Chapter 2

.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Hermione had her legs up against the wall as her head hung over the side of her bed. She was watching her brothers argue over what to get for lunch upside down and twirling her wand in her hand absentmindedly. Suddenly she sat up and smirked in their direction. focusing on the twist of her wrist and repeating the incantation in her head she waved her wand at the boys and jumped in excitement when her first silent spell came out correct. Deans hair was now a bright lime green and Sam was currently sporting a striking metallic blue. She watched as they stopped arguing in confusion and started pointing at each other's head laughing. She soon regretted her decision when they turned towards her, still pointing, before stalking forward for brandished her wand threateningly at them and stood.

"Don't even think about it you two, come any closer and the curtains will match the drapes, and for longer than a few hours." She laughed when they didn't stop and tackled her to the bed before Dean began to tickle her sides while Sam gave her a noogie, completely ruining the braid her hair was in. Finally they stopped the attack and Dean chuckled at her attempt at fixing her monstrous curls.

"Were you able to do that silently? I didn't hear you cast anything?" Sam asked. When she nodded, both he and Dean beamed proudly. "Great job, you've been trying that forever!" He raised his hand for a high five before standing to get stuff together for past few months had been so busy, with training and hunting, and getting to know one another. She also had to be signed up for virtual homeschooling on Sams Dell laptop as she was under age and the boys didn't want to do to her what their father did to them by having her constantly transferring schools. Thankfully she had kept up with her muggle studies during the summer, the only difficulty she had was the American history course. When she arrived in America she had not noticed that the Headmaster had aged her up legally to confuse anyone who might be looking for her. So although she was fifteen years old physically, having been aged a year by the time turner last year, she was seventeen on paper. This made it so that she only needed to finish her senior year to graduate. Hermione had helped them on several hunts so far as they actively searched for their father. The first one she went on with them was difficult for her but it helped her to open up about something she had been holding back from everyone for a long time.

.~.~.~.~. Flashback Start.~.~.~.~.

"Come on, come on." Dean said as he pulled Sam up and slung his arm over his shoulder and around his neck,before walking away. Hermione, who had come in behind Dean to rescue Sam, looked over at the broken mirror and stood frozen as her reflection began to speak to her, blood began to trickle down her eyes.

"You are the reason your parents are dead, you killed them!." She fell to her knees, neither brother noticing that she didn't follow them right away. Her chest hurt and she could barely breathe, but she couldn't stop looking in the mirror. "Why didn't you tell the truth? You could have saved them had you used your power. Instead you watched them die, you let those monsters kill your mother and father and didn't even try to save them. All you had to do was focus and those death eaters would have died one by one, you could have easily stopped their hearts and killed them or stopped them long enough to escape but you didn' LET THEM DIE!" She started to choke, her gasping for air alerted her brothers to an issue and they came running back to drag her away from the mirror. Dean grabbed the crow bar and broke the big chunk of glass that was stuck to the frame into smaller pieces. He pulled Hermione into his arms and let Sam use him as a crutch as they walked away. Because their backs were facing the shattered mirrors they didn't notice Mary coming out of the frame of the mirror. They turned around to see her crawling over the broken glass. She walked toward them as they both fell to the ground, Dean dropping his sister in the process. Their eyes had begun to bleed, and their lungs were having difficulty pulling in air. Hermione had managed to pull herself up onto her knees and pull enough magic to wandlesly conjure a mirror before fainting. Dean reached over and pulled the mirror so that Mary was forced to see her own reflection.

.~.~.~.~. Flashback Ends.~.~.~.~.

Later that night she had sat down with her brother and told them her secret. When she was 13 she had been attacked by a man walking home from school. She had felt pressure building up in her head instead of the overwhelming feeling of her magic building up at her core. Instinctually she knew it was her body's way of trying to defend itself. She felt as though her head was burning and stood shocked as it traveled down her neck towards her hands. When the man grabbed her, she tried to push him off when the burning feeling left her hands and he fell to her feet dead. She never told anyone what happened, she spent months reading and researching what happened and learned that no magical being possessed an ability to kill someone with a touch, at least none that could breed with humans to pass it down genetically. All she was able to find was information in the muggle world about certain telekinetic abilities that were triggered by trauma, hers being considered biokinetic. Unfortunately there wasn't much information and what was there was considered fictional. After realizing that this wasn't magic related she vowed to practice enough to not accidentally hurt someone again. She would practice on small animals, rodents, snakes, large insects such as spiders and beetles. She had at one point tried to use it on conjured creatures and learned that it only worked on true living beings. She could stop their heart and lungs from functioning properly and cause either a quick painless death by stopping the heart or a slow painful one by stopping the lungs. She also discovered she had a mild case of telekinesis, having the ability to push things away, pull them close or squeeze the object of her focus. When her parents were attacked she was so scared that she didn't even think to use it and only did when the Imperius curse broke while she was being assaulted by one of the death eaters, she later learned that it was Lucius Malfoy, stopping his heart and successfully killing him, before passing out. After the Bloody Mary fiasco she knew they needed to know the truth. They were both supportive and very concerned, neither one of them knowing what could cause her to have that ability. Dean did tell her to only use it in an emergency when she could not use her magic until they knew more information. And Sam just gave her a concerned smile but stayed silent. She got closer to her brothers after that, the three of them swearing not to keep secrets from each other.

After pushing them off her she got up to go to the bathroom and get changed into her day clothes. Today Dean was going to take her shopping for some more clothes and some books for school. She also needed to restock her potions supply as they used up a decent amount of her pain relieving potions during their last wasn't feeling very well so he opted to stay behind and rest as they went out. She was worried about Sam, he seemed distant and was having more trouble sleeping than usual.

"Come on Dean, I need fresh eye-of-newt and it's on sale for another two hours at the local Alley." Shaking his head Dean grabbed his jacket and wallet and waved goodbye to Sam.

"You know, I never thought I'd be going to the store to buy special leaves and powders and other weird shit at a magical store." Hermione giggled and hopped into the passenger seat.

"I never thought I would be hunting ghosts and wiping blood and guts off my clothes at the age of 15." She said,

"Touche kiddo." They drove for about an hour, just listening to music before they found the entrance to Downing Alley, the local magical shopping center. It was a small book shop that sold both magical and No-Mag books. The Magical books were located in a special room to the back that also led to the entrance of the Alley. After stepping through Hermione led Dean to the back of the shop, which held a notice-me-not charm, and slid her wand tip down a brown bookcase. She watched as the bookcase faded into a square entry way that led to a bustling town. She dragged him first to the bookstore called 'Bertha's Best Books', and quickly lost herself in the stacks. She purchased several potions books for healing potions and defensive potions, some books on Runes and enchantments, and surprisingly she found a book on telekinesis and special powers not related to magic, she grabbed it as it was the first one she found in the magical world. They then stopped at Kearnes Apothecary and grabbed all the ingredients she would need for her healing potions and salves. She also purchased a stasis bag that would keep the ingredients fresh until she removed them as well as several large vials of Dittany. Though Dittany didn't work as well on No-Mags, it was still better than stitches and worked well if they got in a tight spot, healing the injuries about two-thirds of the way. She saw her brother was getting bored and took him to the ice cream store, though it wasn't like the one in Diagon Alley it still had over 100 different flavors. The smile on his face when he got a Sparkling Thanksgiving dessert ice cream made the sugar rush he would go through worth it. She sat with him, watching the Pet Emporium across from them sadly. Dean took the last bite of his Ice Cream and noticed her expression.

"What's wrong Glenda?" He asked, using the nickname he gave her last month.

"I miss my cat. He was Half -Kneazle, Half-Persian. A Kneazle is a type of magical cat, they are extremely smart and loyal. They have an ability to identify suspicious people and will alert their owner if someone is being is the one that discovered that Ron's rat was actually Peter. One of the Deatheaters threw him into a wall with magic, when he attacked them." She folded her arms under her chest as she watched parents walk their children into the store.

"Yea I can't believe that a grown man hid as an actual rat for 13 years." He said. He watched her closely and knew he was in trouble. He did not like pets, no animal of any kind had ever set foot into his baby. But seeing her face, how depressed she looked, he wanted to see her smile and knew he was about to do something he never thought he would. He grabbed her arm and gently urged her to stand. "Come on, let's take a look and see if there is anything in there that can handle living out of a car most of the time." She froze in shock for a moment before jumping up and practically ran into the store. There were cages of owls lining the walls, tanks with various snakes, lizards and spiders. There was a pen in the front window with Crup puppies and Hermione quickly guided Dean away from those.

"Crup's don't like No-Mag's." She whispered to him. He nodded and switched sides with her. He let out a loud yelp when she looked into an animal pen and saw walking skeletons resembling kittens. Hermione looked to see what startled him and gasped. Those are Spartus Kittens, which are extremely rare and when fully grown can shapeshift into Saber-tooth tigers. The owner must have received a litter from someone or owns a pair themselves, they're bordering on being endangered and you don't see many in the wild."

"My, my, someone must study Care of Magical Creatures in school." An elderly voice said from behind them. Hermione turned around and smiled.

"Good morning Ma'am." She greeted. The old woman placed her hand on her heart and smiled.

"Oh bless your heart, You don't see many children these days with manner's. The names Agatha, but you can call me Aggie, dearies. I run this place with my Son Albert."

"A&A's Magical Menagerie, Aggie and Albert. I like it. Do you have any, less..um..less."

"What my brother is trying to ask is if there are any animals here that we can have with us in the No-Mag world, his work has us traveling a lot and we spend most of our time there." Aggie tapped her chin with her finger as she thought.

"I doubt you'll be wanting a caged or tanked familiar then, Crups wouldn't be a good choice either. We have a selection of Kneazles and Half-Kneazles."

"I had a Half-Kneazle but he passed recently, I'm not yet ready for another one."

"I'm sorry dearie, hmm we did receive a rare familiar recently, a Nine-tailed Fox kit. She still only has one tail but I know a simple spell that can make the others invisible when she grows more." Dean wanted to leave the shop as quickly as possible, still freaked out about the Spartus Kitten's, and dragged Hermione along as they followed Aggie to the furthest part of the shop. Hermione gasped when she saw the pure white Kit, it was so small she could tell just by looking that it would fit in the palm of her hand. The Kit was sitting at the furthest part of the pen until she saw Hermione and ran so fast she jumped the pen, barreling into Hermione's chest. Hermione gasped as she wrapped her arms around the purring cub.

"She's so tiny, She's an Arctic fox right, aren't they meant to be bigger than this after they're born?" Hermione asked.

"We'll usually, yes, this poor cub came from an owner that was experimenting on the mother with magic while she was pregnant. He dropped her off trying to hide from the Aurors. I had to report him so I could explain her presence here and get more information about what to expect. Usually Nine-tails are much, much larger and have many unique powers, they aren't very docile and are kept either at sanctuaries or in the wild. The only thing that seems to be different is that this pup will stay unusually small for her species, she'll probably grow no larger than 6 inches in body length, her tail will be about 4 inches more likely. This makes it impossible for her to be in the wild or even a sanctuary. As you can tell, she's not feral at all, very sweet that little one. Although I have to say she's never done that before, she must really like you." Dean didn't have to see Hermione's face to know they were taking home this odd little thing.

"So you said we can hide her other tails when they grow, but will she be ok with constantly traveling in a small space?" He asked.

"Yes Nine-tails spend about half of the time sleeping and with her size I don't see much of a problem. Let her out to run at least twice a day for about 30 minutes each and she should be fine. She hasn't shown what her first power is but I'd say either something fire related or ice as that usually their first powers. As each tail grows she will gain a new power, she'll gain a tail a year until she reaches her majority at 10 years of age. Nine-tails can live between five hundred to a thousand years so once she bonds with you she'll stay with your family line until she passes." Dean stared at the woman for several minutes.

"Did you say a thousand years?" He shook his head. "Never mind, we'll take her and whatever else we'll need for her care." He watched as Hermione was playfully ruffling the Foxes fur. "And please tell me this thing is potty trained.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Hermione sat on her bed brushing out her Familiars fur and collecting it in glass vials for later use. Nine-tails fur, Saliva and Whiskers were rare potions ingredients that enhanced the strength of many potions, they were rare and highly sought after. She laid down on her bed and smiled as Vixen tucked herself under her chin. She closed her eyes while she listened to the scratching of Sam's pen and clicking of Dean on the computer. They were looking for a case to work since they finished the last one a few days ago, that was the main reason Hermione had to stop at the Alley since she had no clue when they would next be close to a magical enclave. Sam's expression when they got back with a little fox in tow, was so comical Hermione almost dropped the little thing, she was laughing so hard. He still couldn't believe Dean okayed getting a pet.

"All right. I've been cruisin' some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig. A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali, the crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas. Hey." Hermione could tell Dean was getting annoyed by Sam ignoring him. "Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?"

"No. I'm listening. Keep going." Sam said. Hermione stifled a laugh since it was clear that Sam was in fact not listening."

"And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times." Hermione sat up and turned just as Dean was waving three fingers in the air. "Any of these things blowin' up your skirt, pal?"

"Ugh, Dean, do you have to be so bloody vulgar? How do you shoot yourself in the head three times?" She asked as she stood up to stretch, Vixen whining softly at her being moved.

"Sorry kiddo, this ain't' no pg 13 family." Dean explained with a shrug. She saw Sam staring at the picture he drew before he jumped up.

"Wait. I've seen this before." He said.

"Seen what?" Dean asked as Sam started digging through his duffel bag. "What are you doing?" Hermione watched as Sam pulled out a photo and compared it to his drawing.

"I know where we have to go next." He told them.

"Wanna share with the class?" Hermione asked.

"Back home, Mine and Deans, back to Kansas." Hermione sat on the edge of the bed as she watched her brother closely.

"Okay, random. Where'd that come from?" Dean asked. Sam grabbed the photo to show Dean. "All right, um, this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Dean questioned as he crossed his arms.

"And it didn't burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?"

"I guess so, yeah. What the hell are you talking about?" Dean huffed out annoyed.

"Sam maybe just, get to the point, yeah?" Hermione cut in.

"Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy but, the people who live in our old house, I think they might be in danger."

"Why would you think that?"

"Uh…it's just, um….look, just trust me on this, okay?" Hermione and Dean shared a look as Sam started to walk away, they both stood to follow him.

"Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you? Come on, man, that's weak. You gotta give me a little bit more than that." Dean commented with a hint of an order in his voice.

"I can't really explain it, that's all."

"Sammy, that doesn't clarify anything." Sam glared at her use of his childhood nickname but didn't say anything. Hermione had a feeling he secretly liked it when she called him that.

"Were not goin' anywhere until you tell us." Dean added.

"I have these nightmares."

"We've noticed." Hermione nodded, pointing between her and Dean.

"And sometimes….they come true." Hermione stopped short, Precognitive dreams rarely showed in No-Mags, but it was possible.

"Come again?" Dean asked, stunned.

"Look, I dreamt about Jessica's death, for days before it happened." Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I'm sure it's just a coincidence." Dean tried to reassure him as he sat down.

"No, You don't understand, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn't do anything about it 'cause I didn't believe it. And now I'm dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help. I mean, that's where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?" Hermione went white as Dean stared slack-jawed.

"I don't know." Dean whispered.

"It's rare but it is possible for No-Mag's to be born with certain gifts, I mean what about me? The stuff I told you two before isn't magical." Dean nodded absentmindedly.

"What do you mean you don't know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. I mean, this might even be the thing that killed Mom and Jessica!"

"All right, just slow down, would ya?". Hermione watched as Dean stood up and began pacing. "I mean, first you tell me that you've got the Shining? And then you tell me that I've gotta go back home? Especially when…"

"When what?" Hermione asked. Dean faced her and Sam sadly.

"When I swore to myself that I would never go back there?"

"Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure." Sam pushed.

"I know we do." Hermione sighed and went to the hotel dressers to grab her stuff and pack everything.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Hermione watched as they pulled up to a large two story house. She could easily picture Dean running around the front yard as a small child and felt upset that their lives were torn apart at such a young age. She had a great relationship with her adoptive family until she turned 12 and was sent to Hogwarts. Since then the magical world saw fit to try and split her from the No-Mag world. And it wasn't hard, she was away at school most of the year and when she was home she couldn't show her parents what she learned, nor could she fully explain what was happening or risk them withdrawing her. She didn't remember her birth mother though and was partially grateful, she would have loved to have something, anything to remember her, her voice, her smell, anything. But that would mean remembering how she died and she knew she couldn't handle that. Dean though, Dean was four when his mother died, very brutally, she could only imagine what he was going through being back here.

"Are you gonna be alright, Dean?" She asked when she noticed him watching the house with a distant look.

"Let me get back to you on that." He said before opening the door and heading towards the house. Sam and Hermione shared a look before following him. A pretty woman with dirty blonde hair opened the door.

"Yes?" She greeted, giving the three of them an odd look.

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we're with the Federal B-" Sam stepped forward, cutting Dean off.

"I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother, Dean and our sister Hermione. We used to live here. You know, we were just driving by, and, well I know it might be weird but, we were wondering if we could come see the old place." Hermione wanted to facepalm so badly, she doubted any same person would let some stranger into their home, she was also annoyed that Dean made her dress in a pants suit so they could use the agent cover they usually go with, a simple confundus attached to her bracelet had everyone thinking she was a just a young agent and not questioning why a teenager was tagging along with two FBI agents

"Winchester. Yeah, that's so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night." Hermione's eyes widened briefly, shocked that anything would have survived the fire.

"You did?" Dean asked, surprised.

" Come on in, I'll show you, I'm Jenny by the way." She stepped aside so they could come in, Hermione first followed by Sam and then Dean. She led them into the kitchen where a little girl was doing what looked like homework at the table and a little boy was jumping up and down in a play pen.

"Juice! Juice! Juice! Juice!" The little boy cried repeatedly. Hermione smiled and nudged Dean.

"I bet you used to do the same thing." She whispered, getting a half smile in return.

"That's Ritchie. He's kind of a juice junkie." Jenny said before grabbing a sippy cup out of the refrigerator and handing it to Ritchie. "But, hey, at least he won't get scurvy." She turned towards the girl. "Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Hermione. They used to live here."

"Actually I came along after our father moved." Hermione informed them.

"Hi." Sari said softly. Dean waved to her while Hermione smiled.

"Hey, Sari." Sam said.

"So, you just moved in?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, from Wichita."

"You got family here, or….?" Dean urged.

"No. I just needed a fresh start, that's all. So, new town, new job. I mean, as soon as I find one. New house." Hermione nodded understandingly.

"So, how are you liking it so far?" Sam asked.

"Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home… I mean, I'm sure you had lots of happy memories here." Hermione winced at Dean's weak smile. "But this place has its issues."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well, it's just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We've got flickering lights almost hourly. The sink is backed up, there's rats in the basement." She took a deep breath and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."

"No offense taken. Have you seen the rats or have you just heard scratching?" Dean asked.

"It's just the scratching, actually." Hermione could tell she was starting to feel uncomfortable with the boys and was hoping they would ease up on the inquisition..

" Mom?" Sari asked. Jenny kneeled next to her daughter. "Ask them if it was here when they lived here." Sari whispered loudly, the way only a child could.

"What, Sari?" Sam asked.

"The thing in my closet." Hermione tensed and subconsciously looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets." Jenny faced the boys. "Right?" Sam quickly nodded.

"Right. No, no, of course not." He said.

"She had a nightmare the other night." Hermione watched as the little girl became upset with her mother dismissing her story.

"I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom … and it was on fire. Hermione had to fight not to look at her brothers.

"Thank you Jenny for letting us in. Unfortunately there is somewhere we have to be shortly, is it possible we stop by another day for the pictures?" She asked her.

"Of course." She led them to the front door. "Have a great night, I'll see if I can find anything else in the basement that may be yours. Hermione thanked her before following her brothers to the car.

"You hear that? A figure on fire." Sam repeated to them as they got in the car. Hermione patted vixen on the head before buckling in.

"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?" She asked him.

"Yeah. And you heard what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit." Sam added.

"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are coming true." Dean responded.

"It's not completely unheard of Dean, I do find it coincidental that two of the three of us have some kind of ability that's not magical. I mean if Sam was a wizard and did magic like me, it wouldn't be as surprising, but we both have some kind of supernatural powers not related to magic. We need to look into it more and find out why you're just now showing these abilities and not when you were younger, especially since I've been able to use mine for years."

"Well, forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?" Sam interjected, slightly irritating Hermione who glared at him.

"I don't know!" Dean said in a raised voice. Hermione felt bad for her oldest brother and didn't understand how Sam couldn't see how much this was hurting him, being back here.

"Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?" Sam asked.

"Or maybe it's something else entirely, Sam, we don't know yet, and don't think that you're off the hook for keeping these prophetic dreams from us after what happened with Bloody Mary." Sam had the decency to look sheepish and shrink slightly in the front seat from her glare.

"Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get 'em out of that house."

"And we will Sam.

"No, I mean now." Hermione snorted at Sam's demanding tone.

"And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she's gonna believe?" Dean looked him dead in the eye waiting for his response.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Sam asked. Hermione looked out the window at the passing trees and cars and sighed.

"Our job Sam, we do our job and get more information." She watched as the trees thinned out and a gas station crept into view and Dean pulled over.

"We just gotta chill out, that's all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?" He asked Sam.

"We'd try to figure out what we were dealing with. We'd dig into the history of the house."

"Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened."

"Yeah, but how much do you really know? I mean, how much do you actually remember, you were four weren't you?" Hermione cut in and asked Dean.

"About that night, you mean?" He asked, she nodded.

"Not much. I remember the fire…the heat." His eyes had that distant look again. "And then I carried Sammy out the front door."

"You did?" Sam asked surprised.

"Yeah, what, you never knew that?"

"No." Sam answered as he shook his head.

"And, well, Sam, you know Dad's story as well as I do. Mom was….was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her." Hermione wrapped her arms around her shoulders as she thought of her own mother, scared and alone.

" And he never had a theory about what did it?" Hermione asked.

"If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times." Dean replied.

"Okay. So, if we're gonna figure out what's going on now…we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it's the same thing." Sam said as he pulled out a notebook to write some information down.

"Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time." Dean ticked off each finger as he spoke.

"Does this feel like just another job to you?" Sam asked, no one answered.

"I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom." Dean told them, after a minute Hermione did the same and followed him, walking around the corner she saw him on the phone clearly upset. " Dad? I know I've left you messages before. I don't even know if you'll get them. Or if you'll answer, you haven't called us back since we picked Hermione up, so I don't know." Hermione watched as he cleared his throat."But I'm with Sam and Hermione. And we're in Lawrence. And there's something in our old house. I don't know if it's the thing that killed Mom or not, but…" He took a shaky breath before continuing. "I don't know what to do." Hermione couldn't just stand there anymore, when Dean started to cry she ran forward and grabbed his phone, he was so surprised he didn't react and instead tried to hide his tears.

"Hi…um sorry I just sorta stole the phone from Dean, you don't know me, you never wanted to. But I'm your daughter. Your Son's need you, they need your support so please for their sake if you can come and help, please do. So yeah. Bye." She handed his phone back, her face red with embarrassment."I'm sorry Dean but I hated seeing you upset like that. I shouldn't have interrupted your call." Dean shrugged and pulled her into a hug.

"He's your dad too, even if he hasn't acted like it for you. You have every right to talk to him. This case just hit a sore spot for me." She looked up at her brother and felt tears fill her eyes.

"Me too, I never really thought about my mom but…She had to have been terrified, by herself. I don't remember her but sometimes, if I stare into a fire long enough I hear a woman screaming my name begging for someone to save me. If my Uncle didn't have an alert on her, I would have died in that fire too." She let the tears fall as Dean held her closely. Neither one of them noticed that she didn't hang the phone up and that it was still recording. After a moment to themselves Dean closed his phone, unknowingly hanging up, and slipped it in his pocket as he led her back to the car where she decided to take a quick nap next to Vixen.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Hermione was so tired she had apparently fallen asleep for several hours, she woke up sore from sleeping in the back of the car and swore she would convince Dean to let her modify the back seat to be bigger and more comfortable. As she stretched she saw Sam looking at a map and directing Dean where to go. They pulled up to a house and Hermione sat up straight. The house had a strong protective ward on it, not like any she had seen before. When they got out of the car she fixed the wrinkles on her clothes with magic as well as her hair.

"Where are we?" She asked. When the boys told her what they found she was hesitant to believe that she was really a Psychic, if not for the Wards around her home, she would have dismissed it right away. They took a seat as they waited to see her, she was seemingly with a client. She was a large well dressed black woman with curly black hair, her energy made gooseflesh rise on Hermione's arms, she had to concede that this woman was powerful, not in the same way as herself but her energy was very strong.

"All right, there. Don't you worry 'bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you." Missouri informed the tall man. He thanked her as she closed the door behind him. "Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-bangin' the gardener." Hermione's left eye twitched as she tried to contain her laughter.

"Why didn't you tell him?" Dean asked.

"People don't come here for the truth. They come for good news." Hermione had to give her that, no one ever went to a psychic for bad news. "Well? Sam, Dean, Hermione, come on already, I ain't got all day." She walked out of the room, leaving the siblings confused. Sam looked at Dean then Hermione who shrugged before being the first to follow. "Well, lemme look at ya." She paused as she took a moment to look the three of them over. "Oh, you boys grew up handsome." She said before pointing at Dean. "You were one goofy-looking kid, too." Hermione laughed earning a glare from Dean. Missouri grabbed Sam's hand and looked at him sadly. "Sam.. Oh, honey…I'm sorry about your girlfriend." SHe then faced Hermione and did the same. "And you my dear, you are so strong,to survive what you did, never forget that." Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked several times to stop the tears from forming. "Hmm, your father –- he's missing?"

"How'd you know all that?" Sam asked.

"Well, you were just thinkin' it just now." Hermioned raised her eyebrows in surprise, she began to wonder if maybe Missouri was a squib with seer blood. It would explain the ability to read thoughts.

"Well, where is he? Is he okay?" Dean asked.

"I don't know." She answered with a shrug.

" Don't know? Well, you're supposed to be a psychic, right?" He argued.

"Boy, you see me sawin' some bony tramp in half? You think I'm a magician? I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can't just pull facts out of thin air. Sit, please." Hermione started laughing as she sat down and smiled at Missouri as she pointed at Hermione's brother and scolded him. ""Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I'm 'a whack you with a spoon!"

"I didn't do anything." He said with raised hands.

'But you were thinking about it." Missouri responded. Hermione smirked at her brother who crossed his arms petulantly.

"Okay. So, our dad,when did you first meet him?" Sam asked, Hermione still felt weird every time she heard them say our dad, she didn't really feel like he was her dad at all.

" He came for a reading. A few days after the fire. I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say…I drew back the curtains for him."

"What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?" Hermione sat a little straighter at this question, she wanted to find the thing that killed her mother too.

"A little. Your daddy took me to your house. He was hoping I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing and find out that way, what it was.:

"And could you, were you able to find out what it was?" Hermione asked.

"I…" She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"What was it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. Oh, but it was evil." Missouri responded softly. Hermione wrapped her arms around her torso, starting when strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. She smiled appreciatively towards Dean who pulled her close.

"So…you think something is back in that house?" Missouri asked them. Hermione nodded yes as Sam answered.

"Definitely."

"I don't understand, I haven't been back inside, but I've been keeping an eye on the place, and it's been quiet. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it acting up now?" She asked.

"I don't know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying and now this house all happening at once, it just feels like something's starting." Sam replied.

"That's a comforting thought." Dean added. They all shared a look of concern, Hermione took comfort in her brother's arms as he, Sam and Missouri discussed visiting their old home.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Hermione, Sam, Dean and Missouri stood outside the old Winchester home. Dean knocked on the door and Hermione became concerned when she opened the door and looked terrified..

"Sam, Dean, Hermione. What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Jenny, we spoke before about coming back over to collect the pictures? This is our friend, Missouri, by the way." Hermione waved her hand in Missouri's direction as introduction.

"If it's not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house. You know, for old time's sake." Dean asked.

"You know, this isn't a good time. I'm kind of busy." Jenny told them in a rush. Hermione looked at her closely and noticed she was clinging to Richie.

"Are you o-" Dean cut her off rudely, earning him a glare.

"Listen, Jenny, it's important." Missouri smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!" He cried.

"Give the poor girl a break, can't you see she's upset?" Missouri admonished. Turning back to Jenny her expression and voice softened. "Forgive this boy, he means well, he's just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out." Hermione had to hide a snigger at Dean's shocked expression as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"About what?" Jenny asked.

"About this house."

"What are you talking about?" Jenny asked, her eyes wide as Richie squirmed on her hip.

"I think you know what I'm talking about. You think there's something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?"

"Who are you?"

"We're people who can help, who can stop this thing. But you're gonna have to trust us, just a little." Missouri seemed to convince her, a few minutes later they were standing in Sari's bedroom.

"If there's a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it." Missouri informed them.

Why is that?" Hermione asked, the energy of the room practically choked her, something dark had happened here and she could feel the residual left behind.

"This used to be your nursery, Sam. This is where it all happened." Hermione watched as Sam looked up to the ceiling and felt her heart clench for her pulled out his EMF meter to read the room. "Is that an EMF?"

"Yeah." Dean replied proudly.

"Amateur." Hermione coughed to cover yet another laugh as Dean glared at Missouri's back as she walked around the room. Dean nudged Sam who nudged Hermione and showed them the EMF which was beeping loudly. "I don't know if you boys should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain't the thing that took your mom."

"Wait, are you sure?" Sam asked, She nodded in answer. "How do you know?"

"It isn't the same energy I felt the last time I was here. It's something different."

"What is it?" Dean asked as he looked around. She opened the closet and stepped inside it, looking around.

"Not it, them. There's more than one spirit in this place."

"What are they doing here?" Hermione asked as she put her hand on the wood paneling of the closet. She closed her eyes hoping to get some kind of sense of what was here. She just sensed heat, a lot of heat. She pulled her arm back and stared at her hand in surprise. It felt like a burn from a flame.

"They're here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil came to you, it walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, the wounds get infected." Hermione nodded, understanding the metaphor, her brothers on the other hand did not.

"I don't understand." Sam stated.

"This place is a magnet for paranormal energy. It has attracted a poltergeist. A nasty one. And it won't rest until Jenny and her babies are dead."

"I've come across a poltergeist before, but it was more mischievous than anything, liked to play pranks and mess with people, harmless things." Hermione said.

"It depends on the energy that attracts them, schools of young children tend to attract impish and playful ones, those rarely need to be dealt with, but the amount of evil energy that has coalesced here, only a poltergeist of equal energy would come here."

"You said there was more than one spirit." Sam inquired.

"There is. I just can't quite make out the second one." She told them.

"Well, one thing's for damn sure nobody's dying in this house ever again. So whatever is here, how do we stop it?" Dean asked, his voice tense but determined.

40 minutes later found Hermione waiting by the door for her brothers. When Missouri told them they would need to go back to her house to gather what they needed to cast the spirits out, Hermione opted to stay behind and help Jenny get the kids packed to leave for a few hours. This was also to make sure that nothing happened to the small family while the boys were getting everything together.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable leaving you guys here alone." Jenny told Missouri, Hermione had to agree, in any normal situation she wouldn't have felt comfortable either.

"Just take your kids to the movies or something, and it'll be over by the time you get back." Missouri told her and waited until she drove away to usher Hermione inside. Since they only needed to place the three bags of herbs in the house Dean told her he wanted her with the kitchen. He knocked on the wall in several places before hearing a hollow noise. Hermione handed him a small ax which he used to break a hole into the wall.

"She is not going to be happy with all these holes in her house." Hermione stated.

"She'll live and that's what's important, a hole can get filled, a life can be given back." He said as he tried to make the hole bigger. Hermione nodded.

"That's true, maybe I can…" She turned just as a large knife came out of a kitchen drawer. "DEAN!" She cried as it went flying at her brother. Without thinking she pushed him to the ground, the knife stabbing her in the shoulder. Dean quickly grabbed the kitchen table, flipping it to protect himself and Hermione by the many knives that went after them. Hermione pulled her wand out of its holster with her good arm. "PROTEGO MAXIMA!" She cried, the shield protected Dean long enough for him to put the spell bag into the wall. A bright white light flashed as all the hovering knives fell to the ground.

"Hermione, are you ok?" Dean asked just as another yell came from upstairs.

"I'm fine, go to Sam. NOW!" She demanded. He looked conflicted a moment before she waved her wand, reminding him she had magic, and he ran up the stairs. She knew better than to pull the knife out so she instead grabbed the closest rag and applied pressure around the wound. She used her legs to push herself against the wall and managed to stand. She looked around the room and knew Jenny wouldn't be happy with the mess. She quickly cast a Reparo and watched as the room remade itself. Holding her shoulder tightly she decided to check on Missouri, knowing Dean would take care of Sammy. She made her way down into the basement slowly, when she got down there she saw Missouri pinned to the wall by a table. She saw a hole already made in the wall and the bag on the floor. As quickly as she could manage she ran across the room and threw the bag into the hole, biting her lip as the knife shifted painfully. Another white light flashed and the table fell to the floor.

"Oh my, thank you darling girl. Oh dear, we gotta get you back upstairs, that shoulder doesn't look good. Come on, let's go check on those boy's of your's." She let Missouri usher her upstairs, her head getting dizzy from the pain and blood loss. Sam was rubbing his neck and leaning heavily on Dean, when he saw Hermione he shifted to leaning on the wall so Dean could go to her. He picked her up bridal style as he looked worryingly at the knife wound she took for him. "Careful Dean, she's in a lot of pain right now and about to pass out. One of you should get her to the car so she can Magic herself right." Hermione was too weak to notice but had she, she would have laughed at the comical way Sam's eyes widened. "Don't give me that look boy, you think I never came across a natural Witch before, please, how do you think I learned so much? I may live in Kansas but I came from the Bayou. Ain't much that can shock me. Now go before Jenny and her kids get here. Looks like that poor girl even cleaned up your mess Dean, she should get a treat for that." Dean quickly brought Hermione to the car and gently laid her in the back seat, trying hard not to jostle the knife. He went into the trunk and grabbed three potions, one labeled blood replenisher, one labeled pain-reliever and the other Dittany. Hermione was teaching him and Sam about the different uses of potions in case something like this happened where she was unable to grab them herself.. He used a few drops of Dittany to seal the wound when he quickly removed the knife. He winced when she yelled out in pain and hoped no one heard her. The good thing about that was that she was now conscious enough to drink first the blood-replenisher and then the pain-reliever. She sat up weakly and waved her wand when she noticed the blood on herself and his car.

"Sorry about getting baby dirty Dean." She croaked.

"Don't worry, just lay back and take a nap, kid. And if you ever do something stupid like that again you'll be riding in the trunk. Got it?" She chuckled and nodded before laying down again and falling asleep. Her brother's watery eyes the last thing she saw before the potions knocked her out.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

The next morning found the three of them back at the Winchester house with Missouri. After she fell asleep Dean had driven her to Missouri's house to rest while he and Same staked out the house to make sure Jenny and the kids were safe. Hermione was happy that the boys got to see their mom briefly, and that she protected Sam. but she had to admit that a part of her was envious, she would do anything to see her mom and dad again,even her birth mother. Thankfully her wound was fully healed, she loved magic, and she was currently standing with Dean and Jenny as he flipped through some of the old photos she found.

"Thanks for these." He said.

"Don't thank me, they're yours." She replied before thanking him for the other night and walking away. He was about to put the box away when Hermione reached out and grabbed a picture of a man and woman.

"Dean, who is this?" She asked, pointing to the man.

"Sometimes I forget you didn't grow up with us, that's our dad Hermione. Why?"

"His face just seemed so familiar, Probably because you look so much like him, Sammy too." Dean nodded and after a brief moment grabbed a picture of him, Sam and their father. Dean was sitting on their dad's lap holding a baby Sam with some help.

"Here take this one, these are as much yours as they are ours." She thanked him and stared at the picture as she got into the car. A nagging feeling in the back of her head formed everytime she looked at their father. A voice whispering in her ear, telling her how much he loved her and how sorry he was for her being dragged into this harsh life. A voice that for some unknown reason she associated with the man in the picture.

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

.~.~.~. Missouri.~.~.~.

Missouri stepped into her house and tossed her keys into an empty dish on a table by the door. She shrugged her jacket off and hung it on her coat rack.

"That boy…he has such powerful abilities. I can understand his sister not being able to but why he couldn't sense his own father, I have no idea." She pinned John Winchested with a look, He was sitting on her couch, his head in his hands.

"Mary's spirit… Do you really think she saved the boys?" He asked.

"I do." She told him. She watched as he nodded and twisted his wedding ring, looking depressed. "John Winchester, I could just slap you. Why won't you go talk to your children?" She demanded with her hands on her hips. She could sense his pain but her own anger at the pain he caused his children was overriding her sympathy for him at the moment.

"I want to." He said tearfully. "You have no idea how much I wanna see 'em. God when I saw Hermione in that bed, hurt, and you told me she had been stabbed." His voice cracked with emotion. "I tried to keep her out of this, she-she was never meant to be in danger! And you have no clue how much I want to just hold all three of them in my arms." He looked dejectedly down at the floor. "But I can't. Not yet. Not until I know the truth."