Not moving, barely breathing, the two brothers turned all their attention to the softly glowing bag. Slowly they turned their heads from side to side, looking for anything that would give them clues as to what was going on. After a moment or so, the glowing faded without a sound just as it had appeared and still they sat frozen.
Finally, Dean reached out a cautious finger and prodded the silk and embroidered bag. It felt just as it had before, soft and empty. He picked it up gingerly, turning it over and over in his hands. Peering into it, he saw only the black void but upon sticking his arm up to the elbow inside, he couldn't find anything that had changed. He set it back on the table and shrugged at Sam as they put their heads back over the text they had been reading.
\o/o\o/
When Hermione saw the men staring at the bag, she dashed the surface of the puddle causing the spell to break. Frustrated she stomped back over to the waiting boys.
"So?" Harry asked curiously, staring at the defeated Hermione. She sighed a deep breath before speaking.
"They have it in... some little bedroom," she remembered the pamphlets that had been propped up beside the television "I think it is a hotel or motel or something but that's not all." She now had their complete attention. "They opened it and pulled some things out. They were reading Hogwarts: A History." She finished and the color drained from Harry and Ron's face, leaving all three teens looking pale and scared.
"Well, there are only about a hundred more things that could go wrong," Ron said, trying to lighten the mood. The sideways glances from his friends silenced him.
"Now we really need to get it back," Harry added emphatically.
"But how?" Hermione asked, "We don't even really know where they are - just in a motel."
"Well, it can't be that far because we haven't been gone that long. We just need to find a directory or something - and fast," Harry said.
"But we don't even really know where we are - and all we have are our wands," Hermione explained.
"Why don't we just apparate about a mile or so at a time until we hit something?" Ron mused. Not seeing a better option, the three of them trudged toward the road, to try and get some kind of bearings. As they crept from the cover of the trees, they saw a large green sign on the side of the smooth blacktop that said Greenwood 12.
"Well, that is convenient," Hermione blurted. They looked at her confused. Like they were children, she explained "That sign means that there is a town called Greenwood 12 miles that way," she finished pointing south.
"With no cloak this will be tricky," Harry said sounding less confident than before.
"Let's just do it. Eleven miles south so we can walk the rest of the way into town and just pray that no one is on the road," she was more panicked about what else those brothers might pull out of the bag.
\o/o\o/
For nearly 2 hours the brothers sat in that musty old motel room as the morning sun started to pour in through the faded curtains. They read more and more about Hogwarts. Afterward, they put the book back in the bag as carefully as they could manage and Sam pulled out two more texts that they each poured through. From what they gleaned, there was a strong powerful magical community that had been around for a very long time. Although most of the information was about Great Britain, Sam and Dean did not find it hard to imagine that the same existed in the US.
As Dean clipped shut the book he had been leafing through, Defense Against the Darkest Arts, he said, "This ain't all bunnies and magic wishes, Sammy. There is some dark, nasty stuff in this book," he had a look of disgust on his face as he placed the creepy book on the table.
"No kidding, dude reading about some of the historical events, I am amazed we haven't heard of this community before. I mean look here, this guy basically Hitlered the magical community of the UK."
"Awesome. Well, my head is full and sore. How 'bout we fill up the other tank?" he questioned, patting his stomach. Sam looked up, smiling.
"Yeah, come on," and he grabbed both books and wedged them back into the bag. "But seriously what are we going to do about this?" he asked as they grabbed their duffle and headed out the door.
\o/o\o/
With a sharp crack, three worn out, dirty cloaked teens appeared about 30 feet from the edge of the empty highway. Ambling up to the road, they headed toward the town called Greenwood, about a mile away according to the sign. As they walked, none of them talked, just watched their surroundings carefully, their wands held loosely inside the sleeve of their cloaks.
After almost half an hour, the edge of a town started to come into focus. They could see the outline of a small filling station with a greasy looking little diner connected to it. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible in long dirty cloaks with unwashed hair, they strolled into the town, eyes peeled for any signs of a motel. As they meandered past the diner, Ron turned looking longingly toward the smell of fried potatoes and strong coffee. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in the diner in the booth nearest the door were two tall men, plowing into their hot breakfast.
"Ron, what the..." Harry stopped, looking back at Ron. His eyes flicked up to where his best friend was staring and he too stopped speaking and walking. He shot his hand out and grabbed Hermione's wrist.
"Wha..." she too found the diner window and halted abruptly. The three of them stood there staring dumbfounded at the two men they were looking for, unsure of what to do next. Hermione was the first to come to her senses. Shaking her head, she made a mental checklist, rolled her eyes, and marched toward the seedy looking little diner. Glancing toward one another, Ron and Harry hustled after her, unsure of what she was planning.
Hermione waltzed into the diner, over to the booth with the two men and sat directly next to the short-haired green eyed man she remembered as Dean. Harry and Ron, not trusting this plan but not wanting to draw anymore attention to themselves, wedged in next to the tall dark haired man Dean had called Sam.
The five bodies in the booth sat completely still, eyes resting on one another. Movement in the diner continued on around them like reality wasn't just altering for the boys in the booth and fear wasn't pouring from the teens. The waitress ambled over to their table with a coffee pot, sloshing strong high test into the cups of the brothers.
"You kids want sumtin to eat?" she drawled, paying no attention to their strange attire and dirty faces. Hermione turned brightly toward the waitress.
"Yes, thank you. We'll take three coffees please."
"And pancakes! A large plate of pancakes," Ron added eagerly eyeing the half eaten stack in front of Dean. The waitress glanced at him under heavily painted eyelashes, and nodded before moseying back to the counter.
"Good morning, Dean. Sam," Hermione chimed as she turned toward the younger Winchester. "I believe you have something that belongs to me and I would like to have it back," and with a barely perceptible twist of her arm, the thin point of her wand rested just under her fingertips on the table. Practically in-sync with this motion a gentle click was heard and she felt the hard cold tip of a gun digging in just under her rib cage. Dean had used the moments of her greeting to shift his arm and grab his weapon. Their eyes locked in a silent battle of wills.
