CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
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: 8
"I'm hungry," Hermione complained as they made their way back to the motel after finishing up for the day at the school.
"When are you not hungry?" He rolled his eyes at her.
"When I'm being fed," she replied and he snorted at her.
"When we get back to the motel we'll get changed and walk to the diner. Sammy can take the car to the school, since he's got the late shift tonight."
She nodded in agreement, and her face lit up when they pulled into a parking space belonging to the motel.
"So, how was your day?" Sam asked as they entered his motel room, he was dressed in his boots and coveralls, ready to leave for the school.
"Not bad," Hermione shrugged. "Didn't really learn anything of importance. Did you?"
"Not really, everything I found is on the table," he nodded to the table and grabbed the keys from Dean, as he headed for the door. "See you later," he called shutting the door behind him.
Hermione took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair, before kicking off her shoes and flopping down onto the bed closest to her. She sighed happily.
She could feel his eyes on her and she lifted her head to see him gazing at her heatedly. She arched her eyebrow at him.
"Are you sure I can't charm that skirt off you?" He asked.
She laughed. "No, but if you feed me your chances will be better." She stood up and picked up her heels and coat. "I'm going to change, I'll be ten minutes." And rather than leaving the room and walking to her own next door, she apparated into it.
She placed her things down and quickly undressed, casting some cleaning charms over herself before redressing in a pair of black heeled ankle boots, black faux leather trousers, a white spaghetti strap top and she found the cropped leather jacket Ginny had bought her a few years ago for her birthday, which she had only had the chance to wear once. She left her hair tied up in her pony tail, but took off her glasses.
She grabbed her beaded bag and apparated back to Dean, who had just finished changing himself. He wore his boots, well worn jeans and a black t-shirt with his leather jacket.
He turned around to look at her and his eyes darkened slightly.
"What? Should I change?" She frowned, looking down at herself.
When she looked up Dean was in front of her, towering over her. He pulled her into him by her hips and claimed her mouth, his tongue moving past her parted lips to meet hers. Her hands gripped at his jacket by the lapels, pulling her into him.
Hermione suddenly pushed him back from her and he looked far from impressed. "I'm hungry," she told him.
"So am I," he looked down at her pointedly.
"You promised me food," she pointed out.
He growled and let out a few curse words, before taking a deep breath. "Fine, let's go get dinner."
Hermione grabbed the stack of papers off the table and they left the motel room together, Hermione using magic to lock the door since Sam had taken the key with him, and he would likely return before they did.
~000~000~000~
They had decided to skip the diner and keep on walking until they found somewhere that not only sold food, but alcohol too, even if it was still early. They found a bar not far from the diner and they entered through the doors and Hermione sighed.
"Is there a seedy bar in every town?" She asked Dean.
He snorted at her. "Everywhere I've been there is," he shrugged.
Hermione managed to convince Dean that they should hold off on the alcohol until the sky began to at least darken and after they had eaten their food, since they did have to return to the school the next morning and Hermione didn't have any Hangover or Sobriety Potion left, using the last of what she had the last time they had gotten drunk.
"So what did Sammy find?" Dean asked her, as they sat in a booth after ordering their food and waiting for it to arrive.
She started flicking through the papers. "Let's see, Harrow and Wellers, two well respected teachers by staff and students. They have been struck down by a serious illness, they were fine one day and the next they were being rushed into hospital. Sam's done some digging and the doctors don't know what the illness is and are doing their best to treat it, but at the moment nothing's helping. Two senior students, Hayley Stewart and Eric Glasper, were both struck down by illnesses also, they, too, are in the hospital but their illnesses aren't showing the same symptoms as the teachers, so there's no apparent connection. From what I can tell, Stewart and Glasper were average students, they had fairly good grades. Stewart was part of the school magazine and Glasper was a part of the school's film club. Stewart and Glasper have been dating for the last month. How did Sam even discover this?" She looked up at him, not only surprised but impressed, too.
He shrugged at her. "He likely called the hospital and impersonated someone from the CDC about the illnesses, as for the kids, they put everything on social media so it wouldn't have been hard for him to find out what they were interested in and who they were dating. What about the other three?"
She looked back down at the papers and shuffled through them. "Justin Poldark, Steven Frier and Madeline Kristy, also seniors. They had fairly good grades, too, from what I can tell, average academically, but they excelled in other areas. Poldark is the captain of the baseball team and Frier the captain of the soccer team. Kristy is the head cheerleader. Frier was walking down the street when a motorbike drove past. The tyre came loose and hit him. Poldark was riding his bike when he got tangled in some loose telephone pole wire; it wrapped around his throat and strangled him. And Kristy was driving her car when a tree fell on top of her. Luckily they have all survived but are in the intensive care unit at the hospital."
"So what we have is two well respected teachers, one member of the film club and one member of the school magazine, all being struck down by mysterious illnesses. And two jocks and one cheerleader, all having freak accidents," Dean summarised.
"Yes, they were all average grade students with different extracurricular activities and let's face it, Poldark, Frier and Kristy were likely popular, too," she added.
"Is it me or does this seem personal?" Dean questioned.
"It does," she agreed with him. "But what are the motives behind the accidents and illnesses and what's the cause? Most importantly, are there going to be any more victims?"
"We'll have to see if Sammy discovers any evidence of a spirit or demon; it'll help us to narrow it down."
She nodded. "I have my senior class second period tomorrow; I'll see what I can get out of them," she told him, her eyes looking behind him. He turned his head to see what she was staring at and he snorted when he saw that it was their food being brought over to them.
Dean watched amused as she all but inhaled her food when it was placed in front of her. They ate in comfortable silence, Dean would look at her every now and again with a frown on his face, and by the time she had finished eating her food, she sighed in annoyance.
"What is it?"
"What?" He asked dumbly.
"What's bothering you? You've been frowning for the last fifteen minutes, something's obviously bothering you, so out with it."
He pushed his empty plate away from him and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Something's been niggling at me for days now."
"Yes?"
"Something your friend Harry said."
She frowned trying to recall anything Harry may have said to have worried Dean, but she couldn't think of anything.
"When you were in the coma, he visited and your friend and I had a chat."
She stiffened slightly, but he noticed.
"Yes?" She said, keeping her face blank and her voice void of any emotion.
"Well, he gave me the big brother talk."
"Of course he did," she relaxed into her seat and rolled her eyes. "He's a nosy bastard."
"He's just looking out for you."
"What do you know?" She stiffened once more.
He made sure to keep his eyes locked on hers. "Not much to be honest, and that's what's been bothering me. There's too many things for me to ignore, you friend's warning and Mimsy's reaction to your past relationships. I need to know what happened."
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do," he said, his voice coming out in similar way to when an Alpha werewolf spoke, and she had met and worked with several over the years. It was instinct to look down at the table in submission.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything," he answered.
"I'm not drunk enough for this shit," she mumbled, abandoning her rule about drinking too early and she headed to the bar, ordering four beers and four shots of tequila.
When she returned he watched as she downed the first two shots without taking a break, before downing the final two. She then pushed two beers over to him and she kept two for herself, saving them from having to go to the bar when they wanted another drink.
She took a swig from her beer and then took a deep breath.
"I'm not same person I used to be," she started. "War changes people and it most certainly changed me. I was brought into it when I was twelve and by the time I turned seventeen, I had faced and survived death, I had faced dark creatures, I had travelled back in time and I was practicing and perfecting magic far beyond my years. Before the war I was bossy, a know-it-all, I was kind and compassionate, especially to creatures that didn't have rights, I'm still those things now, only I know better. I'm not as naive as I used to be, I've developed a vengeful streak, and before where I could never have even contemplated taking another life, now I know in some cases, I have to. After the war, everyone had a hard time dealing with the losses and the suffering, but we did our best. We rebuilt our homes and our businesses, we rebuilt Hogwarts so the next generation could begin their education and the rest could continue with theirs. People not only grieved but they celebrated, and we moved on. For some it was easier than others." She took another swig of her beer and concentrated on picking at the label on the bottle.
"After the war I had to deal with the loss of my parents, despite my best efforts I had failed to protect them. I had to deal with the loss of my friends and peers and professors, of fellow members of The Order. I was constantly in and out of St. Mungo's, having all sorts of tests done on me because of what I had suffered during the war. Ronald and I started dating when I returned to Hogwarts and at first everything was great, until I found out he had been repeatedly cheating on me. I found out in the newspaper, there was a whole eight page spread on his infidelity and pictures of dozens of girls plastered in the newspaper, and there was no way Ronald could've talked himself out of it, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these photos were speaking loud and clear. He blamed me. He said it was my fault he was unable to stay faithful to me, because I wasn't the same me. Since the war, I had become dull, lifeless, and distant. He called me a cold hearted, frigid bitch. We broke up. His family were on my side though, they didn't speak to him for weeks, even George who was grieving over losing his twin brother, Fred, found it in him to create a few new joke products that needed to be tested and Ron was the guinea pig." The corner of her mouth twitched and she looked up at him, seeing that he was now sat forward with his arms on the table and watching her closely.
"After Ron, I started dating Blaise. I knew of his reputation and so I wasn't surprised when we had been together all of two weeks and he broke up with me for someone that was prettier than me and had more money than me. After I graduated Hogwarts I went into the Auror training programme and I met Terrence. Terrence was different to the others I had dated. He could make me blush, which is a very difficult thing seeing as much doesn't embarrass me anymore." She saw his mouth twitch at the revelation since he was able to make her blush and he did all the time. "He was kind to me, he didn't insult me, he didn't make fun of my love for books or my wish to help all beings and creatures. Or at least, that's what I had thought. I overheard him once, gloating to the other trainees about how he was screwing The Hermione Granger, about how he had me wrapped around his finger and I would do anything he asked of me, as if I were his little lap dog. I hexed his tongue onto his arse for two weeks."
He couldn't help it, he started laughing.
"I received a warning and if I acted unprofessionally again, I would be removed from the training programme. Though Kingsley found out why I had done it and he made sure that the trainers were harder on Terrence than they were everyone else. The Order of Phoenix is a family, when you go through a war together, when you fight side by side, it creates a bond. A lot of The Order members are the godparents for other members' children, so we look out for each other if we can. After my last three relationships I stayed away from men for a while. It was close to two years after I had graduated the Auror training programme and I quickly worked my way up through the ranks. I was twenty-one when my department was created and I was made the Head of Department and I was given my own team of aurors and recruits to train. I met Ryan," she saw Dean tense at the name, obviously remembering Mimsy's bad reaction to him.
"I believed Ryan to be a truly kind hearted person. He would show up at my office with flowers and my favourite candies from Honeydukes and he would arrange surprise meals and pick me up from my office and take me for lunch or dinner, depending how late I was working that night. I believed myself to have fallen in love with him and after I told him, he changed. He was more demanding of me, if I wasn't at my apartment by the time I said I would be, he would accuse me of cheating on him. We fought all the time, and although he was cruel with his words, he never once hurt me. Until he did." She saw Dean grip the table in anger and fury shone in his eyes. "We had gone out drinking with my friends, Ryan had far too much to drink and when he saw Harry and I dancing and laughing together, he lost it. He grabbed me and dragged me out of the building. Harry followed and I don't remember much but Harry ended up with a bust lip and Ryan a black eye. I apparated Ryan home and he started on me. We argued and I was screaming at him, and he pushed me. I fell down the stairs. I broke my arm, several ribs and my back and stomach were covered in bruises. Ryan was arrested but the charges never stuck, he had a lawyer that owed him a favour and he was released without charge."
"When I turned twenty-two, I met Adrian after a Quidditch match since his team had been playing against Ginny's. And even though Ginny's team lost to him, we went out to celebrate because it was a good match with only ten points between them. Adrian was there and before I knew it, he had charmed his way into my knickers. We didn't see much of each other since he was always at training or games. We only really interacted when he contacted me, and I was basically a booty call, but I will give him this, he didn't sleep with anyone but me and when we were together, he treated me well. We broke up about three months later, which I believe is a record for Adrian, he rarely keeps girlfriends, only one night stands. A year later I met Theo through work, he's an Unspeakable and my department was working alongside the Department of Mysteries on a project. We got along fairly well, he was academically inclined, just as I was, he was only two places behind me in school and so we never ran out of topics to talk about, he was distant though and he had his own problems. His father was Thoros Nott, one of the men that you killed for torturing me at the warehouse." His hands gripped the table once more and his nose flared. "Theo wasn't anything like his father and he suffered so much abuse under his care that it's left Theo closed off and he had so many barriers up, he pushed me away when I got too close to him. He cheated on me because he knew it was the only way I would leave him."
"I met Jamie when I was twenty-four and we met at the annual celebration ball that commemorates the Final Battle and those that we lost. We dated and we spoke about settling down together, buying a house and dog, but Jamie said he wanted to pay for half of everything and he couldn't afford it without a promotion." Dean quickly caught on to what she was about to say. "I put in a good word for him with the Head of the Department for Runes and Symbols, and since I was not only a Department Head myself at the age of twenty-four, a famous war heroine and academically known, I was also an established Spell Creator by this point, my words held a lot of sway. A week later Jamie was made the Deputy Head of the Department and he broke up with me the next day. When I was twenty-five I met Nathan. We dated for three months and when I wouldn't loan him any money for the business he wished to set up, he broke up with me." She fell silent, staring at a stain on the table.
She looked up and he was staring at her, emotions were flying through his eyes so quickly she couldn't keep up to identify them.
"I allowed them to take advantage of me because I couldn't see what they were doing until it was too late. They were using me to get what they wanted, job promotions, money, fame, sex, but I was blind to it. I wanted to believe that they didn't care for my money or fame or achievements, I wanted to believe that they actually did care for me. I was so tired after the war, I just wanted someone to care for me, to look after me the way I did others. I was always the strong the one, I was always the one looking out for the others. I made sure they did their homework, I made sure they slept and ate, I made sure they were warm and I kept them alive for seven years. Even when they were mad at me for something stupid, or they insulted me or they were mean to me, I took everything in stride and I kept them as safe as I could given the times we were in," she sighed and drank the last of the beer, before moving onto the second one.
"Who was after your last one?" He asked her.
"Just you."
"You know I wouldn't hurt you, right?" She looked up at him. "I know I can be dick, but I wouldn't hurt you."
"I know you wouldn't hurt me like they did." She confirmed. "You don't care for my fame or my achievements, you don't care for my money and now you don't care that I'm a witch. You wouldn't hurt me because not only would you face my wand, you'd have a pissed off Harry Potter and The Weasley clan after you, as well as, Bobby and my Guardian Angel."
"Sam wouldn't be too happy either," he added.
"No, I don't think he would be. You have nothing to worry about, I may have had abysmal taste in men for my last relationships, but you're not them. Even with your teasing insults, your amusement at anything that annoys me and your wrongful behaviour when we first met, you still treat me better than the others," she shrugged.
"I still don't understand why you stayed with these men."
"Now that they're out of my life, I don't either. But as I said before, I wanted someone to take care of me, since I was always the one taking care of others. I was seeing all of my friends and family, falling in love, getting married and settling down, having kids. I wanted what they had, but I can never have that."
"Why not?" He asked with a frown.
"Not tonight, Dean," she sighed, running a hand over her face. "I've revealed more about myself tonight than I ever have with anyone, and I can't talk about it now. Maybe someday I'll tell you, if we're still together, but I can't tell you now."
He nodded and didn't like the way she suddenly looked exhausted and vulnerable. She was never vulnerable. She was strong and kind and beautiful. He stood and moved to her side of the booth, sliding in next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"You look like you need a hug," he replied shrugging. She smiled at him softly and willingly went to him when he pulled her into him.
They pulled back and she pulled her feet up onto the seat and then leaned her head against his shoulder, whilst he kept his arm around her shoulder. They sat in silence watching the other patrons sitting at the bar, playing pool and laughing and drinking in booths.
"Why did I have to be the janitor?" They heard a grumble and Sam suddenly appeared and he sat down in the seat Dean had vacated. He had taken off his coveralls leaving him in his t-shirt, jacket and jeans. He raised an eyebrow at their current positions but neither of them replied nor moved.
"I called the PE teacher and the students won't have taken to you the way they have Glinda," Dean shrugged and she rolled her eyes at the awful name.
"Did you find anything?" Hermione asked.
"No," he shook his head. "There was no evidence of a demon or a spirit. If it weren't for the fact there's been seven victims, I would think the school was perfectly normal."
"We've gone through your findings and we both agree that this seems personal."
"That's what I thought, too, but we need something to narrow down the pool of suspects."
"Did you check their lockers? There could be something in there that's useful," Hermione asked.
Dean snorted at the look of Sam's face, showing he obviously didn't check the lockers. "Why didn't you think of that? It is something we'd do," he pointed out amused.
"Shut up," Sam grumbled. "I'll do it tomorrow; I have the late shift again."
Hermione picked up her beaded bag and rummaged through it, pulling out some money and handing it to Sam. He looked confused and then counted it and seeing there was one hundred dollars he smirked.
"How long did he last?"
"Till the lunch bell," she grumbled and Sam laughed victoriously.