Games

Dean narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Castiel. "Why do you look happy?" he grunted between bites of his greasy burger. "You're never happy."

Castiel didn't look up from his reading because he couldn't be bothered to answer that question.

"Cut it out," Sam told Dean off. "He's helping me research. More than you've done this past week."

"Man, I nearly died in that vampire nest. Give me a break. See?" Dean pointed at the glaring bandage on the side of his neck.

"Yeah, yeah," Sam drawled.

"Besides…" Dean slurped on his drink. "I'm just curious. What's he so happy about?"

"Just eat your burger."

Even though he had brushed Dean's mutterings aside, Sam did have to agree with his observation. Castiel most definitely appeared less moody. Maybe something had happened on New Year's Eve…

Freezing rain sprinkled onto his umbrella as Harry sloshed down the sidewalk with a keen eye on the folded newspaper in his hand. News of the latest busts in Bulgaria had his interest. His team would most likely be summoned to help with the securing and safe extradition of prisoners into London. He was lost in his own thoughts as he shuffled along the edge of the walkway to avoid bumping into morning foot traffic on the way to the Ministry.

So he didn't notice the speeding bus.

Without warning he was yanked to the side just as a wave of dirty rainwater splashed onto the sidewalk, dousing innocent pedestrians but missing him by inches. He looked up in shock while angry yelling erupted around him from annoyed people shaking their fists at the bus. He slumped when he saw Castiel.

"Stop that," he muttered as he shook out of the angel's grip. "I told you to leave me alone." He glanced away and frowned at the offending bus that was already blocks away. Some people had no courtesy.

"Aren't you glad I saved you?"

He turned his scowl at Castiel who seemed a little too pleased with himself. "I didn't need saving," he snapped. "What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have better things to do?"

"No."

"Well, find something to do."

"I'd rather talk to you."

He huffed in irritation and took the initiative by walking away. This was getting a little out of hand.

It had been a fortnight since… that night.

Castiel had been finding every excuse in the book since then to pop up out of the blue to 'save' him. First it was one morning when he had missed a step on the way down the stairs in his home. Then it was that time he slipped on a patch of ice. After that he had been 'saved' from a rather insistent pink fan letter that kept following him around despite his attempts at throwing it out. Now this? There had to be a limit.

He cringed when Castiel ducked under the umbrella with him.

"Go away," he said again through gritted teeth.

"Why?"

"Because you're embarrassing me." He switched the umbrella to his other hand.

Castiel smiled to himself as rain splattered onto his head. He stepped around to the other side of Harry with ease and took shelter under the umbrella again.

Harry made a disparaging sound with his tongue before moving the umbrella away. "I don't like this game," he said under his breath.

Castiel was mindful enough to hear that. "Alright." He reached for the umbrella and plucked it out Harry's hand before he could protest. He held it between them. "What do you want to play?"

Harry shifted the strap of his satchel against his shoulder while staring at his defeated feet dragging under him. Two weeks ago he had thought that he knew exactly who the angel was. He had thought that he knew Castiel's docile personality and reserved words. But now everything had changed. This Castiel was calculating, fast… Stubborn. "Look, I get that you fancy me but-"

Castiel studied Harry's curious expression. "But you don't feel the same?"

Harry looked up at him plainly. "Right. I don't."

He stumbled to a halt in the middle of the busy sidewalk as Castiel cut across his path and stood facing him. The traffic flowed around them, pushed them closer together. He took the umbrella back when it was handed it to him and he gripped it tight. "I don't mind," Castiel told him quietly. "For now, I don't mind that."

Harry heaved out a relieved sigh when the angel disappeared.

A lot of people fancied him. Boy-Who-Lived… Was there a wizard or witch around who wouldn't want to get to know him? Every week saw a flurry of fan mail. Every shopping trip was met with a dozen fans wanting pictures or autographs. A 'normal' life was next to impossible when one was Harry Potter. So no one could blame him for being jaded.

The only people he was comfortable with were the ones who had gone through life with him. His friends from school were his confidants. At least they had known him for long enough to put up with him.

"Then he tells me he saw it on telly."

Ginny sputtered and coughed as beer entered the wrong pipe. "I'm sorry?"

Harry shrugged. "He watched a soap episode with Dean. He called it a moment of passion… Hmm, maybe that was the name of the soap actually… I don't know." He dug his heel into the rung of the barstool to shift his position and lean in closer. "He's peculiar. He tries really hard to be human." He looked down at the bottle in his hand, twisting it so the label faced him. "I can't keep up with him."

"Wow."

"He said that since you aren't married to me, it isn't considered adultery if he comes onto me."

"… Um, alright then?"

"Like I said, he's peculiar."

Ginny scoffed. "No kidding." She picked at the platter of nachos between them. "He didn't look peculiar. He seemed pretty normal actually."

"Yeah. It's a ruse."

She smirked. "Oh yeah?"

Harry nodded. "Anyway, I told him to leave it." He finished the last of his beer before setting the empty bottle on the sticky table. "I don't think he understands what that means though."

They spent the next two minutes in their own thoughts, letting the pub noise fill the silence. It was early on a Friday night. The bar was mellow for the moment, calm for the storm. Patrons trickled in steadily, snow in their hair. Harry watched them from his vantage point. He didn't frequent pubs, so it was always interesting to examine the sort of people who visited.

His attention was broken when he felt Ginny's foot against his shin. He looked up at her. "Hmm?"

"I think I'm enabling you, Harry."

He tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

She didn't meet his eye, focusing instead on the strings of cheese she was pulling off of the greasy wax paper at the bottom of the nachos platter. "I mean that you feel safe with me, so you aren't looking for anyone else." She shrugged. "It takes a lot for you to trust someone and we've known each other forever, but… we already know nothing's going to happen."

Harry propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands. "You're worried about me?" he mumbled.

"Of course."

"That's nice."

"I know." She flicked her eyes up at him and smiled. "I'm nice."

"You are." He returned her smile.

"Besides… I'll be gone for another six months and I'll be super busy not thinking about you."

"As always."

She reached forward to pat his arm. "Make some more friends? For my sake?"

Harry didn't promise her anything.

He surrounded himself in memories. His home was proof enough, filled with photos and mementos from friends and family. He was surrounded by people he had known since he was eleven. He was comfortable in the little world he had made for himself. He worked his dream job, something he was sure his parents would be proud of. He had Teddy, someone he could be proud of. And he had been with Ginny for so long that he couldn't remember any other way.

"Second chance," she reminded him. "Isn't that what you said back then?"

"Hmm."

"Think about it, okay?"

"Okay."

Second chance at having a normal life, that's what he had meant back then. Back when he was incredibly naïve that is. Nothing normal about his life all these years later though. Especially not with a pestering angel hanging about.

"I tell you, Sam," Dean muttered under his breath to his brother as they snuck around the side of a dilapidated shed under the cover of the night. "Too damned happy."

Sam harrumphed before elbowing Dean in the stomach. "Who are you? His keeper?"