CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Summary: Hermione Granger, an accomplished witch is working a particularly trying case and is in need of help. Deputy Sheriff Jordan Parrish is a hellhound and just the one she needs. When a fiery witch and a fire-proof supernatural being work together, sparks are sure to fly and Hermione and the Deputy find that they need each other for more than one reason. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and the creators of Teen Wolf and MTV. This is purely for entertainment purposes and I am not making a profit from the posting of this. This is set after The Wild Hunt but disregards everything afterwards, so there was no war between the supernatural and humans, there is no Monroe or Gerard and there are no hunters. At least for now! Also, Parrish is 23 and Hermione is 24. Oh, and I'm fudging the time line a bit, too. This will be written mostly in Parrish's POV.
Page count: 7
When Parrish's eyes fluttered open, the sun was low in the sky and the sound of chirping birds filled his ears. When he realised that his back and neck ached from having slept strangely and also the heavy weight on his chest, he looked down and his eyes widened in surprise.
Hermione was curled up against his chest, twisted slightly so her shoulder and some of her back pressed against him. He could feel that one of her arms had wrapped around his waist, her cold hand pressed against his back, whilst the other hand was pressed against his chest, close to her face where her cheek was laid over his heart. She was quiet and her breathing even and deep, meaning she wasn't going to wake for a little while lonnger. He felt her shiver against him and he frowned, automatically lifting his hands from the small of her back and moving one to her shoulders and the other the middle of her back and he rubbed his hands over the fabric of her hooded jumper, noticing that the blanket that was draped over them was the same colour as her coat had been.
He couldn't remember much from the previous night and he didn't know why they were in the positions they currently were, he supposed he should've been worried but he was used to not remembering the happenings of the night before.
He shook his head slightly, the last thing he remembered was finding the bodies and Hermione throwing a ball of fire at him, and despite him knowing it wouldn't hurt him, he'd still been a little afraid. From that point his memory goes blank until something happens he wasn't sure how to process.
He remembered hearing a voice in the back of his mind. 'She needs you,' it spoke. It was his voice but deeper, stronger, it was the hellhound.
His vision had blurred and when the spots disappeared, his heart had constricted at the sight of Hermione hanging onto a small rock ledge for dear life as she hung over the lake below at a height that would kill her if she let go and fell. He couldn't breathe as her terrified screams filled his ears and her arms shook with the effort of holding herself up. The only reason he was able to remain calm was that the hellhound had taken over his emotions to allow him to think clearly.
"Hermione," he'd said and her head snapped up to him, her eyes flashing between amber and chocolate brown and her screams died down to whimpers. "Hermione, take my hand, I won't let you fall."
Her eyes had darted to the ground and then back up to him, before she reached up and he clasped his hand firmly around one of hers and they quickly followed with the other one. He felt her slip slightly and she screamed in terror, the sound shattering his heart into a thousand pieces.
"I've got you, you're not going to fall," he'd spoken.
"If I do I'll haunt your arse until your last dying breath!" She'd shouted back.
Despite the situation, he couldn't help admire her ability to find a way to joke about her near death experience, even when she was terrified and still at risk of falling to her death.
"You make it sound as though that'll be a punishment," he'd replied, hoping a joke of his own would calm her a little and he shuffled his body weight slightly, as he lowered her a little more and then pulled her up.
He couldn't remember anything after that.
Why were they still in the clearing and not back at her apartment? What had happened with the creature? Had they found it?
Hermione shifted against him, drawing his attention and she made a noise in her sleep before her eyes slowly fluttered open. She titled her head slightly and when her eyes caught his, a sleepy smile pulled at her mouth. Her eyes closed once more and she sighed, snuggling further into his warmth, until she seemed to come back to her senses and her eyes flew open and she bolted back from him.
"Bloody hell, Jordan, you scared the hell out of me!" She half yelled, half shrieked.
His inside constricted at the use of his first name. He really must've frightened her.
"You were hurt, I didn't know how to help you, you could barely walk and I didn't want to risk worsening your injuries through magical travel," she explained quickly, her eyes scanning his body and her hands following their path, checking him for injuries.
He felt himself shiver at her touch and it wasn't due to the coldness of it, before he brought both hands up and gently caught her hands in his, and her eyes darted back up to him and her mutters cut off.
"I'm fine, Hermione," he promised. "Whatever injuries I might have had are now healed. Can you tell me what happened? I don't remember much."
She frowned slightly but nodded. "You disappeared into the trees, I couldn't see or hear anything. I was worried about you and I was pacing to distract myself, I heard a noise and when I turned around, Prodigium was there."
"You saw it?" His eyes widened.
"Yes, it's truly terrifying, I could barely move," she whispered, looking away from him as if she was ashamed by her fear, but he released one of her hands and gently took her chin in his hand and turned her head back to face him.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of," he promised. "I know how strong you are, but even the strongest of people can be afraid. We know the psychological damage seeing this creature can do to people, the fact that you seem to be functioning and lucid is amazing."
She took a deep breath and nodded. "I've never seen anything like it," she spoke quietly. "The witness accounts had been right about its eyes and its size. It must've been nine-feet tall at least, its teeth looked like something you'd see from a shark and its claws may as well have been talons due to their size. And its fur, it wasn't black or brown like we thought; it was white, pure snowy-white. It looked like a wolf, but it didn't at the same time. It didn't have the snout or the tail, even the shape of its eyes was wrong," she trailed off, a distant look in her eyes.
"Hermione, tell me what happened," he instructed gently.
"It came at me, I did my best to fight it off but all of my spells just bounced off it without no effect. I used a much darker curse than I usually would, but it seemed to be the only thing that could touch it. I injured it and it just made it angry. You came out of nowhere and were able to get it away from me, I saw you fighting and clawing at each other, before it caught fire and ran away. You chased after it and I stayed behind, it left evidence behind, blood from its injuries and venom in the bite wounds on the victims and I collected samples of both."
"That's never been found before," he said surprised.
"I know, which means that whoever's cleaning up after it hadn't arrived yet, so I made sure to take enough samples that would allow for several tests to be run. With it we should be able to tell what the creature is."
"That's good," he said gently. "What happened after we left you?"
"I heard a noise and I knew you were hurt, I panicked and followed your trail until it led me here to this clearing. I couldn't hear or see anything until Prodigium came out of the trees. Between the both of us, we'd injured it badly. It came at me and I sent another curse at it before it flung me across the clearing, I rolled right off the edge of the cliff." Her head turned and she stared at the edge of the cliff with a haunted look on her face, and he gently guided her head back towards him. "You saved me, you both did." Her eyes were wide and beautiful. "I told your hellhound to leave me and go after Prodigium but he refused. When it was evident I was too panicked to actually see reason, you worked together. The hellhound was still the hellhound but he had your eyes and your voice, and you were able to calm me enough to talk some sense into me." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. That would explain why he remembered that happening. "When you pulled me up, you were the hellhound again and you were injured, it looked really bad. I was able to get you over here and I placed some protective words around us in case it came back."
"Well I'm all better now, what do you say we get out of here? I don't know about you but I'm starving."
"Let's go home," she nodded, all too happy to get away from the forest. They both climbed to their feet and Hermione wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and he raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"For your modesty, I don't have anything else with me and I have to apparate to the entrance point so I can alert the guard about the bodies," she explained as she picked up the vials of venom and blood and his leather jacket. He took them from her so she could wrap her arm around his and apparate them.
~000~000~000~
They landed in the living room of her apartment and he stumbled slightly until she righted him and gave him a worried glance.
"Bed, now."
"Excuse me?" He felt both eyebrows raising and nearly disappearing into his hair line.
"You heard me, get yourself to bed now. You need rest."
"I'm fine, and we should get to the office."
"Now, you're going to go to bed and get some rest. We were the ones that found the bodies and the evidence, so there's no point in reading the report that'll be sent over, we know what it's going to say anyway, and I need to send the samples to the lab and it'll take time for the results to come through. Going to the office will be pointless. So, you're going to get yourself to bed, otherwise I'll use magic and spell-o-tape you to the mattress."
He made to argue but she glared at him and pointed to the corridor, and deciding it best not to argue with the little witch, he turned on his heel and made his way to his bedroom. Once he entered he draped the blanket and his jacket on the foot of the bed, placed the vials on the chest of drawers and he made his way into the bathroom. He quickly jumped in the shower, the hot water helping to ease his aching muscles and washing away the mud and soot from his body. He quickly dried off and dressed in his underwear and a t-shirt, before climbing into bed, propping himself up against the pillows and looking around the room whilst twiddling his thumbs.
Not long later there was a knock on the door and he called for Hermione to come in, his eyes widening slightly when he saw her carrying a tray that sat a mug of coffee, a glass of orange juice, a plate with some toast, scrambled eggs and bacon and a second plate that held a stack of pancakes with a bottle of maple syrup next to it.
She walked over to him and placed the tray on his lap before stepping back and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Eat it, all of it," she instructed.
"Yes, Mom," he snorted, before picking up his mug and taking a sip from his coffee, the hot liquid being the exact way he liked it.
"You can say what you want, but you need rest and I'm sure as hell going to make sure you're taken care of in the mean time."
"You're a momma bear, aren't you?" He said amused, picking up his fork and eating his scrambled eggs once she glared at him.
"Through and through," she didn't even bother denying it.
"And where's your breakfast?"
"I've eaten."
He narrowed his own eyes at her. "No you haven't, you're still grouchy so you haven't had your morning coffee, I'm not going to die in the time it takes for you to eat breakfast."
"Fine, but if I come back and you're not where I left you, I'll put the 'hell' in hellhound."
He laughed at her as she left the room, shaking his head he returned to his breakfast, noticing that not only had she made him pancakes, but she'd made chocolate chip pancakes, his favourite.
Fifteen minutes later he had just finished eating and Hermione reappeared in the door way, still looking tired but more alert and she had some colour in her cheeks. She took the tray from him and banished it to the kitchen, before she rounded to the other side of the bed and climbed on, sitting beside him with her back propped up against the headboard, her arms folded and her legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles.
"Get some sleep; I'm not leaving until you do."
"Hermione, I'm fine," he promised.
"You didn't see what I did last night, Deputy," she argued.
And that's when he realised, she was afraid to leave him alone in case something happened to him. She hadn't been able to help him heal the way she wanted to and not only that, she didn't want to be alone either. He said nothing more and his eyes moved to land on the large tome sitting on the bedside table, her eyes followed.
"How far have you gotten?" She asked him.
"Only one chapter left to read about the portraits," he answered.
"Really?" She asked surprised, given that they'd barely had much time to themselves over the weeks and he'd managed to practically finish the book.
He nodded and she blinked, before reaching over and taking the large tome in her hand, opening it up to the final chapter, and much to his amusement, she began to read the words aloud. He relaxed back into the pillows, closed his eyes and titled his head back, listening to her soft voice filling the silence in the room.
Hermione had nearly finished the chapter by the time he felt himself dozing off, only he sprung awake when a strange blue mist appeared from nowhere and it formed into the shape of an animal, some type of cat. And not only did it do that, the mouth of the animal opened and a deep voice filled the room.
"Hermione, where are you? Kara has informed me that you have not shown up to your office, no one has seen or heard from you since yesterday morning. We are worried about you; please contact me as soon as possible." The animal disappeared and Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose.
He'd vaguely recognised the voice as belonging to that of Hermione's friend, the magical President. He'd only met him twice when he came to Hermione's office for tea and to discuss the progress made on the case. He'd been polite and curious about his life in America, but otherwise didn't pry and left him to his own devices. Despite the man being a politician, Parrish liked him. He seemed kind and honest, which he knew was a rare trait in that profession, and Hermione seemed to be fond of the older man, too.
"What was that?" He asked in surprise at what he'd just seen.
"A patronus," she answered. "A patronus is one of the most difficult forms of magic to perform and as such, most magical folk aren't able to do so, there's a very low percentage of those that can. A patronus is essentially an embodiment of your soul; it's a part of you which you are able to bring forward in order to send covert messages to others, which is how we communicated during the war. They are used as a defensive tactic against dementors, which are creatures that feed on every positive and happy emotion and thought in your life, before they rip your soul from your body. They used to guard the prison before they were released and sent away from human civilisation, after Voldemort won their loyalty during the war, they could no longer be trusted." He looked horrified by that. "The only hope of stopping them is a patronus, and each patronus takes on the form on an animal, so it's basically your spirit animal. Kingsley's is a lynx, as you may have not been able to tell."
She summoned her wand before raising it, the incantation on her tongue.
"I'm assuming you can do this magic, what's your spirit animal?" He asked curiously.
"Expecto Patronum," she muttered, and a beautiful bird like creature shot from her wand, flying around the room in a blue-silver mist.
"A phoenix," she answered.
"Makes sense," he nodded, his eyes watching the movement of the bird as it perched itself on the chest of drawers and looked at Hermione expectantly.
For obvious reasons, he'd never seen a phoenix before, but from what he could tell of the one in front of him, they were beautiful in a way that didn't seem to be of the earth, though he knew the colouring was off, knowing phoenixes to be linked to reds, yellows and golds, the colours of fire.
"Please fetch Kingsley for me, inform him that I will give him access through the floo," she said and the phoenix gave a squawk before it flew over to the window and through the glass. "I haven't always been a phoenix, my spirit animal changed when Fawkes passed into me."
"So what was your spirit animal before?"
"An otter," she shrugged. He raised an eyebrow. "Otters symbolise playfulness, wisdom, light-heartedness and optimism." He tilted his head, realising that it was quite accurate. "I'll be back, I just have to give Kingsley access through the floo."
She closed the book and climbed off the bed, heading out of the room and grabbing the vials from the chest of drawers as she did so. He could hear voices coming from the living room, but couldn't quite make out what was being said. Ten minutes later she returned and climbed back onto the bed, getting comfortable and she continued to read the final pages in the book.
"And that's it, done. What do you think?"
"Very informative, it's interesting to learn the history of the school, as well as the war. I can see why it's your favourite book."
She leaned over to put the book on the bedside table before she turned to face him.
"Right, considering the damage done to Prodigium and considering we don't know a lot about it, I'm going to assume that it doesn't have advanced healing, so it'll be laying low for a few days. So, we have a bit of time on our hands, of which we're going to spend getting you and your hellhound as one cohesive unit. And I'm not arguing with you on this, you've already done really well so far. You're able to pull your hellhound forward for me to speak to, and you both worked together to save me last night, that's the hard part done and dusted. Now you just have to be able to listen to each other and be able to exist as one being. We'll start later, for now you need rest. I'll grab another book and be right back."
She climbed off the bed and made to walk away before she stopped and turned to face him, a thoughtful look on her face. Before he could question her, she leaned over the bed and her soft, warm lips pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek.
"Thank you for saving me," she whispered, before pulling away and leaving the room, leaving him surprised but also happy.