CHAPTER SIXTY-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: 7
"So, was it as terrifying as you thought it'd be?" Hermione asked Dean as they walked down Diagon Alley hand in hand.
They were returning to America the next day and their respite from cases would be over and they would be back on the hunt, travelling around the US, dealing with God knows what, whilst trying to remain unharmed.
Since it was their last day in England and Hermione had finished her responsibilities at The Ministry, she had visited The Potters and Malfoys, and each one of The Weasley families, to give her nieces and nephews their presents and to introduce the children to their new family members.
Sam had taken to the children like a duck to water, whilst Dean had a little trouble finding his footing, but before she knew it, he had the children giggling like school girls and refusing to allow him to rest, since they wanted to show him every toy they owned, much to Hermione's amusement. She knew he would be a good father, whether he believed it or not, and despite his worries and protests, the children loved him and he was rather good with them.
After finishing off their visitations at Malfoy Manor –much to Dean's and Sam's shock- Hermione had taken Sam back to the apartment, whilst she and Dean went for a walk in Diagon Alley, to see the night life now that all the stores had closed and all that was left open were the pubs, bars and clubs.
"I'd still rather be outnumbered in a nest of vampires, but it wasn't that bad, I suppose." He said, she snorted at him and nudged him with her elbow.
"Don't lie, I saw the look on your face when you met Lily." He scowled at her as she chuckled knowingly. "Ready for your pop quiz?"
Hermione had come up with the idea of a game to help Dean learn and remember the members of her family. Since they were now married, he would be expected to attend most of the functions she did, as per wizarding tradition, and since The Prophet had put out the assumption that Dean was a wizard, they weren't going to correct them, not when it gave them a cover for Dean's hunting.
"No," he frowned.
"Great, first of all, The Potters?"
He sighed, before doing his best to concentrate whilst his eyes scanned their surroundings as the night life of Diagon Alley came alive.
"Harry and Ginny. Harry is the Head Auror, and Ginny is a Professional Athlete, but she's currently on maternity leave. They've been married seven years and have three children. Albus Severus is five, James Sirius is three and Lily Luna is one and a half."
She nodded with a smile. "The Malfoys?"
He sighed. "Draco and Luna. Draco is the Deputy for your department, and Luna owns a newspaper. They've been married for four years and they have Scorpius, who's almost a month old."
She nodded again. "Now for the hard one, The Weasleys?"
He made a sound of annoyance, running his free hand through his hair, before sighing. "Bill and Fleur, they're both curse breakers. They've been married almost ten years and they have three kids. Victorie is seven, Dominque is five and Lucas is three. Charlie's a dragon tamer in Romania and he's dating a healer called Claire. Percy and Audrey, Percy's the Undersecretary to The Minister, and Audrey works in the Family Affairs Department. They've been married five years and they have two daughters. Lucy is four and Molly is two." Hermione's smile was widening by the minute. "George and Angelina, George has his own growing chain of stores and Angelina's works for The Ministry in the Sports Department. They've been married five years and they have two children. Fred's four and Roxy's just turned one. That just leaves your asshole ex, Ron, who has two kids."
She beamed at him, jumping up to kiss his cheek as they continued to walk down the cobble stone path. "Yes, Hugo and Rose," she confirmed. "Hugo's almost eight and Rose is almost five. They have different mothers, and we haven't introduced you to them because the mothers hate all of us, we only get to see them when Ron brings them around, he usually has them at the weekends," she shrugged. "Congratulations, you passed the quiz."
"So, do I get a prize?" He asked, looking down at her with suggestive eyes, his eyes sweeping her figure.
"No, no sex for at least another four days."
"I don't mind," he shrugged.
She grimaced. "That's disgusting. I fell icky and gross and the last thing I want is to fall under your charm. So I'll buy you a drink; let's go to The Leaky Cauldron."
~000~000~000~
"Your people know how to party!" Dean commented as they both stepped out of the second club of the night.
After a few drinks in The Leaky Cauldron, they visited several bars and two clubs, not caring that they were watched by the press and patrons in the building, being too busy laughing, drinking and dancing. They weren't drunk yet, but they weren't far off.
"I'm well aware, you have no idea how many functions I've been forced to attend and to be honest with you, I can't remember most of them," she replied, their arms wrapped around each other as they stumbled down the street.
He laughed loudly. "I would sell my soul to see the state you were in."
She smacked him. "Don't joke about that," she said frowning.
He smiled charmingly; his eyes alight with mischief before her back collided with a wall she hadn't seen. She gasped in surprise when Dean lowered his head and kissed her, slipping his tongue past her parted lips. He lifted her off the ground, pressing her into the wall with his body, as her legs wrapped around him, her hands gripped at his hair and his hands squeezed her clothing clad arse. He kissed her until she was breathless and she pushed him back from her with a scowl on her face.
"I said..."
"I know what you said, but that doesn't mean I can't kiss you."
She sighed. "You're a pain in the arse."
His eyes lit up and a smirk appeared. "I can be if you want."
She gasped loudly, her face flushed bright red and she smacked him on the arm.
"Dean Winchester!" She scolded, whilst he had burst out laughing at her obvious embarrassment. She scowled and crossed her arms in front of her. "If that's what you're into, then you married the wrong witch."
His laughter broke off into chuckles and he shook his head, taking a breath to calm himself down. "No, there's only one witch for me and I married her," he replied, and her embarrassment faded into love.
"You're a pain in the arse, but you're my pain in the arse," she said, lifting her arms to wrap around his neck. "And I don't know what I'd do without you."
He smiled at her softly, lowering his head and capturing her mouth in a kiss.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
~000~000~000~
Hermione froze; she knew that voice and she had prayed that she'd never hear it again. Dean pulled back from her, keeping his eyes on Hermione's face as he watched her pale and fear, pain and uncertainty filled her eyes.
Dean reluctantly put her feet back on the ground and he stepped back, moving to stand beside her with his arm around her shoulders and he felt her burrowing against him.
He eyed the man in front of him, standing at five-foot-eleven with short, dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes, he had pale skin and a cruel smirk on his lips as his eyes swept over Hermione leeringly, then over to him looking him up and down for a moment, before he turned back to Hermione. Dean's hold on her tightened and he narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Long time no see, Granger," the man smirked.
Dean felt Hermione shaking against him, setting his instincts on fire. Something was wrong.
"You've changed," he said. "And I see you've downgraded," he spoke, turning his eyes to Dean, who narrowed his eyes into slits, his free hand moving behind his back and hovering over the gun in the waist band of his jeans.
Hermione took a deep breath, visibly collecting her thoughts. "No, I haven't downgraded," Hermione said, "I seem to have upgraded to a far superior model."
The man laughed cruelly. "Like you could ever find someone better than me."
Hermione flinched and Dean's hand closed around the gun, ready to shoot the bastard in front of him.
"I did and I have and I married him. Fuck off back to hell, I hear it's lovely this time of year," she commented lightly.
Dean blinked in surprise when the man was suddenly pinned to the wall opposite them, his wand on the ground and a look of anger on his face, his mouth moving but no sound leaving his lips. Hermione stepped out of Dean's hold and moved to stand in front of the man.
She didn't know where the newfound bravery came from, maybe it was because she was a Gryffindor, maybe it was from being in Dean's presence, maybe it was because she knew Dean wouldn't let anything harm her, but whatever the reason, she was grateful as she was finally able to express her true feelings.
"You're a piece of shite and you always were. I was just too stupid to see that, I ignored everyone's warnings because I believed you were different. I believed myself to be in love with you, but I've come to realise that I never was. I've come to know what it feels like to truly love someone and it's all because of the man you believe to be inferior to you. Well listen here, you prick, you are inferior to him in every way possible. In kindness, in strength, in bravery, in humour and most certainly in the bedroom."
Dean's mouth twitched into a proud and smug smile.
"You don't compare to him, you're not even on the same spectrum, so fuck off and leave me the hell alone." She stepped back from him and walked back over to Dean, lifting her wand to release the charms on him. "I hope to never see you again, Ryan."
Dean stiffened beside her and that's when she realised her mistake. She had revealed his identity, which put him in more danger than Ron had ever been in. She was half convinced Dean would actually kill Ryan since discovering he had put her in the hospital.
"Ryan?" He questioned, his teeth gritted and his free hand clenched, whilst his grip tightened on his gun. "As in the fucking bastard that put you in the hospital? That Ryan?"
She looked down at the ground, knowing she couldn't lie to him, and he took that action as his answer.
"Release him and give me five minutes alone with him," he said, his eyes glittering dangerously.
"No," she said quietly. "I can cover up a muggle being killed, but not a magical."
"If you don't give me five minutes alone with him, then I will kill him," he promised.
She looked up at him and the fury on his handsome face scared her a little, even though she knew it wasn't aimed at her. Her eyes flittered between her husband and her ex-boyfriend, before she sighed. She knew there was only one available option.
She held her hand out and he stared at it. "Give me your gun." He made to speak but she cut in. "Give me your gun," she repeated, this time it was a demand.
He gritted his teeth but pulled his gun from his waist band and handed it to her.
"And your back up."
He reluctantly pulled his back up gun from beneath his trouser leg and gave it to her.
"And your knife."
He didn't look pleased, but he pulled the silver knife out of his sleeve and handed it to her.
"And your pocket knife."
He sighed, before pulling that from his jacket pocket and handing it to her. How did she know about that one?
"Thank you; now give me your jacket."
"Why?" He growled, his hands clenched by his sides, his eyes glued to the wriggling figure trying to break free from Hermione's magic, and his eyes promised pain and suffering.
"For one, I don't want you to get blood on it, it's a pain in the arse to wash out and I know you're fond of your leather jacket. And two, I'm cold."
His eyes flickered back to her, they softened slightly as he removed his jacket and he handed it to her. She put his weapons into her beaded bag and then slipped on the jacket, noticing his eyes darken but for an entirely different reason.
Dean stepped forward, moving closer to her panicking ex-boyfriend. He didn't know what Dean was capable of but he'd seen the weapons Hermione had confiscated from Dean, which gave him a slight idea to what he was in for.
"Dean?"
He turned his head to look back at her, seeing her hand held out expectantly.
"Give me the pocket knife you're concealing in your back left jean pocket."
Dean grumbled under his breath whilst removing the pocket knife and throwing to Hermione. She caught it and put in her beaded bag with the others. Hermione lifted her wand and cancelled the charms. Dean quickly stepped into action, grabbing Ryan by the collar of his shirt, and he pulled him into the alley way so passersby wouldn't witness his fury, but he didn't want Hermione to see either. He didn't want to scare her with what he'd learned from his time in hell.
Ryan was defenceless, his wand still lay on the ground and without it Dean had the advantage as the majority of wizards weren't able to defend themselves with physical violence, not like Dean could anyway.
Hermione bit her lip and lowered her head as she watched Dean drag Ryan into the alley way, before she threw up a Silencio to prevent people from coming to investigate. She picked up Ryan's fallen wand and began pacing.
~000~000~000~
It was the longest five minutes of her life. It felt like hours had passed by when realistically she knew it was minutes. She just hoped Dean didn't kill him. She couldn't cover that up; she couldn't protect him if that happened. She couldn't lose him.
Her eyes snapped to the alley way entrance when she saw the shadow on the ground thanks to the lanterns lighting up the pathway in the darkness of the night.
Dean stepped out of the alley way and Hermione's eyes locked on to him as he approached her, and her eyes widened in horror.
He had a gash on his right eyebrow that was slowly trickling blood down the side of his face, there was a cut in his lip and it was clear to her that his right cheek bone was beginning to swell. The knuckles of his right hand had split open and it wasn't difficult to imagine what had happened.
A gasp fell from her lips unbidden at seeing his once white t-shirt covered in blood stains and splotches, along with his jeans, and bloody hell, he even had blood splotches on his fucking boots!
He stopped in front of her and he lifted his left hand to her cheek to wipe away the tears that had leaked out of her eyes.
"I'm fine, I can't say the same for that fucker," he muttered lowly.
Her eyes moved from his blood soaked t-shirt to his eyes, seeing the protectiveness and love swimming through his beautiful green orbs.
"I've made sure he won't ever think about hurting you or anyone else again."
She blinked, before pulling herself together. She had to get them out of there before someone came upon them and saw the state of Dean and put the pieces together. She made to step around him, but he stopped her by taking her wrist in his uninjured hand.
"Don't," he said softly.
"I need to wipe his memories so he won't remember who did this to him. We're married now, wizard or muggle, you'll be sentenced to Azkaban."
"You don't need to see what I did to him, and he's not going to tell anyone anything. I made sure of it."
"He's still alive?" She asked quietly, looking down at the ground.
"Unfortunately, he's just unconscious, someone will find him and it won't be a nice sight for the person that does."
"I have to get you out of here. We can't floo with you looking like that. We can't walk for the same reason. The Knight Bus would take too long. I'll have to apparate, but I've been drinking so it's incredibly dangerous. I need to heal your injuries but I can't take you to the hospital, so we'll have to do it at the apartment."
He took her hand in his. "Let's go home."
Hermione's insides fluttered at his words, before she took a deep breath and she apparated them back to the apartment, praying that her fuzzy brain would remain focused so they could get there uninjured.