Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling; various publishers including, but not limited to, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books; and Warner Bros., Inc. This story is also based on characters and situations created and owned by Eric Kripke; various production elements including, but not limited to, Warner Brothers and the CW network. No money is being made from this intellectual exercise and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to any person, internet persona, or other being, living or dead, is completely coincidental and unintentional unless otherwise noted.

A/N: Here's the final chapter for your enjoyment. I know I said I wouldn't update again until tomorrow or the next day, but since it's Holy Thursday, I figure y'all will forgive me just this once!

Ripple Effect

Friday, May 4, 1990
Altadena, California

Had Bill known about the magical world, he would have seen the sense in Remus checking himself out of the hospital AMA – as it stood, however, he chalked it up to routine lack-of-legitimate-insurance coupled with standard hunter stubbornness. On the up side, he thought, bringing his car to a halt in the parking lot behind their hotel, this means I won't hafta figure out how to be in two places at once when Joshua's plane lands.

When the pair of hunters reached their room, Remus went straight for his wooden box of jars and vials. His right arm was stitched and bandaged and wrapped in bulky layers of gauze and secured to his chest with a sling. Lupin, who had maintained a stony level of silence since leaving the hospital, rummaged clumsily through the box's contents before letting out a blistering oath that had Bill blinking at him. He hadn't imagined that his easy-going and good-natured companion could ever reach that particular level of frustration.

"What's the problem?" Bill asked, somewhat tentatively.

Remus slammed the lid of the box shut and sighed. "Nothing, Bill. Just angry at myself – I let the damn thing get too close last night and now we've got to come up with a new plan before someone else appears on the gaki's menu." That much was true, but not the whole story – he was also upset that he'd not checked the contents of his first-aid kit before leaving home; he was out of both painkillers and Scrimsy's Flesh-Knit. Though a healing charm would be both faster and more effective than Scrimsy's, Remus had never been all that good with general healing charms, and didn't even want to try to cast one with his off hand. He sighed a second time and set about removing the sling. At least the gaki didn't claw up my left arm – it would have cut my wand into pieces. It was hard enough to find one that worked for me to begin with, I don't even want to consider having to try to find a replacement.

Bill's back was constantly muttering a long string of grumbling recriminations at its owner, even through the painkillers and anti-inflamitories the ER doc had given him, so he took a seat at the kitchen table. "Joshua said he'd call us here when he landed. According to the airport, the most-likely candidate for flights he coulda taken from South Dakota to get him here would land a little past one this afternoon."

Remus made a grunting noise, but Bill wasn't sure if it was an acknowledgement of what he'd said, or if it was an involuntary pain noise resulting from the ginger way Lupin was trying to shrug into a clean t-shirt (the shirt he'd been wearing under his flannel the night before had been cut off of him at the ER). After finally getting the shirt in place, Remus returned his arm to the sling and checked the time. "Four hours or more, then." He scrubbed his left hand across his face and grimaced at the thick stubble. "I'm going to get cleaned up, then see if I can't nap for a while." A humorless chuckle rumbled from his chest. "Ever notice how hospitals keep saying 'rest up' and such, but they drop by and disturb a patient's rest at least every hour on the hour? I don't understand how they expect anyone to sleep with them coming in and out of the rooms like that all the time," his voice faded a little as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Bill smiled a little at what Remus had said about hospitals – it was true, after all. Should call home, he thought, let El know I ain't dead yet. But the phone was all the way on the other side of the room and he'd managed even less rest the night before than Remus. Later. Just sit here for a minute. Rest my eyes. Hospitals suck. Ignoring the distant complaint from his back at the slightly awkward position, he laid his head on his arms. He was asleep before Remus reemerged from the bathroom.

After having spent the better part of nine hours either cramped in the cattle-car portion of an airplane or idly people-watching at an airport (he'd had a layover in Minneapolis), Joshua was more than ready to kick back and relax for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, there was a damn gaki out eating people and it was up to him to stop the sucker, so rest would have to wait a while. As he followed the signs directing him to a bank of payphones, he overheard some first-class butt-muncher complaining about how the airline had lost his precious luggage. That's why ya don't take nothin' with you ya can't afford to lose. That and not checkin' anythin'. Joshua's bag qualified as a carry-on.

The first bank of payphones he came to were all in use already, so he kept walking. In a place the size of LAX, there had to be more phones between him and the door.

The second bank were all marked 'out of order'.

Oddly, Joshua didn't spot any further phones before he reached the exit. Well, that's not quite true. He spotted four white-collars yakking on those port-a-bricks that supposedly caused brain-tumors, and numerous in-house phones, but none of those would help him any.

Shrugging mentally, he hailed a taxi.

"Where to?" the cabbie asked.

"The Meteorite Inn, Altadena," Joshua replied.

Loud knocking on their door managed to wake both Bill and Remus from their respective naps. Momentarily forgetting about his sprained back, Bill sat up too quickly, causing that particular body part to commence an attack of epic proportions on his nerve-endings. Remus was in a somewhat similar state, as the last of the painkillers he'd been given at the hospital had worn off in his sleep. However, Remus' lifelong dance with pain and suffering allowed him to push aside the fact that he wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and whimper. He climbed to his feet.

"Open up, guys, it's me," echoed through the thin wood of the motel room's door just as Remus reached it and pulled it open.

"Hey, Joshua," the werewolf said through a tight smile that more closely resembled a grimace.

Joshua let out a low whistle. "Damn, Lupin. You look like hell." The older hunter stepped into the room and tossed his duffle on one of the armchairs in the corner. "You too, Harvelle."

Bill was pale and breathing slowly through his teeth, silently willing the muscles in his back to quit seizing. He was sure if he could just move – at all – the pain would mysteriously vanish. Never falling asleep at a table ever again. He still managed something resembling a nod in Joshua's direction, though.

Remus shut the door and quickly weighed his options. Making a snap decision – because he simply didn't bloody care about secrecy laws in his current state – he asked, "You still carry that mirror?"

Joshua turned slightly and quirked an eyebrow; he knew that Bill wasn't currently aware of the wizarding world and couldn't imagine just what Remus had in mind bringing it up. "Yeah," he replied, drawing the word out. "Whacha need it for?"

Forcing himself to remain civil – pain always had made him rather snarky and foul-tempered – Remus said, "Call Rachel. I'm out of Scrimsy's and painkillers and there's no way I can deal with this on my own right now." While speaking, he gestured to his injured arm, still strapped down by the sling.

Ever so slowly, the muscle spasms in his back quieted down and Bill finally reached a state where he felt as though he'd survive. Hope this clears up before Jo's well enough to start buggin' me about that trip to KC, he thought before the words Joshua and Remus had exchanged caught up with him. Huh? Mirror? What the hell's that got to do with a phone call? Seeing no point in remaining confused, he carefully climbed to his feet – feeling like a man twice his age as he did so – and asked, "What?"

Joshua looked from Remus to Bill and back and shrugged at Lupin while searching his pockets for the small compact mirror that was his primary connection with his sister and their parents.

Remus accurately interpreted the motion as 'it's your idea, so it's up to you to explain it to him'. The werewolf, still wrestling with keeping the pain he was in from interfering with his ability to converse on a somewhat-civil level, sighed. "Long story or short story?"

Bill blinked. "Don't care," he said, "just…what?"

"Short, then," Remus said, leaning against the wall as Joshua located the small folding mirror and walked to the other side of the room. "Magic – real, wand-waving magic, like in fairy-tales and Disney flicks, exists. I'm a wizard, Joshua's a squib, and you're a muggle. Joshua's sister, Rachel, is a board-certified alchemist, specializing in the applications of healing magic. The mirror he carries is rather like a telephone, only without the need for batteries, and he's calling Rachel to – hopefully – get her to apparate or portkey here and get us both back to feeling like human beings and not roadkill."

Remus was almost able to laugh at how his fly-by explanation seemed to only serve to confuse Bill further. Across the room, Joshua snapped the mirror shut and shook his head at his companions. "Sorry, Billy-boy. Remus is usually more patient." He turned his attention to the werewolf long enough to say, "You must really be hurtin', amigo." Remus rolled his eyes, but remained silent.

Bill shuffle-walked over to his bed and stretched out with a small groan. "So, are you gonna clear things up or not?" he asked Joshua.

"S'pose I'm gonna hafta, ain't I? Got a li'l time to kill 'til Rach gets here anyway – she said she'll be here in about half an hour." Joshua took a seat on Remus' bed and propped his elbows on his knees. "First off, you gotta keep in mind what we do – it'll help, trust me."

"How's that?" Bill asked.

"We hunt down crap most folks don't believe in. Magic's like that – most folks don't believe in it, but it is real."

"Suspension of disbelief – gotcha." Bill made a checkmark motion in the air above his head.

"Okay, so where do I start?"

"How about with the words Remus mentioned? I mean, I think I got 'wizard' – assuming you all ain't off your rockers, that'd be a guy who uses magic, right?"

Joshua nodded. "Yep. The ability's a helluva lot like…oh, I dunno…smarts, I s'pose. It tends to run in families, but it can crop up in a normal family – normal folks are called 'muggles' or 'mundanes' dependin' on just who you're talkin' to. Sometimes the opposite's true and someone who can't use magic is born to a magical family, called a squib – that'd be me. Is actually how I got into huntin' – when I was a kid, before we figured out for-sure that I wasn't a wizard, I'd wanted to be an auror. An auror is for wizards what police are for the rest of us. When that dream got shattered, I started tryin' to find out what I could do without magic to basically do the same job – without severin' all ties with my family, that is." He ran a hand though his graying, dark brown hair. "Look, a lotta this is real complicated to explain, but I'll give you a better run-down when you ain't feelin' like hell."

Bill made another checkmark motion. "And what's an alchemist? I mean, other than the forerunner to modern chemistry?"

Joshua chuckled. "That'd be someone who's got the highest…well, I guess they're like degrees, in at least three branches of magic. Rach's got masteries in Potions, Charms, Runes, and Arithmancy – and she's qualified as a healer, that's a magical doctor – and uses all that to come up with new and better healing treatments."

This time, Bill was the one who chuckled. "So you weren't lyin' none when you said your sis was a doctor. You also said your pop was a lawyer – that still true, or is it different?"

"No, that part's still true. The wizarding world still's got bureaucracy to deal with, after all." Joshua turned the conversation away from all things magic and towards the cause of Bill's and Remus' current states. "So, just what happened last night?"

Filling Joshua in took the remaining time until Rachel showed. Any lingering doubt Bill might have held melted entirely when she used her wand to completely heal the gashes on Remus' arm. The wounds left behind angry, pink scars, but she mentioned to Lupin that they'd fade in time. Then it was Bill's turn, and by the time his best friend's older sister had finished, Bill was back to his usual self. "You should bottle that," he told her, "and sell it."

Rachel smirked, "What makes you think I don't?"

"Later, Billy-boy," Joshua interrupted. "Like I said, questions come later – when we ain't got a gaki on the loose."

Rachel paused in handing a small package to a much-cheerier Lupin. "A gaki? You want me to alert –"

"No, sis, we can handle it," Joshua cut her off. "If we can't get it tonight, I'll let ya know, okay?"

Rachel shrugged, "I know you know what you're doing, Joshie, but if anything goes wrong, I want you to call me immediately – do you understand me?"

The forty-eight year-old hunter closed his eyes and hoped like hell his fellow hunters hadn't heard the embarrassing nickname before meeting his sister's steady gaze. "Sure thing, Rach. Send my love to Mom and Dad, will ya? And let Mom know I'll try to make it to the Samhain party this year, but I can't promise nothin'."

After a round of good-byes to Rachel, the three hunters sat down and got to work on planning for the hunt that night.

Having Joshua there seemed to make all the difference – the gaki fell to multiple silver slugs fired from Bill's rifle, Remus' revolver, and the spare semi-automatic Colt Bill had loaned Joshua. Though 'fall' wasn't quite the right word. It had actually exploded in a shower of revolting viscera which evaporated into foul-smelling smoke after a few moments, much to the hunters' relief.

It was almost anti-climactic, particularly after they'd waited until nearly three in the morning for the creature to show.

The three hunters – more than ready for some decent sleep – returned to the motel and crashed. Remus was the first to awake at a little past ten, and, after getting dressed for the day, headed out to bring breakfast back for everyone. While waiting for the diner he'd located to fill his orders, Remus availed himself to the payphone near the door to call home and let everyone know he was fine and would be returning soon.

Caleb returned the cordless phone to its charger on the wall of the kitchen and took a deep, steadying breath.

It didn't help to quell the panic.

Relax. You've got time. It's not like they're going to be flying back. They're driving Bill's Dart. So, you've got at least twenty hours or so. Likely longer. I know Josh don't like havin' to sleep in a car, so they'll stop for the night somewhere along the way.

His thoughts were similarly unhelpful and couldn't quite drown out the ongoing chant of what the hell am I gonna do and how the hell do I fix this and John's gonna kill me an' Bobby's gonna help an' Remus'll freakin' eat whatever's left.

A small, grey tabby with white socks on all four paws (still in the clumsy fluffball stage of kitten-growth) leapt on one of the kitchen chairs, followed by the tabletop where Caleb still had his hobby-tools spread out on newspaper. Caleb was too busy trying to marshal his thoughts into some sort of useful order to notice when the kitten tugged the strap of a miniature sniper-rifle out of the 'complete, but not yet shipped' compartment of his hobby-box.

The metallic clatter of the miniaturized gun hitting the linoleum floor jarred Caleb's awareness back to the here-and-now.

As the kitten, gun-strap still firmly grasped in its mouth, took off for the door in a streak of grey, Caleb shouted after it. "Dean! Get your ass back here an' leave my shit alone!"

On returning to the hotel with their meals, Remus couldn't help but have the feeling that something was up back home. He tried to ignore it, however. If it was anything serious, Caleb would have told me.

He, Joshua, and Bill ate, then packed up their gear and headed out at the motel's checkout time of noon.

They had a long drive ahead of them – a full two days on the road – but Remus was sure that they wouldn't be bored. Bill undoubtedly still had questions that needed answered and he likewise needed to be informed of the necessity of keeping his newfound knowledge of the wizarding world under his hat.

Bobby startled awake when the Impala came to a halt. He rubbed the sleep-sand out of his eyes and took a look around. They were home.

The 'geist he and John had gone after had been uniquely simple – it really hadn't been necessary to have two hunters on it, but most poltergeists weren't as under-powered as the one in Omaha had been.

The one and only downside that Bobby could see was the fact that it was now drizzling and he still had to finish the repairs on the minivan for Audry Walsh.

Inside, Dean heard his dad's car pull up and leveled a glare that could stop a rampaging hippogriff in its tracks at his brothers and Caleb. "You promise that what happened ain't gonna ever be talked about again?"

Both Sam and Harry nodded solemnly. Caleb smirked and said, "As long as you don't bring it up first, kiddo."

The sound of Bobby's and John's boots sounded on the porch just as a second car could be heard approaching on the drive. Dean peeked out the living room window. "Looks like Remus is back, too," he said, satisfied that what had happened while his dad and uncles were gone would remain just among the four who'd been there to experience it.

Over the course of the next few hours, all the adult hunters traded stories on their most recent hunts while the kids listened intently. Near the end of the conversation, just as Bill was getting ready to push on home, Remus chuckled.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"Just…One good thing came of that whole mess down in LA."

"What's that?" Bill couldn't help but ask.

"Well, I now know I've got three allergies," Remus replied.

"Which three?" the question was simultaneously posed by both Bill and Caleb.

"Silver, artichokes, and – apparently – gaki." Remus shot a grin in Joshua's direction. "Any more gaki show, and they're all yours."

"No problem," Joshua grinned back. "Hate to hafta bug Rach again."

Finite incantatum.

A/N2: The details on just what Caleb and the boys went through is the freakin' plot-bunny that kept spawning all these side-plots. I do hope to have it written soon, so keep an eye out for the upcoming Opposable Thumbs are Awesome (though I'm not sure just when it'll get posted).

This tale is now complete and fully posted. \o/YAY!

Thanks for reading and remember to let me know what you think!