Author's Note: Still don't own the Harry Potter or Supernatural characters. Spoiler alert for episode Unforgiven.

Chapter Inspiration: Demons by Boyce Avenue

Chapter 3

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Dean gave Sam about 20 minutes to research, before he dragged himself to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face, then he descended the stairs. He needed this to be a hunt. He needed to get his mind off of everything. Maybe it would give him some clarity. Entering the living room, he saw Sam sitting on Bobby's couch, laptop in his lap, and a phone to his ear.

"Well?" He asked Sam, once his younger brother had ended his call.

"Uh, Bristol, Rhode Island. Where 3 women have disappeared in the last week. Apparently the, uh victims, seemed to vanish into thin air." Sam replied, turning his laptop so Dean could see the information he had pulled up on the screen.

Now, this was starting to sound kind of promising. Taking a seat in Bobby's chair across from the couch Dean continued "Could be something. Who's the text from?"

"I don't know. Just kept ringing." Sam replied, perplexed.

"What's that about?" Dean wondered out loud.

"Could be another hunter looking for backup on his case. Who knows how many hunters I even met, working with the Campbell's, you know? But I think we should go." Sam replied.

Dean's defenses went up at the mention of the Campbell's. He was very leery of them, and the fact they let Sam hunt without his soul. The hunt was suddenly sounding less appealing than it had just minutes ago.

"Woah, wait, we just going to drop everything..." Dean started, before being cut off by Sam.

"Dude, two minutes ago you weren't doing anything." Sam pointed out.

"You got mysterious coordinates, from a mysterious Mr. X, leading to a mysterious town. That doesn't throw up red flags to you?" Dean asked, his brain zeroing in on the concerns he had about taking the hunt.

"I don't know, maybe, but that doesn't mean we can just ignore a bunch of missing girls." Sam pointed out.

Dean's relief to hear Sam say something like that was minute, when compared to the situation at hand. "Right?" Sam asked, when Dean didn't immediately respond.

Dean licked his lips and drew in a breath before saying "Okay, we'll check it out, but if things get squirrely, we dump out. Okay? "

"Okay." Sam agreed quickly. He had no problems checking it out, and bailing if things went wrong. Hell, he was almost worried they would have to bail because of Dean being too distracted, if Sam was being honest with himself.

Neither brother said anything, just got up to pack and load the Impala. Before they left Bobby's, the older hunter took one last opportunity to pull Dean aside for a talk.

"Dean, are you sure this is a good idea?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know, but I need a hunt right about now. Maybe it'll clear my head." Dean replied.

"What did Harry want with you?" Bobby asked the question he'd been curious about, ever since the young wizard showed up.

"He wanted to hear my side of the story. Apparently, Hermione showed up back in England crying, and telling Harry that I wanted nothing to do with her and the baby." Dean whispered to Bobby, so Sam wouldn't overhear. "He understands that I need time to come to terms, and figure out what I'm going to do."

"Don't leave her hanging long, son. I'd hate to see you ruin something good." Bobby commented.

"I don't know what I'm doing yet, but maybe I'll have some clarity after this hunt." Dean replied.

"If I hear from her, is there anything you want me to pass on?" Bobby asked.

"Just tell her I'm on a hunt with Sam, but don't tell her where." Dean replied. He didn't need her showing up in the middle of a hunt, where there was a possibility of her getting hurt.

"Got it." Bobby said. "Be careful out there, you idjits." Bobby pitched his voice to address both brothers.

"You got it Bobby." Sam replied from the passenger side door of the car.

Giving Bobby a nod, Dean turned and walked determinedly over to the driver's door, sliding in. Being back behind the wheel of Baby was always a happy place for him. He started her up, and peeled out of the driveway towards Rhode Island.

Hogwarts

Hermione had slept fitfully through the night. She kept having nightmares of Dean pretending to want her, then leaving her with a laugh at her weakest. Over and over, his cold laugh would echo through her head. When the sun first started peaking over the horizon, she slipped out of bed to prepare herself for the day. She peeled out of the clothes from the day prior that she'd slept in, changing into a fresh pair of jeans, a plain white, V-neck t-shirt, and a plaid button down she'd snuck from Dean's clothes when he had been staying at Hogwarts. Cuffing the sleeves, she went to the door to head down for some breakfast.

She walked carefully from the residency corridor to the Great Hall, softly humming a lullaby her mum used to sing to her. She was hoping to feel the same sense of calm now, as she did then. Upon entering the Great Hall, she discovered very few people there. Her friends apparently weren't up yet, which she supposed was all well and good anyway, because that meant she could try and forget what happened yesterday. She could move on without having to talk about it.

Unfortunately for her, moments after she started eating, Harry and Ginny arrived to have their breakfast. Spotting Hermione, Harry chose a spot next to her at the table so he could relate the talk he'd had with Dean.

"Good morning Hermione." Harry, and Ginny greeted.

"Morning." Hermione mumbled around her toast. Maybe luck wasn't on her side today.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"Like shit." Hermione responded.

"I had an interesting conversation with Dean yesterday." Harry commented.

"I'm sure you did." Hermione snarked.

"Hermione, he's just thinking about the situation. You caught him completely off guard. He's got a lot to think about, and very valid reasons for needing the time. He never said that he didn't want you or the baby." Harry said sternly.

"Then why did he send me back?" Hermione snapped, her hormones now settling on the angry way of handling things.

"Hermione, he didn't send you back. You suggested it, and he took you up on your offer. Don't place that blame on Dean, when it isn't on him." Harry cautioned.

Hermione's shoulders slumped. She knew what Harry was saying was accurate, she just wished she knew whether she was going to be a single parent, or not. "You're right Harry. I just don't like the not knowing."

"I know, but Hermione, it does no good to assume things for another person." Harry told her digging into his breakfast.

"I'm thinking about sending him a letter to tell him there's an appointment for me soon to find out what the baby is." Hermione said softly, her hands gliding over the place where her child grew.

"I think that's a good idea. It gives him the option to be there or not. It'll show him you're trying." Harry replied.

With a soft smile for her friend, she resolved to do just that.

Bristol, Rhode Island

Dean and Sam were squatting in an abandoned house. It was simultaneously better and worse than staying in some seedy, cheap motel room. Luckily for Sam though, he was able to hack a WiFi network in order to continue researching for the case. All the girls taken were brunettes with seemingly nothing in common. The more disturbing part of this case for Dean, was that Sam and Samuel had been here on a case, while Sam was running around, sans soul. Who knows how that could have ended up tying into the case. As it was, Dean didn't want to stick around to find out.

"Hey, come on, hop to would you?" Dean asked, bustling around the place shoving his clothes back into his duffle. He was ready to hightail it back to Bobby's.

"We can't go, Dean." Sam replied, looking over the information he had pulled up.

"Uh, yeah we can." Dean told Sam in his "well duh" tone of voice.

"No, listen, 5 guys went missing a year ago, they never found the bodies. I mean, that's got to be the job me and Samuel worked, right?" Sam asked.

"Great, what difference does it make?" Dean replied, wondering where Sam was going with all of this.

"A year ago, five guys go missing, and now, suddenly all these women go missing. Something's here, so either we just didn't stop it, or we only thought we did." Sam laid out his case for staying on the hunt.

"Okay, but why the gender bend huh? First, it's dudes, now it's chicks? That's a totally different M. O." Dean explained, walking over to where Sam was sitting. Something about this case wasn't sitting right with him.

"I don't know. Who knows? The point is that something's still here." Sam replied, gesturing to the information on the computer screen.

"Great, we'll call Bobby, and he can deal with it." Dean suggested.

"Why? We can deal with it." Sam argued.

"Are you serious?" Dean questioned. Sam let out a sound of absolute irritation. If one were to label it with words, it probably would have sounded like "are you kidding me."

"Sam, there is a reason that hunters don't hit the same town over again. Because we have a habit of leaving messes behind." Dean told the reluctant to leave younger brother, who was kind of starting to irritate him.

"Right, I agree…" Sam started, before he was interrupted by Dean continuing his rant.

"One of dad's rules, 'you never use the same crapper twice.'"

Sam looked up at his older brother from where he was sitting. His brother was close to losing it, so he decided to diffuse Dean a little bit. "Everyone uses the same crapper twice."

"Not us!" Dean argued. He stopped when Sam gave him an "are you serious?" look. "You know what I mean." He finished, after a breath.

"Okay look, this creature is still walking around because of me, right? I mean, I let it go. Dad also said: 'you finish what you start.'" Sam rebutted. Dean laughed a short, humorless laugh before Sam continued. "Okay, I get it."

"Do you?" Dean asked seriously.

"Yes, you're afraid I'll stroll down memory lane, and I'll kick this wall in my head so hard, Hell comes flooding through. Right?" Sam asked. "And then, all of the sudden, I'm just some drooling mess on the floor."

"That's not a joke." Dean said seriously. It was one of the fears that kept him awake at night. No one was kidding when they'd warned him about what would happen to Sam, if that wall were to come down. Even with everything else on his plate right now, he still couldn't lose his little brother.

"Okay, I know, but listen. What's happening here right now, it's because I messed up somehow, in some big way. So, every person that gets taken, every person who dies, that's on me. I have to stop it, and you'd do the same thing." Sam said, trying to explain why he felt so strongly that they should stay.

Dean scoffed, wanting Sam to be wrong, but damn it if he wasn't spot on. "All right, I'll follow up with the brunettes. You see what you get from the cops." He told him. It was better he stay on the case with Sam.

Sam gave him a grateful look before they both moved to get their fed suits. Dean was just pulling off his jacket and button down shirt, when there was a tapping noise on one of the wooden boards nailed across a window. Looking through a space between two of the boards, he spotted Hermione's owl sitting on the ledge, a letter in her beak. With a sigh, Dean reached through and took the letter. Instead of waiting for a reply, the owl took off, flying away.

"What was that about?" Sam asked.

"That was mail delivery. For me." Dean replied, studying his name written in her handwriting, across the front of the envelope.

"There's no mailman that comes here Dean, and the only person who knows we're here is Bobby. He would have just called us, so how is it you got mail delivered?" Sam questioned.

"It's from Hermione, and it comes by owl. She tells her owl to find me when she wants a letter delivered, and somehow it always does." Dean explained as simply as he could.

"Like carrier pigeon?" Sam asked, confused.

"Something like that." Dean replied distractedly.

Deciding to deal with it now, rather than later, he turned the envelope over and broke the wax seal. Pulling out the letter, he unfolded it and read:

Dear Dean,

I don't know what you're thinking about, or if you've come to any decisions yet. I don't want to pressure you, but I did want you to know that I have an appointment with a healer in a couple of weeks. I get to find out then what I'm having, whether it's a little boy or girl. You can come if you want, if you don't, that's fine too. It's on December 21, at 9 in the morning.

Love, Hermione

Her words caused something to snap inside of Dean. Suddenly things seemed a little clearer than they had been. He suddenly needed to finish this case that way he could finally sit down and have a talk with Hermione.