"I think it's time to move on," Hermione stated. They had only been in their current spot for a single day now, like most of their other recent campsites. "They're getting to close to finding us, and apparently this spot still isn't doing the trick." She sighed and waved her wand, already packing everything up.

Neither Harry nor Ron said a word. Instead they simply went to help her.

It wasn't long before they grabbed each other's hands and were gone, and as Hermione tried to pick somewhere to go, a plea for a place so far removed from the wizarding world that they would actually be able to rest for a while before going back on the run slipped through her mind.

They all blinked at the sudden sun. It was always a little disorienting when they apparated to somewhere experiencing radically different weather. The clouds were now gone, and the sun shone blindingly down on them, but at least it was better than last time when they suddenly found themselves in freezing, pouring rain.

"Blimey," Ron said as he blinked away tears and began taking off his sweater. "Where the hell did you send us, Hermione? What kind of place is this warm this late in the year?" He paused for a moment. "It is still October, right?"

"November," Hermione corrected. "And I honestly have no clue. I just…I think I may have accidently sent us to the middle of nowhere."

Ron groaned.

"Well, it should be a while before they find us then. We can actually relax for a bit. At least the weather isn't so depressing anymore," Harry said with forced optimism.

"You've got a point, mate," Ron replied, lying down in a nice, sunny spot. It really wasn't so bad once your eyes adjusted.

Hermione had only just begun setting up her wards, as usual, when they heard something rush past.

"Whoa!" Ron called, sitting up. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Harry said slowly as Hermione began working even faster on their protections. He and Ron got up and began slowly walking over towards where they heard the sound, wands raised defensively, before bursting into relieved laughter.

"It's just a road," Ron called. "Guess we've been wandering around for so long we sort of forgot what cars sounded like for a bit."

Hermione laughed nervously, but managed to put even more speed into their campsite preparations.

"Hey," Harry called, a bit closer to the road. "I think we're close to a muggle town or something."

Hermione's brow furrowed, but instead of replying she kept muttering the spells that would be keeping them safe.

"Yeah," Ron added. "You can see some of the buildings from here already. I wonder what DQ stands for…"

"What do you want to bet they sell food?" Harry asked good naturedly.

"It does look like the sort of place that would."

"All done!" their favorite bushy-haired witch called from the other side of the camp.

"About time!" Ron called. "You wanna get something to eat? Been so long since I had any real food and there's a place just down the road."

She automatically opened her mouth to refuse. There was no way they could just wander around, endangering themselves like that! What if there were death eaters there?

But then her mouth started watering. Real food… She bit her lip, fighting a war inside herself. And then it ended. "All right," she surrendered. It was a testament to how drained they were now that she did so fast. "I did pack some muggle money just for this purpose."

It was a good thing they had yet to unpack.

Not even five minutes later the trio was stepping inside of what turned out to be a Dairy Queen, and immediately they realized that they would find no real food. The smell of greasy chicken hit them hard as they went up to the counter to order.

"Howdy, and welcome to Dairy Queen! So what'll yall be ordering?" a young, blonde cashier said with a friendly smile. Their jaws dropped.

"Er," Harry began. "We'd like some time to decide, thank you," he said politely.

"Nice accent," she winked. "Just let me know when yall are ready."

They took a minute to look around and found that there were a few other people present. Thankfully, neither the slightly overweight woman in sweats with a small baby and a cute little toddler and the two attractive teenage boys in worn clothing looked like the death eater sort. The young man in jeans, a shirt that read "maroon out", cowboy boots, and a nice hat that was reading what looked to be an engineering textbook threw them off, though.

"Just where are we?" Hermione's voice was bordering on hysterical as they huddled together.

"America? This is bloody surreal," Ron stated. "And shouldn't we be asking you? You're the one that apparated us!"

"But I didn't—I wasn't—UGH!" Hermione hissed. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "We might as well eat. I did pack some American money because, well, you just never know. Pick out something to eat; I'm going to go dig it out of my bag."

Harry shook his head, smiling despite their odd situation. Hermione was always so prepared, and it was thanks to her they had lasted so long. Ron was already looking at the menu.

"What the hell are we supposed to order?" Ron asked Harry, being unfamiliar with the muggle world and unsure of what all the fried foods were supposed to be like.

"Maybe…'the original cheeseburger'? That sounds simple enough."

Hermione came back out shortly and they went to order.

"So what'll it be?" the cashier asked as they walked up.

"We'll take two 'original cheeseburgers,'" Harry stated. He finally looked at her nametag as she smiled at his accent. It read 'Carolyn'.

"Yall want a drink? Fries? Anything?" she asked with a smile. Hermione frowned.

Harry looked to Ron, who looked back to the menu. "Two medium lemonades," Harry answered after a moment. "And fries would be great."

'Carolyn' turned to Hermione. "Anything for you?" she asked as another employee called "number 162!" and the taller of the teenage boys, the one who seemed about their age, got up to fetch his food.

"I'll take a salad…and some Dr Pepper. That's all."

"The total is $15.36, and your number is 163" she looked to the trio expectantly as Hermione paled.

"Er, I only have $15," she said meekly. The cashier frowned.

"That's ok," said the boy who now had his arms full of food. He gave the trio a friendly smile, and they smiled back despite themselves. The strange boy, who was wearing a worn leather jacket even though it was warm out, put down his food and pulled out a wallet. He paid the last 36 cents and flashed a brilliant smile at Carolyn, who giggled.

"Thank you, ah…" Hermione smiled (his eyes were so pretty up close…).

"Dean Winchester," he said smoothly. "And nice accent."

Hermione blushed. Ron frowned. Dean gathered up his greasy food and went to sit down, and after a few exchanged words his friend smiled and waved at them.

The three of them decided to sit near the two boys and attempt to get information from them.

"Hullo," Hermione said cheerfully as they went to sit near Dean and his buddy. "We're a little lost right now—driving all day, you know—and we were hoping you could tell us about where we are." It was a perfectly normal thing to ask.

"Eh, you're right off of highway 6," Dean stated. Upon their blank looks he specified "about halfway between College Station and Navasota. Right by that big college—Texas A&M?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. Texas. "That's just what we needed to know! Thank you!"

"By the way, this is my little brother Sammy," Dean smirked at the other boy who frowned and muttered "it's Sam" before viciously attacking his salad.

"I'm Mandy Green," Hermione offered. Might as well 'introduce' themselves, too.

"Bill Weevil," Ron stated, catching on.

"Nigel Planter," Harry said. Everyone looked at him oddly for a minute before turning back to the conversation.

"So where are you guys from? England or something?" Dean asked casually.

"Yeah, actually," Harry said vaguely after a slight pause. "We're planning on visiting the college. What about you? Do you live nearby?"

"For now, yeah. But we'll probably move again in a couple weeks." Harry noticed that Sam frowned at Dean's somewhat strange statement. Hermione noticed nothing, too busy thinking about how those gorgeous eyes must run in the family. "So you all are thinking about college, huh?"

"Yeah, are you?"

"Nah, I dropped out of high school last year. School is overrated."

Hermione's jaw dropped, but before she could begin a lecture Sam spoke up. "I think it's great that you're planning on going to college. Education is very important and it shouldn't just be blown off. One of these days I want to go too…" It was obviously a sore subject for the boys.

"Number 163!" Ron went up to fetch the trio's meal and Hermione bit her tongue.

"You guys are lucky," Sam muttered, to the surprise of Harry and Hermione. "All you have to worry about is college and applications and normal stuff, and your dad's not breathing down your neck, forcing you to hunt-" Dean went to cut him off with a sharp glare, but Harry beat him to it.

"Normal?" Harry spluttered out. "Lucky? What do you know?" He ignored Hermione's warning glances, too angry to care. "So you move around a lot? At least you don't have a crazy cult trying to kill you! At least you haven't been raised just to fix everyone's big problem! At least you aren't expected to save everyone and-"

"Whoa! Nigel! That's enough!" Ron said as he sat down. Hermione remained pale and speechless, and both the Winchesters looked quite confused. Sam looked like he wanted to say something, but Dean's continuous glares kept him from opening his mouth.

Finally Dean spoke up. "Damn, that sounds like a sucky life. I mean, I can't even imagine what it'd be like to have people after my head like that. Or to have your life planned out for you by people who think they know everything? And they're just expecting you to save the world or something?" He shook his head. "I mean, fuck. Our lives aren't exactly easy, buy you're right, they could be a lot worse."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione each took sips of their drinks, and all promptly gagged. "Bloody hell! What kind of lemonade is this!" Ron cried, while Hermione frowned and said "I had this once when I was younger, but it's not nearly as good as I remember." Dean snickered and took a big gulp of his own coca cola.

Meanwhile, Sam remained still for a moment, just thinking, before asking "so what's your story?" Their three strange friends visibly relaxed, and Harry's face stopped being so red.

"Well," Hermione scrambled to pull something together that would redirect the conversation, "like…Nigel said we're thinking about going to college soon. I was hoping to start applying in the near future—after all, it's never too soon to start these things—and…"

Naturally, before they left they managed to wipe their meeting from both of the Winchester's minds. No sense taking chances with these things.

**Dean is 18, Ron, Harry, and Hermione are all 17 and Sam is 15. More or less. I don't feel like actually doing math right now, and I don't know their exact birthdays.

And there isn't really a Dairy Queen on highway 6 between College Station and Navasota (or one that I know of, at least). I made that up. I just wish they had a chance to get blizzards while they were there…

Originally Ron and Harry were going to get some coke, but my sister pointed out that it might be a little confusing, being set in Texas and all. Where all soda/pop/carbonated beverages can be called "coke".