Part 2

Crowley walked into the bar. Sounds like a bad joke, but really, Alistair had called him. With all the things that were happening, it wouldn't be a good decision to give Lucifer's right-hand demon the cold shoulder.

"Hello, Crowley," said Alistair, not looking up from his drink.

"Hello, Alistair," he replied, beckoning to the bartender. "Let's not chit-chat. Why did you call me here?"

"Well, I assume you have been helping the Winchesters. I mean, a demon like you, sitting on the throne of Hell. You must've thought, 'Oh no, this must not look good to Lucifer. I'll just help these get rid of him.'" Alistair looked at him accusingly. "Am I wrong?"

Crowley shook his head. "No, you're not. We all know you follow Lucifer around like a lost puppy, but he doesn't care what happens to Hell, Heaven, or anything in between. Better to just get rid of him while we can."

"Well, you're right about one thing. He doesn't care what you do to Hell. Lucifer doesn't want the throne, he just wants to be left alone," said Alistair, and he grinned. "Now, name your price."

Crowley raised an eyebrow. "My price? What does he want me to do?"

"Convince the Winchesters that he's still in the cage. Tell them that the summoning ritual didn't work, and that Lucifer is still in the cage with Michael."

Crowley thought about that. It wasn't a bad deal, but if he accepted and the Winchesters found out, it would ruin his chances of ever having an alliance with them. Other demons looked down on him for wanting to use the hunters, but you know what they say. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Crowley didn't have any friends, so he would just have to do everything he could to help the Winchesters.

"No deal," said Crowley nonchalantly.

Alistair shrugged. "It's your funeral. Not that anyone would show up to yours, of course."

Alistair stood. "Well, this is disappointing, Crowley. Both you and Lucifer would have benefited from an alliance, but if you insist, there are lots of other demons that worship Lucifer. He doesn't need you, he just figured it would be easier to make peace with you," Alistair drained the rest of his drink. "Watch your back, Crowley. You better hope the Winchesters are worth it."

Alistair left. Crowley sat there for a moment longer, then stood and went into the bathroom. Shadow traveling to his mansion, he called his best demons. "I need you to contact the Winchesters. Tell them to be on their guard, and that Lucifer is definitely in the cage."

The demons nodded. They shadow traveled to the motel the Winchesters were staying in, and none of them made a sound when four other demons stabbed them in the back.

"Well done, my friends," said Alistair, watching them clean the blood off their knives. Alistair looked up at the sky. "Ah, Crowley. Predictable as ever."

l|l|l|l

Lucifer sat on the couch. This really was a luxurious house, it was just filled with Dark artifacts. He was listening to one of his demons drone on, telling Lucifer about how recruitment was going. Every demon that they tried to recruit had one of three reactions: One, they heard Lucifer's name and fell on their knees, accepting with tears in their eyes. Ugh.

Two, they accepted, then ran to Crowley. Lucifer, however, had demons there to kill them when they got there, so Crowley had no idea what was going on.

And three, they accepted purely out of fear of Lucifer. Lucifer valued these, because they had almost no chance of turning on him. There weren't many things out there that scared demons more than him.

Whenever a demon pledged allegiance to him, he got down to their level and told them the one most important rule.

If they touched Harry, they wouldn't die. They would be tortured for years, unable to leave. Death was too merciful. This made a few stains on the floor, but Lucifer had demons to clean that up. And it was worth it.

Lucifer made sure that Harry was out of the room when he was talking to a demon, but he also made sure that Harry understood that if he wanted anything, he could tell a demon, and they would get it for him. Harry hadn't asked for anything, but he had taken an interest in the magical creatures.

Lucifer was finishing up with a demon when he heard Harry out in the garden exclaim. He ran out, but Harry wasn't in trouble. He had found a gnome. The gnome looked at Harry warily, then burrowed back down into the dirt. Harry laughed hysterically, and Lucifer chuckled.

Harry looked back at him. "Lucifer, I was playing around in the garden, and I saw two of them run in! They dug in over there," Harry ran over to the corner of the wall, where Lucifer saw a mound of dirt. Harry looked back at him. "Can we keep them?"

Lucifer grinned. Bert, their gardener, wouldn't like it, so why not? "Sure. I think if you get lucky, you can train them. There's this interesting infestation in this other house that I watched, and they're pretty smart."

Harry grinned. "Cool! I'm gonna name them."

Lucifer watched him run around the garden, mapping out where the holes were. The gnomes seemed to enjoy popping up, then digging back down when Harry came close. Lucifer couldn't see any difference in them, but Harry said there were three of them.

Lucifer went back into the house. He would have to tell Bert not to exterminate them.

l|l|l|l

Draco got out of the car. His father had taken him to see their new house, and Draco thought it looked dirty. "But, Father," he said, "Why can't we live in our old house?"

Lucius scowled. He had sent Dobby to see the house, and he had found patrols of professional-looking men and women walking around the perimeter. If they were anything like the man that had taken the house, Lucius didn't want to try to take them out. "This is our house now. Go in and find a room, Draco."

Narcissa looked at the house with distaste, but she didn't say anything. She had learned her lesson when they had taken a room in the Leaky Cauldron. Lucius didn't like being reminded of his fight with that other man.

Dobby had found this house after some digging in the Ministry's records. It was out in the woods, and it had been abandoned for years. Even the file he had shown Lucius was dusty. Therefore, it was the best house to keep their cover intact.

Lucius didn't want the Ministry to get involved. He had three reasons, one, that he didn't want to lose their respect, two, he wanted to take that man down himself, and three, there were Dark artifacts in the house. Narcissa thought this was stupid, because they could just blame the artifacts on the man living there, but she couldn't say that.

Lucius wrinkled his nose at the smell upon stepping in, and waved his hand to brush away the dust. He assumed Draco was upstairs, so he went to see the kitchen. Narcissa was alright at cooking, even though the chef usually made the meals.

Suddenly, there was a scream from upstairs. Lucius rushed over to the stairs, but Draco was already on his way down, with a four-foot tall Red Cap running after him. Draco screamed again, and the Red Cap cackled.

"Father!" yelled Draco, running past him. The Red Cap ignored the little human, and jumped at the larger, tastier prey.

Lucius pulled out his wand and dodged to the side, barely avoiding the Red Cap. The Red Cap lashed out on his way down, however, and scratched Lucius's cheek. Lucius hissed and pointed his wand at the Red Cap. "Incarcerous!"

Ropes whirled around the dwarf-looking creature, and it growled and squirmed. Lucius held a hand to his cheek, and stomped on the Red Cap's head, knocking it unconcious.

Narcissa ran in. "Lucius! Is everything okay? I heard something laughing and then you-"

"I'm fine. Heal Draco if he needs it while I check the rest of the house," said Lucius. Draco stood still while his mother checked him. Lucius started up the stairs. If there was anything else, it better run.

l|l|l|l

Lucifer walked back inside. Harry was chasing the gnomes right now, and he had something he wanted to talk to Alistair about.

"Alistair!" called Lucifer.

Alistair emerged from a room down the hall. "Yes, Lucifer."

"As you know, I'm going to raise Harry as my apprentice so that he can help defend me from the Winchesters."

"Yes."

"Well, I've recently discovered that angels can't use magic. None of those feathered asses ever came down here to try," said Lucifer contemptuously.

"Right."

"I want to train Harry in his magic, Alistair. It's why I picked him up in the first place. So, find me a tutor, or a school- something that can help train him to use his magic for something other than sparks."

Alistair bowed. "Of course, my lord."

Lucifer dismissed him, and Alistair went back into his room. Inside, one of his demons was torturing a demon under Crowley. Alistair looked at his demon, one named Jackson. "Anything?"

Jackson wrinkled his nose. "Nothing. He says he's not afraid of you, me, or Lucifer."

Alistair looked at him. "Well, today's your lucky day. You don't have to worry, because you'll be dead."

The demon's eyes widened, and he struggled, but it wasn't enough. Alistair grabbed a knife off the table and threw it across the room. It buried itself in the meatsuit's chest, and the demon spasmed a bit before falling limp.

Alistair turned back to Jackson. "I have a new job for you. I want you to look around and find tutors or a magical school to help train Harry."

"Can we go into Diagon Alley?"

When the demons wanted in to the magical world, they would wait in smoke form beside the door to the alley. When a wizard opened it, they would possess them and walk in. They wanted to just make one do it at knife point, but they would have to kill them afterward, and Lucifer didn't want any unnecessary attention.

"Yes. I would think it's the only way to find some teachers."

Jackson nodded and left. Alistair turned to the dead demon in the chair behind him.

"Room service! I got another body. Take it out back."

l|l|l|l

Jackson and two other demons, Lila and Ray, waited outside the Alley. They had charms that let their meatsuits see the Leaky Cauldron, but they couldn't use magic. That power was exclusively for wizards and witches.

Ray had possessed a wizard, some old guy with a beard down to his belly. He had only done it to hide Jackson and Lila's smoke from anyone walking by, but he could also take the opportunity to walk in when someone tapped the brick wall.

Lila was bored. Jackson would have been as well, but he was busy keeping Lila from possessing a witch.

"I don't want to stay here while you and Ray go in! It's not fair!"

"You sound like a child. You just have to wait for someone else to go in, then you can catch up with us at Gringotts."

"What if nobody else goes in?"

"Then you'll have to wait. Alistair put me in charge, and Lucifer put him in charge. Disobey me, and you'll be disobeying Lucifer."

Lila huffed. "Indirectly."

"It's close enough."

At that moment, a man wearing an old-fashioned top hat walked out and saw Ray. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Yes, beautiful," said Ray mildly, looking around. The man nodded and smiled, tapping the wall and waiting for the bricks to pull back. Jackson swirled out from behind Ray quietly, and possessed the man.

"Sshhh, be quiet," Jackson told the man's mind. "Go to sleep."

Alistair had chosen these three for Diagon Alley excursions because they were masters of stealthily possessing their humans. What people didn't know about possessions is that there are two ways to take over a human's mind: By force, or by quietly suggesting it. That's why most of the time, the bodies spasmed when a demon was entering. The demon and the human were fighting over control, and the demon always won.

Ray nodded to Jackson, and he nodded back. Jackson looked back at Lila (she was hiding behind a watering can) then turned and went into Diagon Alley.

l|l|l|l

Ray and Jackson had just gotten to Gringotts to get some money, when Lila caught up.

"See? It wasn't that long," said Jackson.

"Hmph," said Lila, crossing her arms. "Well, a lady came in a few minutes after you guys left."

"Alright," said Ray. He had possessed a tall black man, and the deep voice suited him. "Let's go."

Jackson and Lila followed with no argument. Lila often joked about how if he wanted to, Ray could take over Jackson's position of leader. It annoyed Jackson to no end. Mostly because it was true.

They went into the bank, and went to see their teller, Griphook.

"Three to see the Morningstar account, please," said Jackson.

"Proof of ownership?" asked Griphook, looking up at them. They flicked their eyes to black for a couple seconds, and Griphook nodded. There wasn't much hidden from the goblins, and they had figured out the first day what they were.

Lila whooped as they went through the Thief's Downfall, which was turned off for them only. Jackson grinned.

As they got to Lucifer's account, Griphook got out his lantern. Walking up to the door, he turned to them. "Put your finger here, please," he said, pointing to a little hole in the door.

Ray stepped forward and stuck it in, not even flinching when he felt the needle stab him. They heard clicking, and the doors swung open.

Inside, they saw stacks of Galleons. And by stacks, I mean stacks. The columns reached up to the ceiling.

Lila reached out, and Jackson slapped her hand away. Handing her a bag, he said, "Fill it up."

Lila sighed and obeyed. She did pocket one for herself, though. It's not like Lucifer would notice.

l|l|l|l

Back out in Diagon Alley, Jackson looked around. "Where should we start?"

Lila shrugged. "I don't know. The wandmaker's place, maybe?"

"It's worth a shot."

Jackson and Lila walked in, with Ray standing outside. Jackson walked up to the empty counter and looked around. "Hello?"

An old man peeked his head around the shelves. "Hello!" he said, smiling. "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering… my son, he's very talented. Me and my wife-" he pulled Lila to him and she smiled- "were wondering where we could find a tutor for him. Or a school, or something."

Ollivander squinted at them. "Well, there is Hogwarts…"

"What is Hogwarts?" asked Lila.

Ollivander smiled. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Nope. We're from the land down under," said Lila, and Jackson grinned.

"Well, Hogwarts is a magic school you can admit your child to when they're eleven. But if you want to give him a head start, There is a man I know named Professor Treacle."

Jackson nodded and leaned slightly over the counter. "One more thing. Privacy is very important to my family. Will this Professor Treacle be discreet?"

Outside, a family walked toward the shop, then changed their mind when they saw the dark man standing beside the door. "We'll… come back later," said the mother, grabbing her daughter's hand. Ray smiled slightly.

Inside, Ollivander nodded. "Of course. You have nothing to worry about. I'll contact him for you, then?"

Jackson nodded. "Thank you."

"Come back for a wand when he turns eleven. This is the best shop in England!" said Ollivander, smiling pleasantly.

Lila smiled back. "Of course."

They walked out. Ray fell in behind them and said, "How did it go." It was more of a command, not a question.

"Well, we're not going there for a wand," said Lila, shuddering. "What was he so happy about?"

Jackson shrugged. "No clue. But apparently there's a Professor Treacle that he'll contact. I left him the address."

Ray nodded. "Do we need to get Harry a wand?"

"Alistair didn't ask for that," said Jackson. "Let's put this money back, then go home."

Lila winked. "Well, most of it."

Jackson opened his mouth, then closed it. Why not?

This is my new favorite story. I didn't have access to computers for a while, but I'm back now. Thanks for being patient. Also, these three are going to be pretty big characters in this story. I hope you like them!

Gridline out.