and stood in front of Dean, who wrapped his arms around him, like he was giving him a bear hug. Harry giggled.

"Yeah yeah, this is funny, but it won't be if I was trying to attack you. How are you feeling? You're not sore?"

"No. I'm feeling okay." Harry said honestly.

Dean nodded and then squeezed him tight.

"If someone grabs you from behind, the first thing you do is drop your body low." Sam told him and Harry relaxed his legs and let gravity pull his weight down, which dragged Dean with him. "Excellent, Harry. Don't be afraid of hurting either of us, we're trying to teach you, so go ahead and stomp on Dean's foot."

"I don't want to." Harry said immediately.

"It's fine." Dean told him. "You need to learn, Sammy and I bust each other up all the time practising. We want to know that you can defend yourself properly."

Harry sighed, but he stomped his heel back into the top of Dean's foot.

"Damn it!" Dean cursed, but he didn't let go.

"Ram back with your elbow, Harry." Sam told him. "Keep going until your attacker let's go of you."

Harry didn't question it this time, he just stomped Dean's foot again, wriggled an arm free and then jammed back with a bony elbow. He dropped his full weight from his legs and Dean's hold broke on his body. Harry landed on his knees, twisted and he kicked out one of Dean's knees before getting up and going to stand behind Sam.

"Well done, little dude." Sam told him with a grin as he looked at Dean rolling and clutching his knee. "You did great."

"Those damn elbows of yours a lethal." Dean said. "Make sure you use them if you are ever attacked."

Harry looked at his elbows and nodded. Both his elbows and knees were knobbly and bony and he understood that he could use them as weapons.

"Right. I'm going to put my hands around your neck, Harry. I won't actually strangle you, but pretend that I am." Sam said.

Harry nodded and tried not to panic when Sam's large fingers curled around his throat.

"It's alright." Sam soothed. "This is just to teach you what to do if you are attacked. We're not going to hurt you."

"Right, Sammy's in front of you. Never reach for the arms, you'll never break his grip on your throat, not before you run out of air. Instead, if you can, poke their eyes out." Dean told him. "You get your thumbnail and you dig it in until they let you go."

"I can't reach Sam's eyes."

"I know, we wouldn't want to actually take out his eyes either, but this is good. If he's too far away to go for the face, reach up and grab just a single finger." Dean told him.

Harry did just that and he could see where this was going.

"Break it?"

"Yep, exactly right. You bend it back until he lets go, if he doesn't, you keep going until it breaks."

"What if he still doesn't let go?" Harry asked. "I'll have what, three minutes maybe to get him off my neck before I pass out?"

"Make them count." Dean said seriously. "Don't panic, go for the eyes first, break a finger and if that doesn't work, break more. Make sure that you use your knees as well, or kick them right in the shin or the balls if you can reach."

Harry nodded. "I can do that, I think."

"We know you can." Dean insisted. "Now go and play with your birds. You did well. We'll do more tomorrow."

Harry nodded and hurried off to the edge of the bird feeder, not willing to get too close just in case he scared all of the birds away, but he was happy to go back to watching them, just letting them live their daily lives, knowing that he had helped to feed them for today.

Dean looked from Harry to Sam and he sighed.

"He did good." Sam said, reading Dean's thoughts on his face.

"Yeah, but we had to practically force him to do it, Sam. He didn't want to do it. He's way too soft."

"It's surprising, after the life he's lived, that he's probably the softest kid I've ever met." Sam agreed. "Being violent will never come naturally to him, I don't think. But he is clever and resourceful. He did what we asked him to do, Dean, but more than that, I just know he'll remember it and use it if he needs to."

"Boys." John called out, striding towards them. "We got a hunt. Poltergeist. It's close by, we can get there, salt an' burn it, and be back to Harry in three days."

"Three days is going to be a long time to Harry." Sam fretted.

"Do you want to stay here with him?" Dean asked seriously. "It might be better if one of us stays."

"No, this can be a sort of test." Sam said.

"You think it a good idea to test him this soon?" Dean demanded.

"I was thinking that if it was close by he could actually come and stay in the motel with us."

"Sammy…" Dean started.

"No, if he can't get used to it, then we can never hunt again, at least not together as one of us would always need to stay behind with Harry. I hated moving to different motels all over America, you know I did. If Harry feels the same way as I did, then we need to know now so we can make plans for how we're going to hunt and look after him."

Dean sighed and scrubbed a hand through his short hair.

"He's only just recovered from what those monsters did to him."

"It's a poltergeist, Dean." John put in. "We've handled much worse, we used to leave Sammy at the motel too on some hunts and he was always fine."

"We need to run through the rules of the motel with him." Sam said. "Not opening the door, not leaving, answering the phone after a ring pattern. How do we even explain the salt lines or get him not to break them?"

"Hey, this was your idea, I'm all for leaving him here with Bobby." Dean answered.

"If it runs on longer than three days, for any reason, we could miss his first birthday with us. His birthday is in six days."

"It's a simple salt an' burn." John reminded them.

"Nothing for us is ever simple. Knowing our luck it would run on for five days, one of us would be severely injured and we'd hit roadworks on the way back and we'd miss his birthday."

"We won't miss his birthday for anything. I'd run back here if I needed to." Dean swore, looking at Harry protectively.

"We could always give him the choice." John told them.

"He'd always pick us. You know he would." Sam pointed out. "He doesn't want to be left anywhere."

"Then we give him conditions to keep him safe if he chooses to come with us." John said simply. "Including not touching the salt lines."

"And if he asks why? Or what they're for?"

"He won't. He might be curious, but he's an abused kid, he ain't going to want to risk being left here alone."

"You can't use what he suffered through against him!" Sam said angrily.

"It's to keep him safe, Sammy. Not to hurt him further." John explained, trying not to let his son's attitude raise his hackles.

"It's not really using it against him either." Dean put in. "We know he'll have certain behaviours, but we're going to help him through it. But for now, it's better that he doesn't question the salt lines, but he knows not to break them."

Sam sighed, but nodded.

"Harry, come here a sec." John called out.

Harry turned to look at them the moment his name was mentioned, and he all but leapt from the floor and he ran over immediately. It was almost upsetting to watch him, knowing that he feared he'd done something wrong, or that he was about to be punished.

He stood in front of John almost like he was already preparing to be hit, as he hunched his shoulders, bowed his head and scuffed the toes of his trainers on the ground.

"You're not in trouble, you haven't done anything wrong." John said firmly. "Look at me."

Harry looked up immediately, but his face was still scrunched up into a worried frown.

"I just wanted to tell you that we've got to go out for a job, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with us."

"Can I?" Harry asked quietly.

"If you want to, of course. You can also stay with Bobby if you want to, he won't mind. I think he likes having you around."

"I want to come." Harry said.

"It'll only be a few days and then we'll be back." Sam told him. "I know you'll miss your animals, but we're not going far. You'll have to stay in the motel room though, Harry. Okay? We don't want you wandering around on your own, or going out when we don't know where you are."

"I can take my books and laptop?"

"Of course, dude." Dean assured him. "This isn't a punishment, take what you want."

"I can do school work and research then, I won't need to leave the room, but…I don't want to be so far from you. At least, not yet. Not so soon."

"That's okay. We sort of figured that out, that's why we gave you the option to choose for yourself." Sam told him.

"When are we going?" Harry asked.

"As soon as possible, so go and pack up a backpack, make sure to grab your toothbrush and changes of clothes." John insisted.

Harry nodded and ran off, back inside Bobby's and presumably to pack a bag.

"You boys go and do the same. I'll go make sure Harry's packing what he needs."

"Grab some medication for him too." Sam added. "Just in case he gets a twinge in his back. He's not as recovered as he's pretending to be."

John nodded and as they reached the house, he went to the kitchen first, to Bobby's massive first aid kit.

"Harry feeling alright?" Bobby asked as he saw what John was taking out.

"Yeah, he's decided to come with us. I'm taking these just in case."

Bobby nodded in acceptance. "Any problems at all and you call me, Winchester."

John looked up and he nodded gratefully.

"We want to be back here for his birthday, it's only a poltergeist, so we should manage it just fine. I was taking those boys on salt an' burns when they were half Harry's age."

"I'll set up a small party here for him. Get him a cake and everything. So make sure you are back in time."

John nodded as he took the painkillers and put the first aid kit back where he'd gotten it from.

"I got him a present too."

"It's not a gun is it?" Bobby asked warningly.

"No, I got him some animal books. He wants to be a vet, so I got him some more medical based books too."

"He'll definitely like those. I got him self-teaching books on Latin. Your boy is very good at the language, that could help you later in life, when he's older, and you need to do an exorcism."

John snorted and went to go and pack his own bag, checking in on Harry, who was cuddling with Hedwig like she was a stuffed animal.

"I'll be back soon." Harry was telling her, stroking her feathers gently as the bird cooed to him.

"Three or four days." John added, shoving a few shirts into a duffel bag.

Within an hour Harry was in John's truck, belted in, and reading happily as they were on the road. Harry had a bottle of water in his bag, along with some snacks and some fruit that Bobby had passed onto him.

Harry had been assured that they weren't going far, it was a day away from Bobby's, but he really didn't care. He was just happy to be with his family, and he was glad to not be getting in their way with work.

He didn't make any fuss, he didn't make any noise, he slept without complaint in the truck, and when John stopped to fill up the truck the next morning, Harry took the money given to him and he was the one who went inside the station to pay. He could almost feel John's eyes on him through the window, making sure that he was alright and safe, and it made him smile, even as he came back out and hopped back into the truck, automatically putting his seatbelt back on.

Due to their little stop, Dean and Sam were already at the motel when they arrived, and they'd already gotten the keys to two rooms next door to one another.

"We'll be in this room." John told him, letting Harry put his stuff into the one room. Sam and Dean were sharing the room next door.

Harry was urged to the bed furthest from the door and he happily set up his laptop and books on it. It was a Queen sized bed, just for him, and he wasn't used to so much space, it was almost like a holiday.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Sam asked, slipping into the room.

"Fine." Harry said, smiling.

"We're going for lunch now, come on. We'll do a food run then, make sure you have enough here while we work. It can get a lot boring though."

Harry just blinked, as he remembered being locked in the cupboard under the stairs, or in his bedroom, with nothing but his thoughts.

"I have my books and my laptop. It's not going to be boring." He said, even as he slipped from the room and followed Sam to the Impala. Their Father was already sat in the front, so he and Sam climbed into the back.

"I'm just saying, even if you do get bored, you can't leave the room."

"I won't get bored. I've known true boredom. I won't be bored with books and a laptop." Harry insisted.

"You won't get bored sitting in the same room for two or three days?" Dean asked him.

"I used to sit in the same room for longer than three days with nothing." Harry said quietly, as he clicked his seatbelt in. "I won't get bored." He said more firmly.

"You remember what I told you on the way here?" John asked.

Harry nodded. All the rules, and the salt lines, were weird. Really weird. Like Bobby giving them all a shot of water, weird. He wanted to question why. He wanted to ask why both rooms had been lined with salt and why he had to take care stepping over the threshold, so he didn't break the line. He wanted to ask why Bobby forced them to drink water, but he didn't want to push his luck. He was just so glad that they'd allowed him to stay with them, that they wanted to bring him along. So he wouldn't question the odd rules…at least, not yet. He'd wait until he was more confident and secure.

Once they reached a small diner, Harry was hustled into a booth, against the window and Dean immediately sat beside him. Sam was sat opposite him, and their Father sat beside him. Harry automatically swung his legs under the table and he wished he'd grabbed a book to read. Instead he contented himself with looking around at the other diners, watching them closely.

"Don't you want to see what you want?" Dean asked, looking at a menu.

"Anything is fine." He said nervously.

"You can have what you want."

"I'll eat anything." Harry insisted.

"We will get you more used to picking what you want to eat." Dean told him. "For now, I'll order you a burger and fries with a coke, that okay?"

Harry nodded happily and he started swinging his legs more vigorously, happy that he wouldn't have to ask for anything for himself.

"Are we ready to order?" A smiling waitress asked.

Harry frowned as he looked at her. His head spiked with pain and his ears started ringing and his vision whited out. Something was off.

"Harry, dude, you're staring." Dean whispered to him, knocking his shoulder.

Harry blinked and looked at his brother.

"He's adorable." The waitress said.

"He's fourteen." John told her in clipped tones.

Something had obviously happened while Harry had blanked out.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked while the waitress left their table. Somehow there were already four drinks in front of them all.

"There's something wrong with her." Harry said.

Immediately he had the attention of all three men.

"Wrong how?" John asked.

"I couldn't look away from her."

"Not young love, is it?" Dean teased.

"I wasn't really seeing her. I don't remember thinking anything."

"Tell me exactly what you do remember." John demanded.

Harry shook his head. "I can't put it into words. One minute I was looking at her because she was speaking, the next my mind went blank, completely blank. I don't remember anything until Dean touched me. I don't remember what happened. I can't say how long I was looking at her, and I didn't hear anyone speaking. It was like I blacked out. I don't even remember the drinks arriving."

"Okay, are you feeling alright now?" Sam asked him.

"I am now." Harry nodded.

"You're not dizzy or nauseous?"

Harry shook his head. "I just feel weird."

"Weird how?"

"Shaky, like I haven't eaten in a week."

"So, like your energy has gone?"

Harry nodded.

"Let me see your hands." John told him.

Harry held out his hands and he was surprised to see them shaking. John held them in his big, warm hands and Harry shivered. He was suddenly cold.

"We'll get you something to eat now, okay. It might be a reaction to coming off your medication. Maybe it was too soon to bring you on a road trip. Have a drink."

Harry nodded, turning to his coke and sucking the straw, but he wasn't satisfied with that as an answer, this didn't feel like anything to do with the medication he'd been taking. The painkillers were very strong, and he'd never had to take such medications ever before, but he didn't think any painkillers would affect him so long after his last dose. He was going to check on the internet as soon as he got back to the motel room.

"Here you go, sweetie." The waitress told him, putting a huge plate of food in front of him, but Harry noticed that Dean moved himself forward, so the woman couldn't touch him or catch Harry's eye.

"Thank you." Harry said softly, politely.

He started eating, using his fingers to eat some fries as the waitress served Dean, Sam and John before taking a sip of his coke.

He took it slow, just in case that strange, shaky feeling came back, but it didn't and he ate more normally, just listening to everyone talking around him, but his brothers, and their Father, were quiet as they ate, so he turned his attention to the other diners, listening in on them, not to be nosy, but just to relax him. He clocked everyone that came or went, and he turned to put his back to the window, facing Dean, and he looked behind him too. There was an old man taking up the whole six seater booth behind them. That was weird too, normally the booths were reserved for large groups, but Harry guessed he must have been a regular, as the waitress didn't bother him and he didn't order anything. He just sat there and stared at his hands.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked immediately as Harry stood up once he'd finally finished eating.

"Yeah, I need the bathroom is all." Harry said.

"Yeah, me too." Dean insisted, taking a last drink and standing with him.

Harry could see he was lying. He was coming to keep an eye on him, but he didn't mind. He was shaken by his little episode before their food had come and he was still leery of being on his own since the truck driver. He had learnt his lesson there, though. He was never hitching a ride with anyone ever again.

Harry had been left alone for most of the afternoon, locked in the motel room, lying on his belly on his queen sized bed, reading and researching on the internet. He'd been told to eat if he was hungry, John had made sure the cupboards were stocked for him and that he had enough junk food to snack on, but he'd been warned that he might be on his own for most of the night too, while his Father and brothers worked. That didn't really bother him, what did was being told to stick to the curfew that John had given him and had been enforcing at Bobby's. Which was half ten at night. He wasn't going to go to sleep at half ten if no one was here to check up on him. He'd hear both the Impala and the big truck if they pulled into the front of the rooms. He could close everything down and pretend he was sleeping if anyone came back before he was tired.

His mobile rang and he looked at the number before answering it. He'd been told to never answer it if there was an unknown number and he was not to answer the motel room phone unless it rang, cut off and then rang again in a set pattern.

"Hi, Sam." He greeted.

'Hey, I just wanted to check on you. How are you?'

"I'm fine. Did you know that sea otters hold hands when they sleep? It's so they don't drift apart from one another. That's so cute. I want an otter."

'You can't have an otter, dude.' Sam laughed at him.

'What, he wants an otter?' Harry heard Dean's voice over the phone, quieter than Sam's, laughing.

"Where are you now?" Harry asked, looking at the clock on the bedside, but it was only eight at night.

'We're just heading out to deal with…well the less said the better. We'll be back soon, though.' Sam told him.

'Tell him to get to bed by eleven.' Dean said.

'Oh yeah, go to sleep by eleven, Harry. You still need to rest.'

"Okay." He said easily, agreeing to it even if he wasn't going to.

'Stay safe and don't open the door. If anything happens, call us, or call Bobby.'

"I remember." Harry told them.

'Give me the phone a sec.' Dean said. 'Hey, Harry, have you felt like you've needed any pills?'

"No. I'm not in any pain or anything." He insisted.

'That's good. Has anything happened there?'

"Nothing." Harry told them. "Some idiot three rooms over got locked out while near naked and started shouting and kicking at his door, but I stayed in the room and laughed at him from the window. That's about it."

Harry heard Dean laughing at that.

'We've got to go, Harry, stay safe.' Sam told him.

"Sure." Harry answered and he hung up and went back to looking through his animal books. He was already looking up sea otters on the internet, and the more he saw them, the more facts he read, the more he wanted one. All his searches on what he'd felt like in the diner all came back about blood sugar, and eating more regularly, so he'd given up on that and made a mental note to snack a little more.

He got up to stretch his legs at ten O'clock and he got himself a drink and he used the little bathroom before thinking of grabbing an apple. It was as he was going to his backpack, to grab one of the apples that Bobby had given him, that he felt the very sudden, very strange urge to leave the room.

He was, in actual fact, halfway to the door to the motel room before he realised he was even walking. He shook his head and went to take another drink to clear his head. This was weird, and knowing of magic as he did, he was considering that maybe someone had actually jinxed or cursed him.

He went to pick up his mobile and as he sat down on the bed, the urge came again, much stronger. Harry pinched himself, hard and he immediately pressed the contact number for Bobby. He didn't want to disturb his brothers, or their Father, while they were working.

'Harry, what's wrong?' Bobby asked the moment the phone was answered after several rings.

"I don't know. I…I want to leave the motel room, but I don't…this is going to sound so weird, Bobby, but it's like I'm walking on automatic. My mind keeps going blank and I'll come back to myself and I'm in a different place. I was halfway to the door the last time, but I don't remember walking. It happened earlier too."

'What caused that? What happened earlier?'

"The waitress in the diner. She was talking, but my mind was blank, I didn't hear her, I lost track of all time. I don't know what's happening."

'I'll call Dean now and get him back there. Do not leave the room, Harry.'

"I don't want to." Harry insisted. "I'm not…I'm trying not to leave, I can't help it."

'Does it feel like a compulsion to leave the room?'

"Yeah. I know not to leave the room. I don't want to, but the urge is getting stronger."

'Give me five minutes, Harry. Stay on the line, you hear me?'

"Yeah."

Harry sat on his bed, frightened and unsure of what was happening, but before Bobby came back on the line he blanked out again for a moment, and this time when he came back to himself, his hand was on the door handle. He immediately shook his head, checked that it was still locked, and he went back to the bed, where Bobby was shouting down the phone.

"Bobby."

'Harry, you alright, kid?'

"It happened again. My hand was on the door handle! I can't control it."

'I got hold of Dean, they're coming back, Harry, just try to stay in that room. Is the door still locked?'

"Yeah. I made sure. I'm scared though, Bobby." He confided. "I don't know what's happening. Why am I acting like this?"

'Stay calm, Harry.'

"Why me?" He demanded. "Why am I the odd one? No one is going to want me now!"

'Hey, we still want you, you got it? This isn't your fault.'

"It feels like it is." He said.

The phone dropped from his hand as his mind went blank. He tried to fight it, but his mind was completely empty and all of his senses cut off. When he came back to himself this time, he was walking barefoot across the parking lot, the gravel stabbing into the soles of his feet. He immediately ran back into the room, ignoring the pain, and he slammed the door shut and locked it.

He was sweating buckets, panting hard, and he felt tired and exhausted. He rushed to the dropped phone.

"It happened again!" He screeched. "I was outside, Bobby!"

'Was anyone else out there?'

"N…no. I didn't see anyone." He said, shaking.

'Did you break any of the salt lines?'

Harry looked at the thick line of salt in front of the door. It was still intact.

"No."

'You're sure, Harry, it's important.'

"They're not broken, I was careful."

'Okay, just hang on, kid. Dean and Sam, and John too, they're all coming back to the motel. They won't be long.'

"I feel so tired. I just want to lie down and sleep now." Harry said, feeling very drowsy all of a sudden.

'Fight it, Harry. Stay awake. Dean and Sam'll be there soon.' Bobby pleaded.

"I'm not sure if I can. It's getting stronger, it's coming quicker each time, and I'm getting weaker."

'We'll get this thing, you hear me?' Bobby promised him.

"Is it magic? It feels like magic."

'How so?' Bobby asked him then.

"I'm not doing it myself. Drugs don't cause things like this. What else is there? They said maybe it was the medication I was on, but I haven't taken any of the pills in days and I looked it up, just in case, and they won't make me act like this even if I had taken any. I don't know what's happening."

'Whatever it is, we'll get it.' Bobby said firmly.

Harry's head went again, his hearing cut off with white noise, like a low buzzing sound. He wasn't aware of anything, he couldn't feel anything.

When he came back to himself this time he was just inside the treeline of the little wood beside the motel. He could feel the cold grass under his bare feet. Terrified of what this even was, or what it meant, and what it could mean for him, he turned to run back to the room, but he was scooped up from behind first by big, strong arms that banded around him like iron. He hadn't even heard anyone approaching him.

"I got you." John's reassuringly gruff voice told him as Harry flinched and whimpered.

Harry, realising who had saved him, clutched at John tight, locking his arms around that thick neck and trying not to pass out as he was carried away from the little wood and back to the room.

They were halfway back to the motel when Dean and Sam came pealing back into the parking lot in the Impala, spraying gravel.

"Where was he?" Dean demanded, leaping from the car, leaving the keys inside it.

"Just inside the tree line." John reported. "Sammy, take him and stay with him. Dean and I'll go and take a look."

Harry was passed over to Sam, who carried him through the open door of the motel. Sam kicked the door shut and locked it, going to sit Harry on the bed. The salt line was again undisturbed.

"I interrupted your work." Harry said quietly, shaking like a leaf and sweating bullets.

"Do you think we care about that?" Sam demanded, crouching in front of him and cupping both his cheeks. "We were done anyway."

"It's uncontrollable." Harry whispered. "I'm not in control of my own body, Sam. What's happening?"

"We don't know yet." Sam told him, picking up Harry's cell from the floor and putting it on the bedside table. Bobby had been on the phone with them the whole time, telling them when Harry stopped speaking, and when he came back on the line, telling them that Harry was gone for longer, and that he was going further distances each time.

"I'm scared."

"Anyone would be." Sam said immediately. His own heart was hammering against his ribs with fear and adrenaline. "I won't leave you alone."

Harry nodded. He tried to control his breathing, but his head went fuzzy and he immediately whimpered and reached out for Sam. He came back into himself and he was still in the room, in Sam's arms.

"We'll keep you safe." Sam was telling him.

"Will it stop?" Harry panted, out of breath.

Sam looked down at him and held him tighter.

"We'll make it stop." He said strongly.

Harry was exhausted, and he soon fell asleep. Sam sat on Harry's bed, with him cradled in his arms, just in case he started walking again, and he considered everything he'd ever researched. Nothing came to mind, he'd never heard of anything supernatural making a person behave this way.

Someone knocked a pattern on the door, and Sam's hand moved away from his gun as John walked in, followed by Dean.

"Has it happened since?" Dean asked, as he came right to them and pulled Harry into his own arms.

Sam nodded, stood and stretched. "Yes, once more. I was holding him and still he tried to walk off."

"It only started at the diner, with that waitress." Dean pointed out, talking to them both.

"Was there nothing in the woods?" Sam asked, even as he wetted a washcloth with warm water.

"Nothing." John reported. "It was only fifteen feet deep. There was nothing in it. Not even a cave or a ridge. We think whatever it was, it was just trying to get Harry to walk through the woods, perhaps to a building on the other side."

"Harry's exhausted. This thing, whatever it is, it's draining him. He's trying to fight, but he can't anymore." Sam explained, as he took Harry's bare feet and gently wiped them off, cleaning them from the dirt and dust from walking outside. There were a couple of cuts too, likely from walking over gravel with bare feet.

"Did he fall asleep, or…?"

"It was sudden, but I'm not sure if it's an exhausted sleep, or if he passed out." Sam sighed.

"He was shaky in the diner. He said it was like he'd never eaten. So is this thing feeding on him from a distance?" Dean asked.

"Let me do some digging." Sam said, throwing the washcloth before going next door, but coming back with his own laptop. He sat at the small table and booted it up. What he was looking for, he didn't know, but he was going to try.

"Dean, tuck him into bed." John ordered. "He needs to rest."

Dean nodded and he turned and placed Harry in the bed, tucking him in before clearing off the end. Being careful with Harry's laptop and books. They were all open to pages on otters and it made him sigh. The first time they bring Harry on a hunt, for a mere poltergeist, and he got targeted by something much worse and got put in danger.

"There have been twenty-eight suicides in this town in the last three months." Sam said.

"It's a shithole here, Sam, of course there are high suicide rates."

Sam shook his head. "Not that high, that's nine or ten suicides a month, in one little town."

"So, something that takes over the body and forces them to commit suicide?" Dean demanded, hovering over a sleeping Harry.

"Or something that makes the death look like a suicide." Sam said, nibbling his lip. "All the 'victims' were emaciated. Like they'd been drained. Police think they're being exposed to high heat, to dry them out, but…"

"It could be that this thing is draining the body of fluids." John answered, sitting at the small table. He took his gun out and started cleaning it, just in case.

"Is there a bridge nearby?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's on the other side of those woods we just went through." Dean nodded, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"All the suicides have been during the night, from that bridge. Harry was being forced to walk to that bridge to jump off it." Sam told them, his hands shaking. "The locals now call it death's bridge."

"Then it makes sense that this thing's hideout is underneath the bridge. Is it a river or…?"

"It's a dry bed." Sam said. "No water, unless it floods, but in the summer it's all just rocks."

"There must be a cave down there." John put in.

"This thing, whatever it is, tried to make a fourteen year old jump to his fucking death! Imagine what Harry would have felt being unable to control his body as he was forced to jump off a bridge onto fucking rocks!" Dean raged, starting up a tight circle pacing in front of Harry's bed.

"Let me update Bobby." John told them. "He can help us search."

John left the room to make his call, leaving Dean and Sam with a sleeping Harry. Harry who looked paler and more gaunt than he had a moment ago.

"Does Harry look worse to you?" Dean demanded. "Is that thing still feeding on him in his sleep?"

"We won't know until we find out what it is." Sam said worriedly, giving Harry a glance before going back to his searches.

Everything was quiet for a while, as Sam searched for something, anything that could help. They didn't even know if taking Harry out of town would help. This thing could feed from a distance, and it had locked onto Harry, and they didn't know its range, if it had one at all. They needed to kill it, destroy it, before it killed Harry or drained him dry.

They were startled by movement, and it was Dean who wrapped his arms around the dazed, walking Harry this time, picking him up and holding him as he headed blindly for the door.

"He's not in there, look!"

"No, he says it's like he's blacked out. He can't see or hear anything, he's walking on automatic. This thing is taking over his brain."

John came back into the room, and sighed to see Dean holding a struggling Harry. The fourteen year old was small and skinny, however, so he didn't provide much of a fight for his brother.

"Bobby thinks it's an old creature from folklore, something whose name has been forgotten, but it's linked to vampires and succubi, other monsters that feed from the human body. Apparently this thing feeds on people with depression, only instead of taking those feelings, it amplifies them and compels them to commit suicide so it can then feed on their bodily fluids."

"So it lives in the river bed somewhere?" Dean demanded. "Why hasn't anyone found it yet?"

"Probably for the same reason the police guard on the bridge always misses the next victim." Sam pointed out. "They have someone on the bridge all night, watching for jumpers, but they never see the next one until they find the drained body in the morning. This thing is hiding themselves, like it can compel its victims to go to it."

"We need to go pay a visit to that fucking waitress."

"Sammy, will you be okay here with Harry?" John asked, reassembling his cleaned and oiled gun.

Sam nodded. "I won't leave the room, just let me get sorted and I'll stay awake all night."

Sam stood and went to get some things, getting more ammo from next door and using the bathroom before coming back into the other room. Harry was back to himself again, and he was clutching at Dean looking petrified. This had to stop before it went too far.

"Stay here with Sam, Harry." John said, packing a bag with salt and extra magazines.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, his voice small, but curious.

"To try and find this thing."

"What is it? What's happening to me?"

"We'll tell you later." Dean said, trying to stall the questions for now.

Harry nodded shakily. He sucked in his lower lip and nibbled on it. He sat up and reached for his backpack and pulled out an apple. He took a huge bite and chewed as fast as he could.

"Are you hungry again?" Sam asked him.

Harry nodded mutely. He swallowed. "I feel shaky and weak again."

"Make sure you drink something too." John ordered. He stood and went to cup Harry's face, seeing the black bags and the exhaustion lining the too young face. "We'll sort this."

Harry nodded trustingly, but soon he was done with his apple, Dean had handed him a bottle of water, and very shortly after that he was falling backwards on the bed, this time clearly passed out.

"Watch him at all times, Sammy." John ordered. "Do not let him leave this room."

Sam nodded and sat at the table with his laptop, facing Harry, but so that he could see the door and window as well. He was going to research more on this, maybe call Bobby himself for more information. This thing, creature, whatever it was, it was not getting Harry.

Harry was considering that he really was cursed. All night he'd sporadically woken up and tried to leave the room, being prevented from doing so by Sam, who would pick him up and hold him until he came back into himself, which was taking longer and longer each time, before he passed out from exhaustion and was tucked up back into bed.

He didn't remember much of that night, but when he woke up, late in the morning the next day, he was feeling better and he didn't have the overwhelming urge to leave the room.

Sam was dozing in the chair beside his bed, but Harry noticed that he'd tied two shoelaces together and looped one end around Harry's wrist. The other end was tied around Sam's wrist. If he'd tried to get up, if he'd even rolled over in his sleep, the lace would have tugged and Sam would have woken up.

Harry carefully slipped the tied shoelace from his wrist and he got up to go to the bathroom. He felt better, lighter, but when he looked in the mirror, he looked dreadful. He reasoned that it was likely because he hadn't really slept properly. He might have blacked out mentally, but his body had still be up and active, trying to get out of the room.

Harry went back into the other room and went looking for some water and something to eat. He was starving and he sat at the little table to eat.

Sam jerked awake not long after and he panicked when the first thing he saw was the empty bed.

"Sam." Harry called out to him.

Sam swung around and breathed out in relief.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better." Harry said, but he was staring at the table top.

"Hey, it's alright, Harry."

"No, it's weird!" Harry burst out. "It's like some sort of nightmare. Nothing, absolutely nothing can make people just get up and walk off!"

He named himself a liar, because he knew that magic could, but his brothers and Father, they were muggles and they didn't understand. He'd had relatives who were muggles before, and the Dursleys certainly had never understood magic, or his ability to use it. He had to be careful, but how could he when someone had clearly put a compulsion charm on him?

"We'll sort this for you, Harry." Sam said after a lengthy pause, taking the shoelace from his own wrist before threading them back into his trainers.

"How?" Harry demanded. "Do you know what's making me just blank out and walk off?"

Sam sighed and came to sit beside him.

"There are certain things in the world, Harry, that maybe we just don't understand."

Harry frowned at Sam. "What do you mean?"

Sam looked to be warring with himself, on whether to tell him something. Something that seemed to be huge. Harry considered that maybe Sam knew of magic, or had come into contact with it before, and Harry found himself holding his breath, waiting for Sam to make up his mind on what to tell him.

A knock on the door interrupted them, and Harry noticed that Sam's hand hovered near his back. Harry frowned at that, as he realised that Sam had a gun on him, but the knock was patterned, and John walked into the room, followed by a fuming Dean.

"The waitress was a bust!" Dean immediately told Sam, before clocking Harry sat at the table. "Harry." He said much quieter. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Harry nodded. "Hungry though. What does the waitress have to do with anything?"

"I…uhh."

Harry just looked at Dean, waiting for him to think of something to say.

"You only started acting like this when that waitress approached you, we thought that perhaps she'd done something to you." John told him, watching him closely.

"Like…like a curse?" Harry asked.

Dean sighed heavily, and sat down. "Harry, how much do you believe in curses and magic?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his heart hammering in his chest, playing for time.

"Do you believe in magic?" Sam asked him.

Harry considered what he was being asked. "Yes." He said simply.

"Do you believe in magical creatures?" Dean asked him this time, wording his sentences carefully.

"What sort of magical creatures?" Harry asked, playing for more time to think, this was very dangerous ground.

"Just tell him, Dean." John demanded.

"We need to do this gently!" Sam insisted.

"You know that I can hear you, right?" Harry interrupted.

"There are dangerous things that live in the world, Harry." Dean told him. "All mythical creatures have a basis in reality, and I know that that is hard to believe, but it's true."

They were watching him, waiting for his reaction, maybe for him to immediately scoff and shoot that statement down. Harry was wondering how much they actually knew. It wasn't too farfetched for them to have run into a magical creature, but usually the Obliviators dealt with such things. Did America even have Obliviators though? He didn't know.

"Like werewolves and vampires?" He questioned, trying to probe a little more.

"Yes." Sam told him, looking a little relieved that Harry wasn't immediately jumping to his feet and calling them all insane. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true, and vampires and werewolves are just the tip of the iceberg."

Harry remembered the book he'd read on the aeroplane to America, about the different creatures they had here…all the vile, evil things, and he remembered thinking then that perhaps someone should take care of them.

"Do you…kill these creatures?" Harry asked carefully.

"Yes, Harry. Because they're dangerous and they usually target innocent people who have no idea that these creatures even exist." Sam told him quickly.

"Is that what's happened to me?" He asked them, looking at all three of them in turn.

"Sort of." Dean told him. "It's not a werewolf or a vampire, but something else, but we will find it, and we'll kill it to keep you safe."

Harry nibbled on his lower lip. "Only the waitress seemed wrong to me, but it might have been because those weird feelings hit me as she approached us. It could have been a coincidence, or done by design to put the blame onto her."

"So someone else in the diner could have been the creature." Dean mused. "Damn, I didn't take any notice of anyone else after the waitress made Harry act strange."

"I did." Harry said. "I memorised all of their faces, listened in on their conversations. I do it automatically everywhere I go to try…I do it because of what happened to me, so I could keep myself safer. No one really sticks out, except…"

"Except what, Harry?" John asked seriously, coming to crouch beside him, looking at him intently.

"There was an old man sat in the booth behind ours. He came in maybe ten minutes after we'd sat down. He was sitting directly behind me and he was on his own. The weird thing is, I'm sure I saw him on the street before we pulled up…he was walking in the opposite direction. That's why I remember him, because I thought it was strange that he seemed to be following us. He was never served by the waitress, he didn't order anything to eat or drink, he was just sat there."

"I would have seen it if he'd tried to touch you." Sam said. "But maybe just sitting near you might have been enough for him to lock onto you."

"So it is a curse?"

"It's more likely to be a trait of the creature itself, a way for it to feed." Sam said.

Harry swallowed hard, and John touched his arm.

"You doing okay?" He asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. But…why me? Why did this thing immediately lock onto me?"

"How are you feeling?" John asked him seriously.

"How do you mean?"

"Harry, this creature, it feeds on feelings, which is why you're feeling so tired." Sam told him.

"More specifically, it feeds on people with depression." Dean added.

Harry said nothing. He looked at the table and linked his hands together, rubbing his left thumb over his knuckles nervously.

"Harry, are you depressed?" Sam asked him.

"It got better when I met you." He said softly. "I've never been suicidal or anything!" He insisted firmly. "It's not that bad, it's mostly just anxiousness about going outside and being around people, and I can get unduly angry or emotional at stupid things. Sometimes everything seems so pointless and ridiculous and I feel useless and worthless, especially back with those people. They made me feel that way. I've been really happy being with you all."

"We're glad to hear that, Harry, but you need proper help." Sam told him.

Harry shook his head. "I'm doing fine on my own!"

"No arguments." John told him, standing back up. "You don't have to struggle through with depression, Harry. Even if you see an online therapist."

"You can get them online?" Harry asked, perking back up.

"To start with, yes." John told him. "We're going to hunt this creature, kill it, and then get you back to Bobby's and we'll see about getting you an online therapist."

All four of them were quiet for a while, but Sam broke that as he came to sit next to Harry, looking at him intently. Harry looked back at him questioningly.

"You're taking all of this very well, Harry." Sam said.

Harry frowned hard and chewed on his lip.

"I was attacked by a werewolf last year." He confided.

"Did it bite you?" John asked immediately, staring at him.

"No. My teacher protected me and two other students, my friends. He stood in front of us so that the werewolf couldn't get to us. He wasn't bitten either, but he was hurt."

"So you knew about these things being real before you met us?" Dean asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, that's why I have such an interest in animals, because I was attacked by the werewolf. I wanted to know how much of the human mind remained, and how much animal instinct took over. The man who attacked us, I know he would have never have attacked anyone as a human. He was the most kind, mild-mannered man I've ever met. But he didn't hesitate to attack us as a werewolf. My interest in animals, and those that…blend with humans, like werewolves, grew from that moment."

"So, those books that you have, there are some that are more than the usual vet books?" Dean asked him.

Harry stood and went to his backpack and he took out one of the books from the bottom. It was one of the books on American specific creatures. He passed it over to Dean almost shyly.

"I really don't like the sounds of Wendigos or Shtrigas." He said as Dean thumbed through the book before passing it over to John with a pointed look.

"You just brought this off a shelf?" John asked as he looked at the index, seeing the names of half the things that he had hunted in his lifetime.

Harry nodded. "I have a dozen of them."

"Our job is to hunt these monsters." Dean told him, looking at him. "We have to hunt these things, to keep people safe, like you. We're not going to let this thing feed off of you, and kill you, just to save its own life. We're gonna take it out first."

Harry nodded. "I understand that."

"We have been agonising over how to tell you what our job was, worried that you'd think us crazy and run off." Sam told him. "Only to find that you knew about all of this in the first place."

Harry gave a weak grin.

"You need to sleep some more, Harry. We'll all take a rest now." John told him.

"I think it's stopped for now." Harry told them.

"We won't take any chances." Dean insisted firmly.

"Go on, both of you." John chided. "I'll look after him."

Harry was herded into his bed and he watched as John locked the door and put one of the chairs in front of it. It wouldn't stop Harry from leaving the room, but it would slow him down and cause him to make noise, which would wake John up and give him the time he needed to chase Harry down.

He still couldn't relax though, he was terrified that he would get up and walk off and no one would know. He didn't want to walk himself to his death, he didn't want to be eaten by some creature.

"Harry, why can't you sleep?" John asked from his own bed.

"I…I don't want to get up and walk off again."

"Come here."

Harry slipped from his own bed and climbed into bed with John instead. It felt weird, because though they were related, they were strangers to each other, but Harry was so weak and tired that he just didn't care. He was terrified of walking out of this room, so when John put an arm around him, he felt more secure, despite how weird it was.

Harry fell asleep quickly, exhausted still from having his body taken over, and he remained asleep until John woke him up several hours later to go out for food. He'd been the only one still sleeping and despite that, when he was woken up, he still felt like he hadn't slept at all.

Harry only relaxed once he was locked back in the motel room. He'd been told to look out for the old man again, while they went to a different diner for something to eat. Harry hadn't seen anything, but he'd felt skittish and on edge while out in the open and despite being starving, he could barely eat anything. Sam had gotten the waitress to wrap his food up, putting it in a polystyrene box for him to take back to the motel room.

Harry was much happier to eat his dinner there, as Dean and John prepared to go to the riverbed to look for a cave or something that this thing might be hiding in. Sam was going to be staying with him again.

"Make sure you eat all of that." Dean nagged him.

"I'm eating." Harry pointed out, loading up his fork and popping it into his mouth.

"Just make sure you eat it all." Dean carried on. "Have your pineapple after too."

Harry just nodded.

"Stop nagging him." Sam insisted. "I'll watch over him and we'll be fine. Now go and get this thing before it tries for Harry again."

Harry didn't want to sleep anymore, he was still feeling weak, but now that he'd slept properly, and eaten something, he was feeling better than he had that morning.

Dean and John were gone ten minutes later, and Harry finished off his food, ate his pineapple, before curling up on his bed with a book. Sam was sat at the table with his laptop, researching still.

"Is this the thing that you came here to hunt?" Harry asked softly.

Sam looked up as he started speaking and seemed to be considering if he should tell him the truth or not.

"No. We came here for something else. We found this thing by accident." Sam said after a small pause.

"What did you come here for?" Harry asked, putting his book to the side to give Sam his full attention.

"A poltergeist." Sam sighed, giving in.

"A poltergeist?!"

Harry started thinking of Peeves, and how he was mischievous to the point of being lethal sometimes. He still remembered him dropping walking sticks on poor Neville's head, any one of which could have seriously hurt him. But still, Peeves was mostly annoying more than dangerous.

"It's a malevolent spirit that hasn't moved on. They try to get the attention of living people through violent means." Sam told him.

"So you came here for the poltergeist, and found something worse?"

"That's right, but we'll get this monster too."

"Did you already get the poltergeist?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, we were burn…we were just finished when Bobby called us to tell us about what was happening with you."

"So the poltergeist is gone?"

"Yeah, that's gone, now it's just this thing and then we'll be back on the road to Bobby's."

"It started at about ten at night." Harry said worriedly, looking at the clock.

"I'm here with you this time, Harry. You won't be going through that door."

Harry sighed, and he nodded. "Thank you for staying with me."

"We care about you, we're coming to love you." Sam told him seriously. "We're gonna protect you, Harry, of course I'm staying with you."

Harry smiled then, he felt warm and happy and as Sam went back to his laptop, he went back to his book, feeling a little more reassured.

This didn't last, however. Near ten O'clock in the night, Harry's book fell from nerveless fingers and he stood, walking himself to the door of the motel room. He didn't get halfway there before Sam had leapt from his chair and picked him up, holding him tightly. Harry struggled, desperate to get free to walk himself to his own death.

Sam took out his cell and called Dean. He'd said that he'd call as soon as Harry started acting like this, because it meant the creature was awake.

'Sammy, has he started?' Dean asked, answering his cell.

"Yeah, just now." Sam replied, holding Harry with one arm. "Same MO, he's walking himself across the room to get to the door. This is about the time Bobby called us to tell us about it last night too."

'We're down in the riverbed. Now we know this thing is awake, we'll look for it and blow its brains out. Dad want's us back on the road before dawn.'

"I'll start packing up then, between Harry's bouts."

'Is he calming down a little?'

"No. He's not coming back into himself." Sam said. "This is the longest he's ever been like this before. That thing wants him bad, Dee."

'We'll kill it, Sammy, just keep hold of him.'

"Call me if you need anything." Sam insisted.

'We'll be fine. You just keep Harry safe. We're not coming back until its dead.'

"Okay, stay safe yourself."

Sam heard Dean scoff and it made him laugh as his brother hung up and Sam turned his attention back to the struggling Harry. It was taking so long for him to come back into himself that Sam considered that perhaps tonight, the creature would just keep calling to Harry until he went to it.

He kept a tight arm around Harry and just carried him around the room with him. Harry was incredibly light, so it wasn't too hard to do so, even despite him struggling, and Sam used his other arm to start packing some things up.

Harry stopped struggling after almost half an hour, and Sam sat on the bed and looked at his sweating, flushed face, just as Harry blinked and looked around.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Sam asked him, using his sleeve to wipe Harry's face.

"Sam." Harry croaked. "So tired. I don't think I can fight it off again."

"We won't let anything happen to you."

"So hungry." Harry complained.

Sam sat Harry on the bed, keeping an eye on him just in case, but he got Harry a bag of chips and opened them for him.

"Eat these." He insisted, brining over a bottle of water too.

Harry ate sluggishly, but chewed with fervour. Sam watched him, as his hands were shaking as he lifted a chip to his mouth as if it were a lead weight, but he ate as if starved and Sam felt one of his fists clenching tight. This creature was feeding on Harry, killing him as he watched. He pleaded mentally with Dean, and their Father, to kill this thing quick, because Harry wouldn't be able to keep fighting it by himself for much longer, and they had no way of helping him other than killing this thing.

Harry woke up in the back of the Impala and he frowned to find himself somewhere so different to where he'd gone to sleep. He made a confused noise and immediately Sam and Dean turned to look at him.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Sam asked him.

"Where we?" Harry asked, pushing himself upright and settling the seatbelt around himself more securely. He rubbed at his eyes and stifled a yawn.

"On our way back to Bobby's." Sam told him.

Harry however had caught sight of Dean's face, he had a black eye and a cut across his cheek.

"You're hurt."

"Just surface wounds, dude." Dean said easily. "We killed that thing though. It won't be feeding on you, or anyone else for that matter, anymore."

"So I won't start walking off anymore?"

"No, as soon as it was killed, you stopped getting up and trying to walk off." Sam told him. "You went to sleep and you haven't woken up once until now. We're almost to Bobby's."

"I'm glad it's over." Harry said softly. "Is my backpack here?"

"I've got it here." Sam told him, bending down between his own legs and handing over Harry's backpack. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes. I don't think I've eaten so much in my life." Harry complained. "I promise not to spill anything in the car, Dean." He added.

"You eat what you want." Dean insisted. "I don't care if it's you."

"You said you'd end me if I ate in the Impala!" Sam complained.

"And I will." Dean grinned. "Only Harry can get away with eating in my baby."

Harry laughed from the backseat, pulling out his last apple and biting into it, giving Sam a smug look.

"Look at his face!" Sam laughed.

Dean shot him a look in the rear view mirror and chuckled himself.

"I can't end him, Sammy. Look at that little face. It'd be like kicking puppies."

"If you kicked puppies, I don't care how much bigger than me you are, I'd end you." Harry pointed out.

"Or die trying." Dean added.

Harry nodded his agreement. "Or die trying. I won't stand for animal abuse."

"Try not to get your arse kicked before we've had a chance to teach you more self-defence." Dean told him seriously.

"Oh, not more self-defence." Harry complained.

"Yes, a lot more self-defence. Now that you know what we actually do, if you want to keep coming with us, you will learn how to protect yourself."

"I don't think self-defence would have stopped that thing from targeting me." Harry said bitchily.

"It wouldn't have." Sam soothed. "But not everything we face is like that. Sometimes it'll try to physically attack you, and you need to know how to defend yourself to prevent serious harm."

Harry sighed heavily. "Okay, fine. Does it have to be today, though? I feel like a good gust of wind could take me out at the moment."

"Of course we'll let you recover first." Dean said firmly. "You will rest up for at least a week now, being fed upon by a monster is going to take it out of you, so you ain't gonna be wrestling around for a while yet. We're staying at Bobby's now anyway."

"Because I was targeted?"

"Yes, because you were targeted." Dean told him sternly. "It wasn't your fault, but do you think we want anything like that to ever happen again? We were terrified for you, we don't want you hurt or killed, Harry, damn."

"I don't want to interfere with your jobs, especially not if you're helping other people against these monsters."

"You're not interfering." Sam told him. "But we want you safe, Harry. We'll stay at Bobby's for a few days, a week, then we'll try again, okay?"

"Okay." Harry said, backing down. He didn't want to fight with his brothers. He didn't want to fight with anyone.

Harry was quiet in the back, he didn't feel like reading or anything, instead he was content to stare out of the window until they reached Bobby's, which didn't take too much longer.

"Harry, kid, how are you?" Bobby asked, him, pulling him into a hug.

Harry hugged him back tightly. "I'm okay." He said. "Tired, but okay."

"Drink this."

Harry was of course given a little shot glass of water, and he drank it down in four gulps, even as Bobby handed Sam and Dean their own shots of water. They were let into the house and Harry went to sit beside John, who was already there.

"You doin' okay?" John asked him.

Harry nodded. "Just tired." He repeated.

"You wanna go up to bed?"

"Maybe in a bit."

"Your owl has been driving me mad." Bobby told him, snorting. "Bringing in half eaten mice and frogs."

"She likes you." Harry grinned.

As if she'd heard his voice, or somehow knew she was being spoken of, a loud screech came from upstairs and a moment later Hedwig was gliding in the room from the hall and she landed on Harry's shoulder and croaked happily, nuzzling into him.

"I missed you too." Harry said, smiling genuinely and lifting her down to cuddle her in his lap, being careful of her wings.

Harry dug his fingers into her feathers and scratched, watching as Hedwig's amber eyes closed in pleasure.

"Has she been okay?"

"Perfectly fine s'far as I can tell. I gave her water like you said to, but left her to hunt on her own." Bobby told him.

"Thank you." He said with a smile, lifting a single finger to scratch over Hedwig's head.

Harry stifled another yawn and sighed tiredly. He felt awful, but considered that of course he would, after being fed on by whatever that creature was. He hadn't asked, so he couldn't research whatever it was on his own. He didn't really want to know all the horrible things that could have happened to him. Maybe in a few weeks, or months, when it wasn't so stark in his mind and he wasn't so frightened he could ask and then research what this creature was.

"Go on up to bed, before you fall asleep there." John told him, and Harry blinking himself awake for the seventh time, nodded and decided to call it quits. It was only just gone nine in the night, but he was still so very tired.

"Night." He said, carrying Hedwig upstairs.

The room he shared with his Father was exactly the same, and he kissed Hedwig's head and opened the window for her. He noticed as he did so that there was a line of salt on the window sill. He would have to ask what was with all the salt tomorrow. But for now he was tired and he was happy to change his pyjamas for fresh pyjamas, brush his teeth, and he crawled into bed.

Bobby's place seemed more like home to him than the Dursleys ever had, despite how short a time he'd been here, and he felt safe and welcomed here. He closed his eyes and wriggled his body happily in the clean sheets. He just wanted to sleep now for a good several hours, and that was exactly what he did.

A/N: So Harry has finally gotten a small taste of hunting and I really don't think he liked it. This chapter took a much different direction to the one I had first planned out. I wanted Harry's first 'hunt' to be boring and straight forward, where nothing happened to him and it was just him in the room and I instead showed the older Winchesters busting a poltergeist…when it actually came to writing this chapter though, it had other ideas and Harry just couldn't stay out of trouble. I have no self-control when it comes to making Harry hurt, so he became the target for something else and the chapter took a turn from there and sort of wrote itself.
But I hope you lovelies all enjoyed it regardless! I definitely liked writing it.

Lilywrite: Thank you so much for your art work, I loved it!

StarLight Massacre. X