The Witch and The Hunters

CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT

Page count: 12

One month later...

"Honestly, Dean, I'm fine," Hermione said, her eyes gliding across the selection of cakes in the window display of the bakery she stood in front of. "There's nothing for you to worry about, you and Sam deal with the vampires and I'll meet you back at the motel."

"I don't like leaving you alone," he replied.

"But I'm not alone, I have Xander with me," she responded, resting her hand against her large stomach, and she hummed to herself when her eyes landed on the cake of her choice. "I'm just about to head into the bakery, I'll make sure to pick something up for you and Sam, and afterward I'll do a bit of shopping. I was hoping to see some of the sights but I honestly can't be bothered. My feet are starting to ache so I won't be out for much longer."

"You let me know when you get back safe."

"No, I don't want to distract you in case you're busy. I'll call for Mimsy and she'll take me back to the motel, so you know I'll get there safe. You can call me after you're through with the vampires, you need to be focused."

"Fine, I'll see you soon."

"You will," she said, before they shared goodbyes and she snapped the phone shut, slipped it into the pocket of her jacket and stepped inside the bakery.

After purchasing her chosen cake, as well as a few for later and the brothers, she left the bakery a happy witch and slowly made her way down the street, window shopping as she ate.

It'd been a month since they'd officially moved into the house, and it was everything she could've dreamed of. They all settled in nicely, even Bobby had stopped complaining of being 'abducted and held against his will' after only a week. He spent most of the time in the library, enjoying his access to Hermione's magical texts and running Hunter's Information Central.

The Winchesters had spent the first week at the house, exploring their new home and enjoying the peace and quiet, knowing that there was no place safer on earth and that they had no reason to worry about being found or followed by either Crowley or other supernatural beings.

After the first couple of days of being at the house, they had a house warming party in which The entire Weasley horde, The Malfoys and The Potters had floo'd over to see their new family home for the first time. The festivities had lasted for three days, after which Hermione had grown tired of having more than thirty people being in her house at one time and she'd sent them home, most of the men being drunk, the women not caring for their complaints, and the children sad to leave and returning to their own homes. Even with magic it had taken a full day to get her lovely new house back to rights and properly cleaned up.

Once the brothers had sobered up –since Hermione refused to supply them with any form of pain relief or Hangover Potion, as it served them right- Bobby presented them with a case of a suspected werewolf. They'd headed out the next day and once Hermione had confirmed it was a supernatural werewolf, the brothers took care of it. They were away from the house for two weeks before returning for a few days of respite, and then they'd set out once again, wanting to get as many cases closed as possible as once Hermione went into labour, they would be out of commission for a while.

Hermione was now eight months pregnant and her stomach larger than ever, and once she reached the nine month mark, they all agreed that it would mark the beginning of their hiatus. Hermione was getting more uncomfortable and more tired by the day and in a month's time she knew she wouldn't be able to handle travelling for cases, and with her and Dean not being able to be separated for long periods of time, they'd all agreed as a family, that it was best to stop at that point.