CHAPTER SEVEN
Summary: Nine years after the war, Hermione's the Head of the Auror Department that specialises in dealing with Magical Creatures and fugitive Death Eaters that are loose in the Muggle World. With the fugitive Death Eaters no longer hiding in Britain, she's tracking rogue Death Eaters in the United States, which leads her to The Winchester brothers. The Witch and The Hunters are a dynamic trio that no creature, being or beast wishes to mess with, Magical or Supernatural. Hermione/Dean pairing. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: I don't own original canon characters or events, just those that I create myself. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling and the creators of Supernatural. I am not making a profit posting this fanfic.
Page count: 8
An hour later Dean pulled over at a gas station and whike he was filling up the tank, Sam turned to Hermione.
"Hey, Hermione," he called, but she didn't wake.
He shifted in his seat and turned to reach back, as soon as his hand was about to touch her shoulder, she bolted upright and had her wand pressed against the side of his throat. His eyes widened and he felt fear flood through him at the feral look in her eyes.
She blinked several times before gasping and removing her wand from against his throat. "I'm so sorry, Sam," she said, her eyes full of shame and practically begging for forgiveness.
"It's alright; I guess I should've been more careful, I forgot that you're a war veteran. Next time I'll be more cautious, it wasn't your fault, honestly. I'm glad to see that you've got sharp reflexes though." She slowly nodded and put her wand back in her boot. "We're stopped at a gas station, thought I'd wake you in case you needed the bathroom."
"Thank you, I'll be right back."
She climbed over the seat and stepped out of the car, she noticed Dean watching her from the corner of her eyes but ignored it as she headed to the bathroom and didn't bother looking disgusted at the state of it, she'd seen her fair share of horrifying restrooms and surprisingly, this one didn't even come close to the one in Charlie Weasley's old bachelor pad.
She cast a Cleaning Charm on the toilet before quickly relieving her bladder and moving to the sink to wash her hands. She pressed the cold water against her face to help calm her down. She looked at herself in the mirror and she saw the haunted look in her eyes.
Memories, they wouldn't leave her alone, she was careful with how much Dreamless Sleep she ingested, no more than two a week in fear of becoming addicted. When she didn't take the potion, she either didn't sleep at all, got drunk and passed out or only managed sleep for a few hours before her memories were too much for her to handle and she woke. For that reason Hermione was tired, she was tired all the time but she had learned to live with it. She could function on a lot less sleep than a regular person, unlike Ronald who needed a good ten hours before he even contemplated getting out of bed, she could go with a mere three hours.
She sighed before grabbing a paper towel to dry her face and hands and she pulled her beaded bag out of her boot before finding some American money which she placed in the pocket of her jeans, she repositioned her beaded bag and then left the bathroom, heading into the building since she was starving.
She quickly purchased several bottles of water, three sandwiches and a bag filled with chocolate and sweets, enough to have her parents rolling in their graves. With a smile and a kind farewell to the old man behind the counter, she left out the door and headed back to the car. Dean was leaning against the side of the car, obviously waiting for her to get in before he did himself.
He had a scowl on his face, she suspected he tried to leave without her and Sam had blatantly refused. She smirked and Dean's scowl deepened when he quickly caught on that she knew what his plan had been. She climbed over the seat and plopped herself down comfortably and she noticed Sam shaking his head and giving Dean a knowing look.
Hermione knew that Dean had been staring at her arse during her trip into the back seat, she could feel his eyes on her and she smirked at him again. He made a sound of irritation when once more when he realised that she'd been onto him.
They pulled out of the station and continued on their journey.
"I'm starving so I bought food, I have water and chocolate and other sugary goodness, and I wasn't sure which sandwich you would prefer so I just picked at random," Hermione spoke, they both turned to look back at her surprised that she had bought them food. "BLT, chicken salad or chicken and bacon, fight amongst yourselves, boys," she said, picking the BLT for herself and passing forward the other two sandwiches.
She chuckled as Dean reached for the chicken and bacon and Sam reached for the chicken salad. She sat back and opened the packaging on her sandwich before she set about eating in silence.
Two hours later found them all pigging out on the chocolate and sweets she had bought, half of the supplies already eaten.
"You know, muggle confectionary is nice, but wizarding is better," Hermione mused.
"You have your own foods?" Dean asked. He seemed to have calmed and he was even being nicer to her. She was quickly learning that a well fed Dean, was a nicer Dean, though she couldn't judge seeing as she was the same. She was a bitch when she was starving.
"Yes, well, we still eat some of the foods you do, but we do have our own foods, drinks and confectionary. There's this shop, Honeydukes, it's in this Wizarding Village, Hogsmeade, which is located not far from Hogwarts making it popular with the students. Anyway, it's the best confectionary shop in the world, well, at least I think it is," she shrugged. "We have Bertie Bott's every flavour bean, basically jelly beans and when they say every flavour they mean it. Ronald got a haggis flavoured one once, whilst Harry got a treacle tart one. Then we have Chocolate Frogs, it's charmed so that when you open the package it's a real life frog and you have to catch it before it escapes and then it turns into chocolate you can eat, you get trading cards with famous witches and wizards on that people exchange and collect, there's thousands of them. Then there's Toothburners which are seriously strong mints, Ice Mice, Acid Pops, Cockroach Clusters, Cauldron Cakes, I could go on forever; we have hundreds of different products."
"What's your favourite?" Sam asked her.
"Sugar Quills," she answered without thought. "It's basically nothing but sugar formed in the shape of a quill. I eat them every day; I'm kind of obsessed with them," she admitted and Sam shook his head at her.
It was close to three hours later when they drove past the sign that said, "Welcome to Hulett."
"Where exactly are we?" Hermione asked confused.
"Hulett," Sam shrugged.
She rolled her eyes. "I know that, I saw the same sign you did, Prat. I meant what state are we in?"
"Wyoming, it's a western US state known for Yellowstone National Park, Mountain Ranges, Rivers and Valleys."
"You're better than any search engine," she grinned at him and he laughed at her, shaking his head.
"We'll stop at the closet motel we can find, who knows how long we'll be here for, and we should all get some sleep before we move on," Dean said and they agreed with him.
It was fifteen minutes later when Dean pulled into the car park of the first motel they found. Whilst Dean and Sam busied themselves removing their things from the boot of the car, Hermione climbed out and made her way to the front desk. It wasn't a very nice place, which gave Hermione little hope for having a decent room.
The hideous floral wall paper was peeling at the walls and seemed to have lost its colour, she could imagine it once being bright and cheerful, now it looked stained and depressing. There were several notices on the walls outlining the expected behaviour and what would not be tolerated from occupants, as well as events happening around town, though some were dated back years. The window that offered some protection to the person behind it from potential harm, was dirty and smudged, it likely hadn't been cleaned in years and Hermione had to restrain herself from casting a Cleaning Charm.
Behind the counter sat a teenager, his attention was on his phone, no doubt playing some ridiculous, mind rotting game. He reminded her a little of The Weasleys with his bright red hair that covered his ears, a smattering of freckles on his straight nose and cheeks, he was pale and had bright blue eyes. From what she could see, he was wearing simple blue jeans and a t-shirt with a band logo on, one that she had never heard of before.
She cleared her throat and leaned against the counter to gain his attention. The boy looked up, his eyes locked on her and his mouth dropped open.
"Hello, I was wondering if you had two rooms available," she said with a kind smile.
He slammed his mouth closed and gulped, his eyes trailing from her face, down her body, lingering at her breasts, before continuing down to her hips, trailing back up since the counter hid the rest of her. Though his eyes didn't move back to her face, they stayed on her breasts which could be seen slightly through her shirt which clung to her.
"Hey, Sweetie, my eyes are up here," she said. She had a stern look on her face, but she was dying to laugh, the poor boy blushed bright red.
"S-sorry," he stuttered.
She chuckled and shook her head. "No problem, do you have two rooms available?" She asked kindly.
The teenager turned and started typing away at a computer which she couldn't see since it was hidden.
"W-we only have one room available," he said.
She sighed. "That's fine, my friends and I will just have to share."
"H-how long do you wish to stay?"
She smiled at him. "I'm not sure how long we'll be here for, we're just passing through," a thoughtful frown appeared on her face. "Let's make it three days," she nodded to herself, before pulling out the correct amount to cover their stay and leaving a tip for the boy.
"R-room 7B, it's on the first floor to the left."
"Thanks, Kid," she said, turning to leave and heading out the door, making her way over to the car. Dean was leaning against the Impala and chatting to Sam when they noticed her nearing.
"Come on then, Winchesters, let's get everything sorted so I can go to the morgue and see the relatives of the victims."
"We're coming with you," Dean spoke, though he followed her as she made her way to their room.
"That's fine," she shrugged. She walked up a metal staircase and walked along the corridor until she reached the room.
After opening the door she stepped inside, the two brothers following her. She looked around and grimaced. She was right; the room was far from immaculate. The wall paper was a muddy brown, she wasn't sure if it that was the original colour or if it had once been cream, she preferred to think it was the former. The carpet was a dirty grey colour, she could still see muddy footprints covering the fabric and her face contorted in disgust.
The room didn't hold much, just a double bed with greying sheets, two bedside tables with a lamp on each surface, a chest of drawers and a small round table with two chairs.
"Lovely place," she drawled.
"I'll admit, we've stayed in some dodgy places, but even those were better than this," Sam pulled a face and she laughed.
"Where's our room?" Dean questioned, leaning against the closed door.
"You're looking at it," she replied.
"Then where's your room?"
"You're looking at it," she repeated.
"What?" He questioned with a frown.
"There was only one room available, so we're sharing," she shrugged. "I put down payment for three days, whether we stay for that long or not. I felt bad for embarrassing the kid behind the counter."
"Why?" Sam asked.
"I caught him trying to look down my shirt," she shrugged. "Twice, actually." Sam snorted at her.
"How the hell are we supposed to share one room? There's three of us," Dean spoke.
"Well spotted," Hermione praised, causing Sam to laugh as Dean glared at them both. "You can sleep on the floor, share the bed or sleep in your car, I don't care which." She then pulled her wand from her boot, and started muttering under her breath, waving it in intricate patterns.
They watched as the carpet suddenly became cleaner, it was still a dirty grey, but the footprints were no longer there, the bedding disappeared before being placed with brilliant white bedding and new pillows, another wave of her wand had the room filling with a purple smoke, causing the brothers to cough before it vanished into thin air. With a final incantation Hermione banished the horrid smell from the room and it now smelt like a field of flowers. She smiled to herself in pride.
"What did you just do?" Dean asked her, looking around the now cleaner and better smelling room.
"Cleaned up, I fumigated the room as a precaution, there is not a chance in hell I'm letting anything bite me in my sleep."
"That's amazing," Sam spoke awed.
"It was nothing, just a simple House-cleaning Charm I learned when I was sixteen," she shrugged. "Now, I'm going to freshen up and then get changed, I want to see the relatives of the victims first."
"How do you expect to talk to them?" Dean asked her.
"The same way you do. I must admit, I've heard of your aliases, the Priest was my favourite, ingenious," she winked at them before turning and walking to the room that undoubtedly held the bathroom.
It was just as horrid as the rest of the room and with a fear of catching an illness; she used a Cleaning Charm to clean the mirror, sink, toilet and shower, before digging through her beaded bag and summoning a change of clothes. When she exited the bathroom it was to see Dean and Sam sat at the table, Sam's laptop was powered up, whilst Dean looked bored.
Dean looked up and she saw his eyes widen before he gained control of himself. She was wearing a white blouse that clung to her frame, showing her curves and the form of her breasts, the first couple of buttons were left undone showing off her delicate skin and collar bone. She wore black suit pants that clung to her bum and legs and she carried a black blazer over her arm and a pair of black heels in her hand, walking out of the room in bare feet.
"Do you have fake ID?" Sam asked her, not looking up from his screen.
"Yes, I do, I only need one."
"How so?" He looked up at her, cocking his head to the side.
"It's charmed; it shows the viewer what I want them to see. That way I only have to carry one around with me and there's no chance of using the wrong one by mistake. I got the idea from a British Sci-Fi TV show, Doctor Who," she shrugged. "Okay, boys, you're up."
Sam stood, grabbed his duffle bag and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Hermione dropped her shoes on the floor before slipping her foot into the right one, bending over slightly to tie the buckle around her ankle, then moving onto the left one and doing the same.
"Enjoying yourself?" Hermione asked politely. She could feel Dean's eyes on her and when she turned her head she caught him staring at her arse. He scowled at her. "Twice in one day, aren't I lucky?" She chuckled at him and he crossed his arms and before she could continue to tease him, Sam exited the bathroom wearing a black suit, with a white shirt, a black tie and black dress shoes. Dean stood, grabbed his duffle bag and stormed to the bathroom slamming the door shut.
Hermione burst out laughing.
"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked confused.
"I caught him staring at my arse," she answered.
Sam shook his head at her. When Hermione saw that Sam's tie was askew she shook her head and chuckled fondly, walking over to him. She stopped in front of him and proceeded to fix his tie for him.
"The amount of times I do this for the men in my life is ridiculous, Harry was useless at it seeing as he never had a reason to wear a tie. The Weasley men were worse never having the need for a tie seeing as they grew up in the Wizarding World, and wizards don't wear ties to functions, they were dress robes, slightly fancier and more expensive than your every day robes. There," she tucked his tie behind his suit jacket and stepped back smiling. "Very handsome," she complimented.
"Thanks," he grinned.
Dean stepped out of the bathroom wearing exactly the same as Sam, though he was pulling at his tie and muttering under his breath, struggling to do the knot. Hermione chuckled and walked over to him. She slapped his hands away from the tie and took it from him, placing it under the collar of his shirt, and beginning to tie it.
"What are you doing?" He mumbled.
"Your tie, I thought that it was obvious," she rolled her eyes. "Stay still, otherwise I'll do a Sticking Charm on you, rooting you to the spot," she threatened. He grumbled but allowed her to continue.
When she was done she tucked the tie behind his jacket, and brushed at his shoulders, removing some dust. She stepped back and nodded to herself.
"See something you like, Sweetheart?" Dean smirked, his hands tucked into his pockets.
"I did," she smiled, "Until you opened your mouth," she turned and then grabbed her wand, tucking it under her sleeve as Sam laughed loudly.
"So, shall we head out? I'm starving and I want to get some food after we're done."
"You ate in the car," Sam said, surprised at her announcement.
"That was four hours ago, Sam," she said outraged, "I need feeding, you can't expect a sandwich and a few chocolate bars to tie me over for the rest of the night. Besides, I want some pie." She turned and made her way to the door, oblivious to the way Dean was staring at her in a new found appreciation.
"She's practically you in female form," Sam teased as they closed the door behind them.
"Shut it, Sammy," Dean muttered.
