CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
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
They landed in Bobby's living room and the sight that met their eyes was Sam pacing back and forth and Bobby sat on the arm chair, his leg bouncing nervously and his arms crossed.
"I told you they'd be worried," Hermione said to Dean, and both Sam and Bobby's eyes snapped to them.
"Thank God, you're alright, where the hell have you been?" Sam demanded, scowling at them.
"Sorry, Dad, I didn't realise I would need permission to shower," Hermione replied and Dean chuckled at her sass. "I left both my wand and bag here."
"You did?" Sam questioned, and his eyes caught sight of them on the coffee table. "Oh, you did," he cleared his throat and shuffled on his feet.
"Where were you? You can't have gone far and you certainly didn't use the shower here."
"I called for Mimsy and she took us to my apartment so we could shower, it's too far to apparate and my magic's unsettled and I didn't want to risk floo travel or port keying," she shrugged. "Anyway, the house-elves are preparing your breakfast and it should be here soon."
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine," she answered. Bobby looked as though he didn't believe her. "I promise, I feel fine. As I said, my magic's unsettled which will make me jittery for a little while, but other than that I'm fine."
"And you?" Bobby asked Dean.
"Fine," he shrugged. Two pairs of eyes narrowed on the pair and they caught sight of them holding hands, and they didn't appear to be letting go of the other any time soon.
"What the hell happened to you?" Sam asked, changing the subject and sitting down on the still transfigured bed.
"We don't know, but we talked and we had the same symptoms," Dean answered.
"Why aren't you worried by this?"
"There's no point in worrying, it's not going to help us figure anything out. When we come to knowing the answers, we'll deal with it then," he replied.
"Cas is working on it."
"What do you mean?" Hermione frowned.
"Harry found you when you didn't turn up for work, he called for Cas and he brought you here to Dean. The moment you were placed side by side, you calmed down. He thinks that whatever is happening between the two of you is supernatural, but neither of you are to blame. He thinks he's seen something similar before, he's gone back up to Heaven to scour the archives for answers, he'll return when he knows something."
"When was this?"
"Four days ago, you've been out for four days."
"Oh, Merlin, Harry must be so worried, and the others, I'll have to contact them and..."
"Calm down, Harry knows," Sam interjected. "He tracked you here and he was present when Cas explained everything to us. He's been back once a day to check on you. As far as I'm aware, he's been covering for you at work and no one knows that you're back here. They all think you're ill. He'll be back later in the day to check on you. Your owl's here, too, he's got a thing for ice-cream, by the way."
"You gave him ice-cream!" Hermione screeched and they all winced.
"I may have done," he said sheepishly.
"You know he's on a diet."
"Hermione, he gave me the eyes! The eyes! I couldn't not give him some."
"You're such a push over, allowing a bloody owl to manipulate you," she scowled at him and Dean laughed. He had missed this.
"I can't help it."
"Yes, you can, stop allowing my owl to manipulate you. Ricky," Hermione called and the small owl flew in through the open window and landed on her shoulder, rubbing himself against her cheek affectionately.
"I don't think so, Ricky, don't be sucking up to me, you know I'm not happy with you for manipulating Sam into giving you ice-cream. You're on a diet for a reason." The owl nipped at her ear and she hissed. "Ricky, you have just lost your iced mice privileges," she told the owl. He gave a hoot of indignation before flying off. "Don't even think about stealing some poor old lady's pie from the windowsill either!" She called after him and Dean was thoroughly amused by the situation.
"What?" Hermione asked the room, seeing the identical looks they were giving her.
"You're strange," Dean commented.
"Just figuring that out, are you Dean? You can't be as observant as I thought you were," she quipped.
He pinched her side for her cheek and she laughed at him.
"Fucker!" Bobby cursed and jumped in his seat, as did Sam when Mimsy appeared in the room. Dean was used to it by this point.
"Mistress, Sirs," she bowed and Hermione smiled at her and Dean nodded. "Butter has finished preparing breakfast, would you bes likings it now?"
"Please, Mimsy, and please tell Butter that I appreciate him making breakfast."
"Yes, Mistress," she popped out of view.
"So, that's a house-elf," Bobby muttered, Hermione nodded. "Funny looking."
"Well to her you're funny looking," Hermione responded.
She pulled Dean into the kitchen and the others followed her, and as they took their seats, the food appeared on the table. The brothers appeared unsurprised, Bobby, however, blinked several times and she chuckled at him.
"I know, they spoil me so," she said softly.
~000~000~000~
"Has anyone thought to call for Castiel?" Hermione asked, after they finished their breakfast and settled back in the living room.
Hermione transfigured the bed back into the couch and she and Dean took their seats, with her pulled into his side and his arm over her shoulders.
"He said he would return when he had something," Sam responded and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"He's a lot like me when it comes to research."
"Meaning?" Dean asked.
"He may have already found the answer he's looking for, but he wishes to have more information to make a comparison to, even though anything he finds is likely to be the same. I've been known to spend days researching a topic, even after I've already found what I was looking for within the first few hours."
"Book worm," he muttered and she elbowed him in the side.
"It comes with the territory, get used to it," she told him and Sam sniggered. "Castiel," Hermione called softly, her eyes narrowed on the ceiling, daring him to ignore her calls.
"I don't think he's coming, Hermione," Sam said.
"Oh, he better get his arse down here, otherwise I'm going to pluck every single feather from his bloody wings, one by one," she scowled.
"You're vindictive," Dean said amused.
"Get used to it!"
"I'm not complaining," he held his hands up in surrender.
"Castiel, I swear to Merlin and the Founders, if you're not down here by the time I've finished this sentence, I'm going to turn your feathery arse into a new pair of slippers and..."
"Hermione, Dean, I'm happy to see you've woken," Castiel spoke as he entered through the door.
"You're scared of her, too, I see," Dean commented.
"Too?" Both Sam and Bobby questioned with a smirk.
Dean shrugged. "There's no point in denying it, she's terrifying when she wants to be. I've seen some scary shit over the years, but none of it comes close to her."
Hermione scowled at him and elbowed him in the ribs a lot harder than the last time.
He grunted through a laugh. "I'm just messing with you," he placated, placing a kiss to her forehead, before she turned her attention to Castiel, who was stood waiting patiently for them to finish their little domestic.
"Have you found anything?" She asked him, conjuring up a chair for him and he sat down in it.
"I may have, but I need more information on your relationship before I am able to determine if it is pertinent to you."
"Such as?"
"Are you happy for Bobby and Sam to remain present?"
"Why?" Hermione frowned.
"Some of the things I need to know are personal," he responded.
She looked at Dean and he shrugged.
"They can stay," she confirmed.
Castile nodded. "Your relationship, describe it. What are you to each other? How do you feel when around each other, and how do you feel when you are away from each other?"
They both frowned in thought.
"You first, Sweetheart," Dean said.
She bit her lip. "I know that our relationship isn't normal and I've known that since the beginning. I don't know why, but I'm drawn to Dean and I have been from the moment we met. The more time we spent around each other, the stronger the pull seemed to be. Things between us started to change after we met with the mother of one of the victims and the little brother, and of course, when we passed out drunk and I woke up with a hangover and Dean suffocating me." Sam sniggered, remembering the photo he had on his phone of that particular moment. "My guard lowered around him and because of this, I forgot to ward the windows and the Bowman incident happened."
"Bowman incident? What happened?" Bobby frowned, not liking that things were obviously being kept from him.
"Nothing," the two Hunters and witch replied in unison and he narrowed his eyes at them, but he quickly understood that whatever it was, Hermione didn't want anyone to know and the brothers were protecting her secret. He could respect them for that, even if it was annoying.
"And after the Bowman incident, Dean was the only one that I trusted to keep me safe. He was the only one that could comfort me. We found the location of the Death Eaters headquarters and we got into an argument, and we kissed. Then the battle happened, I was injured and in a coma for three days and Dean didn't take care of himself," she glared at him and he rolled his eyes in response.
"From there our relationship grew. Dean asked me to travel with them, to teach them about the magical world and in return they'd teach me about the supernatural. Everything really changed during our first case together, in which it became...Physical," she glared at Sam's snort and he coughed to cover it up. "We both knew our relationship was strange."
"How?" Castiel asked.
"Your turn," Hermione told Dean.
"You want the list?" Castiel nodded, and Dean rolled his eyes, but sighed. "We're possessive of each other, to the point where I can't control my thoughts of killing anyone that touches her. She killed a lamia for kissing me, and she made me shower and brush my teeth afterwards. I'm not a possessive person, never have been, and I've never stayed with a woman longer than a night. I've always had a wandering eye."
"And now you don't?" Castiel guessed.
"No, I don't. I look at another woman and I can see they're pretty, but I don't have an interest in them, they don't compare to Hermione. You could put Miss Universe in front of me and I wouldn't care. The thought of Hermione being with anyone but me, is...I don't like it. I think I might even kill him if it were the case."
"Any you?" he asked Hermione.
"The same, the thought of Dean with anyone but me is sickening, physically sickening, and it hurts," she frowned, bringing her hand up to her heart to rub over it, but Dean caught her hand and held it in his. "I've thought of leaving on a few instances, but I can't bring myself to do it, I can't bring myself to leave Dean. I feel as though it might actually kill me."
"And you?"
"The same," Dean confessed. "I've thought of asking her to leave, people around us die and I don't want her getting hurt, but I don't want her to leave either. I don't think I'd be the same if she did," he frowned.
"Anything else?"
"Like I said, he's the only one I trust to comfort me, but before we started sleeping together, we found ourselves waking up next to other every morning, in the car, in a bed, on the couch. I actually sleep when he's nearby. Before I met Dean, I was only able to sleep a maximum of three hours a night, I was on two Sleeping Potions a week, or I drank until I passed out to help with the nightmares. Harry was the only one that was able to comfort me after I woke from my nightmares, but now Dean can, too. Since meeting Dean, I'm able to sleep through the night without waking. I still have nightmares, but they aren't as vivid, but it's only when he's nearby."
"The same for me," Dean said. "I can sleep when she's close to me, I still have nightmares, but they're bearable and I sleep through the night." Castiel nodded. "I worry about her. Not like I worry about Sam, it's worse. The thought of her hurt..." He trailed off, not knowing how to explain it. Not even sure if he wanted to explain it; he didn't like to think of her hurt, he didn't like talking about it. "I need her to be safe and healthy. It's why I didn't sleep or eat until she woke from her coma. I know you said she was fine, but I just couldn't take care of myself until I knew for certain that she was alright." Hermione squeezed his hand.
"I need him to be safe and healthy, too. I killed a seventeen year old girl because she held a knife to Dean's throat." Bobby's eyes widened in surprise, and Castiel looked to be in thought. "I couldn't control my actions. It was as if I had checked out and something else took over completely, and I was just watching everything unfold from the sidelines. When the fog cleared from my mind, I realised what I'd done. I don't feel guilty that I killed her, I feel guilty that I know I would do it again, should I need to, should Dean's life be threatened. I need him alive and safe." Dean pressed a kiss to her forehead, squeezing her hand.
"If I say something to her that upsets her, it makes me feel sick to my stomach to know that I was the one that hurt her." Dean said.
"Okay, how do you feel around each other?" Castiel asked.
"Calm, peaceful, happy," Hermione answered and Dean nodded in agreement.
"And when you're away from each other?"
"Well, my going back to England was the first time we've been apart since meeting. I missed him to the point where it physically hurt. I felt...Empty, lonely, cold," she frowned. "And then the symptoms started, I can't remember much after the first week there, I just remember waking up here with Dean, and I felt better, as though nothing had happened."
"Dean?"
"The same," he sighed, "Exactly the same. Without her I was exhausted, agitated and irritable."
"He really was," Sam piped up. "I lost count of the number of times I wanted to punch him in the face. And I felt sorry for some of our cases, he was particularly vicious with a vampire, and it might have something to do with one of the victims being similar in height, weight and hair and eye colour to Hermione."
"May have been," he muttered.
"What are you to each other?" Castiel asked.
"You first," Dean said.
"Dean is Dean, I suppose," her brow furrowed and she nibbled at her lip. "He's sarcastic, annoying, loud and arrogant. He's pain in the arse."
"Don't hold back," Dean scoffed.
"But he's my pain in the arse," she finished with a glare to him and his face softened. "He's kind, caring, charming and he doesn't yell at me or call me names when I go off topic and I start ranting about house-elf rights or anything else that I care about that others don't. He doesn't insult me for my love of books. He doesn't care for my money. He doesn't care that I'm a celebrity. I've been through a lot in my life and he doesn't care that I have enough baggage to fill my beaded bag." Dean snorted at her. "And he doesn't care for my scars, mental, emotional and physical. I don't have to hide who I am around him. I don't have to suppress my magic from him. He's my safety," she finished softly, a thoughtful look on her face.
"Dean?" Castiel questioned.
He sighed. "She's bossy, annoying, sarcastic and stubborn, with no sense of self-preservation."She scowled at him. "But she's kind, caring, smart and generous. She's witty, funny and fearless and she doesn't hesitate to call me out on my bullshit. She's delicate and soft, but she's fierce and deadly, both with and without magic. From a young age she's dedicated her life to helping and protecting those that can't do it for themselves. I've seen the compassion she has for others; I've seen how she treats the house-elves under her care. I've seen her inspire teenagers to actually want to go to school and learn. She doesn't care that I don't have money, or that I get my money from hustling others at pool or through card fraud. She doesn't complain that we're always on the road, travelling for cases. She doesn't care that we kill and lie through our teeth on a regular basis, or that we live off fast food and stay in disgusting motels."
"I don't have to lie to her. I don't have to hide the weapons in the car. She's so clearly superior to me, yet she treats me as her equal. She doesn't treat me like an idiot when I don't understand something she's talking about. She's my peace. When I'm with her, there are no problems, there's no demons or vampires or werewolves, there's no one trying to kill us. Everything is peaceful and quiet. I don't have to worry. I don't have to drink. I don't have to sleep around. I'm no longer tired or numb. Her presence alone makes everything better," by the time he'd finished, they were staring into each other's eyes, as if they were having a silent conversation of their own.
Castiel had a small smile on his face, whilst Sam and Bobby sat there, their mouths open and eyes wide at Dean's emotional admittance. Neither of them could believe what they'd just witnessed. They never thought they'd see the day Dean Winchester willingly spoke of his emotions and thoughts, and to an audience as well. It was clear to them that Hermione had changed Dean in more ways than they realised and it was for the better.
They only hoped that whatever their relationship turned out to be wouldn't destroy the couple.