CHAPTER EIGHTY-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: 10
"We won't let anything happen to her," Dean said quietly, whilst Hermione sat beside him in the passenger's seat, her leg bouncing nervously and her eyes watching out the window as they approached their destination of their motel.
She turned her head to look at him. "I wouldn't be as bothered if it were one of the other girls, but Chloe...She's different. I actually like her, and if I were ten years younger, I could easily see myself being friends with her. She reminds me a lot of Ginny and Luna. She's got Luna's innocence and kindness and Ginny's confidence and fire. She doesn't deserve this, none of them do."
"I know, and that's why it's our job to stop it before anyone else gets hurt. We'll get cleaned up, have dinner and head to the school. Sammy and I will take care of the spirit and you can stay with Chloe and keep an eye on her. We know the spirit's after her, but we don't know when it'll strike. If it knows we're here to stop it, it'll stop at nothing to get to her."
"If I have to, I'll use my magic to protect her. I can always alter her memories once this is all over," she replied.
"Er, guys, we have a problem," Sam spoke up from the back seat.
"What?" They both asked.
"Brenda Combe was cremated."
"Of course she fucking was," Dean grumbled. "Why is this never easy?"
"You have the worst luck in the world," Hermione replied, lifting her hands to her temples to starve off the headache. "We need to figure out what the spirit's attached itself to as soon as possible, and that could be anything."
"Well, we know that all the deaths have occurred on or near the school grounds, meaning the spirit can't go further than that, so we're looking for something that's remained on the school grounds since the suicide," Dean spoke.
"But it still could be anything," Hermione sighed.
"It still could be anything," Sam agreed. "Is there anything you can do to help us find it?"
She bit her lip in thought and they remained silent, allowing her time to think. Dean pulled into the motel parking lot and they all exited the car and headed to their room, where Hermione slumped down on the bed and put her head in her hands.
The brothers sat at the table in silence, waiting for her to come up with a possible solution that would save them a lot of trouble.
Fifteen minutes later Hermione looked up and both Dean and Sam perked up at seeing the look on her face. She looked hopeful. She found her beaded bag before she dug around inside of it, and much to her relief she found an old compass that used to belong to her father. She hadn't even realised she still had it, but it was going to come in handy.
"What've you got, Glinda?" Dean asked.
She showed them both the compass in her hand, seeing their confused looks in return.
"I may be able to cast a Locator Charm on this compass, so that it will lead you straight to the item we're looking for."
"That's great," Sam said relieved.
"The only problem being," she interrupted and he deflated. "We don't know what we're looking for. Ghosts have different magical energies, as I'm sure you know, and it'll be too difficult for me to tap into that to allow the compass to lead you straight to the item, but we need the energy reading in order to activate the Locator Charm."
They both frowned. "Meaning?" Dean asked.
"Meaning we need to connect the spirit's energy to the compass."
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
"Simple, the spirit has to touch the compass. I'll cast all the appropriate charms, the spirit will have to be lured out of hiding, which means she'll likely go for Chloe. When she appears, I'll protect Chloe, whilst one of you throws the compass through the spirit and once that's happened, it'll lead you straight to the item. You deal with destroying it, and I'll keep Chloe safe."
They both blinked. "The football game's tonight, right?" Sam said.
"Yes," Hermione nodded.
"They'll be a lot of people at risk."
"That's true, but if we can keep the spirit away from the football field we should be fine. The game and noise from the crowd will cover any noises we make and if the spirit knows your trying to destroy it, it may focus on you rather than the others."
"So we're bait, lovely," Dean said.
"Now that we have a plan, I'll get to work on charming the compass, you boys can get yourselves ready and then we'll head out. I'll make sure Chloe doesn't leave my side."
~000~000~000~
"There's a lot of people here," Hermione mumbled, standing beside Chloe and watching as the crowd of people began to file in, filling the stands until there were too many faces to count.
"No, there's not," Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Yes, there is," Hermione argued. "I don't think I can do this. They're all staring."
"They're not staring, and you can do this. You know the routines, you know the music and you know the girls won't let anything happen to you. Stop being a baby, pull yourself together and show them what you're capable of."
Hermione blinked at her dumbly.
"You girls ready?" Bethany approached them, her brown hair left down but tied back from her face with a pretty red ribbon.
"No," Hermione said.
"Yes," Chloe responded, elbowing Hermione lightly in the side. "She's just nervous."
"Don't be," Bethany said. "You've done well in practice and I'm surprised you've picked up the routines so quickly given you have no cheerleading experience, you can do this. I know you can, and so do the girls. Now come on, we have a job to do, the football team's about to make their big entrance."
Hermione grumbled as Chloe pulled her towards the other girls by her hand and despite Hermione doing her best to dig her feet into the ground, Chloe was bloody strong and it didn't help in the least.
The girls were going over last minute pep talks, while Hermione bent down in the pretence of checking her shoe laces, when in fact she was muttering the spell to allow her to dance and tumble like a cheerleader, with her wand hidden in the waist band of her skirt so it was close by but no one would see it.
Chloe dragged Hermione up and into position, and just as the music was about to begin, Hermione caught sight of Dean, sitting in the stands and watching her intensely.
She glared at him and he smirked in reply, giving her a little wave.
"I'm going to kill him," she muttered darkly.
Chloe's eyes followed hers and upon seeing Dean watching Hermione, she elbowed her once more.
"Stop being mean, I think it's sweet, he obviously loves you and he's here to support you."
"Trust me, Chloe, he's not here to support me. He gets a kick out of seeing me in my uniform."
Chloe appeared to be confused. "What do you mean?"
Hermione turned to Chloe and raised her eyebrow and suddenly Chloe must've understood her meaning as she cleared her throat and she blushed bright red.
"Oh," she said, shifting on her feet awkwardly. "Well, it's still sweet that he's here for you."
"I'm still going to kill him," Hermione muttered, just as the music began. She looked at Dean one final time and he winked at her. She scowled.
"Focus," Chloe chided.
~000~000~000~
"See, it wasn't so bad was it?" Chloe said.
She was standing beside Hermione whilst cheering for their team who were currently in possession of the football, and that's all Hermione understood, she didn't bother following along with the game since she didn't know the rules, she didn't understand it, and also because she was trying to keep her wits about her. Dean had disappeared half an hour ago and she had no idea if he and Sam were successful in finding the item and banishing the vengeful spirit.
"I suppose not," Hermione replied, wincing when one of their players was tackled to the ground.
"Well, I better head to the bathroom before my bladder bursts," Chloe commented.
"I'll come with you, I'm a nervous drinker and I drank way too much water on the ride over here."
Chloe snorted at her before looping her arm through Hermione's and they left the football field, heading back to the school and to the toilets in the changing rooms since they were the closest.
Hermione kept her wits about her the entire time with her hand hovering over her waist where her wand was stowed and Chloe was none the wiser to the danger she was in. If the vengeful spirit hadn't planned on attacking Chloe that night, Hermione was sure she would try now that Sam and Dean were purposely trying to lure her out.
Chloe left the bathroom stall and washed and dried her hands, before they exited the changing rooms and slowly made their way back to the football field, but their journey was interrupted as Hermione spied Dean bursting through the door and running down the corridor towards them.
If he was surprised to see them he didn't show it.
"Run! This bitch is crazy!" He yelled as he approached them.
Hermione's eyes widened when the vengeful spirit made herself known, though it was difficult to see the appearance and clothing it wore, she was only focused on the red eyes of the fifteen year old girl that had killed herself.
"Oh My God! It's a...It's a...It's a ghost!" Chloe stuttered, looking pale and as though she were about to faint.
"Welcome to our world, Peppy," Dean said, and he didn't stop running as he grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her after him, while Hermione grabbed hold of Chloe's and pulled her after her, until the three of them were running down the corridor.
"Shit! Duck!" Dean called, and the three of them ducked as a fire extinguisher went flying over their heads and it smashed through a window.
"I've never had a fire extinguisher thrown at me before!" Hermione panted.
"Me either, that's a new one," Dean replied sounding amused.
"Who are you people?" Chloe demanded, looking to be on the verge of crying and she looked behind her, before giving a loud scream as the spirit advanced on them.
"We can't out run it," Hermione said, and knowing she was right, Dean halted to a stop, as did Hermione, who pulled Chloe to a stop and they turned around to face the ghost.
Dean drew his hand gun, before pulling another he kept in one of the pockets of his new leather jacket and handing it to Hermione.
"Salt pellets?" She asked.
"Right in one, Sweetheart, you're getting quite good at this hunting thing," he said.
She elbowed him in the side, before they both took aim and shot off several rounds, all of them going straight through the ghost before it vanished.
"We've got a head start of a few minutes," Dean said, before grabbing Hermione's hand and pulling her down the corridor and Chloe followed after them, apparently realising she was safer with them.
They entered an empty classroom and Chloe immediately began pacing and muttering to herself and Hermione and Dean watched her carefully. She finally stopped pacing and turned to face them both.
"What the hell was that! Who are you people! What's happening!" She demanded.
Dean nodded to Hermione and she stepped forward, seeing Chloe step back whilst eyeing the gun in her hand.
"Chloe, I am not Hermione Banks, nor am I a transfer student or cheerleader and gymnast. My name is Hermione Winchester, and this is my husband, Dean." Chloe's eyes widened, whilst Dean gave her a little two-finger salute in greeting. "I'm not eighteen, but twenty-seven and it is our job to protect people from the supernatural."
"Supernatural?"
"Yes, ghosts, demons, gods, things such as that."
"They're not real," she shook her head.
"They are and you've just witnessed it. We're here because we know of the deaths of the girls on the team, I was sent in undercover to discover more information to help us find the killer. You were right, Chloe; Karen, Zoe and Jess were murdered, and they were murdered by the ghost you just saw. We're here to stop it, so no one else will get hurt."
Chloe had tears falling down her face. "Why were they murdered?"
"It has nothing to do with you, but your ancestors. Your great-Grandmothers to be exact. When they were in school and cheerleaders, they bullied a girl and she committed suicide. When she died she became a vengeful spirit and since then, she's killed a member of all four of the girls' families in each generation for revenge."
"Four?" She said quietly.
"Yes, Chloe, you're the ghost's next victim."
She began to hyperventilate. Hermione engulfed her in a hug and coaxed her through her breathing as Chloe clung to her.
"We're not going to let anything hurt you, Chloe. This is our job, we deal with the supernatural for a living, we know what we're doing, we'll protect you and we'll kill the ghost."
Hermione looked up to Dean.
"Sammy's got the compass, we were able to get it to pass through the ghost and he's using it to find the item. Since that crazy bitch is still here, it means he hasn't found it yet."
"So we need to keep it busy and away from the football field; there's too many potential casualties."
Hermione pulled back from Chloe, seeing that she was a lot calmer know that she'd gotten her breathing back under control and she moved away from her and over to Dean, and he pulled her into a hug.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine, you?" She replied.
"Not bad, though I can think of more pleasurable activities to be doing to you with you in that uniform, rather than hiding out from a demented ghost."
She slapped at his chest. "I can't believe you bloody sat in the stands and watched."
"I couldn't resist," he grinned at her.
"This is the last time I'm ever going undercover as a cheerleader. If a case pops up that requires it, you can do it next time."
He snorted. "Like I've said before, the skirt wouldn't look as good on me as it does you."
"Hands to yourself," she warned.
"I wasn't doing anything," he said innocently.
"No, but you were thinking about it."
"You know me so well," he chuckled, pushing a loose curl back from her face.
"Hermione!" Chloe gave a terrifying scream and when she turned around, Chloe was being dragged across the floor by an invisible force.
Hermione and Dean rushed forward and each grabbed a hold of Chloe's hands, pulling her towards them.
"Hermione, shoot it!"
"I can't bloody see it, how the hell am I suppose to do that!" She shouted back to Dean.
They both gave a hard tug that had them falling backwards onto the ground, but they were able to pull Chloe free of the invisible force. The three of them stood up and ran for the door as the ghost appeared in the room, and not looking pleased. They ran into the corridor just as a desk slammed into the door frame.
"Down there!" Chloe pointed to the left and they skidded to a stop before following her instructions and turning left.
Chloe held onto Hermione's hand tightly as she looked behind her, seeing the ghost floating after them and she screamed. Dean turned his head to look behind him and he cursed, before turning slightly and firing off a salt round, missing the ghost and almost running into a wall, if it weren't for Hermione who pulled him out of the way by his jacket.
Hermione held her hand out and wordlessly summoned Dean's phone from his pocket before dialling Sam's number on the speed dial, he picked up after the third ring.
"Dean?"
"Where the bloody hell are you!" Hermione shouted down the phone. "We're being chased through the bloody school by a ghost hell bent on killing us! Get a move on and find the bloody item and destroy it so we can all go and get dinner."
Dean snorted from beside her.
"We've got a problem. I'm in the gym, I'll wait for you."
The called ended. "The gym," she said, and thankfully Chloe took control and lead them in the direction they needed to be, and Dean was able to shoot a salt round through the ghost, buying them more time.
They burst through the doors to the gym and Sam turned in their direction, his gun pointed at them before seeing who it was and he lowered his arm. Chloe, Dean and Hermione came to a stop and they panted as they tried to get their breath back.
"Chloe, this is Dean's brother Sam, Sam, Chloe," Hermione introduced through her pants.
Sam nodded to Chloe and she nodded back.
"What's the problem?" Hermione asked.
Sam looked down to the ground directly in front of him, and upon seeing the compass in his hand and the look on his face, she put the pieces together.
"You've got be kidding me!" She exclaimed.
Dean frowned, before looking between the floor, the compass and Sam, and he put the pieces together, too.
"Give us a fucking break!" He sighed, glaring up at the ceiling, before he and Hermione moved over to Sam and they all looked down at the floor.
"Exactly, whatever it is, it's buried under here. I don't know how or why," Sam said.
"It's newly built," Chloe piped up from behind them, and they all turned to face her. "There used to be some sort of memorial park here, but the gym was built over the top of it less than a decade ago."
"Awesome," Dean commented. "Glinda, can you do anything? Whatever we need is under here."
She frowned and bit her lip in thought. "Stand back," she told them, and they took several steps back. She pulled her wand and pointed it at the ground. "Bombarda," she called, and a loud explosion rang out, before the flooring of the gym, concrete and mud was falling to the ground. Chloe stared at her, having no idea what she'd just done, whilst the brothers looked impressed.
"Nicely done, Sweetheart," Dean complimented, just as the ghost appeared in the gym.
Chloe screamed and ran to hide behind Hermione, while Dean and Sam trained their guns on the approaching spirit, firing off rounds. This left Hermione to deal with the item.
"Accio," she called.
Much to her relief, an old wooden box flew up from the ground and landed on the floor, and she had the padlock open with an Alohamora before she opened the box, and pulled out what looked to be a dirty and old looking bit of rope.
Hearing the fire of the brothers' guns, Hermione cast an Incendio and watched as the flames devoured the offering. A blood curdling scream was heard before the spirit burst into flames and she was dragged down under ground.
It was over.
Hermione turned to see Chloe crying and she hugged her, feeling the way she shook in her arms and clung to her tightly, like a frightened child would their mother.
"It's over now," Hermione said. "She's gone and she can't and won't hurt anyone else again. I promise."
"What was it?" Sam asked curiously and she looked to the brothers.
"A bit of rope, and judging by the fact it was tied in a noose, I would say it was what she'd used to kill herself with."
"Lovely," Dean said and she glared at him.
"You're going to be fine, Chloe," she said softly, turning her attention back to the teenage girl that was slowly pulling herself together and calming down.
"We should go before the game ends," Sam said. "You said you wanted dinner, and we need to be out of here by morning. We've already got another case from Bobby; he called this morning and wants us to check out a few suspicious deaths in Madison, Wisconsin."
Dean groaned. "That's almost fifteen thousand miles from here; there must be another Hunter closer to the area."
"There's several," Sam nodded.
"Then why can't they take it?"
"Suspected werewolf," Sam shrugged and Dean groaned once more.
"Fine, let's go. I want food and sleep; we're going to need it with the long drive ahead of us."
"You're leaving?" Chloe sniffled, pulling back from Hermione, and Dean and Sam moved to give them some privacy.
"I have to Chloe, this is our job. We travel the States, protecting people and dealing with the supernatural, preventing them from harming others. We're never in one place for long. It's a dangerous profession but it's what we're best at."
"But I don't want you to go, you're my friend."
Hermione smiled. "And you're a brilliant friend. You're so kind and caring, and I'm honestly going to miss you, but I don't belong here. I'm not a cheerleader, I'm not a student, I'm a married, twenty-seven year old that travels with her husband and brother-in-law protecting people from things they could never even dream of believing to exist. You have your whole life ahead of you. Make the most of it, be brilliant, make something of yourself, but most importantly, be safe and be happy. I have to go, thank you, Chloe, I never experienced a normal childhood, and I'd never been to an actual sleep over before, but now thanks to you I can say I have."
She smiled at her and turned to walk away, deciding that she wasn't going to wipe her memories. She had seen her use magic, but she had no idea that was what it was.
"You can't leave, what am I going to tell the others?"
Hermione turned around and smiled.
"Tell them that I had to leave with Dean as his father has been involved in an accident, and that you don't know when or if I'll return. And if you ever need me..." Hermione pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from thin air, making Chloe blink, before she handed over the paper with a phone number written on it. "That is the phone number of one of my brothers back in Britain, give him a call, tell him that I gave you that number should you need to contact me. He'll let me know and where ever you are, I'll find you. Good bye, Chloe."
Hermione turned and disappeared out of the gym, leaving behind a mess, a massive hole in the floor and a gawking teenage girl.
"All done?" Dean asked.
"All done," she confirmed
He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders as they made their way back to the Impala with Sam.
"Let's get you fed, I'm sure you're just starving," he said.
She nodded. "I think I'll get something to take away, too, in case I wake for a midnight snack." They both snorted at her.
"By the way, we're keeping this uniform," he spoke, gesturing to her cheerleading uniform.
She rolled her eyes and Sam grimaced, making a sound of disgust.
"I hate you both," he muttered and stormed away from them.