The Witch and The Hunters

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Page count: 8

"Anything?" Sam asked, looking over his shoulder to look at Hermione in the back seat.

They'd checked out of the motel three hours prior and after eating breakfast at a nearby diner, they were now driving around Cleveland blindingly, searching for a dark magic aura to alert Hermione's wand to the signature.

She frowned in thought, a crease in her forehead as she stared at her wand, currently sat in her palm and spinning in circles. She pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"No, Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Pull over would you?"

He shrugged his shoulders before pulling over at the side of the empty road and they all stepped out of the Impala, Sam and Dean leaning against the car as Hermione paced back and forth, her wand still spinning in her palm. Sam left into the cover of the trees to quickly use the bathroom, leaving Dean leaning against the Impala with his arms folded casually over his chest, his eyes following her as she continued to pace back and forth, muttering to herself and her attention being on the wand as it spun in her palm.

"You alright?" His voice interrupted her musing.

"No, this bloody thing's getting on my nerves and..."

"No," he interrupted, "I meant are you alright?"

She halted in her steps and looked up at him, see that he was watching her carefully, his eyes searching for any tell that she was about to lie to him.

"Yes," she replied, continuing with her pacing.

"You were almost ra..."

"No," she stopped him. "Don't use that word, I hate the word," she muttered. "I was attacked and I got out alive with barely any injuries, just a few cuts and bruises, I've certainly had worse over the years. Kingsley will let me know if and when Kyle makes any headway with the investigation and I'm positive he will. Kyle is one of the best, I was his examiner and I was partially involved in his training, as was Harry; he knows what he's doing and I trust him. I'm not going to lie and say that what happened didn't affect me, because it did, mainly by bringing back memories that I've buried for almost a decade. But I will be fine, I've had my phase of denial and self-loathing and it'll take some time before I'm comfortable around others, men in particular, but I'll get there."

Dean didn't allow his gaze to leave her pacing form, watching for any sign that she might break down but she didn't, and when Sam returned from his bathroom break, Hermione's pacing halted and she released a noise of frustration. She sighed and stopped pacing.

"I was really hoping it wasn't going to come to this," she grumbled.

"Come to what?" Sam asked confused.

"I first experienced dark mark when I was twelve, and since then I've pretty much been around it; that's fourteen years of being in contact with dark magic. As a result, my wand is for lack of a better term, in tune with dark magic. It can sense it. But the problem is, I have never cast a dark spell, my wand has never been used for the purpose of practising dark magic or to kill in cold blood, so the ability to track it with my wand isn't very strong, I'd have to be in less than a quarter-mile radius for it to be successful," she explained and thoughtful frowns and expressions crossed their faces.

"So you need a wand that has been used to practice dark magic?" Dean guessed.

"Yes, the greater the dark magic that's been channelled through the wand, the stronger the connection."