CHAPTER FOUR
Summary: Nine years after the war, Hermione's the Head of the Auror Department that specialises in dealing with Magical Creatures and fugitive Death Eaters that are loose in the Muggle World. With the fugitive Death Eaters no longer hiding in Britain, she's tracking rogue Death Eaters in the United States, which leads her to The Winchester brothers. The Witch and The Hunters are a dynamic trio that no creature, being or beast wishes to mess with, Magical or Supernatural. Hermione/Dean pairing. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: I don't own original canon characters or events, just those that I create myself. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling and the creators of Supernatural. I am not making a profit posting this fanfic.
Page count: 9
"Not what you were expecting, huh?" She said amused.
They shook their heads simultaneously.
Sam cleared his throat. "What exactly is it that you do?" He asked her.
"I am the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement and Auror Department that deals with Death Eaters and Magical Creatures. Harry deals with crime in the Wizarding World, my jurisdiction is the Muggle World. Since I was raised in the Muggle World I have a greater understanding than those that were raised in the Wizarding World, I can survive in both worlds. I try to spend equal amounts of time in both worlds so that I can keep myself grounded, remember who I am and where I come from."
"Must be dangerous," he commented.
"It is, but I love my job; I'm putting murderers and psychopaths either in prison or six feet under, depends on the situation. I would never kill in cold blood, but if I have to defend myself, I will. I've been defending myself from monsters since I was twelve, I have fourteen years of battle experience were most of my targets are still in training robes," she snorted. "I also deal with creatures such as werewolves, vampires, veelas, sirens, succubi, twenty-foot long snakes, giant, giant spiders, mermaids, things like that. Most of the time you Hunters do my job for me and I can focus on Death Eaters. I have a lot of cases, but the ones that have a higher death count get my attention. I have fifty Aurors under my command, Draco mostly stays in England seeing as he has a wife and a baby on the way whereas I don't have any family."
"What about siblings? Cousins? Parents?" Sam asked with a frown; he only had Dean and Bobby, but still, it was family, no matter how small.
"No, my grandparents died when I was little, my parents didn't have any siblings and I was an only child myself. Before we retrieved Harry for his safety after Dumbledore's death, I erased the memories of my parents, I never existed and they never had a daughter, all evidence of me was gone. Afterwards, I gave them new identities and gave them the urge to pack up and leave Europe altogether, instead moving to Australia."
"Why would you do that?"
"I had to, I was the Muggleborn best friend of Harry Potter, he was the most wanted man in Wizarding Europe because of Voldemort, he was Undesirable Number One and I was Undesirable Number Two. Voldemort would've killed my parents to bring me out of hiding, to cause me pain, to cause Harry pain because he would've blamed himself."
"So what happened to your parents?" Sam asked.
"Murdered by Death Eaters before they'd even arrived at the airport, but I made sure the ones responsible got what they deserved, they died in the Final Battle. I have no biological family but I do have the Weasleys, the Potters and the Malfoys, but it's not the same anymore. It was expected of myself and Ronald to get married and have a hoard of redheaded curly-haired children running around," she rolled her eyes. "We dated after the war, but it wasn't right, all we did was argue and he cheated on me," she shrugged. "After we broke up things between us shifted, I'm not as close to Ronald as I used to be, he cheated on the girl he cheated on me with and now he has two kids to two different women. He can't keep a girlfriend for more than a month; he's a serial cheater, yet the idiots date him because he's good looking and famous. They all think they can change him, get him to put a rock on their finger and give them the key to his bank vault," she rolled her eyes.
"It took years for George to heal after his twin's death but now he's married and he's got two kids. Charlie works in Romania on a dragon reserve, he's a dragon tamer and he's finally found someone, though marriage is nowhere on his list of things to do in the foreseeable future. Bill's a curse breaker, he's still married to Fleur and they have three kids. Percy married, too, and he's got a kid on the way. Ginny and Harry married, and they have three kids now. Draco married Luna Lovegood, a Half-blood much to the shock of everyone and they have their first child on the way, she's due in about two months. They all have their lives, and I have mine. I spend most of my time travelling around the US, there aren't many Death Eaters in Europe anymore, seeing as we've caught them, most fled here and so I work here," she shrugged. "It's just me and Ricky."
"Ricky? Who's Ricky?" Dean spoke for the first time since they had entered the house.
"I'll show you, he's around here somewhere, he's never too far away unless he's delivering a letter."
That earned raised eyebrows. She brought her hand up to her mouth and whistled loudly. They heard a distinct hoot before an owl suddenly swooped into the kitchen from the open window.
Much to their surprise, the owl landed on Hermione's shoulder and nuzzled against her cheek, hooting affectionately as she smiled and petted it. The owl was small with different shades of brown for its feathers; a few white spots lined the edge of the feathers, as well as lining around the bright yellow eyes.
"This is my elf owl, Ricky. Witches and wizards have familiars, usually owls, rats, cats and toads. We use owls to deliver our mail for us, they're one of our forms of communication since we don't have technology or electricity," she shrugged. "Anyway, back to my original point. Draco works in England, I mainly work from here and the others under my command are spread around the globe and work in conjunction with other Ministries. I have an understanding with the American Ministry, I take care of their problem for them and they leave me alone. Besides, they don't want to piss me off."
"Why not?" Bobby asked.
"Well, I'm known for being very creative with my hexes and quite vengeful, too," she said sheepishly.
"How so?" He said with a curiously raised eyebrow.
"Well, during that illegal defence group we started my fifth year, I charmed the signup sheet so that if we were ever betrayed, we would know who it was. The girl still has 'sneak' written on her forehead in acne and nothing can cover it, it's permanent. When I was fourteen, I broke Draco's nose because he was being a dickhead, well, he's always a dickhead he's just not as bad as he used to be. When I was fifteen, there was this reporter who thought it was appropriate to write slandering material about two minors and a professional athlete, I found out she was an illegal Animagus, so I set a trap for her, trapped her in her Animagus form and kept her in a glass jar for two months."
They gawked; she saw amusement on Dean's face, shock on Sam's and approval on Bobby's.
"What's an Ani..."
"Animagus, it's a shape-shifter, except they are not born with the ability to shift. It can take years of training your body and mind, and you can only turn into an animal. Sirius Black turned into a large dog. James Potter turned into a stag and Pettigrew a rat, they became illegal Animagi so that they could be with Remus at the full moon; he was less likely to hurt himself when he had company, they were his pack and so he never hurt them. When you become an Animagus you're supposed to register yourself with the Ministry so they can track you. If you don't and you are found to be an Animagus, it's an automatic one-year prison sentence," she shrugged. "Now, I believe that I have explained myself, I really do have murdering psychopaths to track down, so if you will excuse me, I better get back to work." She stood up from her seat, her owl still perched on her shoulder.
"There's no point," Bobby spoke.
He gestured to the window and when she looked outside, it was to see the sky dark. She hadn't realised just how long she'd been there.
"Fine, I still better go, there's bound to be a motel around here somewhere, until next time," she sarcastically saluted them and then turned and made her way out of the room.
"You can stay here," Bobby offered.
"What?" Dean, Sam and Hermione all spluttered in unrehearsed unison, the witch halting in her steps by the doorway and turning to look over her shoulder at the older Hunter.
"You can stay here," he shrugged. "The boys can share and you can take the spare room."
"That's kind of you, but I won't intrude on your privacy, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I know they've never met my kind before and therefore they likely don't trust me or my magic, and I use magic quite a lot. It's who I am and I can't suppress that. I'll just find a motel; I can start on my tracking of the Death Eaters whilst I'm at it," she smiled gratefully at his offer.
"Hermione, you should stay," Sam spoke, much to her surprise.
"But..."
"It's only for the night, besides, if we run into another witch like you, we need to be sure that we know the difference between your kind and our kind, so that we don't have an angry magical community wanting revenge, this gives us a chance to learn more about you, to better understand you."
She frowned slightly and nibbled at her lip thoughtfully. "Alright, I can see the logic in that, I don't want you hurting any of my people and I don't want them to retaliate and hurt you, it wouldn't be good for us to be on the Hunter's kill list. I'll stay for the night but I'll take the couch, I'm not taking anyone's room from them. This way I'm not too close to you and you may even feel more comfortable without me being in the room next to you. You want to know about my people, my magic?" Bobby and Sam nodded, Dean just swigged from his beer, his eyes narrowed on her. "I have some books that you can read; hopefully it will help you to better understand."
"Books?" Sam seemed to perk up and Dean rolled his eyes at his dork of a brother.
"Yes, books, magical books to be specific, of course, I can't allow you to touch all of them."
"Why not?" He asked with a little pout and sad eyes, making Dean snort into his beer bottle.
"Some magical books can be temperamental."
"You speak as if they're alive and have feelings," Bobby looked at her like she was a few sickles short of a galleon.
"Some are and some do, for example, there's this book, The Monster Book of Monsters. It contains information about most of the magical creatures in the Wizarding World, the book itself is alive. It once tried to take Harry's head off because he didn't know how to handle it properly, for that reason he lost a shoe, the book ate it," she said fondly and they looked at her like she had two heads. "Of course, in order to get the book to cooperate, you have to stroke the spine until the book purrs and it opens for you without it trying to maim you. And that's a book students need at Hogwarts for their care of magical creatures class. Then you have books that contain weather magic, if you open the book, it may flood the entire room, or cause a hurricane or spew fire. Some books make noise, others are possessed, but then you have the illegal and dark books which have the ability to kill from a single touch, hence why they're illegal. Though the dark magic it contains is also a contributing factor for their illegality. If you are found to be in possession of an illegal book or magical artefact, it results in a hefty fine and repeated violation results in time in Azkaban."
"Do you have any of these books, illegal ones?" Bobby asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's best I don't answer that, that way I can't incriminate myself as well as make you witnesses."
He snorted at her and gave her a look of approval. "I like you, Missy," he said.
"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself, Mr. Singer."
He scowled. "Now, no more of this Mr. Singer, it's Bobby, just Bobby." He knew she was winding him up; when they'd worked together on that vampire nest case, she would say the same thing to annoy him.
"Well then, just Bobby," she said, making Sam chuckle in amusement. "I'll get those books for you and seeing as you're being kind enough to let me into your home, I'll cook, I'll even make dessert, too. I'm thinking pie, Merlin, I love pie," she groaned in appreciation and then turned and made her way out of the kitchen, leaving behind the three speechless Hunters.
That was, until, Sam burst out laughing at the surprised look on Dean's face and Bobby looked at him with a knowing smirk before taking a swig from his beer bottle.
This'll be interesting, Bobby thought amused.
"Hey, where did Castiel go?" Hermione asked as she walked back into the room, looking confused.
Sam's laughter tapered off and they all looked around surprised, noticing that Castiel was, indeed, no longer with them.
"Huh, I didn't even notice him leave," Sam commented.
"Neither did I. If he thinks he's getting away with ignoring me for two years and dying without telling me, he's got another thing coming, he deserves everything I have planned for him."
"And what exactly is that?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow, leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head.
"Now that would be telling, I like to keep my plans under wraps until the great finale, years of growing up under the Weasley Twins has taught me well," she grinned mischievously before she turned to the owl still perched on her shoulder, and a few whispered words later, the owl hooted and flew off of her shoulder and out of the kitchen window.
"And where did you send the creepy little thing?" Dean asked, now swinging on his chair.
"First of all, I'd be careful with what you say about my owl, he's very touchy and hates being insulted, it's best to call him by his name. If he decided to peck your eyes out or attack you whilst you're sleeping, there's nothing I can do to stop him. And second of all..."
Hermione suddenly had her wand in her hand and she flicked it, Dean's chair toppled backwards and Dean let out a yell of surprise and a few swear words as he fell to the ground with a 'thud'.
"It's dangerous to swing on your chair, have you never heard the tale of the child that swung on his chair and had to go to hospital for stitches? No? It must be a British thing, well, now at least you know." She smiled sweetly and left the room once more, Dean standing up and pulling his gun and training it on her retreating back.
Hermione heard a scuffle behind her and she chuckled to herself as she heard Bobby's grumbles and insults and Sam and Dean fighting for control of the gun.
~000~000~000~
"Right then, time for food, Bobby, what do I have to work with?" Hermione asked with a smile as she entered the kitchen, no longer wearing her robes as she had changed her clothing.
She now wore an old Quidditch jersey which once belonged to Harry and a pair of blue skinny jeans, with red converse on her feet. Her thick ringlets had been pulled up into a messy pile on top of her head and her wand was tucked into her curls.
The three Hunters hadn't moved since she last left them, though Dean was glaring at her whilst Sam had two handguns and a knife far out of reach of Dean and he held an amused look on his face.
Bobby shrugged in response to her question.
"Oh, honestly," she huffed. "What is it with you men? You can never give a simple answer."
"I got supplies, mainly just the basics, beer, milk, beer, bread, eggs, beer."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, then I'll have a nosey through your kitchen cupboards." She responded and she did exactly that, going through his cupboards and the fridge to see what she had to work with. After ten minutes of searching the bare cupboards, she had found the ingredients to make either a lasagne or a cottage pie. She went with the lasagne.
She pulled her wand from her hair and started flicking it, summoning cooking utensils and setting the oven to the temperature she desired. They all watched with wide eyes as dishes floated around the room and slowly lowered to where they were needed, all the while she ignored them and set to work making them dinner; she was bloody starving.
None of them spoke whilst she cooked the meal; they just watched her until she summoned the plates and crockery and sent them to the table. With the help of a few cooking spells, the lasagne was done in half the time it would take a muggle to cook. Hermione even had a few ingredients in her beaded bag so she could make a pie, which was baking in the oven, mind you, she always had ingredients in her bag to make pie.
Hermione levitated the steaming dish over to the table and when she noticed the blood that hadn't been washed off the table, her blood, she frowned. With a few whispered words, the table was clean and blood-free. She put the dish in the centre of the table and took her seat.
"Tuck in," she gestured to the food.
Bobby was the first to move, grabbing the serving spoon and putting a portion of the lasagne onto his plate. Sam was next, he served himself a bigger portion of food. Hermione waited for Dean to get his food but he didn't move, just stared between her and the dish.
"Oh, for Merlin's Sake, Winchester," she said, rubbing at her temples to stave off the headache she could feel forming. "You just sat and watched me make the damn thing, I haven't put anything into the food that shouldn't be there."
"Like I can trust you," he glared at her from across the table.
"Have I done anything to earn your mistrust? No, I haven't. Your hatred of me is unjustified. I'm not one of those idiotic fuckwits that think it's fun to play deal or no deal with my soul in order to feel better about myself and get revenge, or for whatever reason it is those arseholes sell their souls for. I was born with my magic, I was born the way I am, I will always have magic; it is in my blood, my DNA. Just as you have green eyes or Sam is tall. I cannot change who I am or what I am capable of. I'm not judging you for what you are and what you do; please give me the same courtesy," she spoke in a calm tone, her eyes boring into his.
Dean didn't reply but when he saw Sam and Bobby both eating their food and neither of them showed signs of impending death, he served himself some food and slowly took a bite. He couldn't stop himself, his eyes closed at the taste of a proper home-cooked meal; he couldn't remember the last time he'd one, and one that tasted so good either!
"It's not awful," he muttered.
Hermione smiled to herself and took it as a compliment before serving herself some food and she began eating. They ate in silence, the only sounds were that of forks clattering against plates and beers being picked up and placed back on the table. Hermione's wand started to buzz, just as they were finishing up with their dinner.
"Oh, the pie's done, perfect timing," she grinned, before standing up and moving over to the oven.
With the aid of magic, she had the plates and crockery sitting in the sink, clean plates on the table and she was levitating the pie into the centre of the table.
"Apple and blackcurrant pie," she beamed, gesturing for them to take as much as they wished.
It was Bobby that cut his slice first, followed by Sam. Dean once again seemed hesitant, though Hermione could see the adoration in his eyes as he stared at the pie lovingly.
Slowly he cut himself a large slice before having the first taste. As much as he hated to admit it, it was one of the best pies he'd ever tasted. Hermione snorted at him and his eyes snapped open, only just realising that he'd closed his eyes as he revelled in the deliciousness of the pie.
"Enjoying yourself there?" She asked amused, Bobby was smirking whilst Sam sniggered. His eyes narrowed at her. "You looked to be having a good time is all, what with all that moaning and groaning you were doing," she smirked at him.
He scowled at her, before glaring at Sam who was now laughing loudly, and then ignoring them all and returning to eating the rest of his pie, later going back for seconds.
When there was no pie left, mainly because Dean had eaten four slices by himself, Hermione sent the remaining dishes to the sink before filling it with water and charming the dishes to wash and dry themselves, the three Hunters watching the dishes in wonder.
"Right then, I'll see if I can find those books for you," she spoke, quickly pulling out the small beaded bag from her pocket and putting it on the table. She opened it and put her hand inside, looking around for the books that she wanted them to read. "Just give me a second, they're here somewhere." She told them, their eyes widened when they heard things being jostled about, things clinking and tinkling, creaking and breaking.
"I think I have them," she muttered, pulling out her hand and placing the large tome on the table, before going back in twice more and pulling out two more books, equally as big. "So, these three books are a good place for you to start if you wish to understand my world. We have Hogwarts, a History, as you can likely tell, it details the entire history of Hogwarts, starting from its formation up to the Final Battle. It entails but is not limited to, the portraits, moving staircases, the Forbidden Forest, rules and regulations, ghosts, hidden and secret passageways, the library, the common rooms and dorm rooms, the founders themselves and previous headmasters, also including yours truly and the famous Golden Trio." They stared at her.
"The second book we have is based on the general history of the Wizarding World, and the final book entails what a first year student learns during their time at Hogwarts. It includes a breakdown of subjects, professors and information on spells and charms and instructions on how to cast them perfectly. I will admit that there is dark magic out there, I've seen it, you've seen it, but not all magic is evil. I love magic, but I love the magic that brings joy to people's lives, magic that can make a child laugh in uncontrollable delight. Magic that can make people feel hope, that shows that there is good in the world. There isn't anything more innocent than a first year learning magic for the first time in their lives."
"What do you mean by that? Surely those that grow up knowing about magic have practised it?" Sam spoke confused.
"No, witches and wizards are not allowed to practice magic outside of school until they are of age, seventeen. While those that grow up in the Wizarding World are around it every day, they are not permitted to practice magic until they get their wands at the age of eleven and are in school and until they reach seventeen outside of school. Accidental magic is perfectly normal for a magical child, emotions run high and the child doesn't know how to control their magic and so they have outbursts, this usually stops when they receive their wands since it centres their magic. In the Muggle World, when a child starts having accidental magical outbursts, a Ministry worker is dispatched to erase the memories of any witnesses that aren't allowed to know of the existence of magic," she shrugged. "There's a magical trace on children, this gives the Ministry the ability to track the use of magic by those underage and it has severe consequences, including being expelled from school, losing your wand and having your memories of the Wizarding World and magic wiped, and being exiled into the Muggle World none the wiser." They stared at her, surprised to hear there were such strict restrictions on magic usage. "Who wants which book, History of the Wizarding World, History of Hogwarts or Spellbook?"
"I'll take Wizarding World," Bobby spoke up, Hermione nodded and slid the book over to him.
"Hogwarts," Sam answered, his eyes gleaming in a similar way to Hermione when being presented with a new book. She slid the book over to him and before she even looked at Dean, Sam had the book open to the first page and his attention was solely on the words before him.
"That leaves you with the Spellbook," Hermione spoke, pushing the book over to Dean.
His eyes moved between her and the book several times before he spoke. "I don't read," he said.
"That's your choice, do as you wish. I won't and can't force you to do anything you don't wish to. I'll leave you to your own devices, I need to do some research and write a report before tomorrow morning, anyway."
She stood from her chair before leaving the room, heading into the living room and sitting down on the worn couch, pulling out some paperwork from her beaded bag and beginning to fill it out appropriately.