Author's Notes: I wish, but I don't own any of the characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling and Eric Kripke respectively.
Chapter Inspiration: Some Nights by Fun.
Chapter 4
Some backroad, USA
Sam and Dean had wrapped up their hunt, and were currently traversing the country back to Bobby's. Sam was still beating himself up pretty badly over the consequences of decisions he'd made when soulless, and Dean was terrified because Sam had had a seizure. He was worried about how much damage was done to the wall in his brain. He was also thinking about Hermione, and the conversation he knew he had to have with her. There was too much on his plate, and all of it needed dealing with. He figured Bobby might be able to hold down the fort with Sam temporarily, while he dealt with the most pressing issue at hand.
"So are you ever going to tell me what was in that letter you got?" Sam asked, needing something to focus on other than the mistakes he'd made.
"You're going to find out sooner or later, Sammy. Hermione's pregnant, and yes, it's mine." Dean replied.
"Awesome!" Sam said, sitting straight up in his seat. This was good news to him. He wanted his older brother to find happiness. "How far along is she? Is it a boy or girl? I can't believe I'm going to be an uncle!"
"Okay, calm down fanboy. She's six months, and she finds out what she's having in a couple of weeks. That's why she sent me the letter. She wanted me to know, and give me the option to be there or not." Dean replied, gripping the steering wheel tighter.
"You're going, right?" Sam asked, angling himself to look at Dean.
"I want to, but I have to talk to her first. I kind of had her go back to England so I could process, and her owl took off before I could even open her letter. At this point, I don't have a way to contact her." Dean explained.
"That explains a lot." Sam mumbled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dean asked.
"Hermione shows up, wanting to talk to you, then she leaves abruptly. You lock yourself in a bedroom, with a bottle of whiskey. Her friend shows up to talk to you, and then leaves. Anyone with half a brain would know something big was up." Sam replied.
"That doesn't help with the fact that I have no way to contact Hermione." Dean bit out.
"Maybe we need to find some way to find a mail owl?" Sam asked. It was a long shot, but it was worth trying.
Dean shot him a look. It wasn't a horrible suggestion, but he had no idea where to start looking for one, or if he did find one, whether it'd find Hermione. There were too many questions, and not enough answers. For now, he was going to focus on the drive back to South Dakota where he'd deal with the lack of communication options.
Hogwarts
It had been 4 days since she'd sent her letter to Dean, about the appointment with her healer. Unfortunately, there was no indication that he was going to respond to her letter. She was beginning to wonder if his decision really was going to be to stay out of his child's life. She would just have to pretend it didn't hurt.
Fortunately for everyone, Harry was a calm voice of reason. On this particular day, Hermione had decided to rant at Harry, that what Dean told him must have been wrong, or he must have decided without talking to her. When he'd asked her why, she told him about the letter she'd sent, and how she'd gotten no response. Harry sensed that she wasn't telling him the whole story again, and decided to write Dean himself. Sitting at his desk, he scrawled out a note:
Dean,
I should warn you, Hermione's on a hormone rampage here. She's telling me that because you didn't respond to her letter, that you obviously have made up your mind. Is there a message, or something I can pass on to her? Are you ready to talk to her yet? I don't want to end up stuck in the middle of this (and when Hermione calms down, I'm telling her the same thing)!
Harry
Harry uncaged his owl, and stuck his letter in an envelope. He muttered Dean's name, and sent the owl into the sky. Sighing, he turned to his girlfriend, who'd been a great listener for Harry through this ordeal.
"Do you think they'll work it out this time?" Harry asked her.
"Hopefully." Ginny replied.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Dean rolled over in the bed he slept in. Pounding the roads for 2 days straight to get here, he had been exhausted on arrival. Being able to crash, and sleep was a good thing. He felt more alive than he had in a while. A distinct tapping noise sounded from the window closest to him. Turning his head, he spotted an unfamiliar owl sitting on the windowsill, with a letter in its beak. Hoping it was from Hermione, he opened the window to let it in. It flew to the dresser to sit, once it released the envelope into Dean's hands.
Dean broke the unfamiliar seal on the envelope, and sat back down on the bed. It wasn't from Hermione, but from Harry. He laughed a little at his description of Hermione though. He could see her ranting, hands on her hips, cheeks flushed and all, in his mind. Deciding this was probably his only chance to get word to her, in any way, Dean scrambled for the notebook and pen he'd started carrying in his duffle, since he'd returned to the States.
He quickly penned 2 letters, one for Harry, and one for Hermione. Labeling each one, he dropped them in an envelope addressed to Harry Potter. He stuck the envelope in the owl's beak and sent it back to Hogwarts.
Hogwarts
Harry was in the middle of a game of wizard's chess with Ron, when his owl returned, a different envelope in its beak. Rising from his seat, the young wizard made his way to the window to let the owl in. He gave her a treat after taking the envelope. Inside he found two pieces of paper, one with his name on it, the other with Hermione's. Unfolding the paper with his name on it Harry read Dean's reply:
Harry,
She sent me a letter with the date, but the damned owl took off before I could even open the letter! I'm not trying to put you in the middle of anything. I am ready to talk to Hermione. I recently came to a decision on a hunt. I enclosed a letter for her, if you could just make sure it makes it into her hands, it'd be appreciated. Thanks for looking out for her.
Dean
With a smile, Harry pocketed Hermione's letter and excused himself from the game. Making his way across the school, as fast as he could, he trucked to the library, where he knew he'd find Hermione. She was spending a lot of time here, helping rebuild, and research. He found her at a table, a stack of books next to her.
"What's up?" She asked, not looking at him as he approached.
"I have something for you." Harry said, pulling the letter from his pocket.
Looking at him, she spotted the paper and instantly tensed up. It was a lined piece of notebook paper, which could only mean it was from one of two people. "Who's it from?" She asked.
"Dean. He told me your owl left before he could open your letter. Hermione, did you not give the poor guy time to reply to your letter?" Harry asked, taking a seat across from her.
"I was too worried about what he would say, so I told the owl to drop the letter off and return." Hermione replied, blushing.
"I think pregnancy has killed a few of your brain cells." Harry joked.
"You think you're funny." She deadpanned.
"Read it." Harry said, sliding the letter across the table to her. He leaned back in his chair so that he could be sure she read whatever it was Dean wrote.
Taking the letter, she slowly opened it, dreading whatever it is she would read. "Are you really going to sit there and watch me read this?" She asked arching a brow at her friend.
"Yeah I am." Harry responded, gesturing with his hands for her to get on with it.
With a sigh Hermione read the words on the page.
Hermione,
I really would like to be there for your appointment, but I think we need to talk first. I'm staying at Bobby's, so you can come over any time. I won't let Sam drag me off on a hunt before I talk to you.
Dean
Hermione was both comforted, and terrified at the same time, at the prospect of having a serious conversation with him. This could either go the way she hoped it would, or it could go really badly. He didn't know it, but he had the power to break her, and she didn't like it.
"Well?" Harry asked, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Here, nosy." She said, sliding the paper across the table to him.
He scanned the short note and nodded in approval. "So you're going, right?" He asked.
"I owe it to him and our baby to hear what he has to say." Hermione mused.
"Yeah you do." Harry replied.
"I'll go talk to McGonagall about me going. I don't know how long it'll take though." Hermione said, preparing to search out the busy headmistress.
"Just tell her you need a few days. Even if you return before then, it'll give you some time to get this sorted out." Harry replied.
"Very well." Hermione told him, working herself into a standing position.
Harry smiled approvingly at her. "You're doing the right thing here."
"Yeah, remind me of that if this all ends up going sideways." She told him.
"Oh, I will." Harry replied with a wink.
Rolling her eyes, Hermione left Harry where he sat, and took off for the headmistress's office. Her nerves skyrocketed with each step she took. Soon she'd be confronting her fate, she just had to get permission to go off and do so. When she reached the corridor that led to the Griffin that guarded the stairs to the headmaster's office, she began to search her mind for the password. Recalling it fairly easily (thank you pregnancy brain for not failing her there), she stood in front of the sculpture and in a loud, clear voice said: "animagus tabby."
The stairs started their curling trek upwards, and Hermione stepped on carefully to ride up to the door. When she reached the top, she stepped forward to knock on the door. The door opened with a click to reveal Minerva McGonagall sitting at her desk, a cup of tea in hand.
"Hello professor." Hermione greeted respectfully.
"Hermione, you're no longer my student. You haven't been for years now. Go ahead and call me Minerva." The elder witch told her former student.
"Thank you Minerva. I came to ask you if you could spare me for a few days." Hermione said.
"Of course Hermione, you've been an extraordinary help in the rebuilding process. May I ask, does this have anything to do with your condition?" Minerva asked kindly.
"Yes. It's the baby's father, he wants to talk." Hermione said with a small smile.
"That's a good sign." Minerva commented.
"I hope so. I gave him the choice to be involved or not." Hermione replied.
"That was good of you." The elder witch praised. "I encourage you to take as long as you need. We'll always be here if things don't work out, but I hope for yours, and your child's sake, that it does."
"Thank you Minerva." Hermione replied, appreciative of the kindness Minerva was plying her with.
"You're very welcome my dear. Now, don't lollygag, or he'll think you don't want to talk." Minerva said with a grin.
"I'm on my way!" Hermione said, returning the grin with a mock salute.
She left the headmistresses office lighter than when she'd arrived. Minerva had given her the time, and even gave her permission to take as long as she needed. She wondered if things went well, whether she'd be returning to the school or not. As much as she loved Hogwarts, and was happy to see it doing so well since the war, she no longer felt like she belonged here. If she were being truly honest, she'd say as much as she loved her second home, she loved Dean more. Home seemed more to be where ever, as long as he was there.
With that in mind, she repacked her duffle, after changing out of her dusty library outfit. She chose to don a clean pair of jeans, and a pink and white striped maternity button down top. She also took the time to re-brush her hair and braid it. Pinching herself one last time to make sure she wasn't dreaming, she brought up a mental image of Bobby's driveway, and jerked her wand to activate the apparition spell.