A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. This is a bit of a filler chapter but it's also an important moment for Michelle. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think of the fic so far as we're getting closer to the end. Also, you can find me on tumblr at asirensrage.

Chapter 43: Tea and Company

"You never find yourself until you face the truth."
- Pearl Bailey

"Are we in the right place?" I asked, confused at what I was looking at.

"I think so," Kelly said slowly. She was leaning forward, staring out at the house. It was dark out, but some of the lights were on and it was clear enough to see that this wasn't the house we left. It looked similar, but the porch looked new with a swing on it. The window that we had boarded up after the demons attacked was fixed.

"Come on," Kelly said. "Let's see what happened."

"We were gone for like two days," I muttered before I followed her out. I grabbed the bags from the back and handed Kelly hers as we walked up to the house. The outside looked freshly painted. Both of us hesitated at the door.

It was unlocked and as we pushed it open, I looked up instantly for the devil's trap that was on the ceiling. It was still there.

"It's ours." I pointed to the ceiling and headed inside.

"Hello?" Kelly called out. "We're back!"

Giles walked out of the kitchen into the hallway. "Ah, hello girls. Welcome back. Care for a cup of tea?"

"Sure," I said. I could use the caffeine and I wanted to talk to him about what both of us had found so far.

"I'm going to check on things," Kelly said. "I'll join you after. Here, give me your bag. I'll put it in our room."

"Actually," Giles cut in. "There have been some...modifications. Hermione's magic has been a wonderful asset. She's given everyone their own room."

I looked around. The house didn't look that much bigger from where we were standing by the front door. "Really?"

"Perhaps this is not the best place to show," Giles nodded. "Follow me." I looked at Kelly who merely shrugged. We dropped the bags by the side of the door and followed him into the kitchen.

My jaw dropped. What had been a small kitchen with a table that fit maybe four people had been expanded and now had an island counter in it. Connected to it was a new dining room with a table large enough for at least fifteen people to sit around it.

"Holy shit," Kelly muttered, looking around.

"Astonishing, isn't it?" Giles looked thrilled. "It was remarkable watching her work. Completely different magic to what we have at home."

"Wow." I kept looking around as if expecting to find something new. Everything felt real and solid. "Where is Hermione?"

"She...apparated," he looked like he wasn't sure of the word. "To Bobby's. She went to cross-reference some information that might be promising with the goal you had in mind."

"About that," I said quickly. "I did something and I have no idea how I managed it."

"That sounds quite alarming."

"No, no, no," I tried to reassure him. "I got stranded a...week ago? In the car. I had a pen and drew the protection runes and sigils I remembered from the information we were given when we moved here. Well, we ran into a demon tonight. He couldn't see or sense the car. At all!"

"Really?" Giles stepped closer. "And what style were the runes? In what particular order?"

"Let me grab the book. I can show you."

"Hold on," Kelly said. "Let's go upstairs and put our stuff away. Find out whatever rooms are happening up there. Giles can make the tea and then you can come back and work this out. Okay?"

I nodded. I looked over at Giles. "I'll be back."

"Take your time," he said with a soft smile.

Kelly and I grabbed our bags by the door and headed upstairs. The hallway was longer than before and had doors on each side. The doors were labelled with names and we looked for the ones bearing ours. Kelly's door was across from mine.

"Huh," I said. "Think they moved our stuff?"

"Let's find out."

We opened the doors at the same time. The walls of my room were still a weird lilac but they were no longer faded. The room seemed bigger, but it was likely because the same amount of space seemed to exist, despite the size of the bed growing. It had been a double and now it looked closer to a queen. If not bigger. I grabbed the book that was still on the nightstand where I had left it and left the room. Kelly was standing outside of her room, writing Dean's name under hers on the door.

"I'm heading downstairs. You going to join?"

"I'm going to call the boys and then check on everyone else first, see what else happened when we were gone." She glanced over her shoulder at me. "You want me to write Sam's name with yours?"

"Um, I don't know." I didn't want to presume anything, despite the fact that we had shared a bed a couple of times already.

"That's a yes," she said. "Go down. We'll catch each other up after. Don't forget to call Sam!"

I nodded and left her to her plans.

Giles had the tea ready when I got to the kitchen.

"Alright, I don't remember the exact order, but we can check the car when it's light out. Let me find the ones I used though."

He led me to the dining room. Part of the table was covered in books and papers. "Hermione has helped a great deal," he said. "Not only with her organization skills, but her magic. She had enabled pens to write by themselves as we talked."

"Oh, cool. Makes sense," I remembered the journalist, Rita, in the books using something like that. "Did you find anything?"

"Some," he said. "The lore is...vague when it comes to the angels of this world. We do know that the blades which they carry are capable of...defeating them, but there is nothing on how they are made."

"Okay." That was disappointing but I wasn't too surprised. I didn't expect us to be that lucky. "What about exorcising them?"

"There is no clearly stated exorcism, however, I do believe that it should be possible. It just may involve some...creativity."

"Well, that is something I might be good at," I admitted. "Let's switch. You hand me your research, I'll hand over the book. We'll reconvene and see if anything jumps out."

He nodded and I slid the book over on the table. He handed me a small stack of notebooks that looked filled with notes. I took a sip of tea, trying not to wince. He made something herbal. I'd drink it, but I needed caffeine after. I tried to get comfortable and started reading.

"Michelle?" Something touched my shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my skin and swung first before turning to face who it was. Hermione was standing back, her expression concerned. I blinked before looking around. Giles was gone and I could see the sun peaking through the windows.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Nearly half six," she said softly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I said automatically. I hadn't even realized the passing time. I had been absorbed in the reading, making my own notes in the margins of ideas I had. Giles must have left sometime in the night, but I wasn't sure how I didn't notice, or why Kelly never came to get me.

"If I may," she said slowly. "How much sleep have you been getting?"

I looked up at her. I didn't know what to say. She was Hermione Granger but knowing that wasn't the same as actually knowing her. However, if I was trusting her with helping research, she at least deserved honesty. "I don't sleep a lot."

She looked like she wanted to say something and instead nodded. "Will you be willing to speak with me? We can sit on the porch, take a break from this," she motioned at the table.

"Sure." I stood up and stretched. I needed to get back to working out, if only to keep my muscles from getting too tight.

Hermione pointed a stick at the kettle and it instantly started whistling as if it had been on a hot burner. "Tea?" she asked. I nodded, barely paying attention as I watched her do magic. She reached into the bag that was hanging across her chest. She pointed her wand at the bag with a murmur and something almost jumped out of it. She caught it and I watched as she changed a cup into an actual teapot. The whole process was fascinating to watch.

"Do you just...like is it a matter of changing the molecules? How does that work?" I asked, pointing at the teapot which was now steeping.

"Simply put, yes. It is much more complex than that, building on the fundamental rules of magic."

"Yeah, everything has rules," I agreed as if I knew what I was talking about. Reading about magic was completely different from seeing it first hand.

"Gamp's Law states that we cannot create something out of nothing, though there are the exceptions."

"That makes sense, I guess. How long does it usually last?"

"It would depend on the power, focus and what your transfiguration is." She poured out the tea into two new cups and handed me one. "Shall we?"

We headed outside and she led me to the new porch swing that was on the right side as we exited. It was large enough to hold at least three. I sat on one end and Hermione sat on the other.

"What's your world like?" I couldn't help but ask. "I mean, I know what I read but...it's probably different, eh?"

She looked at me, a little surprised before she smiled. "I wouldn't know," she finally answered. "My world isn't that different from this one, in the muggle world I mean. The wizarding world...is wonderful. It is filled with so many possibilities, even if it needs to be dragged into the 21st century still in some areas, but we were working on that." She took a sip of her tea. "I was working as Head of the Department of Magical Beings and Creatures when I arrived here. My friends all had different callings. Ron worked with his brother in the shop and Harry...Harry taught at Hogwarts."

"Really?" I looked at her. "I thought he went to be an Auror."

"Merlin, no! They wanted him to be, but all of us needed a break. We all needed to do something for us instead of the world for once. As guilty as it made us all feel…" she trailed off, and I watched as she seemed to lose herself in thought. "We needed to recover from what they stole from us. Our childhood." She shook her head slightly. "How is the tea?"

I took a sip of it. It was...odd. It didn't quite taste like any tea I had before. Slightly bitter, but not like the bitter of a strong or over-steeped tea. I accepted the change in the conversation topic. "What did you want to talk about?" I asked. I looked out at the drive in front of the house. The sun was almost to the top of the trees.

"You."

I looked at her in surprise. "Me?"

She nodded. "I...forgive me if it is not my place." My guard instantly went up. "I have heard more than a few stories from the others about you and Kelly both. The events of this morning have confirmed my theory."

"Which is?"

"What do you know of Post-Traumatic Stress?"

I frowned. "Not much? Isn't PTSD something that's associated mainly with like...war? Or like human trafficking?"

"It is, however it isn't only about that. The reason I bring it up is that from what I understand both you and Kelly have suffered traumas in your life and the others here are worried about you. Particularly Chloe." My chest tightened at the reminder. Chloe was a good kid. I didn't want her worrying about me. Hermione took a sip of her tea and sighed. "I was like you. After the war, throwing myself into anything I could do in order to not think about what we lost, what it cost all of us. It was Harry who had the worst nightmares, who refused to sleep in case this was all a dream." She was looking away again, almost lost in her memory. "All of us needed help, whether or not we knew it. If you'd like, and only if you are willing, I could try to help you."

I paused and considered it. "Can you fix me?" My voice cracked as I asked. "Can you make me better?"

"I could make you forget it all," she said softly. "But I would not recommend that. The experiences you have, have shaped you into what you are and what you are becoming. The very same things that led you to protecting the others when this home was attacked. Would you want to lose that?"

"No," I said it instantly. Everything I knew and had ingrained in me by now helped me. I was able to protect myself and protect others. "I just...I want it to stop. I want to stop being so fucking scared all the time. I want to be able to sleep. Any time I try, I either have nightmares or..." Or Lucifer visiting. "Or worse."

"I can give recommendations to you, exercises that were passed on to my friends and I, but it would be best for you to talk with someone. Share the burden of what you feel." I tried not to make a face at that.

"I don't think a therapist would believe me," I said dryly. I would be lucky not to get locked up.

"Then perhaps your friends? You have Kelly who shares your world, and I do believe there are others in the house that would be willing to listen. The vampires, in particular, are quite fond of you both."

"Really?" I asked. I don't know why it surprised me, considering I spent many nights playing cards with them.

"Consider it," she said. "Drink up," she motioned to the cup in my hand. "It will help you sleep. When you wake, we can go over the research."

"I have to train," I said, catching sight of Jane coming from the woods. I tightened my grip on the cup.

"Michelle, sleep is more important."

"She is right," Jane got to the porch faster than I had expected. "Drink what she has made. We will train when you wake."

"I'm fine," I said. "I'd rather train."

"You will not be if you are fighting at only part of your strength. I will see what you are capable of after you wake." Jane shifted her stance into something that looked completely grounded. An easy expression to see that she would not be moved.

I clenched my jaw. "Fine." I didn't think the tea would work or at least prevent the nightmares. I drank it quickly, regretting that choice instantly as it burned down my throat. It wasn't hot enough to scald but it was uncomfortable. I handed the cup back to Hermione roughly. "Happy?"

I turned to head back into the house. I got two steps before my vision went black and I passed out.