A Month Later

Hermione had just gotten home from yet another day at the library. She used to love living in this town, having a normal job, now she just felt bored and restless.

She blamed the Winchesters for that.

Not long after she got home from work, Hermione's fireplace roared to life and turned green. Hermione suddenly longed for the day when she hadn't been connected and no one could just show up unannounced.

Harry walked out of her fireplace into her sitting room, as he had almost every night since the whole Winchester Fiasco.

"Hey, Mione. How are you doing?" Harry had been worried about her ever since the ordeal with the death eaters.

"I'm still fine Harry." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"Right, well, I'm actually here to see if you can you come back to England with me. Just for a little bit, not permanently don't worry. There's someone who wants a meeting with you." Harry asked nervously.

"Meeting? Who wants a meeting?"

"Just trust me, you want to do this." Harry said with an odd grin.

Hermione couldn't believe she was even considering going back to England, but if Harry was willing to come over here on this person's behalf, maybe she should consider it.

She nodded.

Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her into the fireplace with him yelling "Ministry of Magic, London, England!" before she had even finished nodding her head in agreement to this mystery meeting.

They were off whizzing past a bunch of other fireplaces, none could be clearly made out however, as they were travelling too fast.

Eventually the duo emerged from one of the giant gold colored fireplaces in the Atrium of the Ministry.

Hermione felt suddenly nervous, this was the first time since the war that Hermione had been back in England, let alone in the Ministry.

"Harry? Why does someone at the Ministry want to meet with me?"

Harry just smiled at her, "You'll see."

He led her to the elevators, and she noticed along the way all the stares she was getting. She supposed it had been some time since anyone in the wizarding world had seen her.

In the elevator, Harry and Hermione each grabbed a hold of a handle while the elevator jerked backwards before going straight down. Harry seemed to be getting more and more excited each time a new floor was announced.

Hermione listened as the voice announced each floor they reached, 'Level 7 Department of Magical Games and Sports, Level 6 Department of Magical Transport, Level 5 Department of International Magical Cooperation'

The deeper they went into the Ministry the more nervous Hermione got, was she in trouble? Did she do something illegal? Were they mad about her using magic in front of the Winchesters?

She really wished Harry had at least given her a chance to change from her muggle work attire into something that would have been slightly more appropriate for a meeting at the ministry. She shot Harry a glare for this as they continued on their trip in the elevator.

'Level 4 Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Level 3 Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, Level 2 Department of Magical Law Enforcement.'

Wait a minute, Level 2 and they still weren't getting off the elevator which only left one more floor, one more office was left, but she couldn't believe that they would want a meeting with her. Not after she had left the magical world so abruptly and hadn't returned since.

'Level 1 Office for the Minister of Magic.' The voice announced proudly. Harry grabbed her elbow and pulled her off the elevator.

Hermione numbly followed behind Harry as he walked up to the main desk, "Hullo Marie, Hermione Granger here to see the Minister, Please."

The woman behind the desk, Marie apparently, said she would announce their presence and directed them to sit in the waiting area.

Harry sat Hermione down "Relax! It's a good meeting don't worry! It'll be great."

Hermione was still in shock and couldn't believe she was going into a meeting with the minister dressed as she was. She wasn't oblivious to the odd looks her outfit was getting from the passing witches and wizards.

It wasn't everyday Hermione Granger came to the Minister's office and dressed fully in muggle clothes at that.

"Now, I'm going to head to my office for a bit, I'll come get you when it's over, okay?" Harry announced heading for the elevator, dodging a few of the paper airplane memos that came flying out.

Hermione just sat in silence, her thoughts running a mile a minute. It had been years since she had even been near the wizarding world and now, on her first venture back, she was sitting in the most important department of the Ministry for Magic.

To say she was overwhelmed would be a bit of an understatement.

"Miss Granger? The Minister is ready to see you now if you'll just follow me." A woman in a formal cloak came to where Hermione had been nervously waiting.

Was Shacklebolt still the minister? Or would she be meeting with someone new? Did they hate her for leaving the world and not doing what everyone expected?

Hermione made her way into the Minister's office with the woman who had come to get her. His office was a large space, ornately decorated with quite a few of the purple memo airplanes zooming in and out constantly.

Hermione finally focused and behind a rather large and stately desk sat Kingsley Shacklebolt. Hermione let out a sigh of relief, at least she had known Kingsley, and it wasn't a complete stranger.

"Hermione! How great to see you again! We miss you around here you know, you would've made a great asset to the Ministry!" Kingsley announced coming around his desk to shake her hand.

"Thank you Minister, however I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing here to be honest." She said bashfully, not wanting to seem rude but her curiosity took over.

"Ah yes, I see Mister Potter didn't tell you why I requested a meeting with you. Well then let's get right down to it! Also, you can still call me Kingsley you know, as Order members I think first names are acceptable." He said with a wink.

The Minister sat down behind his desk shuffling some paperwork around, Hermione sat awkwardly looking around the office, she couldn't understand why on earth the Minister for Magic would want to meet with her.

"Right, well I heard about the debacle with the escaped Death Eaters and how you were instrumental in getting them recaptured. Mister Potter made sure we all knew that Hermione Granger had once again proven herself an asset to our people."

"He exaggerated, I'm sure. Really I didn't do much."

"Hermione, I truly doubt that. Which is why I'm offering you a position with the Ministry. You wouldn't even have to leave your life over there in the United States." He told her gauging her reaction, when he saw he had her interest he continued, "It would be loosely connected to the Department of International Magical Cooperation as well as the Department of Magical Creatures and The Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Hermione was speechless, she wasn't even sure what he was offering her.

"Um, Wow, Kingsley I don't even know what to say. What kind of position exactly would be connected to all those departments?"

"Well, we aren't entirely sure what the position will be called yet, but essentially you would be under the employ of the English Ministry while in the United States helping to control the massive increase of magical creatures that have been turning up all over the country."

"So, just to clarify, if I have this right, I'd be a hunter? For the Ministry of Magic?"

"Yes, I believe that is the term that the American Ministry uses to refer to the muggles who take on supernatural creatures. You would essentially be the wizarding version of a Hunter, of course with better pay and benefits."

"Wow, I don't know what to say. That's an amazing offer but are you certain I'm the right person?"

"Unless you know another witch or wizard that is in the United States that was the top of their class, and knows as much as you do about magical creatures?" Kingsley just smiled at her across his desk knowing there was nobody else who had earned the title 'brightest witch of her age'.

Hermione took a deep breath, she admitted she had been bored out of her skull since the Winchesters had left town. It had been months since they had left, she had gone back to her regular life and she honestly hated it.

However, Dean had essentially told her to stay away from them, far away and she had listened.

Hermione and the Winchesters made their way into her house after leaving the warehouse, the two remaining death eaters had finally been taken back to the ministry.

Hermione pulled Dean aside and tried to talk to him about Sam. In all her years at Hogwarts and in all the books she had ever read there had never been a muggle who had been able to throw off an Imperio.

"Dean, it's never been done before! No muggle has ever successfully broken an Imperius curse!" she argued.

"I don't give a damn if it hasn't! Sam did it and don't you dare try and tell me that Sam has something wrong with him again!"

"I'm not saying there's something wrong exactly, I'm just saying he may not be… entirely non-magical. There's got to be a reason that he did manage to break an extremely powerful wizards Imperio."

"Bullshit! Sam is completely normal, he is not a magical freak! There is no explanation!" Dean screamed at her.

"Oh what? A freak! A freak like me you mean?" Hermione yelled back at him, tears in her eyes.

"Yes! Exactly! It's all your fault that we even got into this mess! Magic and its freaky weirdness is the reason for all of this shit! Sam wouldn't have been some maniac's puppet if it wasn't for you and your entire world of freaks!"

"Dean! What's gotten into you?!" She was so confused, she had thought he had gotten past this, they had even kissed and made out a few times. Their night in the bar had been as close to a date as Hermione had gotten in a long time.

"I'm just coming back to my senses. Magic is evil! I never should've gotten involved with this shit!" Dean said stomping over to where Sam had been watching their exchange in wide-eyed confusion.

"Sammy! Get your stuff, we're leaving. I never want to deal with any of this magic bullshit again." Dean announced, turning to her "That means you too Hermione. I'm done, Stay away from us. For good."

Hermione snapped back to present day, that fight with Dean had been the last time she had seen or heard from either of the Winchesters, she had been upset for a while and then she had gone back to her life.

And she was bored. Extremely bored.

"I'll do it! Who would I be reporting to?" she asked excitedly, she would finally have a challenging job, a job that would allow her freedom and to remain connected to the wizarding world. It just felt right.

"Mister Potter volunteered to partially oversee this project along with Amos Diggory, our Head of the Department of Magical Creatures. You would get your assignments from one of them, and once completed report back. There's a lot of freedom in this job, you can use whatever method you choose while having the ministry's support behind you."

"It would involve travel however, so you would be given fixed apparition points as well as some compensation for travel. The American Ministry is aware of this project and is willing to allow you a certain amount of freedom while operating on their soil. They've found themselves unable to keep up with the amount of magical creatures being reported in the last year or so."

"Wow, it sounds fantastic." She was already planning out how to get her life in East Hollow put together so that she was free to travel.

"Wonderful! I'll tell Mister Diggory and Mister Potter right away and get everything prepared. It's wonderful to have you as part of the Ministry, finally, Miss Granger." Kingsley said rising and shaking her hand.

Hermione left his office in a bit of a blur, she still couldn't believe that she was working for the ministry in America, under Harry of all people.

Harry greeted her and brought her back to the elevator with a wide smile.

The ride back up to the Atrium level went relatively fast with Harry filling her in on her new job and all the details after Hermione had given him a solid punch in the arm for making her worry and not telling her why she had been there.

He left her at the fireplace with a promise to get back to her soon with her first assignment after she had a chance to sort things at her house in East Hollow.

2 Months Later

Sam and Dean were in some small middle of nowhere town in Wisconsin.

They had been investigating a case where children were falling into a coma for absolutely no apparent reason. A case which had been a bit personal for Dean bringing him back to when he and Sammy were kids.

Sam was still pissed off over the fact that Dean had made him use an ID that had the title 'Bikini Inspector' on it.

"Dude, get over it! It worked and that's all that matters." Dean had laughed at him.

Sam sat on his laptop researching, and a few hours later finally he was excited to have found something to go on.

"It's a Shtriga, They usually disguise themselves as old women."

"Fucking Witches, Again." Dean muttered, mainly to himself, but Sam still heard him.

"What? Dean, you need to get over this. Hermione was not evil and you just completely overreacted about everything."

"Whatever, I don't want to talk about her alright."

"Fine. Whatever."

A few days later, the brothers had wrapped up the case. After figuring out the doctor had been the one causing all the kid's pain and blasting it full of consecrated buck shot, the brothers were packing up before heading out of town once again.

Dean was in the Impala waiting for Sam to finish getting his snacks in the convenience store staring at his phone.

He still had Hermione's number in it from their case in East Hollow a few months back. This Shtriga case had forced him to evaluate the fact that maybe there were some differences in witches, Hermione certainly hadn't gone around sucking out people's life force.

If he was honest he had really liked her, and now he missed her, it wasn't often Dean would admit to missing anyone.

He had thought about calling her a few times since, he knew he had overreacted about the situation but he was pretty much convinced that he had burned that bridge. His thumb hovered above the little green phone icon trying to decide what to do.

Sam slammed the car door behind him, as he folded his long frame into the car holding onto his snacks.

"Who you calling?" Sam asked curiously, settling into the passenger side.

"Nobody. Let's get outta here." Dean said quickly shoving his phone into his pocket ignoring it for another day.

"Dude, just call her already. Don't pull this mopey crap, it doesn't work for you." Sam told him, he got back out of the car and walked towards the bathroom.

Dean knew Sam wasn't coming back until he was sure that Dean had called Hermione, he was a bitch that way.

Dean took his phone back out of his pocket and this time he actually dialed.

"We're sorry; we are unable to complete your call as dialed. Please check the number and dial again, or call your operator to help you."

Shit.

He looked at his phone and double checked the number. Then tried again, he got the same message again.

Had she left? Had something happened to her?

Dean's thoughts were running wild when Sam finally came back to the car.

"So? Did she yell a lot?" He asked laughing, before catching the look on Dean's face.

"The number's disconnected. Can't be completed as dialed, apparently. Think something happened to her?" Dean mocked the automated voice as he said this before sounding concerned for Hermione.

"I donno man, she's pretty badass. Maybe we should check? Drive up there just to make sure?" Sam couldn't help but worry about the witch who had helped them out and had fought with them.

"Seriously Sammy? That's like a 14 hour drive, well 10 for me." Dean half-heartedly argued.

"So? We've driven farther for less. Besides I kind of think we owe her, don't you?"

"Jesus Christ. Fine! We'll go." Dean relented, secretly feeling slightly relieved Sam had brought up the idea of checking on Hermione. He knew he wouldn't stop worrying until he knew what had happened.

Sam and Dean rolled into East Hollow the next evening heading straight for Hermione's house.

Sam and Dean went quickly up to the front door before Dean banged on it. The brothers stood there hoping that Hermione was there and had just changed her number or something.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Dean, an angry looking young red headed woman answered the door.

"What do you want?" She demanded, Dean noticed she also had an English accent, maybe Hermione had company?

"Um, Hi I'm Sam this is Dean. We were looking for Hermione is she here?" Sam asked hopefully. From what he could see the house looked different, none of Hermione's things seemed to be there.

"No. She's gone." And with that the woman closed the door in their faces.

Ginny had instantly recognized them from Hermione's description and had no inclination to tell them anything after their treatment of the witch who had helped them.

She turned and went back to making sure the house was still secure for Hermione before flooing back to England once her monthly check of the home Hermione refused to sell was done.

Seeing the home Hermione had seemed to enjoy so much left with someone else in it made both boys worry increase just a little bit more, so they decided to head for the library.

If Hermione wasn't in her home she had to be there, the woman had said she was gone but still, they hoped she was wrong.

Pulling into the parking lot of the library Dean took a deep breath. If Hermione was in there she probably wouldn't be all that pleased to see him.

For a minute he actually had the irrational thought that maybe she had changed her number just because he had her old one.

Walking into the library they could see the two others from before were at the desk again, Rachel and Adam.

Sam and Dean walked up to the desk, Adam giving him a nasty look while Rachel didn't look too much friendlier.

"Hey, uh, we were just looking for Hermione. Is she around?" Sam said giving them his puppy dog eyes.

"Nope" Was all they got in return. It seemed to be the only thing anyone was willing to tell them so far.

"Okay, uh, do you maybe know where we could find her?" Sam asked them since they didn't have a door to slam in their face as the red head had.

"Nope, not too long after you two jerks left town Hermione took a few days off. Then she came in, quit her job, and left town." Rachel told them.

"I don't know what happened with you two," Adam said gesturing at Dean, "But it made Hermione leave and we haven't heard more than two words since. It's been months! I don't like you." He threw in just for good measure.

"Please get out." Adam said standing with his arms crossed.

They left the library, Dean looking angry as hell while Sam was just depressed.

"I can't believe we caused this. We wrecked the life Hermione had worked so hard to build here." Sam said looking miserable. He had kind of envied the fact that Hermione had actually done what Sam had always dreamed of.

"No, you didn't, I did." Dean said tiredly. "It's obvious we won't find her, for all we know she's back in England, hidden in her magical little world over there."

Dean couldn't help but allow a feeling of disappointment to wash over him. He had genuinely liked Hermione, and then he had ruined it, the fear he had felt about Sam he had taken out on her and it had ruined any chance he had.

Now she was gone and he wouldn't have the chance to fix it, the chances of ever finding her were so small he knew it was impossible.