Hermione ended up going with Katherine at Christmas, the two boys were invited but declined in favour of staying at Hogwarts, Ron because his family was there, and Harry because he enjoyed Christmas at Hogwarts. Hermione was the only one of the group that hadn't yet visited the Singer Salvage Yard and she was admittedly excited, especially since hearing about all the books there. Her parents were taking a trip to France and she didn't really fancy going on a skiing trip.

"You sure it's okay for me to come?" Hermione asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Yeah, its fine" Katherine replied, she was using the floo network to go home, because they couldn't afford plane tickets and it was just so much easier. It only took a few seconds for her to land with an oomph in the library, Hermione following swiftly. "BOBBY!" Katherine yelled.

"Shut up ya idjit, I'm not deaf, just in a different room" Bobby said as he walked in. he looked at Hermione with a small nod of his head "You like soup?" He asked her, startling the girl. She wasn't used to such rough speaking patterns. Bobby had a real southern twang and often cut words out of his sentences, but the point was always there, he just sounded harsher than he meant to. But Katherine knew he was secret softie inside… occasionally.

"Uh, yes sir" Hermione replied. Her English accent was so much more pronounced that all of Katherine's other friend it made her smirk a little.

"Good, I got some on the stove, nothing fancy mind, just from a can" he added "Call me bobby" he added as he walked out.

"Wow, thanks for the hello Uncle Bobby" Katherine called sarcastically.

"Why hello to you too princess" he replied, with the same level of sarcasm turning around before they smirked at each other "You take your bags upstairs" he added.

"Okay, so you can either share a room with me, or have your own." Katherine informed Hermione. In the end they decided to share. They would just go tops and tails on Katherine's large bed.

Hermione looked around the room, like everybody who had entered it she stopped at the pinbaord "They don't know do they. Your brother's, they don't know you're a witch" Hermione said. She want's asking, she already knew.

"No" Kathy provided an answer anyway "And they're not gonna either, not if I can help it. Better that way" she said,

"Sounds like your trying to convince yourself more than anybody" Hermione told her

"Just leave it 'mione" was the snapped response, Hermione looked at her a little taken aback. "Sorry, just, family is a sensitive subject and- do you smell burning?" She asked. Hermione sniffed and nodded in confirmation. "Damnit" Katherine cursed under her breath "Bobby, you have to stir soup occasionally" She called as the two girls went downstairs.

"It didn't say nothing about stirring it on the can" Bobby shot back.

"Oh my gosh, how the hell do you survive without me?" Kathy sighed.

"Shut up" The man grumbled as the two Americans tried to salvage the dinner whilst Hermione tried not to laugh. They were quite alike, she realised, watching them fight over a spoon in a pot and who was going to stir it. "Just get the damn plates" He said.

"You don't eat soup off of a plate" Katherine remarked.

"nobody likes a smart alec" He told her. Surprisingly enough, the soup was pretty good. They weren't sure what flavour it was exactly but it was nice either way. Plus the two Hogwarts students were tired and hungry enough to eat anything. "We're going to the roadhouse tomorrow, I'm meeting with a friend there, Ellen has to go out, so you'll be staying with Jo, rather have all three of you in one place" Bobby explained.

"Are you and Ellen going on a date?" Katherine smirked as she ducked down to eat some soup so she wouldn't have to look the man in the face. Hermione did see his expression though, one of annoyance and exasperation. Clearly this comment had been an on going and false thing. It seemed like something Katherine would do, after all, she always bugged Hermione about Ron and that simply wasn't true. "You'll like Jo, she's the same age as us, they own the roadhouse which is this awesome bar in the middle of nowhere, which sound way more creepy than it is" She tried to reassure Hermione.

Hermione was unsure about spending a night in a bar, especially because some of the people in their looks a little rough around the edges, but they couldn't be that bad in a few of them greeted Katherine with a smile. "Hey, you must be Hermione, Mai's told me a lot about you, I'm Jo" Jo smiled, holding out a hand for Hermione to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you" Hermione replied, Jo raised eye eyes a little at her accent before grinning.

"I'll show you where we're sleeping, just heads up, me and Mai aren't exactly the girly type" Jo started

"But we do like Gossip, not Lavender Brown style gossip though" Katherine added seriously.

"Lavender Brown, that's the annoying sounding girl that likes to use your things without asking right?" Jo asked.

"She takes your things too? She's always using my perfumes. I thought she was scared of you" Hermione mused.

"Oh she is, because I caught her trying to take a pendant I have so I threatened to shave her hair of the muggle way" That got all three girls laughing, it certainly broke any tension.

The roadhouse was all one floor, the front was obviously the bar, with space for the kitchen behind it, then there was a few spare rooms, a privet loo and one for the customers to use, finally Jo and Ellen's living area, and their bedrooms right as the back, behind a separate locked door so that they couldn't be disturbed. Jo's bedroom was painted a light green with wooden floorboards, a white ceiling and skirting boards. It was a pretty room, whilst Hermione was fascinated with a few of the protective wards painted onto the wall in white, Katherine was used to it so she just sat on the floor crossed legged. "So you excited for Christmas?" Katherine wondered.

"Yeah, Christmas is always pretty good, mum goes crazy with cooking a big meal, then we have enough left over to feed the customers for a few days and they always pay more" Jo smirked "Nah, it's just nice to spend some time with my mum you know" Jo said "I mean" she suddenly realised what she had said. Of course Katherine wouldn't know what she meant. Katherine's mum had died when she was six months old.

"It's okay Jo" Katherine shrugged "Besides, since we have a guest with us for Christmas. Me and bobby are attempting to cook a proper roast dinner, turkey with all the trimmings. Even going to attempt to make desert" she added smugly "I mean we would have done Christmas pudding but the recipe says something stupid like making it in august" She added.

"You don't have to go through all that effort because I'm coming" Hermione spoke, biting her lower lip, feeling a little bad.

"No, it'll be great. I've never had a real Christmas dinner before" Katherine beamed, clearly excited.

"Geez, don't let my mum hear you say that, she'll not let you leave, you'll be here every Christmas and you'll stuff you to the point you can't walk anymore" Jo smirked.

"I don't doubt it for a moment" Katherine returned the smirk. "We should probably get a fire hydrant though, Bobby burnt soup last night" Kathy chuckled, the three girls looked at each other and soon, not knowing what the trigger was they were all laughing, and it felt great.

~ 0 ~

Hermione should have taken the fire hydrant advice more seriously, looking at Bobby and Katherine attempting to cook, It was Christmas eve and they decided to make the desert now, so it would defiantly be ready the next day. Hermione was concerned about the turkey if they couldn't even agree on how to make a simple chocolate cake. "No, Bobby I swear if you turn that whisk on-" Kathy started.

"It's my house damn it" Bobby reply, and decided to turn on the whisk, causing a large cloud of flour to appear above them.

"BOBBY!" Hermione was greatly surprised when there was any mixture to go into the oven in the end, but taking it out half an hour later it smelled divine and the two Americans looked very proud of themselves indeed. Even if the mess did take over an hour to clean up, both not allowed Hermione to help with the clean up process.

Christmas morning saw the girls getting up very early. They both stayed in there pyjamas as they walked down the stairs, Katherine impatiently waiting for Hermione to pull on some slippers and a dressing gown before flying down the stairs, tripping a little as she did so. Bobby Singer was already awake, going over some research for a hunter in need. He gave a raised eyebrow look at Katherine before rolling his eyes, nodding his head in the direction of the stack of presents. Katherine had insisted Hermione placed her under the tree, mixed in with theirs. "Can we open them? Yeah? You're not going to make me have breakfast again first are you?" Katherine looked wearily at Bobby who chuckled a little, remembering that. Her foot would bounce up and down anxiously and she ate so fast she caused hiccups. Katherine handed them out to everybody, waiting in anticipation for Hermione and Bobby to open theirs from her.

Bobby went first, rolling his eyes at the excitement in Katherine but it still made him smile, he wasn't sure what the device he was holding in his hand was, it was gold and looked like bauble that might belong on the tree Katherine-Mai put up whilst he was sleeping so he couldn't argue. "It's a sneakascope, it lights up when something suspicious is going on, but that's a special one, and it lights up when somebody it lying to you. See, Bobby, I dislike cupcakes" She spoke and the thing spun on the spot where it had been placed, lighting up red. "Thought it might be useful for when you have to get information out of people, to see if they're telling the truth or not" She added.

"I love it" Bobby finally said. That satisfied the girl enough to give him a small hug.

Hermione had received a handcrafted charm bracelet, she recognised some of the symbols from around Bobby's house "It's protection charms, I made the bracelet" She said, almost sounding shy. Kathy knew Hermione must have loved it when she was tackled to the ground in a hug.

Dinner had been a long process. Bobby set the two girls to work chopping vegetables, before realising he didn't posses enough pots to hold all the veg, nor a tray big enough for the turkey. "No. no, I am not having this" Katherine said. "Nope, nopity nope. I'll be back" she snapped and walked out of the house

"She was really excited about the meal" Hermione said to Bobby who nodded.

"Never had a Christmas lunch before, yeah, I'm aware, you know anything about Mai's upbringing?" Bobby enquired curiously, wondering what Katherine had actually told the people at her school. Hermione hesitated a moment.

"Not much to be honest, Kathy's quite a privet person about her family and such" Hermione admitted "I figured out that she moved around a lot, and I know she idolised her older brothers" Hermione said, "She wishes she can see them." The girl continued whilst Bobby gave shake of his head

"Idolise is one work for it, another might be raised by them. Specially Dean, he's six years older than her, Sams two years older, Dean raised them both at one point when her dad was out working" Bobby spoke "I had them around here a lot, it's why Mai's comfortable here, that rooms always been hers, only became official when she joined your school" Bobby spoke.

Hermione looked down "I, Kathy says things, I don't think she means to, the sort of slip out, but I already know she's uh, trained, to fights. And to uses guns, she talks about monsters as if they were normal" Hermione spoke. She then went on to explain what happened in the DADA lesson. But Bobby never got a chance to reply, not like he knew how to reply to that. Because Katherine walked in with a triumphant smile.

"I got some dishes, lady down the road let me borrow some. She had tons" she spoke and so the cooking process continued, it was such a scene Hermione had to take a picture of it. The pair looked a little annoyed at it, but later that evening Hermione found it placed on the mantel.