The Witch and The Hunters

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Page count: 9

"You boys okay?" Hermione asked amused.

The brothers nodded dumbly in response. She chuckled and turned her eyes back to the large castle where she had spent a large part of her childhood exploring and getting into trouble. A fond smile crossed her face, seeing the old structure of the castle melded with the newer and more recent renovations due to the damage that had been done during the war.

"You lived here?" Dean asked, turning his eyes to her and he honestly looked amazed, she had never seen such an expression of awe on his face.

"Not only did I live here, I grew up here. This place has had a significant impact on the person I am today. The professors, the portraits, the ghosts, the experiences, it all helped me to grow and learn, some for the better and some for the worst," she replied. "This was home to me, and it will always have a special place in my heart." She looked back to the castle and smiled. "Right, we better go, Minerva is expecting us and she doesn't appreciate tardiness, she hasn't changed a bit since I first met her when I was eleven."

She took Dean's hand and looped her arm through Sam's, pulling them towards the castle and away from the entrance gates to Hogsmeade. Hogwarts was always beautiful in the spring, with the wild plants blooming, the trees large with big green leaves and the grass shining in the sunshine. The sunlight reflected off the windows of the castle and wind blew gently in the early afternoon. They were walking passed The Black Lake when Hermione spied the sun shining on the surface of the water, and the ripples in the water as the point of a tentacle peeped out at the sound of people being nearby.

She stopped in her steps, and the brothers tore they eyes from the castle and to her in confusion.

"Why have we stopped?" Sam asked.

She smiled and nodded to The Black Lake, and when their eyes followed her gesture, a loud splash was heard, water went everywhere and there was the Giant Squid, with large tentacles, a huge and fat body and it was purple in colour. They both gawked and she chuckled.

"Boys, I would like you to meet the Giant Squid."

"It's real," Sam muttered. "It's fucking real!"

Hermione laughed loudly as he both blinked and stared. "I told you so," she said amused.

She pulled away from them both, put her hand into her beaded bag and pulled out a fresh loaf of bread. She used her wand to toast the slices, before she threw them all into the lake and they watched as the Giant Squid's tentacles darted about to collect them all and deposit them in its mouth.

"He loves toast," Hermione shrugged, before she once more grabbed Dean's hand and hooked her arm through Sam's and she pulled them towards the castle.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, boys," she said, as they walked into the entrance hall and down the corridors, their eyes darting about wildly trying to take it all in.

"This is awesome," Dean commented.

"If this is a school, where are all the students?" Sam asked, after fifteen minutes of wandering the halls slowly to allow them time to see everything.

"In their classes," she shrugged. "Lunch would've finished about an hour ago. I'll be lecturing the sixth and seventh years for both the care of magical creatures class and the defence against the dark arts class. That's around sixty students, possibly less. The wizarding Britain population suffered dramatically during the war and after the first couple of years, but now it's back on track since inbreeding is being eradicated, meaning more healthy wizarding born children are birthed, and Hogwarts' population will increase in the next couple of years."