CHAPTER NINETY-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: 8

Two months later...

Hermione woke to the feel of light kisses being placed against her growing stomach. She opened her eyes to see Dean staring lovely at her small baby bump, showcasing their growing child that they had waited so long for.

Hermione was now four months pregnant, and Castiel had been quite accurate regarding her pregnancy when he told them, she had been exactly seven weeks to the day. Although she did have a baby bump, it was only noticeable when she wore tight clothing. Since her body was growing to accommodate the growth of their child, she had taken to wearing Dean's t-shirts more often than not, since they were comfortable and baggy. Not that he minded that she was always stealing his clothes.

She didn't know how, but no one had discovered she was pregnant, which meant that Ellen had kept her word in keeping Jo in control and even Sam had kept his big mouth shut and not revealed their secret, and that in itself was a miracle.

Over the last two months, The Winchesters had gone about business as usual, travelling, taking cases and dealing with the supernatural, only now Hermione was not allowed in the field, she was merely there for support and research. When the brothers were out, breaking and entering and looking over crime scenes, Hermione was going over newspapers and using Sam's laptop, trying to dig up information on the victims, though Sam was better at it than she was, especially when it came to hacking into police records. If the brothers were busy in the field or at the morgue, she would interview the victims' families and friends and record everything of importance. She was still a valuable member of the team, only now she was far away from the dangerous side of the job, just the way Dean liked it.

Since discovering they were pregnant, Dean had become far more protective of her than Hermione ever thought possible and it was difficult for her to balance her reactions to him. Sometimes he was unbelievably sweet that she cried, and other times he was so annoying that she wanted to hex him, and she had, several times.

If she were craving something, he would do everything he could in order to get it for her. In one instance, she had been craving a McDonald's and Dean had driven almost two hundred miles to the nearest establishment just to get her one. They had stopped at a diner and Hermione had been craving lasagne, and despite it not being on the menu, he had somehow convinced them to make one especially for her. Dean had been in the middle of an interview with a police officer, posing as an FBI Agent, when Hermione had texted him, asking him to pick up some chocolate ice-cream on the way back. Not even twenty minutes later he arrived at their motel room, handed her the carton, kissed her on the forehead and quickly left, returning to the interview.

When her morning sickness had set in, Dean was always beside her, rubbing her back and holding her hair back from her face. When she cursed him and shouted at him, he took it all in stride and never once got angry or annoyed. When her mood swings were in full force, he comforted her when she cried and made her laugh when she was sad. This was the sweet Dean she liked.

The over protective Dean, not so much.

He still refused to drive above thirty miles an hour, no matter what the speed limit said and he'd even gotten in a fight with another driver at one point, breaking his nose before Hermione stepped in and wiped the guy's memory. It caused arguments between the brothers when Sam would stick to the limit and Dean would threaten him for driving too fast. If they were walking down the street and someone accidentally bumped into her, she had to physically restrain him from punching someone in the face.

She wasn't allowed to carry her own bags. They stopped at a store once, in order for Hermione to restock on wash products and some food items, and they'd gotten into an argument in the middle of the car park, since Dean had taken both shopping bags from her, despite it meaning he had to carry several himself.

When they were in a diner or they got take out, Dean wouldn't let Hermione eat until he had tried the food first, making sure it wasn't undercooked or that it tasted or smelled funny. Hermione had caught him doing research on Sam's laptop, where'd he discovered the dangers of salmonella to pregnant women. He was a bloody nightmare when it came to meat dishes.

But, putting all that aside, they were happy.

They had recently just finished a case, a simple salt and burn that had not been so simple at all, and ended with Sam getting stabbed with a fire poker. Both brothers had headaches by the time Hermione had finished screeching at them whilst she tended to his injuries.

For the last two months, they had gone from case to case and had yet to have a break, and finally they were taking a respite, and the brothers agreed it was mostly for Hermione. They stopped over night at their motel and rather than driving back to the Cambridge Apartment, Hermione was going to call for Mimsy to pick them up.

"Morning," Dean mumbled, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Morning," she smiled down at him, lifting her hand to run through his hair, scratching his scalp lightly and hearing him sigh.

"How's my boy doing?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes. "Just fine, and we could be having a girl."

"It's a boy, I'm psychic."

"No, you're not."

"Face it, you married a psychic."

"More like a psycho," she scoffed, before breaking out into laughter when Dean tickled her ribs until tears were leaking from her eyes and she begged him to stop.

"What time do you want to leave?" He asked.

"Straight after breakfast, we've got a lot to get through before we return from respite. We have an appointment at the doctor's surgery at eleven o'clock and once we're done there, I'll work my magic so no one remembers. We have a meeting with the realtor at two o'clock, we're going to start the viewing process. Whilst you and Sam have been out in the field, I've been in contact with the realtor, I've already given him our list of preferences and essentials, and he's informed me he's found thirty possible locations."

"Thirty?" He asked surprised.

She nodded. "Yes, though this was last week, he could've very well found more. We're sticking to The Muggle World, there's a lot less paperwork involved and it's cheaper. That's not to say the house won't be magical, because it will, it's being built by magical contractors after all. If we see a property we like and we decide we absolutely won't like another, then we don't have to visit the rest. You never know, we might find the right place for us today. If not, we have more visits scheduled for the rest of the week until our respite is over. Once we've found a property, I already have the contractors on standby and a contract has already been signed. I've been doing some furniture shopping online and I've bookmarked a few items on Sam's laptop, which is why he's been a little bit moody lately. I've been looking at ideas for the nursery and I've seen a few that are actually quite nice. Whether we imitate it or come up with our own design, I don't know yet and won't until we see the completed house. We need to get this all done as soon as possible, which is why I've sent of a rough design to the contractors and I've been in contact with some decorators and curse-breakers, so they can place wards around the property, the same that are on all of my other properties, including the Fidellius, that one is really handy, especially if a demon is stupid is enough to come looking for us."

Dean blinked. "You really have been busy," he said surprised.

~000~000~000~

"Mrs. Winchester, please lift your shirt and unbutton your jeans and lay back on the bed," the woman instructed, as she fiddled with one of the screens in the room.

Dean's eyes were trained on her stomach, a smile pulling at his mouth, before he looked up, his eyes locking on the screen and searching for their baby. It was a few seconds before it came into view, and he felt a wide smile pull at his face at seeing their baby for the first.

"Alright, Mrs. Winchester, I estimate you to be four months along and from what I can see, there are no problems. You have a healthy baby."

Dean and Hermione's eyes locked on each other, Dean took her hand in his and leaned over to kiss her temple when he saw her smiling widely and with tears falling down her face.

"We're having a baby," she whispered to him.

"We are, a little boy."

"It's could be a girl," she replied.

"It's a boy, I'm psychic, I know these things."

"You're an idiot," she corrected, turning her head back to the woman when she heard her chuckling.

"I assume you wish to have a copy of the scan," she spoke, smiling when Hermione and Dean both nodded instantly. "Then I'll just print you a copy."

Dean and Hermione turned back to each other.

"Now that we know the baby's healthy, do you want to tell Bobby and the others? I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this a secret, we haven't visited anyone in months," Dean asked her.

Hermione bit her lip. "Not yet, I just want to make sure there is no danger of anything going wrong with the pregnancy. Miscarriages are still possible up to the five month mark. I don't want to jinx it by telling everyone I'm pregnant and then suddenly something going wrong."

"Alright, we'll wait till then," he agreed, squeezing her hand in his.

~000~000~000~

"No, I don't like it," Hermione spoke, her arms crossed over her chest and standing beside Dean, after they had just viewed the tenth property of the day.

Dean was amazed that the realtor was so calm about her constant rejections, but he supposed if he'd worked with Hermione in the past, he was used to her. Dean couldn't find any faults with any of the properties they'd visited so far, he wouldn't have minded any of them, but Hermione was having none of it and she was very picky.

She had rejected a property because she didn't like the layout of the grounds being round, rather than the regular square or rectangle shape. She had rejected a property because she didn't like the colour of the grass, because she didn't like the entrance to the land and because she didn't like the hills blocking the view of the sunset.

Dean thought she was being a tad too fussy, but he didn't comment. She was nesting, he had read up about it and he didn't want to get in her way of finding the perfect place for them to raise their family.

"Shall we do one more and return to viewing tomorrow?" The realtor asked and Hermione nodded.

~000~000~000~

"This is it. This is the one," Hermione spoke quietly, her eyes closed and with a smile pulling at her mouth.

"We've only just got here, we haven't even had a tour yet," Dean said amused.

"I can feel it," she replied, her smile slowly growing wider.

Dean looked around, his eyes searching their surroundings and so far all he could see was a thick wooded area. They weren't exactly in the middle of nowhere since there was a fairly busy highway nearby, but according to the realtor, the property they were looking at was hidden from view. Unless you knew it was there, you would be none the wiser, and with the thick coverage of the woods, he believed him. That just gave them an extra layer of protection.

"And how are we supposed to access the property if it's hidden from view?" He asked.

Much to his surprise, the realtor flicked his wand and the trees parted, revealing a dirt road. A well hidden dirt road.

"If you were to purchase this land, it would take approximately ten minutes in a car to reach the house."

"House?" Hermione spoke, opening her eyes and a questioning look held on her face.

"Yes, there's a rundown house in the centre of the land. I know you originally wished to build your own home, but you may have the house renovated in half the time. You can start development as soon as the property is purchased."

"What does the property and lands include?" Hermione asked him, slipping her hand into Dean's.

"Fifty acres of land consisting of the woods you now see, a meadow on the other side of the property along with a small pond, and plenty of fields, more than enough room to build excess buildings and for children to grow and play safely. There is a traditional manor house that requires a lot of work as it is no longer structurally sound, but that can be soon rectified. There are also two separate garages and a storage facility."

"And the asking price?" Hermione asked.

"The asking price is just under five hundred thousand."

Dean made a noise of surprise in the back of his throat. Hermione couldn't possibly be considering it. He turned his eyes to her, seeing her nodding, not looking the least bit surprised.

"I thought it would be somewhere near that. Are they willing to go lower on their asking price?"

"They are willing to lower their asking price to four hundred and fifty-five thousand if you were to purchase this property and payment is made by the end of the week."

"Sounds fair," she nodded.

Dean blinked and stared at her. Was she out of her mind?

"Can we see the rest of the property?"

"It'll be difficult to show you around the grounds, since they haven't been tended to in years, but I do have photographs that you may look through."

He shuffled through the files in his hand, before pulling out several photographs and handing them to Hermione and she tilted them so he could see, too.

There was an aerial photo of a meadow filled with brightly coloured flowers, an aerial photo of the fields filled with green grass and small flowers, along with an aerial photo of the woods, seeing that it seemed to stretch for miles, hiding the existence of everything behind it.

"Can we see the house?" Hermione asked.

"Of course, but I can't allow you to get too close to it for safety reasons."

"I understand, I just want to see what we have to work with."

The realtor shuffled the files in his hands and placed them into his briefcase, before taking Hermione by the wrist and he spun on his heel, apparating the three of them to the house.

As soon as they landed Hermione had to hold her breath to stop herself from throwing up. The baby really didn't like apparating.

She looked up at the house and Dean heard her gasp and he could see why. Despite the house looking like something they'd investigate in one of their cases, it was massive, and it would need a lot of work.

He'd guess it to be three floors, possible four with an attic. The porch and steps had rotted, along with the wooden window panes and the door. Almost all of the windows were shattered and broken, part of the roof had caved in and bricks were crumbling or missing. Grass that was in dire need of cutting, had grown tall and was hugging the house tightly, with some flowers and weeds dotted about. He didn't even want to imagine the nasty things that would be living in there. He couldn't imagine ever being able to get the house habitable and safe to raise a family, especially in such little time. They only had five months at best. It would be too much stress on Hermione if it still wasn't complete when she entered her last month of pregnancy. But despite his concerns, Hermione seemed to see something in the house he didn't. Her eyes had lit up and a large smile was on her face.

"Do you know the layout of the house?" She asked the realtor.

He nodded in reply, before digging papers out of his briefcase and his eyes scanning the words in front of him. "A kitchen and dining room, an office, four bedrooms with the master bedroom having an en-suite bathroom, two bathrooms and an attic."

"May I have a moment to speak with my husband?"

"Of course, I'll just be over here if you need me," he replied, before walking away from them, allowing them privacy.

Hermione turned to face Dean and she looked up at him, her hand held in his and the other subconsciously resting against her stomach, making Dean's mouth twitch at the sight.

"What do you think?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "It's everything we wanted. There's no neighbours, so there's no risk of anyone witnessing all the crazy things that'll be happening. We might be near a highway but we're well hidden so no one will even know we're here. Even with all the supernatural and magical protection we'll have, that gives us another layer of security. There's plenty of room for the children to play, especially when the others decide they want to visit. There's even a house that can be fixed up. I don't mind where we are as long as we're together. I've never been concerned with luxury and other things like that. All I want is for you to be happy, and if you think this is place we should raise our family, then I'll be more than happy to do so. This is all about you and what you want; I'm just here for support."

She bit her lip in thought. "I really like this place. The moment we arrived I got a feeling, a feeling of peace, of home. I think this could be it. I'm just a little concerned about the house. It gives us a starting point rather than building from scratch, but I don't know if it would be worth it. I don't know if it would be too much hassle to have to renovate it, I don't even know if it can be saved, or if it would be easier to just pull it down and start over. We'd have to get the contractors over and get their opinions on the matter. These guys renovated the Cambridge Apartment, the London Apartment and the beach house in Costa Rica, they know what they're doing and I trust them, but we're on a deadline now," she sighed.

"If they decide they're able to fix it up, they'll have to put an extension in, and a fairly large one. The house only has four bedrooms; we're going to need more than that, and we need room for my potions lab, my library, the hunting library and the armoury. We do have the added bonus of there already being a garage on the property, so you can keep Baby in there." She tore her eyes away from him so they could sweep around their surroundings once more.

"And you're right about there being more than enough space for the children to run around and explore, we'll have to ward the whole property to ensure they can't stumble onto the highway. And with the space we have, I suppose we can have a tree house built in the woods, and a small park area on the property. And the pond, we can have it emptied and built bigger, so the children can play in it in the summer."

"You sound like you've already got your mind made up. If we were to view other properties, do you think you'd find one you liked better than this?" He asked her.

"No," she said immediately and without thought. "I can't just ignore my feelings or instincts, they've never led me astray. I really like this place, and once it's all done up and we're ready to move in, I have the feeling I'll love it. I can see us raising our family here."

"Me too," he agreed, gaining a beaming smile from Hermione in which her eyes lit up and she wrapped herself around him tightly in a hug, which he was quick to return. "I'm just unsure if it's worth it for the price they're asking," he commented.

"It is," she assured him. "And they've agreed to knock forty-five thousand off their asking price should they receive payment by the end of the week. I can have it arranged for them to receive it in ten minutes if I so wished. You're forgetting, we've got money behind us, more than enough to fund this project ten times over and we'd still have money left over that we could live on for the rest of our lives. You think this is expensive, you would die if you saw the prices of some of the properties in The Wizarding World."

"I believe you," he chuckled.

"Grimmauld Place, where Harry and Ginny live with the kids, that place is worth almost six hundred thousand."

"But it's smaller than the house and they don't have the land."

"Exactly," she shrugged. "The Wizarding World is full of greedy people."

"So, should we go for it? Is this where we're choosing to put down roots?" He asked her.

She nodded. "I think we should, we can always move in and if we don't like it, we could either sell it or keep it so we have something to leave the children once we pass, or we could use it and rent it out as a holiday home, possibly even wedding venues. At the very least, if we sell it, it'll be worth more than we paid for it so we'll see a profit."

"Alright then, should we sign the agreement?"

She nodded against him, before pulling back from him and they walked over to the realtor hand in hand.

"We'll take it," she said, seeing the realtor smile at her knowingly. He'd been dealing with her for years; he knew her taste for properties all too well. "I'll contact Gringotts and have the money prepared for transfer for tomorrow, Wednesday at the very latest."

"Excellent, I'll contact the owners immediately," he spoke, before pulling a muggle phone out of his pocket and walking away from them.

"Well, welcome home, Mr. Winchester."

"Home is wherever you are, Mrs. Winchester," he replied, smiling when he saw her cheeks blush.