CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
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: 7
Eyes widened at the obvious meaning to the name change.
"Dean's not my boyfriend, he's my husband."
"You're married!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.
"Yes, and we have been for six weeks."
"But you've only been together two months?" Angelina spoke in confusion, a crease appearing in her forehead.
"Yes, it was an unexpected bonding, but we wouldn't change it if we could. We're happy."
"You can't possibly be stupid enough to marry someone you barely know," Mrs. Weasley blurted out.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, as did Dean.
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione snarked. "I'll have you know I know Dean very well, better than myself in fact. And I'm not stupid. I love Dean."
"You loved Ryan."
Hermione winced and Dean stiffened beside her. "That was below the belt," Hermione said, and even the others seemed to agree with her, judging by the looks they sent Mrs. Weasley's way. "Dean is not Ryan. He would never lay a finger on me."
"The only reason he's married you is for your money," Ron smirked cruelly.
"Oh, shut up, Ron," Harry sighed, and everyone looked at him in surprise. "He didn't marry Hermione for her money. I've spoken and met with Dean many times over the last few months and I've known about their relationship since day one, but Hermione didn't want to jeopardise anything and wished to keep it a secret. Dean's a good man and he'd kill anyone that dared to even look at Hermione the wrong way. He loves her, any idiot can see that. And he didn't know about her financial status until I told him about it, as I wanted to see his reaction to it. He doesn't care; he honestly couldn't care less about her money. As for their marriage, it was an unexpected bonding."
"Bonding?" Bill frowned, catching onto the word and eyeing the couple up.
"Bonding," Hermione nodded, and she lifted her left hand and Dean did the same, seeing the many pairs of eyes widening, before the women in the room appeared to melt in their seats with sighs.
"We're fated, and the bonding occurred during our first night together. We've been married for six weeks and we only discovered the news a few days ago, but we're both happy and we wouldn't change it for the world."
Ron started laughing.
"Oh, Merlin, this is priceless. You didn't have a choice in marrying her? Well, it makes sense; after all, no one would ever want to marry her of their own free will."
Ron stumbled back with a cry of pain and his hand pressed to his shoulder as blood began to seep from the bullet wound Dean had put in him. Gasps rang out and they jumped in their seats, but the gun had been silent due to Hermione's Silencing Charm on it.
Mrs. Weasley ran to Ron as he cowered on the floor and everyone stared between Ron and Dean to stunned by what had just happened to do anything. Hermione calmly made her way over to Ron, pushing him onto his back despite the fact he tried to push her away.
"Oh stop being a baby, Dean shot me the first time we met. If you want it to heal, I have to have a look at it."
Ron glared at her but removed his hand, whimpering in pain and allowing her access to the area. She ran some scans, before rolling her eyes and she conjured up some potions and gave them to Ron, before bandages sprung from her wand and wrapped around the wound.
"It's a through and through, he hit your shoulder and nothing major, you'll be sore for a few days but other than that there's nothing wrong with you. Just remember, he could've easily killed you and he still might, so it would be in your best interests for you to keep your mouth shut. Dean's an excellent shot; he's got years of experience over you." She rose to her feet and made her way over to Dean, stopping by his side. "Thank you for not killing him," she said softly.
"I still haven't decided if it would be worth the argument," he replied, his eyes on Ron as he was helped up and back into his chair.
Hermione turned her attention back to the horrified members sat around the table, while Harry looked proud that Dean had defended Hermione, even if he had shot Ron.
"I told you, he's not Ryan. He protects me, he doesn't hurt me. We're fated, and we love each other, despite the circumstances of our marriage which is certifiable by magical law and in the eyes of Heaven and its Angels. We're happy. And we're not having a wedding ceremony, it's pointless and we don't want one," Hermione said, before it could be brought up that they should have a complete wedding ceremony and reception.
"The reason we called this meeting is so you could meet Dean and Sam, my husband and my brother-in-law, and to ask for your support. My personal, medical and banking records were magically updated when the bond between us was formed, including my name, next of kin and marital status, and you know what that means."
"The vultures will soon be circling you," Ginny scowled.
"Exactly, and I don't want another Ryan situation. I reckon we have until Saturday, Sunday at a push, until I start getting bombarded with requests from the press, since someone is bound to sell the information to the highest bidder. We're going to do our best to control the situation, and Dean and I will be doing an interview and photo shoot, and we'll have the questions vetted beforehand."
"Smart," Bill nodded and she thanked him.
"You will likely be approached by the press, too, since I am now no longer Europe's most eligible bachelorette, and they'll want to know what you know. We wish to keep Dean's life style a secret as it may cause some backlash, and it may also put him in danger which we want to avoid. We have enough danger in our field of work without adding this to it, too."
"You know you have my support, Hermione. I've seen the way Dean treats you, and I know you've never been happier than when you're with him. And he's had my approval since before you got together," Harry said, and everyone gawked at him, knowing Harry had never liked any of her boyfriends, including Ron.
"You have my support, too," Ginny said softly.
"And ours," George gestured to himself and Angelina.
"And I know Mimsy approves of Dean, too," Harry said.
Eyes were almost falling out of heads at that statement, as they all knew of how protective the little house-elf was over Hermione. She didn't like anyone.
"She does?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mimsy," Hermione called softly.
There was a brief pause before the little house-elf popped into the room.
"Mistress, Master," she bowed.
"Hello, Mimsy," they both responded, and the others blinked at the way she had addressed Dean.
"Mimsy, I believe someone would like your opinion on something," Hermione said.
Mimsy turned around to face the others. "How can Mimsy help?" The little elf asked.
Bill cleared his throat. "Mimsy, what do you think of Dean?" He asked.
Everyone leaned forward slightly, waiting to hear her response.
Mimsy's eyes began to water. "The Master bes a very good man. He not hurt my Mistress. He takes good cares of her. Mistress smiles and laughs because of Master. Master is kind to Mimsy and the other elves. Mimsy loves her Mistress and Master, and Mimsy will not be happy if someones says bad things about her Master, he bes a good man." They were all staring at her as she had ended the speech with her hands on her hips and a stomp of her foot.
Dean's eyes had softened as he looked at Mimsy. "Thank you, Mimsy," Dean said softly, and she turned to face him.
"You a good man, Master," she said simply. "Would Master be liking some pie?"
Hermione and Sam both started laughing.
"She's got you down to a 'T'," Hermione spoke through her laughter.
"Maybe later, thank you, Mimsy," he replied.
She nodded, and seeming to understand that was all she had been summoned for, she popped out of the room.
"Well then, you've got our support," Bill said, for him and Fleur.
"And ours," Percy said, for himself and Audrey.
"And mine and Claire's," Charlie said with a grin.
"I do not like the circumstances, but should you require it, you have ours as well," Mrs. Weasley said.
No one bothered to look at Ron.
That just left Draco and Luna.
"For Merlin's Sake," Draco scowled. "We all know I've never refused her anything, stop staring at me, she's had my support from the moment she walked through the door and I saw who she'd brought with her."
Hermione's heart swelled at his words and she had to restrain herself from hugging him, knowing he would whine about it.
"Thank you, everyone. And I mean it, I truly am happy with Dean. And I would say he's sorry for shooting Ron, but he's not, so there's no point in lying. We'll leave you to your dinner to allow you some time to process everything you have learned. I'm back in England for a week or so, so I'll make sure to visit everyone and the kids before leaving."
She quickly hugged Harry, Ginny and Luna, she messed up Draco's hair, earning a scowl and she kissed the sleeping Scorpius' forehead, before turning and leaving out the kitchen with Sam following her.
Dean stayed back, making a show of picking up his gun, dusting it off and putting it into the waistband of his jeans.
"Just so we're clear," he said, his eyes locked on Ron's and everyone was staring at him. "If I find out you've said something to upset my wife, the next bullet won't be in your shoulder." Ron glared at him, but wisely kept his mouth shut. "She's told me all about her past boyfriends, and I'm not like any of them. And should I meet them one day, they will suffer the same fate as you, particularly this Ryan guy, who I can't wait to be left alone with." They all winced at the implication of his words.
"Now, I best be off, I'm going to put a baby in my wife," he said lightly, to the many wide eyes, even Harry looked surprised. "She's been waiting a long time and disappointed too many times in her life, and I don't like to disappoint her, bye," he walked out of the room, leaving silence behind him.
"I like him," Ginny said, breaking the silence and everyone snorted at her.
"You just think he's good looking," Harry rolled his eyes.
"Did you see what I did? He was like Adonis."
"Love you too, Gin," Harry quipped, and she swatted at his arm, to the chuckles of the others.
~000~000~000~
"Well, that wasn't so bad," Hermione said, as she stepped through the door to her apartment and the brothers followed behind her.
"It wasn't?" Sam asked disbelievingly.
"No, Ronald only tried to hex me once, although, that's likely because Dean shot him."
"I don't feel guilty; I told you I was going to shoot him before we even left the apartment."
"I know, and I'm not mad, it's not like you killed him."
She stopped when she reached the kitchen and she sighed, seeing the food waiting for them.
"Mimsy?" Sam asked.
"Mimsy," she confirmed with a scowl and they chuckled at her. "The bloody elf won't let me do anything," she crossed her arms and pouted.
Dean snorted at her, before pushing her into a seat at the table. "Just eat it, otherwise you'll be complaining you're hungry for the rest of the night," he said.
"The rest of the night? More like in two hours time," Sam joked, Dean smirked and she stuck her tongue out at them childishly.
~000~000~000~
"I do, you know?" Dean said.
He was sat on the bed and Hermione had just come out of the bathroom, dressed for bed in Dean's t-shirt, which he had been adamant she wear.
"What?" She questioned.
He sighed. He grabbed her hips as she neared him and pulled her to sit on his lap and he wrapped his arms around her. The moment she looked into his eyes, she knew.
"Yes, I know you love me," she said softly. "And I know you have difficultly saying the words, but sometimes actions speak louder than words, and you've more than proved your love for me recently."
"I still want to be able to tell you, but it's like I physically can't say the words."
She frowned in thought, nibbling at her lip and his eyes were trained on the movement.
"So we say something else, something that we both know means 'I love you.' It'll be our own unique phrasing that only we'll know the meaning of."
"And what are we going to use as a phrase?"
She shrugged in response. He buried his head against her neck, his nose running over her soft skin and breathing in the scent of her.
"I love the way you smell," he mumbled.
"What?"
"Apples and caramel, it reminds me of pie," he muttered.
"Well you smell like soap, motor oil and gun powder," she sighed, as he placed a kiss to her neck. "And I've just discovered you can say 'I love,' just not 'I love you,' and that gives us something to work with."
"I love that you smell like pie," he shrugged and she chuckled at him.
"Alright, that'll be the phrase. Instead of 'I love you,' we'll say 'I love pie.' Give it a try."
He breathed in her scent. "I love pie," he muttered.
"I love pie, too," she responded with a sigh.
She suddenly found herself on her back with a squeak of surprise and with Dean hovering above her.
"I don't want you to believe anything that asshole said about you or to you. You are beautiful despite how you may feel about your scars. Say it, say you're beautiful."
"You're beautiful."
He scowled at her. "Cute, you know what I meant and I want you to say it and believe it."
She shook her head and looked away from him.
"You are beautiful."
She took a breath, before reluctantly looking him in the eyes. "I'm beautiful," she muttered.
"Louder," he instructed
"I'm beautiful," she repeated louder.
"Now say it like you believe it. You are beautiful."
"I'm beautiful."
"Yes, you are," he pushed her hair away from her face. "You really are, Little Witch."
"I'm Hermione Winchester now," she said softly.
His entire face softened and he smiled down at her. "Yes, you are, and it suits you, too."