A/N: Wow. I don't think I can ever form into words how much I love you guys.

Dark Balance - There will be a couple of small diversions on Canon, but not much. For example - Dean and Sam aren't going to be finding the truth about Hermione soon. (I have that entirely planned in my head and that is not now.) But anyway, I'm glad you like the story and hope you keep enjoying it :)

attlantica - To be honest, I didn't plan on actually writing the scene where Hermione is explaining everything to Ron and Harry... Until I read your review and thought, "What the heck, let's do it." So I hope you will like what it turned out to be.

AnnaOxford - See what was written to attlantica and notice that I did put those differences in the chapter, mainly because you mentioned them, so thank you.

MidnightPenguin - Dean/Hermione moments just for you.

Everybody else - Even though I didn't have anything to respond in particular to your reviews, I still do appriciate them and I love you all!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Harry Potter (Sigh)


June 1994.

"My dad is what's commonly called a Hunter," Hermione began. "He's been doing this most of his life, ever since a demon possessed Karen."

"Karen?" Harry asked.

"His wife," she replied.

"Your mother?" Lupin questioned.

"No," Hermione said, eyeing the werewolf carefully. "My parents weren't married, and my mom wasn't even in the picture back then. The demon possessed Karen and attacked my dad and he… he had no choice other than to kill her. Rufus came. He was a young hunter back then. He helped Dad to hide the body and taught him everything he knew, and Dad became a hunter, too."

"But… what is a hunter?" Ron asked.

"Hunters hunt supernatural beings," Hermione explained. "Vengeful spirits, demons, monsters you've never even heard of – Rugarus, Wendigoes." She sent a worried look at Lupin and Black. "Werewolves and Skinwalkers."

"What's a Skinwalker?" Harry asked, having not missed the look Hermione sent towards his godfather.

"Skinwalkers can turn into animals – into dogs, more specifically," she said. "Distant cousins of non-magical werewolves."

"And your dad hunts those things?"

"Not just him," Hermione said. "Rufus is like an uncle to me, John and his boys Dean and Sammy come to visit every summer. Dad once sent me to the Roadhouse for a weekend – it's a bar for hunters."

"And they all hunt creatures?" Ron asked.

"Non-magical creatures, yes," Hermione said.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"Hunters who know about the magical world know what an Animagus is, and know they can come in all kinds of animal shapes," she explained. "They know the differences between magical and regular werewolves, and none of them would try to hunt any of the ghosts in the castle. They –"

"They know about wand-carriers," Lupin cut her off, "and about the difference between us and witches who got their power from demons. How many of those do you know, Hermione?"

Hermione looked down in shame. "Two," she replied. "My dad and Rufus."

"And what do you think any other hunter would do to if they found out what you were?" Lupin asked. "You know how trigger happy hunters can be. How many witches do you think John has killed? Or Rufus and your dad before they learned the truth? What do you think all the nice hunters at the Roadhouse would do to you –"

"Stop!" Hermione called, the knife in her shaking hand pointed at her professor's chest.

"That's just what most wizards think about hunters, Hermione," Black said, clearly trying to calm the distressed witch. "It's exactly the same kind of prejudice as the one against werewolves."

"It's different," she said, her voice shaking.

"Why?" Lupin asked calmly, unintimidated by the weapon his student was pointing at him. "Because one of them is your family and the other is a creature your family taught you to hate?"

Tears were now openly streaming down Hermione's face as the knife dropped to the floor. She stumbled back until she fell on the bed Ron was laying on and the redhead rubbed circles on her back as she silently cried.

"We got away from the point," Harry told them. "I still don't believe what you're saying."

"Then it's time we offered you some proof," Lupin replied. "You, boy, give me Peter, please. Now."


When Hermione got off the train and ran to hug her father, he was less than pleased to say the least.

"You gave a convicted murderer our home address?" he asked her in disbelief. "A convicted murderer who can turn into a dog?"

Hermione shrugged. "Will it help if I'd say he was framed by a man who can turn into a rat?" she asked.

"Not really!" Bobby said.

"Well, he's my best friend's godfather," she said. "And they all know I'm a hunter now. Well, that you're a hunter."

"You're not making it any better," he replied. "Why the hell would you do something like that?"

"Because he had nowhere else to go," Hermione said. "Come on, Daddy, you wouldn't let a homeless man who was framed for a murder he didn't commit and is on the run be caught, would you?"

"You told him our home address!" Bobby said. "He appeared from the middle of nowhere last night, on a flying bird-horse!"

"They're called Hippogriffs, Daddy," she said. "And they have very fragile honor, so I wouldn't let him hear you call him like that, or he might attack. That's actually why Sirius took him. He was sentenced to death because some idiot student wouldn't listen."

"A murderous, honorable, flying bird-horse on the run with a shape-shifter convicted murderer who is the godfather of your best friend," Bobby repeated.

"That pretty much sums it up," Hermione said. "Oh, and he's not a shape-shifter, he's an Animagus."

"You'll be the death of me one day, you know that?"

"I really hope I won't," Hermione said. "I wouldn't want you dead anytime soon. Or at all."

They flooed home, where Sirius was sitting on the couch, reading the most recent Daily Prophet. He looked much better now that he took a shower and cut most of his beard off, but he still had the haunted look in his eyes Hermione saw the night she and Harry let him go.

"Go to America," she'd told him. "Search for Singer's Salvage Yard in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My dad will let you in once you told him I sent you, but only come when he's alone, and leave Buckbeak in the woods next to the forest."

"Are you sure?" Sirius had asked her as Harry looked at her in disbelief. "Helping a convicted –"

"I'm not going to leave you with nowhere to go," Hermione said severely. "Just… stay safe, will you?"

"Put that thing away!" Bobby called, ripping Hermione away from the memory. "It has moving pictures in it and I'm supposed to have company soon!"

"Who's coming?" Hermione asked, excited.

"Who d'you think?" Bobby asked. "I'm actually surprised Dean didn't run away just to arrive here sooner."

"Don't be silly," Hermione told her father. "Dean wouldn't leave Sammy alone for ten seconds."

"Um…" Sirius looked confused. "Dean and Sammy?" he asked.

"They're my best friends here in the States," Hermione explained.

"And their dad's a hunter," Bobby said. "And none of them knows about your kind of magic, so would you please put that damn newspaper away?"

Sirius folded the newspaper and went upstairs to put it away, and Bobby turned back to his daughter.

"John needs a help with a nest not far away," he said. "I'll join him and the boys will be here. Sirius" – he said the name as if it were some kind of a curse – "will be here to keep an eye on you and the boys, and you'll need to keep an eye on him. He doesn't seem very… understanding when it comes to electricity. He jumped in fear when the toaster worked this morning."

"You need to remember he's a pureblood wizard," Hermione said softly. "And that he was in a prison positioned on an isolated island for the past thirteen years."

"Yeah, yeah," her father said. "But keep an eye on him, will ya?"

"You know I will, Daddy," Hermione said. "Now, when will the boys be here?"

The father and daughter spent the next couple of hours unpacking her bag and talking, as Hermione recounted a very censored edition of all she went through during the past year.

She told him about the fight with Harry and Ron, about Buckbeak and Malfoy and Sirius's story. She forgot to mention that she had been using a time-turner to arrive to all of her classes, and the fact that her DADA teacher was a werewolf slipped out of her mind, a notion that Sirius didn't miss. He did, however, have the brains not to mention it, seeing as she was the main reason Bobby hadn't kicked him out yet.

Hours had passed and the evening arrived, bringing three tired-looking Winchesters along with it. Bobby and John hit the road, not before a quiet argument about the stranger that was supposed to keep an eye on their children, and Sam fell asleep on the bed right away. Sirius sat in the kitchen, reading a book about shape-shifters while Dean and Hermione watched a movie marathon – with the combination of popcorn and licorice.

Around two on the morning, Sirius took his eyes off the book. He would never admit it – and especially not when Moony was around – but he actually quite enjoyed a good book from time to time. He looked at the sleeping teenagers on the sofa, who fell asleep a couple of hours earlier, and shut the TV down, covered them with a blanket and took the popcorn bowl away.

As he crossed the living room again, wondering where he was to sleep since the sofa was taken, he saw Hermione turning in her sleep.

She was back at the grounds of Hogwarts, moments after Professor Lupin's transformation. He didn't take his potion – he was dangerous and she had to protect her friends. Launching at him with her silver knife, she had managed to hurt him enough so that he would back away from her, just as howling was heard from the forest.

She was at the forest, watching herself fighting the werewolf. Doing the only thing she could think of, she howled, causing the monster to come running her was. Hermione and Harry ran through the trees, the werewolf closing in on them. He was getting closer and closer when suddenly –

"Hermione!"

She woke up with a start to the sound of her name being called and somebody shaking her. Opening her eyes, she saw Dean and Sirius both looking at her with worry.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I… just a nightmare," she mumbled.

"What about?" Sirius questioned.

"Werewolves," Hermione whispered and the look on the older wizard's face suddenly became more understanding.

"Dean, take 'Mione up, would you?" he asked the teenager who nodded, wrapping an arm around his best friend.

"Let's go to bed," he said, and all of the sudden Hermione realized he was fifteen already.

It had been nearly ten years since they met, and during that time, he had grown taller, stronger. He was practically carrying her up the stairs to her room. When he put her on her bed, her breathing was back to normal and he looked at her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "Can you just..." She hesitated for less than a moment. "Can you stay?"

"Of course," Dean replied, lying next to her and wrapping his arm around her waist.

It was so hard for him to see her having a nightmare. She was so scared, and there was nothing he could do about it. So he hugged her tight and let her fall asleep with her head on his chest, attempting to protect her if he could.

It wasn't until after she fell asleep that he finished the sentence he began earlier.

"Anything for you."