Chapter 7: Promise
Chapter Text
Harry sighed and took a sip out of his cup. As the warm liquid warmed his body he leaned his forehead on the cold glass of the window, looking out at the dreary sight of the salvage Yard. He closed his eyes as memories started to flash in his mind. He gripped his cup tighter as tears started to sting his eyes and his lips were pulled into a thin line.
"Harry?" he turned around quickly, his shields snapping into place.
"Hermione, good morning." He said and smiled at her. Hermione frowned and walked over to stand in front of him. She took a good look in his eyes and Harry tensed up. He knew Hermione would find whatever she was looking for. There was just no hiding anything from the Witch.
"You've been thinking about them again, haven't you?" She asked softly and Harry raised an eyebrow at her.
"I don't-"
"Don't you dare lie to me, Harry James Potter!" Hermione snapped and Harry flinched back. "You're eyes are shadowed and glowing and I could feel the shifting in your magic. I know something's wrong." Harry sighed and rounded her. He put his cup on the kitchen table and moved over to the fridge.
"It's nothing, Mione; just memories catching up to me." He said and started to prepare breakfast. Hermione sighed and rubbed her face with her hand.
"Harry-" The Wizard sighed and leaned on the kitchen cabinet.
"The anniversary of Ginny's death is coming up." He spoke softly and Hermione winced slightly.
"I know." She spoke lowly and Harry sighed.
"I guess I'm just remembering everything. This situation we have on our hands isn't helping me either." He said and continued preparing breakfast.
"Harry, there's nothing you could have done to save her; there's nothing we could have done to save her. We didn't even know-"
"The signs were all there, Mione." Harry interrupted her and rounded on her with harsh eyes. "She distanced herself from us, she became paranoid, locked herself up in her room and she salted the doors and windows! And instead of making her tell us what was going on we allowed her to pull back and-" He stopped and bit into his lip. His hands were fisted so hard his knuckles turned white. "We should have figured it out. I should have figured it out." Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Harry, we were barely 18." She said. "We have just won the War and we didn't know about Demonic Deals and Demons. We didn't know she made a deal." Harry crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window. Hermione sighed and walked over to him. He was tense when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. A moment later he relaxed and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I just-" Harry started but chocked up. "I just feel so guilty." He said. "I feel like I should have saved her; like I could have done something, anything to save her." Hermione sighed and started running her fingers through his hair.
"You couldn't save her, Harry." Hermione said lowly. "If she made a deal with a Crossroads Demon than maybe, maybe we could have done something to save her and only if she came to us and told us what was going on. We didn't even know, Harry."
"I just-The thought that she died alone." Harry whispered. "The thought that she died alone and scared is killing me, Mione. I may not have loved her the way she loved me, but she was my sister in all but blood." Hermione pulled back and made him look at her by cupping his cheeks in her hands.
"I'm sure she knows that, Harry." Hermione said and Harry snorted.
"She is in Hell, Hermione." Harry spoke brokenly. "I sincerely doubt she still remembers us." Hermione frowned. Harry pulled himself away from her and went back to preparing breakfast.
"Harry-"
"Has there been any news from Dean, Ron and Neville?" He asked and Hermione sighed. She knew there was no sense in pursuing that topic and simply let go of it for the time being.
"Not as of yet." She said and took a seat at the table. She rummaged around through the books that lied on the table since last night, trying to locate the one she was reading. "They will call as soon as they have something. Sincerely, I'm surprised Dean agreed with the arrangements." Harry snorted and Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.
"He can act tough as much as he wants." Harry said. "Truth is that somewhere deep down he is afraid of dying. I just hope that he'll act up on it sooner, rather than later." Hermione nodded.
"Did you think about paying a visit to the Crossroads Demon Dean made a Deal with?" She asked and Harry stopped in the middle of turning a pancake. "Don't lie to me, Harry." Hermione warned and Harry sighed.
"If need be, yes; I will pay it a visit." He said and Hermione nodded. In that moment Bobby and Sam walked into the kitchen with Sam still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Morning." He said and Hermione smiled at him.
"Morning, Sam. Morning, Bobby."
"Morning." Bobby grunted and raised an eyebrow when Harry pushed a cup of fresh coffee in his hand. "Thanks." He grunted and Harry smiled slightly at him. Sam took a seat at the table beside Hermione and thanked Harry with a smile when the Wizard placed a cup of coffee in front of him together with a plate of steaming pancakes. Hermione thanked him as well and Bobby nodded his head at him, sipping on his coffee as if he was drinking ambrosia.
"Did your brother call?" Hermione asked and Sam nodded.
"I was just on the phone with him. They're in Boston, checking up on something." Harry frowned as he took a seat at the table.
"Checking up on what?" He asked and Sam swallowed before answering.
"Apparently, our dad had something stored there. Someone broke in and took something out of there." Bobby snorted and shook his head.
"Knowing your dad he had something stored that's not supposed to be used in any situation. I almost feel pity for the idjit that broke in." Sam smiled a small smile while Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Did he say what was missing?" She asked and Sam shook his head.
"They were on their way to Boston when Dean called. He said he would call the minute they got there." The others nodded and Harry sighed.
"Well, we might as well go on with our research." He said and finished his plate of pancakes.
"I'm starting to lose myself in all of this." Hermione said and Harry snickered while Bobby and Sam exchanged a look.
"Not everyone is as systematic as you, Mione." Harry said and Hermione snorted.
"This is not even creative disorder." She muttered.
"We kind of got used to reading whatever we can get our hands on while making notes and we later compare them." Sam said with a sheepish grin and Hermione looked at him.
"That is a good approach. Not one I'm used to but a good approach never the less; as long as you don't lose time on wrong books."
"We don't." Bobby said and Hermione nodded. She sighed and took the book she was almost finished with.
"I hadn't found anything in this book yet." She said.
"I have some notes from the books I've read." Bobby muttered and Sam sighed.
"I found nothing." He admitted.
"I've started compiling everything I have on the deals I have with Uko and Mike. I hope it'll come useful." Harry said and stood up. With a flick of his wrist the dishes were gone and Sam and Bobby jumped slightly in their seats.
"This will take some serious getting used to." Sam said and Bobby snorted.
"You've got that right." He muttered and Harry and Mione chuckled.
"Sure."
"It's Dean." Sam said when his phone started ringing and everyone gathered around him while he answered the call and put it on speaker.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Hello to you too, Sammy." Dean said and Sam rolled his eyes.
"Hello, Dean." He said and heard Ron and Neville chuckle on the other side of the line. "Did you find the storage?" Sam asked.
"Yeah and let me tell you right away. Dad was more obsessed than we originally thought." Sam frowned and looked at Harry, Bobby and Hermione.
"What did you find?" Harry asked.
"Ron and Neville started on shrinking and storing the stuff we've found. There are a few boxes with sealing spells on them if what Neville said could be trusted." Dean said.
"Neville specialized in sealing spells and curses." Hermione threw in her two cents. "If he says it's sealed then it is."
"Great. I'd say that whatever is sealed inside should stay inside, right?"
"What gave you that idea, Sherlock?" Harry said.
"Shut it, pipsqueak!" Dean snapped and everyone snickered. "What I wanted to say is that one box is missing."
"What?" Sam asked with a frown.
"Yeah. One box is missing and there is no way for us to know what was sealed in it. I didn't find any listings on what dad had stored in here."
"Great." Hermione muttered. "Merlin knows what could be unleashed onto the world." She said and Bobby grunted.
"Does the storage have cameras?" They could hear some shifting around. A moment later Ron's voice drifted over the line.
"Found one."
"Here's another one." Neville spoke after Ron.
"Check out the footage. Find whoever did this." Sam said.
"No need, mate." Ron said and Sam frowned.
"Why?" He asked.
"We've found something that looks like-yep; it is blood." Neville said.
"What good does it do?" Dean asked.
"Ron and Neville can locate the perpetrator using his blood. It'll take less time than looking through the security footage." Hermione said and Bobby and Sam exchanged a glance.
"Son of a bitch." Dean grumbled. "I hate to admit this, but you wizards are damn useful." Harry rolled his eyes while Hermione giggled.
"Why thank you, Dean."
"Call in when you get somewhere." Bobby said.
"Sure." Dean said and ended the phone call.
"So." Harry said and sighed. "Back to research?" He asked and the others sighed as well.
"Sure." Bobby said. "Let's just hope we get somewhere."
Harry cursed up a blue streak when the ringing of a cell phone woke him up and his toppled down off of the couch he fell asleep on. It was the middle of the night and while he seemed to have fallen asleep on the couch the others must have went up to their designated rooms.
"Bloody hell." He muttered and tried to locate the ringing cell phone. He found it under a few books. 'No wonder Sam forgot about it.' He thought and picked it up.
"Dean?" he rasped out.
"Harry? Where's Sam?" Harry groaned and rubbed his throbbing forehead.
"I fell asleep in the living room. They are in their rooms sleeping. It's the god damn middle of the night." Harry said.
"Fine. We finally figured out what it is that was stolen." Harry was instantly awake.
"What was it?" He asked.
"A Rabbit's foot." A feeling of dread passed down Harry's back. "Harry?" Dean called out and Harry shook his head.
"Did anyone touch it?" Harry asked.
"What?"
"Dean, did anyone touch it?!" He snapped.
"Yeah. We got into a fight with the two bastards that robbed the storage. Ron caught it." Harry groaned and covered his face with his free hand.
"Give me Ron on the phone." He said. Dean huffed but Harry heard shifting on the other side and soon enough Ron answered the phone.
"What is it, mate?" Ron asked.
"Ron, no matter what you do, do not lose the Foot." Harry stressed.
"What? Why?" Ron asked and Harry sighed.
"That bloody thing is a curse. As long as you hold on to it you'll be the luckiest son of a gun in the world, but the moment you lose it your luck will turn bad; deadly bad." He heard Ron gulp.
"How do I get rid of the curse?" He asked.
"I can't remember right now. Just-" Harry sighed and stood up. "Just stay wherever you are and don't let anyone close, alright? I'll try to find a way to get rid of the Foot as soon as possible."
"Thanks Harry." Ron said and gave an uneasy chuckle. "This is just like the old days, right?" Ron said and Harry chuckled.
"Yeah. Just like the old days. Tell Dean and Neville what I've told you and please be careful."
"Will do, mate." Ron said and their conversation ended with the breaking of the line.
"Bloody fucking hell." He muttered and ran his fingers through his hair. "Bloody brilliant." He threw the cell phone on the bed and moved for the staircase.
"Hermione!"
"So the Rabbit's Foot is the real deal?" Sam asked and Harry sighed while he was scanning a book. Bobby and Hermione were at it as well even though all of them were barely awake.
"Sam, basically everything that even resembles a legend or a myth in this world is real." Harry said and Sam raised an eyebrow.
"What, even Unicorns?" Harry snorted and threw the book on the floor once he finished scanning it, receiving a glare from Hermione.
"Yes, Sam; even Unicorns." He spoke distractedly and grabbed another book on charms and cursed objects.
"Found it!" Bobby snapped.
"Thank Merlin." Harry and Hermione breathed out while Sam sighed in relief.
"The Rabbit's Foot can only be destroyed and its curse lifted if it's burned on a cemetery at midnight with bone ash and cayenne pepper." Bobby said and Harry jumped on his feet.
"Where's the cell phone?" He asked and all four of them started to search for it. Hermione snapped when another book met the floor.
"That's enough." She growled and her wand slipped into her hand from her sleeve.
"Accio Sam's phone." She said and the cell flew into her hand.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Harry muttered and Hermione scoffed.
"Here you go." She said and gave the phone to Sam. The tall, younger man smiled at her gratefully and took the phone. He flipped it open and dialed Dean's number.
A moment later Dean answered him.
"Speak to me, Sammy." Dean said.
"Dean, we found a way to destroy the Rabbit's Foot and break the curse." Sam said. "You need to burn it at midnight on a cemetery with bone ash and cayenne pepper."
"Got that?" Dean asked, the question obviously aimed at Neville and Ron.
"Got it. I have some cayenne pepper." Neville's voice came over the line.
"And I have some bone ash." Dean said. "Thanks guys. We'll call in the moment we're done with this." Dean said and the four breathed a sigh of relief.
"Be careful." Sam said and Dean snorted a chuckle.
"Always, Sammy." The conversation ended and the two Wizards and two Hunters sagged in their respective seats in relief.
"Damn it." Harry muttered. "I kind of liked it when I didn't have to worry about others during a hunt. This is quite exhausting." He said and Hermione snorted.
"Thank you." Sam said. Harry and Hermione looked at him in surprise, while Bobby huffed and nodded his head.
"For what?" Hermione asked and Sam shrugged almost shyly.
"For helping us? I mean, we would have found a way to destroy the Rabbit's foot and all, but I don't even want to imagine how long it would have taken. You're not forced to stay here and help us. You're not forced to try and help me find a way to break Dean's Deal and yet you're here. You don't even know us and yet you decided to stay and help us without asking many questions."
"That's just what we do, Sam." Hermione said. "We help people, just like you do."
"Yeah, I know." Sam said. "But you have to admit that what we did was stupid-"
"You couldn't have stopped it." Harry said and Sam and Bobby looked at him. "What transpired was out of your control and while I do not approve of what Dean did, in a way I can understand him." Harry said and Sam looked in his eyes. The younger Hunter frowned at the shadows he saw in them.
"Harry-"
"I wouldn't have done the same in his place, don't get me wrong." Harry said and Sam frowned. Hermione bowed her head with a dark expression and Bobby looked at her with a frown. "What's dead should stay dead." Harry recited lowly. "I'm a firm believer in that, but never the less, I am willing to help you. You, Bobby and Dean seem like good guys and you don't deserve what Fate has brought upon you." Harry looked in Sam's eyes and the younger Hunter swallowed over a lump that suddenly appeared in his throat.
"I promise to you, Sam Winchester." Harry spoke lowly. "I promise to do everything that is in my power to save your brother from Hell." Sam felt a shiver run down his spine and he nodded his head. Hermione and Bobby exchanged a look, feeling as though something of a great significance was happening.
"Thank you, Harry." Sam whispered and Harry nodded his head at him. "Thank you. From the bottom of my heart."
That's it for now.
Peace and love to everyone!
Tell me if you like it so far!
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