Here it is, the reaction to the letter. Just as explosive as promised! Thank you everyone who has been keeping up with the craziness, you are awesome. When I started writing this, I didn't really imagine I'd be getting so many readers. Guys, over 400 people follow this. O.O It's kinda scary, wanting to show all these people a story they'll enjoy. But I think I'm up for the task, so who's ready for the showdown?

Also: Death Eater dude wasn't Snape. Yeah, no, she just killed some random I generated for plot. He's not too important right now, just give it a few years. He'll come up again, as will her lost memories.

Remember last chapter when I said I owned nothing?... yeah... that hasn't change.


Chapter 8: Staring Down the Barrel

Haven wasn't sure what she was seeing- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Why would a bunch of witches send her a letter, how did they even know who she was!? Why was there even a school for witches, and why contact a Hunter, of all people? Didn't they know who was raising her, who was training her? Were they absolutely insane?

Their father looked at her oddly, before picking up the letter and envelope, freezing when he caught sight of the very words that had so affected Haven. Then, he grabbed her upper arm, growling something under his breath. He led her out of the building, with a confused pair of brothers trailing after, knowing better than to ask questions when they caught the look on their father's face.

This wasn't going to be good.

They kept going, until they were hidden from sight. Then, their dad turned to her, waving the letter in front of her face.

"What is this?" he asked. She gulped-he was terrifying, his voice far more dangerous than she had ever heard it.

"I-I don't know." she whispered, staring at her father figure in fright. He'd never been like this with her, not once. She was utterly petrified. This… this was how he treated the monsters they hunted. Not her. Never her.

"Why was it sent to you? Did you contact this… school?" he spat out the word school, his eyes burning with hatred.

She had turned from the Hunter to the monster.

"No! No, I didn't! I've never heard of it, I promise!" she cried. "I don't know what they are, or how they found me, or anything. I don't know why they sent me a letter."

Then it hit her like a punch in the gut- Show me the power you used to vanquish the Dark Lord.

Power… was she a witch?!

She tried to push the idea away, but it had latched onto her now. What if she really was a witch? The clues all added up to it.

Maybe… maybe her dad was approaching this the right way. If she was a witch, she was dangerous.

But how come she didn't know it, if she was? She was torn between the two: witch or Hunter. Hunter or witch.

So which one was it?

"How do I know you aren't lying? You lied about your name for years now." his voice was dark, twisted.

She wasn't lying, as far as she knew. Her name was a different story, something she could argue and back up, not something she doubted.

"I just- I'm sorry! I just, I didn't like it, I hated it. I didn't want to be Alexandrite any more, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I'm sorry!" the last words weren't just aimed at him-she looked right at Dean when she said them. She hoped he understood, that he would really understand that she was sorry, but she wanted to be Haven Winchester, she didn't want to be Alexandrite Potter.

"After I took you in, this is what I get?!" he waved the parchment in the air, glaring at her, "I take you in like you were my own daughter, only to find out you are some kind of- of witch, and that you're going of to some school for training!"

"It's not like that, I'm not a witch! Daddy, I'm not a witch, I don't want to be one! I don't want to go to the school, I wanna stay with you!" she wailed, the area behind her nose burning, signalling incoming tears. She hoped she wasn't a witch, she didn't remember being one, but… but what if she was? What if dad was right? Maybe… maybe she was a witch. Maybe that was how the gun had gotten into her hands. Maybe that's why it was so easy to kill the man, because she really was a monster.

"I should just kill you now." her dad's voice was so calm, so serious. Her eyes widened in disbelief. It was all just… too much. Too much at once. She wanted to hide under the blankets like a small, scared child. The uncertainty and doubt ate away her resolve, her ability to argue. What could she do? What should she do?

Maybe it would be better if he did kill her.

Monster.

Witch.

"But… dad…" she whispered, body trembling. This had to be some kind of nightmare, it didn't feel real.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't." Dad growled, hand reaching inside his jacket to draw out a gun. Her eyes locked onto it. She tried to say something, but her vocal chords wouldn't work, she barely got any sound out at all. Haven watched as the gun slowly pointed upwards, aimed at her chest. Still, no words would form. Her blood pounded in her ears. Was he going to shoot her? Were Sam and Dean going to have to watch her die, without explanation? Why couldn't she stop this?

Say something! Anything, damn it! Open your mouth and speak! It isn't that hard!

She tried, she really did. But the sound died in her throat, silenced by the sight of her dad and the gun meant to kill her, and the thought that maybe it was what she deserved.

"Dad, no!" Sam shouted, jumping in front of her just as their dad's finger began to hover over the trigger.

"Sam, move out of the way!" Dad ordered.

"I won't! Why are you doing this? You can't kill Haven!" Sam cried, refusing to move out of the way. Haven was surprised that Sam was the one to react, she would have thought she was closer to Dean.

But this was dad, of course Dean wasn't going to try protesting. Sam was more argumentative, he didn't blindly follow orders. He wanted to know why, which had led to a few fights between him and their dad, who wasn't used to being questioned. Dean was probably just too shocked to react yet. She certainly was.

"Sam. Don't make me say it again." their dad replied. Sam stubbornly stayed put, chin jutting out in defiance.

"Sam, she's a witch, get out of the way!" Dad yelled, looking angry but unwilling to hurt his son. A pang of hurt hit her-she thought that he would have felt the same about her.

But I'm just a monster and an orphan… I'm not his daughter.

Her little brother frowned, glancing back at her before looking back to their dad, still refusing to move from where he stood.

Scowling, John began to march forward, but then Dean finally intervened, "Wait, dad, what is going on?"

"She is a witch, Sam, move!" John hissed.

"You must have gotten something wrong, Haven isn't a witch." Dean replied, she could tell he was attempting to act casual, masking his uncertainty.

"She is at least in contact with them, if she isn't already." John argued. Finally, she found her voice.

"I'm not in contact with them! I don't even know where the letter came from, or why! Dad, I… I…" she whimpered, shaking from head to toe as tears prickled in her eyes. She blinked them away. Their dad's eyes narrowed, but Sam and Dean both stood in front of her, Dean also unconsciously blocking Sam from sight.

"Fine. Sam, Dean, we're leaving." he said, lowering the gun, but not putting it away.

"We-We're not going to leave Haven, are we?" Sam asked, probably using his puppy eyes to full effect. He was good at that.

Dad didn't answer, keeping the gun in his hand as he stalked away, towards the car. Dean, with a betrayed glance her way, followed after. She didn't move, frozen on the spot. Was she supposed to follow, too? Would Dad kill her if she did? Where was she supposed to go?

"Haven, come on." Sam said quietly, tugging at her hand. Her eyes focused on him.

"Sam… I… thank you." she murmured, thinking back to the way Sam had stood up to her, even with the accusations of her being a witch thrown around, and her not even knowing herself if she was one. Haven followed Sam as he pulled her to the car, barely registering what she was doing. She just felt… detached. Empty. Thoughts swirled in her head, but she couldn't focus on any particular one.

Haven climbed into the car next to Sam, not noticing the way her Dad glared. The long drive was eerily silent. Haven was dimly surprised that her dad hadn't ordered her to get out of the car yet. She had no energy left to try and talk to him about what had happened, none at all. She just stared out of the window, watching the rain. At some point, she might have slept.

Over the next few weeks, they constantly traveled. Everywhere they went, the letters followed. As paranoid Hunters, the thought that someone could find them so easily was quite unnerving. The arrival of every letter was another tear into her relationships with both Dean and her dad. Dean didn't have to say that every letter was a punch to the gut, she just knew. She was his sister, of course she knew.

Her birthday passed with no celebration at all. Sam, for his part, tried, but they had been moving every few days, at the arrival of every letter. It was better this way, honestly. No one was in the mood to celebrate, much less Haven.

Their dad found a hunt in early August, finally leaving Haven and the boys for the first time since the letters began coming in. He wouldn't have done it if Uncle Bobby hadn't asked him to do it, if it hadn't been so urgent. As it was, he threatened to kill her should any harm come to his boys. The only reason he hadn't done so already was due to Sam and Dean.

The first night after John's departure, when Sam had fallen asleep, she saw her chance to make things right with Dean. So, steeling herself, she sat down next to him on the couch.. He didn't even acknowledge her, staring at the car magazine in his hands. She bit her lip, wondering how she would start. She wanted him to understand why she had done as she had, that she hadn't contacted the school. Slowly, she took a deep, steadying breath.

"Dean." Haven said, "I'm sorry."

He didn't look up. She would have thought he was ignoring her completely, if he hadn't nodded at her.

"I wasn't trying to keep something from you, not really. It's just… I hated my name. I wanted a new start, and thought that if I could change my name, I could change me. I could be someone who was worthwhile, someone who wasn't afraid, who wasn't alone, who wasn't abandoned. I didn't like me. So I wanted to be someone else. I don't see myself as Alexandrite Potter anymore, she's in the past. I'm Haven Winchester now, and I like it that way. I didn't think it would hurt you, and I'm sorry I didn't say anything." she explained, not pausing. She needed to get it out, she needed Dean.

Dean closed the magazine, but he didn't look up, "I… I think I get it."

She nodded, that was progress. "Thank you Dean. Also, I swear, I never contacted that school, I've never ever heard of it until that letter came."

"Haven, I know." Dean replied, "I saw your face, you didn't know about it."

Haven gave him a quick hug, relieved. With that out of the way, she could get her relationship with her brother back to the way it had been.

Why couldn't fate have just left it alone?

BOOM.

Both Dean and Haven sprung up, grabbing the nearest weapons. Sam woke with a yelp, jumping out from the bed and getting his hands on the nearest gun..

BOOM.

"Is someone… knocking on the door?" Sam hissed at them quietly, all three of them aiming their guns towards the entrance.

"Be quiet and stay here." Dean ordered, edging closer to the door.

BOOM.

The door finally gave out, swinging off of it's hinges and landing on the floor. Without pausing, they each shot at the giant that stood at the doorway.

"Don't shoot!" the giant called, holding his hands up. The shots had all hit him, but they didn't seem to have hit anything important. In fact, he hardly seemed hurt at all, as though the bullets had barely broken skin.

Haven paused. Shooting didn't have much effect. Did she have any knives on her?... yes, there was one. How to reach it without giving it away…

Dean readjusted the gun, "You just broke in. Why shouldn't we?"

"I'm not gonna hurt yeh." the giant said, shaking his wild mane. "Let me just fix this…"

The man stepped inside, picking up the door and fitting it back within the frame. The three of them watched him, waiting for him to make an aggressive move. What was he? He couldn't be human, the bullets would have done serious harm, then. Not one of them lowered their guns.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Dean asked.

"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." the man answered, holding his hand out for Dean to shake. Dean just stared at it, refusing to shake the giant's hand. The man, for his part, just chuckled, lowering the hand after it became obvious that Dean wouldn't shake it.

"I told you to stop contacting my sister!" Sam interrupted, peeking out from behind Haven, "In the letter I sent back with that funny owl."

Haven looked back at Sam quizzically. He'd contacted the school… for her? Her heart warmed in her chest. Even if it was dangerous, he'd tried to get them to stop.

"There was a bit of a misunderstandin' that Dumbledore asked me to clear up for yeh. Ah, there yeh are, Alexan'rite! Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." Rubeus Hagrid said, studying her with a smile. This information stunned her, but she forced herself to act as if his words didn't affect her one bit.

"My name is Haven. And what misunderstanding? I'm not going to a school for witches, period, because I'm not one." she argued, gun still pointed at him, though inside she was in turmoil. This man… knew her parents? He had seen her as a baby? Why were her parents known by a giant of a man who worked at a school for witches?

Most importantly, how did he find her, and who was this 'Dumbledore'?

"Why, of course you are, and a thumpin' good one I'd wager, given who yer parents were." the man continued merrily. Panic flared in her chest. Here was another person, backing up the claim that she was a witch. There was too much evidence against her, she felt trapped. There was no way… but yet there was.

"I'm not! If this is some kind of joke, I am not amused! Get out!" Haven shouted immediately, trying to shake away her doubt and failing spectacularly. It was evident in her voice, Dean and Sam would surely pick up on it and then they wouldn't take her side any longer. Her finger hovered over the trigger, uncertainty plaguing her.

"Yeh were born a witch, just like yer mum." Rubeus Hagrid argued, black eyes twinkling merrily. "Yeh sound just like 'er, too."

"Witches aren't born." she hissed, desperately holding on to the part of her that argued she couldn't be a witch, that she was a Hunter, "And I certainly don't kill people in my spare time. I hunt witches, actually."

"Why, of course you don't kill people, only Dark Wizards do that, and ones that get their power from demons." Rubeus Hagrid said with a small frown, "Dumbledore did say you were raised by Hunters… never met one, meself."

"How does this Dumbledore know so much?" Dean asked, glancing back at Haven and Sam. None of them were quite sure what to do in this situation, what to make of this information.

"Wise man, Dumbledore. Knows a lot o' things, he does." Rubeus Hagrid remarked, before clapping his hands together, making a sound akin to thunder, "Right, so we have a long journey back."

"We?" Sam repeated.

"Of course! Yer comin' with me, aren't yeh, Alex, I can call yeh that, right?" the giant said.

"It's Haven, and I'm going nowhere with you, certainly not to that school of yours." she replied.

"But yeh gotta train yer magic somewhere, otherwise it'll be dangerous. The great Alexan'rite Potter, not attend Hogwarts?" the giant scoffed.

"What do you mean, 'dangerous'? Assuming I buy any of this about me having some sort of magic I was born with." Haven asked, the gun lowered slightly, though still ready at need. This was hope-a witch that might not be a killer. An explanation that put her in a more favorable light.

"Well, have yeh ever done somethin' yeh couldn't explain? When you were angry or scared?" the giant asked her. Realization dawned on her.

The gun… The one I shot the crazy man with…

Wide green eyes stared at the giant man, who chuckled.

"That kinda thin' only gets worse as yeh get older an' yer magical core matures, if yeh don' learn control." he informed her, "Others can get hurt. Muggles might see, an' then yeh'll really be in trouble."

"Muggles?" Sam asked, "And what's a magical core?"

His eyes were bright, excited at learning something new.

"Muggles are just non-magical folk, such as you and yer brother here." he motioned to Dean, smiling at him. Dean just glared back.

"The magical core is where yer magic comes from, if yeh get it naturally." the giant informed them, "Someone else would 'ave a better explanation."

"But… I don't want to leave." Haven said, biting her lip. She didn't want Sam or Dean to get hurt, or anyone to find out she had magic of some sort. If her dad knew… she'd be dead, without a doubt. The only thing protecting her currently were her siblings and the lack of magic performed before him.

"I'm sure if you don' like it Dumbledore'll let you come back here. Just try it-there's a great many folks excited to meet yeh. Yer parents were bright young things, shame what happened. Was just so sad, yeh know?" Rubeus Hagrid said, wiping teary eyes.

"No… I don't know. Didn't they die in a car crash?" Haven asked, frowning.

"Lily an-Lily and James Potter, die in a car crash! No, they were murdered, by the same person who gave yeh that scar… I can't believe yeh don't know about this, Dumbledore said yeh probably wouldn't… but every child in our world knows the story, an…" the giant man scratched his head in thought, before sighing. "So do yeh want ter try comin' to Hogwarts?"

"I… maybe…" she murmured, lost in thought. Be a danger to her family, or leave them? She hadn't been away from Sam or Dean since she was six. How could she leave? Dean was as much a part of her as her arms.

"You aren't seriously considering this." Dean said, glaring back at her, "Family doesn't leave family."

"But it's dangerous if she doesn't learn to control it. It's not like she'll be gone forever, and when she gets back the magic she learns will be useful when hunting." Sam said, looking excited, "Haven, you have to go, and when you come back you can tell me everything!"

"I…" she bit her lip, thinking it over. Sam was right. It would help with hunting, and she would come back. If she missed her family too badly, she could return. With how things were going, if she stayed, her dad might kill her. If she gave it time, his anger might lessen.

If she didn't go, there was a possibility that Sam and Dean could be hurt.

That decided matters, "I think… I'll go."

"But you can't leave us!" Dean shouted at her. But you can't leave me.

"She's not going to be gone long, Dean, you'll see." Sam said, walking over to Dean to put a hand on his arm. Dean wrenched it away, stalking out of the room and slamming the door behind him.

"Wait, Dean-" she called after him, about to rush after him when Sam grabbed her arm to prevent this.

"He'll come around, Haven. He just needs a minute." Sam said, frowning at the door, before a smile encompassed his face, "So you're going?! You'll have to stay in touch. Oh, and we'll have to pack your things! What all do you need?"

Haven looked to the giant helplessly, unsure of what to do. On one hand, she didn't want to disappoint Sam… but if Dean was angry with her…

Maybe he just needed time, like Sam said.

Rubeus Hagrid chuckled, "It says what yeh'll be needin' in the letter. Here, I brought one for yeh."

He held out the letter that she had come to hate. She quickly scanned through the list of things she would need, frowning.

"I don't have any of this stuff. Where am I going to get the money for this?" she asked worriedly, "Maybe I'll just stay afterall."

"Did yeh think yer parents would have left yeh with nothin'? No, we're payin' a visit to yer vault first." the man said.

"I… have a vault?!" she repeated, hardly believing it. What happened to the parents who had been irresponsible drunks? Now they were magical, and left her money? She wondered how much, probably not a lot. She could make money stretch at need, she just needed to know what she was dealing with here.

"'Course yeh do. Why don't you two pack all yer things, and we'll head out. We have a long way ter go." the giant said, taking a seat on the couch. It sagged under his weight.

With Sam's help, she shoved all she owned into her bag. Once the bag was full, she pulled Sam into a hug, looking over his head at the door, hoping that Dean would suddenly burst in to give her a hug, too. The door stayed closed, oblivious to her wishes.

"I'll see you soon, Haven. You'll have to tell me all about the people you meet, and the things you learn." Sam ordered, voice muffled by her shirt.

"I'll miss you, Sammy." Haven replied.

"Me too. Love you, sis." Sam whispered.

Haven pried him away, "I love you too. Look after Dean and dad for me, okay?"

He nodded eagerly, "I will!"

"So are you ready ter go?" Mr. Hagrid asked, smiling at the exchange between brother and sister.

She turned to him, picking up her bag, "I guess so."

Haven looked to the door. Dean wouldn't let her leave without saying goodbye, would he? He couldn't.

When they went outside, Dean was nowhere to be found. Her heart sank. She didn't want to leave without hugging him, telling him she loved him.

So instead, she went back inside, telling Mr. Hagrid to wait a moment. She wrote a quick note, telling Sam to give it to him when he returned. That done, she gave him another hug then went back outside with Mr. Hagrid.

This was it. She was leaving, and Dean wasn't there.


Something about the ending still doesn't sit right with me, even though I must have redone it a million times. What can you do?

So this is it. Hogwarts time!... without Dean. :( poor Haven. I do think I was pretty spot on with how each character reacted, so yay!

Hm... how does everyone think this is going to go? Her being alone, suddenly thrust into a world where she is a hero in the spotlight? Oh, and what house do you think I'll chose? I have a house selected and why it happens, but... I like other opinions!

Sammy was adorable. I love him so much right now. Just throwing that out there.

Thanks for reading!