Dean and Sam thought they knew their Uncle Bobby, who was more like their father than John ever was.

That all changed when the angels started coming to Earth.

Sam and Dean ran around trying to stop Lucifer from rising, but failed because several of the higher angels lied to them and didn't tell them anything. The only angel Bobby liked at all was Castiel, and that was because he genuinely cared for the idjits.

So when he confronted the two idiots right after Lucifer came out of the pit, he started giving off major queues to Dean that something was very wrong with him. And bless his heart, Dean actually noticed!

He felt Sam grab him from behind with ropes that had been soaked in holy water and lined with salt, paralyzing the demon inside of him. Sam exorcised it and Bobby sagged in the hunter's arms.

"Took you idjits long enough to pick up on my hints," grumbled Bobby as he sat in the chair.

"How did you fight that demon off?" asked Dean, honestly impressed.

"I have a few tricks I haven't taught you idjits yet. Had to remember some of them after what happened to Karen, but no demon will ever get full control."

"What about the Micheal Sword?" asked Dean.

Bobby made sure there weren't any demons nearby before he pulled out a book.

"Ever since those seals have been breaking left and right, I had to go and dig something I never wanted to see the light of day again."

It was a book, but unlike any they had ever seen.

"Bobby...what is this?"

"A list. Of things you're better off not messing with," he said succinctly.

To be more precise, a list of magical things that only a wizard or someone who had magic could open, let alone read.

Bobby channeled just enough magic to open the lock, and he wasn't surprised that the boys had enough of magic themselves to read the first page.

"The Compendium of Demonic and Angelic Symbolism?"read Sam.

"Dammit... I always suspected you two might be able to read this, but to have it confirmed..."

"Bobby, where did you get this? And why are you surprise we can read it?"

"Because the only way you could get your hands on it is, let alone read this is if you have magic. Real magic, not that crap that the demons peddle," said Bobby flatly.

"Magic? Magic only comes from demons," said Dean.

"Not all magic. The thing is that those with real magic are taught a spell to erase memories and most of them can disappear on a dime to another state entirely with the right amount of practice. The ones hunters usually run across are those who are either smart enough to figure out how to make the black books work, or are born to magical families but unable to use it normally that make a deal. Nine times out of ten, it's the magically born who can't use it that hunters find."

"Bobby, what are you saying?" asked Sam. His opinion on the supernatural had shifted since he had just let Lucifer out. He could go into this with an open mind.

"I'm saying you two idjits are half-bloods at best, first gens at least. Meaning you have natural magic, not the demonic crap that gets peddled. Now shut up so I can look up the Micheal Sword!" barked Bobby.

The two wisely stayed quiet. Bobby finally found it, though how he knew Latin that well enough to translate the older form of it they had no idea.

"Here it is. 'Micheal Sword' is a term used to describe a vessel. It's not an actual sword at all, and I highly doubt an arch angel would drop his sword where a hunter could find it. And even if it was a sword, I'm betting that the demons would have grabbed it pretty quick."

"Wait, didn't Cas say that he was in a vessel?" asked Sam, recognizing the term.

"People possessed by angels are called vessels. They always have to get permission. Always. The only exception is if the angel jumps into someone who's pregnant. According to one of the earlier chapters if an angel possesses a pregnant woman, then they run the risk of being sucked into the kid instead and they have to live out a mortal life before they can return."

"Is that what happened to Anna?"

"That angel girl Dean took advantage of? Most likely."

"Bobby, how do you know about this?" asked Dean.

"I'll tell you two later. First we need to leave before more demons show up."

"A bit late for that, Bobby," sneered a woman outside. Fortunately Sam and Dean had already salted the windows after they exorcised Bobby.

"Get lost hell spawn. I'm not letting you anywhere near these boys again," snarled Bobby.

"You won't have a choice, hunter. Lucifer wants Sammy and he's going to get him," sneered the demon.

To the shock of everyone, Bobby reached into the same bag he had the book in (he had put it up before the demons had come in) and pulled out...a stick?

The demons all hissed at the sight of it.

"No! You can't be here!" said the demon in anger.

"Aquamenti Sanctus!" barked Bobby, aiming the sudden torrent of water on the demons in the door. They screamed in all out pain as the sudden stream of holy water hit them in the face.

Dean and Sam didn't need to be told, they grabbed their gear and headed out the door. Bobby said something else in Latin, pointing it at the Impala and they quickly found what he had done to Dean's beloved car when one of the outside demons touched the door handle and yelped as his hand caught fire.

Sam and Dean had touched it earlier, and they weren't harmed, so they could only assume it affected demons.

When they finally reached Bobby's scrapyard and made it into the panic room, Dean rounded on their father figure.

"Bobby, what the hell?"

"You want the full version or the cliff notes?"

"Full version."

"I'm a wizard. Have been since I was born, but I left their world after they tried to force me into a role I wanted nothing to do with after killing a warlock. So I fled to the States, changed my name and became Robert Singer. Then I met Karen and you know the rest."

"Why hide it?" asked Sam.

"I saw what over-dependance on magic does. Besides, it wasn't like I could use it willy nilly with that idiot John shooting anything supernatural he came across," said Bobby gruffly.

Sam snorted in agreement. If John had seen him using his powers, he would have shot him first and interrogated him after if he survived.

"But why hide it from us?"

"Habit mostly. But since you two are aware of what I am and not reaching for your guns, I can finally do this..." said Bobby, before he waved the stick ('Wand, you idjits!') and suddenly the chaotic mess of his house became much more ordered and clean.

Dean and Sam stared.

Bobby brought up his wards, designed to keep anything from the pit out of his house. Didn't stop Cas, who last they checked was dead.

The trio crashed while Bobby made sure his house and property became a fortress against intruders.

Sam and Dean woke to the smell of something they hadn't in a long, long time. Home-cooked breakfast.

Dean was the first to speak what was on their minds.

"When did you become Suzy Homemaker?"

He yelped when something hit him in the ass.

"What was that?"

"Stinging hex. Used to get idjits to shut up. Basically like a joy buzzer, only it can be used anywhere," said Bobby without hesitation.

"You are so teaching me that one," said Sam immediately.

"So this is where you vanished to," said Cas.

Bobby shot him a glare to shut him up, but Cas either didn't notice or likely, didn't care.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you dare. I left that name behind a long time ago, and knowing those backwards idiots they'll still have it flagged," snarled Bobby.

"Harry..." started Cas, but was quickly silenced by Bobby.

He started putting the pancakes and other items on the table, ignoring Dean and Sam's curious looks. When he finally removed the silencing spell, Castiel gave him a look.

"Why do you not want them to know about your past?"

"That person died when I abandoned England. Besides, I'm not entirely sure that they haven't flagged it like they did that idiot who nearly destroyed them."

"You speak of their Taboo," said Cas.

Bobby nodded.

"I know angels aren't affected by the charm, but I don't want either of these two idjits picked up by the task force for saying the name because they learned it from you."

"You are aware that they are still looking for you. They have a bounty on your head, delivered alive," said Cas.

Bobby snorted, he wasn't surprised.

"What bounty?" asked Dean sharply.

"In England there is an entire hidden society of magic users. Bobby was the one who saved them from a particularly insane warlock, but the fact that he had been considered the protege of a noted pacifist caused them to turn on him. He went missing thirty years ago and the angels haven't been able to find him."

"Pacifist? More like a damn hypocrite. Tom Riddle deserved to die, not be redeemed and I would shoot his followers all over again for what they did," said Bobby.

"For the record, most of Gabriel's old garrison was rooting for you and not Dumbledore," said Castiel.

"Not surprising. Coincidentally..."

"He went below. Some of his activities were frowned upon in heaven, and one of the biggest tipping points against him was forcing you to live with your aunt. He did a lot to cover up the fact you weren't in a healthy living area for magicals," said Castiel blandly.

"Good riddance," said Bobby, his mood already improving with the knowledge his old headmaster never made it to heaven.

"As fascinating as this is..." said Dean.

Bobby looked at Castiel.

"Is there a taboo on the name?"

"It's covered by the fidelius. So long as they equate you with the person you were before, it should be fine."

Bobby looked at the expectant brothers, and sighed.

"Fine. Before I was Robert Singer I used to be known as Harry Potter."

Bobby gave them the gist of what his life had been like, and the two were properly appalled. Fortunately Bobby had long since implemented a simple safety measure against anyone looking for his old name.

He had cast a fidelius charm around it. The only one who could tell the magicals who Harry Potter had become was Bobby himself, and he preferred to forget about that part of his life.

Bobby was caught off guard when Sam hugged him when he told them about his life, and Dean quickly followed suit.

For the first time in a long time, Bobby let his defenses down. Sam and Dean were more than long-time hunters, they were his sons in every way that mattered. John had gotten so caught up in trying to get revenge for his wife that he had almost screwed up the boys too... if Bobby hadn't stepped in and gave them some stability.

"So what's the plan?" asked Dean, once the chick-flick moment was over.

"I'm calling in the goblins to make this place a fortress. It's past time I upgraded this place," said Bobby.

It was also way past time he got rid of the beard and showed how old he really was. He had once beaten Patrick, a fellow European witch to cut off several years and make him older than he was. All it would take was one game and he could be his real age again...he was actually ten years older than Sam and Dean.

Dean and Sam came back from a nasty run-in with Zachariah to find...someone roughly ten years older than them applying new paint in the kitchen.

"Who are you?" asked Dean, his hand on his gun.

The man turned around and the two nearly fell over in shock.

"Bobby?" said Sam in disbelief.

Bobby snorted, before he put his paint brush up and handed them both their own.

"The sooner we get this done with, the sooner I can get the grill going."

"What...how?" sputtered Dean.

"You two never asked me what my age was. One game with the infamous poker player and I'm old enough to be my own father without dealing with the idiots looking for me," said Bobby amused.

"Wow..." said Sam in shock, before he grabbed the brush.

"So how old are you really?"

"Going on forty-eight."

He had been seventeen when he had killed Riddle, barely eighteen when he had enough and fled to the States and lost deliberately to Patrick, and twenty when he met Karen. He had spent twenty years as Bobby Singer, and ten of them had been as a hunter. Though the past four had been particularly stressful.

It took them two hours to finish repainting the kitchen (Dean was thrilled with the new fridge, because it could hold twice as many beers) and another hour before Dean could move after eating most of the barbeque Bobby had made for them.

"Damn Bobby, where'd you learn to cook like that?"

"Practice," said Bobby amused. Sam was currently poking his brother with a stick.

Castiel appeared, looking rather tired. Bobby had keyed him into the wards after he made it angel-proof with help from Castiel.

"What's up?"

"Those above are taking note that Potter is resurfacing, and the demons are all talking about how Robert Singer is a wizard," said Castiel.

That had come as a total shock. Until that moment, Robert Singer was considered a mundane. Normally hunters barely knew of the magicals, let alone had any luck finding and hunting them. The idea that a magical became a mundane hunter and went after his own kind had come as a nasty surprise.

Especially since Bobby hadn't used magic in years, and they had no idea who he had been because of the charm.