CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
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
Friday went by quickly with Hermione going to work and returning at three in the afternoon, before they explored more of Diagon Alley and she took them to Hogsmeade, where she showed them Honeydukes –which had been Dean's favourite by a mile- and The Three Broomsticks, before they took a walk to the Shrieking Shack where Hermione told them of its history, and she took them as far she could to Hogwarts, but they were only able to see one of its towers, which had been disappointing.
They returned to the apartment, where they sat in the living room, laughing and joking for the remainder of the night, before heading to bed.
Saturday morning arrived with Dean's hands roaming her body, his nose tickling her neck and an owl tapping at the window.
She groaned in annoyance, Dean chuckled at her, before taking pity on her and he climbed out of bed and opened the window for the owl. It flew in through the window, dropped the newspaper on top of Hermione, before flying back out, taking the change that had been left on the windowsill with it.
Hermione reluctantly sat up and took the newspaper in her hand, her eyes scanning the page and she sighed.
"And it begins, the vulture's are circling," she ran her hand through her hair. "Hermione Granger and her secret wedding?"She read the title.
"I'll see if Sammy's up," Dean spoke, before he disappeared from the room, returning with a still half asleep Sam.
He sat himself down on the bed, and Dean slid in beside her.
"Let's hear it," Sam yawned.
"Hermione Granger and her secret wedding? It has been brought to this reporter's attention that Hermione Granger has undergone a name change and is now to be known as Hermione Winchester. Sources report that along with the name change comes the change in her marital status. You read right, Europe's most eligible bachelorette has secretly tied the knot, and according to change in records, she has been secretly married for six weeks. But just who is her secret husband? When did they meet? How long have they been together, as the war heroine hasn't been picture with any man since her messy break up with Ryan Newton, and later the brief fling she had with Quidditch Star, The Sinful Adrian Pucey. Does her husband know of her colourful dating history? Who is he? This reporter would like to know, and nothing will get in the way of the truth. Follow along as we unravel the mystery that is Hermione Winchester's marriage."
"Well, that wasn't too bad," Dean commented.
"Just wait for it."
"Wait for what?"
She held her hand up and began counting on her fingers. "Three, two and one," she pointed to the window, just as the many hoots of owls made themselves known.
Sam and Dean stood and walked over to the window, seeing the hoard of owls heading towards them.
"For that, welcome to celebrity status, boys," she sighed, flopping down onto her back and pulling the cover back over her head, as the hooting of the owls got louder as they grew closer.
~000~000~000~
"So what are we doing today?" Sam asked at they sat around the table eating breakfast, whilst Hermione was sorting through the owl post. Dean hadn't realised just how famous Hermione was until he saw the mail she received.
She had the mail separated into piles of requests for interviews, photo shoots, invitations, and just general fan mail, and there had to be over a hundred in each pile, and that was in the last hour alone, owls were still arriving.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Well, I don't work weekends and I've shown you Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and I don't have it in me to be followed around Wizarding London all day, so, how about we escape it all and we go for a tour around Muggle London." Sam sat up straight. "We can see the London Eye, and Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Madame Tussauds, whatever you want."
"Really?" Sam asked excitedly and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Anything you want, we'll have to make some time for shopping, too."
"Why?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I've seen the limited resources you have, and seeing as we have a home base now, we can get you both some new clothing and supplies, and they can be kept there for when we return."
"Home base?" Sam looked at the two of them confused.
"Didn't we tell you?" Hermione frowned. He shook his head. "Oh, we're using the Cambridge apartment as a home base now. So when we have a respite from cases we'll be returning there, unless we're visiting Bobby or I have to return to England," she explained and Sam looked surprised by the news. "Right, I'll just grab my things and then we can leave. Dean, can I have a word?"
He nodded in reply and they both stood and headed into the bedroom, where he sat on the bed as she stood in front of him.
"Okay, what is it?"
"I'm going to schedule the interview and photo shoot for tomorrow, and we'll be doing two. We'll do the first for The Daily Prophet, even though it's mostly full of shite, it is the biggest newspaper in Britain and it'll get the most coverage." He nodded. "And the second one will be for The Quibbler, it's a strange tabloid that publishes articles about conspiracy theories and creatures even I believe are made up, but they can be trusted."
"Why?"
"Luna owns it, it belonged to her father but he died a couple of years ago and passed it along to her. I know anything she'll write will be in favour for us and it'll help to boost sales for the tabloid, not that it matters, seeing as Draco's the wealthiest man in Europe, what with him being the Head of The House of Malfoy and Malfoy Industries," she shrugged. "Aside from the fact you need new clothing anyway, since most of your jeans have holes in them, the photographer will want us to look a certain way, which means we both need new clothing to wear for tomorrow. And you'll need a tailored suit, too."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "Like I said, they'll want us to look a certain way, so that would be you in a tailored suit and me in a pretty dress, and then they'll want something more casual, and I promise, you can wear your leather jacket for that one."
"Will you be wearing yours?" He asked curiously.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"No reason," he shrugged.
She smirked at him. "Mr. Winchester, do you have a thing for women wearing leather jackets?" She asked amused.
"No, but I'm not against you wearing one."
She chuckled at him. "If you be on your best behaviour, then I'll wear my leather jacket more often. Now, I wanted to ask you about something."
"And that is?"
"I know we said we'd use the Cambridge apartment as our home base, but I was wondering if we should buy a house instead."
"A house?" He frowned. She nodded and moved closer to him and he pulled her to sit on his lap.
"Yes, a house. A nice, big house in the middle of nowhere with no nosy neighbours. We'd be the only residents for miles. If we're going to start a family, I'm not sure if I want to raise the children in the Cambridge apartment, no matter how nice or big it is, and it's a busy area. I've always wanted a house in a rural setting, but I've never had the need for one, and I've never had chance to look around since I've been busy working."
"So you want a house, in the middle of nowhere, with no neighbours?" He questioned.
She nodded. "I like the idea, but I wanted to discuss it with you first, before I start getting people involved. We'd need the space as you've got to take into account our children are more than likely to be magical practitioners like me, and that's going to be a pain in the arse to explain if we live on a muggle suburb."
He shivered and she raised an eyebrow, but didn't voice her question.
"I have a realtor that I've known for years, and he's got a knack for knowing which properties I will and won't like. He'll take care of everything, all we have to do is look around any properties he finds and if we don't like any of them, then we just purchase a piece of land and have a house built, which I think is actually the better option as we can have it designed with specific needs in mind, such as my library and potions lab, and we'll need somewhere to keep all of your weapons and resources. If we get magical contractors in they can have a house built in half the time muggles can, and the building will be more structurally sound, too. And to be honest with you, you can have a house built in the time it takes to make a decision on which house you want to buy, and it may be cheaper in the long run anyway."
He had a thoughtful frown on his face. "You want a house?"
"Yes, but only if you do, too, otherwise I'll be happy with the Cambridge apartment."
He nodded. "Alright, then we'll get a house to raise our kids in, and I think we'd be better off having one built."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," he said and he chuckled when she all but squealed in happiness and hugged him tightly. "Just out of curiosity, what properties do you own and why do you have so much money?"
She pulled back from him. "I received my inheritance from my parents when they died, I was awarded stipends from families that caused me harm in the war, I received reward money when I was awarded my Order of Merlin: First Class, then there's my wages from The Ministry, as well as the money that goes into my vault every time one of my spells is added to a school's curriculum, and I have a monthly income from investments. I'm careful with my money and who I entrust it to, and I've worked hard to have the financial standing I now do. And I'm not greedy with my money either, annually I give ten percentage of my bank vaults to a variety of charities. I don't actually know how much I'm worth and I don't want to know."
"So who do you have investments with?"
"Only those I trust. I have investments in George's shops, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, just as Harry does, but no one knows as we're both silent partners. I have investments in Malfoy Industries, which I know Draco fought tooth and nail for with the board of trustees, but he's never refused me anything and he was able to persuade them to allow me into the company, but only me. And Malfoy Industries have businesses in both the Wizarding and Muggle World around the globe, so they're my biggest investment. And I've invested in the magical book shop, Flourish and Blott's in Diagon Alley, as it used to be a family run business, but the family was almost wiped out during the war, so I stepped in. Again, I'm a silent partner but I own seventy percent of the business, and when Frank and his wife pass, I will be the full owner."
"As for my properties, there's Flourish and Blotts, the London apartment, the apartment complex in Cambridge, I have a beach house in Costa Rica which I had intended to give as a gift to Ryan, but he didn't deserve it and so it's never been used. I have an apartment in France, then there's my parent's house in Muggle London which I rent out privately, and the same family has been living there for five years now, and there's my parent's dentist's practice, I just own the building, someone else deals the business side of it. Curiosity satisfied?" He nodded. "Good, I'll just pen a quick letter to The Daily Prophet and set up an interview time, and I'll ask them to send over the interview questions so we can check them over, then we can go."
~000~000~000~
"Put these on," she handed the black robes to Sam and Dean.
"You said we were going into Muggle London," Sam frowned in confusion.
"We are, but we have to leave the apartment first, the press is camped outside my door. So put them on, keep your hoods up and your heads down, and don't get separated from me."
They looked at each other before pulling on the robes, fastening them and pulling their hoods up, and Hermione did the same.
"Right, let's face the vultures." They made their way out of the apartment, down the stairs and to the door. "Ready?"
They both nodded. Hermione opened the door and the moment she did camera flashes were going off and voices were hard to distinguish between as everyone was shouting over each other to be heard. Hermione grabbed Sam's and Dean's wrists and pushed her way through the crowd of reporters that surrounded them.
"Miss. Granger? Is it true?"
"Are you married?"
"Who is your spouse?"
"Are you pregnant?"
"How did you meet?"
"How long have you been together?"
Hermione fought her way through the crowd, before darting around the corner, and with her hold on both the brothers, she apparated into an alley way in Muggle London.
"That was horrifying," Sam breathed heavily.
"I told you, they're like vultures when it comes to me," she answered as she took off her robes and slipped them into her beaded bag, and Sam and Dean did the same. "Enough about them, they can't follow us into Muggle London, so we're safe. Let's start this tour; we've got a busy day ahead of us."
~000~000~000~
They had seen all of the sights and took many photos with Hermione's magical camera that had been charmed to look like a muggle camera, they had stopped for lunch in a nice little cafe and now they had turned their attention to purchasing new clothing.
"Welcome back, Miss. Granger, it's lovely to see you again."
"Thank you, Penny," Hermione smiled at the young assistant, whilst also noticing the way the brunette was eyeing up Dean as he looked around the large variety of men's clothing in the men's department. "We're in need of some new clothing for Sam and my husband, Dean."
At her words Penny snapped her eyes away from Dean and to Hermione's glare. She cleared her throat and fidgeted on her feet nervously.
"Budget?"
"No budget," Hermione said, and her eyes lit up in response. "But I would suggest staying away from formal wear, Sam and Dean prefer the casual style of jeans and t-shirts."
"I'll see what we can come up with, follow me, please," she turned and walked away, and they followed behind her.
"I hate this," Dean muttered.
"So do I, but after this we need to head to the women's department so I can pick up a few outfits for the photo shoot tomorrow, and then we need to head to Savile Row so we can get you a tailored suit, and seeing as we're getting you one, we may as well get Sam one, too, you never know when you need a nice suit. Now that you're married to me, you'll be getting invited to the same functions as I, such as Draco's annual birthday meal, and for that, you need to be dressed up to the nines." He grumbled under his breath and she chuckled at him.
After spending just over an hour of browsing through clothing, of which Sam seemed more comfortable with than Dean, they left the men's department and headed to the women's, where Hermione spent an hour picking out several outfits, and once it was paid for, they slipped into the alley way and Hermione resized the many bags and slipped them into her beaded bag.
They made a trip to Savile Row as Hermione had said they would be doing, and although Dean spent most of his time complaining, he wasn't ignorant to the heated looks Hermione had been sending him when she saw him in the well tailored suit.
After stopping at a few more shops where they got some new shoes, as did Hermione, and Dean even found a new leather jacket, it was getting towards six o'clock and so they headed back.
The press were still camped outside of the apartment and so Hermione apparated them to The Leaky Cauldron, before they floo'd into the building.
"I'm exhausted," Dean muttered, sitting himself down on the couch, and although Sam had a smile on his face, he mimicked Dean's actions.
Hermione rolled her eyes, before checking the owl post for the evening. She paid attention to Luna's and The Daily Prophet's.
"Alright, they've responded," Hermione said, sitting herself on the arm chair after kicking off her shoes and pulling her feet up, getting herself comfortable.
"Luna's good to do the interview tomorrow morning," Hermione told them. "Of course she's bringing little Scorpius, so we'll be testing out your baby handling skills," Hermione teased. Dean looked pale and Sam laughed at him. "And our interview with The Daily Prophet is set for two o'clock tomorrow afternoon; they'll be doing it here so we can control the environment. They've sent a list of questions for us to look over," she said, before finding the parchment behind the letter and her eyes scanned the page, before she snorted.
"Care to share with the rest of us?" Sam asked.
"Does Mr. Winchester prefer boxers or briefs?" She read aloud and Sam burst out laughing at the horrified look on Dean's face. "I told you they were intrusive bastards. It's alright, they want to know if I'm pregnant and that's why I was married in secret," she shrugged, Sam's laughter grew louder. "Oh, and this is my favourite, what's your favourite sex position?"
"Very funny," Dean rolled his eyes.
"I'm not being funny; it's what's written here."
She handed the parchment over to him and his eyes scanned the page and he choked on his intake of oxygen. "Why the hell do they want to know what toothpaste I use?" He asked and Sam was in tears by this point. "And they want to know what shampoo I use? What's wrong with these people?"
"Oh, Dean, where to begin?" She sighed. "Where to begin?"
She stood up and made her way to her bedroom, leaving Sam and Dean in the living room.
"Hermione! Why the fuck do they want to know what I smell like! Hermione!"