Chapter 11: Witch's hut

Tagas walked before Harry. The corridor they were in looked to be without an end, but he knew that it was an illusion.

"Are you any good with dispelling illusions, Harry?" Tagas asked, and the demon placed a hand on the wall.

"Dispel," Harry said, and the corridor ended then. The house still looked to be the same dim and faded place as before, but now, the corridor was at an end. They saw toys scattered on the floor, and Tagas followed them like breadcrumbs.

The two made it to a brightly painted room. One in a soft orange, with a teddy bear on it. Opening the door, Tagas saw a sleeping child on a bed too big for him.

"Robert?" Tagas asked, and the boy stirred. The child blinked at them sleepily, and then got out of the bed.

"Are you friends of Auntie?" The child asked, and Tagas looked confused.

"Who is auntie, Robert?" The angel asked. The toddler giggled, and pointed behind the angel. "Auntie."

Tagas turned around, only to see Harry in the clutches of the witch. A knife at his throat.

"You let him go now," Tagas snapped. He was just about to charge her, when she pressed the knife closer to the demon's neck, and drew blood. Tagas's eyes widened. This was no ordinary knife.

"What is an angel doing in here with a demon?" The witch demanded, and Tagas gulped.

"He is my friend, and you have to return the child you stole," Tagas told her with all the authority he could muster as an angel.

"You are no true angel, if you are the whore of a demon," the witch snapped, and then little Robert made an oh sound.

"Auntie said a bad word," the boy spoke, and he giggled.

"And auntie will drop a coin in the jar, munchkin, as soon as the bad men are gone," the witch assured the child, and Tagas blinked.

"You are fond of him?" The angel asked. "His mother misses him."

"He has magic," the witch snapped. "Left unchecked he will be a danger to everyone. His mother will be the first to drop him at an orphanage, where he will grow up like I did."

Images flooded Tagas's mind. Of an orphanage, of exorcisms on a little girl. Of that same little girl running away in the woods and making potions for a living.

"I can seal his magic away," Harry spoke, as he tried to get his neck away from the knife. "He can grow up normal."

"Am I not normal, then?" The witch snapped, and Harry gulped.

"That is not what I said. His mother misses the little imp," Harry began, and both the witch and Tagas glared at him. "Oh, sorry. I meant cherub. She misses the little cherub."

"I will pretend that this is what you meant," the witch spoke. "If you seal his magic away, what then?"

"He will grow up like a normal human. No fireballs, no nothing," Harry told her. "Look, an angel trusts me. Surely, you can have some faith in me as well? And not just any angel, but the kindest, and youngest."

"You are Tagas?" The witch spoke, and Tagas nodded energetically. "The fallen?"

"The same. Wait, how do you know?" Tagas asked.

"All those bound for Hell have been told to not harm you, or else," the witch released Harry then, and stepped to the side. "You may seal away his magic. If it is painful, you will pay."

"It is not painful at all," Harry went to the little boy, and touched his head. He took a single hair out of his crown, and with it, something silvery. Then, he burned both the silverly light and the hair.

"Done. Check him over, if you don't believe me," Harry then went to the side, and the witch went and touched the boy's chest.

"I can't feel his magic anymore," she said, smiling. The boy teared up.

"Bobby is no longer special?" The boy was ready to cry. She hugged him, and then placed a coin in his hand.

"I promised that I will give you a coin for the jar, did I not, little munchkin?" The witch then kissed the boy on the forehead, and nudged him in the direction of the angel. "I know where Bobby lives, so, if you don't bring him home straight away, threat from Hell or no, I will hunt you both down."

"He will be safe and in his mother's arms before long," Tagas assured her, and then he took the toddler's hand. "Say bye-bye to the nice lady, Bobby."

Robert waved his small hand at the witch, who blew him a kiss. The boy caught it and giggled, and then Harry got them out of the house and back to Bethany.

The woman was standing at the doorstep of her house. When she saw her son, she rushed to him.

"Harry, can you make her forget she saw us?" Tagas asked, and Harry lightly touched both the mother and son. Then, he got them back to the apartment, before Bethany could get to see them again.

Arms were around Harry's neck, and he felt a warm body pressed against his own.

"Thank you," Tagas whispered, as he kissed the demon's eyes. It was a standard greeting between angels, and something that Tagas didn't think much about.

"Careful now, Tagas, or I would begin to think you want apple pie topped with lava cake," Harry teased, and Tagas released him.

"You are impossible," the angel chuckled, and then placed a hand on the demon's. "I just wanted to thank you."

"And you did," Harry murmured. He was the one who wouldn't mind a slice of apple pie and angel cake, yet, he knew that neither Arthur nor Tagas would be open for a threesome.  "I am going to bed now. It is quite late."

With that, Harry went back to his room. He laid in the bed, and snuggled under the covers. He joked about it, but he really wished to be close to the angel who had spared him. Maybe, if he worked hard. If he helped reunite more children with their parents, then Tagas would agree to some lava cake? Harry could hope.