Title: Touched by an Angel
Author: loonie_lupin
Fandom: HP, SPN
Rating: PG
Summary: No matter the consequences, Castiel could not bring himself to regret it.
For: crossovers100
Prompt: 064. Fall.
Disclaimer: The characters are the property of their respective creator. I own nothing.

Thanks to dixid who read through the story to correct my mistakes. If some are left, they are my own.

064. Fall.

The war had ended. The battlefield was calm once again. There was some moaning from the injured but no demon was left and the army of God had prevailed before retreating to their home. Lucifer had been sent to hell once more and would probably not be able to come back for a very long time. No one in God's army had any doubt he would be back but it would take time, centuries, probably. It could even be millennia but they knew they would have to be prepared once again.

In the midst of the slowly clearing atmosphere, Castiel and Harry were still, two human-shaped statue, almost untouched by what was going on around them. They could see it but it didn't really register. They were much too preoccupied by all of what had happened in so little time.

Harry was sitting down; his stab wound to the stomach just a distance memory, his cut shirt showing only virgin skin where they should have been a gashing injury. Yet, he had been healed. In the space of a few seconds, what should have been a moral wound had been healed, almost like with phoenix tears. Except that the tears hadn't belonged to a phoenix and they hadn't touched the wound but his lips.

Castiel felt strange. He could feel the overwhelming happiness of Harry's surviving and miracle recovery. He wasn't all that sure himself of what had happened but he wasn't going to think too much about it. Yet, he was also full of feelings which had never inhabited him before. The love he felt for Harry was different. It was as if something had shifted inside of him.

Yet, when the next feeling took hold of his body, he knew what had happened.

Cold.

He was cold, so cold. Of course, it made sense for the weather to be cold. Since the fight had ended, the night had gone back to what it had been before and they were in the middle of the winter. It was normal for it to be cold but Castiel was not supposed to feel it. Angels didn't feel the cold or the heat. They just didn't.

The realization was slowly creeping inside of him but he couldn't process things, not just yet. It was difficult, he just couldn't understand.

Harry could see the emotions showing on Castiel's face and his friend looked oh so very lost it almost broke his heart, especially knowing what had happened. He couldn't help feeling responsible for it. Should he have stayed away from Castiel instead of coming back to him?

"Castiel?" Harry asked quietly, making him look at him head on.

"I'm cold, Harry," Castiel answered.

Harry nodded and put a hand on Castiel's torso. He wasn't wearing his faithful overcoat anymore and his shirt was torn but he could feel the warm body. He didn't feel as warm as usually but he wasn't trying to feel his temperature. He merely wanted to feel the heartbeat, a heartbeat much quicker than usual, probably because of the confusion.

"You're human," Harry whispered, finally putting it in words.

Castiel nodded slowly. Yes, he was human. He had fallen from grace and he knew it must have happened at the moment when he had cried for Harry, sobbing and kissing him. The moment he had irremediably fallen in love with him and turned his back on Heaven, once more breaking the rules.

His Lord had handed the punishment with telling him this time, a final punishment. He had stripped his grace away from him. Yet, even in his harshness, he had been merciful. Castiel knew he shouldn't have kept his memory, he should have found himself amnesic, but all his memories were intact, one last mercy from his Lord.

"I'm sorry, Castiel," he heard Harry whisper and saw the tears in the boy's eyes.

Castiel smiled softly, understanding what his charge – former charge was feeling.

"It's not your fault, Harry," he reassured him. "I… I broke the rules so many times. I care about you in a way I was never supposed to. A way I shouldn't have been able to."

He stopped, blushing slightly at what he had just admitted before continuing when he didn't see anything but warm affection in the green eyes of the wizard.

"You didn't make me do these things. I chose to do them. And even knowing this, even knowing my Lord's punishment for my actions, I don't regret. And I would do it all over again."

And Harry, eyes shining with love and joy, his hand still on Castiel's heart, smiled blindingly at him.