CHAPTER TWENTY
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: 11
"Come on, Deputy, up you get," Hermione spoke, looking down at her newly claimed boyfriend, standing beside her bed with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm tired," he muttered in reply, his voice muffled as his face was pressed into the pillow.
"That's your own fault, I said we should get some sleep, you were the one that wanted to go again."
"You didn't complain."
"And I'm not complaining now either, you are."
"I made you hot dogs at two in the morning, surely that constitutes the right for a sleep in."
"Well, I've made you chocolate chip pancakes, and I went out and bought you donuts."
"Donuts?" He lifted his face from the pillow and looked at her.
"Yes, iced donuts, sugared donuts and those pumpkin filled donuts that you liked. I went all the way to the bakery on the very edge of Diagon Alley whilst you were still sleeping."
"We've been officially boyfriend and girlfriend for only a few hours and you might already be the best girlfriend I've ever had."
She snorted at him. "Well, not if you don't get up, I'll eat your donuts. Come on, your pancakes are getting cold." She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek before walking out the room. "I mean it, I really will eat your donuts!" She called over her shoulder.
He sighed before climbing out of bed, slipping on his underwear and leaving to the kitchen, seeing a plate of pancakes, a mug of coffee and a box of donuts sat on the counter waiting for him.
Hermione looked to be busy; she was sitting in front of the lit fireplace with her legs crossed, her hands resting on her knees, her eyes closed and her back straight. Giving that she looked to be doing some sort of meditation, he didn't disturb her and he quickly ate his breakfast, feeling himself waking up once he'd finished his coffee and then he left to his room to shower and dress.
When he came back out, Hermione was in the same position as before, only now a map of Europe was laid on the ground and a strange looking crystal pendent was levitating in the air, the crystal swinging back and forth gently.
Being curious, he moved over to her and crouched down beside her, watching the trance-like movement of the crystal swaying. Barely a few moments later, the crystal suddenly fell and clattered against the map and Hermione's eyes opened.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
She shushed him and after picking up her wand from beside her, she flicked it at the map and much to his surprise, the image disappeared and was replaced by another map, which looked as though she'd zoomed in on it, like something you'd see when looking at a map online.
"Southampton. I can't believe it worked," she spoke with wide eyes.
"What worked? What's in Southampton?"
She moved her eyes away from the map and to him. "I know you didn't want me to, but I've been searching for Prodigium for the last two hours using blood magic." A less than pleased look crossed his face. "I was careful, no one will trace the magic back to me should it ever come up," she told him. "Anyway, it was taking so long because I gave it a large area to search, it could've been anywhere in Europe and I had no way to narrow down the search perimeters, but it's found it. Southampton, that's where it is. We know where it is and now we can surprise it, take it off guard."
"That's risky," he commented.
"It is, seeing as we don't know if it's alone or not, but we have the chance to deal with this once and for all. Prodigium seems to be a nocturnal creature, it only kills at night, if we go now, it won't be expecting us and we'll have the upper hand. I'll have to alert Kingsley but I think he'll agree with us. This it is, Jordan, this is the opportunity we've been waiting for."
~000~000~000~
"Again, why exactly are we doing this alone?" He asked, as he followed after Hermione as she navigated the maze that was an abandoned shipping port.
Really he had to admit, if this was where the creature had been hiding out all this time, it was quite clever. Not only was it close to The Ministry –what with their ability to teleport and what not- but it was also an abandoned piece of land which looked as though it hadn't had visitors in years. The perfect place to hide; close by but out of sight.
"First of all, Kingsley wants us to make sure the spell worked and that the location that was revealed was accurate. We need to make sure Prodigium is actually here before we go in spells blazing. Second of all, there's also the fact that we're keeping you a secret, if anyone sees you in hellhound form they'll know what you are and they'll be too many memories to alter afterwards to keep you safe. And third all of, how are we going to explain how we knew exactly where Prodigium is without giving away the fact that I used an illegal and archaic form of blood magic?" He titled his head, conceding to her point. "I'm the only one that's actually been able to injure this creature and live to remember doing so, and you're a hellhound, who's better equipped to take it down than us?"
"I still don't like it," he told her.
"I'm not particularly happy about it either," she shrugged. "Now, let's find it, deal with it and try not to get injured in the process. The ball's tomorrow and whilst you heal quickly, I don't."
He rolled his eyes before taking her hand in his and they continued to navigate the port, checking each building they passed no matter the size. After ten minutes, he stopped and she almost tripped when he pulled on her hand.
"What?" She scowled at him.
"It's here, I can feel it," he replied, his eyes not looking at her but darting around, searching his surroundings for any sign of danger.
"Oh, well, maybe you should hellhound up, just in case," she commented, her own eyes mimicking his actions and searching her surroundings.
He nodded and stepped back from her, removing his leather jacket and his t-shirt and she took them from him, shrunk them down and tucked them into the pocket of her own jacket. He removed his hand gun from the waist band of his jeans and handed it over to her, along with the extra bullets -which she now knew how to load- and they went into her pockets, too.
"And your jeans."
"Excuse me?" He said with a raised eyebrow.
"Take your jeans off, too, they cost more than a month of my wage, and I'm a Department Head, I earn almost one hundred and fifty thousand a year."
He gave her an amused look before kicking off his trainers and socks and then pulling off his jeans, leaving him in only his underwear. Her eyes roamed his body hungrily and she nodded to herself, before shrinking the rest of his clothing down and slipping them into her pockets, too.
"Alright, you haven't had chance to practice without the need for fire, so just remember, clear your mind and think of nothing but fire and flames, of embers and ash. You've got fire in you, much like I have. Use the fire within; allow it to be your guide. Think of your hellhound. The more you practice, the easier it will become for you, and before you know it, it'll be an instantaneous transition."
She stepped back from him and watched quietly as he closed his eyes and a concentrated frown appeared on his face, his hands clenched into fists and when she thought he was going to get annoyed and give up, his body relaxed and he breathed out slowly, a peaceful look forming on his face.
His eyes opened and she felt herself smile when they were the bright, fiery amber she had come to adore. Flames licked at his fingers and he raised his hands to watch as they grew larger and hotter and they covered more of his body until he was surrounded.
He held his hand out and she stepped forward and took it, feeling the flames caress her skin almost lovingly.
"Well done," she praised softly.
"It's this way," he spoke, his voice deeper, but softer.
She nodded and allowed him to guide her through the maze of buildings, stopping once in a while as he sniffed at the air and then changed directions. She was getting dizzy from all the twists and turns and she had a fleeting thought that they were lost, but she knew she should trust him.
They walked past a building that looked to have been a warehouse, before he stopped them, turned to look at the building over his shoulder and then back peddled.
"This is it," he muttered.
"Give me a minute, I'll see just what we're dealing with," she replied, lifting her wand and muttering under her breath before five red dots appeared, as did one black dot that was a lot bigger than the others.
"What does that mean?" He asked, eyeing the way the dots were spread out, as if there were on different levels.
"This building appears to have three floors, the red dots are human, the black is something else entirely."
"Prodigium,"
"Yes," she breathed out. "And unlike the others, it's not moving, it's probably sleeping. From what I can see, there's one human on the ground floor with Prodigium, likely guarding it. There's two on the floor above and two on the roof. They'll be the lookouts," she spoke, before her eyes widened in realisation and she pulled them away from the building and between two shipping containers, hiding them from view.
"Don't move from here, they may have already seen us. I'll be right back." Before he could question her, she'd turned and apparated, only to reappear minutes later with a bag in her hand.
"Here's the plan, I'll go in first."
"No, you won't."
She rolled her eyes, before she tapped her wand to her head and he blinked when she became invisible, he knew she was still there, not only could he feel the presence of her fire, but her hand reached out to touch his arm before she became visible once more.
"That's a Disillusionment Charm, it's basically magical camouflage and it takes someone with remarkable observation skills to notice the ripples in the magic. They won't even know I'm there. Everyone in there is likely to be a wizard or witch, I can eliminate them before we go after Prodigium. I'll start with those on the roof, I take out their lookouts and they're blind," she explained, whilst she took off her jacket, which she followed by unbuttoning her blouse and dropping it to the floor, leaving her half naked and his head tilted to the side as his fiery eyes trailed her body.
"Focus," she scolded.
He snapped his eyes back to hers, seeing the scowl on her face, but the amusement in her eyes. She bent down and removed a white t-shirt from the bag and she slipped it on over her head, before she kicked off her ankle boots and quickly unbuttoned her jeans and shimmied them down her legs. She pulled out a black pair of skinny jeans and pulled them on, before removing a pair of black leather, knee high boots and pulling them on her feet. She gathered her hair into one hand and then secured it in a pony tail, before pulling out what looked to be a police utility belt, only with different items he didn't recognise, and she secured it around her waist. Finally, she removed a set of black robes and slipped them on. She was in warrior mode.
"Once I've taken care of the lookouts, I'll go for the one guarding Prodigium, by this point, the others may be aware of us being here and whilst I deal with them, you can try to fight off Prodigium, and I'll be with you as soon as possible, it depends how much fight they have in them."
She picked up her discarded jacket and rifled through the pockets until she found the hand gun and bullets and she slipped them into the utility belt, too. Once she was certain she was prepared, she gripped her wand in her hand tightly and then looked to him.
"Wait for my signal before entering."
"What's the signal?"
"You'll know it when you hear it," she replied, before she bounced up on her tiptoes and gave him a chaste kiss. "Be careful," she said, before she tapped her wand to her head and she was no longer visible.
She ran through the maze of shipping containers, putting distance between herself and where the deputy was lying in wait, before she stopped and using the bolts on the doors of the shipping container, she was able to climb on top until she stood on the roof.
"Periculum," she called, a bright red beam of light flying from her wand and into the air, alerting the lookouts to her exact positioning and drawing them to her.
She climbed back to the ground and ducked behind another container, waiting for them to come. Minutes later a dark robed figure appeared from around the corner as he searched for the one responsible. Despite him having his wand in his hand and being ready for a fight, he didn't see or hear her until it was too late.
She hit him in the back with a Stunner and he crumpled to the floor. With an Incarcerous she tied the figure to a shipping container and then forced a Sleeping Draught down his throat, effectively preventing him from escaping. She suspected it was a man given the height, but she couldn't tell due to him having his hood pulled up and he wore a mask, too. It wasn't a Death Eater mask, but it was similar. She wondered if these people were Death Eater wannabes. She wouldn't put it past them.
She shook her head and took his wand, slipping it into her boot and then she turned and headed back towards the warehouse. She climbed several containers until she was able to see the layout of the roof, and then she spun on her heel and apparated onto the roof, straight behind the pacing wizard.
She stunned him, tied him up and poured a Sleeping Draught down his throat, before taking his wand and leaving him. She apparated back to the ground before she snuck around the building until she found a broken window, which she climbed through. With the Disillusion Charm still on her, she crept through the room, around the empty shelving units until a door came into view and there was another figure stood guarding it and this one looked to be a woman. Given that she hadn't seen Prodigium yet, it must've been in the backroom that was being guarded.
Hermione threw a Stunner at the woman but noticing the light in time, she side stepped it before it hit her, and a duel quickly broke out. The woman was unable to see her positioning so all of her spell work missed her. Hermione knew she had to be quick, if the others on the floor above heard the commotion and came down to help, she'd be outnumbered.
She sent a Tripping Jinx and caught the masked woman around the ankles as she fell and slammed into the ground, crying out in pain. Hermione quickly silenced her before knocking her out and tying her up and taking her wand.
She stood before the door, running her wand over it and checking for any wards and barriers, and sure enough, she found them. They were only basic wards and it wouldn't be too difficult to remove them, but it would be time consuming and she didn't have time on her side. But there was another way around it. If they couldn't get in through the door, they'd go through the wall.
She took several steps back before pulling out two decoy detonators from her belt, and she activated them and placed them on the ground, allowing them to find their own targets and she made for the stairs at the back for the room.
A loud explosion rang out as the shelving units nearby toppled over, the walls of the warehouse shook, dust settled in the room and a large hole was blasted in the wall. Fear coursed through her when she heard a roar echo in the silence that came after the explosion, but then a second noise was heard.
Relief flooded her when the large monstrous creature stumbled from the room looking disorientated, and then a flaming figure came bursting through a window, running straight at the creature, slamming into it and sending it flying across the room. Knowing that she needed to deal with the others before she could help her hellhound, she reluctantly turned and ran up the stairs, the door to the next floor slamming open and she was forced to erect a shield as she was attacked by a barrage of spells.
She dived off to the side and ducked behind an old desk, peering over the top to see two figures, both male she'd guess, slowly approaching to where they had her cornered. She took a deep breath before pointing her wand at the desk, and with a whispered spell, the desk went flying across the room, slamming into one of the figures and the other was able to move out of the way.
She jumped up and started throwing spells of her own; she was now on the offensive and that was when she was most dangerous.
"Incarcerous! Stupefy! Flipendo!" She called, each spell bouncing off the man's shield, and she ducked behind a second desk when he sent a Slicing Hex at her.
"Bombarda!"
She couldn't get away quickly enough and the desk she was hidden behind suddenly exploded, sending her slamming into the wall behind her and shrapnel of wood cut her forehead and her stomach, blood beginning to run down her face and soaking through her t-shirt.
"I'm at a bloody ball tomorrow night!" She said in outrage, glaring at the figure as she threw a nasty Stinging Hex his way before she'd even climbed to her feet.
She pressed her left hand against her stomach, trying to stem the bleeding and her right hand gripped her wand tightly. She stood tall and proud, her eyes filled with amber fire and her skin flushed pink in her anger. She wasn't just angry. She was furious.
"Confringo!" She called.
The robed man threw up a shield but she hadn't aimed for his chest, she aimed lower, more specifically towards the ground. His robes caught fire and he let out a shout as the fire grew hotter and quickly devoured his robes, and whilst he was busy trying to stomp it out, she flung a body-bind at him, and blasted him with an Aquamenti to put out the flames before they burnt him. She tied him up, as well as the other unconscious figure and she took both their wands, before quickly making her way back down to the warehouse floor when she heard the roars and growls echoing, the sound travelling.
She stood on the staircase, glad to see that her hellhound only appeared to have a few claw marks on his arms and chest, but was otherwise uninjured. She ran down a few more steps and whilst her hellhound and Prodigium were wrestling on the ground, clawing and biting and snarling at each other, Prodigium had its back to her. She pulled the gun from her belt and she had no time to panic or over think things. She simply aimed the gun, took a breath and pulled the trigger.
Prodigium let out a roar as the bullet sunk in-between his shoulders blades, and whilst it may have hurt, it wasn't enough to draw his attention and it only seemed to make it angrier. Given that it was a much bigger target than the one at the firing range, each shot she fired never once missed her target and each bullet sunk into the back of the monstrous creature. With each shot Prodigium would release a roar, but never turn towards her, until she fired the last bullet in the gun and it hit it in the back of its neck.
Prodigium turned and roared at her, before it charged straight towards her. She knew she wouldn't have time to reload the gun, so she dropped it to the ground in favour of using her magic to defend herself. Prodigium leapt off the ground and over to the staircase she stood on and there was no chance of her running down them fast enough to dodge it, so she steeled her nerves and slipped through the bars of the metal railing, falling to the ground until she landed on her feet and luckily it hadn't been that high of a fall. Just as she leapt off the staircase, Prodigium landed on it and the metal shook and rattled against the heavy weight.
She slowly back peddled when it leapt off the staircase and to the ground, roaring loudly before charging at her.
"Sectumsempra!" She called.
She hit it square in the chest and cuts appeared, adding to the collection of bleeding claw marks that had been caused by her hellhound. The creature stumbled slightly, but quickly righted itself and she sent another Sectumsempra at it. When it stumbled for a second time, a bright ball of fire suddenly collided with it, sending the creature smashing through the wall and out into the open.
"Shit!" She cursed. "You have to get it back inside!" She yelled, hoping her hellhound would hear and understand her, and sure enough, barely a few moments later, a second hole was smashed into the wall as they both stumbled back into the warehouse.
They tumbled and wrestled on the ground, and despite Prodigium being far bigger than him, her hellhound was holding his own, slashing and clawing and biting and punching. Hermione brought her hands to her ears when the creature howled as its fur caught fire under her hellhound and she suddenly had an idea on how to kill it.
As the creature bolted away from her hellhound and stumbled back, howling and snarling and trying to put out the fire, she ran our over to her hellhound as he got up from the ground and looked as though he were about to charge at it, but she stopped him.
"Hold it down and when I tell you to, get the hell out of the way. Quickly, it's distracted."
He didn't question her and he raced after it, throwing himself towards him and aiming for the legs as he tackled the flailing creature to the ground. Hermione ran after him and waited until it was pinned down before striking.
"Fiendfyre," she whispered.
She was mesmerised as the hot fire shot out of her wand and surrounded her, moving like it was possessed by the devil himself. She directed it towards the snarling creature, the flames all too happy to have something to devour.
"MOVE!" She shouted.
Just before the flames reached them, her hellhound sprang back and out of the way, his headed tilted to the side as he watched the creature being consumed by the demon fire and it howled and snarled in agony. Her nose burned with the smell of burnt flesh, her stomach rolled and she had to force herself not to throw up. When the agonised sounds died down and the only sounds were that of the cracking and spitting fire, she reined it back in before it burnt the creature to ash, leaving behind a badly burned corpse. The fire swarmed around her once more and then disappeared, leaving a trail of smoke and a pile of ash that had once been a shelving unit.
Her breathing was heavy and laboured, her chest heaved with every breath she took and sweat slicked her skin. Her hair was a mess, half of it still in the bobble and the rest had fallen out. Her entire body ached and her muscles felt tired, and she allowed her wand arm to drop by her side as her head titled forward and she looked down at the ground.
She saw the shadows on the ground and when she looked up, her hellhound was stood before her, his claws and fangs retracting as he took her face in his hands and his eyes trailed over her worriedly.
"You are hurt," he spoke, his voice sounding worried and pained.
"So are you," she replied, her breathing still a little heavy. He had several large claw marks covering his chest and stomach, a few on his arms and legs and a small set of claw marks on his face.
"I will heal."
"I'll be fine once I've been treated," she said, bringing her left hand up to her stomach once more and putting pressure on the wound, which only seemed to worry him more as he gently swiped his thumb over the wound on her forehead, wiping away the blood.
She pulled back from him and moved over to the wall, sliding down it until her arse hit the floor and he followed after her, moving to sit beside her and he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to lean against him.
"You fought beautifully, my warrior Goddess," he spoke, placing a kiss to the top of her hair.
"You didn't see me fight, not really."
"I know you took out five assailants by yourself and I saw you fight the creature. You, my Queen of Fire, were a sight to behold."
"You weren't so bad yourself," she responded. An amused smile pulled at his face. "Are you in any pain?"
"No, it is why I stay in this form, I heal much faster but I also do not feel pain."
"I need you to change back, I've got to contact Kingsley so he may send the crime scene unit to collect the body and clean up the mess. We can't let them see you. Once we get out of here, you can change back to heal if you wish to."
"I do not like the thought of leaving you unprotected."
"Prodigium is dead and the ones aiding it are incapacitated."
He still didn't look pleased but he nodded. His eyes closed and moments later, the fire surrounding him was gone and so was the fiery amber of his eyes. The deputy's eyes snapped open and a shout of pain tore from the back of his throat. She summoned the belongings she'd left outside the warehouse and dug into the bag, pulling out a Pain Relief Potion which she tipped down his throat and the moment the liquid settled in his stomach, his hands unclenched and his body sagged into the wall and his face relaxed. Now that she could see the wounds on his human form, they were far worse than she realised, no longer were they pouring lava and ash, but instead blood and a lot of it. A terrified look crossed her face.
"I'm fine, Hermione," he mumbled tiredly. "I'm already healing, I can feel it and whatever you've just given me has removed the pain, it just feels numb." She looked unconvinced and he brought his hand up to cup her cheek. "I will be healed soon enough. What of your injuries?" He asked, his eyes looking just as worried as the hellhound's had.
"They're not life threatening, the adrenaline's still flooding my system so I can't really feel the pain at the moment. One of the arseholes upstairs blew up the desk I was ducked behind, the shrapnel caught my head and stomach, but once I've been seen to, I'll be fine. I'm going to contact Kingsley now, when they get here we can leave."
He nodded tiredly and watched as she fished out a strange looking device and she flicked the switch, a red light beginning to flash. She dropped it to the ground and leaned back into the wall.
"So, ready to go home?"
"I can't wait to just crawl into bed," he sighed, tilting his head back slightly.
They both heard a noise and turned their heads to see that the masked woman had broken free from her restraints and the spells had worn off, and without a wand, she stumbled to her feet and charged straight at them, her intent to kill them evident.
"Oh, piss off," Hermione sighed, flicking her wand at the woman and she was sent flying back into the wall, until she collapsed to the ground in an unconscious pile. "What?" She asked, seeing his amused expression.
"Nothing, I would just hate to get on your bad side," he commented.
Several thuds pulled their attention as the door to the warehouse was suddenly pulled open and a crowd of wizards and witches flooded in; aurors, healers, workers from the RCMC Department, Unspeakables and The Minister himself. They all took in the sight before them horrified; the state of the warehouse and the monstrous creature that had been terrorising their people and their world for nearly four months. The creature that had killed over two hundred innocent people for no reason other than to do so.
Kingsley was the first to notice them both slumped against the far wall and he rushed over to them. He knelt down beside Hermione and took her hand in his, looking at her worriedly.
"Don't worry about me, Kings, you can't get rid of me that easily," she grinned tiredly. "And unfortunately, I'll still be attending the ball tomorrow evening."
The worry on his face eased slightly and a small smile appeared. "I know that must pain you so."
She nodded. "Almost as much as these wounds, the adrenaline's wearing off and the pain's kicking in, but I'll be fine."
His eyes fell to her boyfriend and they turned wide with horror and guilt.
"I'm fine," the deputy waved him off. "I'll heal, my body's already started the process; I can feel it. Hermione gave me a potion for the pain, I can't feel anything."
"With the aid of magic, that process might just speed up a little further," Kingsley replied, before signalling for the healers and two rushed over to them, their eyes staring at the both of them horrified, until Kingsley snapped at them to get a move on.
Their professional masks slipped back into place as they each set to waving their wands over them, running tests and checking for other injuries, before they set to casting Healing Charms, covering their wounds in thick pastes and then wrapping them up tightly with gauze and bandages. They tried to convince them to go back to the hospital with them, but they both declined and Kingsley shooed them away.
"There's two on the floor above, both of them are unconscious. There's one on the roof and you'll find another tied to a shipping container about three hundred feet west from here, they're both asleep, and then there's that crazy bitch over there," she gestured with her head and he turned to look over his shoulder at the slumped figure as aurors restrained and prepared her for transportation.
"I doubt there is much I can say to either of you for your hard work and the danger you put yourselves in to protect our people, but thank you. The Wizarding World owes you a great debt."
"My pleasure, I'm just glad it's finally over," Parrish spoke.
"And on that note, I think we both just want to go home, rest and heal."
"Of course, you more than deserve it. I will have someone escort you home for your safety. And if you do not feel up to attending the ball, I will understand," Kingsley said.
"You're giving me a pass?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Just this once," he chuckled.
He motioned for two aurors to come over and he gave them orders to get them home safely. They eyed Parrish strangely, given that he was only dressed in his underwear and Hermione had to stifle her giggles as he scowled at her. She summoned his hand gun and slipped it into the bag with the rest of their belongings, before they were both apparated to The Leaky Cauldron and shuffled into the floo before anyone could notice them.
As soon as they stepped into her apartment, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Bed?"
"Bed," he nodded, taking her hand in his and she had to support him as he stumbled in his steps, but already his wounds looked a little better.
He climbed into Hermione's bed and sighed at the softness of her mattress, and she stripped out of her clothing and pulled on a clean baggy t-shirt before crawling into bed beside him, and they both fell asleep clutching at the other's hand.