And Raphael rounds it up! Was Michael's last guess right or wrong? :P

Raphael

"Aunt Raphael! I thought you'd never come by!"

At the feel of the still unfamiliar soul, Raphael flexed her Grace in surprise for a moment before managing to relax, turning to Gabriel's eldest with a warm smile. "Dummy. I didn't know you were expecting me."

Dummy gave her a look of exasperation, looking so much like a younger Gabriel that it was uncanny. There were only slight physical differences, but it was very clear that Dummy had chosen this physical vessel to look like his father. Probably the only reason it wasn't an exact copy was Gabriel saying no.

"You're family," Dummy said pointedly. "You should come by more often than every five years!"

Raphael had no idea how much time had passed since last coming to this world but she didn't think that was an excuse Dummy would accept. He could be remarkably single-minded at times.

"I'll see," was all Raphael said. "Did you need something? Gabriel requested I come—"

"Because I asked," Dummy said, surprising Raphael yet again. "Dad and Uncle Gadreel are the only two angels here, and we need more data."

Raphael did not think about the AI Samael, who was still very much…not an angel at this point. "More data for what?"

"This quiz!" Dummy shoved a shiny, transparent tablet into Raphael's hands, one she recognized as an updated StarkPad. Of course Gabriel hadn't given up his human work here.

Raphael studied it for a long moment, not placing the questions. "Which is…for what?"

"You were human, too," Dummy said, "so shouldn't you remember Harry Potter?"

"This doesn't look anything like the series."

"It is, though," Dummy insisted in a remarkably unhelpful way. "It's from Pottermore – the official site for the series. This is the Sorting quiz! So you take it and it'll Sort you into whichever House you fit into."

Raphael didn't think the site looked particularly magical. "This doesn't seem to look like an official site."

"That's because that's not," Dummy said patiently, giving her an indulging look. "But the questions are all from the Pottermore site, and someone else analyzed the answers and how they work. This gives you loads more data, which is data we can use."

"For…what exactly?" Knowing Gabriel, it could be anything.

"Accuracy!"

…That was not what Raphael had expected but was better than the alternative. (Which was…honestly, Gabriel didn't seem the type to let his children go for world domination.)

Thinking it couldn't hurt since she was already here (and also that Gabriel owed her for this), Raphael tilted the tablet up and read the first question.

Which of the following would you most hate people to call you?

A. Ordinary

B. Ignorant

C. Selfish

D. Cowardly

Raphael's finger hovered by B as she considered the other answers. She had been ordinary at one point while she was human, so that didn't bother her… She wasn't selfish or cowardly and was confident in that assessment so wouldn't feel upset if someone were to try and call her that.

But… She had heard whispers among some of the angels about her being ignorant. About not knowing what the plan was, about Michael having led her by the nose—

She had known exactly what she was doing.

Tapping the B lightly, Raphael was taken aback when Dummy blurted out, "But you're not ignorant!"

Raphael flipped the tablet around to see if the backside showed anything of the quiz but all it showed was transparent glass. Then she looked up at Dummy and saw that he was mentally linked to the tablet.

"Are you spying?" she asked reprovingly.

"Er…no?"

"I can tell when you're lying," Raphael said, raising an eyebrow. "Would you like to try that again?"

"…Yes?"

"Yes, you'd like to try that again, or yes, you were spying?"

"Both?"

Raphael pointedly obscured the tablet from Dummy's link, rather miffed that she had forgotten what an AI was. Dummy pouted as the link broke off but didn't otherwise protest, rocking back on his heels as he folded his arms over his chest.

Reassured that she wouldn't have someone spying on her, Raphael read the second question.

After you have died, what would you most like people to do when they hear your name?

A. Miss you but smile.

B. Ask for more stories about your adventures

C. Think with admiration of your achievements

D. I don't care what people think of me after I'm dead; it's what they think while I'm alive that counts

Raphael had no adventures to tell of or even achievements. She didn't count the twice-failed apocalypse as an achievement. Her dying wasn't an adventure either, and she wasn't sure people would like to hear about that. Characters dying tended to disappoint listeners…

The options were paltry here. Raphael wasn't sure she liked the first or last ones either.

Was there no option where the people left behind could just say…Yes, Raphael wasn't so bad. She tried her best.

Would that fall under A?

But Raphael wouldn't care about what people thought of her if she was dead. She'd be dead. She certainly hadn't cared during that brief time period when she'd been dead before…

Raphael couldn't remember her first death, but she did recall what it had been like to regain her memories and know she was in a different world. That her siblings thought her dead and their last memories of her had been of her ruthlessly hunting down their rebellious siblings and trying to set the apocalypse off.

That had been terrible. That she knew she'd been wrong – that she had failed them so terribly because humans were better than what the angels had thought of them as – but she had no way of letting her siblings know. Of remedying her mistakes.

So… not D. That just left A.

Given the choice, would you rather invent a potion that would guarantee you

A. Glory

B. Wisdom

C. Power

D. Love

Raphael selected B without much thought, knowing well her faults in that area. If she had been wiser, perhaps better at her role of healer…perhaps she could have fixed some of what had gone so terribly wrong.

Besides, a little more wisdom was never a terrible thing. Raphael wasn't too sure what she'd do with love anyway.

How would you like to be known to history?

A. The Wise

B. The Good

C. The Bold

D. The Great

If anyone was bold it was Gabriel. He dared to do things no other angel save for Castiel would think of. Raphael was the last one anyone would call bold.

As for great and wise…both laughable. Raphael would never be known as the greatest archangel or the wisest.

She had made too many mistakes that she was still repenting for. She was still rebuilding the fractured trust among the Host even now. Trust that she had broken in her zeal to continue the apocalypse despite everything.

In the end…perhaps she would be known as good among the Host.

You enter an enchanted garden. What would you be most curious to examine first?

A. The silver leafed tree bearing golden apples

B. The fat red toadstools that appear to be talking to each other

C. The bubbling pool, in the depths of which something luminous is swirling

D. The statue of an old wizard with a strangely twinkling eye

This was… This was an appalling question. None of this was remotely interesting.

If anything, Raphael would be incredibly suspicious. Was there no option to just hide and figure things out from there? Did one immediately have to jump in and inspect things?

Gabriel would no doubt go for the toadstools. He had always liked talking.

Raphael… As the option to hide somewhere wasn't given, perhaps she should pick the tree and stand in its shadow to observe.

She selected A.

What kind of instrument most pleases your ear?

A. Violin

B. Drums

C. Piano

D. Trumpet

Raphael lingered on the trumpet, thinking with a faint wince of Gabriel's initial attempts at blowing his own. That had been…interesting. Certainly music, but not music Raphael had been fond of.

The other instruments were…not quite pleasing either. Nothing compared to the music of Heaven, and Raphael had been listening to it for a while now.

But as there was no option for "the music of Heaven" Raphael supposed she should just go for the violin. That wasn't too terrible.

…It was when the player didn't tune their strings.

The drums. That was entirely inoffensive and just banging.

Four boxes are placed before you. Which would you try to open?

A. The small tortoiseshell box, embellished with gold, inside which some small creature seems to be squeaking.

B. The gleaming jet black box with a silver lock and key, marked with a mysterious rune that you know to be the mark of Merlin.

C. The ornate golden casket, standing on clawed feet, whose inscription warns that both secret knowledge and unbearable temptation lie within.

D. The small pewter box, unassuming and plain, with a scratched message upon it that reads "I open only for the worthy."

Raphael didn't even hesitate before selecting A, having no desire to subject a creature to a confined box and risk it dying.

Four goblets are placed before you. Which would you choose to drink?

A. The foaming, frothing, silvery liquid that sparkles as though containing ground diamonds

B. The smooth, thick, richly purple drink that gives off a delicious smell of chocolate and plums.

C. The golden liquid so bright that it hurts the eye, and which makes sunspots dance all around the room.

D. The mysterious black liquid that gleams like ink, and gives off fumes that make you see strange visions.

Diamonds reminded Raphael too much of being dressed up as a doll in her human life. She also hadn't been terribly fond of sweets.

Visions had never interested her so that just left her with C. C wasn't terrible, and it… It reminded her of Michael.

He had always been warm.

Once every century, the Flutterby bush produces flowers that adapt their scent to attract the unwary. If it lured you, it would smell of

A. A crackling log fire

B. Parchment

C. Home

D. The sea

Raphael stared silently down at the answers before tapping on C.

Heaven had no scent to speak of, but that didn't mean that had been Raphael's only home.

A troll has gone berserk in the Headmaster's study at Hogwarts. It is about to smash, crush and tear several irreplaceable items and treasures, including a cure for dragon pox, which the Headmaster has nearly perfected; student records going back 1000 years and a mysterious handwritten book full of strange runes, believed to have belonged to Merlin. In which order would you rescue these objects from the troll's club, if you could?

A. 1. Dragon Pox Cure 2. Merlin's Book 3. Student's Records

B. 1. Cure 2. Records 3. Book

C. 1. Book 2. Cure 3. Records

D. 1. Book 2. Records 3. Cure

E. 1. Records 2. Cure 3. Book

F. 1. Records 2. Book 3. Cure

Ugh, what? These were just…bizarre? Aside from the cure, and perhaps Merlin's book, was there nothing else of value in the Headmaster's office?

Certainly Raphael knew the importance of records from her time as a businesswoman, but surely there was something more important?

"Oh, that's the same face Dad made when he read the troll-in-the-office question," Dummy noted.

"I'm not surprised," Raphael said dryly. "This is an…unusual scenario." It was perhaps the politest way she could put it.

She didn't speak further, selecting A with a vague sense of disgust.

Which would you rather be?

A. Trusted

B. Liked

C. Imitated

D. Praised

E. Envied

F. Feared

The last four were…not in consideration. She had no desire for any of those.

But the first two? To be liked? Raphael didn't do her job to be liked. Archangels were…they were supposed to protect their younger siblings as Gabriel had insisted. A job they had all failed at. A job Raphael was trying to make up for while also remaining responsible.

It didn't mean she'd be liked. But Raphael was used to that, both before her first death and as a human woman. In the world she had grown up in as a human, to be liked was to be used as a tool when necessary. It wasn't done out of anything other than an objective to get what you wanted.

That was not what Raphael wanted now.

Yet trusted? Raphael still missed the trust she had once held with the Host. A trust Castiel had due to his prior actions (even if it had been strained with the events with Purgatory and then Heaven's gates).

Raphael wanted that again, and to have it she would have to work for it.

Which of the following do you find the most difficult to deal with?

A. Hunger

B. Cold

C. Loneliness

D. Boredom

E. Being ignored

This question wasn't any easier to answer, Raphael eyeing E with a strong sense of disquiet.

She'd never experienced hunger before, so she would likely find that difficult to deal with. Yet that was such an abstract notion that Raphael discarded it.

Cold? Raphael didn't have Gabriel's experiences with that.

She'd been lonely as a human; that was nothing new either. Bored as well on occasions.

But being ignored? She had…

Michael was the oldest; Samael had been next and those two had been close. She had been third, Michael taking her under his wing, and Gabriel had been last. But for some reason…she was not one who most people thought of (always looked to second after Michael because Michael was the eldest – the Commander).

Raphael had taken on so many duties, but she had still been viewed as an afterthought – as the only archangel to go to because Michael was out of touch.

Samael had Fallen. Michael had been closest to their Father originally as the eldest. Gabriel had a special relationship given his status as a Messenger. Raphael?

Raphael had none of that. Raphael had been close to their Father but she had not had that connection.

She had been…

Michael hadn't exactly ignored her as they had worked together to make sure they were on the same page regarding the apocalypse. Yet he had remained distant and grown even more so as the years passed and she had felt ignored by him.

She selected E.

The next question was a breath of fresh air::

What are you most looking forward to learning at Hogwarts?

A. Every area of magic that I can

B. Apparition & Disapparition

C. Transfiguration

D. Flying on a broomstick

E. Hexes & jinxes

F. All about magical creatures and how to befriend them

G. Secrets about the castle

That was a difficult question to answer, as everything sounded interesting. So…A?

If you could have any power, what would you choose?

A. The power to read minds

B. The power of invisibility

C. The power of superhuman strength

D. The power to speak to animals

E. The power to change the past

F. The power to change your appearance at will

Powers that…every angel had? Except for E. They couldn't change the past.

Raphael was certain if Gabriel read this question, he might pick E as well. He had regrets he would like to change. Raphael had regrets she would like to change.

If she couldn't change Michael's mind – and she had no doubt that she would have failed in doing so – then what she could have done was accepted Castiel's lesson about free will after the first time the apocalypse had failed. She wouldn't have torn Heaven apart in a needless civil war.

Which of the following would you most like to study?

A. Centaurs

B. Goblins

C. Merpeople

D. Ghosts

E. Vampires

F. Werewolves

G. Trolls

How…dull.

Raphael ignored the first and last answers, instead deciding to pick something from the middle for lack of anything better.

Not ghosts; she was intimately familiar with those. Same for vampires and werewolves. Then…merpeople?

Very well.

One of your house mates has cheated in a Hogwarts exam by using a Self-Spelling Quill. Now he has come top of the class in Charms, beating you into second place. Professor Flitwick is suspicious of what happened. He draws you to one side after his lesson and asks you whether or not your classmate used a forbidden quill. What do you do?

A. Lie and say you don't know (but hope that somebody else tells Professor Flitwick the truth).

B. Tell Professor Flitwick that he ought to ask your classmate (and resolve to tell your classmate that if he doesn't tell the truth, you will).

C. Tell Professor Flitwick the truth. If your classmate is prepared to win by cheating, he deserves to be found out. Also, as you are both in the same house, any points he loses will be regained by you, for coming first in his place.

D. You would not wait to be asked to tell Professor Flitwick the truth. If you knew that somebody was using a forbidden quill, you would tell the teacher before the exam started.

What an – what an asinine question.

"Ooh, is that the cheating question?" Dummy asked. "Dad didn't like that one either."

"Unsurprising," Raphael muttered, displeased with the limited options available.

Just tell the classmate at the beginning they couldn't cheat. But that wasn't even an option!

As an angel…well, Raphael would give the human the choice to confess. So B.

You and two friends need to cross a bridge guarded by a river troll who insists on fighting one of you before he will let all of you pass. Do you:

A. Attempt to confuse the troll into letting all three of you pass without fighting?

B. Suggest drawing lots to decide which of you will fight?

C. Suggest that all three of you should fight (without telling the troll)?

D. Volunteer to fight?

Well, if Raphael was accompanied by her siblings… She could leave the talking to Gabriel. Michael may have… Michael may have left it to Gabriel as well, trusting in him to confuse the troll.

But what would she do?

Suggest working together as they had always been at their best as a team.

Which road tempts you the most?

A. The wide, sunny grassy lane

B. The narrow, dark, lantern-lit alley

C. The twisting, leaf-strewn path through woods

D. The cobbled street lined with ancient buildings

The sun and the warmth.

Oh, Michael.

Which nightmare would frighten you the most?

A. Standing on top of something very high and realizing suddenly that there are no hand- or footholds, nor any barrier to stop you falling

B. An eye at the keyhole of the dark, windowless room in which you are locked

C. Waking up to find that neither your friends nor your family have any idea who you are.

D. Being forced to speak in such a silly voice that hardly anyone can understand you, and everyone laughs at you

The last answer was patently ridiculous. There were ways around that.

But A? When Raphael had come so very close to Falling? When Raphael had found herself without a path, without a brother to lean on, with just her own choices guiding the way? She'd been without anyone to talk to.

There was nothing stopping her from making that one, fatal mistake. From causing her to Fall.

And for all that she and Michael had done in the name of good – only for it to turn out to be so terribly wrong…why hadn't they Fallen?

Late at night, walking alone down the street, you hear a peculiar cry that you believe to have a magical source. Do you:

A. Proceed with caution, keeping one hand on your concealed wand and an eye out for any disturbance?

B. Draw your wand and try to discover the source of the noise?

C. Draw your wand and stand your ground?

D. Withdraw into the shadows to await developments, while mentally reviewing the most appropriate defensive and offensive spells, should trouble occur?

Naturally D. Raphael would prefer to take her time and see what was going on before actually interfering.

If there'd been a fifth option, she would have chosen the one where she remained in the shadows but approached nonetheless. But as that wasn't there….

D.

A Muggle confronts you and says that they are sure you are a witch or wizard. Do you:

A. Ask what makes them think so

B. Agree, and ask whether they'd like a free sample of a jinx

C. Agree, and walk away, leaving them to wonder whether you are bluffing

D. Tell them that you are worried about their mental health, and offer to call a doctor

When confronted on an issue you couldn't admit or weren't prepared to admit, the best thing to do was either deflect or turn it around on them. In this case, turning it around on them would certainly be for the best.

Better that than make them work through all the proof as to how they had reached their conclusion. No, make them doubt, and then they'd drop the matter.

Raphael selected dawn and moon for the next questions. It had been dark for so long before the light finally broke through; their Father might not be present, but at least she had some sense of what she was doing now. As for the moon? The moon was a reflection of the sun's light, but that didn't mean it wasn't beautiful in its own right. So many had considered Raphael merely Michael's lieutenant in the end, but that didn't mean Raphael wasn't her own individual.

As for forest or river… Raphael was reminded of the infamous forest in Japan – Aokigahara. The forest where people went to die and where their bodies were rarely found unless people stumbled upon them.

There were dark things hidden in forests sometimes.

But did Raphael want to pick something so dark? No. She'd go for river.

For the last three she ran a numbers generator and then selected black, head, and left. She knew personally there was nothing wrong with colors, even if her Grace was perhaps closest to what humans would identify as white given it was light.

Once the answers were submitted, Raphael found herself surprised to find herself looking at RAVENCLAW (with 84% next to it). It was further broken down into Hufflepuff at 66%, Slytherin 48%, and Gryffindor 42%. But it would seem that she would fit into Ravenclaw.

Which…was not something Raphael would have pictured for herself. Gabriel? Certainly, given his penchant for exploring and designing new things.

But Raphael?

"What are you?" Dummy demanded, bouncing impatiently.

"Ravenclaw, apparently," Raphael said after a moment, handing the StarkPad back.

"Oh?" Dummy squinted at her briefly. "That's… cool, I guess? I thought Dad would've been in Ravenclaw, but he was a Hat stall between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor by two points."

Raphael was once again surprised. "Oh? I would have thought Ravenclaw."

"So did I!" Dummy gestured with the StarkPad. "But I suppose not? And I guess…it does kind of make sense given everything he's done."

"Does it?" Raphael was still perplexed about her own results. "Well, I hope my results helped you."

"It should," Dummy said, "because maybe now I can figure out why it doesn't put me in Ravenclaw!"

Raphael kept her face carefully blank, telling herself she was not going to laugh.

It didn't help that she could feel Gabriel laughing somewhere in the vicinity, having been eavesdropping in the last several minutes.

"I hope so, too," Raphael managed noncommittally. "If you'll excuse me, Dummy, I have a brother to speak to."

RAVENCLAW!

Which pretty much gives us an archangel in each House, although two were Hat stalls. Coincidentally, these are also the two with souls?

Thanks for indulging me with this fun little side trip! I must thank the-grey-hunt for inspiring it by talking about the quiz to begin with. That was what led me to thinking about the archangels' different thought processes as they answer the questions. What makes them pick different answers and what makes them pick the same ones.

Don't worry; the last chapter for First Born is still in the works. But you could check out the-grey-hunt's the last archangel: i'm not in charge of this series, which is her take on both Michael and Seventh Year (posted on AO3)! (I say "her" take because it's a bit AU in certain aspects yet it still has canonical bits.)