The Witch and The Hunters

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

Page count: 7

Two weeks later...

"Case?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, turning her eyes to Sam as she entered their motel room after returning from retrieving breakfast for them.

"It's not another boggart, it is?" Dean asked, looking apprehensive.

No one had mentioned the boggart since that night, but they all knew it changed their perspectives of the world, and it changed their opinions of each other, but for the better. It put both Dean and Hermione on their guard and it made the brothers realise just how dangerous the creatures from the Wizarding World could be.

"No, I think you're going to like this one. As long as you don't make any sudden movements, you'll be fine."

"Okay, now I'm intrigued. What are we dealing with?" Sam questioned, leaning forward with his arms on the table.

"Well, for the first time in your lives, we're not going to kill something. Our target isn't a killer." They frowned in confusion. "We've been tasked with finding a herd of lost creatures. It's believed there is to be three missing and one of them may be injured. Our job is to find them and return them to the Wizarding World. That's it. No killing, no criminals and no deaths. You were complaining that we haven't had a respite in two months, well, this case is your respite."

"What creature are we dealing with?" Dean asked, eyeing the look on her face warily.

"You'll see, it's a surprise," she grinned. "Now, hurry up and eat breakfast, I've been given the last known location of the herd before they disappeared, we'll have to follow their trail and hopefully before morning. They prefer to come out at night."

~000~000~000~

"Are we even going the right way?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied with a sigh.

"I'm sure we've past that tree twice already," he said, pointing to a large tree at the left as they hiked through the thick woods.

"No, we haven't, you're referring to the tree that we past half a mile back, that tree had lower branches."

"Yeah, well..."

"Sammy, she's going to smack you," Dean warned amused, eyeing the way Hermione was gripping her wand tightly and she had an annoyed look on her face at Sam's constant questioning and complaining.

"She wouldn't smack me, I'm her friend and little brother through marriage," he said smugly.

"Yeah, and I'm her husband. She smacked me this morning for using the rest of her toothpaste, though it's not like she doesn't have another thirty tubes in her bag," he rolled his eyes.

"I heard that!" Hermione called from her place a little ways in front of them. Sam sniggered whilst Dean didn't bother to look apologetic. "And yes, we're going the right way."

"How do you know?" Sam barely contained the whiny tone.

Hermione bent down and scooped something up onto her finger, turning around and showing it to them in the low light of the slowly setting sun. The silver goo was sparkling like rainbows.

"What's that?" He asked with a frown.

"Blood, like I said, one of them is injured and we need to find them before night fall. These woods open onto a main road and we can't risk them crossing it and getting killed."

"You're still not going to tell us what we're looking for?" Dean asked.

"No, but I promise you, this will blow your mind."