Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling; various publishers including, but not limited to, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books; and Warner Bros., Inc. This story is also based on characters and situations created and owned by the writers, producers, et al of the television show 'Supernatural'. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, internet persona, or other being, living or dead, is completely coincidental and unintentional unless otherwise noted.

A/N: Hey, y'all! I'm BACK!

I mention a real-life person in the first segment of this chapter (the author at the book-signing) and I feel I ought to mention that I've never met her, nor have I read her book. It was purely chance that, when I was researching Devil's Tower, their event-calendar had her book-signing listed on the day I needed my character in the park. If this real-life person happens to read this and sees herself mentioned, I hope she won't be too upset with me mentioning her in the story.

Three Times is Enemy Action

10:00 am, May 11, 2008
Visitor's Center
Devil's Tower National Monument
Northeastern Wyoming

Francis Taylor sighed and splashed some cold water on her face, scrubbing away the last six hours of driving. After drying off with some paper towels, she studied her weary reflection in the washroom mirror. "Come on, Frank. Pull it together. A job's a job, regardless of how dully mundane, and you're not one to let a little thing like your personal life get in the way. Let's see if you can find that author so you can get this over with and find a bar." The last few months hadn't been particularly easy for the photojournalist; coming home early from a trip to Spain had lead to her finding that her girlfriend of six years, Lisa, wasn't precisely faithful. A week, a fistfight, and three screaming middle-of-the-night arguments later had Frank living out of her beat-up pickup truck. Sure, she could've gone and rented her own apartment, but after Lisa… Well, Frank wasn't all too sure if South Dakota was really where she belonged anymore. Besides, she tended to spend more time working in the field than she did at home – which, if she were totally honest with herself, probably was a major contributing factor in Lisa's infidelity.

Shaking her head to dispel the unwanted memories, Frank exited the small bathroom only to almost literally trip over the woman who'd hired her. Karen Appleton, averagely normal in all aspects of her appearance, had some sort of administration position with the park which also covered press releases and had been put in contact with Frank in order to cover a book-signing taking place that afternoon. "There you are, Miss Taylor. Jeanne Rogers has just arrived. If you'd care to follow me, I'll take you to her."

"Lead the way," Frank replied, pasting an unfelt bright smile on her face. This is gonna be a helluva long day, I can tell already. Frank wasn't wrong in her assumptions.

While Frank dealt with what had to be the most boring job she'd ever accepted, the Burton family, from Oologah, Oklahoma, were halfway around the base trail of the stump-shaped monolith. Amelia grudgingly trailed behind her nature-freak family, listening to her iPod and mentally bitching about the blisters she was sure to have at the end of the day. Her younger brothers, nine year-olds Jimmy and Sean, were getting yet another lecture from their dad about not climbing the ginormous rocks that littered the short distance between the path and the towering mountain. Why couldn't I have been an only child? she wondered, skipping a couple of tracks on her playlist. If I was, I'm sure we wouldn't be out here, freezing our asses off. She stuck her hands back into her light blue jacket. The Weather Channel's jacked – no way it's seventy degrees right now.

"There's a picnic area just around the bend, honey," Amelia's mom said, pointing to a spot on the trail map. Her dad nodded, indicating he'd heard his wife, but didn't pause in his lecture.

After arriving at the pathetically small cluster of picnic benches, the Burtons ate a light lunch. Mom and Dad discussed where they should head next in their vacation while Jimmy and Sean generally made nuisances of themselves. Amelia hopefully checked her cell phone, but was disappointed when it showed a total lack of signal. She jumped a little when her mom tapped her on the shoulder. Looking up from her technology, Mom mimed removing the headphones. Amelia sighed and did so. "What?" she groaned.

"It's time to go. Go get your brothers, they ran off that-a-way," her mom pointed back the way they'd come.

"Mom –"

Her mother crossed her arms over her chest. "Now."

Knowing when her mom used that tone, there wasn't any use in arguing, Amelia got up from the picnic bench and stomped off to find her brothers. "Don't see why I always have to go after the terror-twins," she grumbled, making sure to keep her complaint from being quite loud enough to carry to her parents. After rounding the bend in the trail, she sighed again and shouted, "Jimmy! Sean! Time to go!"

The only reply was an odd reverberation of her own voice echoing off and through the grey rock of the monument.

She was starting to get angry. "Come on, you two! Mom said it's time to go!"

There was still no reply from the boys.

"Don't make me tell Dad who really broke the television!"

When her threat failed to elicit a response, Amelia's irritation started fading to worry. "Come on, guys! Please? This isn't funny anymore!"

They can't have gone far, it hasn't been that long. The fifteen year-old stepped off the path and climbed one of the large mounds of stone at the base of the mountain, cursing her sandals all the while. Once in a somewhat stable position on the top of the rock, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted again, "Sean! Jimmy!"

An older couple, walking a yellow lab, rounded the bend in the path. The man glanced at Amelia and made a snide-sounding comment to the woman walking with him. At this point, the teenager didn't particularly care what they thought of her. "Excuse me, but did you pass two little boys on the trail? They're nine, blonde, one's got a red jacket, the other's green. My brothers."

"Sorry. Can't help you," the woman replied.

"Thanks anyway," Amelia replied, dismissing the couple and their mutt. After the couple had continued on their way, she amended her comment, "Yeah, thanks for nothing, jackasses." She continued scanning as far as she could see along the path – admittedly, it wasn't as far as she'd like, what with how the path itself was basically a giant circle around the base of the tower. Just when she was about to give up, she noticed a flash of color between the trees.

She let out a small sigh of relief. "You two are so dead for scaring me like that," she muttered, sliding down off of the rock. When her feet hit the ground, she jogged in the direction she'd seen her brother's red windbreaker. Amelia ducked around a large pine tree and made a slight detour to avoid more of the slippery grey boulders.

She came to a skidding halt when she finally caught sight of more than just Sean's jacket. It took several moments for her brain to fully process what she was seeing, but when she did, they could hear her scream back at the Visitor's Center.

A/N2: Sorry about the delay since the last chapter posted, but my RL intruded (though a cross-country trip on a motorcycle may sound like fun, in theory – and I did have fun, don't get me wrong – it was a heck of a lot harder to do than I'd imagined. When I finally got home, my bruises had bruises).

And yeah, this chapter's really on the short side, and totally lacking in my main characters, but sometimes outside POVs have to happen. Sorry. Our wonderful boys will be back in the next chapter, promise!

Review and let me know what you think.