Heretic • C. Diggory

When Cas met Ced

7th August 1979
St. Thomas's Hospital, London

'So this is my next life?' the boy thought. He saw that he was in the body of a baby and look around to see something that looked like a hospital room.

He looked up and saw the faces of a man and woman who looked at him with all the love in they could muster as if he was the only light in their lives. "Ruya. He's beautiful," a man, who was most likely his father, said with tears of joy pricking his eyes. "He is Leo. What should we call him?" asked the woman called Ruya. "I can tell this kid's going to do great things . You know, we should name him after one of my ancestors," Leo said. "His second name could be after one of my ancestors, I mean...he can't have all his names be from a cursed family," Ruya said teasingly. "Very funny, Ruya."

"So we have a name then?" Ruya asked. "Yes, we do. Welcome to the world, Castiel Yasin Redgrave."

Named after a Supernatural character?

He loved this life already.

𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

5th June 1987
Redgrave Manor, Ottery St. Catchpole

It was safe to say, the life of the now Castiel Redgrave was better than his past one. His parents loved him unconditionally (mostly because he was an only child), he could sing beautifully, he was popular at school...and magic existed. Cool, but weird.

Speaking of weird things...

There was Castiel, practicing the flute in one of the many sunrooms of Redgrave Manor when suddenly, the sky faded to black, the wind died down and it felt like the very fabric of time had come to a standstill. Suddenly, a rift appeared out of thin air, and through it, came a man in his early twenties, cloaked in an air of divinity and dressed like something out of a high fantasy novel. Castiel stood there and tightened his grip on the flute until his knuckles turned white, shivering with horror.

"Greetings, Castiel," the man said in a husky voice.

This sent Castiel into a panicked frenzy, "Who- what the hell are you? Stay away from me! Dad! This house is haunted!" The man only curled his lips into a reassuring grin.

"Fear not, Castiel. I am Merlin and I am here because the magic has chosen you for a very important task," he explained. Castiel's eyes widened in confusion and horror.

"The hell -you're Merlin! But the white hair, and the long beard and-" Castiel squeaked, confused at how this spirit claimed to be Merlin but instead of the stereotypical sage-like appearance that was seen across books and Chocolate Frog cards alike, he had short black hair, a jawline capable of cutting diamonds and light, well-groomed stubble.

"Yes, I'm Merlin. I'm sure I'm not what you were expecting cause of my...youthful appearance. You honestly didn't think I'd willingly look old, did you?" Merlin nonchalantly replied. "Anyway, the balance between light and dark magic is breaking. You, and another, hold the power to repair it."

The horror in Castiel's eyes turned into scepticism at his words. "I'm sorry, what?" Castiel stammered in confusion. "I do apologise, Lord Merlin - if you are truly him - but I don't quite understand, could you please explain...better?"

Merlin wasn't at all shocked his ignorance, even adult wizards and witches would think there was most likely something wrong with them if a young version of Merlin appeared out of nowhere. Castiel was still a child who didn't know how powerful he was, "I can see this conversation will go nowhere, but I'll be back after you familiarise yourself with this world, and find out about your powers."

Merlin faded away, and the world returned to normal, just as Castiel wanted to ask him about these 'powers' he had, as well as who 'another' was.

The information he just received, no matter how ridiculous it sounded, had to be elaborated on urgently, but Merlin wasn't here to do that anymore.

So Castiel took it upon himself to, as Merlin had said, familiarise himself with this world.

He walked to the living room and found Leo having his afternoon tea while grading complicated astrophysics exams, "Dad, may I please go out for a walk?" Castiel asked. Leo looked at his son as if he had sprouted wings, "You've never been an outdoorsy person. Why do you want to go for a walk, Castiel?"

Castiel froze, wracking his brain for an explanation as to why he, a boy who scorned the outdoors wanted to go out for a walk all of a sudden, "Oh, um. I'm just a bit bored here without Wayne and Dean. There's nothing to do but read and play music. I think some fresh air and a change of scenery will be good for me."

All Leo could do was gaze at him in shock, "Okay then, I'll send you a Patronus when your mother comes home." Castiel's eyes widened at the mention of 'Patronus'. As Leo cleared up the table, Castiel caught a glimpse of the name of the newspaper he used as a coaster, the Daily Prophet. From the first day they started living in the magical world, Leo continuously called it an 'insipid rag full of lies' and Ruya used it to clean the silverware. 'Wait! Patronus and Daily Prophet? I know I heard that in my past life, but where?'

Castiel ran out of Redgrave Manor, now more desperate than ever to find out about this world. After running into the forest, he saw a very misshapen house that he remembered from...Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This had to be some sick joke, a dream. Castiel thought that a dream was all this could be. So to test that theory, Castiel pinched his arm hard and cursed himself because of the pain as well as the fact that this wasn't a dream.

As Castiel was processing the thought that he might have been reincarnated into Harry Potter, something jumped out of the tree above him, causing him to fall down in fright.

That something was a boy around Castiel's age with wavy chestnut hair, the kindest grey eyes, a rosy complexion and a smile so bright even the sun would hide away in shame.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay?" the boy asked in a voice that warmed Castiel's heart. "I'm fine. Don't worry, I moved here just last week, so boys jumping out of trees isn't something I've seen a lot of," Castiel said. The boy gave a light chuckle, "Well when you live in a place like this, that's something you should get used to. The trees are really good for climbing, you want me to teach you? Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I haven't even introduced myself! I'm Cedric, Cedric Diggory. You?"

Well...crap. That confirmed it.

"Castiel, Castiel Redgrave," he managed to breathe out.